Last episode, Chuck realized that Sarah did not have the kind of family and friends to come to their wedding, so he begins to search for her colleagues from the CIA. Chuck comes across a group of girls called the C.A.T. Squad, and you know that means an episode filled with bad jokes. Obviously the C.A.T. Squad was meant to be remind viewers of Charlie's Angels, but like so many of the sexist concepts on the show, this fell flat. Sarah's already a hottie, we get it, it's hardly as if anyone needed reminding. The only good thing was that the writers were competent enough to give each of the girls motivation, even if it was pretty two dimensional and predictable. (The Party Girl was clearly the cutest and most likeable, like a Reese Witherspoon-esque character, which of course also meant she had to be the villian. What was the point of this episode? Of this entire storyline? What the show should be doing is exploring Sarah's past, especially since she is the second most important (and one of the more interesting and engaging) characters. Sarah deserves to have as many episodes exploring her past as Chuck as had for his. This episode just felt like a waste of our time and excuse for a bunch of sexy women to bounce around. The strengths of this show are their storylines and character development, and that is what the writers should be focusing on.
Spoilers Alert: There's only one spoiler in this episode, and it involves the antics of Jeffster.
by Courtney Hilden
This time on Chuck, our hero demands that Sarah be brought back home after she pushes Casey out a window, nearly killing him. As usual, the General refuses. Sarah, meanwhile, is working with Chuck's Mom to bring down Volkoff. Which would probably happen without Orion, back from the dead, showing up.
Chuck frequently has episodes that are about pushing the storyline farther. It is actually one of the nice things about the show, since it means we do not dawdle with storylines and instead go from one necessary event to the other. So even though this episode had some important events, for the most part it was not as fun or as engaging as the show usually is. (Though, it still manages to be one of the best written shows on television and definitely the best planned.) The highlight of the night? Jeffster singing "Push It."
I was truly afraid that the laser chamber was going to feature extremely distasteful images of Morgan. It was bad, but not as bad as it could been, and I appreciate that.
As much as I am enjoying the Alex and Casey scenes, I wish we'd see more of Alex's Mom. I would much rather see a Casey/long-lost love romance then this creepy and inappropriate Alex/Morgan thing.
In terms of other great characters, the General is the most unsung character on this show. She manages to be perfectly respectful and adorable at the same time. It's too bad we only see her so frequently doing her broadcasts to Castle and not in person.
Sarah is starting to look a look like Prue from Charmed with her black hair, so I guess it's a good thing that she is done with her mission and will be back to normal with her typical blond hair. Giving Sarah black hair to represent her "turn to the darkside" was lame, especially since the audience and other characters know who she is.
On the most recent episode of Chuck, Sarah tries desperately to find Chuck. Sarah became, in the words of Casey, "unpredictable." Casey discussed how he disliked Sarah pre-Chuck, which is really interesting, because it implies that Casey saw something good in Sarah and Chuck's relationship. It gives Casey's character an extra and interesting shade, since he's never said anything on the subject before and he so rarely says anything positive at all. The episode also showed off Sarah as emotionally invested and the actress's chops. She's always a strong character, and that's great, but seeing the intimate moment of her grief was a wonderful quiet moment in a show that usually is about the flash bang. The episode also featured far more of the other characters and not Chuck himself, again, a nice change up from the usual.
The best part of this episode is that it acknowledged Chuck's fear for marrying Sarah, who Morgan called "a big fish." But then we see that Chuck wants to get over that; he doesn't want his fear of a strong woman to stop him from being with her. It might not quite be feminism, since Sarah felt the need to say that she was nothing without Chuck, but the show positively depicts both a strong woman and the man who wants to be with her. Sadly, you don't see that on tv too often, so in this way, the show has not only done something unique but positive for how people see gender on tv. The only thing that isn't okay is that Sarah was in some ways "crazy" without her man. Casey acknowledged that, given the circumstances, she had the right to be upset, but Beckman still wanted her watched. It was borderline "hysterical woman" meme, and that's tired.
The dream sequence that the episode opened up on was delightful strange, especially considering that it featured the show's favorite freak, Lester. (Does Lester ever wear normal clothes, or is it only work uniforms and costumes for this guy?)
This episode also featured some great villians. "The Belgian" was so creepy, especially with his glasses magnifying his eyes so he looked like an insect.
In terms of disappointments, the episode tried hard to skirt around the issue of torture, which was really a pity. Torture has been such a difficult issue in American politics lately, that it seemed too easy for Sarah to just talk a Thai diplomat and terroritsts into giving pertinant information. Not that torture needed to happen, but the lack of dialogue over it was a little too American. The closest they got to dialogue on violence at all was when Morgan suggested maybe they shouldn't use guns. Again, Morgan has been aware of Chuck's situation for long enough that it seems strange that he is now opposed to guns. And that the dialogue was limited to Morgan not wanting to be sacrificed, so then of course he's okay with guns. And then even Casey had to admit that guns were unnecessary when they tried another tactic. The show only kind of deals with violence in a comical way, almost never in a serious way. Again, no dialogue on the subject.
The episode also discussed how as spies, Casey and Sarah didn't have juristiction over certain places. Why are we several years into this show and only now discussing bureaucracy? Usually it's the first excuse a show like this would use to justify certain actions and storylines.
It would also be nice for Casey to actually put his foot down and truly tell Morgan no. The show has already established how tough Casey is, so why doesn't he just throw Morgan into a cell or tie him up to a chair? Morgan trailing along on these missions is far too unrealistic. "I definetely know how to use this, dirtbags"? I would have riddled his body with bullets if he said that to me.
And, even though the show had some good pro-women moments, how disappointing that Sarah can't save herself. I would much rather watch her save Chuck without anyone's help. And there was no need for her to make herself wet, except for the male gaze. So even though yes, she's a strong woman, and yes, Chuck loves that about her, why is it her power is always being subverted by other things? Can't we just have her be a badass without everything els
e becoming an issue?
And wouldn't it have been great if Ellie got exposed to the Intersect when she got into that computer?
