“Chuck versus the Helicopter”; Do You Kid About Quiche?

The second week of our “Chuck” re-watch projects finds us at “Chuck versus the Helicopter”. In truth, I’ve always considered it one of the weaker episodes of the early series. I say early series because I’ve always felt that seasons 1-3 were vastly superior to 4-5, even though I did largely enjoy seasons 4-5. So, while I might be a little harder on this episode than some from the season 5 reviews that are already up, keep in mind that I hold it to a much higher standard, especially after taking in that spectacular pilot episode last week.

As I said in my review of said pilot, my partner and I have decided to play with the format of our reviews week to week to keep things interesting and that starts this week. Instead of our normal section by section review of the article, this week you’re getting an essay-style look at the episode as whole from us. The card ratings will still be a part of the review, they’ll just be placed up front for you to see, independent of the text. Let us know what you think of these format changes and with that, let’s get to the review.

                                                                                            

Comedy                                               Action/Special Effects                      Story/Suspense                             Romance             

If there’s one thing that stands out about these early episodes of “Chuck”, it’s the breakneck pace they move at. There’s no down time and the cuts between scenes are extremely rapid. The frantic pacing is there right at the start, with Chuck dashing after Casey dashing after a shoplifter, and stays basically to the very end with Chuck eventually landing the helicopter. The show is definitely having no problem holding my attention and I think the tension the pacing creates works well here because we are so early in the series and, with this episode in particular, Chuck has no idea who he can trust and is still getting used to life with the Intersect. While that side of the episode certainly works well, its main purpose, to help sow the seeds of mistrust in Casey and Sarah on Chuck’s part fell flat with me. As I mentioned last week, the show dispensed with the tension between Sarah and Casey pretty early on and I think it’s clear why. Quite frankly, aside from the awesome fight scene, the bickering between the two was far more irritating than suspenseful. I can’t say how believable the tension is because I started watching in the midst of Season 2, but I think it’s safe to say it was clear early on that neither Casey nor Sarah were going to kill Chuck. More importantly, John Casey is a heck of lot more enjoyable when he’s forced to protect Chuck and has no choice but to deal with his nerdiness than when he’s plotting his death. The show’s writers deserve a lot of credit for quickly realizing that the Sarah/Casey (and by extension CIA/NSA) tension wasn’t working and moving forward with Team Bartowski acting in a unified manner. Still, this episode used that rift effectively in a number of scenes. The tremendously uncomfortable dinner scene has to be one of the better comedic moments of Season 1, especially Chuck’s completely unexpected success in pulling the tablecloth out from under the meal in front of everyone. Of course, it goes without saying that the callback to Morgan failing in the very same endeavor at the episode’s beginning was a nice touch. Chuck’s stammering, drawn out toast was also quite enjoyable, with again, Morgan adding a nice comedic moment by asking for his inclusion. While the comedy was generally enjoyable, there were some issues. The dialogue between Morgan, Ellie, and Chuck at the start was a little too sitcom-y for my taste. The snappy dialogue from Casey (“nice work Nancye Drew”) works because the show established it early on as a hallmark of his character. In contrast, the aforementioned trio rattling off zingers left and right feels too much like an episode of “Friends” for my taste.

While the tension between Sarah and Casey obviously drove most of this episode’s plot, there were a number of little details scattered throughout that helped move the story forward and added some nice humor and action to the proceedings. There are far too many amazing little touches scattered throughout here to name them all (and likely plenty I missed), but I’ll cover some of the high points. First, I have to say I’m impressed with a small detail I never noticed previous to this viewing, which is Sarah’s hotdog necklace that she wears while working at the Wienerlicious. It may be a ridiculous cover, but Sarah Walker is clearly all-in. Speaking of all-in, Casey gets some great little details throughout. The mini-quiches with microbots leading the way to Morgan was fantastic, as was his kick to nudge the candle over onto the soufflé. Of course, Casey as a Buy More employee is classic fish-out-of-water comedy and there were some really funny moments on that front too. His tackling of a video game thief outside the Buy More and inability to deal with Morgan inside nicely set the tone for his tenure at the Buy More.

I touched upon Casey’s relationship with Chuck and how it works far better when Casey is forced to protect Chuck, rather than try to kill him earlier. Likewise, Sarah is frustratingly coy at times in this episode in her dealings with Chuck. I know we’re early into the show at this point and I’m not expecting fireworks, but I practically stood up out of my chair to yell “SAY SOMETHING!” when Sarah blankly smiles at Chuck after he tells her the trip to the Buy More was the best second date he’s had in years. Of course, that was not the only interaction the pair had during the course of the episode and the important milestone of Chuck trusting Sarah is a big moment, even if it feels insignificant 4 seasons later, by comparison. Similarly, Sarah taking the reins from Casey to help Chuck pilot the helicopter was another key moment that sets the tone for how Sarah will handle Chuck, the Intersect, and all the complications it brings into his life. That moment being preceded by some comedically unhelpful advice from Casey (“listen, moron, ya wanna die?”) added some nice emphasis to that moment. Overall then, the romance in this episode was generally satisfying and included some important moments, but also featured some of the more frustrating moments between Sarah and Chuck from Season 1.

Speaking of the helicopter, the difference between the show with money (Seasons 1 and 2) and without money (Seasons 3-5) is readily apparent here. All of the NSA incinerator explosions looked fantastic and were used to good effect to move the story forward. It’s hard to believe the explosions wouldn’t be the high point of the special effects, but that scene with the helicopter completely topped it. The wobbly piloting, the shaky camera, and the flashing lights inside the cockpit all made for a nauseatingly realistic experience, which is a good thing. The other major special effects piece we got from this episode is an extended series of flashes on encoded images as Chuck is examined by Dr. Zarnow. Those, as usual, worked very well and expanded what we know about the Intersect. Zarnow himself was quite good as the villain here and I’m a bit surprised he never made another appearance. His delivery of dialogue, particularly as he was torturing Sarah and as he pointed out that the gun was heavy, really gave him that creepy scientist feel you want in a villain like that.

Overall, this episode was definitely a step down from the pilot, but that’s to be expected. The pilot gave us huge action sequences and major story moments that establish the backstory of the show and where it’s headed. “Chuck versus the Helicopter” was largely a more detail-oriented show and it’s bound to come off as inferior as a result. That said, this episode, for the most part, got all the details right and managed to provide something memorable in every one of the show’s many elements. More importantly, the tension between Sarah and Casey is dispensed with, which means things will only get better from here. As a standalone episode the, this is not top 5 Season 1 material; however, as a contributor to “Chuck’s” overall story and mythology it’s certainly a very important and, thankfully, fun episode that builds nicely on the solid foundation established by the pilot.