Chuck season 4 episode 4 review: Chuck Versus The Coup D’Etat
Billy wonders if the charm of Chuck has finally run its course after the latest episode...
4.4 Chuck Versus The Coup D’Etat
Last week, I made murmurings about the viewing figures on Chuck and how, if they didn’t spark into life, then season 4 would be shorter than the rest, and the last.
I said those things with a slight frustration, because that episode, that many viewers from the previous week didn’t tune in to, was actually rather good. Now, with Chuck Versus The Coup D’Etat I’m in a bind, because this wasn’t a great Chuck story and that’s one third of the allotted shooting schedule done already.
It wasn’t that Chuck Versus The Coup D’Etat didn’t have its moments, but coming on the back of the previous revisiting of old characters, this one followed exactly the same formula.
The episode this one sequelled was Chuck Versus The Angel De La Muerte, episode 3 from last season, where Armand Assante strutted around as likeable dictator Allejandro Fulgencio Goya. He’s back, and this time he’s got wife problems in the expressive form of Tia Texada, understandably.
For me, and I’m sure others liked it, most of the gags fell rather flat and Goya wasn’t the most memorable of Chuck’s previous encounters. It was all a little too romantic comedy and a bit too far away from the fun spy romp that I actually enjoy.
We also seem to be getting into a mode where Chuck goes around effectively saying goodbye to characters, like everyone on this show knows it’s done and dusted already.
My other concern is that we’ve now had four episodes and Linda Hamilton only appeared in the first, which, considering she’s the ‘big’ guest star of this season, doesn’t bode well. If she bookends what episodes we get in season 4, I’ll be mightily annoyed, because like him or loathe (as I did) Brandon Routh, at least he was in a good number of episodes last season. The trailer for the next episode has her in it. Please don’t let it be like the last time, for about 10 seconds!
Was there any redemption in here for geeks? Well, Morgan and Big Mike are always entertaining, but the only bit that I really liked was a really odd piece of reference material involving a statue of Devon that Goya has constructed in deference.
What suddenly stuck me about this was that there was an episode of Firefly, called Jaynestown, where they come across an outpost where there is a statue to Jayne, who was played by Adam ‘Casey’ Baldwin. Now, it might entirely be coincidence, but it’s a very odd one if it is.
Beyond that, I’m now getting concerned that after fighting its corner for three seasons, Chuck is already accepting the inevitable and throwing in the towel. That’s not the Chuck I want. It’s the one that goes down all guns blazing that I’d like to see.
The viewing figures of 5.35 million are just 10,000 down on the Cubic Z, so we will see what happens to those numbers when Chuck goes up against the Couch Lock next week.
Read our review of episode 3, Chuck Versus Cubic Z, here.
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