Chuck Versus the Push Mix

Spoilers Alert: There's only one spoiler in this episode, and it involves the antics of Jeffster.

by Courtney Hilden

This time on Chuck, our hero demands that Sarah be brought back home after she pushes Casey out a window, nearly killing him. As usual, the General refuses. Sarah, meanwhile, is working with Chuck's Mom to bring down Volkoff. Which would probably happen without Orion, back from the dead, showing up.

Chuck frequently has episodes that are about pushing the storyline farther. It is actually one of the nice things about the show, since it means we do not dawdle with storylines and instead go from one necessary event to the other. So even though this episode had some important events, for the most part it was not as fun or as engaging as the show usually is. (Though, it still manages to be one of the best written shows on television and definitely the best planned.) The highlight of the night? Jeffster singing "Push It."

I was truly afraid that the laser chamber was going to feature extremely distasteful images of Morgan. It was bad, but not as bad as it could been, and I appreciate that.

As much as I am enjoying the Alex and Casey scenes, I wish we'd see more of Alex's Mom. I would much rather see a Casey/long-lost love romance then this creepy and inappropriate Alex/Morgan thing.

In terms of other great characters, the General is the most unsung character on this show. She manages to be perfectly respectful and adorable at the same time. It's too bad we only see her so frequently doing her broadcasts to Castle and not in person.

Sarah is starting to look a look like Prue from Charmed with her black hair, so I guess it's a good thing that she is done with her mission and will be back to normal with her typical blond hair. Giving Sarah black hair to represent her "turn to the darkside" was lame, especially since the audience and other characters know who she is.

Chuck Versus the Anniversary

Spoiler Alert!: This review reveals everything about the episode.
by Courtney Hilden

In the season premiere of Chuck, our title character tries to both find his Mom and find a job (neither of which work out,) Chuck's Mom makes a few appearances (in a flashback, watching her son look for her, fighting bad guys), Sarah and Casey are so busy on missions they never see Chuck, and the Buy More is resurrected.
There was something reckless and sloppy about this episode. There was way too much they were trying to cram in to one episode. A lot of the other things that usually make this show delightful fell flat or felt lackluster. The humor was not nearly as funny as it once was, and this is probably attributable to the lack of everyone's favorite comic duo, Jeff and Lester. Something about the show feels very wrong and off without them.
Once again, Chuck is making a mistake he has already made: lying to Sarah. This always turns out badly, and Chuck never seems to think about this. Too bad the writers cannot allow Chuck the chance to think about things more. Sarah seemed completely unsurprised by the news that Chuck was lying about something, again. Even with the spy business being what it is, the lying that goes on between Chuck and Sarah is disappointing to watch. It also stretches a certain amount of believability, because it is hard to imagine any smart woman staying with someone with Chuck's history.
The show is wise not to rely too much on Chuck's intersect abilities. On another show, these abilities could easily morph into a deus ex machina, but on this show, they at least are smart enough to use it as sparingly as possible. The truth is that the show is at its best when it adheres to more realistic things, which is why Ellie's comment that jobs "are hard to come by," rings totally true, especially to anyone currently in the job market.
In terms of fight scenes, the best for this episode goes to Chuck's Mom, who had the most badass (but sadly quick) fight scenes. She and this episode's bad guy almost seemed friendly at the beginning of the episode, but that quickly turned sour.
Olivia Munn's acting left much to be desired. Usually the show does a decent job with acting, but her attempts at frigid were more like monotone.
Costume-wise, Sarah has one of the cutest tiered skirts on while discussing with Casey how Chuck does not want to come back to the spy world.
And finally, the show had a wonderful joke about spies when this episode's bad guy mentioned that Chuck and Morgan were smart to use public transportation to avoid detection. There was something about that joke that poked spies and spy movies right in the nose and allowed the audience to consider how too easy it often is for these characters. Getting Sarah and Casey on a bus? Perfect.