CHUCK: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON

By: Iggy Michniacki on 1.21.2010

The Movie Itself:
After just two seasons, Chuck has developed quite a following. The show is popular amongst those who watch it and with good reason. Even though the show falls short on a few key parts to a successful televisions series, it is fun, original and entertaining...and that’s all that really matters anyways.

Chuck: The Complete Second Season starts of, basically, where Season 1 left off. We’ve come to know Chuck (Zachary Levi) who works for the Nerd Herd at the local Buy More. His best friend Morgan Grimes (Joshua Gomez) works there as well, and he lives with both his sister, Ellie (Sarah Lancaster), and her fiancé, Devon ‘Captain Awesome’ Woodcomb (Ryan McPartlin), who work in the medical field. Oh, by the way, Chuck is ‘The Intersect,’ housing top secret information in his brain that are triggered by seeing components of said information.

At the end of Season 1, Major John Casey (Adam Baldwin) and Agent Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski) were asked to get rid of ‘The Intersect,’ but due to their growing relationship with Chuck, and their use in his ability to stop certain crimes due to his secret information, they couldn’t and wouldn’t get the job done. Instead, a training session was in order, and Chuck would need to move from nerd with the information to a secret agent himself.

Season 2 leads Chuck to spy school as well as balancing his life with the Nerd Herd and taking on each mission as they are strategically hurled at them weekly. However, even with all the missions and training, the biggest hurdle for Chuck is keeping his spy life and personal (real) life separated. His friends and sister have zero knowledge of his spy career, for their protection of course, and it takes every last effort for Chuck, Casey and Sarah to keep it that way.

As an avid viewer of the first season, I can say that Chuck: The Complete Second Season shows much improvement over the first. Although some of the negatives transfer over to this lengthy, twenty-two episode, season, some of what plagued the first season has disappeared. The acting, which at times was horrible in the first season, sees much improvement due to both of the lead actors being more comfortable in their roles and with each other and the fact that more,big names made some interesting appearances (including Michael Clarke Duncan, Morgan Fairchild, Chevy Chase, Jerome Bettis, Jenny McCarthy, and Andy Richter).

Along with the acting, the writing seems a bit more consistent. Every episode of the first season stood on its own without a need for another, meaning you could catch an hour whenever you felt like it. Now, in Season 2, a more consistent flow is present as Chuck develops, or at least tries to develop, into a spy and relationships progress. Season 2 offers everything from failing spy school, to a marriage, to moving in together (and buying a DeLorean), to lost family members being explained.

Not only are the episodes more rounded with a flowing plot throughout the season, each episode offers something different and the writing staff does a very interesting tactic of referencing many classic movies throughout the season, with some episodes seeming to be in direct relation with a couple of big movies. This all makes sense, as Chuck: The Complete Second Season is just one big spoof anyways, putting a comedic twist on all the big spy movies, especially James Bond.

After enjoying the first season on television it was a treat to sit down to a solid twenty-two episodes of Chuck: The Complete Second Season, and there is much reasoning why the fan base continues to grow for this series. Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak did a great job coming up with a show that offers plenty of entertainment, with an original feel yet a spoof attitude throughout the series. Anybody looking for some fun, should be able to find it here.
Rating: 7/10

The Presentation:
The Blu-ray release of Chuck: The Complete First Season was largely a dissapointment when it came to the presentation. Video and audio were both sub par, and many fans of the show were not pleased with the way Warner Brothers treated the kick-off to the series. Well, fans, expect much of the same… although slightly better.

The video is presented in full 1080p via a VC-1 codec that sees a slight bump compared to what can be seen with Season 1. The video suffers from consistency more than anything, with each episode ranging from strong to far away from strong. The picture is a mess, full of artifacts, defects, and noise. Detail suffers, as one moment it can seem quite strong and the next it seems to soften up and lose its luster. The difference from one scene can be as different as night and day, but there is still enough there that can keep this from being completely horrendous. The colors are bright and vibrant adding to the look of the season and the scenes that do look good, look far greater than anything on television.

The audio is stereo… well, that’s what it sounds like much of the time. Chuck: The Complete Second Season comes equipped with a Dolby Digital 5.1 track that is lackluster and front heavy. Front heavy might be expected from a television series, but this isn’t a dialogue filled drama. This show is full of action sequences, explosions, comedic messes, and all around crazyness. The sound doesn’t keep up with it, unfortunately as much of the audio seems to work its way out through only the front stereo speakers. Even the center channel is questionable at times. The subwoofer, however, is the speaker that gets the job done; sometimes, too much of it. Warner made sure that the explosions were loud, and they were (at least the front half).

With all the bad I can say about the presentation of Chuck: The Complete Second Season, I can say fans will be pleased that there is an upgrade from what would be found on DVD and more importantly, Warner is showing improvement as the presentation sees improvement from Chuck: The Complete First Season.
Rating: 5/10 (video 5/10, audio 5/10)

The Extras:
Chuck: The Complete Second Season comes with enough extras to keep the masses entertained. The most notable special feature is the inclusion of two pairs of 3D glasses that can be used to watch the episode that aired after the Super Bowl last year. The biggest complaint that can be said here is the amount of standard definition material on board… isn’t Blu-ray a high definition format?

• Truth, Spies and Regular Guys (HD, 21 minutes)
• Dude in Distress (SD, 18 minutes)
• Declassified Scenes (SD, 37 minutes)
• Real-Life Captain Awesome Tips for Being Awesome (SD, 3 minutes)
• So You Want to Be a Deadly Spy? (SD, 3 minutes)
• Chuck Versus the Chuckles (SD, 8 minutes)
• Chuck Versus the Webisodes

Overall:
One can look past the fact that McG is an executive producer and find plenty of fun and entertainment in Chuck: The Complete Second Season. The Blu-ray has improvement written all over it, with a nice-sized upgrade from the television broadcast and a slightly better treatment than Season 1 received. Mixing in a nice amount of extras, fans shouldn’t hesitate going with the high definition version on home video; and those without any Chuck experience should look into both seasons on Blu.
Rating: 6/10