Chuck me Tuesdays: Chuck versus the Wookie

Score: B+

Trust. Who do we trust? Why do we trust them? Who is worthy of our loyalty and how do we know? People lie to us for our own good and tell the truth to manipulate us. Trust in relationships is one of Chuck’s main themes and ‘Chuck versus the Wookie’ is the first episode devoted to it. Well, that and hot chicks showing a gratuitous amount of flesh.

Carina, an undercover DEA agent and frenemy of Sarah’s, shows up and tasks the team to help her steal a diamond from some bad guys, who turn out to be a whole lot badder than they thought. Chuck tries to protect Morgan from his spy life by lying to the bearded buffoon as he starts to take issue with the fact that Sarah is doing the same thing to him. Sarah lies and Carina tells the truth but in the end it’s Sarah he should have trusted.

The good
“Isn’t there a nicer establishment where beautiful people can shop?” A host of good one-liners, a plethora of Star Wars references and a perfectly-executed “fake date” sequence at the beginning make for an enjoyable episode.

Casey running around in his underwear handcuffed to a broken-off bedhead was bloody priceless, as was the “fight scene” between Chuck and Carina, and Chuck and the bad guy at the end. But most of all, for the first time but not the last, Chuck’s faith in the inherent humanity of people made someone else a better person for a moment.

The bad
The writers obviously think their audience is exclusively male because there was so much female flesh on display the actors were probably surprised when they actually got to put some clothes on. While Chuck is obviously not used to so many beautiful women paying attention to him, the fact that all it took was a flash of flesh and a well-placed truth to manipulate him is kind of annoying. Isn’t he smarter than this?

The Chuckalicious
“My middle name is Lisa”. The number of fans who fell in love with this show based on this scene alone is immense so I have to put it in, even if the emotional resonance was somewhat lost on me on first viewing. Sarah’s character development begins.

The look on Agent Graham’s face when he realises Chuck used the mail service to send him a priceless diamond. Oh, and did I mention Casey? I swear, Adam Baldwin is the funniest person on TV right now.