Customer Reviews

Chuck Versus the Imported Hard Salami

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"Chuck versus the Imported Hard Salami" is further evidence that this show, which started well, has continued to improve as it goes along. My initial concern was that the show would succumb to the temptation of embracing an episodic format. That fear is turning out to be unfounded. I should add that my own bias -- which amounts to a conviction -- is that the serial format is vastly superior to the episodic. Movies are by their very nature episodic. Television is superior to movies specifically because of its narrative advantage to film. Movie can tell a short narrative; television can stretch a narrative over years and take it to a degree of depth and detail that no movie can rival. So, to embrace an episodic format is to refuse to embrace television's natural superiority to movies.

The first few episodes of CHUCK were almost entirely episodic. Furthermore, I wasn't confident that there was much possibility of an ongoing narrative. But now we have some nice ongoing story arcs in play. One revolves around Bryce, Chuck's former Stanford roommate, who not only was responsible for Chuck getting kicked out of Stanford and for receiving the contents of the CIA database but also had a romance with Sarah. The other arc revolves around Chuck's increasing attraction to Sarah and her mutual, but hidden, attraction to Chuck. The final seconds of this episode dramatically complicates both of these arcs.

Both this and the previous episode were enlivened by a welcome guest appearance by Rachel Bilson, who previously starred on Josh Schwartz's first hit show, THE O.C. as Summer. Although her short arc was wrapped up it isn't impossible that she could return from time to time.