Chuck - Season 5

For its entire existence, Chuck has been an uneven show. There are some things it has always done well, mostly involving making its central characters sympathetic and likable, though they've been known to make annoying decisions at various points. There are some things it has had trouble doing consistently, but can often manage. It is occasionally very funny, though it also often isn't, especially when they return to the Buy More for yet another boring B story. And there are some things it has never quite gotten right, mostly involving the spy stuff. It will have moments of inspiration or clever homage, but it's often buried in too many references or plotting that is just poorly thought out and irritating. None of these aspects of the show really changed in the show's brief fifth and final season, but I would say it's probably the show's best since the second, because the action/drama side was at least occasionally competent, and the focus was on giving those likable characters fitting conclusions, and they all got fitting and occasionally touching send-offs, even Jeff and Lester, the bozos who are usually tolerable at best.

The silly idea of the Intersect has always been central to the spy aspect of the series, and that's once again the case this time, though they thankfully managed to put a twist on it by no longer having it stuck in Chuck's head the whole time. It's still the center of the plot though, as a bunch of guest actors and returning villains are brought on and dealt with in rapid fashion as the show teases some possible story arcs but doesn't really stick with any of them for a long time. The last handful of episodes do finally build a sense of momentum with a bad guy who lasts more than an hour, and a gut punch of a plot twist that is surprisingly effective considering how terrible the scene in which it occurs is. It leads to an ending that is not quite the comfortable fairytale finale I was honestly expecting, but is still a touching and hopeful one that does justice to characters who have maintained my affection despite the show's many ups and downs over the years. Chuck was never as good as I wanted it to be, never managing a way to mix espionage and humor in a way that does justice to both, and never quite doing enough with a protagonist that manages to be relatable to nerds rather than an irritating stereotype of one. But while it had flaws, it never stopped being easy to root for, and I'm glad the creators got the opportunity to end the story in an acceptable way despite the series never really growing beyond its small but dedicated audience.

Chuck - Season 4

I'll admit that I was pretty darn close to breaking up with Chuck. It conflicts with a superior show on Monday night (the one I blogged about yesterday), it was never that great in the first place, and the way it flailed about this season searching for anything interesting to do was getting pathetic. The specifics of its fifth season renewal though made me decide to stick with it to the end. It'll be airing on Friday where there's less competition for my attention, it's definitely the last season, and there will only be 13 episodes. This along with the relatively decent way they wrapped up this year was enough for me to stay on board. I've never loved Chuck due to its bad plotting and distracting, usually failed attempts at humor, but there's something charming about it that starts with the main cast (besides Jeff and Lester) and ends with the fact that their relationships are often able to overcome the frequent failures of its storytelling. Most of the characters besides Casey tend to annoy me once in a while, but never enough that I get sick of seeing them (Again, besides Jeff and Lester. As solid as the end of the finale was, it would have been better if the Buy More exploded and then got sucked into a wormhole that prevents it from ever being rebuilt).

This season expanded on the family history that drives the spy intrigue on the show by bringing in Chuck's mother, played by Linda Hamilton, an apparent traitor to the CIA. But obviously that's not the whole story, and there's a whole bunch of stuff involving her and her mission and Timothy Dalton's Alexei Volkoff, a villain who's not quite who he seems and has own family issues and blah blah blah. It's all for the most part less interesting than the overarching stuff that came before, and it's not helped by the fact that the show again didn't get a full season order at first and so had to develop and try to pull off consecutive stories on the fly, which isn't that easy to do.

What's worse is just the continued inconsistency of the individual episodes. It's anyone's guess each week whether the show will be a pretty fun time, kind of bland, or a total train wreck. Feeling the need to have someone for Chuck to lie to, some of stuff in his relationship with Sarah that arises from his absurd insecurities, a lot of Morgan's subplots - they just become really irritating and make it easy to forget why you liked the show in the first place. They generally do a good job when a season (or mid-season) finale is coming up of pulling things together, but otherwise there's no knowing. And there are so many shows that manage to be at least passable every week that it's hard to keep excusing after four years. Still though, as I said, there are only 13 episodes left, and they aren't interfering with anything major going on, so I'll watch them. I hardly owe the show anything, but I'll do it the favor of watching it try to tie everything they've done into one neat package.

Chuck - Season 3

Chuck is sort of like the little engine that could. It's not quite a great show, and its ratings are never better than decent for NBC. But its strengths tend to overcome its faults enough to keep it fun for fans, who exist in just large enough numbers to keep it going despite the odds. As hard as it might have been to believe a couple years ago, it will get a fourth season, and I'll still be watching.

If I had to break down the show's formula (and I have), it's roughly made of one third pretty good comedy, one third pretty good spy stuff, and one third bad soap opera. You can play with the portions a bit, but that's about how it hashes out. Not all of the jokes land, and in fact I'm kind of sick and tired of the Buy More (which made the season finale especially fun), but on occasion it will have a truly brilliant comedic moment, such as when Awesome has to lie to Ellie and ends up talking about a bear getting decapitated. And while the international intrigue stuff sometimes seems a bit rote and the bad guys a bit uncoordinated and stupid, it's hard to say it's not usually fun to watch Chuck and his crew pull off a job. Casey in particular continues to be a great character, if a bit of the typical tough guy. My favorite moment of the season might have been when he convinced Chuck to yank his tooth out to maintain a cover.

But yeah, that soapy stuff... it's bad. You ever notice how many problems on TV would be solved a lot easier if everybody stopped acting like idiots and just spoke honestly? That's definitely a recurring problem with this show. The writers can argue that you need tension for an exciting show, and I'd counter by saying they should write drama that doesn't count on its characters being morons to work. They finally go somewhere with Chuck/Sarah thing this season, although it continues to be hindered by silly problems and things like Chuck lying to everyone for no real reason. By the end of the season I was more pissed at Chuck than anyone else on the show, because for some reason he seems to have translated "deception is vital to being a spy" into "pointlessly lie to your loved ones all the time". The season ends well enough, although I could have done without yet another promise to quit the job when you know he's going to be back by the end of the next season premiere. Should be fun.

Chuck - Season 2

Chuck really seemed to hit its stride this season, just in time for its continuation to come into serious jeopardy thanks to Jay Leno absorbing five hours of NBC's week in the near future. I still wouldn't say it's as great as some members of its apparently dedicated fan base, because the humor's still hit and miss and some of its more contrived setups cause nothing but groans. When Chuck adjusted his phone in a way that somehow accidentally activated the speaker and called his girlfriend while he just happened to be having a conversation that could be easily misconstrued as sexual in nature, it was hard not to just walk away from that. It managed to keep me coming back every week though, thanks heavily to some strong attempts to create an honest-to-god storyline.

The first season was more or less a string of disconnected spy plots that Chuck and his professional backup stumbled upon every week, but the second has more of a real plot as a shadowy Government splinter group called Fulcrum makes Chuck and the Intersect their new target, while he begins in earnest to try to get it out of his head and finally get his life together. It's still a bit episodic as he has the same not-really-a-relationship issues with Sarah and the conflict often seems like little more than various characters being captured and rescued over and over again. Still, I appreciate the effort to go a little deeper with the characters and the nature of the Intersect project. The end of the season finale was pretty effing ridiculous, and I'd really like to see where they go with the show from here, if they ever get a chance to.

Chuck - Season 1

Discussion of these next few shows was put on hold because I wasn't sure if the seasons were actually finished or just delayed by the strike. But I saw announcements for new seasons of all three recently, confirming that the current ones were done.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about Chuck. The super-spy angle is pretty interesting, most of the main characters are likable, and it's usually an enjoyable, somewhat humorous watch. On the other hand, the specific storylines are often less than creative, the romance stuff is a little too high school, and it's rarely funny enough to make me actually laugh out loud. The show's more cute than straight-up funny. There's nothing wrong with being cute, it just doesn't make you the most compelling thing in TV.

The center of the conundrum is Morgan, Chuck's best friend. Once in a while he's funny, and it's very hard to really hate him, but in general he doesn't add that much to the show. Replace Morgan with the show and the show with your life, and that's kinda what's up. Not to just dismiss it though, it does have plenty of moments. Chuck's a really good main character, Sarah's a solid love interest, and it's hard to go wrong with Jayne from Firefly as a gruff, no-BS government agent. They do a reasonably good job of fleshing out the backstory and making it an interesting setting for Chuck to exist in. I'm not sure whether it's supposed to be a comedy or a drama, because it often seems focused on humor and the general vibe is kind of silly, but it has the hour-long format and many melodramatic moments. If the idea of a computer nerd accidentally having all of the Government's secrets dumped into his brain and being forced to become an anti-terrorism weapon appeals to you in any way, give it a shot.