During our three days of snow, I decided to watch Netflix-lots of Netflix. After scrolling through my comfort shows, starting a new show sounded like a good idea since I had three days to binge and drool over said show if I liked it.

According to the description, Chuck is a show about a guy named Chuck who is an underachiever who gets government secrets downloaded into his head and turns into a government asset. The description alone was what made me avoid it: it sounded dumb. So I went in thinking it would be something like the people who wrote a sitcom trying their hand at a grittier type of show.

I was wrong. Completely wrong.

Chuck is a person who got kicked out of Stanford unfairly who has had all of his confidence crushed by working at a California version of Best Buy and is the head of the Nerd Herd, a group who goes out and fixes computers. His ex-best friend who turns out to be a rogue government agent sends him an email that uses embedded pictures to implant government secrets into his head-and then the only computer holding the secrets now in Chuck’s head is destroyed.  A CIA agent, Sarah Walker (the love interest) and NSA agent John Casey are sent to protect him-but they soon realize the only way to use the information for good is to take him on missions with them, forcing Chuck to balance his spy life and real life.

The characters were great and likable.  Chuck is sweet and has a strong moral code, which conflicts often with the wants of the CIA, and makes for a likeable lead character. Sarah is an agent who uses her looks to go undercover, which distracts from the fact she is highly trained in martial artist with relationship issues.  John Casey is a tough, trigger-happy  NSA agent with a fearsome demeanor. Together, the three of them form a triad of awesome  to head up the “A” plot line. His sister, her fiance Devon (More commonly known as ‘Captain Awesome’, from the family of ‘Very Awesomes), his best friend Morgan and the Nerd Herd usually form the “B” plot, which is what is happening in Chuck’s real life and usually pretty goofy. Sometime in the episode, both storylines collide forcing Chuck to cover for himself.

The show is smart, funny, and engaging. No character is useless and the show throws out plenty of jokes without sacrificing plot. By the end of the episode, you wonder how on earth they packed so much into one episode, and it is addictive. I burst out laughing several times, whether it was at Captain Awesome’s horrible lying skills (“I didn’t pick up my phone because I was decapitating a bear!) or Casey saying everything in the same grating voice.  (“Don’t puke on the C4”) No line is wasted and you end up falling in love with the characters, no matter how bad they screw up. And every character grows, so the show never gets stale.

The Verdict: I loved it. Normally crime shows bore me, but I was able to sit through episode after episode, which makes itself the first show that has not been sci-fi/fantasy to make me do that. This is such an underrated show that deserves to have a bigger fanbase than it does. It’s on Netflix, so I would recommend going home and watching it-if you think you can stop at one.

How to be a deadly spy according to John Casey

Quote from the show:

“I wouldn’t do that, because I have two protectors that will come running with guns blazing when they hear my girly scream”