With the amazing US vs. Canada men’s hockey game, the giant inflatable beavers, and The Marriage Ref, NBC’s Olympic coverage came to a close Sunday night. Which means that on Monday, Chuck came back! As you may recall, Chuck last left its viewers in a hailstorm of shipper-fueled outrage, so returning last night felt a little bit like prepping for a commenter’s remake of The Perfect Storm.
Paulie really hates those will-they-or-won't-they-things. Just do it already!
As expected, it looks like there’s been some shipper grumbling about the episode, mostly focusing on Sarah’s growing intimacy with Shaw, but so far it hasn’t approached the Scorched Earth level of demanding a boycott. Some of that must have to do with the fact that “Chuck vs. The Fake Name” was quite a bit more thoughtful and self-referential about Chuck and Sarah’s diverging paths, even working in some pretty obvious meta-joking: “I hate those will-they-or-won’t-they things,” especially when spoken so earnestly by Paulie from The Sopranos, is a small step away from Liz Lemon turning straight to the camera and winking. There was also some comforting commentary from Big Mike and Jeffster (who are as close as Chuck gets to a Greek chorus) reminding the audience that at least some characters on this show remember that Chuck’s supposed to end up with Sarah. Despite what seems like a more permanent and meaningful bond between Sarah and Shaw, I can only imagine those little shout outs go a long way toward at least dialing back some of the shipper fury.
Best Greek chorus ever. Also, I have this sudden desire to own a Crock Pot...
More important than Big Mike’s classic onion tears cover-up, last night’s Chuck was just stronger than “Chuck vs. The Mask.” Chuck’s development fell a lot closer to that sweet spot of being both entertaining on the surface and compelling for the longer term – he was so funny and good at being a stone-cold assassin, but even without Sarah’s explication later on, it was disturbing to watch him balk only briefly before pulling out Casey’s tooth. Of course the Sopranos goons were delightful, and did a great job of selling my favorite moment from “The Fake Name,” when Chuck eavesdrops on Sarah’s real name and suddenly shifts into telling the baddies all about his fraught personal life. Scenes like that are great at selling the advantages of Chuck 2.0. He’s still himself, falling easily out of the spy role whenever Sarah’s involved, and he’s highly attuned to the absurdities around him, but he’s also much more in control of the situation, and is quickly able to convert his lapse into strategy. It also managed to keep being funny, particularly when Chuck points out that Sarah is the one who pushed him to get better in the first place, while in the context of this scene, Chuck’s job is to be a badass, heartless assassin. Episodes like this are strong arguments in favor of the riskier, more dynamic, more conflicted Chuck this season has been trying to inaugurate with somewhat uneven success.
"Shut up shut up shut up!"
I’m sure there are still plenty of infuriated fans out there, and at this point, it’s without question that Chuck and Sarah need some forward momentum. As Alan Sepinwall wisely suggests, the point at which your show actually throws in a funny “will-they-or-won’t-they” line is the point at which that plotline should probably get resolved post haste. But I can only hope that whatever else Chuck shippers find to feed the rage (SHE TOLD SHAW HER REAL NAME!! BETRAYALL!!!!!), they recognize the groundwork this episode went out of its way to establish and try to clamp down on the instinct to panic. An episode that sparkles and fizzes like “Fake Name” should be cause for pleasure, not uproar.