The Intersect

Before I get into the events of the episode, let me tell you what I went through prior to and following the Paley event: I first flew from Portland, ME to NYC, and due to a late-ish start and an early-boarding flight, nearly missed the plane. Once in NYC, I made it from JFK to the subway stop nearest the Paley Center without issue, and then managed to wander around the surrounding area searching for a Starbucks. Let me tell you — it should not be that hard to find a Starbucks in Manhattan. I am just gifted like that.

Then, after the episode [I stayed for Life, because I heart Damian Lewis and feel a little bad that I wasn't watching it last season -- and I definitely will, this season, because he's like if Greg House and Gil Grissom had a kid (...who is a cop who did time for a murder he didn't commit and has since been cleared and reinstated.) A little bitter, a little peculiar, a lot good at his job. I left early, though -- almost nobody stayed for Lipstick Jungle. I wonder what this will tell NBC execs, if anything] I got onto the wrong subway. And didn’t notice until I was halfway across the city. And missed my flight by, as Maxwell Smart might say, “That much.”

As I type these first few paragraphs, I’m spending a sleepless (and hungry, and thirsty!) night in the JetBlue terminal at JFK — which would have been made much easier if the barista I got stuck with knew how to make a damned iced latte and hadn’t stiffed me on the espresso — because the next flight into Portland isn’t until nearly ten tomorrow morning. (I have since made it home safely, in spite of having my flight make an apparently top secret gate relocation, in that they didn’t see fit to announce it.)

So, all that said, let me tell you that it was WORTH IT.

If you’re looking for a play-by-play, there’s a great outline in the forums at Zachary-Levi.com. This post, if it’s even remotely readable, is going to be some pretty rampant fangirling with a bit of summarizing thrown in for good measure.

Aesthetically speaking, all the actors are looking good. Vik Sahay’s and Sarah Lancaster’s hair isn’t in their eyes, Joshua Gomez is rocking his new fauxhawk, and Julia Ling’s makeup is toned down slightly so as not to make Anna look quite so much like a five-year-old who got into mommy’s cosmetics. We get Yvonne Strahovski in her undies, shirtless Zachary Levi, and a glimpse of bare Adam Baldwin-belly. With gun. And Ryan McPartlin, of course, in the altogether, because being shirtless just wasn’t awesome enough for an episode this… um. Awesome. (Chuck congratulates Devon, over breakfast, for “what God gave you.”)

Oh, Casey. Casey, Casey, Casey. I always knew that deep down, he was a softie for Chuck. This episode proved it. While the other blogs I’ve read have been all about yay Chuck/Sarah, going on a date, almost kissing, blah blah blah — personally their “relationship” leaves me lukewarm at best — I’m gonna go right ahead and put mine forth as the first one to laud this episode as a great Chuck/Casey friendship ep — the best so far — and Chuck will probably never even realize how much. From the minute Beckman reminds Casey of his orders and he cocks his gun only to comment, “I used to like the sound of that,” you can see that he’s struggling with the attachment and affection he’s developed for Chuck. Casey’s sudden eagerness to postpone the completion of the new Intersect baffles Chuck because, of course, he doesn’t know about the kill order. The look on Casey’s face when Chuck tells him how much he appreciates him, Casey’s attempts to convince Beckman to make Chuck an agent instead of having to pull the trigger — and the hilarious target practice scene, in which Casey blows away a photograph of Osama bin Laden, refuses to fire on a photo of Ronald Reagan, and then completely fails to hit the picture of Chuck, are heartwarming and funny. Saying that Chuck had served his country with honor is probably the highest compliment Casey’s ever given, and the recurring theme of Casey catching Chuck when he falls got me right there.

Chuck, for his part, is equal parts earnestness, goofiness, and intelligence. In the interim between Marlin and First Date, Chuck has become a pretty decent spy — with a specialty in bluffing and pulling last-minute rescues out of his ass — but has lost none of the characteristics that make him the Chuck we know and love. He might get the job done, but he’s not afraid to scream like a girl while he’s doing it. (”Girlish screams in the face of danger” — his words, not mine.)

My Herd! Oh, how I love my Herd. The things they do are so completely, utterly ridiculous — like turning the cage into some kind of battledome — but they are totally things that I would love/want to do myself. There were bungee cords and harnesses! I was cackling gleefully at Morgan’s appointment of Lester as Big Mike’s second, because Lester is drunk with power, and he’s already become the manager you love to hate. I also adored Anna hitting on Chuck just to make Morgan squirm — and being completely up front about her motives in doing so.

Ellie and Devon are… well, Ellie and Devon. They are sweet and devoted to each other, and always supportive of Chuck. They are solid in a way that I feel is an interesting contrast to Chuck’s non-relationship with Sarah, which keeps hitting the rocks despite being mostly for show, no matter what either of them might like to think or hope.

Which brings me to Sarah. Sarah, why? OF COURSE you bring a gun on a real date, if it’s with a guy who’s really in real danger a real lot of the time. Are you naive, or just really, really daft?! And if it’s either of these things, how are you still alive?! I would think that the “too stupid to live” threshold is quite a bit higher for spies than it is for average joes. Good on Chuck for berating her over her scorn for Morgan, too — you just don’t dis your boyfriend’s best bud, even if the relationship is only vaguely real, and Morgan, while occasionally creepy, has never really been anything but awesome to her. The inconsistent and occasionally offensive characterization of Sarah is, in my opinion, the only thing fundamentally wrong with an otherwise amazing series.

Please bear with me; this post has somehow overwritten a previous post, and at the same time has reverted to a draft I had edited before publishing… I’ve lost content and I’m trying to recreate it. I don’t even know how long it’s been like that, and it’s really frustrating.