Forget it, 'Chuck,' it's Chinatown
Oct 23, 2007, 11:13 AM | by Kate Ward
Categories: Mini TV Watch
For just a short a second last night, I thought we were going to finally see some deeper character growth in Chuck's Morgan (Joshua Gomez, pictured). While on his way to dinner with our main guy and Sarah in L.A.'s Chinatown, Morgan mentioned to Chuck and Sarah that he needed his "fix." Could Morgan be addicted to drugs? (It would certainly explain his squirrel-like tendencies) Nope. Turns out Morgan just wanted to nab some fireworks. So instead of actually digging beyond Morgan's conventional exterior, Chuck once again forced us to live through several scenes that flaunted Gomez's annoyingly sophomoric and underdeveloped character.
Not that the episode didn't show some of Morgan's redeeming qualities. I have to give it to Chuck's writers for proving that Morgan has a greater purpose outside of advertising his extremely irritating tendencies. After bonding over an "I-Miss-Chuck" moment, it seems that Ellie and Morgan have put aside their differences -- or, rather, Ellie has put aside her differences with the latter -- to develop a somewhat affectionate relationship. But as nice as it was to see a friendship developing between the two, I'm a bit worried about the direction Chuck's writers seem to be going with Morgan and Ellie. Correct me if you think I'm wrong, but I see a possible romance brewing between the two most important people in Chuck's life. Sure, the duo has their moments, but replacing Captain Awesome -- who was noticeably and tragically absent again last night -- with Morgan? I have a feeling that it's not as inconceivable as we might think, since I can't fathom anyone spending $700 to save someone's job unless they have some sort of ulterior -- albeit subconscious -- motive.
But, for the purposes of last night's episode, Ellie's spree at the Buy More was meant to be compensation for Morgan's efforts to comfort her after Chuck skipped their October version of Mother's Day, which, we discover, celebrates the day Mrs. Bartowski left the family to let Chuck and Ellie fend for themselves. Though I can't quite imagine why anyone would celebrate being deserted by a parent, Ellie introduced the dinner as Chuck's last chance to prove he could be true to his word. But after Chuck returned home late after a mission went awry, Ellie played the ever-understanding sister again, acknowledging that love makes you do crazy things. Like miss important family gatherings, or, say, destroy a perfectly good van with fireworks. But I was almost certain that Chuck was going to confess his double life to Ellie when she told him that he could confide in her. Alas, for the second time over the course of the hour, I was wrong. But I can't help but hope that Chuck will soon tell his sister about Charles Carmichael and his computer/brain, as I would love to see Sarah Lancaster play more than just the sympathizing sister. Perhaps she'd take on an alias as well. (Any suggestions, PopWatchers?) After all, Captain Awesome already has one.
But the message of loyalty really hit home for Chuck upon receiving this week's mission. During last night's episode, Sarah and Casey took Chuck on his first stakeout, where the trio stalked a potentially dangerous Chinese woman named Mei-Ling. It doesn't take long, however, for us to learn that Mei-Ling's target -- an elderly wheelchair-bound man named Ben Lo Pan -- is the real enemy, having kidnapped Mei-Ling's brother. But after an almost laughable scene -- where Ben Lo Pan managed to dodge dozens of bullets while moving incredibly slowly and without any sort of shield -- the bad guy got away thanks to Chuck's inability to follow orders (shouldn't Sarah and Casey have learned by now that Chuck never stays in the car?). To make up for his error in judgment, Chuck promised to help Mei-Ling procure her brother if she would defect to America (Ã la White Knights -- thank you for the Baryshnikov reference, Chuck), and, for the first time in last night's episode, followed through with his vow. Thanks to Chuck's computer skills, and inability to follow orders, our title character managed to save not only Mei-Ling's brother, but Sarah and Casey as well. Though I did find it quite curious that Chuck would continue using his "spy" name (Charles Carmichael) during the stakeout, but had no problem adorning himself in a jacket inscribed with his name and his place of employment during the final battle.
I know that I had previously complained that Chuck was focusing too much on the title character's newfound abilities in the show's early episodes, but now I'm beginning to worry that the Chuck's formulaic pace may affecting the intrigue introduced in the series' pilot. Though there are still some lingering mysteries -- why Jill dumped Chuck, and why Bryce would choose to send the top-secret information to Chuck -- it seems Chuck is suffering from its inability to launch story arcs that continue beyond one episode. In this post-Lost and -Heroes world, Chuck needs to start pulling out all the stops in order to keep up.
What did you think of last night's episode, PopWatchers? Are you growing tired of Chuck's mission-of-the-week format? Did any of you find the stop-start camerawork in the final fight scene distracting? Do you find yourselves liking Morgan just a little bit more? What would you bring with you on a stakeout (a sweater? Life-jacket?)? And, finally, have any of you ever had a spastic colon?
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