Monsters of Television

“Geez. This unlucky guy’s about to get double dead.”

I get it that you kids are starting something up but pull it together. At least wait until your boss stops talking to you.

Last time we met, we had a situation where people protested the ending of “Chuck vs The Mask,” insisting that the show violated the trust of the audience by separating the perpetually almost-couple Chuck and Sarah. “No! They can’t be okay that they’re apart! They love each other! Why can’t they just be together?” Good thing these kids weren’t around for Ross and Rachel (or worse, Maddie and David). Three weeks the fans waited through what NBC termed a reset (to erase the sentiment against the network for what happened in late-night) as the writers and producers did damage control. “Just wait. It’ll be worth it. Trust us.” So we waited.

The thing is, I thought giving Chuck and Sarah some time apart was a good move. Not only did it give a realistic obstacle to continue the tension but giving them someone else to devote their attentions to opened the door to new dramatic paths. So I sat down to watch “Chuck vs The Fake Name” to see what the writers would do with their new playground.

They kind of pooched it.

Let me start off by saying, no matter what I think about this episode, Casey is awesome. He’s the man and the fact that he was essentially a tag-along during this episode was brilliant. Also, that he gets in trouble for his cop face — also brilliant. But outside of him, there were so many weak moments in dialogue and characterization that, even though this episode contributed to the show’s mythology and overall theme for the season, it came off as one of the weaker ones of the series.

So, okay, maybe “pooching it” is a little strong (probably the first time that’s ever been said). Chuck pretending to be the hit man by finding a gravelly register was pretty good. How comfortable he is with being undercover is also a revelation and feels natural now. His spy training is paying off and, yet, he’s still able to balance that with Chuck’s innate vulnerability. Another great thing (for all of us) is that Chuck is able to find that vulnerability without whining so much. He’s growns up a little.

Sarah, however, seems to have caught the whining disease. While we have to believe in the “off-screen movie,” where events happen beyond the realm of the televised story world, the audience needs to feel that something has changed in the time since we last left them. Sarah starts off telling Shaw she wants to be strictly professional and seems just as guarded as usual, so much so that I was already disappointed that they eliminated the Shaw relationship so soon. But, as the episode progresses, she comes clean about all sorts of private matters she wouldn’t even share with Casey, let alone this guy who’s been around for only a few months (given the benefit of the “off-screen” events). This is really evident in a particularly ham-handed scene while Shaw and Sarah are doing surveillance and she declares that she doesn’t even know who she is anymore. Somebody call the wahmbulance.

Yeah, I know that it’s one of the themes of the season for Sarah to question her life as a spy after picturing herself leaving the world behind with her boy Chuck. But to just openly admit it like that seems un-Sarah-like somehow. And then the scene where she admits her real name to Shaw seems anticlimactic. Not only because her name is a little awkward (Samantha Lisa doesn’t really roll off the tongue) but the scene itself is awkward. I don’t really believe Sarah’s attraction for Shaw at this point. They go into a kiss and it feels one-sided still.

Now, that being said, Chuck overhearing that reveal is monumental for the mythology, not so much in its content but in what that means for Chuck. Sarah revealing her real name to this guy before him is like what Hooper talks about in Chasing Amy: Chuck needs to be Marco Polo to Sarah’s China. And despite the fact that Chuck has been able to tell his secrets to several people and share all kinds of intimate details with anyone who will listen (or watch), when Sarah reveals the smallest (though one of the most secretive) details about her to a person like Shaw, suddenly Chuck’s world gets flipped upside-down. He witnesses territory heretofore unexplored by him being infiltrated by someone else. Within that instant, Chuck is back on the Sarah bandwagon, and what was a match made in heaven with Hannah abruptly runs cold. He goes to his sister for advice, meaning justification for breaking up with a girl the day after sleeping with her (how cold) just before he was supposed to meet her parents (ice cold!). Maybe this was to be a reflection on Chuck’s growth as a spy that he could even broach a breakup like this but I think it’s more about his grip on Sarah slipping away and the double-standard he holds. He can maintain a quasi-normal life that involves dating and strong bonds but Sarah must lay in wait for him, alone, powerful with love for him, and chaste into the night.

So we reach the end of Chuck’s quick-to-start relationship with Hannah, one that devastated Morgan so much (last episode’s dose of cold). Hey, where is Morgan? What Chuck did to Morgan in “Chuck vs The Mask” was the plot point I thought would most affect the audience that, somehow, was swept under the rug with the shipper debate. And now he’s not even in this episode? Missed opportunity, I think. To watch Morgan smolder while watching Chuck and Hannah be inappropriate all over the store would have been a great source for drama. Hopefully they’ll be able to put those ill feelings to work in the near future (maybe team up with a jilted Hannah). The bearded little man really should’ve been here.

I end this review with the ending of the show: Sarah doing for Shaw what he did for her. She brings him food and gifts since she knows he’s going to have a late night and dives in for a kiss that leads them to the stand up and fade to black, TV’s visual code for “sex is on.” This was the first time in the attempts to sell this relationship to me that I felt like Sarah reciprocated Shaw’s affection. For the love of God, please let Sarah get laid. She deserves it. Throw the “chaste Sarah” rule out the window. Let Chuck yearn empty-handed for a little bit. Give him nothing as he has to watch her giddy and glowing. Now that Chuck is out of his whiny stage, let’s see what he does when the tables are turned.

I’m really looking forward to next week’s episode. TV bloggers across the ‘sphere have been touting the Zachary Levi-directed “Chuck vs The Beard” to be the one to watch, a game-changer so to speak. I’m ready to be amazed.