By Buzz Byrne
To recapture interest in this show I have stated that they need to find a true villain, an evil nemesis for Chuck. This week the writers at least took the bat off their shoulders and swung at this goal. It wasn’t a home run though, more like a bloop single.
It started with such promise too. A young weapons designer for the government escapes his apparent captivity and returns to the Santa Monica pier, the location of his “recruitment.” Here he is identified by Chuck and the Intersect as dangerous. It is a fortunate thing Chuck keeps bumping into spies and fugitives on random outings otherwise the world would have been blown-up three or four times already.
At first this fugitive, Lahzlo, strikes a sympathetic chord. He approaches Chuck with a water pistol so, of course he seems Chuck-like, i.e. ineffectual, bumbling and goofy. Plus, he says he’s never seen a Bond movie. And he warns Chuck that his handlers are spying on him, that he should check his place for bugs. Sure enough, Agents Sarah and Casey have him tapped to the hilt. Lahzlo uses this fissure to further gain chuck’s trust and it seems this might be a worthy foe as he shares a similar build, look and geekyness. Great villains are supposed to be mirror images of the heroes, right? The car chase and big fight this week involved multiple slappings and doughnuts in the Buy More parking lot. They are virtually the same person.
Morgan looks to mature his image meanwhile and he gets help from none other than Captain Awesome. Awesome gives him a make-over and starts by making Morgan tuck his shirt in. Morgan bristles at this as he feels like, “My junk’s out for the whole world to see.” Captain Awesome responds, “Maybe that’s the point…Maybe that’s the point.” My first point is that Awesome needs to be in EVERY episode and then get his own show. My second point is, you can call genitalia “Junk” on an 8 pm show?
Morgan helps Chuck try and get the assistant manager’s promotion but the spy biz keeps Chuck from making the interview. It looks like the job is going to Harry Tang who calls Chuck a douche to Morgan. I guess my point here is, you can call someone a “Douche” on an 8 pm show?
Lahzlo turns out not to be the endearing character that Chuck is which is fine, let him be a nasty super villain. But unfortunately it doesn’t look like he will be making a return anytime soon. In the end he is one more in the revolving door bad guy of the week. Next week’s episode looks to feature the true villain of the series, Bryce, so I’m still holding out hope for CHUCK. You have to hold out hope for a show that let’s Big Mike say of Harry Tang, “He has the charm of a prostate exam.” Or at the end when Chuck and Morgan dress up for a Halloween party as a sandworm from DUNE. Harry calls it, “A giant space penis.” I guess my point about that is, well, you get my point.