It's always difficult for hardcore fans to admit when the object of their affection has flown off the rails, particularly when you spent all last season campaigning on the "SAVE THIS SHOW!" float, so it isn't easy for me to admit, but this season of Chuck has been bad, peeps. Really bad. I have quickly gone from being slightly underwhelmed to pretty bored to begrudging and we're only 10 episodes in. Seriously, watching these last few episodes has felt like a chore, not a pleasure, and I can't seem to stop myself from checking what minute we're at in the broadcast at least 4 or 5 times. Quite frankly, had I not been championing the show for the past several years, I think I'd have already broken up with it...
I guess I just keep hoping it'll get good again, but my confidence is starting to dwindle. Most shows take a few episodes of a new season to get things back in gear, but 10? After 10 episodes, we should be knee-deep in awesome, and with Chuck this year, we're knee-deep in... something else. Maybe it's the season 4 curse. For whatever reason (usually college), most shows seem to fall apart at the season 4 mark. Buffy, Angel, Alias, Gilmore Girls, Psych... the list goes on. Most of these shows managed to reclaim some former glory with season 5 (heh, Glory, season 5, Buffy, anyone?), but that's assuming I make it through season 4. We're only to the half-way point with Chuck and I don't know if I'm going to make it to the next episode... Let me count the ways...
1) The foundation of the show is gone.
What's worse, it wasn't replaced with anything else, really, let alone something awesome. Shows have to grow and evolve and sometimes that means that a fundamental change has to take place. I'm fine with that. Indeed, for the best of shows, the game-changer changes the game in the most awesome of ways. With Chuck, well... they pretty much just keep switching back and forth between overplayed conceits. It's hard to really explain, but I think any true fan of the show acknowledges that the magic of the show is mostly gone. The initial charm was that a regular guy got caught up in the spy world and was given knowledge and abilities he didn't know what to do with. Chuck had to keep his identity secret all while trying to be the spy he was never meant to be. I grant that over time, Chuck needed to become a better spy and that he couldn't play the dorky fish out of water forever. I'm totally fine with that. The only problem is that the show seems hell-bent on hanging onto a premise that no longer exists. The characters have moved past their original incarnations and the original concept of the show has disappeared. Again, that's fine so long as they replace the foundation with something solid. Instead, the team behind Chuck replaced the old foundation with... well... Morgan, basically... They've made Morgan the rookie in an attempt to retain the geeky non-spy angle to the show (as well as keeping the Buy More antics alive--more on that later), but it really isn't working for me. And yet, somehow, this angle that isn't really working for me is probably the most entertaining element of the show these days. Wow, not a good sign. I would have liked to have seen the show truly re-invent itself. With each previous season, the writers found a way to add more layers and possibilities for these characters, but with the current season? They've either run out of room or I've simply run out of caring. They seemingly replaced all physical and mental challenges with... relationship woes? Downgrade. If they really wanted to keep the show alive, they should have completely re-invented the premise not simply spun off into whineyville. After Chuck became a real spy, I had high hopes that they would truly change things up--move the characters to a new place, give them a new mission, and alter the working dynamic among the group. If they were so determined to make Chuck a real spy and bring him and Sarah together, fine. Change the vibe of the show. Take what made Sarah and Bryce such a sizzling spy couple and apply it here. Yeah, no such luck.
2) Same old characters, same routine.
Don't get me wrong, I have truly adored these characters for years now, but at some point, something has to change. I'm so sick to death of watching these same people do the same things for the same reasons every single week. I know a lot of fans out there were none-too-fond of the Sarah/Superman relationship last season, but I think most would agree that Shaw brought a lot to the show. Not only did he provide an obvious (and often heavy-handed) love interest for Sarah and a big bad for the season, but most importantly for me, he provided a new character for our regulars to interact with and play off of, forcing them out of their comfort zones. It's one of the main reasons I loved Bryce so much. Aside from being a great (and beautiful) character who made for a fair match for Sarah, he added a whole new vibe to the show and forced the other characters to adapt. Now it's down to the bare bones and every episode sees Chuck, Sarah, Casey, and Morgan doing essentially the same things with the same people. By season 4, viewers need something new... something other than Chuck's mother. Which brings me to my third point...
3) The mother of all fails.
I guess the writers actually did bring in a new element, a new character that should have shaken things up... Only problem? It didn't work. The show seems to think I should be really interested in Chuck's mother and the constant (and annoying) twists and reveals about whether or not she's good or evil. I genuinely don't care. I haven't cared pretty much since minute 2. I say minute 2 because when it was revealed that Mama Bartowski was alive at the end of season 3, I was honestly intrigued and excited for season 4. Minute 2, however, made it clear that this was going to be a season long story arc where the only real threat presented is that I might fall asleep. I can't decide how much of it's the writing and how much of it is Linda Hamilton, but Mama Bartowski has been nothing but a letdown. Chuck seems continually shocked that his mother is evil. No, good! No, evil! I, on the other hand, have no investment in this character whatsoever and just wish she'd fall down a mine shaft or something. Once a character has been shifted back and forth between good and evil 117 times, it stops being a shock and starts being a crutch. The show is spinning its wheels and Mama Bartowski is driving the bus. God, her line deliveries alone drive me crazy. It's like she takes too much medication the morning before shooting and then has to keep downing Red Bulls to stay awake and alert. Epic fail.
4) Who are we fighting? Oh, who the hell cares...
Okay, it's not like The Ring was all that stellar a big bad or anything, but Volkoff has me even less invested. Timothy Dalton is actually quite good in the role, and I think on some level, he could be an awesome baddie, but knowing that his only real connection is through Mama Bartowski takes all the suspense an intrigue out of the equation. I don't care about her, so I don't care about whatever enemy organization she may or may not be tied to. What's more, their missions in each episode seem more and more pointless with each passing week. maybe it's that I just haven't really been paying much attention, but the A-plots have been incredibly weak. I don't know, they need a microchip or something so they can... do something with the intersect... or whatever. Wow, so don't care. Basically any real semblance of an exciting A-plot has been replaced by Chuck and Sarah's relationship, which we all know I'm oh-so-fond of. Which brings me to my next point.
5) Chuck and Sarah. Period.
Okay, I know that I'm one of the proud, the few, who never really wanted to see them as a couple, but seriously, even you devoted Shuckers out there have to admit that their relationship isn't exactly gripping. I'm not going to blather on about why I don't think they make a good match (again), but even with my prejudices against them as a pair, I don't think I could have foreseen how annoying they'd be once they finally got together for real. Chuck is an emotional mess, always has been, always will be. I can accept that. What I can't accept is that the primary focus of this entire season has been him caterwauling about his insecurities and bringing Sarah down to his level. She's gone from badass spy to girlfriend and I hate it. With Bryce, she could play girlfriend and be the no nonsense CIA agent at the same time. With Chuck? Good lord, apparently to be in a relationship with Chuck you have to be as unstable as he is. Whenever she actually acts like herself, the strong, confident person who doesn't need to share her feelings with ever random person, Chuck basically tells her she's a bad girlfriend. Ugh. Man alive, in the episode before last, when Sarah treks through Thailand to save Chuck, Morgan actually tells her, "Don't be spy Sarah. Be girlfriend Sarah." Don't tell her that! I love spy Sarah. I miss spy Sarah. I find that I no longer find girlfriend Sarah simply annoying, I kind of hate her. Not as much as I hate boyfriend Chuck, but it's getting close. If the show really wanted them to be a solid couple, they should have done just that. I realize that no relationship is perfect, but Chuck and Sarah don't seem to have any redeemable qualities as a couple. They don't work together very well, Chuck doesn't trust Sarah to tell him the truth, Sarah doesn't trust Chuck to take care of himself, they aren't even really charming together onscreen these days, and now they're getting married? Thanks, but no thanks. Such an unholy union is the last thing the show needs... except for maybe more Buy More antics...
6) The Buy More
Okay, I used to love the Buy More. I used to love Jeff and Lester and Big Mike, and the whole crew. Nowadays? Groan. It just doesn't work anymore. The best part of the Buy More was when the writers elegantly and hilariously intertwined Chuck's spy life and his real life through the Buy More. That pretty much never happens anymore. The fact that the Buy More is now a CIA base should make that integration easier, but it really just makes it more absurd or non-existent. I don't even want to see Jeff and Lester anymore. Sure, they're good for the occasional laugh, but more and more, their presence on the show just makes for unrelated, lame B-plots to accompany the already weak and boring A-plots. This is yet more evidence of the writers trying to hang on to a concept that simply doesn't work anymore. Chuck the Buy More Nerd Herder no longer exists, so why the hell is that cover ID being retained? It just seems sloppy and unnecessary. I can see where the writers are trying desperately to hang on to the comedic vibe by retaining the Buy More, but I'd honestly rather see the show turn into a serious drama than have to watch it struggle so hard to be a lighthearted comedy. It simply isn't working and it's getting more and more irritating to sit through.
7) Subway
In years past, when the show was hanging by a thread, I was willing to tolerate the occasional Subway promotion. Indeed, they are a big part of why the show survived at all. But at this point, seeing the shameless product placement (usually accompanied by a groan-worthy recitation of the sandwich's ingredients) makes me never want to eat Subway again. Well, more so. I haven't eaten there since high school, and the more I see of it on Chuck, the less likely it is I'll ever return. Good lord, it's bad enough seeing the sandwich simply sitting on someone's desk or being eaten for lunch, but to have to endure Big Mike exalting the nutritional merits of such blessed cold cuts makes me want to kill someone. Someone named Jared.
8) ReIntersected + DeIntersected = Disinterested
I don't know how many more times we're going to have to pretend we care whether or not Chuck has the Intersect in his head, but I don't think I can take it anymore. There's absolutely no gravity to him losing the Intersect because we all know he's going to get it back. Again. Seriously, how many times have we done this? And how many times ago did I stop caring? Once again, the writers seem to only have one card to play here, so they're playing it again and again. Maybe it's that none of the events of the show have any real or lasting impact that has me not caring... Seriously, even when Chuck's entire memory was being erased, I could barely care because I knew full well nothing would come of it. In fact, the only reason I was even a little interested was because I hoped that his mind would be completely erased with no means of repair. Now that's a game-changer! Whether or not it would be a good one, I don't even care, at least it would be something different.
I keep trying to hang in there in hopes that it'll get good again, but my hopes are dwindling at this point. I think the show is just too set in its ways to make any big changes and too afraid of alienating its core of viewers. Well, I think their hesitation to mix things up is backfiring because Chuck just recently posted its lowest ratings ever. Granted, their still better than most of NBC's slate, but they're steadily decreasing. At this point, I find myself wishing they'd have simply wrapped up the series last season so that we could leave on a highish note. With the current season disappointing me at every turn pretty much, it's starting to taint my love for previous seasons retroactively. I hate it when that happens... I'm going to hang in there for a few more weeks to see if it shows any signs of improvement, but we might be breaking up for good. I honestly feel a little betrayed as a viewer. We fought so hard to save you... for this? Such a disappointment.
I honestly don't know that there's anything they could really do to save the show for me. The stunt casting is charming for about a minute, but quickly loses its knee-jerk
appeal. Even River Tam's (er, Summer Glau's) guest stint in the rotation of Gretas (a running gag that makes me gag) fell a bit flat. Don't get me wrong, hearing Casey say that he didn't know what crew she used to be on gave me a giddy thrill (I do! I know what crew she used to be on! It was your crew, Jayne!!!), but it was ultimately a flash in the pan that has no real bearing on the story. Stunt casting in its purest and least satisfying form... Sigh. If you want to pay homage to Firefly without meaningless stunt casting, try Castle's approach. Upon hearing Castle speak Chinese, Beckett asks, "Semester abroad?" To which Castle responds, "No, TV show I used to love."We loved it too, Mal. We loved it, too.
Way more than I'm loving Chuck these days.
No comments:
Post a Comment