Chuck: The Complete First Season

By combining the high action antics of a spy thriller, the slapstick comedy of a sitcom and the sexual tension of shows like Moonlighting or X-Files, Chuck rates as one of the best new shows of last season. The exciting opening sequence reveals a secret agent stealing files from a computer he then blows up, finally being shot dead moments after he emails said files. Computer geek Chuck Bartowski receives this email, which happens to be from ex-best friend Bryce Larkin, and gets much more than he bargained for, as the email is a collection of subliminal images containing the top secret files from a government super-computer called the Intersect, and Chuck just happens to be receptive to this data. Now an important government commodity containing all of this secret information — information that is revealed to him in flashes whenever he has contact with anything covered within those files — Chuck must keep his new job as a secret agent/super-computer hidden from friends, family and co-workers while working alongside his handlers: NSA agent Major John Casey, the man who shot and killed Bryce, and CIA agent Sarah Walker, Bryce’s prior partner (and maybe more). The two agents go undercover, taking menial jobs to watch over Chuck, with Sarah pulling double duty in the role of girlfriend. Comedy and chaos ensue, as no one is ever sure who to trust, each other included. Zachary Levi is great as everyman Chuck and the sexual tension and relationship with Australian actress Yvonne Strahovski’s Sarah (pulling off a commendable American accent) is quite believable. As is his bro-mantic relationship with Joshua Gomez’s Morgan Grimes. But really, it’s Adam Baldwin as the stone-faced Casey, forced to conform to a rather boring cover, that often steals the show. The DVD set comes complete with "declassified” scenes, a gag reel, commentaries on a few select scenes and a few other extras. It’s a good series so far but we’ll have to wait and see whether Chuck, and Chuck, will survive the rebuilding of the Intersect or the inevitable hook up with Sarah.