Monsters of Television

“Let him man-serve you.”

Ms. Walker. You’re trying to seduce me.

Why do the big moments in Chuck and Sarah’s life have to be nestled in their cheesiest episodes?

It wasn’t always like this. Harken back to Seasons 1 and 2 and you’ll find plenty of important moments that are properly escalated, better structured, and surrounded by story that doesn’t crumble around the emotional core. In fact, the only heartbreaking moment in the timeline of these two crazy kids nestled into a campy hour prior to Season 3 that I can remember off the top of my head comes during “vs The Truth,” where a former East European gymnast armed with truth-serum/poison provides all the characters with their very own writer’s crutches.

But it seems like the really well-plotted episodes of this series are increasingly scattered and episodes that should have a lot of emotional pay-off because of the events surrounding the beating heart of this show (no matter how many times I almost wish the focus would shift to Morgan and Casey) stumble in structure and execution. Yeah, “vs The Honeymooners.” I’m looking at you.

While not suffering from the same paralysis of subtlety that 0314 celebrated, “vs The Balcony” definitely has an unfinished quality to it. The A-plot (termed as the “sub-mission” for the episode) is never supported by any other elements of the episode, even when it’s necessary that it is in order for the A-plot to function. But, more importantly, the end of the episode lacks an emotional beat because of the campiness surrounding the rest of the story.

Let’s start off with something good about the episode, though.

Even though I don’t like the idea of Chuck proposing to Sarah, it is (a) true to the characters for the most part and (b) essential in creating drama for a couple we’ve known were perfect for each other since Sarah was slinging wieners. The framing of the proposal in this episode might be the truest way to execute such an important moment for the two. Of course Sarah would get hip to Chuck’s plan (although I wish it would’ve taken more spy work and intuition than hearing it accidentally through a ventilation shaft that must have the greatest acoustics on the planet) and use her expertise to control the situation. Of course Morgan and Casey would try to help out behind the scenes and play long-distance audience. And, of course, the whole thing would play out like a little mini-mission behind closed doors. The framework itself was right; it’s the execution that just felt a little cornball.

While mounting the proposal/turnaround, every other part of the story suffered. I don’t even really want to get into the Buy More plot, possibly the most cartoonish one yet this season. For a second I thought Hanna Barbara constructed that arc. Like El Kabong was going to join Jeffster for their rendition of “Is This Love” by Whitesnake. No. El Kabong is too cool. Huckleberry Hound. Snagglepuss. In any case, it was almost offensive, especially with how well Jeff and Lester had been incorporated earlier this season.

The French terrorist plot was also lacking but I suppose attention wasn’t really supposed to be paid to it. It was a means to an end where an anonymous bad guy gives Chuck and Sarah a reason to hang out in France and provides an opportunity for the turnaround. While I was kind of relieved that there was a villain-of-the-week not involved with this season’s Big Bad (Beckman: “Not every criminal works for Alexei Volkoff.”), the plot itself for the French terrorists was thin.

But the real tragedy was how they constructed the turnaround. Its humble beginning is from a unmotivated act on Sarah’s part to contact General Beckman and offer her services to catch Volkoff. First of all, why does she need to offer her services at all? She’s an employee often charged with catching bad guys. It’s sort of implied that she’s available for this at all times. Second, why does no one question Beckman coming all the way across the country to debrief the team in person? Third, these are the only two steps to the escalation for the turnaround, Sarah’s plea for the obvious and Beckman’s unquestioned order for Sarah to make the drop.

Why this is tragic is because the last two scenes of the show (lumping Chuck’s conversation with Casey in with Chuck’s last conversation with Sarah) are written in a way that, on paper, they should function with the necessary emotional intensity. Morgan getting giddy as he watches Chuck stammer through a proposal. The CIA agents interrupting with their convenient and mood-killing brand of justice. Casey’s fatherly build-up to give Chuck the courage to try again. Sarah saying goodbye. These are all moments that should work. But because they’re surrounded by crap, the intensity is ruined.

I’m not usually a fan of thick camp, especially on Chuck. The show always has a slight element of campiness to it, but, when the show abandons all subtlety, I’m out. Here I was willing to roll with it for a good portion of the show as the tone needed to match. The Buy More plot, the cornball framework for the proposal, Chuck walking that goofy line of sit-com proposal tropes. But the scenes at the end mark pretty serious moments for the series. Sarah leaving to go undercover, splitting these two up, is the culmination of a story arc that began in Season 2 once you figured out that Orion is Chuck’s pop.

Since you learned that Steve Bartowski was a super-elite analyst/developer/spy, you knew his counterpart (Chuck’s mom, Mary) was a super-agent. Their relationship has always been the Ghost of Chucknsarah Future, haunting their relationship as its inevitable analogue. Somehow, some way, Chuck and Sarah were going to be separated. That Sarah is going undercover for the same reason that Mary/Frost went undercover (in the same syndicate no less) further concretizes the parallel. This is a major turning point for the series, something they’ve been building up to for years. So, for it to occur in an otherwise crummy episode, ruins the emotional value the turnaround has. Because of the campiness of all the stories around it, the emotional tension was depleted. The script felt rushed which is unfortunate for those of us who have been anticipating this plot point for some time.