Chuck – Chuck & Jill & Sarah; there was no way this could end well

(Season 2, Episode 7 – “Chuck Versus the Fat Lady”)

Let’s see. The girl who broke Chuck’s heart back in his Stanford days, apparently dumping him because of the lies Bryce Larkin spread about him and then proceeding to bank said Larkin, is back now and ready to become his long-lost love? Didn’t that seem a little fishy to you? We all know that Sarah is the girl for Chuck, no matter what they’ve told each other and themselves.

Sure, it’s always fun to add a little tension to an inevitable romance; we’re certainly not in a hurry to marry them off and have a Moonlighting creative meltdown on our hands, but come on. Who here went into tonight’s episode believing that this thing with Jill could really come with no strings attached? That Chuck could find some genuine happiness for once in his life post-Intersect?

It’s only disappointing that it was so damned obvious that Jill was a Fulcrum agent from the beginning; if not of the whole story arc, at least of this episode. It was all just too perfect and she was way too interested in Chuck’s “spy side.” Plus, this woman had already proven herself fickle enough to abandon him without a second thought. That and everyone outside of Chuck’s current inner circle that he believes he can trust winds up on the side of wrong.

It’s just too bad for Jill that Chuck copied the master list of Fulcrum agents without telling her. Of course, that doesn’t mean he won’t spill the beans at some point in the next episode, in fact I’d just about expect him to. Chuck works because they marry the spy stuff so perfectly with the slapstick and the comedy. And Zachary Levi is just brilliant at selling that comedic side.

He basically brings some of that zaniness that envelops the nation of Buymoria into the very real and very serious world of espionage that Sarah and Casey make up. I still would like to see more interaction between the two worlds that Chuck lives in; it seems that this fun aspect of the show has been almost completely lost this season.

Take for example the addition of Tony Hale (Arrested Development) to the Buy More management team. Since he’s been there, he’s gone on a witch hunt for Chuck, but how many times have he and Chuck interacted for more than a few seconds? In fact, how often does Chuck even interact with his friends anymore? Take it a step further: How long do we ever see Chuck at work? This is supposed to be a maintained cover, and I don’t care how many service calls they say he’s been on, the man needs to be at work from time to time.

I do love the continuing aspect of the plotlines that we’ve been seeing the last few episodes. I love a show with some depth and meat to it, and sometimes wrapping everything up in an hour makes that nearly impossible. This Jill storyline has been a great look deeper into what made Chuck into the man he is today, as well as the fact that Sarah is becoming almost incompetent to do her duties due to her feelings for Chuck. Both of these are great developments for the future of this show, assuming it can find an audience and still have one.

Maybe NBC should cut its losses here and move Chuck to a less competitive time slot. Every week we read about the ratings highs that The Big Bang Theory is achieving over on CBS. And with its own geek credibility, isn’t Chuck kind of tailor-made for that same audience demographic? Why make them choose between the two shows by airing them simultaneously? There’s plenty of non-geek friendly slots on television where it could be dropped. Just please not Friday. We’ve already got Dollhouse waiting in the wings there and it’s going to need some ratings love, too.

Clacked by Jason Hughes
on Nov 18, 2008 @ 11:00 EST5EDT