The parcheesi of my people

It was the last Chuck of 2007, and while we have to wait until January for more, it was a pretty good one to go out on, don't you think? A Christmas holiday party, Chuck in a tux drinking a martini, Sarah in a bikini, and Casey's usual quips.

Ah yes, Major John Casey... much is obviously given to the conflict of interest in the relationship between Chuck and Sarah, and Casey even lectures Sarah to that end, but there's much to the relationship between Chuck and Casey as well. Even though he's still obviously in a supporting role here, Adam Baldwin (playing Casey) was given a spotlight of sorts, to help hint at some sort of internal conflict over his job to both protect and eventually terminate Chuck. Subtle, to be sure, but under Casey's macho exterior lies a beating hear to be sure, and Chuck has to have grown on him. What happens at the moment Casey's called upon to do the job should be the real climax of this first season -- if we even get to it, thanks to the writer's strike.

Speaking of climax, seeing Casey clean his 1985 Ford Crown Victoria (to the obscure Henry Turner's Crystal Band song "Giving My Love Up To You,") was a bit much for the eyes, but hearing him say "you bet it's shiny" gave me a little Firefly thrill. It's also worth pointing out here that they used a black Crown Victoria as the vehicle of choice in Men in Black, and while that one turned into a rocket ship, they both had a nice prisoner containment unit. RIP Crown Vic, we barely knew ya.

Musically, there was some fun to be had, with the opening scene involving recently converted Lester taking the other Buy More grunts' money playing dreidel like a game of dice all to Nelly's "Pimp Juice." "This is the parcheesi of my people!" he intones when his rules are challenged by Anna. Tonight's the first night of Hanukkah (Happy Hanukkah!) so it's appropriate to address the mystery of Lester's conversion Judaism, readdressed in the episode. Since Schwartz didn't make Chuck Jewish (even thought that Zach Levi is) it's interesting to see him comically interject Judaism via the character you'd last think to be Jewish. Like calling Jeff 'bubalah', Yiddish for 'sweetheart' or getting politically correct with the boss on calling the party a 'holiday' party. Speaking of the party, it was great hearing some "Christmas in Hollis" from Run-DMC, probably my favorite Christmas song ever recorded.

Another song that played early on, was Burl Ives singing "Holly Jolly Christmas" which is only significant in that in the background scenes in the Buy More, they showed a couple Rankin-Bass classics on the television screens, including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in which the song famously appeared. The other one they showed a tiny bit of was The Year Without A Santa Claus, and while it wasn't the Miser brothers, seeing Jingle and Jangle Bells had me feeling a bit of synergy with my post from yesterday.

Playlist: Chuck - Episode 1.11
1. "Pimp Juice" - Nelly - Lester takes money playing dreidel
2. "Have A Holly Jolly Christmas" - Burl Ives
3. "Deck The Halls" - First Com
4. “Giving My Love Up To You“ - Henry Turner’s Crystal Band - Casey lovingly washes his 1985 Ford LTD Crown Victoria
5. "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" - First Com
6. "I Saw Three Ships" - First Com
7. "Christmas In Hollis" - Run DMC - The Buy More holiday party kicks off
8. "Melt with You" - Modern English - The Buy More holiday party

Previously: Klingon and Kevlar (Episode 1.10)