Chuck vs the Nacho Sampler: Mish with the Manoosh

Fresh off last week's solo "mish," the evolution from Geek to Spy again moves quickly* this week for Chuck. For an episode that is still really meant to set up future episodes, there was a lot of fun to be had, and I keep thinking how much I enjoyed this episode, and yet it's the lesser of the first six we've seen in the show's third season.

*The opening scene with flashback to the pilot, while initially a setup for Kristen Kreuk's entrance (to Datarock's "Amarillion"), was a great illustration of just how far Chuck (and, for that matter, Chuck) has come.

Acting like a parallel to season one highlight "Chuck vs. the Sandworm," "Nacho Sampler" not only has Chuck helping a fellow geek, Manoosh (played by aerospace engineer, standup comedian, end fellow Seattle native Fahim Anwar), but also revisiting similar geek cultural touchstones (Battlestar Galactica, Y: The Last Man). In the end, though, Chuck is a long ways from season one, perhaps too far from it.

Musically, besides the Datarock opening, hearing my old karaoke stand-by "Rock the Casbah" backing (the hilarious) Weap-Con was delightfully reminiscent of the Clash's video for it. Also noticed some of Tim Jones' score harkened back to "Chuck vs the Cougars," the Tangerine Dream-like ominous bits that semed like an homage to Risky Business.

Playlist: Chuck - Ep3.06
1. "Amarillion" - Datarock
2. "Danny Trejo" (feat. Niña Dios)" - Plastillina Mosh
3. "Merrymaking at My Place" - Calvin Harris
4. "Rock the Casbah" - The Clash
5. "40 Day Dream" - Edward Sharp & the Magnetic Zeros

Previous: Chuck vs First Class

Chuck: Not Quite Awesome

Normally, I'd get my geek on and go on about all the cultural references, but this episode left me mostly 'meh'. I expected more especially after hearing 80's TV stars Morgan Fairchild and Bruce Boxleitner were going to be playing the Awesomes, parents to Devin ("Captain Awesome" - the awesome apple doesn't fall far from the awesome tree). The choice sounded very much like the fun casting that Nip/Tuck pulled off the past couple seasons.

The music choices were great, however, albeit only in the way that the music was good, not necessarily in how it matched up with content. Hearing the frenetic acronym tossing from Norway's Datarock on "New Song" was nice, but the lyrics of "FBI CIA EMI TDK" backing the battle at the GLA kind of takes you out of the scene. Better was the use of "Shake Some Blood," from the somewhat obscure Dave Grohl project Probot. Hearing Lemmy (Motorhead) on vocals during a fight scene is always a worthy choice.

Chuck - Episode 2.09
1. "The New Song" - Datarock
2. "Shake Your Blood" - Probot (featuring Lemmy on vocals, Dave Grohl on drums)
3. "Don't Worry" - Love as Laughter

Here's the cult fave video for Probot's "Shake Some Blood":


Previously: Revenge Fantasy (2.08)