Chuck

As we speak I'm putting together a loop clip of Chuck shooting Shaw a billion times as he bloodily falls into the courtyard fountain. I think I'll make it my screensaver. Man, I hate Brandon Routh! This violent image was only just a dream, but it would trigger the events of this episode, where Chuck believes that an assassination will happen at a concert. My problem is we've seen this plot on Chuck before (several times), and even with the twist of his possible insanity, the way that his colleagues didn't believe him, and the way that he turned out in the end, to in fact be right, all just felt too cliched. Here's a basic summation of the episode:

Chuck- "Someone is going to be killed, we have to stop it!"

Friends- "We don't believe you, you're overstressed."

Chuck- "Maybe you're right, I'm loosing it!"

Chuck- "Aha! You were wrong! I was right! Whew!"



This was just too easy a narrative, imo, and I can't help but wonder if this has to do with the tacked-on nature of these extra few episodes.



But there was still a lot to enjoy, regardless. Morgan continues to entertain, as the only one who would stand by Chuck. Anna Wu returned, and though I would have liked them to give her more to do, I was pleased with the way Morgan maturely rejected her.



Ellie is finally getting some spy action of her own! That Justin dude from Africa dropped by and claims to be CIA. He's got her wrapped up in her father's business, and she discovered guns at Casey's pad. Now Ellie needs to keep some secrets of her own from Devon and Chuck, and it's great to see her plotline stepping it up. All the buildup to leaving for Africa only to have them back home a week later is kind of funny to me, though.



The biggest spin of the episode, is the idea that the intersect is starting screw with Chuck's mind. This is an AWESOME idea, but for now, I like the concept better than the execution. Chuck saw a shrink and guest star Christopher 'Doc Brown' Lloyd was pretty sweet. There were even nods to 'One Flew Over the Coo Coo's Nest', (which Lloyd was in) as Chuck was taken to a mental facility about his problem. The whole thing was Chuck flashed on a tooth of one of the African scientists, which was carrying tons of information. I think it would have been more interesting and more daring if he was actually WRONG, and that the intersect was throwing him mentally off. But this isn't about how I would make the epiosde. This is about how the episode, as is, works, and for what it is, it's standard Chuck fare that we've grown to know and love. Speaking of love, Sarah can't seem to say "I love you" back to Chuck, and once again, I think it would have been more interesting and daring, if she DIDN'T say it. At least not so soon. She gave in by episode's end, making that subplot also feel a bit easy. I would have liked if she saved her "I love you" for a bigger moment in the new finale. It would have more resonance. But again, it is what it is.

Another great episode, but very strange at the same time. It leaves me with some serious doubts in the following episodes which concerns me a little bit.



Let's see, where to start ... OK, starting with not principal stuff. What's wrong with Casey? He is being as human as we never have seen him. Lucky that he still has its moments of hard guy indeed.



Then, Morgan ... he has matured, rejecting Anna twice, even three times. He needs to mature a little more and for sure he will become a CIA agent.





And now, the main course, but I think we have two or three main courses being cooked right now, all three very interesting topics.



1a- Chuck. He has me very worried. At least this time his dream was right, but what about Shaw? How can he be alive? Chuck shooted him in the chest and Shaw fell several feet into the river. If he is alive, what are we are going to see now?



1b- Chuck. Serious-mental-deterioration? Time will tell, but he is starting to lie to Sarah and things could be heating up in this one, because he is in danger right now -as so the series-.



3 - Ellie. She knows where her father is, as we figured out the intentions of the Ring, but what now: going for "Daddy" and...try to build a new intersect?





Finally, just say good nod to the writers at Christopher Lloyd, mostly because Chuckhe kept telling him "Doc".



Also, keep a close up to Devon and Ellie, because SHE thinks Casey is bad and HE knows Casey is good. This is going to explode someday.

Suspicion emerges when Chuck starts having strange dreams, and he thinks those dream are warning signs for what's going to happen in the future. Everyone thinks that his brain is deteriorating from the intersect. Sarah stays on Chuck's side every step of the way even after he was wrong... twice. Chuck, of course ends up being right about these "visions" and Sarah & Casey come to save the day in the end. Meanwhile Ellie finds out that Casey is a spy from Justin. He warns her about him, which only means trouble since it's obviously a setup. You think everything is dandy, especially when Sarah says she loves Chuck. Then we find out Chuck is in danger, medically. His brain IS deteriorating because of intersect, he keeps it from Sarah when he has another dream warning that Shaw is still alive. Wow, a lot to take in with that cliffhanger. Anna returns to get Morgan back, but Morgan rejects her. I wanted Anna to stick around, oh well. Good episode with a great cliffhanger.

The 3rd season is twofold: Ring non-linked episodes are great, Ring connected episodes are dull.



Chuck Versus the Living Dead was brilliant - you know: that special mix of fun, drama, romance and action. Chuck Versus the Tooth falls flat - the Ring here, the Ring there, and the Ring again. Everyone run crazy in this episode. Rather boring.



The writers seem looking for ideas, and the last one is to play with the Ellie-Awesome couple, with a real/false CIA agent telling Ellie to spy on John Casey and call her father. And Anna is doing a come-back!



I'm afraid there'll be no more material for the next season.