MY NAME IS MY NAME: I forgot to throw something up about last night's Chuck. I realize that there's a great deal of frustration among the Chuck-Sarah contingent, and last night seems to have changed the direction of that vector while nicely avoiding clarity about which direction the vector is now pointing. But Chuck is a show that virtually begs you not to think too hard about it, to just enjoy the ride. The ride, thankfully, is fun. Last night gave us a different side of Zack Levi's comic chops, a different depth of Chuck's maturation (and Sarah's too), and a different mystery about Casey's backstory. And the same great music.
Also, the show has done something that too few shows do these days: introduce tension without introducing an irritating character. Brandon Routh's Agent Shaw is, mockingly gratuitous shirtlessness notwithstanding, a good guy who wants the best for all of our characters, even the ones whose hearts he's breaking. I have a feeling he's not long for Chuck's world, but unlike a Bryce or even a Bartowski Senior, they're nicely setting up his dispatch for an emotional wallop.
I know they're taking Chuck on a journey from lovable geek to spy. But to have him sleep with Hannah and then immediately dump her in front of her parents is so foreign to the character that it just doesn't work. He's a NICE guy. He still won't kill the villians. I'm sure he even traps and releases flies in his apartment. It's like they forgot their own centerpiece in an effort to dump an extra they've run out money for. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Watchman. I could care less about Chuck-Sarah, but our hero would have at least grit his teeth through the dinner. You could argue that that response would be just as cruel to Hannah, but he could have handled that a lot more tactfully. I might just be sad to see Kristin Kreuk go, but I didn't like how her exit was written.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Watchman re: the horrible way Chuck broke up with Hannah. Lord knows the writers didn't have to have the "parent dinner" storyline at all. However, I'm guessing they did it that way so that Hannah could (rightly) tell him that he's not a nice guy, he's a liar, and now he's alone with his lies. So perhaps this will shock Chuck into fully realizing the cost to himself (and his loved ones) of his transformation into spy and make him want to change his approach. Or at least I hope it does.
ReplyDeleteI'm more baffled by why Sarah would choose to pursue Shaw, much less tell him her "real" name. Is she that confused about who she really is and who Chuck is becoming to just decide to get together with Shaw after outlining earlier why she shouldn't? I feel zero chemistry between these two (whereas Chuck and Hannah have loads of it.) Is she playing him because she thinks he's part of the Ring?
I still love the show but these last few episodes have our characters making some odd choices...but I'm confident they will all settle out over the next few episodes.
I'm with Lauri. For Chuck's purposes, the growth was in realizing that he had chosen his job over his personal life, and that it wasn't fair to Hannah for him to keep her around a moment longer. For the show, it was important to show how that played from the outsiders' perspective.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to see Kreuk leave. She was good (in a role that didn't require much) and was completely tonally and aesthetically in tune. "Hitched" sounds like it bears the same relationship to "Chuck" as the JJ Abrams domestic dramas did to Alias and Lost, so I'm unlikely to watch her in that.
It was kind of neat that they gave her an Asian mom, even though from behind her dad looked like he was about 28.
My money is on Sarah playing us all- the "Sam" revelation etc. is part of a grander plot in which we discover Shaw is not what we seems, and Sarah knew all along.
ReplyDeletespeaking of chuck music, i've heard a couple of tracks today on the radio from frightened rabbit's new album (out next tuesday). what's the over/under on which episode will showcase a song from this album?
ReplyDeleteI'll bet Monday night -- the show timed "Got Nuffin" to the night before the Spoon album, so that's got to be the prohibitive favorite.
ReplyDeleteHow are the songs?
I hope Nancy is right.
ReplyDeletere: music
I've liked the songs...and both of them seem like they would easily fit on their last album so it seems like they're not trying to do anything too new. the two i heard are more upbeat musically, although the lyrics suggest the same bleak outlook. plus his voice is so distinctive in a "i'm fucking heartbroken" way. i'm sure i'll be buying it.
hmmm...which track will they play monday. my money is on 'swim until you can't see land".
That's the single they released several months ago, so it makes sense commercially, and it's well within the borders of the music the show plays.
ReplyDelete