Good show/bad show

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It's like good cop/bad cop, but with TV. First, Chuck. Well, that definitely felt like a season finale, didn't it?

Hahaha, I love Chuck being a real spy and leading a tactical assault, only to find out it's completely unnecessary. "And the tank. Uh, cancel the tank."

Sarah totally broke my heart with her "I was a good spy" line. Yvonne does play emotion so well, so finding out she killed Shaw's wife was nicely done. I just wish she hadn't been drugged and helpless for so much of the climax. Maybe it's all the feminist rage I've been seeing about S8, but that bugged me, even though Chuck/Sarah is basically a gender reversal - she's been kickass for three seasons now, while Chuck was more often the one in distress. So I understand that it had to be Chuck who saved the day all by himself, and that the only way it'd be okay for him to kill someone is if it was to save Sarah's life.

Speaking of which, I'm still kind of bothered by Sarah's hypocrisy on the killing thing. She thinks Chuck killed someone and she can't be with him, because he's not the Chuck she knew (he's the Chuck he thought she wanted him to be). Then she finds out he didn't and suddenly it's all okay again. She does realize he's a spy, right? And that sooner or later, he's going to have to kill somebody? That, in fact, at some point their lives might depend on it?

...like, oh, fifteen minutes later with Shaw?

I'd feel better about it if they were playing more subtly, if it was about Sarah's guilt for turning Chuck into a killer, rather than just being morally offended that Chuck might do the same thing she's been doing for five years. And I don't feel like it was resolved at the end, with Sarah suddenly okay with it because he killed someone to save her. It just seems too easy.

Anyway, I'm kind of skipping all over the place. I never realized just how tall Adam Baldwin is until he walked through the door at the Buy More and his head was almost touching the door frame. Has he always been that tall? Have I never noticed?

OMFG is there some kind of law that Mark A. Sheppard must appear in every show I like? I'm kind of getting sick of him. Loved the hostage thing in the elevator, though, lol.

Drunken Guitar Hero and Morgan tied up with the gaming cables! LOL, between this and the cheese ball obsession early in the season, depressed!Chuck is kind of awesome.

General Beckman and Morgan - hee!! First of all, who knew Casey had a soft spot for Morgan? And Morgan as a spy? "I gotta go quit my job!" "Don't do that." I'm curious how they're going to integrate Morgan into Team Bartowski. Part of me thought it was just a way of humoring Morgan, letting him think he's a spy but not letting him near anything actually dangerous, but I have to give Morgan a little credit - I think he'd catch on to that at some point.

Casey giving Chuck a pep talk on the plane, aww. I did like the reminder that Chuck is more than just the Intersect, that he does have his own skills and he's a damn intelligent guy.

But the best part is... SIX MORE EPISODES YOU GUYS!

And now, "how to write really badly," brought to you by last week's Bones.

Holy crap, heavy handed much? I feel like too often this show uses a sledgehammer to get their point across. Did we really need Sweets to talk to a guy who was cured of cancer and then immediately killed? Surely something a little less over the top could've caused Sweets to reevaluate his life. My God, talk about a walking cliche.

I also rolled my eyes heartily at Daisy being cluelessly self-confident and never having been dumped before. She's just a little mini-Brennan, isn't she?

And the whole book plot wasn't really any better, with the ridiculous caricature of a reporter. It's like they have something against nuance. What did nuance ever do to you, Hart Hanson? Did nuance kill your wife and now you're out for revenge or something? (See what I did there?)

Comments

[gingerwall.livejournal.com]

Thank you for putting into words exactly I was thinking as I watched that episode of Bones earlier today. The whole thing was just... awful.

Not to mention to blatant and plot-distracting use of product placement. The whole Toyota Sienna/Angela scene was awful, and despite the reasons she gave, I don't actually see her buying one. I thought the Avatar movie episode was annoying, but at least the product contributed significantly to the plot.

I'm so close to just giving up on this show altogether.

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Not to mention to blatant and plot-distracting use of product placement.

You know what's funny? I read a review of Bones that mentioned the product placement, and I was prepared to be annoyed by it - and then I completely missed it when I watched the episode. I'm pretty sure that has more to do with me zoning out for large chunks of the episode than being any sort of compliment to the integration of the product placement into the plot, lol.

I'm so close to just giving up on this show altogether.

Me too. I think the only reason I haven't yet is out of loyalty - I did love the show in the early seasons, I have Buffy/Angel loyalty to David Boreanaz, and I've grown to really enjoy Cam, Hodgins, Sweets, and some of the interns. But they're making it very, very difficult.

[(Anonymous)]

I've grown to really enjoy Cam, Hodgins, Sweets, and some of the interns

It's true. They did a great job of creating a whole crew of interesting, three-dimensional characters and then just let them languish in poorly-plotted episodes filled with mediocre dialogue. I feel sorry for the actors.

[gingerwall.livejournal.com]

Sorry that was me not paying attention.

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They did a great job of creating a whole crew of interesting, three-dimensional characters and then just let them languish in poorly-plotted episodes filled with mediocre dialogue.

Very true. Am I imagining it, that this show used to be good? Or was I just more accepting of the bad plots and dialogue because I was drawn in by the characters?

[empresspatti.livejournal.com]

I love Chuck with a firey passion born of laughter!! To me, the high point (so far) this season was a few eps back when Morgan figured out that Ring agents were in the BuyMore and discovered Castle. By the time Jeff and Lester were playing "It Ain't Me" I was *dying*

Plus - Morgan as a spy has unlimited comic potential.

I think the Chuck/killer thing was a fairly transparent plot device - but I was really pleased that Sarah and Chuck are now together. It would have been really hokey to make us wait another season.

I can't watch Bones. It's too boring and contrived. I think 'Castle' is the same thing, only MUCH BETTER!

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I love Chuck with a firey passion born of laughter!! To me, the high point (so far) this season was a few eps back when Morgan figured out that Ring agents were in the BuyMore and discovered Castle. By the time Jeff and Lester were playing "It Ain't Me" I was *dying*

YES! I squeed all over that one - I think that might have been my favorite episode ever, lol.

I think the Chuck/killer thing was a fairly transparent plot device

I feel like the Chuck/Sarah conflict had potential, but they just didn't do it as well as they could have. (Maybe I'm expecting too much? Chuck is mostly just for laughs, but they hinted at this more complex emotional conflict and now I want it ALL.)

I can't watch Bones. It's too boring and contrived. I think 'Castle' is the same thing, only MUCH BETTER!

I can't watch Castle because Nathan Fillion makes me stabby, lol.

[empresspatti.livejournal.com]

You no like Nathan? I think the show is funny, pretty much all I require.

Same for Chuck - I don't think, given the (mostly) all boy cast, writers, producers and show runners, that we can ever expect any emotional depth. Just lots of explosions.....

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I don't mind him as a bad guy, but he's got this smarmy asshole thing going that really makes it difficult to watch him play a protagonist (I liked him fine in Buffy and Dr. Horrible, but not Firefly).

I don't think that "all boys" necessarily means explosions rather than emotional depth. There are plenty of male writers who can do emotion (Joss Whedon, Rob Thomas, and Matt Weiner spring to mind). I think it's more that Chuck wasn't meant to be a serious show. It's one long parody of a spy movie, so it's silly by nature, and although Zachary Levi and Yvonne Strahovski have done very well with portraying the emotion when it's called for, it's never been the main focus of the show. In fact, I saw a lot of comments on Sepinwall's blog about when "fun Chuck" would be back, because this season has been so much heavier on the pathos than usual. But for me, of course, as someone whose favorite show regularly combined silly and pathos to much success, it gave me a taste of what Chuck could be like - more like Buffy, basically.

[empresspatti.livejournal.com]

I think it's more that Chuck wasn't meant to be a serious show. It's one long parody of a spy movie, so it's silly by nature, and although Zachary Levi and Yvonne Strahovski have done very well with portraying the emotion when it's called for, it's never been the main focus of the show.

Agree completely.