“We Interrupt This Programme” – CHUCK

This article is from the “WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAMME…” column in March’s issue of Re:Union magazine.

It was during a chat with the arts editor of this very magazine that I first realised I was an idiot. It had never dawned on me before. I’m university-educated, quite bright and I can usually get words right without the constant requirement of a spell-checker (I know, get in line ladies). However, during the course of this chat I asked, nay pleaded, for her to let me write a review for this International edition of Re:Union on the new season of ‘Chuck’ which is currently airing in the US.

It apparently never dawned on me that, being a show from America, it is international and therefore I can write about it ‘til my little [twisted husk of a] heart is content. First of all I should tell you a bit about the show in case you’re not familiar with it. Zachary Levi plays a bit of a loser who works in the American equivalent of PC World; that is until he has a government super-computer downloaded into his head.

He then becomes an grudging spy, getting involved in all sorts of capers (as spies are wont to do) but must continue working his mundane job and trying to keep up the appearance of crippling mediocrity. Accompanied by his secret service ‘handlers’, played adeptly by Yvonne Strahovski and the by now thoroughly typecast Adam Baldwin, Chuck saves the world using the information stored in the computer. Which is in his head. In case you’d forgotten. That bit’s quite important.

The show is the brainchild of OC creator Josh Schwartz and uses many of the same production team as was used on the teen drama and a lot of the touches feel very “OC-ish”, from sweeping shots of ultimately pointless scenery to drippy indie music, if it wasn’t for the gunplay and car crashes you’d think you were watching Seth Cohen bounding around the boulevards of Orange County.

I won’t say too much about the plot of the third series, I don’t want to ruin it for you, but Chuck’s undergone something of a change which was a much-needed development as the show came to the end of a difficult second season. The first few episodes house guest roles for Brandon Routh (he played Superman, honestly), Kristin Kreuk of Smallville fame and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Now don’t get me wrong here, you need to have seen the first two series in order to enjoy the new one, otherwise you’ll be left more bewildered than David Cameron in a council estate but I wholeheartedly recommend picking up the first two seasons on DVD before the new series explodes onto Virgin 1 in the Spring.