Chuck: Season Two

Quite possibly one of the best shows on TV at the moment, Chuck’s second season recently came out on DVD – and pretty much surpasses the first season in every way. The first season introduced us to Buy More Tech Support-guy Chuck Bartowski who ends up with a whole computer of government secrets in his head. In the background he has support from CIA agent Sarah Walker and NSA agent John Casey and the three of them end up doing random missions based off ‘flashes’ that Chuck has which trigger information from the computer (called ‘The Intersect’).

Chuck resumes his role as the head of the Buy More ‘Nerd Herd’ (spoof of the Best Buy ‘Geek Squad’) whilst Sarah takes on the role of his ‘girlfriend’ whilst Casey gets a job at the Buy More. Episodes deal with a main spy plot while a Buy More-related subplot occurs in the background. A lot of the time there is an overlay for the comic impact.

The Buy More Cast

The second season builds on the foundations of the first, with characters beginning to become fleshed out and the show becoming comfortable juggling its spy and Buy More-plots. The show begins to have an over-arching theme with a secret corrupt organisation trying to build their own intersect and the show delves into the history of the original – revealing some close connections to Chuck and his family. Episodes feel tighter, feel more focused and there’s a good running pace throughout. The dual-plotting of a Buy More sub-plot allows for any light stories in the main spy plot not to feel dragged, and later in the season the episodes and stories start to leak into other episodes, allowing for the burst and not-boring feeling throughout.

This year, Chuck ends up confronting his relationship with Sarah, dealing with his ex-girlfriend, finds his father, learns about the Intersect and begins to find his worth in matters other than having Government Secrets in his head. There’s plenty of highlights here both comedic and dramatically as Chuck confronts his father and his ex-girlfriend (who turns out to be a Fulcrum agent – the organisation trying to build The Intersect). Chuck even gets a ‘Dark Intersect’ in his head half-way through the season.

The main trio.

Further highlights include Chuck meeting rock star Tyler Morgan (played by Lost’s Dominic Monanananangahanananan) in the 3D episode, the formation of Jeffster and the final run of episodes in which Chuck has to deal with an evil Chevy Chase. Someone close to him learns his secret and it helps give that character something else to do – and the characters feel like they’re finally moving on. Even the Buy More had its own sub-plot and ‘big bad’ in the form of Assistant Manager Emmett who was lobbying after Big Mike’s job.

Any downsides? Well there really isn’t. If you’re expecting high intrigue and complexity then you’re not going to be finding it here. It can be lightweight entertainment but it is some of the best you’ll get. The big thing I perhaps could annoy is the very prominent and sometimes annoying Sarah/Chuck scenes in the will they/won’t they sector. It’s developed to a point and it’ll be hard to try and stop them from ‘being together’ but you can’t help but wonder if they’re going to be dragging it out for as long as they can.

But other than that, you have some excellent action, some funny and lovable characters, Adam Baldwin kicking major, major arse and some quite attractive ladies (and men for you women reading this) means you should be really kicking back and enjoying the fun ride that is Chuck.