There's a moment where Casey tells Sarah that it would be better to be blunt than to ease their way into telling Chuck that he is going to be shipped off to a facility due to Fulcrum possibly knowing that he is the Intersect. Sarah cares about Chuck's feelings and she's afraid that he won't be able to process such horrible news. When Chuck does indeed learn of this news, he immediately thinks of his family and friends and how they will deal with his disappearance from their lives. That's how Chuck is, he thinks of other people. Maybe that's why we love the guy so much.
Well gang, this is it, Season One is complete with this episode. Due to that darn Writer's Strike of '07, Chuck never got to complete its full season order and that is why Chuck versus The Marlin doesn't really feel like a true season finale. That's okay though because I really enjoy the episode, it has some great Buy More hijinx with Jeff and Lester breaking in at night to see if Big Mike has any liquor in his desk to inevitably stealing his prized Marlin. My favorite part of the episode has to be the way Casey handles interrogating these Buy Morons. John Casey has come a long way since the first episode of the series, he actually tells Sarah to get out there and look for Chuck to essentially save him from being shipped off.
See, Chuck grew on the big guy, Casey would never admit it but he did. There's another great moment in this episode when Chuck is on the roof of the building waiting for a chopper to whisk him away to his new home in a CIA bunker where he gets to say goodbye to Sarah. This was a great emotional moment where Sarah said the awesome line, "Save you later". When she said it, you knew it was true, we just didn't know it would be so quickly.
This episode also has Awesome proposing marriage to Ellie and it was done in such a great and effective way, with our point of view from outside the window to their apartment, We are there watching with Chuck and Sarah as Ellie says yes. It's a great moment of warmth and emotion that the Chuck series does so well.
Listen to the Podcast Episode: S1Ep13 Vs The Marlin
This episode had two really cool songs, Style by UR Penetrators which played at the beginning of the episode with Jeff and Lester's mammary cam footage and Get Away by Butcher the Bar closed out the episode to great effect. It's amazing how quickly Chuck established it's ability to have incredible songs in the background of every episode.
With the last episode, Alan Sepinwall reviewed both Undercover Lover and Marlin in the same few paragraphs, I linked it in my last post so with this episode I will link to something else. When the Chuck series ended. Sepinwall did a 5 part retrospective with Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz for each season, I am linking Part One here where they talk about Season One with a warning - They do actually spoil a few things for future seasons so DO NOT read it if you haven't watched the entire series already. I don't want to spoil anyone on any of the cool developments in future episodes. This interview contains interesting insights to the creation of Chuck and the first season. It's a good read if you are interested.
Check out Eric Goldman's recap of Marlin and since I don't have a Sepinwall recap, check out this Pop Sugar recap of Marlin. In each recap they are bummed out that this is last Chuck for the foreseeable future. As I read the recap I am reminded of just how much it sucked having to wait between seasons. Those were the good old days, when we had new Chuck episodes to look forward to. Oh well, we can always re-watch. Hey, isn't that what I'm doing? Heck yes I am. Also, when you read the Pop Sugar recap be sure and check out the comment section - I love seeing peoples enthusiasm for the series. I get a kick out of it.
Again, must I say it every single time I do a blog post about Chuck? I am loving doing this podcast. Season One is done and I'm ready for Season Two, a season with some of my favorite episodes of the entire series. I hope that you enjoy the ride, maybe it will shed a light on just why I love this damn series so much. So far I know that I love the characters, the music, the action and certainly the romance that is blooming between Chuck and Sarah but just what is it that draws me back? I can re-watch these episodes over and over and I never get tired of them. Perhaps I will learn when I finish the entire series, perhaps not. Maybe it's just something as simple as the fact that it brings me joy.
Until next time...
The Jastrom
Why is there a silhouette of Big Mike’s marlin on the wall? There’s no logical explanation for a perfectly outlined silhouette, but it’s funny, so it’s aye-ok with me. :-) At the risk of repeating myself, I’ll accept for the Buy More related humor just about anything no matter how nonsensical it might be. And I’m willing to suspend a good amount of disbelief in the spy world storylines for the sake of fun gadgetry and action (nanobots in the mini quiches that allow for tracking in episode 2? Uh, sure!). With "Chuck" I am only very demanding about plausibility and logical, believable motivations and reactions with the relationship storylines and the show rarely disappointed.
ReplyDeleteAs I rewatch the series with my wife (her first time through), there are a handful of episodes that I know I'm going to get an accusatory stare from her (with her likely thinking "Oh, I see why you like this show" or maybe just a more general "Ugh, men.") and this is one of them thanks to mammary-cam. Oh Jeff and Lester, what are you doing to me. :-)
And talking about Jeff and Lester, very happy that we got a large dose of them in this episode. Vic Sahay (Lester) is excellent all around and has great comedic delivery. One thing I would have loved from the series was a lot more screen time for him.
[MINOR SPOILER ALERT for this paragraph] Even though I'm rewatching only several months after first watching, I had somewhat forgotten how ruthless General Beckman was in S1 (and am now reminded how she continues to be so into S2). She has no reservations to make decisions about what is best for the Intersect regardless of what it means for Chuck. [END spoiler alert]
There is a physically subtle but extraordinary moment on the rooftop. As Sarah is seemingly failing to persuade the other agent to give her time with Chuck, she puts her hand on her pistol grip at the small of her back. She was seemingly ready for a moment there to violate orders and go rogue using the threat of violence for, what, a little time with Chuck to help him make peace with what was going to happen to him? This is a big deal for what it signals about how Sarah feels about Chuck and how he's changed her from the spy we first met, and all in a relatively short amount of time. The moment thereafter when the other agent gives her the time with Chuck and Chuck asks her to make his disappearance as painless as she can for his family is beautifully acted. Really hits the heartstrings.
What a wonderful emotional end to the show with Chuck and Sarah "spying" on Ellie and Devon, Chuck asking Sarah if she wants to go with him when she suggests that he go inside and when she says it's a family moment, he responds "I know." Then Casey with Sarah giving voice to what is troubling Sarah, that Chuck's life cannot go on like this indefinitely. Wow. For those who watched this when it originally aired having to wait eight months for Season 2, that seems like a great but difficult place to be left waiting.
--LetsGoRed
(Had to split up my comments as the comment feature said I was exceeding the max allowed characters; here's the rest)
ReplyDeleteThe interesting "What if?" question to me here is to ask what would have happened with "Chuck" had there been no writers' strike? Chuck had been renewed and was due to get, I believe, an additional nine episodes for season one that never happened because of the strike. I think about season 2, which was really good and was so right from the start; maybe the extra time before that season allowed it to be so good. But the long break was probably not good for viewership totals when the show finally did return. And another question I think about: If given the power, would I change it so there was no strike and then see how the series played out? I wouldn't risk it; sure, maybe we end up getting 7 or 8 seasons and the quality of the first five is every bit as good as what we actually got, but I understand that there were many times when the show looked like it might be cancelled and it survived, and maybe that constant fight to survive was an important ingredient for the five great seasons (especially stellar seasons 2, 3 and 4) that were made.
--LetsGoRed