Cybermage » Spy http://www.cybermage.se Reading & Watching Science Fiction Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:10:36 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Chuck 4.11 – Chuck vs the Balcony [TV Review] http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-4-11-chuck-vs-the-balcony-tv-review/ http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-4-11-chuck-vs-the-balcony-tv-review/#comments Wed, 19 Jan 2011 00:00:14 +0000 Cybermage.se http://www.cybermage.se/?p=12721 ...]]> Chuck returns with a sweet, heartwarming and fun episode about a man and his ring or if you want to a serious case of proposal interuptus. Everything is planed, the Champaign, the musicians, the balloons and Chuck is about to pop the question when Sarah tells him about her parents failed proposal in a similar restaurant with balloons and accidental fires. Needless to say, Chuck aborts the mission with some sweet situational comedy as result.

The episode continues in similar ways even if it includes a French Chateau, a microchip hidden in a bottle of wine, and the usual fun and games. The team is back on track.

Some moments were really hilarious like when Casey has to play Chuck’s manservant. Lester is also having marriage problems of the arranged kind and she is on her way to the Buy More. You can guess how that goes.

Another highpoint is when Sarah ambushes Morgan, I never seen her so hot. I am taking control of this mission now, Morgan you are working for me now. First Morgan and then Casey get involved in the proposal. Morgan is surprised when Casey tells him he knows what is going on. Cause I am a spy not a moron.

Casey is the Man! I am so impressed and his advice to Chuck is so Right.

But as often in Chuck it is close, so close but Sarah has her mission now…

Wow and Bravo! This show really makes me happy. I am happy you guys and gals are back!

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]]> http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-4-11-chuck-vs-the-balcony-tv-review/feed/ 1 Chuck 4.08 – Chuck vs the Fear of Death [TV Review] http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-4-08-chuck-vs-the-fear-of-death-tv-review/ http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-4-08-chuck-vs-the-fear-of-death-tv-review/#comments Wed, 17 Nov 2010 00:00:40 +0000 Cybermage.se http://www.cybermage.se/?p=11883 ...]]>

It is hard not to get a bit excited about this week’s Chuck. His mommy trashed his Intersect and now he has to find a way to get it working again. The agency calls in a gang of boffins that try to ‘lift the rock that blocks him from using the Intersect’.  The Ninjas was a nice touch.

I didn’t enjoy that part as much as I enjoyed Jefster getting creepy with the latest Greta (Summer Glau). OMG she is hot! She played a CIA assassin assigned to the Buy More and Jefster is outclassed on so many levels it is hard to know where to begin. Morgan is caught in the middle. Entertaining, Summer Glau played a different kind of creepy, of the more deadly kind. Operation Get-A-Greta involves the whole civilian staff and ends in an interrupted cage-match between Greta and Jefster where Case saves the day.

Case is grounded protecting Chuck while Sarah chases Mommy all over the world. “I wake up with my trigger finger twitching” he tells. It is like most of the stuff he does highly entertaining.

Sarah and Chuck got some downtime before he goes after the latest cure, “The Fear of Death”. He and the latest boffin go off to Switzerland and danger.

The episode ends with a cliffhanger.

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]]> http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-4-08-chuck-vs-the-fear-of-death-tv-review/feed/ 0 Chuck 4.06 – Chuck vs the Aisle of Terror? [Short Review] http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-4-06-chuck-vs-the-aisle-of-terror/ http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-4-06-chuck-vs-the-aisle-of-terror/#comments Tue, 26 Oct 2010 23:00:15 +0000 Cybermage.se http://www.cybermage.se/?p=11538 ...]]>

Sarah and Chuck’s mother meet in a gun faceoff! Awesome!

This was a very emotional rollercoaster episode with Chuck’s mom getting in touch again, Jeffster doing the Halloween decorations and Freddy Kreuger (Robert Englund) guest as professor in fear.

The cool tech was a nifty little holographic pad. The next iPad?

Chuck has some mommy issues he eventually starts to deal with only to have her snatched away from a meet with Ellie. And now he has Sarah issues, major issues coming up in that relation next week.

There were also some good lines this episode.

My mom shot me!

Chuck How did you get here? My mom dropped me off.

Next Week? My name is Bond, James Bond. I say no more. No it’s not Moore, watch the video and see for yourself.

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]]> http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-4-06-chuck-vs-the-aisle-of-terror/feed/ 1 Chuck 4.03 Chuck vs the Cubic Z http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-4-03-chuck-vs-the-cubic-z/ http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-4-03-chuck-vs-the-cubic-z/#comments Tue, 05 Oct 2010 23:00:28 +0000 Cybermage.se http://www.cybermage.se/?p=11160 ...]]>

It is time for this week’s Chuck and Sarah treat. A prison transport has unexpected engine trouble and are diverted to a secure location – the Buy More. Meanwhile Morgan the Manager prepares for game of the year. He is beyond Robert Di Nero, he is Russell Crow serious! And nobody listen to him.

Big Mike returns from soul searching and asks Morgan’s permission to marry Morgan’s mom. He even gives Morgan the ring while he thinks it over.

Chuck prepares for a mission to Monaco, the mission of a lifetime while Sarah freaks out about kids. She kicks the shit out of Casey while interrogating him about his daughter. Then the mission is canned because of the incoming prisoners.

The prisoners are old friends; well maybe old enemies are more correct. Hugo Panzer and Heather Chandler are thrilled to see Chuck and Sarah again. Chuck flashes on Heather and his mother so Sarah and he try a bad cop – silent cop routine on Heather but she keeps unbalancing Sarah.

Meanwhile Hugo Panzer breaks out, goes on a rampage and decks Gretchen and Casey. He is out to kill Heater. Chuck, Sarah and Heather escapes up the ventilation shafts where a merry go round chase commence. It ends with a firefight on the roof.

Heather turns around and tells Chuck about Frost, his mother’s code name.

Morgan faces a riot from angry customers but is saved by Big Mike who forgives him for losing the engagement ring in the chaos.

The ring bounces down the ventilation shaft, down to the Castle where Chuck and Sarah finally have a heart to heart talk about Sarah’s fears for kids and they both agree to take it slow when the ring lands and Chuck picks it up, holds it out, and that is such a cliffhanging ring moment to end with.

It was a wonderful fun episode with just the right mixture of banter, action, and a little drama.

Next week is travel time for Chuck, Sarah, Ellie and Awesome when they go visit a banana republic and its thankful leader and his new to us wife. There was something in the fine print about a coup too.

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]]> http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-4-03-chuck-vs-the-cubic-z/feed/ 1 Chuck 4.02 – Chuck vs the Suitcase [TV Review] http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-4-02-chuck-vs-the-suitcase-tv-review/ http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-4-02-chuck-vs-the-suitcase-tv-review/#comments Tue, 28 Sep 2010 23:00:41 +0000 Cybermage.se http://www.cybermage.se/?p=10981 ...]]>

Chuck is one of the best shows on TV at the moment. I know there is lots of new shiny shows with complicated characters with angst up to their tonsils but this is some uncomplicated fun.

This week Chuck and Sarah go to fashion week in Milan and I have been promised a catfight between two of the most beautiful babes on TV, so shush. I like the way they always makes the girls reveal themselves in this story. I guess Awesome is the token balance guy.

The long legged model that kills a man right between the eyes is an arms dealer and they are sent there to intercept the smart bullets she stole in France.

“Women have a lot of baggage; you should be happy Walker only have a suitcase” is Casey’s chipper advice to Chuck about Sarah never unpacking.

Sarah’s unpacking is a theme of this episode, Chuck mentions it as they are about to be blown up. It is maybe not the best of last words so he ends up in the doghouse and with a naked model. But their plan to smuggle out the dress brings Chuck a big smile.

Back home Jeffster is back! Morgan discovers a critical flaw with the Buy More cover. Casey and Morgan bring Jeffster in, hilarious. Ops, Morgan let it slip to Casey he is talking to Alex…

And after that save Morgan become the new Store Manager! Wow!

This is how Sarah looks after Chuck says “Marriage, Baby, and children. Maybe we are next.” Sleep on that!

This was another good episode and we are still laying the foundation for the season so I hope for some more action next week when some old friends returns and it looks like my wish is their command if I watch the video.

Looking at the pictures this post is quite naughty, I need to better myself and get a wider selection.

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]]> http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-4-02-chuck-vs-the-suitcase-tv-review/feed/ 2 Undercovers Series Premiere [TV Review Recap] http://www.cybermage.se/10835/ http://www.cybermage.se/10835/#comments Thu, 23 Sep 2010 23:00:14 +0000 Cybermage.se http://www.cybermage.se/?p=10835 ...]]> What is it with NBC and spy shows? Do they need another? They have Chuck. Though Undercovers looks like fun CSI-level scifi action.

Outwardly, Steven Bloom and his wife, Samantha, are a typical married couple who own and operate a small catering company in Los Angeles – with help from Samantha’s easily frazzled handful of a sister, Lizzy. Secretly, the duo were two of the best spies the CIA had ever known, until they fell in love on the job five years ago and retired.

When fellow spy and good friend Leo Nash goes missing while on the trail of a Russian arms dealer, the Blooms are reinstated by boss and agency liaison, Carlton Shaw  to locate and rescue Nash. Following leads that take them to cities spanning the globe, Steven and Samantha quickly realize that perhaps this supercharged, undercover lifestyle provides exactly the kind of excitement and romance that their marriage has been missing.

New series always make me a little excited, I hope Undercovers lives up to my expectations and maybe surprise me with something I don’t expect.

Crash-bang on the door and jump down a balcony and then run up to the roof where I put the little cute memory stick in one of the chutes action sets the mood before we go all catering.

Mr and Mrs future spy are talking. We pay our employees too much. They are so good, they deserve it. Up walks a cute as a button employee and tells her boss she is making pork for the Orthodox Jewish wedding. She is her sister that explains the fine features and why she is not fired yet.

Sister opens door for old guy looking for Steven and Samantha Bloom. He looks way to nice to be a spy master which makes him the perfect spy master. He is a little dry though but it would be hard to refrain considering the airheaded greeting. I like the mode already.

Agent Leo Nash is missing. So jump-on-balconies has a name. Nash sounds familiar, like Walker. Carlton Shaw (I remember an agent Shaw too) is with the agency and he comes to offer them a job. Operation Black Swan is still in effect to capture Alexander Slotsky arms dealer, black market dealer and murderer. Oh my, he is dry, the dialog is not shabby. I like Carlton already. He leaves them morally challenged.

Back to catering a wedding they start to remember their own and getting emotional about Leo Nash. Back home they are too tired to make sweet love before sleeping.

Next day Steven looks up Mr Shaw and promise to help him as long as he doesn’t tell Samantha. Carlton silently opens the door, revealing Mrs Bloom. That’s what we have seen in the trailer so many times before.

They start to examine Leo’s case files while the kitchen manages itself like a Tonga party. They get into a conundrum when they start to talk about Leo. Sam was his partner and Steven gets a bit inquisitive about how many missions they were on together. They left all of this behind them five years ago and decided never to talk of their time in the agency, which seems like they have succeeded in doing up until now. Now they are in it together.

Oh, double cross? Mr high and dry is hiding the real reason they have been reactivated.

Off to Madrid and Leo’s safehouse. That’s a comfy looking apartment, do they pay agents well? I like the way it is no big thing with the arsenal under the bed or the research on his desk; a recite from a Café from the day before Leo’s disappearance is. My god, Samantha is so beautiful, I distract easily.

They sit down at the café only to become accosted by a fan boy who is so thrilled to be working with the legendary Mr Bloom (a few others around the square seems to be agency). Now it is Sam’s turn to be intrigued when fan boy rant on about this and that mission.

Bantering Couples is so delightful. Sam and Stevie are charming. Call me simple but I like it. They get so excited so that they want to break into a bank? Did I miss something? Ah, the camera feed from the ATM (btw it would not be called that in Spain). What’s up with the slow motion running out of the bank and the lens flare? I thought that was TM of the latest Star Trek movie.

Leo was meeting with this guy handling over documents the day before he disappeared. Lucky for them there is a logo there that leads them to a shop they break into. It is about that time Steven starts to air his doubts about Leo. While they are breaking and entering Leo is having the time of his life strapped to a chair and beaten. I guess it tops a spring pony. Humorless Russian breaks his fingers and he talks like a canary (he doesn’t look like he is broken though). Meanwhile the Blooms decide to crash a Marriage party.

Leo and I used to go out, she say before jumping out of the airplane. Got you there Stevie! They start bickering about it but not finish it before the wedding. Then they start ranting about the catering budget of this fabulous wedding. I felt that was a nice touch. They find their mark and Sam decides to do some Sexspionage to copy his phone. Uncovering the female lead seems to be the thing in today’s spy business and who am I to complain.

Meanwhile Leo is selling Big Russian guy leads.

Mr Hoyt (Also a name to remember, love of baby-vamp Jessica) is the name of the hero worshiping sidekick. How much money on that he is undercover and will betray them in the end?

Paris, here we come!

They track Nash last call to the roof and Steve has no problem finding the flash drive. Only to be surprised by another Russian with a gun. Stevie is a bit rusty there at first in the fight scene but once he knife the guy in the foot it goes better.

Old Dry bone wants them to hand over the drive but now Steven and Sam decides to go all free agents on him and handle it themselves. Considering that Shaw hasn’t been exactly upfront with them it is hard to blame them. But they don’t know that and we don’t know exactly what he is up to.

Meanwhile Slotsky is having management discussions with his staff. That’s a rough boss, and mean too. Failure is fatal.

The best crypto expert in Europe hangs outside Our Lady in Paris which is lucky for Steven and Sam. He needs six hours to decrypt the memory stick but he can locate the computer that made it to Moscow in seconds.

The vintage postcards of each city they visit are another nice touch. I wonder if they blew most of the budget on travel for the Pilot. We will see, if the rest of the season takes place in the US or really fake foreign cities we know. If they faked all these locations they did a good job.

Why do they drive ugly Russian cars, don’t they know every respectable Russian businessman drives a BMW nowadays.

Realistic time frame, they are in Moscow preparing when crypto guy calls. There was information on classified weapon systems in those files. Bummer, now they think Nash is a traitor.

They get all emotional about how they meet and how this reminds them of that. How did they meet? Over a firefight? Because that’s where I think they are heading now. They play well together. Sister calling with catering issues is going to be comic relief.

Leo doesn’t seem happy to see him. He doesn’t want to be rescued. I had that feeling all the time. So are they there to sabotage Leo’s plans? Sam turns up and their nine months together comes up before they are surprised by a Russian who dies in a hail of bullets and they have to run for it.

They hear that Slotsky is in the building and now it is Sam’s turn to go all Rambo. Talking about Rambo, the Russians have an RPG they fire at the escaping Steve and Leo. The style is really playful and they got all the toys out.

Slotsky tries to flee in his SUV and Sam goes after him in the boxy orange car. Wait a minute; I think I recognize this ‘Russian’ power plant. Another agent was here on Monday but they had no car left, they had to use the escape bus. I start to think of a Chuck-Undercovers crossover that would be something.

That woman got mad skills, when a pistol is not enough and Slotsky sprays bullets over her windscreen she unpacks the grenade launcher! Pop goes the launcher and up goes the car and the arms dealer. Who to my surprise crawls out of the car to get a signature kick on the chin from Mrs Samantha Bloom.

I was wrong Hoyt is still the adoring sidekick and Mr Dry offers the Blooms a Job. So that was the sinister plan? I am a bit disappointed. Oh, I got to smile. You can see how much it hurts inside Carlton to accept their demands to take the job.

The pilot starts in bed and ends in bed which is kind of fitting for a show that is called Undercovers.

Not bad, not bad at all. Undercovers is delightful entertainment with some sexy spy action. I don’t think there was anything in the pilot that really surprised me but I had fun watching it and I will definitely watch it next week too.

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]]> http://www.cybermage.se/10835/feed/ 0 Chuck Season Premiere [TV Review] http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-season-premiere-tv-review/ http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-season-premiere-tv-review/#comments Wed, 22 Sep 2010 12:00:55 +0000 Cybermage.se http://www.cybermage.se/?p=10768 ...]]>

4.01 Chuck vs the Anniversary

Excited is such an understatement. Chuck and all his friends are back! Let’s see what the new season has in mind for us.

Chuck asks Morgan for help. But why do they not explore the base first. It is just wrong. It is Destiny all over again. I want to see the underground base now! Okay never mind Sarah is on, what where you talking about? Sarah is going on a mission with Casey that is going to be longer than expected so it is good that they say good bye first.

New secrets! I never saw that one coming (sure). They spend four months running around the world looking for Chuck’s mom burning a lot of money so when they return to LA the bad ass repo man takes their $400 car! What amazes me is that Sarah didn’t notice that Chuck was gone for four months? She had a long mission…

They are after Marco a Russian arms dealer, they trap him but he sets off a portable EMC device blacking out half of the city. When his thugs arrive they leave by skydiving. “Good you packed the shutes”.

Morgan gets a bit creepy and suggests that Chuck should try Sexting with Sarah he even takes some photo and send off to her which will have significance later. The Buy More is back under CIA management. A real hottie meets them and Morgan tries his usual charm but she puts him in his place. Store Manager General Beckman put Chuck in his place. He is back with the CIA weather he wants it or not.

Sarah and Case is back with the EMC device for Chuck to flash on before taking off again afterwards. Sarah takes Chuck aside to ask about the picture he was sending. He explain but later on the plane she starts to think about sexting him. I don’t mind at all, she is pleasing to the eyes.

Unfortunately Casey comes back and they get gassed and taken to Moscow by Marco. As if meant to they arrive in Mosco at the same time Morgan and Chuck lands. They were following a lead from a menu to an arms dealer in Russia. This is when it gets even more fun with sexting. Sarah is tied to the chair and sends Chuck pictures with her messages and Morgan things she is sexting Chuck. SOS means skin on skin, yes.

It is not until she sends the facility and the room number that Morgan understands that they are in trouble and tell Chuck who is downloading the files about his mother. They go to the rescue in the usual Bartowski way.

It is amusing when Marco comes back and looks happy when he stops her form texting more. It is not you we are after, is those two master spies that has started to come to close the last four months. And then he starts to show them photos of Chuck and Morgan traveling the world! Sarah and Casey have interesting facial expressions.

Chuck saves them but not before he has to use an EMC bomb that destroys the files he had been downloading. The getaway bus was a sweet touch. Happy Anniversary, Honey!

Back home the gang gather in the underground base and promise to help Chuck find his mother. He is going back to work for the CIA, which he sets out to tell Ellie but she is so happy as she tells him she is pregnant that he can’t tell her. So there is going to be some lying to your family this season anyway.

Linda Hamilton gets to finish this episode and everybody that knows about her family trying to find her. That includes Marco. She is quite agile I must say.

Wonderful season premiere, lots to explore this season. Two new underground bases we get to explore next episode or so and then the epic search for Mom. I expect some forbidden love from Morgan soon to. Remember Casey’s daughter Alex…

Next week we meet the Incredible Hulk and a formidable Victoria’s Secret agent when Chuck and Sarah go to Milan

Chuck 4.02 – Chuck versus the Suitcase (NBC)

CHUCK AND SARAH TRAVEL TO FASHION WEEK IN MILAN TO RETRIEVE A HIGH-TECH SECRET WEAPON — KAROLINA KURKOVA, LOU FERRIGNO, AND ISAIAH MUSTAFA GUEST STAR — When Chuck (Zachary Levi) and Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) go undercover in Milan, Chuck realizes the “Achilles’ Heel” in their relationship, but must set personal issues aside for the mission. Meanwhile, Morgan (Joshua Gomez) recognizes a fatal flaw that compromises the new Buy More. Elsewhere, Casey struggles to put down roots in Burbank. Bonita Friedericy, Vik Sahay and Scott Krinsky also star.

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]]> http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-season-premiere-tv-review/feed/ 0 Nikita Series Premiere [TV Review Recap] http://www.cybermage.se/nikita-series-premiere-tv-review-recap/ http://www.cybermage.se/nikita-series-premiere-tv-review-recap/#comments Sat, 11 Sep 2010 01:11:25 +0000 Cybermage.se http://www.cybermage.se/?p=10471 ...]]> I expected this to be entertaining CSI-level scifi action. The premise of the show is different from the original Nikita where she is recruited from prison and made an assassin. Here we start after that with her escaped from the government agency that recruited and trained her. Now she is about to launch her crusade to stop the Division from destroying more lives.

We switch over to a young girl caught in an attempted robbery and thrown in prison and waking up in a strange facility- Alex has been recruited by Michael. “your life is over but we decided to give you a second chance”.

Switching over to a pool party with lots of young girls entertaining elder guys. Entering a hot Nikita in a red bikini. Big boss ” You have to get wet if you want to stay”. “It’s going to make taking your bodyguard out so much harder” Nikita replies before snapping his neck. Good action scene where she takes the guards out and then she gets gunned down by Michael when she tries to run away. “There is no escape”.

It was a flash back Nikita has in a car in New Jersey before she visits old ‘daddy’ Gary. He is a bit surprised because she is supposed to be dead and she starts by beating him up. She tells him about what happened to her after she run away; how she was trained to be a government assassin and how she fell in love with a civilian and they killed him. It is clear that Gary abused her in some way. She tells him because she wants him to tell them it ends now probably getting him killed at the same time.

Meanwhile Alex is processed at the base where training takes place. Nikita’s former boss Percy is there taking the phone call. He orders Michael to take her down. “I want you to confirm the kill, think you can do that this time?”. The new recruit is hassled by Jade a jaded girl that has been there a while. Alex pushes back and assault her with a fork but Jade is stopped by another recruit named Tom. It looks like new girl in high school only with more violence.

Michael and another guy visits Gary and kill him. Nikita visits Daniel’s grave and remember her time with him snuggling in bed and him presenting her with a ring she now returns to the grave. Their surveillance finds her there.

Alex meets Amanda her future trainer. They have researched her former life pretty well. Seems like Alex reinvented herself as a 14 year old Ukrainian girl to loose her accent and becoming a american misfit with a false id.

A hit squad attacks Nikita in the graveyard but she is waiting on them with a convenient substitute doll as bait. She kidnaps their handler Birkov for a little chat. He seems surprised she is coming after them. She puts him on a spring-pony to be rescued. That scene with the hit team to the rescue and him on the pony in the park was a bit amusing.

Meanwhile the teen squad is training and chatting. Operation Black Arrow and Tom is the current subject. What ? I am in murder school now?

Michael is getting nervous and wants to suspend all operations but Percy orders them to go on before going on a fund raiser.

Nikita show off some sexy legs in her digs while dressing to kill. Her computer tells her which hotel, I guess she turned someone. A well protected African leader is the target for Black Arrow. Tom starts to pick down the guards when Nikita walks in on them. Nice leather outfit. She tases the leader and put him on a serving wagon but meets one of the senior assassins on the way out but he meets the guys bodyguards, delaying him so Nikita can escape. She drives him to the UN and tells him about the plot to kill him. Division has gone rogue.

Alex is a spunky little thing. She attempts to use a pair of scissors to force Amanda to help her escape.  Bugger, she talked her down.

Fundraising time. Percy has some trouble with his government boss when Michael walks in with news of Black Arrow being foiled by Nikita. As they discuss how hard she will be to find she walks in and say hello. She used an elderly senator to get in so they have to be civil to her. “I am going to take you apart piece by piece, mission by mission” “This was to show you I can get to you where it hurts, your funding” Nikita tells Percy. He declines her ‘offer’ and raise her some backup. With two armed servers sneaking up on her behind she blows up his car with a lipstick detonator. Creating a diversion so she can disarm one of them and use him as a human shield, pop the others and escape the room.

Michael catch up with her in the back alley outside. “Get down on the ground and spread your legs” he tells her. “just like old times” she replies. The dialog is quite corny. Percy is blackmailing everyone with evidence from every mission the Division has ever made Michael explains. Nikita walks closer as they touch on sex and feelings. He offers to give her a head start but as soon as he lowers his gun she draws and shoots him. In the shoulder. “I am only trying to protect you” she says turning his offer around before running away with his pistol. He looks a bit pissed.

Percy declares hunting season on Nikita and anyone helping her putting Michael in charge and Amanda on their international assets.

Surprise, Alex is her mole. I never saw that coming. Well done.

This new series is definitely  new take on the Nikita saga. It catches a lot of the things I found entertaining with the old one while doing so. The snappy but corny dialog; the surprise appearances; her and Michaels ‘complicated’ relationship all reminds me of the last series. Alex and the revenge is new and feels like the right thing to do. Just remaking what has already been done would get old pretty fast. I like the new Nikita.

Sneak Peek of episode 1.02 – 2.0

NIKITA IS CAUGHT IN A TRAIN STATION SHOOT-OUT — Percy and Michael take their latest assignment, a Slavic leader wanted for war crimes, into protective custody. Nikita learns of their hideout and attempts to thwart their plan, but a mysterious group of mercenaries in search of nuclear material beats her to the task. Alex is activated earlier than expected for a special assignment that throws her into the crossfire of bullets. A flashback reveals a pivotal moment in Nikita’s life.

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]]> http://www.cybermage.se/nikita-series-premiere-tv-review-recap/feed/ 2 Undercovers [New This Fall] http://www.cybermage.se/undercovers-new-this-fall/ http://www.cybermage.se/undercovers-new-this-fall/#comments Tue, 07 Sep 2010 23:00:10 +0000 Cybermage.se http://www.cybermage.se/?p=9631 ...]]> Undercovers Premieres Wednesday, September 22 on NBC

What is it with NBC and spy shows? Do they need another, they have Chuck. It looks like fun CSI-level scifi action.

Outwardly, Steven Bloom and his wife, Samantha, are a typical married couple who own and operate a small catering company in Los Angeles – with help from Samantha’s easily frazzled handful of a sister, Lizzy. Secretly, the duo were two of the best spies the CIA had ever known, until they fell in love on the job five years ago and retired.

When fellow spy and good friend Leo Nash goes missing while on the trail of a Russian arms dealer, the Blooms are reinstated by boss and agency liaison, Carlton Shaw  to locate and rescue Nash. Following leads that take them to cities spanning the globe, Steven and Samantha quickly realize that perhaps this supercharged, undercover lifestyle provides exactly the kind of excitement and romance that their marriage has been missing.

Cast

  • STEVEN BLOOM (Boris Kodjoe) - When he’s not in Los Angeles balancing the books and drumming up business for Bloom Catering, Steven Bloom can probably be found in an exotic locale alongside wife Samantha, taking down terrorists and combatting imminent threats to national security. His charm and calm under pressure make him the perfect undercover agent. Throw in his martial arts training, cryptography skills, and security tech expertise, and you see why he’s one of the CIA’s top spies, and the love of Samantha’s life.
  • SAMANTHA BLOOM (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) - Samantha Bloom co-owns and runs a small catering company based in Los Angeles. Her tenacity, knife skills, and exacting standards make her the iron fist of this family business. When you add in her extensive repertoire of foreign languages, aptitude for picking locks, and ability to seduce any bad guy, you understand why secretly, Sam was one of the best spies the CIA has ever known. Coming out of five years of retirement, Sam and her husband Steven are back, keeping the world safe from the most dangerous villains… and they’re also available for bar mitzvahs and weddings.
  • CARLTON SHAW (Gerald McRaney) – CIA company man Carlton Shaw has done it all and seen it all. Gruff, seemingly joyless, and a stickler for protocol, he finds it exceedingly difficult to cope with his new assignment: handler to reinstated agents/caterers Steven and Samantha Bloom. With great pain and reluctance, Shaw liaises with Langley to send the Blooms on their world-saving missions around the globe.
  • LEO NASH (Carter MacIntyre) – A longtime agent with the CIA, Leo’s success comes from his inability – or refusal – to draw a line between work and play. As proficient in spycraft as he is with booze and women, he’s a reckless but amazing agent. In his history with the agency, Leo’s been partnered with both Steven and Samantha on separate occasions, but now works as part of their team. His past relationships with both of them make for a very interesting dynamic.

Episodes

1.01 – Pilot

Steven and Samantha Bloom team up outside the kitchen – SERIES PREMIERE - A sexy, fun, action-packed spy drama that proves once and for all that marriage is still the world’s most dangerous partnership. Outwardly, Steven Bloom (Boris Kodjoe) and his wife, Samantha (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), are a typical married couple who own and operate a small catering company in Los Angeles — with help from Samantha’s easily frazzled, handful of a sister, Lizzy (Mekia Cox). Secretly, the duo were two of the best spies the CIA had ever known, until they fell in love on the job five years ago and retired. When fellow spy and good friend Leo Nash goes missing while on the trail of a Russian arms dealer, the Blooms are reinstated by boss and agency liaison, Carlton Shaw, to locate and rescue Nash. With assistance from resourceful CIA field agent Bill Hoyt, whose professional admiration for Steven isn’t hard to miss, the pair is thrust back into the world of espionage, disguises and hand-to-hand combat. Following leads that take them to cities spanning the globe, Steven and Samantha quickly realize that perhaps this supercharged, undercover lifestyle provides exactly the kind of excitement and romance that their marriage has been missing.

1.05 – Jailbreak

1.06 – Xerxes

1.07 – Assasins

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]]> http://www.cybermage.se/undercovers-new-this-fall/feed/ 0 Nikita Series Premiere [New This Fall] http://www.cybermage.se/nikita-series-premiere-new-this-fall/ http://www.cybermage.se/nikita-series-premiere-new-this-fall/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:00:03 +0000 Cybermage.se http://www.cybermage.se/?p=7607 ...]]> Nikita Premieres Thursday, September 9 on The CW

I must say that’s one insane chair and it is probably like the action in this remake of Nikita. I liked the old one, it was cheesy but was quite entertaining.

Nikita has a 13 episodes order.

When she was a deeply troubled teenager, Nikita was rescued from death row by a secret U.S. agency known only as Division, who faked her execution and told her she was being given a second chance to start a new life and serve her country. What they didn’t tell her was that she was being trained as a spy and assassin. Throughout her grueling training at Division, Nikita never lost her humanity, even falling in love with a civilian. When her fiancé was murdered, Nikita realized she had been betrayed and her dreams shattered by the only people she thought she could trust, so she did what no one else before her had been able to do: she escaped. Now, after three years in hiding, Nikita is seeking retribution and making it clear to her former bosses that she will stop at nothing to expose and destroy their covert operation.

For the time being, however, Division continues to recruit and train other young people, erasing all evidence of their former lives and turning them into cold and efficient killers. One of these new recruits, Alex (Lyndsy Fonseca, “Kick-Ass,” “Desperate Housewives”), is a beautiful girl with a violent past and a story not so different from Nikita’s. After her parents were murdered, Alex’s life completely derailed. Haunted by her horrific past, she ended up drug-addicted and homeless until Division “rescued” her and brought her into the fold.

Division’s top authority, Percy (Xander Berkeley, “Kick-Ass,” “24”) spent years being a good government soldier, taking his role as an insider and using it to turn the secret organization into a lucrative spy-for-hire shop. With Nikita gone rogue, Percy will do whatever it takes to destroy her and protect the empire he’s built, and he often turns to his top lieutenant, Michael (Shane West, “ER,” Once and Again”), for help. Michael trained Nikita when she was a recruit and is now faced with the responsibility of tracking down his renegade student. At the same time, Michael is in charge of training Alex, Nikita’s young replacement, along with other recruits, including Thom (Ashton Holmes, “Boston Legal”), who has been at Division for a year and is anxious to prove himself, and Jaden (Tiffany Hines, “Bones”), a beautiful and tough young woman who challenges Alex at every turn.

The recruits all spend part of their training with Amanda (Melinda Clarke, “The O.C.,” “The Vampire Diaries”), a master manipulator who can turn any ugly duckling into a swan and any bleeding heart into a killer. Her use of psychological warfare and strategy is key to Percy’s entire operation. Amanda has only had one failure during her tenure at Division: Nikita, the recruit she was never able to break.

Nikita also left her mark on Birkhoff (Aaron Stanford, “Traveler,” “X-Men: The Last Stand”), the nonconformist computer genius who was caught hacking into the Pentagon’s system from his college dorm room and was recruited into Division at the same time as Nikita. Birkhoff never admits to anyone that he misses his former colleague, and he has managed to hold onto his own rebel spirit, his geek-speak and his slacker dress code.

This is the world of Division that Alex now finds herself facing everyday, and she is just beginning to understand why the legendary Nikita has dedicated herself to taking them down.

Cast

  • Maggie Q plays Nikita, the former spy and assassin who has vowed to destroy the secret agency that trained her.
  • Shane West plays Michael, a top lieutenant in the secret organization that Nikita has vowed to destroy
  • Lyndsy Fonseca (HIMYM) stars as Alex, a young woman with a troubled past, who is now leading a double life. She is a 19-year-old felon who – after being sentenced to 25 years in a federal penitentiary – is recruited by a secret government agency to hunt down Nikita, her predecessor. She’s detailed as an “attractive, young, white female with virtually no personal ties or paper trail,” a profile which is deemed ideal for their kind of work
  • Melinda Clarke (“The O.C.”) as Amanda, a division operative tasked with educating the newly recruited Alex in how to use her femininity to her advantage.
  • Aaron Stanford (“Traveler”) as Birkhoff, a computer specialist who enjoys Red Bull, potato chips and watching skateboarding bloopers on YouTube.
  • Xander Berkeley (“24″) as Percy, the Machiavellian leader of Division – a secret unit inside the government.
  • Ashton Holmes plays Thom, a recruit eager to prove himself in the high stakes world of espionage.
  • Tiffany Hines stars as Jaden, a young woman from a tough background, who challenges Alex.

Episodes

1.01 – Pilot – Series premiere September 9

When she was a deeply troubled teenager, Nikita was rescued from death row by a secret U.S. agency known only as Division, who trained her as a spy and assassin. Nikita was eventually betrayed by the only people she thought she could trust. Now, after three years in hiding, Nikita is seeking retribution and making it clear to her former boss, Percy and her former friends Michael and Birkhoff that she will stop at nothing to expose and destroy their covert operation. Division continues to recruit and train other young people, among them Jaden and Thom, erasing all evidence of their former lives and turning them into cold and efficient killers. One of these new recruits, Alex is a beautiful girl with a violent past and a story not so different from Nikita’s. The recruits all spend part of their training with Amanda, a master manipulator who can turn any ugly duckling into a swan and any bleeding heart into a killer.

1.02 – 2.0

Nikita is caught in a train station shoot-out — Percy and Michael take their latest assignment, a Slavic leader wanted for war crimes, into protective custody. Nikita learns of their hideout and attempts to thwart their plan, but a mysterious group of mercenaries in search of nuclear material beats her to the task. Alex is activated earlier than expected for a special assignment that throws her into the crossfire of bullets. A flashback reveals a pivotal moment in Nikita’s life.

1.03 – Kill Jill

Nikita rescues Jill (guest star Julie Gonzalo, “Eli Stone”), a journalist who is trying to expose a conspiracy involving Division and a major plane crash. Michael and Percy suspect Birkhoff of being Nikita’s inside mole and send Amanda in to interrogate him….. Michael enlists the help of the recruits, Alex, Jaden and Thom, to help them locate their latest target.

1.04 – Rough Trade

Nikita revisits her past as a nanny — Nikita delves into her past when she posed as a nanny for an influential government official and decides to right the wrong of his death. During the mission, Michael comes to Nikita’s rescue and begins to doubt Percy’s motives…. Back at Division, while undergoing basic training, Alex suffers from a panic attack which prompts Amanda to break her of claustrophobia.

1.05 – The Guardian

Nikita gets a new sexy nemesis in this episode. Devon Sawa, whom you might remember from the original Final Destination movie. Devon is set to play the role of Owen beginning on episode five of Nikita, which airs Oct. 7. Owen is described as “a highly trained Division agent who is equal to Nikita in skill.

1.06 – Resistance

Videos

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]]> http://www.cybermage.se/nikita-series-premiere-new-this-fall/feed/ 0 Chuck Season 4 [New This Fall] http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-season-4-new-this-fall/ http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-season-4-new-this-fall/#comments Tue, 17 Aug 2010 23:00:53 +0000 Cybermage.se http://www.cybermage.se/?p=7830 ...]]> You know I love Chuck and I know you do to. Chuck returns September 20 with a shiny new season. I have missed them all but especially Chuck and Sarah, Casey and Morgan so I start a little early with what we know so far.

Updated September 16.

You should not be reading this if you don’t like spoilers by the way.

Last season Chuck finally got together with Sarah (Hurray) which only increased my enjoyment even if Agent Shaw slipped in there between them in the beginning of the season before he turned to the dark side and joined the Ring. This season the writers promised not to put anyone between the two. “Fandom has showed it’s a bad idea”. That is not to say there wont be ups and downs in their relationship.

It was also the season when Morgan learned the truth, that Chuck was a spy. That episode when Chuck told him when they sat there bound together in the Dojo of the Castle (their secret lair underneath the Buy More) is one of the best Chuck moments ever. He is now in training under Casey’s gentle guidance. Casey and Morgan was absolutely fantastic together in season 3 so expect sparkles here.

But it didn’t stop there his sister Ellie also found out in the season finale. There she was in a CIA office in protective custody when her brother sneaks by and takes down her handler. That was pure enjoyment. Ellie is going to be Pregnant according to Ausiello (EW)

Captain Awesome won’t be reviving his short-lived career as international superspy anytime soon. “Last season Awesome realized if there was one place in the world where he wasn’t awesome, it was on spy missions,” notes exec producer Chris Fedak. “He’d like to stay as far away from the spy world as he can.” That’s particularly true now that there’s a mini Awesome on the way. “He is going to be way more into all of the rituals of pregnancy than even Ellie is,” says fellow EP Josh Schwartz of the daddy-to-be.

Is it only I that think of Star Wars when John Casey told his daughter? She was running away from him at the time since he was only a weird man that took her up and carried her out to his car and drove away with her. Then stopped and said “You can trust me”. I would be running too. But she stopped when he cried “I am your Father”. I hear that Casey’s daughter Alexa (Mekenna Melvin) is going to be a recurring star this season but I haven’t seen her name on the cast on any of the first episodes yet. Morgan was clearly interested in her to Casey’s disapproval. That probably means that Morgan will be involved in some bodily harm. Alexa is one person I am thrilled to learn to know better. We haven’t seen so much of her before.

It’s no accident that producers have shown us that Casey’s daughter has some serious combat skills. “It’s a spy show, so I think she’s going to be on some missions,” reports Adam Baldwin, who plays Alex’s proud papa. (tvguide)

I hope you have seen the finale already. The sad thing is that Stephen Bartowski (Scott Bakula), Chuck and Ellie’s father  was shot by agent Shaw but before he died he built a Governor to prevent the Intersect from overloading. Shaw stole it but Chuck took it back before Morgan blew up the Buy More. Jeff and Lester are on the run since they believe they are responsible. Some fans have noticed that Stephen died in close proximity to a Ring base that experimented with cryogenic regeneration. So he might not be dead.

Talking about another undead that might upset some fans. Rumor says that Agent Daniel Shaw might be back. He is loaded with the Intersect too so he might be a real problem for Chuck.

General Beckman is now a Series Regular. Rumor says we will see her legs!

The Buy More was destroyed in the season finale. This season the Buy More is now owned and operated by the CIA, so it has the most badass employees ever — quite a change. Every week there will be a new kickass CIA operative green-shirt working at store with Team Bartowski, recast with someone awesome, but each going under the alias of “Greta,” regardless of whether they’re a man or a woman

I expect Chuck to take up his father’s secret work, whatever that is and to search for his mother. He promised Ellie to stop being a spy after he stopped Shaw so he has to keep it a secret from her and probably even from Sarah at first. Morgan is the first one he is going to involve according to sources inside the show.

You can’t have missed that Chuck is getting a mom Mary Elizabeth Bartowski. The mystery surrounding Chuck’s mom is at the heart of the season, and there are going to be some shocking surprises in the first episode,” previews Fedak. “By the end of the episode we are going to turn everything on its head with regard to who she is.” Linda Hamilton will play Chucks mom. She disappeared from her children’s lives when they were still young. Now she will appear throughout the season, leading Chuck to discover that her life was shrouded in secrets. She was a spy, a CIA agent … and that’s just the beginning. Who is she today? One thing is certain: She’s not the soccer mom who left her children so many years ago.

I am vibrant and thrilled about the new season. I will keep this post updated with news as they become available.

Episode Details

Chuck 4.01 – Chuck versus the Anniversary (NBC) September 20

It’s a very different season this year in the sense that Chuck’s retired from the CIA and he can’t tell Ellie he’s a spy, but he also has to find his mom, So he has to do it without using the CIA resources, so he finds himself in the season premiere not being able to tell Sarah what he’s up to and not being able to tell Ellie what he’s up to. All he has in the world now is Morgan, which is a terrible, terrible fate for anyone trying to accomplish something in life.

CHUCK BEGINS A SEARCH FOR HIS MOTHER, WHICH HE MUST KEEP A SECRET FROM THE CIA AND HIS SISTER — LINDA HAMILTON GUEST STARS AS MARY BARTOWSKI — DOLPH LUNDGREN, HARRY DEAN STANTON AND OLIVIA MUNN ALSO GUEST STAR — Chuck (Zachary Levi) and Morgan (Joshua Gomez) go on a rogue globe-spanning mission to find Chuck’s mom. Meanwhile, Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) and Casey (Adam Baldwin) follow a trail to Russia as they investigate the mysterious Volkoff Industries and its operative, Marco (guest star Dolph Lundgren). Back at home, Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) delivers big news to her family. Bonita Friedericy also stars.

The premiere will guest star Dolph Lundgren as Marko and Harry Dean Stanton as Harry and Linda Hamilton as Mary Elizabeth Bartowski.

Olivia Munn will play Greta#1  an impossibly cool, smart, and pretty CIA agent who intimidates and schools Chuck and Morgan.

Dolph [will] try and ‘break’ Chuck in Season 4 premiere.” Action star Dolph Lundgren  will be hittin Chuck’s up-coming season. This isn’t the first time the actor has played a role on Chuck. In March’s ‘Chuck vs. the Final Exam,’ rogue FSB agent Anatoli Zevlovski’s alias was Ivan Drago — the name of Lundgren’s Russian boxer in Rocky IV.”

Chuck 4.02 – Chuck versus the Suitcase (NBC)

CHUCK AND SARAH TRAVEL TO FASHION WEEK IN MILAN TO RETRIEVE A HIGH-TECH SECRET WEAPON — KAROLINA KURKOVA, LOU FERRIGNO, AND ISAIAH MUSTAFA GUEST STAR — When Chuck (Zachary Levi) and Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) go undercover in Milan, Chuck realizes the “Achilles’ Heel” in their relationship, but must set personal issues aside for the mission. Meanwhile, Morgan (Joshua Gomez) recognizes a fatal flaw that compromises the new Buy More. Elsewhere, Casey struggles to put down roots in Burbank. Bonita Friedericy, Vik Sahay and Scott Krinsky also star.

Looks like the return of Lester and Jeff? Isaiah Mustafa is Greta#2. This episode will most likely involve a fight scene Yvonne Strahovski was shooting on a catwalk with supermodel Karolina Kurkova (I am guessing it is here since there was a casting call for a dangerous, sexy, and kick-ass supermodel for this episode), and it’s definitely going to rank up there as one of the best girlfights evah on Chuck according to Kristin at E!

Lou Ferrigno, who was painted green to play the jade giant in the ’70s and ’80s series The Incredible Hulk, will play the bodyguard of an evil spy model (ex-Victoria’s Secret Angel Karolina Kurkova).

Chuck 4.03 – Chuck versus the Cubic Z (NBC)

A prison transfer delivers old foes the Buy More, canceling Chuck and Sarah’s romantic mission; Morgan gets a surprise from Big Mike

Stacy Keibler as Greta#3

Chuck 4.04 – Chuck versus the Coup d’Etat (NBC)
Nicole Richie returns as Heather Chandler, Sarah’s high school nemesis (2 years ago, the reunion episode). According to a Chuck insider, a prison transfer goes awry and Heather, ends up being stowed away at Castle (a.k.a. the underground CIA base). But here’s where things get really interesting: We have been told her arrival dovetails with some serious bumps in Chuck and Sarah’s deepening relationship. And you better believe that Ms. Heather will use that rift to her advantage.

Stone Cold Steve Austin’s Hugo Panzer is also making a comeback this episode.

We don’t have a Greta in episode 4,” says exec producer Chris Fedak. Adds fellow EP Josh Schwartz: “The Buy More is not in that episode. Chuck’s away on a mission.”

Armand Assante will be back as Alejandro Goya, the king premier of Costa-Gravas, but this time he’s bringing his woman with him! Yep, look for Mrs. Goya; producers are hoping to find a major name to play the part.

TV Guide has just disclosed that actress Tia Texada will guest star as Hortencia aka Armand Assante’s character’s wife. Coming with a secret, she will be introduced when “Chuck and the gang visit the Premier’s beautiful island in his native Costa Gravas.”

Chuck 4.05 – Chuck versus The Couch Look (NBC)


Chuck 4.06 – Chuck versus The Aisle of Terror (NBC)

NBC has tapped the original Freddy Krueger—a.k.a. Robert Englund—to guest star in the Halloween episode. Englund will play Dr Stanley Wheelwright, an evil scientist who can make your waking life a nightmare.

Videos

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]]> http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-season-4-new-this-fall/feed/ 2 Covert Affairs 1.03 – South Bound Suarez (Review) http://www.cybermage.se/covert-affairs-1-03-%e2%80%93-south-bound-suarez-review/ http://www.cybermage.se/covert-affairs-1-03-%e2%80%93-south-bound-suarez-review/#comments Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:00:13 +0000 Cybermage.se http://www.cybermage.se/?p=8869 ...]]>

Last Week

Last week Annie wrestled with a renegade British MI6 agent planning an IRA attack on American soil. That was after Walter, a ten year old boy walked in.

This Week

This week Annie enters a more sordid part of the CIA business, she has developed an asset, a young college boy from Caracas who thinks he is in love with her only to get in touch with his sister back home. The sister is mistress to a government official (Victor) that has been skimming hundreds of million dollars the last years. CIA wants to know where they have gone. We start this episode as she makes her move to convince him he should introduce her.

While this takes place we also watch as the local agent in Venezuela is killed, this is not anything the agency knows about.

Annie goes to Venezuela with her new ‘boyfriend’ Diego. He can’t resist letting his hands wander and she has a hard time keeping him in check and at the same time it is quite sad the way they use ‘assets’ to get what they want. Diego’s sister is a beloved person; she is called the mother of the neighborhood for her charity work. Annie has a hard time convincing the sister and stealing the code key so they can put a trace on the money. There is a quite entertaining car scene where Victor reveals her as a trained agent and she dumps him out of the car and speed away. Annie gets back to the bank minutes before Victor and they discover that he has been financing terrorists. They flee the country with Victor on their tail.

The siblings are put into protective custody in a safehouse but the story is not over yet. About the same time Annie realizes the sisters charity money is from Victor the sister sneak out to meet Victor. The final confrontation reveals Victor as the monster he is as he tries to have the sister killed. Annie and Diego shows up in time to distract Victor while another agent takes them down.

One interesting detail in this episode was the meetings and support from Langley that made it feel more genuine and realistic. Don’t get me wrong this is a fun spy action adventure type of show but I find it a stamp of quality that they try to make the whole thing more realistic with things like that.

The way the sister has a hard time giving up on her love for Victor reflects back on Annie’s unwillingness to leave her love behind. It is clear that she will continue to carry a torch for Ben.

I like the episode but are not things moving a bit fast for Annie? I can understand if the agency wants to keep Annie in the frying pan to lure Ben out so maybe that is it. Annie convinces as a rookie agent and she feels like shit after the mission because what she had to do to Diego and his sister. Auggie is there with perspective, I like him a lot. USA has hit another great dynamic duo with Auggie and Annie.

Things learned

  • Annie’s name is Anne Catherine Walker according to her business card at the Smithsonian
  • Annie and her sister grew up as army brats

Next Week

Covert Affairs 1.04 - No Quarter (USA)
Annie needs Auggie’s help to return from Zurich where she is stranded with an untrustworthy Mossad agent. At the agency, Joan and Arthur suspect Auggie to be the CIA’s leak.

  • Link to USA preview

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]]> http://www.cybermage.se/covert-affairs-1-03-%e2%80%93-south-bound-suarez-review/feed/ 1 Covert Affairs 1.02 – Walter’s Walk http://www.cybermage.se/covert-affairs-1-02-walters-walk/ http://www.cybermage.se/covert-affairs-1-02-walters-walk/#comments Thu, 22 Jul 2010 02:46:31 +0000 Cybermage.se http://www.cybermage.se/?p=8513 ...]]>

Last Week

Last week Annie Walker a CIA trainee was pulled from the Farm into the frying pan with a simple courier job gone awry.

This Week

This week Annie gets to deal with CIA walk-ins and her sister’s suggestion that she be the kids’ legal guardian in case something happened to them.

During breakfast Dannielle asks Annie to become the legal guardian of  her kids in case something happened to her or Michael. Annie wants to think about it  and rushes off to work. Back at home later that night she refuses leaving Danielle more than a little miffed. But Annie will have reasons to reevaluate her thinking before the episode is over. When it comes to your family you do whatever you have to.

If you remember from the pilot, Annie was pulled from training and put into the field mainly because her previous love affair with a renegade agent. Her married bosses Joan and Arthur conspire to use Annie as bait to catch Ben Mercer. We don’t get to see Ben this episode but Arthur assigns a new agent to Joan’s department, which she resents, with orders to get close to Annie. Jai Wilcox (Sendhil Ramamurthy) is the name of the new agent and we are to understand he is sent there to seduce her.

Auggie and Annie continues to have fantastic report and this week it get more hands on in the training room when Auggie teaches Annie the secret of fighting for real (he used to be a field agent before becoming blind). I don’t get any romantic vibe off them so far but I wouldn’t be surprised if something developed down the line.

After helping Auggie move into their new modern offices Annie gets her first assignment to debrief walk-ins. Crack-pot City according to Auggie. Her weapon for the day is a can of pepper spray. One of the walk-ins is a mother concerned her son Walter is in danger since he decoded a secret message from a number station, followed it to a mailbox where he saw a man pick up a secret message and he claims the man saw him and now he is scared. Annie is a bit surprised when the alleged college kid turns out to be ten. I think the kid played his role very well; he had all the symptoms of functional autism down pat. After giving Annie the specs for the still broadcasting station he and his mother leave.

With Auggie’s help they confirm the code, they have to raid the CIA museum to get a decoder and they need the previous recordings Walter made. The message originated in Belfast making it IRA related so Annie is assigned a British MI6 liaison to check out Walter’s apartment. The difference between CIA and MI6 becomes evident when the middle aged British agent appears; CIA is young and lacking in experience while MI6 is getting a bit on the old side. What I don’t understand is why they had to meet at a market with a silly protocol instead of him just showing up at the CIA with his credentials? His name is James Elliot.

Walter and his mom never came home from Langley so Annie and the Britt search the premises but before they are finished they are attacked. Annie fresh from training has trouble fighting the perp before James pops him a third eye. Walter has an impressive amount of equipment but it seems he brought the tapes in question with him. This time they almost get out before the cops arrive but they this time they are not even questioned before an undercover agent springs them.

Joan and Arthur continue to have a troubled relationship. I can’t sense any warmth there; I doubt they will make it. But it is well played and adds to the dynamics of the show.

Annie is miffed mostly on herself concerning her sister’s will and the fight she almost lost the day before but Auggie cheer her up and shows her how a real fight works, you have to be closer. That was a fun scene.

British intelligence leads them to a former IRA operative living in the US. They decide to pick him up as he arrives at Union Station.

Annie is not satisfied with the outcome and gets permission to look into Walter’s disappearance. Using clues found at the apartment she tracks them down to a cabin. She gets the tapes from Walter and start to transfer them to Auggie at Langley. Annie has a cozy chat with the mother about taking care of Walter that affects her thinking about Danielle’s will. When the mother tells that they tried the British embassy as well as the CIA pieces fall into place. James has been lying to her; he said he never heard of it. She finds the tracker on her phone as his car pulls up behind her. He brought two goons with him. Annie pulls a McGuyver killing the two goons and then has a very satisfying brawl with James where she gets to use her Mace for effect.

James was a double agent for IRA planing to pin the bombing on the former IRA member. That’s the part of the story I have a hard time believing. Doesn’t IRA get most of their funding from the US? Why would they set off a bomb there?

The episode ends with Annie signing Danielle’s will.

So far I like this quite well. It is fast paced; it got human interest and a cast to be fond of. I can’t wait on next weeks episode.

Said and Done

  • Finally a room with windows (said the blind guy)
  • This guy has gone analog in a digital world

New Intro

They had a new intro this week. It reminded me a little of Chuck.

Next Week

Covert Affairs 1.03 – South Bound Suarez (USA)
Annie targets a college student to get information about a corrupt government official in Venezuela, but the murder of another agent who was involved in the investigation complicates her task.


Covert Affairs on USA Network – “South Bound Suarez” …
Uploaded by USANetwork. – Full seasons and entire episodes online.

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]]> http://www.cybermage.se/covert-affairs-1-02-walters-walk/feed/ 2 Covert Affairs – New Series Premiere Review http://www.cybermage.se/covert-affairs-new-series-premiere-review/ http://www.cybermage.se/covert-affairs-new-series-premiere-review/#comments Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:49:13 +0000 Cybermage.se http://www.cybermage.se/?p=8101 ...]]>

I don’t know what it is with me and spies, so many of my favorite television past times are spy affairs like Chuck, Nikita, Alias, Jake 2.0 and now Covert Affairs. 50% of the CIA is young people with less than five years of on the job and they are recommended to date each others to avoid having to vent outsiders. It is like Club Med without the drinks, Auggie tells Annie.

Title: Covert Affairs
Original channel: USA
Genre: Spy drama
Status: Series premiere

This show mixes exciting spy action with everyday drama as it follows the lives and adventures of young CIA agent Annie Walker, her colleagues and family. Annie is a wiz at languages; she lives in her sister Danielle’s guesthouse with a cat. She is burned by love. She had three weeks of bliss on Sri Lanka with this guy a couple of years ago before he left her in the middle of the night with a note that said “The Truth is complicated”. You could say she got trust issues.

Annie Walker is one month from graduation at the Farm, CIA’s training facility when she is taken to Langley for a mission that needs her looks and language skills. As unbelievable as it might sound CIA is out of good looking girls that can talk Russian, I know the cold war is over but come on! The writers should have been able to come up with something better there. She is sent undercover as a call girl to an hotel to pick up intel from a known Russian assassin. It should have been an easy mission but what fun would that be. A sniper vents the place and she has to escape leaving the intel behind in the confusion. The good with that is that she goes back and meet the FBI investigator in charge (they have chemistry I hope we will see him again).

The action continues fast paced throughout the pilot and Piper Perabo is gorgeous, witty, determined and yet vulnerable. She gets very convincing when she is angry. It is easy to draw parallels to Alias but the show  manages to distinguish itself and so do Piper.

Aggie and Annie has wonderful chemistry already, that is unusual so early in a show. It usually takes me a couple of episodes to be convinced they really like each other. I have been a fan of Christopher Gorham since Jake 2.0 (loved that show) and he is brilliant and charming here playing Auggie the blind tech who introduces Annie to the CIA.

They work at DPD (Domestic Protection Division) a part of the Clandestine Service. Their department boss is the razor-sharp Joan Campbell and she is married to their big boss Arthur. Their marriage is a rocky affair; they even go to company provided couples’ counseling. I am not sure Joan is wrong, Arthur seems like a player but he is good at covering his tracks. His main concerns seem to be that someone is leaking information to the press.

Annie’s family doesn’t know what she works with and part of the charm is to see her balance living with a normal family of four. Her sister is worried she doesn’t date so she invites a blind date to dinner, humor and catastrophe. Plus her sister thinks she is a bad liar, if only she knew.

There is a big mystery around Annie’s lost love Ben Mercer (Eion Bailey) he shows up and saves her life as a guardian angel and the CIA knows about him, they want him for something and Joan and Arthur is using Annie for bait.

Cast

  • Annie Walker played by Piper Perabo (loved her in Coyote Ugly) is an intrepid young agent in training for the CIA
  • Auggi Anderson (Christopher Gorham, loved him in Jake 2.0 a sort of predecessor of Chuck) Blind tech guy and Annie’s partner.
  • Arthur Campbell (Peter Gallagher) Director of the Clandestine Service and married to Joan
  • Joan Campbell (Kari Matchett -) is Annie’s boss, chief of DPD (Domestic Protection Division)
  • Conrad Sheehan III (Eric Lively) Annie’s attracted to him in the pilot but he is being written out and replaced with Jai Wilcox according to tfc.
  • Danielle (Anne Dudek) is Annie’s sister
  • Ben Mercer (Eion Bailey) is the love of her life. They had a three week of bliss on Sri Lanka before he left in the middle of the night with a note that said “The truth is complicated”. Now he is Annie’s guardian angel/stalker but also unknown to Annie a person of intense interest for her bosses.
  • Jai Wilcox (Sendhil Ramamurthy) is Annie’s new love interest, we haven’t seen him yet.

Pictures

Next episode

Tuesday, July 20

Episode 1.02 – New CIA agent Annie Walker is still forced to work on low-key cases until she is tipped off that an IRA cell operates in America.

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]]> http://www.cybermage.se/covert-affairs-new-series-premiere-review/feed/ 1 Gridlinked by Neal Asher (Agent Cormac 1) http://www.cybermage.se/gridlinked-by-neal-asher-agent-cormac-1/ http://www.cybermage.se/gridlinked-by-neal-asher-agent-cormac-1/#comments Tue, 01 Jun 2010 10:00:21 +0000 Cybermage.se http://www.cybermage.se/?p=4370 ...]]> This is the original first novel about Earth Central Security (ECS) agent Cormac. The books starts with a man about to teleport through the Skaiden Runcible device 253 light years to his destination while suffering from hangover and a cut in the film about a sexy catwoman that half undressed him on the dance floor the night before. But something goes wrong and he exits at his destination a fraction under the speed of light causing a 30 mega ton  explosion. The body count is more than 10 000 and that’s just the beginning.

Title: Gridlinked
Series: Agent Cormac 1
Author: Neal Asher
Paperback: 443 pages
Genre: Space Opera | Military Science Fiction
Publisher: Pan 2001 | Tor
Order: Tor | Amazon US | UK | B&N | sfbok

In outer space you can never feel sure that your adversary is altogether human.

The runcible buffers on Samarkand have been mysteriously sabotaged, killing many thousands and destroying a terraforming project. Agent Cormac must reach it by ship to begin an investigation. But Cormac has incurred the wrath of a vicious psychopath called Pelter, who is prepared to follow him across the galaxy with a terrifying android in tow.

Despite the sub-zero temperature of Samarkand, Cormac discovers signs of life: they are two ‘dracomen’, alien beasts contrived by an extra-galactic entity calling itself ‘Dragon’, which is a huge creature consisting of four conjoined spheres of flesh each a kilometer in diameter. Caught between the byzantine wiles of the Dragon and the lethal fury of Pelter, Cormac needs to skip very nimbly indeed to rescue the Samarkand project and protect his own life.

Information

Our protagonist Agent Cormac is an unfeeling field agent. He’s cover is blown because his asset thinks he is a construct and he has to fight his way out. Cormac has been Gridlinked for 30 years and it has dehumanized him to a level where it affects his usability as an agent so he gets a choice, shut it down yourself or face the consequences. Being without a connection after such a long time affects a man. I compare it’s effect with the description in WE.

Much of this book and the series is about him finding his humanity again.

The series long arc deals with the Dragon and ancient races.

The Author

Neal Asher is a British science fiction author living in Essex. I am most familiar with and love the now six Agent Cormac novels in the Polity universe. He has also written the Splatterjay Trilogy and a number of standalone novels and short stories in the same universe that I am keen on reading (expected summer reading 2010).

World building

The world Neal Asher paints is the Polity where humanity has spread thousands of light years ruled by benign artificial intelligences (AIs). Instead of evolving into something in-comprehensive by humans the AI:s choose to stay with their creators. There are some post human features in there mind-upload into golem bodies, nano technology, body enhancments, computer-brain interfaces, sentient spaceships and much much more.

One thing that sets Neal Asher apart from the usual Space Opera is the complex and well thought out future society he created.

I like the recurring articles at the beginning of each chapter that highlight items or phenomenon in the world.

In this book he also introduces the mysterious Dragon an extragalactic entity with unclear motivations sent to our galaxy by the Makers.

Plot

When the Runcible on Samarkand is destroyed Cormac is assigned to find out why.

The asset Cormac had to kill when his cover was blown is Angelina Pelter, the sister of  Separatist leader Arian Pelter. He swear revenge on the man who killed his sister and sets out after Cormac accompanied by a crazy robot called Mr Cane.

Cormac arrive at Samarkand in ship only to discover two life forms there, the aforementioned Dracomen.

Cormac is hard pressed to survive while unraveling the mysteries surrounding the Runcible explosion.

Characterization

Cormac is my kind of hero. He is not a superman, he feels like a human even in this space opera setting. He has his weaknesses and doubts (he suffers from addiction to his gridlink since 30 years). But he is also inventive and adaptive and determined. Great characterization by Neal Asher.

The rest of the characters are fairly well developed also.

My View

The quality of  Neal Asher’s writing has improved since this first book in 2001, I notice because I just finished reading Shadow of the Scorpion from 2008. It is still a great book filled to the brim with exciting ideas and fast paced breathtaking action. My mind exploded the first time I read Gridlinked it has so many marvelous ideas, intriguing aliens, gadgets and settings that I kept going Wow all the time. The Polity is on par with all the other Singularity writers out there and the action makes me think of James Bond and Dominic Flandry. I recommend Gridlinked to all lovers of intelligent space opera.

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]]> http://www.cybermage.se/gridlinked-by-neal-asher-agent-cormac-1/feed/ 3 Chuck 3.17 – Chuck vs the Living Dead http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-3-18-chuck-vs-the-living-dead/ http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-3-18-chuck-vs-the-living-dead/#comments Mon, 24 May 2010 10:00:40 +0000 Cybermage.se http://www.cybermage.se/?p=6074 ...]]>

This week’s episode of Chuck sees the return of his father. Elli thinks she works for CIA and that Casey is a bad guy out for her father but she has been duped by a Ring operative. Chuck had a dream about Shaw being alive and asks Morgan for help in finding Shaw.

Chuck still has dreams of Shaw being alive and turns to Morgan for help to keep it a secret from Sarah, but Morgan cannot resist Sarah’s interrogating techniques.

Meanwhile, after being contacted by Ellie, Chuck’s father Stephen shows up at the Buy More, not knowing about the Intersect 2.0 in Chuck’s head.

Worldbuilding

The seasons Ring arc is revealed. The Ring has built a new Intersect and the Ring agents have been trying to get some way to safely download it. Remember the episode where they fried the brains of subject after subject? They know that Stephen Bartowski has survived having Intersect 1.0 download and now they are after his solution.

Plot

The Ring is after Stephen and his invention. They use Ellie to get his location but Sarah and Chuck foils that attempt. After Sarah fells the last kidnapper with a well aimed kick Stephen asks Chuck.

Does she have the Intersect too? No Dad, that all her

Chuck asks Casey to protect Ellie and he follows her but comes to believe she is having an affair. Casey asks Morgan what he believes so Morgan does an interview with awesome and almost falls into love with him himself.

When Ellie returns home unexpected and discover Casey scouting out her place she wacks him on the head with a frying pan, twice and escapes with the ring operative.

We see agent Shaw downloads the Intersect in the closing scene. Is that version 3.0?

Characterization

This episodes theme is on lies, especially the ones of the Bartowski family. Part of the charm of the series is Chuck, Morgan and Awesome’s inability to lie convincingly. But here Ellie lies too and see where that takes her.

When they try to track Shaw Casey makes Sarah re tell everything she and Shaw did in Washington, to which Chuck mentally grinds his teeth. He is not the only one lying.

Big Mike reveal his past as Rain in Earth Wind Fire and Rain as he gives Lester his tacky scene outfit and tell him you have the hips of a six year old girl, use them. The whole Buy More subplot with Jeffster splitting was as always amusing and entertaining. Lester’s rant against the Man was memorable.

After they find Shaw’s spy will in his penthouse there is much talk about the dangers in their line of work. It is and endearing scene when Sarah gives Chuck her spy will.

My View

Chuck vs the Living Death was a great episode, fast paced, with big arc revelations, intense buildup for the finale next week and a very fun episode. There is much happening in it so I had to re watch it before writing this. If you are not watching Chuck you are missing out on some great TV.

Chuck’s two hour season finale is tonight, Chuck vs the Subway and Chuck vs the Ring Part II

Shaw returns to threaten everything that Chuck holds dear as his friends, family and the woman he loves are all put in mortal danger. Chuck has to find Shaw and stop him before his own world gets torn apart but with Chuck finding it increasingly difficult to flash, will he find Shaw in time or will the Intersect that has saved his life so many times in the past, finally be the thing that kills him?

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]]> http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-3-18-chuck-vs-the-living-dead/feed/ 4 Nikita Ordered to Series by CW http://www.cybermage.se/nikita-ordered-to-series-by-cw/ http://www.cybermage.se/nikita-ordered-to-series-by-cw/#comments Thu, 20 May 2010 13:14:52 +0000 Cybermage.se http://www.cybermage.se/?p=5894 ...]]> Call me trashy but I liked the old TV show of Nikita with Petra Wilson so this one is in. And the more I think about it the more brilliant the casting of Maggie Q seems. Se the first promotional photos below.

Official Synopsis

NIKITA When she was a deeply troubled teenager, Nikita was rescued from death row by a secret U.S. agency known only as Division, who faked her execution and told her she was being given a second chance to start a new life and serve her country. What they didn’t tell her was that she was being trained as a spy and assassin. Ultimately, Nikita was betrayed and her dreams shattered by the only people she thought she could trust. Now, after three years in hiding, Nikita is seeking retribution and making it clear to her former bosses that she will stop at nothing to expose and destroy their covert operation. For the time being, however, Division continues to recruit and train other young people, erasing all evidence of their former lives and turning them into cold and efficient killers. One of these new recruits, Alex, is just beginning to understand what lies ahead for her and why the legendary Nikita made the desperate decision to run.

The series stars Maggie Q as Nikita, Lyndsy Fonseca as Alex, Shane West as Michael, Aaron Stanford as Birkhoff, Ashton Holmes as Thom, Tiffany Hines as Jaden, with Melinda Clarke as Amanda and Xander Berkeley as Percy.

NIKITA is from Warner Bros. Television in association with Wonderland Sound and Vision, with executive producers Craig Silverstein (“Bones,” “K-Ville”), Danny Cannon (“CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” “Chuck”), McG (“Supernatural,” “Chuck,” “The O.C.,” “Charlie’s Angels”), and Peter Johnson (“Supernatural,” “Chuck”). The pilot was directed by Danny Cannon.

Promotional photos

Learned from casting

Maggie Q (“Live Free or Die Hard”, “Mission Impossible III” ) has landed the lead role in the CW pilot. Pretty amazing casting for The CW. She’ll play the title character, a spy who goes rogue. Said hour then tracks both Nikita and Alex, a troubled 19-year-old girl who’s recruited to bring her in. Anne Parillaud, Bridget Fonda and Peta Wilson played Nikita in its previous incarnations. Shane West (“ER”) has booked the male lead on the drama pilot, about an assassin for a top-secret government organization who goes rogue (Maggie Q) and the new assassin who is trained to replace her. He’ll play Michael, the agent in charge of recruitment sent to bring in the rogue Nikita.

Melinda Clarke (“The O.C.”) as Amanda, a division operative tasked with educating the newly recruited Alex (yet to be cast) in how to use her femininity to her advantage.

Aaron Stanford (“Traveler”) as Birkhoff, a computer specialist who enjoys Red Bull, potato chips and watching skateboarding bloopers on YouTube.

Xander Berkeley (“24″) as Percy, “the Machiavellian leader of Division – a secret unit inside the government.”

Lyndsy Fonseca (“How I Met Your Mother”) has scored a lead role on the drama pilot, a 21st century take on the “La Femme Nikita” franchise. She’ll play Alex, a 19-year-old felon who – after being sentenced to 25 years in a federal penitentiary – is recruited by a secret government agency to hunt down the title character (Maggie Q), her predecessor. She’s detailed as an “attractive, young, white female with virtually no personal ties or paper trail,” a profile which is deemed ideal for their kind of work.

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]]> http://www.cybermage.se/nikita-ordered-to-series-by-cw/feed/ 0 Chuck vs the Tooth http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-vs-the-tooth/ http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-vs-the-tooth/#comments Thu, 13 May 2010 00:13:24 +0000 Cybermage.se http://www.cybermage.se/?p=5613 ...]]>

No one is pregnant, at least as far as we know (that was my lame guess why Anna was back). This week in Chuck I imagined all kinds of joy when Ellie and Awesome return unannounced. But the clever cleaning gnomes fixed their trashed apartment. Instead of flashing Chuck has these weird dreams every time he falls asleep, they eventually leads him to a psychiatrist and a fast forward to the CIA loony bin.

We all know Sarah has difficulties expressing her feelings, telling Chuck she loves him for example. It becomes clear how much it bother Chuck when he lays it out to Doctor Leo Dreyfus (guest star Christopher Lloyd) “we have a solid relationship” he starts with before it floods out of him in a true Chuck rant.

Morgan dressed in a tuxedo, walks like a god when he crosses the store on his way out to meet Chuck. Anna who is there to ‘catch up’ with him is flabbergasted, Morgan brushes her off because he is on a mission tho help Chuck prove a murder plot on an African president, this is just before Chuck is enrolled as an unwilling mental patient.

If you remember the back story Morgan was devastated when Anna broke it off with him. Now he is natural, as natural as Morgan can be, focusing on his ‘Bro’ and how to help him, this happens one more time, Morgan brushes Anna off again and in the end Anna realizes she wants him because she can’t have him and in one of the final scenes of this episode she tries to take him back, but Morgan realizes he doesn’t want her any more and decline. I felt it was a pity, because I like Anna, her character is interesting and bitchy, but it felt right for Morgan, well handled by the writers and the actors. Will we have a pining Anna in the Buy More now? Or is she going back to Hawaii?

Maybe we should talk about the main plot of this weeks episode? Chuck dreams, he foretell an assassination attempt by the Ring on a visiting African president at the concert the following night . He shouldn’t have woken everyone in the middle of the night to do it, Casey needs his beauty sleep. Instead of believing him a sleepy Beckett sends him to a CIA psychiatrist. Chuck and Morgan goes to the concert hall to prove he is right, dressed in the aforementioned tuxes. He falls asleep after an amusing little chat with Morgan about relationships accompanied by shushes from their fellow spectators. He dreams again the scientist beside the president is the killer, Chuck confronts him, flashes on the tooth as a fake containing Ring data and punches him so the tooth flies away. Sarah and Casey arrive in time to see him taken away by guards.

That’s when he ends up in the CIA mental hospital where spies end up when they can’t take it any more. It is quite a treat with all the quirky characters there. When The scientist shows up with two goons to find out how Chuck got the Intel, a patient who thinks himself Merlin tries to save the situation and yells “Spy Attack!”, and all the patients go totally Kung Fu and you believe its in the bag, the bad guys speed dart them with their trank guns.

Sarah and Casey believe in Chuck but analysis of the tooth proves it is 100 percent human and doesn’t contain any Ring info (that is because chuck picked the wrong tooth by the way). They all end up at the Doctor’s house in the middle of the night, when Sarah arrives Casey is already there. That was a good and emotional scene where Sarah for the first time says she loves Chuck. “Maybe you should tell him that” the doctor tells her before they leave for the hospital and saves the day.

The big arc of the rest of the season hits somewhat unexpected. Ellie works for the Ring! Justine (the ring operative/camp leader from Africa) cons Ellie into believing he is a CIA agent sent there to protect her father. He tells her that Casey is a bad man sent after her father. After she accidentally discovers Casey’s arsenal she have no trouble believing it. And after Awesome tells her it is crazy that she would believe something like that about Casey she also believe Justin telling her not to talk with anyone else about it, they would only tell her she is crazy. In the end Justine convince her to contact her dad.

In the end Sarah tells Chuck she loves him, just as he is about to tell her that he might have long term problems due to mental stress from the Intersect, so he doesn’t tell her. If we are to believe Chuck’d dreams Shaw is still alive. But Chuck doesn’t tell Sarah when he wakes up. When will they ever learn? It is amusing most of the time, the young two’s inability to communicate.

Did you notice the weird ‘hypnotic’ screens on every TV in Buy More? What’s with that? They had some obvious Rorschach pattern going on.

An even better episode this week, rumors says Chuck is renewed with an order for 13+9. It could be official any time now.

Next episode is 3.17 Chuck vs the Living Dead

After his last dream, Chuck asks Morgan to help him on a side mission. Their investigation becomes complicated when Stephen J. Bartowski returns and learns that Chuck downloaded the Intersect 2.0. Luckily, Chuck’s father may be able to help his son.

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]]> http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-vs-the-tooth/feed/ 2 Chuck vs the Role Model http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-vs-the-role-model/ http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-vs-the-role-model/#comments Thu, 06 May 2010 01:47:19 +0000 Cybermage.se http://www.cybermage.se/?p=5424 ...]]>

Chuck is really heating up with them being a couple and Morgan joining the team. This week they brought a new intro, a 60s kind of homage to old school spy series with chuck driving in a red sports car, and Sarah driving in her black car, them looking at each other and then Morgan driving up in a scooter behind them. And then Morgan wakes up. Neat.

I almost forgot that Morgan is living with Chuck now, at least he doesn’t sleep in the nude any more, but I can understand Sarah’s reluctance to move in.

The spy business is back on track, Chuck and Sarah are assigned to a mission lead by a legendary CIA power team, Craig and Laura Turner, a married couple. At first Sarah and Chuck are happy they found their role models but they show themselves to be nothing of the sort. Remarried three times they are bitter and fight all the time, but charming in a way. Their mission is to steal a chip at a party, but they ‘botch’ it by starting a family shooting match drawing all the attention. Chuck and Sarah pick up the ball and decide to show them how it is done, not knowing the chip is guarded by a Bengali Tiger. That’s was quite amusing, Chuck not wanting to shoot it, because tigers are an endangered species.

Meanwhile Casey got his orders to train Morgan or they both would have to go back to boot camp. Casey is great, no one can do angry like he can. He and Morgan has an interesting report, and Morgans assignments are timely cut in between Sarah and Chuck’s. I thought they did it particularly well when they synced Morgan sneaking on Big Mike trying to steal the security card he had around his neck switching back an forth to Chuck sneaking up on the sleeping tiger to get the necklace with the chip. You know that Chuck is allergic to cats? now you do. His sneeze wakes the cat and they have to run for it. Why didn’t you shoot it? It almost ate me, he asks Sarah. Its an endangered species she answers calmly.

Mission accomplished they leave the party only to be relived of the chip at gunpoint by the Turners.

After being double crossed by the Turners, Chuck and Sarah wants revenge, so they track down them at their hotel and bag and tag them, bringing them home to Chuck? But instead of the US Marshals, the thug they stole the chip from is outside the door, with his tiger. There are some tense moments there before Morgan and Casey arrive. Confronted by the tiger Morgan does the brave thing and bait it into Ellie’s apartment and locks it inside. It totally wreck the place which is going to be interesting next week when Ellie will return home to much surprise.

I was afraid they wrote Mr and Mrs Awesome out of the rest of the season, but I am happy to discover they didn’t. We get to see them arrive in Africa in pouring rain, run into the wildlife and treat some patients before Awesome suddenly falls ill and they have to ship him back to the states for treatment. I thought that was nice by the writers to get them back that soon, but they are more wicked than that. To my surprise the camp boss picks out a Ring communication device and report ‘They don’t suspect anything’. He caused the sickness somehow, returning Ellie and Awesome, next week.

Could this be the start of the season arc? We will see next week. I can’t wait.

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]]> http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-vs-the-role-model/feed/ 0 Chuck 3.14 – Chuck vs The Honeymooners http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-1-14-chuck-vs-the-honeymooners/ http://www.cybermage.se/chuck-1-14-chuck-vs-the-honeymooners/#comments Tue, 27 Apr 2010 21:21:02 +0000 Cybermage.se http://www.cybermage.se/?p=5161 ...]]>

Chuck and Sarah spend a lot of time handcuffed to each other this episode and they do say ‘I do’ a lot to, and that’s not a spoiler. Chuck makes me happy, this weeks episode is also the first after the first season finale of this season. Chuck and Sarah finally got together in Paris last episode a few weeks ago. Now we meet them on a train doing the business for days, which is a little weird as they are only going to Zürick. They never leave the cabin the first days until the snarky attendant tell them that the train do have perfectly working diner cars. They decide to give up the spy game and run away together, to celebrate they go to the diner where they separately spot the same bask terrorist. They try to ignore it, but their better self get the upper hand, it’s all amusing the way they both try to back up what they think the other one wants to do.

Meanwhile back in the US, lady boss is getting impatient and tells Casey to go fetch and bring Morgan the Chuck expert with him. They have a cute scene with the CIA search engine, or was it Google? Morgan shows of his Chuck-fu and they are off to Europe. Morgan with a Backpacker bible in one hand and a self created Canadian cover story for himself. Going around being real polite to everyone, because thats what Canadians do.

Ellie and Awesome are going to Africa. Awsome tries to smuggle his weights into the luggage, again. Ellie tells everyone that it doesn’t matter that Chuck isn’t there for her going away party. Lester and Jeff invite themselves to the party and they do a pretty decent song while Ellie drinks herself into a stupor. Are they going to be gone for the rest of the season? Hope not, I love them both, Awesome because he is, well awesome, and Ellie because the way she have no clue what her brother is up to makes for so many entertaining situations and that she is kind of awesome to.

Sarah and Chuck decide to do a last mission before they quit, but it doesn’t exactly go as planned as they try to apprehend the terrorist. It’s lucky Morgan and Casey is there to save the day?

After all the trouble Chuck and Sarah have had earlier in the season it finally worked out for them, this must feel good for all the fans that rooted for them, and then some. Really splendid return on Chuck, emotional, funny, warm and a bit fuzzy.

Flash on!

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