Some thoughts on Chuck

I haven't done a Chuck post in a while (aside from some Zachary Levi squee), so let's talk about how this extra-six-episodes arc is shaking out.

I thought it got off to a really great start with the Honeymooners episode. It's pretty clear that Chuck and Sarah finally getting together is hardly going to be the downfall of the show. The relationship conflict was a little silly - haven't we already been over the "Do you want to quit?" "Do YOU want to quit?" stuff already? But then, I guess we've gone back and forth so many times, it could be confusing. First Chuck wanted Sarah to quit so they could be together, then he decided he liked the spy stuff and didn't want to give it up, but meanwhile Sarah had decided she DID want to quit to be with Chuck, and she wanted Chuck to quit because it was changing him, so now we're finally coming back around to them both wanting to be together at the same time and what does that mean for their spy careers? Anyway, I'm glad we got that straightened out and out of the way, and in the meantime, it gave us a pretty hilarious episode.

It was cute how they both accidentally caught each other sneaking around the bad guy's cabin, and I LOVED the fight scene with Sarah and Chuck handcuffed together. I kind of want to write a Spuffy fic that incorporates handcuffed fighting now. I also enjoyed Morgan being weirdly brilliant and useful for tracking down Chuck. And the scene in the cafe with Chuck/Morgan and Sarah/Casey talking in front of the terrorist - you could totally see him becoming a Chuck/Sarah shipper before our eyes, lol. Plus, a Jeffster! performance? Awesome.

I haven't been as thrilled with the next two episodes, though. The one with the older spy couple was silly, and although I adored everything to do with that tiger, the whole "Chuck and Sarah get a glimpse of their future" thing was cliched and didn't do much for me. I also felt that they were starting to get too reliant on the character pairings - even before Sarah and Chuck got together, the last few episodes have been putting those two together (usually with much drama) while Casey and Morgan do a comic relief thing on their own. One of the things I miss is the Team Bartowski dynamic, which hasn't been right all season because of Shaw, and especially I miss Chuck/Casey interactions. In taking Chuck's place as the bumbling idiot on the team, Morgan also seems to have taken Chuck's place as the one who receives most of Casey's disapproving glares and grunts. I also think there's a LOT of comedy to be had by pairing up Morgan and Sarah, as that bit in the kitchen proved.

Last night's episode gave me a little of what I wanted, switching things up to put Chuck and Morgan together (at a Beethoven concert!) with Sarah and Casey pairing up to keep Chuck out of hot water. And yet, I wasn't really fond of this one, either. I think Alan Sepinwall hit it on the head when he said the balance of comedy and drama that this show does so well just didn't work for this episode. There could have been a lot more suspense with more build up on both the "Chuck's having crazy dreams" thing and whatever's going on with Ellie and the Ring operatives. Chuck being locked up in a psych ward isn't a big deal when we don't have any doubt that he's right about the bad guys, so you gotta give us some kind of stakes. Even the return of Anna Wu was less than I'd hoped for. She seemed really different, more snooty and full of herself. Well, okay, she was always that, but she used to be awesome, too, and now she's just stuck up. I was happy to see Morgan leave her in the dust.

Coming up, it looks like Papa Bartowski will be back (yay!) and perhaps also Shaw (boo!). Plus, there's still the chance that Chuck might really be crazy someday.