However, none of this prepared me for the brilliance that’s contained in their Christmas show, Chuck Versus Santa. If I was asked to identify a weakness in the Chuck show model it’s that usually each story has a parallel track, with a storyline in the Buy More and another in the ‘spy’ world. This story avoids this issue entirely by having only one plot, all set in the Buy More, but with all the main cast members there to create a classic ensemble piece. This creates a situation where Sarah and Casey must protect Chuck, but without alerting all the people he knows that they’re secret agents. That statement belies a comedy masterstroke, but it’s one of the elements of pure brilliance that makes this Chuck episode work almost better than any other I’ve witnessed. The first stroke of genius is the casting, which includes three people that made me giggle like a girl to see in this show. The first is Ned, played by the superb Jed Rees, who you might recall as Teb in Galaxy Quest. He sells the man overtaken by the festive season really well, down to letting Chuck make all of the key hostage situation decisions. And then we have the attending Police Officer, Al Powell. If that name sounds strangely familiar, then it’s the same character that the same Reginald VelJohnson played in Die Hard (and Die Harder?) twenty years ago. He’s still eating Twinkies, and best of all – he’s known as ‘Big Al’, the brother of Big Mike. That leaves only one of the best movie and TV heavies to play the hostage negotiator, Frank Mauser (Michael Rooker of JFK, Cliffhanger, Mallrats). There are two scenes, though, that elevate the whole show in my estimation. The first is when Ned decides to let two people go, and picks Sarah and Casey (because Ned accidentally shot one of Casey’s toes off). Chuck immediately objects to Sarah going, much to the general consternation of the others. Zachary Levi plays this moment amazingly, as he fights to come up with a good reason why he wouldn’t want his girlfriend out of harm’s way. The second is a bitter ending that’s conjured from what looked like a feel-good Christmas outing. Frank Mauser knows the secret of the Intersect, and he and Sarah fight in the packing lot amongst the Christmas trees. She eventually gets the upper hand, and realises that if Mauser is ever contacted by FULCRUM then Chuck’s like is over, as is the life of everyone who’s in the Buy More. She then kills him in cold blood. Unfortunately, Chuck sees the killing, although Sarah is unaware that she was observed. Chuck is mortified that the woman he loves is a killer, a surprisingly dark ending for a Christmas show. This was probably the best Chuck this year and possibly so far. People need to start watching this show, because whatever replaces it on the roster is unlikely to be as inspired or intelligent as this certainly is. Check out Billy’s review of episode 10 here. 22 December 2008
