Monsters of Television

“Dude, you are misquoting the line and you are ruining Pretty in Pink for me!”

Why do they still have a corded PS1 controller?

So what do the shippers have to live for now?

I was skeptical of this episode going in. Chuck has been on the bubble, more so since its recent plummet in ratings, and TV bloggers, producers, actors, and fans have united into a Save Our Chuck task force. They’ve put together Twitter trending topics and a media blitz that seems to be all I see. I wouldn’t notice so much if it weren’t their mantra, renewed every week: “This episode of Chuck is the best episode to date/of the season.” Now, granted, these episodes lately have been much better and certainly a step in the right direction if they aim to be an anchor in NBC’s schedule but the constant hype for the current week’s episode is starting to just become noise. Maybe I just pay more attention than the average bear to people who are really into TV but it’s all becoming a jumble of hyperbole and desperate pleas to save the show. I mean, I want the show to be saved, too, but they’re using the same rhetoric for “vs American Hero” as they did for “vs The Fake Name” (you remember — the one where we learn Sarah’s name is really Sam and then it’s never brought up again). If you say every episode is awesome and none are unawesome then every episode, by definition, is just mediocre. So I went into this week ready to be disappointed, that rant plus more in the holster, ready to be pulled when the show didn’t live up to expectations.

The bulk of that rant will remain in the holster.

The cliffhanger from last episode turned out to be the least of Team Chuck’s worries as Shaw ends up NOT killing Sarah in the weird video studio (with a stage that, I would assume, was where the hologram was beamed from) already playing video of Evelyn Shaw (at least Shaw’s first name isn’t Adam, right?) and Sarah’s red test. Chuck comes in with a full tactical team with air and ground support to save her but they’ve already made up by the time Chuck arrives on the scene. Chuck cancels the tank.

There have been several times throughout the season that scenes with Shaw have ended with a punch of dramatic evil music and a close up on him, long before he knew about Sarah’s red test (so we assume), and, as educated media consumers, we’ve probably all felt that this was (a) foreshadowing for darker times or (b) inopportune cross-editing with scenes relating to the bad guys right after. I always overthought the hints, assuming they were mistakes on the editing narrative to shade Shaw like this but I should have known better. Not only did I neglect the simple answer but I assumed the team at Chuck were prone to story-telling mistakes as opposed to what I feel to be true: the authors of this show have gotten better over time and are finally taking control of the show.

What I’m trying to say: was I surprised that Shaw eventually turned out to be with The Ring? No. Was I surprised I was right? Yes.

Not that they didn’t mask it the best they could with the romantic storyline. While I wouldn’t consider myself a “shipper” per se, I do like seeing Chuck and Sarah in scenes together, especially those where they exchange some banter or talk about non-spy stuff. They have a good chemistry (basically fireworks compared to Sarah and Shaw) and I enjoyed it when Sarah paid him a visit later after the botched rescue mission. By then, Chuck had already gone to the dark place (scotch and Guitar Hero) since he felt Sarah and Shaw were back together and Morgan, the only person standing in his way to a booze-fueled night of wailing “Tom Sawyer” on four buttons, was tied up on the floor using fancy Intersect-inspired knots. Sarah and Chuck share a moment with each other and I’m pretty sure I heard a collective sigh of relief mingling with shrieks of joy as Sarah finally, mercifully, said, “So yes. Yes.” One step closer to consumating the thing that they knew and we knew and everybody knew.

Although I’ve always been curious as to why their previous kissing and admittal of feelings before weren’t confirmation enough. I guess confirmation is only established with penetration.

Anyhow, this acts as a beard for Shaw’s rogueness through the (painful re-)emergence of Chuck’s whininess. He has a slight fear of Supes cutting him down for being in love with his lady. While on a mission to catch the director of The Ring, Chuck essentially whimpers about Shaw knowing which makes us feel like Chuck is overreacting and that Shaw has no idea what’s going on, ostensibly in any capacity. This is furthered by Shaw’s “fight” with The Ring agents. Watching them fight, however, reminded me of watching Power Ranger fight the Putties: Pink Ranger visibly missed all her punches yet the Putties flew five feet back anyway. I thought it was possibly the worst fight sequence since, well, Sarah punched the dude in charge of the security system in “vs the Tic-Tac.” Happily, it was supposed to be bad. Young Morgan realizes Shaw was pulling his punches on seeing the security footage and Chuck starts to put the pieces together as Shaw and Sarah fly out on a mission to Paris alone. Suddenly, an alien flight commander busts in and yells, “It’s a trap!” Not really. But it is a trap.

Morgan wants to be the guy that Chuck can fly around the world with to save Sarah but we all know he doesn’t have what it takes (yet). So it’s time to turn to Casey (I like Noel’s comment: “Well, Chuck and Morgan need someone to stay in the van”). After a pep talk, Morgan gets Casey on board and he and Chuck fly to Paris again except, this time, Chuck actually gets to get out of the plane.

Shaw wants to take Sarah to the site of her red test where The Ring shows up with a special tranq dart that limits her mobility but doesn’t knock her out. Instead, they (Shaw and The Ring Director) discuss their evil plan with the drugged Sarah over espresso. The Bond-villain-esque delay is enough for Chuck to get Shaw and Sarah alone and pull a gun — that he doesn’t use for fear that Sarah will associate that with non-Chuckness. So, instead, Chuck wrestles the Other Guy (though, technically, in this episode, Chuck is the Other Guy) and loses at first, only for Chuck to man up later. He puts a few bullets in Shaw and he gets dumped over a bridge into the river in perfect soap opera “is he really dead?” style. Casey catches the Ring director and demands that he gets reinstated. So,with Shaw gone and Casey back, it’s like a reset button was hit again. Sort of.

This show has always sort of wandered. Despite there being a goal in place (kill the bad guys du jour), the series often threatened to be a repetitive, stalemated program. In the same way that Life Unexpected started its season with a bunch of episodes where no dramatic threads were carried over from previous episodes (beyond those outlined in the pitch), Chuck has, more or less, maintained a status quo, save the end of each season where things tend to change. This season, however, is a little different. Technically, the last few weeks were, in fact, the season finale/premiere episodes before NBC ordered more but the strength of what is now mid-season is exciting. Instead of wandering, chasing dark, amorphous syndicates, it seems like the show has a real direction. Chuck is going to save the world. Sarah is going to be by his side. So will Casey. And now, so will Morgan. All the stuff we might have missed about Chuck now that he’s all growns up, we can live through again in Morgan, probably to a more comedic effect. We see a progression. We see them capitalizing on their mythology. This is a much more mature show than it started out to be. And, while I feel like it has ways to go before we can start comparing it to shows with more architecture (we’re not going to draw any Lost comparisons any time soon) — this show is starting to get really good. Even though no one is watching it, it can stand up to just about any show on television right now and hold its head high.

We just need more Jeffster.

A couple quick things:

• I think they should have capitalized on Casey being a civilian a little more. I would have liked to see more of him adjusting to normal life. I would also like to have seen him hang out with Jeff and Lester for the night. Missed opportunity.
• There were a lot of great little character bits in this episode, from Beckman mentioning her fondness for Ayn Rand to Morgan leaving the breakroom with an “enjoy my old life” only for Casey to respond, “You, too.” The focus on detail is another thing that is making this show feel more grown up.
• Even though I’m digging on these last few episodes, I’m looking forward to the hiatus, if for anything else just so I don’t have to hear the hype machine for a while.
• So, do you think, now that Chuck and Sarah can be together, that the shippers will lose interest? There aren’t really any obstacles for them anymore (maybe professionalism?). Are we going to see a downturn like Jim and Pam?
• When are we going to finally find out that Chuck is just reliving his father’s past? That Chuck’s dad was also a special analyst that fell in love with a spy only for her to be relocated or something? When will we find out that Chuck is essentially dating his mom?