Monsters of Television

“Whoa, whoa. That sounds like candor.”

If it weren’t for the Dragon*Con photos, I’m not sure I would believe that Summer Glau knows how to smile. Combo Breaker!

Why can’t we start off our seasons with episodes like this? Instead we have to wade through so much garbage before we start to get the story going, right about at the threshold when people stop caring about the show.

It wasn’t perfect but just about everything hit: the spy story, Chuck’s situation, the best Greta yet, even the Chuck and Sarah story had good reveal. There was a point when I even said, “Oh snap.” Out loud. Yeah, I brought that back that’s how good it was.

Okay, I’ll be honest. “Oh snap” never really left my vocabulary. But you can see how impressive that is for Chuck this season. I can’t even think of a moment beyond the past two episodes where an “oh snap” would be appropriate. Maybe they know something we don’t. Maybe they have reason not to worry about ratings and make a bunch of horrible episodes to scare away the riff-raff. And then at the quarter-season mark, they bring out the goods for the True Believers. Excelsior!

At the beginning of the episode, even with the quality of last week, I was prepared to approach it the same way Noel and I do when we watch Syfy Originals: short reactions to the so impossibly terrible it loops the spectrum and is almost good again in a completely different way. The explosion in the Previously On, for example. Why would you put that there again? I know you’re dealing with a small budget and can’t exactly afford the same booms you used to but show the footage of Chuck and Sarah lying in the grass. Don’t show that CG off. Hide your shame.

The montage of the 31 days Chuck had to submit himself to rigorous testing from scientists also almost turned me off the episode entirely, especially since they apparently felt the way to dislodge the “rock” burdening the Intersect’s execution was by torturing him and then making him look at LOLcats and clips from Jackass. I was so ready to hate this episode. I was cranking out the funnies on scratch sheets, ready to do a minute-by-minute drubbing of this thing.

Rob Riggle, too. My least favorite Daily Show correspondent (Olivia Munn even ranks higher) comes to Burbank to be the cooky expert (interesting thing to be an expert on since, as far as we know, Chuck is the only true Intersect left) to help unburden Chuck of his flashing problem. But I couldn’t find anything to say about him. I actually — was okay with his character. He brings up an interesting point in the practice room/dojo when he initiates katas with Sarah: if Chuck has been flashing on some of the same techniques over and over again, why doesn’t he just remember how to do them? This comes up continually when the scientists (and Riggle) bring up that the Intersect is just a system of memories. I’m not going to assume anything about neuroscience or its place in this show, but if you do something habitually every day, week, month — wouldn’t you start to just pick it up in a different part of your brain?

And that might be what Riggle is getting at throughout the episode. It’s not just that Chuck can’t flash but it’s also that he learns nothing from them when he can. The flashes themselves are treated as ephemeral, blips of skill that help Chuck and the gang out of tight squeezes but never have any transference to the non-Flash existence. He never has to consider mastering his temporary abilities because they only need to be temporary when Casey and Sarah are around. Get out of a jam and the real spies can take over from there. It’s kind of a rehashing of the same problem he had about this time last season as Shaw started sending Chuck out on solo missions, accusing the rest of Team Bartowski of coddling. Chuck’s desire to be a spy last season was unwavering, even when faced with imminent danger (“vs First Class”) or making tough, existential decisions (“vs The Nacho Sampler”). Here, however, we see a slight bit of erosion. This, of course, is the duality of Chuck’s nature.

Remember that? How Chuck struggled with his aptitude as a analyst/spy (in that order) while considering he might not really be cut out for the gig? This is the maturation of that initial struggle, where Chuck has to figure out whether he’s actually good at being a spy, whether he even wants to be a spy, or if he’d be nothing without the Intersect. Chuck never really says that he wants to be a spy for him. He’s asked several times throughout the episode if the spy game is really how he identifies himself or if he actually wants the Intersect back. The guy’s always had self-worth issues so it’s not surprising that he equates doing this job with being worthy of Sarah. That’s why when a worried Sarah, after a heated discussion about Chuck’s safety, blurts out that Chuck isn’t a real spy (OH SNAP!), it’s not really about Chuck’s aptitude. Chuck’s professional ego wasn’t harmed. It was his personal one. For Sarah to tell him he’s not a real spy (OH SNAP AGAIN!) is like her telling him he’s not good enough for her. No matter how good a guy he is or how in love Sarah repeatedly tells him she is, if Chuck isn’t a spy, he’s not of the same calibre of folks with whom Sarah usually hobnobs and he will always feel inadequate.

Yeah. This episode actually makes you care about the Chuck and Sarah dynamic. I know, right?

Beyond the spy mission, things on the homefront are pretty good, too. We have the best Greta of the season (Isaiah Mustafa running a close second) in Summer Glau, not only for the Firefly reunion geek-out but also because she plays her character with more strength than any of the other Gretas. The obvious example is Olivia Munn, who played a person playing a spy. Summer Glau was an assassin and I kind of feared for Jeffster’s collective life.

Speaking of, how good were they this episode? They didn’t necessarily feed into the A-story like they have been lately but they did vindicate themselves for last season’s big disappointment when Morgan and Ellie were going to team up to find out why Chuck was so mysterious and employ Jeffster as their investigative team. They, of course, shot that down within the span of an episode. Probably for the same reason that the Aisle of Terror was fell short: because the idea was too good and everyone was afraid no one could execute it to the fans’ expectations. So hunting Greta was the next best thing for this season. Lester, feet kicked up on the table, baiting an assassin with condescension and sandwiches is inspired. Interesting that they have never picked up on Chuck being all that weird in four years but, as soon as hot girls continually pass through a revolving door name and disappear all over the store, the horndogs take notice.

Even Sarah’s contractual obligation for skimpy costuming was almost justified. Almost justified. Quasi. Who cares?

My only disappointment is Casey’s story. Though understandable, it feels like an afterthought to the rest of the script. That might be because it’s much more difficult for a character like Casey to demonstrate the complexity of his internal struggle in the space of a C-plot. Casey is an Intersect believer and, after feeling the Chuck Effect for four years (where Chuck’s mere presence tends to erode the facade of even the hardest characters), he has planted roots. He’s reconnected with his daughter, he has friends, a companion in Morgan, an installation he can be proud of. When Greta later disparages his mission for being messy and unprofessional, he fully believes he has the best unit on the planet. So Chuck losing the Intersect is the end of all that and, surely, that’s a hard thing to deal with. Having to go back to Iraq or Afghanistan and start all over after building something as great as he feels this is — the itchy trigger finger is just as much about his need to serve as it is a plea for Chuck not to derail this project. Unfortunately, all of that can’t be crammed effectively into a lesser storyline so I’m left to reflect on it for a day and make it up as I go along.

In essence, this episode actually does go back to its title: the fear of death. For Chuck, that is not only in his own mortality but also the life he currently has with Sarah, one that he feels he needs an Intersect’s advantage to maintain. Sarah, of course, fears Chuck’s death since, as a villager at the epicenter of the Chuck Effect, her life is defined by his existence and everything that she is is to protect him. Casey fears the death of all that he has built here, a place he deigned to put down roots, all of which can crumble under the weight of the static in Chuck’s head. And Jeff and Lester just don’t want to get stuck by a pretty lady they didn’t even get to see naked. All right, they’d probably be okay with that.

Some other brief notes:

• I like the effect they used to demonstrate Chuck’s inability to flash with the static. Are those the same guys that worked on the explosion? I think you’ve found a place to concentrate your efforts.
• Chuck has an opportunity very similar to what he had at the end of Season Two when Orion cleared out/suppressed the Intersect then. Chuck chose to upgrade in order to save the team. He has the same decision here except the stakes (I know — Chuck has stakes?) are more specific since he feels like he needs the Intersect to keep up with Sarah and to not let everyone else down. That in mind, and trying not to speculate about the future of the season, do you think this character would walk away from being a spy to have the normal life he craved in the first two seasons of this show? Or do you think Chuck has matured to the point where he realizes, as long as he’s in love with Sarah, his life can never be normal?
• How good was the dual growling between Greta and Casey? A whole bucket of win there.
• Chuck explains Switzerland to Sarah but that’s the setting for a good chunk of the God-awful “vs The Honeymooners.” Does this mean that episode has been removed from the mythology? Can I pretend it never existed? Please oh please oh please?
• The Subway sandwich product placement with Summer Glau in the breakroom might be the most effective advertising for that company — I’m going to say ever. Sorry, Jared. You lose.
• I’m not complaining by the way, but has a female Nerd Herder ever worn her tie knotted at the neck? Just curious.