Chuck vs. The Third Dimension
February 3, 2009 by Cameron Cubbison
Filed under Television
The first Chuck of the new year came and went without a bang. The showrunners are desperate to snag some much-needed ratings improvements, so they’ve turned to lame gimmicks like 3-D broadcast. That’s right, this episode was 3-D, even though the content did not call out for 3-D (unlike when Christopher Nolan used IMAX technology to make The Dark Knight even more unforgettable). Unfortunately, I left my handy 3-D glasses in my other pants, so the episode just looked fuzzy. Luckily, that fuzziness almost distracted from the complete lack of story that has become Chuck’s trademark lately.
The episode begins with a dream sequence, a storytelling device just brimming with originality. Chuck has a dream where Sarah in lingerie tries to stab him in bed. Not quite as disturbing as my recurring dream where Winnie the Pooh tries to stab me with an ice skate while wearing a thong, but I can understand why Chuck is upset. Of course the psychological trigger for this dream stems from the Xmas cliffhanger, which involved Chuck seeing Sarah kill a bad guy in cold blood. Sarah of course did it because the bad guy posed a real threat to Chuck and his family, but of course that hasn’t occurred to Chuck.
Dominic Monaghan, who I know is a Lost guy even though I don’t watch the show, guest stars as a rock star named Tyler Martin who is making an appearance at the Buy More…where all rock stars go to get down. When Chuck sees Martin, he immediately flashes on him. Then an assassin shows up and there’s a grenade and…you know how it goes. So Sarah and Casey have to protect Martin for some reason, and Chuck is drafted into babysitting duty while they go out. It seems to have something to do with Martin’s recent trip to Africa.
Casey subdues Martin with a tranquilizer dart, so all Chuck has to do is watch him. But Martin wakes up-something to do with “that rock star metabolism”-and pushes Chuck to go clubbing with him. Chuck, who has been whining about needing a day off, doesn’t protest too much. Chuck and Martin start hitting the shots and seem to be enjoying themselves pretty well when two gorgeous women approach them. More groupies? Nope, because Chuck flashes on them. To make a long story short, a chase ensues and Chuck ends up hanging on to an outdoor elevator thirty stories high for dear life in his boxers while Sarah and Casey show up and can’t believe their eyes.
When the final plot points are revealed, involving Martin’s evil agent using Martin’s body to smuggle nefarious secrets through tattooed messages…yeah, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. But I guess I shouldn’t give the writers too hard a time. It has got to be tough to come up with 22 wacky espionage plots per season. On the plus side, Sarah and Chuck do finally talk about Chuck seeing her murder a man, so the writers don’t draw that out. Also, Casey’s running motif of being just a little too freewheeling with his tranquilizer darts is really funny.
Chuck’s sister and her nimrod boyfriend make one unwelcome appearance, and the B storyline involving Morgan deciding who to share his backstage pass to one of Martin’s concerts with at the Buy More is typically stupid. I don’t think Chuck really has much left to do as a show, or a character. It probably isn’t long for this world, but maybe Adam Baldwin will get his own show.
Season 2, Episode 12: Chuck vs. The Third Dimension (originally aired February 2, 2009)
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