Chuck, November 1, 2010 Episode -- "Chuck vs. the First Fight"

[gytalf2000]

So, what did everyone think of last night's episode?

[Terminus Est]

Thanks for starting the thread. I haven't had a chance to watch the episode yet, as I was watching the Giants trounce the Rangers last night. I'll post my comments when I've had a chance to see it, later tonight.

[GargoyleWB]

Timothy Dalton was hilarious, I didn't know he had comedy chops like that in him. I hope he becomes a regular

[D_Odds]

Originally Posted by GargoyleWB

Timothy Dalton was hilarious, I didn't know he had comedy chops like that in him. I hope he becomes a regular

You must never have seen Flash Gordon.

[amarinth]

Originally Posted by GargoyleWB

Timothy Dalton was hilarious, I didn't know he had comedy chops like that in him. I hope he becomes a regular

Neither did I.

And the twist got me. In the bar, I knew he was Volkoff. By the time he got shot, I "knew" he wasn't. Either I'm a total sucker or it was very nicely done.

[h.sapiens]

I enjoyed Timothy Dalton, too. He was kind of adorable before the twisty spoilery thing happened. Morgan considering himself and Casey as a couple was pretty cute, too. Not enough Buy-Mor, though.

[Terminus Est]

Timothy Dalton was some great stunt-casting. I was expecting him, of course, to be some sort of super-spy, but then he turned out to be something of a dweeb. And he was a really great dweeb, too; like Chuck before the Intersect. Then he becomes the Big Bad for this season, and he's also really good at that. His final confrontation with Chuck should be pretty epic.

[gytalf2000]

Originally Posted by Terminus Est

Timothy Dalton was some great stunt-casting. I was expecting him, of course, to be some sort of super-spy, but then he turned out to be something of a dweeb. And he was a really great dweeb, too; like Chuck before the Intersect. Then he becomes the Big Bad for this season, and he's also really good at that. His final confrontation with Chuck should be pretty epic.

I thought he was great as a "mousy-type" guy, too. Great actor!

[GuanoLad]

It was great fun. The season needs a big enemy to focus on, too, as it has wavered a little without one thus far. Timothy Dalton was brilliant; it's a shame Tuttle won't reappear.

[Wheelz]

This episode should have been totally epic. Timothy Dalton! Ana Gasteyer! Volkov finally revealed! Ellie meets with her mother! A big-ass explosion! And a big turning point in the season's plot arc.

But -- I don't know -- the whole thing just felt kind of meh. Maybe it's just me, but the episode left me flat.

Perhaps it's because Chuck and Sarah are the real heart of the show, and nothing at all about their fight or the resolution thereof seemed to ring true. There was a lot of talk about their feelings, but no actual feeling, IMO.

[Terminus Est]

Originally Posted by Wheelz

This episode should have been totally epic. Timothy Dalton! Ana Gasteyer! Volkov finally revealed! Ellie meets with her mother! A big-ass explosion! And a big turning point in the season's plot arc.

But -- I don't know -- the whole thing just felt kind of meh. Maybe it's just me, but the episode left me flat.

Perhaps it's because Chuck and Sarah are the real heart of the show, and nothing at all about their fight or the resolution thereof seemed to ring true. There was a lot of talk about their feelings, but no actual feeling, IMO.

I rather liked Chuck and Sarah's fight while they were fighting the baddies. It was a welcome change from the usual Chuck angst. There wasn't any real resolution, though, which is probably what you're looking for.

[Hentor the Barbarian]

Originally Posted by Wheelz

This episode should have been totally epic. Timothy Dalton! Ana Gasteyer! Volkov finally revealed! Ellie meets with her mother! A big-ass explosion! And a big turning point in the season's plot arc.

But -- I don't know -- the whole thing just felt kind of meh. Maybe it's just me, but the episode left me flat.

Perhaps it's because Chuck and Sarah are the real heart of the show, and nothing at all about their fight or the resolution thereof seemed to ring true. There was a lot of talk about their feelings, but no actual feeling, IMO.

I agree. I'm not sure why, but I'm losing interest in the show and I used to love it. In part, it seems like the show lurches too much in terms of major developments, kind of in the way that you describe above. I also have tired of the "flash/I can't flash" stuff, and the fact that his only flashing these days seems to be flashing on an ability to do martial arts.

In conjunction with the lurching about on plot points, the Ellie-and-the-Mustang thing was both like that and also unbelievable at the same time. Suddenly Ellie is searching car ads and noticing this recurring ad for a Mustang? Why is she looking for them and taking note of this? It just so happens that when she meets with her mother, her mother's fond recollection involves going for rides in the Mustang? Also, nobody ever answered this ad for the Mustang before? Nobody checked out the Mustang and took the card that was propped on the gear shift in the middle of the car? Also, what middle seat? There's no middle seat for Ellie to have curled up in.

Yeah, not real tight writing is why I think this show has jumped the "meh."

[Snooooopy]

Originally Posted by Hentor the Barbarian

I agree. I'm not sure why, but I'm losing interest in the show and I used to love it. In part, it seems like the show lurches too much in terms of major developments, kind of in the way that you describe above. I also have tired of the "flash/I can't flash" stuff, and the fact that his only flashing these days seems to be flashing on an ability to do martial arts.

Well, they don't bother showing us the scenes where Chuck flashes on some groovy sex manual while he's alone with Sarah. I think they're saving those as extras for the DVD sets.

[TBG]

Originally Posted by FalconFinder

The disk is just triangular on the outside, there would be just a small disk inside. It wouldn't hold much info, but it could work.

Originally Posted by GuanoLad

Yeah, it's just the enclosure that's weird shaped, like a key for their particular drive. The disk is still a disk. Not unlike these.

Nope, explanation doesn't work. The disk was essentially a floppy with part chopped off. You could see the little opening where the read head would read the internal magnetic part, and there's just no way, as depicted, it could work. The interior would be too large to spin within the outer casing of the disk.</nerd>

[TBG]

I wonder how Orion's lab, which had been abandoned for years, had a PSP in it for Frost to flash Chuck with.

I also wonder how in the hell a triangular floppy disk would work. (Short answer, it wouldn't)

But these are minor nitpicks, I still really liked the ep.

Dalton was awesome and while I'd figured out he was a baddie before the reveal, I never suspected he was Volkov.

[FalconFinder]

The disk is just triangular on the outside, there would be just a small disk inside. It wouldn't hold much info, but it could work.

[GuanoLad]

Yeah, it's just the enclosure that's weird shaped, like a key for their particular drive. The disk is still a disk. Not unlike these.

[Smeghead]

I really wish they'd have the guts to just make Chuck's mom evil, flat out, and leave it at that, instead of this constant back and forth and back and forth leading to the inevitable revelation that she was good all along, which is where it's obviously going to end up.

[Sam Stone]

Did anyone else catch the M*A*S*H reference with Tuttle? "There is no Tuttle..."

[Saltire]

At the end of last season, I predicted that Chuck would end up with his dad's technical and psychoprogramming abilities from his last update. He didn't, but I'm renewing my guess. I think he'll discover a bunch of the stuff that was blown up at the end of this episode is now in his head due to his mom's upload.

He probably won't be able to build an Intersect from scratch, but I wouldn't be surprised if he suddenly understands some how it works, and maybe will know how to do his own upgrades.

[Smeghead]

I don't think his mom uploaded anything. I think she deactivated what was in his head. Luckily, though, there appears to be a replacement/upgrade riding underneath his dad's car waiting to be found.

[Wheelz]

I pictured it kind of like the second figure down on this page. Not the most efficient design, certainly, but how would that not work?

[TBG]

Originally Posted by Wheelz

I pictured it kind of like the second figure down on this page. Not the most efficient design, certainly, but how would that not work?

I'm not arguing a disk could never have a triangular shape, I'm arguing the disk they showed could never work.

Your pic shows one that could work, but it doesn't show the one on the episode. Here's an example of how the one in the episode would be drawn based on where the slot for the read head and hole for the spindle were located.

I'm not so sure it's an in joke so much as it's producers and prop guys just don't know how floppies worked, so they just mocked up a floppy with the sides chopped off. Either way, we've already given it a lot more time than it's worth, it was just a minor nitpick, didn't ruin the ep or anything.

[Sam Stone]

Frankly, I think the triangular disk was a little in-joke thrown in for the techie crowd. Of course, the producers should have realized that instead it would be interpreted as some kind of fail.

[Tangent]

Agreed. The fact that it couldn't possibly work is, intentionally, part of the joke.