Chuck – Assets burned

Chuck’s evolution into a full spy continued aggressively this week as he was given an asset of his own to manage. Manoosh is an ivy league dropout who’s lonely and directionless, squandering his life away. Sound familiar?

The episode made no illusions about the many parallels between when Sarah first went in to “handle” Chuck, and Chuck’s new case to “handle” Manoosh. It created a lot of unspoken tension within the team; and I appreciated that they didn’t pander to us by having Chuck and Sarah talk about it.

In fact, Chuck’s been getting better about needing to talk about his feelings all the time. He is becoming a better and more competent spy, which I’ve said I wanted for the past year or so. Should I have?

Sarah made an interesting point when Casey acknowledged that Chuck is becoming a better spy. Is it really a good thing? Here’s a sweet, innocent guy who may not be altogether happy with his life. But does that mean the spy life is what will fulfill him? He struggled tremendously with the callous nature of “handling” Manoosh.

Part of that, certainly, was in reflecting back on how deftly he was handled by Sarah. I’m sure Chuck is questioning almost every aspect of their relationship at this point, and again the writers gave us enough credit as a fan-base to leave us to our own devices.

Speaking of smart, Morgan is really coming into his own now that he’s the store’s assistant manager. He’s more confident, and he’s clearly paying more attention. This alliance between him and Ellie is both incredibly odd and potentially dangerous for Team Bartowski … not to mention Devon.

I do feel bad for Devon. He’s this genuinely “Awesome” guy who’s perfect in every way. Having to lie to his wife, and watching Chuck do so with such ease, is simply destroying him. He’s lost that spark that made him “Captain Awesome.” How the writers can keep at least Ellie from finding out without destroying her marriage, I have no idea.

How much trouble Lester and Jeff are going to cause for Chuck — or get into themselves — now that Morgan has them using their best “stalker/spy” techniques to get the scoop on him remains to be seen. I don’t see it going that well for them. That, or they’ll prove very good at what they do and uncover some dastardly information, which they’ll more than likely misinterpret.

I guess the writers really want to put Chuck’s secret to the test this season. It’ll be interesting if they can maintain his cover with his family and friends, or if others will become like Devon and be in on the secret. For Devon’s sake, I kind of hope they can come up with a way for at least Ellie to find out. I kind of prefer Morgan out of the loop. It helps keep Chuck’s former existence via the Buy More innocent.

The Hannah storyline immediately took some surprising turns. For a guest star, she wasn’t given much to do this episode. In fact, Chuck dissed her at almost every turn for “yogurt time,” which the poor girl now thinks is because he’s not over his ex-girlfriend, Sarah. What is the ultimate plan for her? Is she still an innocent, or an undercover Ring agent — See, I still can’t trust anyone!

I didn’t have nearly the difficulty Chuck is having with the burning of Manoosh. The guy did, after all, get involved with The Ring, and then betrayed them to sell his weapon on the black market knowing full well what it would be used for. If he’s like Chuck, he’s the “Mirror Universe” version. If only they’d thought to give him a goatee.

Chuck’s drinking at the end is further reason for concern. Can they evolve Chuck into a spy without destroying what made him who he is, and without destroying his relationships with friends and family? That’s why Casey and Sarah always say personal lives are a liability. There’s so much up in the air with this show right now, and I can’t wait to see how things come down.

Clacked by Jason Hughes
on Feb 02, 2010 @ 15:00 EST5EDT