Saturday, November 19, 2011

Chuck - "Chuck Versus the Buisness Trip"


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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