Monsters of Television

“Rumor has it that you’re pregnant. Is there room in that womb for two?”

Sarah, once again, caters to the male fantasy. And that’s okay.

I toyed with the idea of forgoing the entire plot of the show in order to tie in Bronson Pinchot’s all-too-short appearance in this episode to the major threads of the series. Like that Pinchot was reprising his role as Balki and that he was a Greek spy, his cover being a rural farm boy from Mypos. That was, in fact, the last surviving member of the Ring and a major player in the Russian syndicate Chuck is trying to topple. The knowing look from him being more than just blip of a homoerotic gaze. Oh, it was going to be grand.

Instead, I’m actually going to talk about the show and how, though some things change, the quality of the threads are still the same. Like how the most interesting is still Casey and Morgan. And how Chuck and Sarah are dangerously close to becoming annoying sit-commie blandness. And how the reintroduction of Jeffster will reinstitute the Buy More as what we all feared: the unrelated comic punchline to the series.

That being said, I’m glad to see those boys back, even after their Halo:Reach escapades.

The obvious theme for this episode is the idea of “home,” especially with the Bartowskis. Chuck and Ellie have stuck together so tightly because they are the only family they have, even when old members dip in and out of their lives. To run through Ellie’s storyline quickly (because Ellie’s stuff is always run through with minimal detail on the show): she’s pregnant and Devon wants to make sure she knows no one is going to abandon her like her mom did. Ellie is strong for Devon but, when no one is looking, she does think about her mother. That’s seriously all Sarah Lancaster is allow to contribute to this episode. Sadly, in a world where most of the female characters are strong, independent, determined women (if portrayed through the male gaze), Sarah is constantly a domestic stereotype given lines that negate her actions. Though she says things like she can take care of herself and she’s a doctor and the definition of self-made, she is also a nag, her scenes are almost exclusively homed within her household (except when she goes to the Buy More or it’s a season finale), and, now, her major storyline is being a baby factory. She is settled and nested, her home in order. Devon’s attempt to go above and beyond to demonstrate that doesn’t contribute more to her home but just loudly establishes that everything is going smoothly for her.

Chuck, on the other hand, deals with Sarah’s struggle to be a “normal girl.” There has always been a bit of role reversal for them (at least within knowledge of television gender roles) as Chuck has always been ready to settle down (even as the spy game started to get hot for him, all he wanted was a “normal life”) while Sarah, a woman who has never known being in one place for very long, is hesitant. What is different about season 4 is that a problem like this, a domestic situation or one involving feelings, has always been the dominion for Chuck and one that Sarah refutes until the coda. How the writers of Chuck deal with the requited love story is by introducing these kind of squabbles, which are still broad and sit-com-like issues but put into the spy perspective. They pin her reluctance to settle down as spy thing (even though Casey has more than settled down in his apartment) despite it being a squabble that could exist in any new relationship.

Also interesting in this episode is Karolina Kurkova, the first female blonde villain. Generally, the showrunners baby us by making the baddies and Sarah-enemies starkly different in hair color, ranging from Chuck’s brunette love interests (Lou, Jill, Hanna) to the red-head fellow spy Carina. The first female baddie spy of the season after the consummation of Chucknsarah raises the ire of Sarah and she demonstrates a bit of jealousy, more than when Chuck was actually bumping uglies with the brunettes. Blonde is her territory onto which not even a Victoria’s Secret Angel may trample. Good thing they didn’t bring on Yvonne Strahovski doppelganger Candice Swanepoel.

With this substituting romantic tension with relationship drama, it brings Sarah down to Chuck’s level. When faced with yet another spill-your-guts-in-front-of-a-bomb moment, Chuck says some not so eloquent things that Sarah addresses while on the job. I say she’s brought down to Chuck’s level but, really, this is a decent way to demonstrate that, even though she’s still adjusting, her feelings are so strong for him that they are starting to cloud her behavior (though not as much as they always have for Chuck). They walk a fine line, however. Sure, they may have filled the vacuum but are the stakes high enough that this can actually blow up or is this just sit-com squabbling? The back and forth may become tiresome after a while if everything is perfect. They indicate later in the episode that the thought of truly settling down frightens the space baby out of Sarah. What does that mean? Exactly what you think: Sarah’s going to bolt when the heat gets to be too much. The only questions are what she does when she does bolt and how it will tie into the search for Chuck’s mom.

Awesome’s distaste for shirts balances the Sarah-gets-naked equation.

As Chucknsarah try to find a place in the show that isn’t annoying, a relationship that is blossoming in this season is that between Morgan and Casey. Their interactions are amazing for this show and, dare I say, what they always hoped the relationship between Chuck and Morgan would be. Chuck and Morgan’s friendship has always been based in their childhood and a nerdy version of Peter Pan syndrome. Morgan and Casey’s interactions are somehow more mature despite where Morgan is usually coming from. Their teamwork to bring in Jeff and Lester is great, Morgan even only giving Casey a look in order to indicate his next action. I was hoping that would be the case for them, that their bond would become stronger. As Morgan finds a new home (he is made manager of the Buy More) and populates his home with his old friends (more about this below), helping Casey find his home is very important, show maturity, and depth of character on both of their parts. These two together bring out the best in each other’s characters. I think it’s what to watch for. Well, that and how they’re going to get Yvonne Strahovski naked in any given episode.

While “home” was a common element for all the storylines this week, something the continually came up was the idea of the “Achilles Heel” of a relationship. I have a lot of problems with this metaphor, especially in its application to Chuck and Sarah’s relationship. First of all, comparing a relationship to the one of epic poetry’s mightiest killers doesn’t really match. Are you saying that their relationship slays all comers, destroying competitors with a little shake and bake (did you see Troy? Essentially they said the reason why Achilles was so amazing was because he invented the juke)? The mythological point aside, assuming (as they probably were) the dilution of the term from its origins, is Chucknsarah invulnerable? Her baggage should be far heavier than the suitcase she refuses to unpack. The problems they’ve had so far have been pretty small time, the fare of sit-coms though escalated by their profession. I’m hoping that this season opens up the problems that relationship has, maybe from hang-ups in the past (leaving Sarah in Prague, watching Chuck hump every brunette that gave him the time of day, the whole Shaw thing) or just general trust issues. The whole forgive-because-we’re-in-love thing seems a bit pie in the sky to me. Call me cynical. But, again, with Sarah’s fear of settling down becoming apparent at the end of tonight’s episode, we might see more of this come to light.

Other things:

• Morgan’s sequence with Beckman about the efficiency of the Buy More was brilliant, not only for the choreography but getting back to the roots of what the show was about in the first place. The first season was predicated on the disparity between Chuck’s pre-Intersect life (Nerd Herd) and the post-Intersect life. This sequence where Morgan again addresses the disparity, this time showing the spy-life as being flawed, is a good move. Not only does it allow Morgan to contribute his insight into the spy world rather than him always being the punchline, it always helps a B-story connect to the A-story (through the theme of “home”). Jeffster’s reintroduction (along with the rest of the crew) is hilarious and completely welcome, even if that means the Buy More will, from here on, be reduced in importance once again. Chuck’s loss of humanity will be filled by Morgan’s need for it.
• There were two songs (at least) with lyrics about “Frankenstein.” Not sure if that’s a coincidence or if we should read into it. Morgan’s introduction of the old Buy More employees to the super-spy team in place creates a sort of mutant force, a stitched-together crew that will operate under Morgan’s management, he being the marriage of both worlds and the lightning strike that government-installed, over-efficient, and, therefore, machine-like Buy More needs in order to provide it with more humanity (with Jeffster being the heartbeat of a believable store). The second occurred while Ellie examined her family’s photos. Is that how Ellie views her family, as a patchwork monster? Does she feel like her mother being around would help create something more homogenous? What do you think?
• How can Sarah’s cover still be in tact if she’s splashed across the pages of every fashion rag in the world? Milan’s fashion week isn’t exactly a secret.
• I think Yvonne and Karolina took some notes while Zach Levi and Josh Gomez played some Street Fighter. A little bit of Cammy, a lot of Chun-Li.