Chuck vs. The Predator. A review

This week Chuck delved a little deeper into its mythology and we got some pretty big reveals. Firstly: Orion. The nebulous figure that we heard about a few episodes ago finally made himself visible in the Chuck world. Kinda. When he wasn’t dressed as a much-less-creepy Rorschach (minus the headsock), he appeared on Chuck’s computer, binary-style!

Here’s what we know about Orion: he created the intersect, and until he got himself all blown up, he was very much willing to get the intersect out of Chuck’s head. I was surprised they’d bring out Orion this early in the game but it was nice to know, once and for all, that he was on the right side of the battle between the good guys and the bad guys. But I was also pretty surprised that they’d go and kill him in the same episode we met him. We hardly knew ya, Orion.

My theory on the identity of Orion is that we’ve already met him. Now, I don’t have much to go on with this, but why keep his identity a secret if he was just going to get killed anyway? The fact of the matter is that Orion isn’t going to be rising from the dead any time soon, but he’s still a mystery which means he still has to be “solved.” And wouldn’t it be more exciting if when we do see him again it’s with a face we’re already familiar with?

If we have seen Orion before then the real question is, who is he? I won’t even go out on a limb and say Bryce, cuz that would just be too crazy a twist that doesn’t make much sense. But then that leaves me with nary a candidate so I may just be wrong on this theory. We’ll have to wait and see, I guess.

The other big reveal of the night was a flesh-and-blood General Beckman! She finally stepped out from behind her desk and made an appearance in Chuck’s world, and as he noticed, General Beckman is a tiny, tiny person. Props to Bonita Friedericy for looking so fierce (sleek coat, ma’am!) even when being the diminutive one beside giants Yvonne Strahovski and Adam Baldwin. But even in person the General is still her old, frigid self. She doesn’t want the intersect to ever come out of Chuck’s head and she wants him to be a full-fledged spy in the war between the CIA and Fulcrum. I say it’s a bit harsh to make Chuck a spy without giving him any proper training, but I suppose that adds to the drama.

And finally we (kinda) got to see the Fulcrum bigwigs. They were lined up at a table like the Final Five cylons, only instead of glowing white they were left in the shadows. This was our first glimpse at the heads of Fulcrum but we didn’t get much substantial stuff to really figure them out yet. The only verdict I’ve got is: they’re spooky.

Aside from those new aspects, the episode was just ok. Not terrible, but not terribly fantastic either. One of the things that continues to annoy me is Chuck’s lack of trust in Sarah. We’ve seen it time and again in previous episodes and I guess that says something for continuity, but it’s becoming a problem for me if only because of Sarah’s unconditional trust in Chuck. When Chuck saw Sarah-- through the peep cam into Casey’s place-- he was only coming in at the middle of a conversation when he decided that she was so easily willing to betray him. Tut tut, Chuck. Tut tut.


Other notables from the ep:

- Love that they continued with Lester’s kiss-assness by making him an admirer of the Beverly Hills BuyMore crew.

- Jeff’s office. Awesome.

- The mix-up at the BuyMore with the two teams trying to steal the computer wasn’t just hilarious (Sarah’s reaction to Jeff’s revelation about wetting himself? Come on!) but it was a great way of making Chuck’s two worlds collide. And when his normal life comes into contact with his spy life is when the show works best.

- We really didn’t need to see/hear Big Mike and Bologna getting it on. But it was worth it to see the perfectly apt photo of Morgan next to the bed. Niiice.

- Chuck reads “Ex Machina”! They’re packing in the Brian K. Vaughan references, which is always nice.

- And finally, we got a tease of something that’s coming to a head, which is Chuck and Sarah’s connection, and Beckman finally noticing it. By the next episode we’re going to see the consequences of those actions and I can’t wait!