This is it, folks -- tonight's your last chance, maybe this season, maybe ever, to tune into NBC's Chuck. It's a funny, sweet, breezy show with a winning cast and a great big heart, and it deserves another season -- especially on the increasingly blighted crudhole that is NBC's prime-time lineup. (Does anyone actually want five more hours of Jay Leno and his Imitation Humor-Flavored Product every week? Didn't we learn the terrible lessons of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?)
Last week's episode deftly tied up many of the show's long-running plot threads -- it could almost have been a series finale itself -- and cleared the decks for what could be an intriguing and fun reboot of the show's premise. I'd like to see where it goes next, way, way more than I'd like to see Jay Leno kick comedy's corpse in the nads for another billion years, or until his chin expands to throw Earth's orbit out of balance, whichever comes first.
If you really, really love the show, you can follow star Zachary Levi's inspired idea to buy a $5 footlong from frequent sponsor Subway today. I must confess, to my regret, that I won't be taking part in this clever plan; my loathing for Subway eclipses even my considerable love for this very worthy, immensely watchable show.
But hey, if you love digestion-mauling sub sandwiches AND truly awesome, perfectly balanced superspy action-comedy-dramas with cute nerdy fellas and hot, hot ladies, this is truly your lucky day.
Last week's episode deftly tied up many of the show's long-running plot threads -- it could almost have been a series finale itself -- and cleared the decks for what could be an intriguing and fun reboot of the show's premise. I'd like to see where it goes next, way, way more than I'd like to see Jay Leno kick comedy's corpse in the nads for another billion years, or until his chin expands to throw Earth's orbit out of balance, whichever comes first.
If you really, really love the show, you can follow star Zachary Levi's inspired idea to buy a $5 footlong from frequent sponsor Subway today. I must confess, to my regret, that I won't be taking part in this clever plan; my loathing for Subway eclipses even my considerable love for this very worthy, immensely watchable show.
But hey, if you love digestion-mauling sub sandwiches AND truly awesome, perfectly balanced superspy action-comedy-dramas with cute nerdy fellas and hot, hot ladies, this is truly your lucky day.
I didn't buy a sandwich, but I just finished watching the finale.
Please don't cancel the show, NBC.
You idiots.
Subway? How about this subtle gem of a line: "Here are your keys, Awesome. I had your Toyota washed."
Pat
Yeah, but for some reason, I like the show anyway. Maybe it's because of its ability to use cheesy '70s and '80s songs uncannily well.
Awesome finale. More, please. NBC is a bunch of morons if they cancel the show.
So, yeah, they probably will.
You're all wrong. Chuck sucks.
Okay, no, it doesn't suck. But it has failed to be really good this season. It keeps slipping into stupidity, badly, in ways that are extremely annoying. The wholly gratuitous and pandering Subway product placement was just the most pathetically weak lap of a show that's been running in diminishing circles.
The absolute final moment of the finale pretty much put the "ass" in "asinine".
If it comes back, I'll most likely tune in, but if it's canceled, I won't exactly miss it.
Just as a quick example: What was with Casey's sudden and complete change of character in the finale? And what was with Bryce's explanatory speech to Chuck -- wherein he mentioned Orion -- which sounded as if it'd been written by someone who'd never seen an episode of the show? Excuse me, sir, Continuity is on line one. Should I tell her to hold?
Sorry, I gotta respectfully disagree. I thought Casey remained very consistent in his character, following his realization in the previous episode that a) Chuck had been right about Fulcrum, and risked his life and safety to stop them, and b) Chuck was not such a bad guy after all, especially since Casey would soon be going far, far away from him.
Bryce Larkin was involved with the Intersect project. Orion built the Intersect. It's not far-fetched to imagine that the two would have met. When Orion realized the Intersect was too powerful and dangerous, he went on the run, and Bryce stole the Intersect, destroyed the original, and -- per Orion's instructions -- passed it on to Chuck, whom Orion trusted to use it well and wisely.
In my opinion, the show does continuity as well, if not better, than anything else on the tube. It certainly beats the pants off Heroes. Look at the last glimpse of Emmett's office, in which we not only see a banner for "Buymoria," his previously mentioned imaginary republic, but also photos of the potentially fictitious girlfriend he mentioned in an earlier episode.
As for the final moments of the finale, I whooped with glee, in part BECAUSE of the deliberate Matrix homages. And they nicely paid off Ellie's line earlier in the episode about Chuck wishing he had superpowers.
I can only surmise that you have this level of bile for the show because, deep down, you want to like it, and think that it could be better. And I can totally sympathize with that feeling. That's me and Heroes. But I suspect this season's finale -- which I have yet to see -- will be the end of my association with that sad, misbegotten show, at least as long as Tim Kring's still moronically in charge of it.
Potential spoilers ahead.
At the end of the first season, Casey was about to kill Chuck in cold blood after saying, pretty much exactly, that Chuck had served his country honorably. This season, Casey says almost the same thing as a justification for going AWOL and trying to save Chuck's dad. Huh what?
And don't get me started on Emmett. All the Buy More plots got progressively stupider and more dreadful as the season wore on, and to make things worse, Chuck's excuses for not being at the Buy More got less and less plausible. I understand that realism is not the show's strong suit, but come on.
As for the Matrix homages: First, on what planet is it consistent that Chuck would take on the Intersect again? After all he went through to get rid of it, with bad guys literally at the door about to kill him. Said bad guys who, incidentally, had no trouble killing a platoon's worth of agents, but for some reason did not completely decease Casey or Sarah. Second, right after Chuck got Intersected, I actually said out loud, "I know kung fu." Then Chuck really does turn out to know kung fu: Stupidest plot development ever. Then Chuck actually says "I know kung fu." Sorry, pointing out where you stole your stupid plot development doesn't make it less stupid.
Next up: Letting Awesome know about Chuck. But not Ellie. Why did we spend two seasons trying so hard not to tell Awesome if we were going to let it slip the minute it got difficult? And now that Awesome knows is there any reason at all not to tell Ellie?
And finally: Is everyone in Chuck's life except Awesome and Ellie in the CIA, NSA, and/or Fulcrum? I'm waiting for the episode where it turns out the General takes her orders from Morgan.
The show's main sin, to my mind, though, is that it got repetitious. Like, high-concept episodic early-1980s TV show repetitious. All they needed was Chuck mournfully thumbing a ride to the next town at the end of each episode and it would've been as overcooked as The Incredible Hulk. Sarah and Chuck are almost together -- but they can't be! Chuck almost gets rid of the Intersect -- but then doesn't! Chuck almost moves out -- but he can't! And so on and so on. Considering how much room the show had to branch out and grow -- I mean, given the premise, they could do almost anything -- the failure of imagination is colossal and nigh unforgivable.
And, yes, I do want to like it, and think it not only could be better but should be.
Also, I'm getting fed up with the vast amount of pop culture fake nerd crap. The Big Bang Theory: Nerdy. Chuck: Fake nerdy. Things real nerds do: Make oobleck dance on their stereo speakers. Things fake nerds do: Play Missile Command really well. And the Rush joke, while still amusing, was done first and better on Futurama.
"I'm waiting for the episode where it turns out the General takes her orders from Morgan."
That would be terrific.
But, no, you're half right, Chris. (More right than usual, in other words.) I very much wanted to see the entire Buy More staff slaughtered like mad cow-addled cattle. Although the Mr. Roboto performance in the finale was great, it would have been even greater if Lester and Jeff went down in a hail of gunfire when the song ended.
Maybe next season.