5.3 Chuck Versus The Frosted Tips When I was formulating my thoughts before writing this, it struck me just how much content they’d managed to pack into the running time. Because this story not only delivered a complete mini-arc where Morgan goes to the dark side, only to be coaxed back in to the light, but it also developed the Casey/Gertrude romance, brought back Beckman and Alex, and even managed to make Jeff funny again. And, for good measure, it threw in some visual gags referencing the Matrix, offers some nicely observed stuff about fatherhood with Devon and Clara, and confronts the age-old problem of when your best friend changes into someone you no longer recognise. They also managed, even without showing him, to progress the Decker arc, by revealing that it was probably him that sent the glasses containing the malfunctioning Intersect, in an attempt to undermine Chuck. But for all these good things, and some very nice comic timing, the scene that entirely had me incapacitated was the return of Jeff to the Buy More after following Devon’s instructions not to sleep in his carbon monoxide-filled van. The steady-cam circle on the groomed Jeff smiling with the upbeat music was entirely brilliant, and delivered in an instant on the previous complete history of the character. I still fondly think back to the amazing Chuck episode where Jeff’s legendary arcade skills were explored, but his born-again persona was an entirely unexpected twist, and most welcome. Next week, Chuck gets back to his retail roots in a very Buy More-centric story, where he represents his franchise at a convention, and runs into ultimate sales person, Crazy Bob. I’d buy that for a dollar! You can read our review of Chuck season five episode two here.
