David isn’t feeling up to it this week, so I’m stepping in to keep you informed about Chuck. Only four episodes in and already this season has become rather polarizing even to the most die hard fans. Something just isn’t quite hitting the right notes for everyone… but what about me? I’ve been the shows town cryer to all my friends since the second episode, so surely I can get into this episode. Right?
Click behind the cut for my thoughts on the latest episode of NBC’s Chuck.
Synopsis: Indebted to Captain Awesome for saving his life in “Chuck Versus the Angel de la Muerte”, Premier Alejandro Goya (Armand Assante) and his wife (Tia Texada) show their gratitude by inviting the gang to their beautiful island. Chuck and Sarah work on becoming better communicators as they join Captain Awesome and Ellie for a getaway to Costa Gravas. Back at home, Morgan embarks on a forbidden romance that may put him at odds with Colonel John Casey. (Synopsis from Wikipedia)
What Was Good: This was a very Awesome heavy episode, and considering Awesome has had one of the greatest characters on the show since the beginning, that’s a good thing. Awesome has had a tremendous character arc that moved him from simply the “hunky doctor” character to a fully three-dimensional member of the Chuck family, which really took off for him in the last season when he learned Chuck’s secret (and saved the Premier’s life). I really like that despite his name is Captain Awesome, he still manages to be an incredibly humble character, especially in the wake of a giant statue in his honor. That made for a great scene.
Of course, Armand Assante as the returned premier ended up being pretty funny. Assante is hilarious in the role, as a send up of classic dictators too drunk on power and high on life to really worry about anything. From sending a videogram to Awesome and Elly to hanging out with a wheelchair bound Casey, Assante is a definite scene stealer. He and Adam Baldwin also have great chemistry, given Baldwin’s character’s hate of everything Assante stands for and Assante’s general beliefs. The two make for a good team up.
What Was Bad: The show has one major plotline and one major subplot that runs through the season: the hunt for Chuck’s mom, and the evolution of Chuck and Sarah’s relationship now that they’re comfortable and out in the open. While the hunt for Chuck’s mom is obviously something that will grow slowly and gradually over the season, the relationship element comes to the forefront this episode due to last week’s ring cliffhanger. What ends up happening is two steps backward and two steps forward which leaves us at the exact same point we left off at. There are things that we as the audience understand, and one of those is that yes, Sarah is nervous about moving forward with Chuck. That’s been how the show has been for it’s entire run. Now that they live together and actually like living together, can we focus on something new about their relationship other than “plot element x makes Sarah nervous, Chuck convinces her otherwise with his boyish charms, and Sarah steps a little bit closer to him at the end”? It’s just getting… well, predictable. And boring.
Tell you what – Chuck should really propose, not accidentally fake propose with Big Mike’s wedding ring. Then it might be more interesting.
I also missed the lack of a Greta. This is a small complaint, but for the past couple episodes, the Greta’s have all provided significant “nerd lulz” with guests like Isaiah Mustafa (who really should become a recurring guest) and Olivia Munn. We don’t get another Greta until Summer Glau shows up, but I kind of wished this was a joke that stayed in EVERY episode, not just some.
I suppose that leads me to simply say that I miss the simpler Buy More days. The current set up does allow the show to keep it’s same basic element, but I do miss seeing Chuck run around in black pants and a tie while trying to do his secret spy stuff. The show is admittedly doing a good job with his gradual growth into a super spy, but at the same time it might be nice to pull it back a bit and see him at least answer one Nerd Herd question.
Overview: The show is still good all in all. I’m beginning to grow tired of the Chuck/Sarah dynamic now because after all the crap we as fans went to see them together, now they’re just pushing part and pulling back in again. It’s really not that endearing to watch a “will they, won’t they” storyline when they’ve already gotten together. I do enjoy the guest stars and the plots though.
And I still cry shenanigans on the whole Chuck’s mom thing, but that’s another story for another time.
