Every great show is entitled a clunker or two. Sadly, ‘Chuck’ delivered one of those clunkers tonight, fittingly since the title of the episode (‘Chuck Versus the Cubic Z’) refers to a clunker of an engagement ring. It’s fine that the episode was essentially a bottle episode meant to cut down location costs to spend in other areas of the season.
The show often benefits from a smaller scope and a greater focus on character. But whether it was in the Buy More proper or down below in Castle, very little in tonight’s episode held much excitement, suspense, or surprise.
In theory, dropping two members of the show’s Rogue’s Gallery into Castle should have worked like gangbusters, especially when one of them (Heather Chandler) arrived at the precise moment in which Sarah is freaking out over Chuck’s dreams of a white picket fence, 2.5 babies, and a ‘Tron’ poster in the family room.
But rather than let Heather’s presence comment indirectly on the relationship, ‘Cubic Z’ used her to directly prod and poke Sarah in front of an oddly clueless Chuck. The best missions in the show are augment by the interpersonal relationships between the characters, forcing them to make choices that reveal motivation and intent.
The worst ones, such as tonight, shine a big spotlight on these relationships in the form of exposition.
Inventing a similar romantic past for Heather shouldn’t have caused doubts for Sarah, because while she may not feel ready to hang up her six-inch heeled spy boots just yet, she’s also NOT the type of person to turn her back on true love in order to pursue a lucrative lead in underground weapons sales.
Heather insists that the two of them share the same ethos, but that’s like saying Peter Pan and Captain Hook share the same ethos. Both find themselves in the same overall arena, but attack it from opposite ends of the spectrum.
The same qualities that make Sarah a good spy also make her a loyal girlfriend and, yes, potential spouse. Why it took her an episode to see that reeked more of plot contrivance than realistic character response.
In Buy More proper, the faux-’Halo’ release party served primarily to reintroduce Big Mike into the picture, show Morgan coming to grips with new-found power, and sneak in a few Jeffster laughs. (“What monkey flung this?” should be used as often as possible in everyday discourse, henceforth. You have your orders, people.)
But if you didn’t predict Hugo Panzer getting caught as part of the release party within the first 15 minutes of the show, well, you don’t know ‘Chuck’ very well. Most would have put money down on a Casey-Panzer smackdown interrupting the riot, but “Big Mike with a tazer” is a fun answer to this particular, ‘Chuck’-centric edition of ‘Clue.’
That being said, why a CIA-run store did not have 10,000 copies of ‘Spy Attack’ seems a bit far-fetched. Having the Buy Morons onsite to potentially screw up the opening? Legit. But lacking product? Please.
Casey himself didn’t have a lot to do this episode, except get frustrated with the new CIA-installed security system to get into Castle and then get shot in order to set up a longer story involving his daughter Alex.
He didn’t even appear onscreen until the second third of the episode, which in many fans’ books is a crime far worse than anything committed by Hugo or Heather. Here’s hoping the story line with his daughter adds some shading to this already great character.
On the mythology front, Heather’s past dealings with Mama Bartowski brought Chuck one nanometer closer to finding his mother. Having a singular Big Bad as opposed to an amorphous entity was a smart move for the show’s fourth season: after all, the goal isn’t ultimately to take down an organization so much as simply reunite the remaining Bartowski clan.
Teasing out the complicated relationship between Mary and Volkoff should provide juicier material that trying to tease out the relationship between Mary and The Group That Is Badder Than the Ring
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