Monsters of Television

“I’ve never, ever heard smooth jams.”

“Please come to my fantasy island, now with less socialism.”

Can we go ahead and call this show Morgan already?

He’s all that’s left for me on this show, the only one that has any obstacles or intrigue. Sure, everyone’s story in this episode was vapid and trite but Morgan’s stands out because there exists at least a little bit of tension. Besides, I think Chuck and Sarah might work better as secondary characters.

Alas, the name of the show is Chuck so we watch these two idiots work a flimsy thread and carry it out to the its illogical end. I know I’ve said this several times before but I think I’m actually going to have to listen to myself this time: this show doesn’t want to be what it was. It used to be a spy show about a guy that tries to reconcile his stagnent yet contented home life with a fantastical, dangerous, and exciting one that abandons his family. Season 4 is far, far away from the life of intrigue and struggle (such that it was in the balance with the goofy and the cartoonish). Chuck this season would rather be a broad comedy burdened with an hour-long format and this mythology people seem to keep coming back for. It’s a romantic romp with this spy thread to push it along. Ladies and gentlemen, no episode this season has screamed it out loud more: the ‘shippers have won. And maybe it’s time I accepted that there’s nothing wrong with that.

Much like the USA summer dramas like White Collar and Psych, Chuck has turned into something that is far more accessible with threads that wrap up, more or less, neatly at the end of the hour, and (more like White Collar than Psych) tag a little bit of seasonal arc as an afterthought to each episode.

Tonight was about communication in the relationship. Chuck and Sarah have always had a series of hiccups when it comes to communicating their feelings, but usually that was because espionage and their roles in it got in the way of them ethically consummating the relationship. Though they’re together and open now, the communication problems continue and here it stems from the most ridiculous of scenarios. The ring from last week (the eponymous Cubic Z) falls into Castle through a grate (for a fortress, Castle can be infiltrated really easily). After a conversation about taking their relationship slow, Chuck picks up the ring while on bended knee. The pose, to those of us understanding the convention, is of proposal. This becomes a plot point, one that leads to an awkward exit from the scene and sets up the conversation for the rest of the episode — except that idea of Sarah actually thinking, even for a moment, that Chuck would propose after they JUST SAID they wanted to take it slow, is preposterous. And all Chuck has to say is, “I found this on the floor. Weird, right?” And that’s the end of it. They continue forward. Instead, we have to suspend our disbelief and commit ourselves to the story that this situation would actually happen the way it did. It’s like Chuck writers studied Three’s Company over their break and decided that’s where the show needs to go. Maybe later Chuck and Sarah take on a roommate (a brunette so we don’t get confused) and hilarity ensues.

So there’s that terrible premise. But the relationship problems don’t end there. As Chuck and Sarah try to “communicate” through this episode, we also have another couple in trouble, the Generalissimo and his wife. That, of course, is the requisite spy mission for the show the implicates Ellie and Devon (Generalissimo is throwing a gala in Awesome’s honor, complete with marble statue) and ends up pulling Team Chuck in the middle of a socialist revolution, one that aims to take control of Costa Gravas’s old Russian nuclear weapons. You might’ be able to see where this is going already. Yeah, Chuck and Sarah end up wedging their way into the fight between the married couple and counsel them by actually discussing their own problems. The Russian control panel, conveniently, was sold to the Generalissimo by Volkoff, the man connected to the disappearance of Chuck’s mother. That little fact is revealed in the last two or three minutes of the penultimate scene. Chuck might as well be looking for a music box.

John “Angel de la Muerte” Casey re-activates himself for this mission despite a gunshot wound to his leg (he juices to keep up with Chucknsarah) since he obviously has lots of experience in Costa Gravas. And he’s bored senseless with no heads to crack, not to mention the fact that his daughter might be crushing on the little bearded man. While the interactions between Casey and Morgan have been pretty good this season, typically one of understanding and friendship even, the Alex factor changes the dynamic. It’s understandable and even funny (“You give her a five minute lead”) though not in the same vein as they have been all season. But Morgan betraying his friend (and, dare I say, spy mentor) by dating his daughter, especially someone like Casey who knows how to kill him real slow, gives the only bit of tension this entire episode has. Morgan struggling with the decision to move on his feelings for Alex, and his eventual surrender to the smooth jams, sets up drama for the future as a hiccup to the brotherhood Morgan and Casey have built over the course of the past half season or so. At the same time, I support Morgan’s cause. It’s his time.

The other news from this episode: Sarah would’ve said yes to a proposal. She tells him while he’s sleeping. Did you roll your eyes? I sure did.

I know they’re manipulating me with this but I’ll try to deal.

So here’s the thing: CBS puts out a ton of shows that cater to a broad audience. They’re not think pieces and they pander to the lowest common denominator. And let’s face it: it’s working for them. They have huge market shares for shows like NCIS, Two and a Half Men, and Big Bang Theory and advertisers throw tons of cash at these shows Maybe Chuck is tired of just barely staying afloat, fretting about renewal in May, with its brief walk on the dark side last season, a mythology that might exclude the casual viewer, and a tonal balance that is a bit shaky at times. Instead, maybe they want to play to their strengths and what people respond to: romantic entanglements, ploys to rally the ‘shippers, and plenty of gratuitous shots of Yvonne Strahovski half-naked (which I don’t mind at all but know that I’m being manipulated). The spy stuff is just emplotment for all the relationship madness to continue. I should just look at it like I’m watching Life Unexpected or Parenthood: the intrigue is background because what they’re selling here are the romantic interpersonal connections. The espionage will only serve to create obstacles for that and not the other way around.

Other stuff:

• How amazing was the invitation video sent by the Generalissimo? Brilliant stuff. Great use of effects.
• I do like how they’ve continued to remind the viewer that Morgan and Alex have been talking ever since they met in the Buy More last season. Again, the Casey and Morgan storylines are the best ones going so far.
• This is a very anti-Russian season. The enemy Volkoff runs a Russian crime syndicate, his thugs are all Russian, and what could begin World War III is a Spanish-speaking communist country using old Soviet weapons and control modules. I think Chuck is trying to single-handedly start the Cold War again.
• The product placement has been out of hand lately on Chuck but they’ve done a relatively decent job of keeping it germaine to the story. The minivan reference was funny if a bit ham-handed but the Subway line fit really well. Gotta make a buck somehow, right?
• Awesome saying, “I hear you” to an Ellie desperate for a “baby-moon” totally reminded me of Zeek on Parenthood.
• While Chuck and Sarah have trouble communicating their feelings, their on-the-job communication is stealler which might be the only subtlety left in this show.
• Chuck finally admits to Ellie that he is looking for their mother. He proposes, without telling her everything, that she might have left because she had to. Ellie is not so sure what could drag her away from her family. Really, Ellie? Your dad was Orion and everyone you know is a spy. Is it so crazy that your mom might be involved in something, too?
• I’m tempted to assume that all this filler is leading to a grand shift in stasis being set up for winter hiatus. But I should know better. I also thought Huddy was going to be a figment of House’s drug-addled imagination.