Season 3, Episode 4
I’m beginning to wonder if Chuck’s biggest problem, at
least for this season, isn’t the fact that it isn’t telling the best stories –
although, yes, that still is a significant issue – but that it hasn’t found out
just how to break those stories into sizeable chunks. Two weeks ago, I railed
against the show for introducing evil Morgan far too quickly, and I equally
criticized last week’s episode for walking him back at roughly the same pace.
But it goes beyond pacing; the show has also had problems connecting the
episodes to one another. “Chuck Versus The Bearded Bandit” seemed to end with Morgan
working for Verbanski, only for it to take half of the next episode to get to
that point. Likewise, tonight’s episode opened with Morgan’s brain still fried
(something that I thought was already fixed), and, in a weird bit of
continuity, with Jeff still sober. But, if you could manage to look past the
fought spots that it took to get here, “Chuck Versus The Business Trip” was
actually pretty solid, and the best episode of the season so far.
Of course, this is the fifth season of Chuck we’re talking about here, so
quality is relative. Given the procedural-heavy nature that the premiere seemedto be indicating – before that idea got sidetracked thanks to Evil Morgan –
it’s not like the show set the bar too high in regards to the stories that it
was going to tell. So while I wasn’t bowled over my tonight’s A-plot, I at
least recognize that it was a fun little story that didn’t have me shaking my
head too much.
That being said….the identity of The Viper was fairly
obvious from the get go (hell, I figured it out when Catherine Dent’s name
popped up in the credits) but I will give the show props for trying to
complicate the issue just a bit by bringing in not one but two possible other
candidates. (Though I’m not sure what David Koechner being a furry has to do with
anything, other than being an overly silly distraction.) That Jane/The Viper
was supposed to represent Sarah’s search for a more normal life didn’t play
nearly as well, both because it’s a worry that we’ve seen crop up many, many
times on the show, but also because it’s usually something Chuck worries about
more, and seeing Sarah concerned about it just comes off a little weird.
But what really made this episode pop was the watching
how the A-plot soon intersected (excuse the pun) with the other subplots of the
episode. As stated above, the continuation of Jeff’s clear-headedness is a
strange move for the show, considering how insubstantial the Buy More plots
are, but I think I actually like seeing this evolution of the characters as
some sort of send-off/last hurrah. Even better, the show was finally able to
made good on the possibility of the Buy More meeting up with the A-plots this
season (even if it’s just in the standard “a spy walks into the Buy More” sort
of way), and that, coupled with Chuck using the Buy More’s Salesperson of the
Year Retreat in order to impersonate Morgan and draw out the Viper, it finally
felt as if the store was essential to the story again.
That interconnectedness also extended to Morgan, who’s
gone and lost the Intersect (well, that was quick), but apparently still has a
good portion of his brain fried. Again, this is where that “breaking up the
episodes” problem comes into play, as I thought that Morgan remembering getting
pants in middle school would also mean that he would remember all his nerd
knowledge as well. But whatever, because the show was actually able to use this
to its advantage, as we saw Casey get revenge on Morgan for hurting Alex by
having him watch The Phantom Menace first
(seriously, that’s just cold).
But that served as good as an introduction as any into Morgan’s
attempts to reconcile with Alex, which was both a hanging thread from last
week, and something that was quickly resolved this week. I can’t entirely be
sure why the show decided to have them remain broken up (I assume production
costs means that Mekenna Melvin can’t be in too many episodes) but it felt like
a somewhat bold move for the episode – Chuck
is a show were people more often than not are able to reach a happy resolution –
while also, possibly leaving the door open for them to get back together before
the season ends, since, once again, Chuck
loves its happy endings.
But speaking of bold moves: that ending. Chuck may do
happy endings, yes, but it’s not been without it’s dark moments as well, but I
don’t think anything they’ve done has ever topped this. Not only do we see
Casey kill a group of assassins in a preemptive strike, but it was a strike
which Sarah asked him to take, and the episode ends with Casey getting arrested
for said Murders. Parallel to think, we received what was definitely the
darkest Buy More plot as Lester gets arrested for attempted murder after Jeff
rats him out to the cops for trying to poison him with carbon monoxide again.
Yea, Chuck
fans, it was a doozie of a ending, and one that finally, finally makes it seem
as if the season is underway. The pesky “Morgan as the Intersect” plot has been
done away with. Decker has become an immediate threat, and Carmichael Industries
is already starting to feel the pressure. Even Jeff and Lester seem to be stuck
in a serious storyline. Indeed, all seems in line for the show to deliver on
the final season we all expected from it. And it only took four episodes to get
there.
Chuck will return in three weeks. From
there, it will run every Friday until it completes its run with a two-hour
finale on January 27th.
Quotes and Other
Thoughts:
The Awesome/Ellie plot of the week: Ellie gets
jealous of how much time Awesome is spending with the baby, and they once again
switch roles as she stays home, and he goes back to work. While I enjoyed that
the show wasn’t afraid to switch gender roles, and that Awesome never felt
emasculated for being a stay-at-home dad – shades of Up All Night – I’m not
sure what to make of them resetting the traditional gender norms by episode’s
end, even if it was for the right reasons. That is, I compliment the show on making
sure Ellie stays at home because she wants to, because she misses her daughter,
but I thought it was bolder, and much preferred it, when Devon was the one
staying home.
Signs that Casey forgives Morgan: allows him to move back
in, doesn’t tell him about the fourth Indiana
Jones film.
So we all agree that Chuck’s going to get the Intersect
back by the time the show ends, right?
“Yes, I agree it is okay to freak out.”
“Missile Command is part of our process.”
“But you never sell anything; you just eat Pirate’s Booty
and watch large lady pornography.”
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