“Spy humor. I like that.”

- Chuck Bartowski, Chuck

Maybe spy humor is the key to why I like Chuck so much more than Reaper. Having now seen three episodes of each show, it’s definitely the former that entertains me and the latter that falls flat. Not that I’m giving up on Reaper. Luckily for it, I’ve got nothing else on Tuesdays at that time so there’s no reason not to keep watching.

The only part that made me laugh this week (other than Ray Wise) was the extension cords sight gag. It may be the first time I’ve found them using supplies from the Work Bench funny. Other than that, I spent a lot of time wondering just what’s supposed to interest me about these characters. I still like Sam but, unlike everyone else (it seems), I don’t really like Sock all that much. I kinda prefer Ben as the sidekick. And what exactly are they trying to do with Andi? In the beginning it seemed like Sam liked her and she had no clue. Now it seems overwhelmingly obvious that she likes him and he’s the one who is clueless. That’s just stupid seeing as it’s been made clear that he has a crush on her. It just ends up feeling like the writers are jerking these characters around because of how inorganic it all feels.

This, I suppose, is my overall complaint about this show So far there hasn’t been a whole lot of character development and I end up feeling like characters are just being used to service the plot. Of course all characters typically exist for this reason but, if you want me to care about them, you have to make them more interesting than “the obligatory access to public records”, ya know?

Ok, enough of that. Sorry to get into Reaper and my issues with it when all I really meant to do was tell you how much I’m enjoying Chuck. The characters having a bit more to them is a large part of why. For instance, I want to know what the story behind Chuck and the girlfriend Bryce stole from him and whether that was connected to those stolen tests. I’m interested in whether Sarah really does like him or if she just sees him as her one link to her dead partner. What exactly did Casey do to get himself stuck babysitting Chuck? With those three characters alone, I’ve got reasons to keep watching. Plus, again unlike everyone else, I actually like Morgan. It helps that he does seem to want the best for his friend. And I adore the sister and Captain Awesome. I’m drawn in by that family dynamic. Plus, the nerds at Buy More are great background characters.

I’ve been amused by the week to week storylines so far but world that’s been built is actually interesting enough to keep me coming back for more even if I don’t like the mission of the week. For me, that’s key. Well that and the show makes me laugh and I seem to be gravitating towards humor this season.

So, how did the show amuse me this week? The new credit sequence for one. I love how fun it is! The use of Cake would probably have been enough for me but the James Bondesque graphics were pretty darn nifty too. Greg and I were just talking about how the trend these days is to just use a title card and that’s it. That’s fine for one or two shows but, much like a great theme song, a great credit sequence can draw people into a show. I love that the one they came up with for this show does a great job of capturing just what you can expect from the show itself.

Another thing that made me laugh way more than it should have was the way Chuck busted his old schoolmate completely by accident. In fact, I could have done with one more scene with him to bring it full circle. Although, I like that they can always do that later if they want to use him again. The great thing about Josh Schwartz being one of the minds behind this show is knowing that those types of things are likely. He’s great for dropping things into an episode that will come up again later.

I also loved the tango bits from how Captain Awesome learned his tangoing skills to him teaching Chuck to Chuck realizing he learned the girl’s part of the dance to La Ciudad being happy to lead. I suppose it goes without saying that Casey’s deadpan delivery about how he never jokes about Chuck’s life was pretty freakin’ hilarious in retrospect. As was Sarah’s confusion over why Chuck learned the tango and wanting to know if he and Casey were talking in code.

They make me laugh those two. If it’s not Casey popping up as the limo driver to the bartender, it’s Sarah loading herself up with all kinds of weapons. The two of them skipping down the hall holding hands makes me kind of hope that we get some Sarah/Casey undertones in the future because they were all kinds of cute.

I will say that I was confused by Chuck’s visions in this episode. As I understand it, Chuck doesn’t actually have a computer in his brain so much as he just has all of this connected information in there. If that’s the case, how is it he saw the MI-6 guy? I couldn’t tell for sure whether the timeline for when the painting was exchanging hands was meant to have happened before Chuck opened Bryce’s email. That’s the only way Chuck to explain Chuck having a visual for him but I was still confused as to how he’d know about that and Sarah and Casey wouldn’t? I guess I don’t quite understand where all the info Chuck downloaded into his brain originates from. If it’s coming from intelligence databases everywhere, I suppose it would make sense that British intelligence would have the MI-6 intel and Chuck’s brain was merely connecting it to the US intel that existed. Oy. I need to not pay so much attention to this portion of the show.

In conclusion, I thought this was great episode and I can’t wait for next week’s. This show has quickly become one of those shows that can brighten my day just because it’s on that night. Good thing because, while I watch a lot of TV, the number of shows that have that effect on me has diminished over the past few season. I’m happy to finally be adding to the list again.

ETA: I forgot to mention how much I liked the juxtaposition of Chuck started with a fake gun aimed at him and by the time the episode finished it was a real gun. What can I say, I appreciate those kinds of things and, yes, I’m weird.

On my schedule for tonight: Pushing Daisies, Private Practice, Bionic Woman, Life, and Dirty Sexy Money