Tooth and Bone

Ouch!

First, a personal note: I broke my collar bone!!! Awww – Poor Joe! Tripped over his own feet while jogging and landed on his shoulder. The lesson for you all is “Don’t be as klutzy as Joe!”

But hey, I can still type, and I’m not in too much pain, so my complaining is almost done. The only thing is that as much as I want to tell you how much I enjoyed the first viewing of Chuck vs. The Tooth, I really don’t want to type too long. That would be bad! So please accept my apologies for the relatively short posts and fewer responses to comments. I read them and enjoy them immensely, so please don’t feel ignored.

Like usual, my enjoyment of Tooth seems to be for particularly personal reasons, so please don’t feel like this is anything like the last word on the matter! It’s just true that I think Chuck is at it’s best when the spy story is moving like an out of control freight train, and the romantic tension is lessened into second place. Although the show approached this balance in The Honeymooners and even in The Other Guy, the last time I saw this work so well was in the final episodes of season 2, especially from the point that Chuck and Sarah decided to run from Casey and Beckman, when they wound up in Stephen’s camper outside of Barstow CA, acting like an established couple. Back then, Chuck could stop his worrying over Sarah for the purposes of worrying about his father. Now, the drama is as high, and they are no longer “acting” like a couple. As comfortable and secure as Chuck and Sarah are in their relationship, there’s still a little worry, but there are dark clouds on the horizon that have nothing to do with Walkertowski.

Let me backtrack a little. Are they comfortable with each other? Sarah did hesitate to say “I Love You.”, after all. But hey, I’ve seen more hesitation in real life! Leonard and Penny are still on the outs three weeks later, over the same issue, much to my surprise. Sarah finally saying those three words directly to Chuck, and again for emphasis, put the issue to rest so quickly that I am as happy as I was over Sarah’s decision to move in. Angst has been crushed, and it feels good. And are they secure? Well, yes. Chuck did not tell Sarah the truth as he knows it about his condition, and that feels like insecurity. But it’s clear that, for the moment, he’s shielding her. So long as this doesn’t go on too long I can understand and accept this (rightly or wrongly, that tends to be my default reaction to bad news too – for some of us, it’s not an easy reaction to overcome). The question then is, how long is too long? I’m not shy! I have an answer. No more than one episode. The resolution cannot last more than the very first scene of Chuck vs. The Ring (pt. 2), or much of the good will that’s been regained since the end of The Other Guy will have been lost. (Ha! See? I can be definitive too!)

All of this bodes well, because there are other things for Team B to worry about! Ellie certainly is going to be foremost; She’s already entangled with The Ring! We can see that in the plot-line already. Morgan and his slow but steady climb to full fledged adulthood (and 3-dimensionality as a character) is just as pressing for Casey!

Sarah is starting to understand what a ‘normal’ life is, and that means friends and family. It’s wonderful to watch Sarah so completely focused on Chuck, but Chuck does not come alone. He comes with both those concerns – that’s what he stresses over. Sarah’s concerns are going to be broadened, and I think, so is the number of people she’ll need to trust and rely on. If we are fortunate enough to get a season 4, then Devon and (I hope I hope I hope) Anna could be on that list of people.

– joe