Televisionary Previews Chuck Season Premiere

Jace at Televisionary already has his advance review of the Chuck season premiere posted, and he’s going on record saying, “it’s one of the most lighthearted and funny episodes of the series in quite some time.” Here’s more from Jace:

I had the chance last night to watch “Chuck Versus the Anniversary,” written by Chris Fedak and directed by Robert Duncan McNeill, and was struck by how much humor and whimsy–and action–they managed to shoehorn into those forty-odd minutes. As I tweeted last night about the episode, “Chuck premiere: sexting, skydiving, Seinfeld references, (Harry Dean) Stanton? Sensational. Very fun opener.”

Which it is. Without giving too much away, I can say that Chuck and Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) are still very much a couple, though with some new obstacles to overcome, Chuck’s promise to Ellie to leave the spy life behind stands (or, well, sort of, anyway), and divergent plotlines end up beautifully intersecting before the end of the hour, when Chuck is forced to make a choice that could have some consequences for his current covert mission: tracking down his mother.

It’s the above task that shadows the action unfolding within “Chuck Versus the Anniversary,” but the episode is not all doom and gloom. In fact, it’s one of the most lighthearted and funny episodes of the series in quite some time, as executive producer Chris Fedak constructs an episode that equal parts Get Smart homage, gadget-influenced romantic comedy, and a high-flying, globe-hopping espionage drama that’s set against such diverse cities as Hong Kong, Moscow, and, well, Burbank. (The gang’s jet-setting lifestyle is visualized through a hilarious map gag that makes use of the credit sequence’s little stick figure man.)

(Read the full review here…)