Remember in Superman III when Richard Pryor’s red kryptonite ray split Superman into evil Kal-El and heroic Clark Kent? That’s a good analogy for what wunderkind TV-show creator Josh Schwartz did following his live-fast-die-young debut series The O.C., coming up with both the sinful Gossip Girl and virtuous Chuck.
Though GG’s Upper Eastsiders became instant sensations, Chuck’s eponymous geek hero has struggled in the ratings, only narrowly escaping cancellation after its first and second seasons (’07-’08 and ’08-’09). But things are finally turning around for the charming action-comedy-drama-romance hybrid — season three kicked off this past Sunday, two months ahead of schedule, with an extra half-dozen episodes. NBC even bankrolled a “No More Mr. Nice Spy” marketing campaign — helpful, as few people seemed to realize that Chuck is a spy series, especially when so much of its protagonists’ screen time is spent within the soul-crushing confines of Buy More, the sardonically named big-box electronics store where Chuck works.
So, let’s do a previously-on: imagine Seth Cohen as a comic-book spy whose cover job is IT tech. Chuck Bartowski (the immensely likeable Zachary Levi) was in the throes of a quarter-life crisis after being booted from Stanford and winding up working for Buy More’s Nerd Herd. Through an improbable series of events, a computer program called the Intersect, containing government secrets, was accidentally uploaded into Chuck’s brain, making him an unwitting (and unskilled) secret agent. Hilarious and explosive hijinks ensue.
Aside from early Harry Potter, the past decade’s rise of geek-pop has been about larger-than-life icons battling Big Bads in Gotham, outer space and Middle Earth. Where Chuck differs from other geek-friendly shows (Battlestar Galactica, Lost) is that our hero is not a space soldier, a sexy cyborg or a con man. Chuck is an everygeek — a creative decision which has fostered a strong bond between the franchise and its fan base, a passionate bunch who saved the show by buying Subway en masse during last spring’s finale, inspiring the sandwich chain to sponsor this season. This is not to say that Chuck lacks traditional heroes in its cast of characters: Firefly vet Adam Baldwin plays the amusingly gruff tough guy, Col. Casey, while Yvonne Strahovski is Sarah, an Alias-style butt-kicking babe.
The end of last season expanded a peripheral master plot into a multi-generational story (Quantum Leap’s Scott Bakula played Chuck’s long-lost father who, it turned out, created the Intersect technology), brought in new nemesis organization The Ring and had Chuck quit Buy More.
More importantly, Chuck received an Intersect 2.0 brain upgrade, leading him to utter Keanu Reeves’ immortal words: “I know kung fu!” Gone are the days of Chuck cowering in the car. He’s now a veritable superhero and, as this past week’s action-packed three-episode kickoff made clear, Chuck is coming out swinging.
But let’s not take this tougher new direction too far. Super-sizing the stakes is a welcome move — last season’s epic end was the series’ finest storytelling tightrope-walk yet — but it’d be a mistake to diminish the geek-subculture quotient just because Chuck can rock a Sam Sparro–soundtracked fight scene. Chevy Chase’s second-season villain character was basically Steve Jobs; Buy More-ians Jeff and Lester’s musical side project, Jeffster, went viral with their ComicCon performance of “Fat Bottomed Girls.” Scripts have always been peppered with geek-pop ephemera — using Call of Duty skills to beat bad guys; Sarah in a Princess Leia gold bikini; Tron posters; Ex Machina comics; Missile Command high scores; Dune shout-outs; Zune disses and an entire episode revolving around Rush’s “Tom Sawyer.”
Geek culture fuels Chuck’s sense of humour and provides its unique specificity, especially important during dud weekly missions. Amping the action and intensity last year paid off, so it’s smart to evolve Chuck into a super spy, albeit one learning his powers shakily, like a latter-day Greatest American Hero.
In a pop-cultural landscape filled with geek heroes, don’t forget that we still need a heroic geek.
» Chuck airs Sundays at 9pm on Citytv and Mondays at 8pm on NBC. (The Citytv slot moves to Mondays at 10pm as of March 1, after Leno bounces.)
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