By Buzz Byrne

Tonight we get to learn some of the origins in the mythology of Chuck (Zachary Levi). Or why the nerd was booted out of Stanford and why his roommate and best friend, Bryce Larkin, orchestrated it. Bryce, the guy who stole his girl, sent him the Intersect program that gives Chuck his powers and the guy who used to have Agent Sarah’s heart. That Bryce.

The caper that draws Chuck and the team into this mess starts when his old Professor Flemming, the guy who booted him, gets spooked by an Icelandic hitman whose weapon of choice is the crossbow. Don’t stop and question, just accept it, it’s the only way to enjoy this stuff. Flemming was working for the CIA, because you know, these are the ways adventures get going and a past is uncovered. He copied some CIA data and now he’s on the run as the Icelandic killer chases him.

At the BuyMore, the reign of Assistant Manager Harry Tang (C.S. Lee) is underway and the staff is cowering. This isn’t germane to anything close to the thing known as the “plot,” but it does give time to both Morgan (Joshua Gomez) and Tang and lets the subliminal and overt movie references flow. I gleaned props to LORD OF THE RINGS, OFFICE SPACE, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION. Throw in a scene scored with Hall and Oates’ MANEATER and it’s enough to say it was working.


I noted in my DEXTER review that C.S. Lee get’s all the good lines on that show and tonight he got a plum one here. Tang is instituting a recycling program at the BuyMore to, “Exploit the burgeoning conscience of the American consumer.” This is after all, “Green Week” on NBC so the messages will abound. Don’t you want to learn about your carbon footprint from the cast of LAW&ORDER: SVU? What about a lecture from a DEAL OR NO DEAL model on the global impact ecologically and politically of first world countries relying on third world countries for non-renewable energy sources? I’m no smart guy but I’m pretty sure this is NBC’s way of asking you to tune to FOX and never look back.

Flemming hands off a clue to Chuck before becoming a Reykjavik-a-bob. The team now must head back to Stanford, despite this being the place of the worst day of Chuck’s life. Chuck finds the missing data, which is the recruitment info on all the CIA operatives from Stanford for the past ten years. Chuck was destined to work for the CIA but in a military capacity. His buddy Bryce learned of this and engineered Chuck’s expulsion to save him from the spy life. Chuck was too good a guy for it.

What a disappointment. Ten minutes into tonight’s episode and I knew this was inevitable but you can’t blame a critic for hoping it would be different. Chuck has enough buddies, chums and pals. Bryce was potentially an interesting foil for the charming, ineffectual geek. But that was too gloomy for this light show.


Bad guys make the heroes. Is an Icelandic bounty hunter interesting? I want Chuck up against his Lex Luthor. I wanted Bryce to be Luthor. I wanted Chuck to face an opponent that was smarter, better trained, more able and unbeatable…and then I wanted Chuck to beat him. I wish the writers liked Chuck as much as I do.