Monsters of Television

“Jenny-Sarah, how did you end up with such a goofball?”

It’s hard to be the only character working this season.

Dear People of Chuck:

What are you doing? I know that you’ve lost some writers, some good (Rosenbaum), some mediocre but affable (Adler), and that you’re entering this season with a new look for a story, but it’s like you’re running scared and low on inspiration.

Season 3 offered a lot of depth in character, given the duality Chuck has to suffer with the Intersect, not only losing his humanity to his career but also his sanity to his government-sanctioned affliction. Sarah wrestled with her identity as it’s defined by Chuck’s gaze (has she ever had her own identity?) and Casey found out he has a daughter. How is it, with all these interesting arcs, that Morgan is the only developing character left in the series?

I get the pressure you must be under, trying to limp through this season, hoping that the talent remaining can carry you through Four and make a go of Five (though, with multiple projects running at the same time, you might be hoping for some fall out to regain focus). I also understand that Three started just as weak (“vs The Three Words” and “vs Operation Awesome” almost turned me off the series) but came around in the middle just before the mini-season at the end (except for “vs The Honeymooners,” aka the “Stranger in a Strange Land” of Chuck). So maybe I’m being reactionary and I need to wait it out for a couple more weeks before making accusations. But, for right now, I have to tell you:

This season suh-hucks.

This episode is indicative of that. It leans on season three like a crutch and does nothing with it. The only person that seems to be working at all in this series anymore is Josh Grimes. And even the Buy More sequences are weak sauce. The Chuck and Sarah stuff, though only three episodes in, is already getting repetitive. But, the worst part about this season so far: there aren’t any stakes. Because you squashed any attempt at suspense in the first episode. So why do we care?

“But-but-but there’s that thing with Chuck’s mom!” I know, you have this story arc that you’re hoping will keep me tuned in so I know what happened to her, why she’s Frost, why she’s working with the enemy. I’ll admit, I’m intrigued to see where you’re going with this. I have a feeling that she’s in deep with the Russian syndicate and is either a prisoner or a rogue agent. Seeing as to how Chuck’s parents couldn’t be bad guys (and how Chuck’s mother is supposed to be like Sarah, and Sarah can’t be evil), I’m going to assume the former. But the rest of the show almost makes me not want to find out. Sadly, it reminds me of another NBC show I’ve hinted at in earlier reviews.

Jim-and-Pam Syndrome is not the only thing Chuck has in common with The Office. I can see where this show is going as far as trying to pull ratings. Special guest stars in every episode. Broader comedy. One-offs with intra-episode arcs tying up in pretty bows. You’re trying to make it more accessible. I mean, seriously, the wedding ring thing where Chuck finds the ring and he accidentally looks like he’s proposing — that was on Friends years ago when Rachel accepted Joey’s non-proposal out of post-birthing hormones. I’m not saying Sarah accepts Chuck’s proposal — because, come on, that would be ridiculous. And probably a dealbreaker. But also, like The Office, there aren’t any stakes. Not that The Office is a cliffhanger, roller-coaster ride or anything but with performance becoming background and the Jim and Pam thing being resolved, the show has become obsessed with its quirky characters and forgot its roots in being a satire of the office workplace.

Chuck has lost its history. Anything that might cause trouble for Chuck or anyone in the future is resolved so quickly and succinctly that there’s no cause for drama. While The Office subscribes to the generic sit-com form, where things can be resolved in 30 minutes, you used to explore more. Season three showed so much promise, so much potential, and the opening to season four seems to fritter it away.

Noel and I were talking about it today, about how this season show no real progress and absolutely no stakes. This show has always had a foot in the serious and a foot in the goofy but it feels like the pendulum has swung far into the goofy. Chuck and Sarah are regurgitating the same issue every week: Sarah’s fear of permanence and intimacy. Casey has a daughter and his reluctance to connect with her is hinted at every week but to no real emotional pay-off. Morgan, with his new job as manager of the Buy More and maturing adult, is the only character on this show demonstrating any development at all. All the storylines that could have been from last season like Chuck’s struggle with his sanity and spy/private citizen duality have been swept under the rug. Instead of Chuck having to go off grid to find his mother because he’s no longer in the CIA went nowhere. My hope has always been that the balance between comedy and drama could be restored but there seems to be no hope of that. As Noel says, it’s almost like you’ve gone too far to one end and you’d have to deal with “mood whiplash” to return to some serious storylines. The tenor of the show is less dramatic and more screwball.

This episode was essentially filler. Ghosts from past seasons come back to rewrite history a little bit by implicating themselves as part of this Russian syndicate storyline and Nicole Richie reprises her Heather role in order to be Sarah’s foil for an episode. The Buy More has a midnight sale for the new first-person shooter (which even rehashes some stuff from the web series they did just before the premiere) and Morgan has to deal with an angry mob (again, his character being the only one that actually shows some depth) although I don’t understand why the NSA/CIA wasn’t able to help out with getting copies of the games. The only good stuff from the past couple of episodes involved scenes with Morgan and Casey and there wasn’t any this time around. It’s disappointing is all I’m saying.

I was talking with a Twitter friend Susan earlier this season about how episode four would be a make-or-break for this season’s renewal. She liked this past episode. I didn’t. I think it was too much rehashing of already tread territory and poor execution. Get better, guys. I love this show. Please let me enjoy it.

Other things:

• I understand the idea of using music as a motif throughout the episode. Next time, choose a song not used by several other media properties this season. I love Black Rebel Motorcycle Club but using “Beat the Devil’s Tattoo” is beating the song to death. Listen to some of their other albums.
• I did enjoy a couple things about the episode. I liked the conversation Heather had with Sarah at the end of the episode since it mirrors the talks the guest stars always had with Chuck at the end of his episodes. Where they always tried to convince Chuck that Sarah is, in fact, in love with him, Heather begs the question of whether or not she actually is. It’s a good call-back.
• Lester is awesome. The poetry slam. Backing up Big Mike. All good stuff.
• I would rather have seen the return of Ben Savage as opposed to Nicole Richie.
• Is the role of Greta just a position for the people at Chuck to arbitrarily fill with someone new every week or will Greta actually do something in the series?
• It makes sense that Chuck would lose a cage match with Stone Cold. They should’ve brought in Mankind.
• Whose ventilation shafts are that enormous?