As Twitter fiends will have come to find out, I've recently been bitten by the Chuck bug, having run through the second season in under two days and started on season 1 again just because I can't let go. Such things play with your head. The show uses the idea of an intelligence Intersect, a computer that crosschecks intelligence from all sources in order to help Homeland Security. When the encoded images are sent to Chuck, he absorbs them and becomes the human Intersect. Hilarity ensues.I don't know if the creators know it or not, but there's a very good thematic reason for the hero of this show to be a geek. Because isn't the geek brain a kind of Intersect itself? I know mine is.
Geeks don't crunch U.S. intelligence dossiers, of course (not real ones, at any rate). No, they "intersect" popular culture trivia. And so it is that when I watch any show or film, I will automatically note the presence of any actor who has ever been on Star Trek, Doctor Who and other genre classics. I wouldn't say I "flash", but I probably make a ridiculous face. And on that front, Chuck itself is well encoded for the geek brain. Guest-stars are frequently picked for their ties to genre fiction, and proper homage is made to their "baggage". The geek might also flash on a single line or on a musical choice. Or go deeper still, intersecting crew members (one of the producers/directors is Tom Paris!!!).
I'm afraid my brain works like that more than a little bit. Pop culture references in one place bring up the other places they've been used, not just the original source, and a dirty packet of trivia comes with each flash, from IMDB credits to CCG game text.
So, when do I get a Sarah Walker to protect MY Intersect?
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