Some of the best episodes of Chuck have taken place entirely inside the Buy More, i.e. "Chuck vs the Beard" and "Chuck vs Santa Clause", so this episode already had some high expectations that were increased even further by the return of two past guest stars, Nicole Richie and Steve Austin. While the episode was still good and, it still left much to be desired, especially in its subplots.
-Let's just jump straight to the major subplot: the video game release. First off, I'm pretty sure the writers could've come up with a title for a giant blockbuster game that people are camping out a week in advance for that's better than "Spy Hunter". "Spy Hunter II" would have even been much better. Anyways, this subplot was sometimes boring, very predictable, frustrating because the characters were procrastinating in a way that just makes the situation worse to the point where they just come off as idiots, and it didn't make sense. Don't stores get their shipments in at least a couple days in advance? I doubt they show up an hour before a midnight release. It was basically just a giant plot contrivance so they could show a father-son type bond between Morgan and Big Mike. Speaking of Big Mike...
-...this was the first time we've seen him this season and his appearance was quite underwhelming. His "Fatherness" towards Morgan came off as cheesy and just felt out of character, which was unfortunate because, as previously mentioned, the subplot was basically just a giant plot contrivance to show this. Speaking of plot contrivances...
-...the ring falling into the room right in the middle of Chuck and Sarah's "talk" at the end of the episode just seems to indicate there will be frustration with the Chuck/Sarah relationship next episode (and unfortunately, the episode preview seemed to confirm this). I applaud the writers' restraint to not have it fall directly into Chuck's hand, but the event is still just ridiculous and, unless Chuck quickly discovers it's Big Mike's ring and easily explains it to Sarah, it will just prove to be another unnecessary roadblock.
- Two old foes returned this week (something Chuck needs more of, if you ask me) played by Steve Austin and Nicole Richie. I like the idea that Steve Austin was primarily trying to kill Nicole Richie (as you can tell, I don't remember the characters names) instead of going straight for Chuck and Sarah. Richie is very good playing the snarky bitch, but not so good when her lines require anything else (and even some of the bitchy dialogue she was given was just poorly written, "Thanks for that, movie dork. I bet you have like a Tron poster in your room" was way too tongue-in-cheek) and Steve Austin, well...he didn't really speak for the entire episode and, frankly, didn't need to. The fight between him and Chuck at the end was one of the most memorable action scenes I think the show has had in the past year, with both characters randomly grabbing for the nearest heavy object to smash on the others' head. I also like the fact that Chuck didn't win the battle and it was, in fact, Big Mike and his tazer that brought him down.
- I'm confused by the concept of "Greta". Right now, it basically seems like a cameo role. But the weird thing is the concept hasn't been addressed or explained at all in the show, even though Morgan described Stacy Kiebler as "the new Greta". People who watch the show and don't feverishly pay attention to guest stars are going to have no idea what he's referring to. And even people who pay attention to the casting only have a vague idea of the concept.
8.4/10
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