So we finally learn the reason for Bryce framing Chuck.
I have been really enjoying this series, but this episode was flat. Didn’t have the humor and the story was ‘meh’. The reveal about Chuck was also ‘meh’.
Notice how Harry Tang picks only on the geeks and nerds, and leaves John Casey alone? Not quite as dumb as he acts, that Harry. Personally, I think Sarah Walker is only the third hottest actress in the show. Give me more Anna and Ellie!
Yeah, Harry MUST leave Casey alone–he had to ask Chuck if he wanted him to kill Harry rather than offering to do it himself. But didn’t Casey “clarify” his relationship with Harry a few weeks back?
Casey might have intimidated Harry before Harry became “Assistant Manager”. Not 100% sure. Sarah let her manager know who’s really the boss - I remember that one.
Best part of this episode: “Wow, with this new hi-def, you can really see all the wrinkles.”
“They can hear you.”
“All the twinlke…the twinkle in your eyes…your eye.”
This show has a thing for hot Asian women - Anna, the Chinese spy, the one who saved Chuck last night. Chuck doesn’t have it bad. Still, so far we’ve only one token black man - NBC is an awfully white network. (Granted, I am only watching about 7-8 hours of network shows per week right now, and 5 of them are NBC, so my sample size is rather small).
I absolutely love Chuck and think all the episodes are just getting better. Last night’s episode was great - loved the Bryce story! And an Everquest shoutout! Yay!
I thoroughly enjoyed the battle between Harry Tang and Morgan. Heee!
I kept finding myself thinking, “That’s what passes for a tailgate at Stanford?”
Could be my own bias talking, though.
I was surprised, and impressed, that the Bryce thing was wrapped up so early in the season.
(Although, Chuck, dude…LOTS of girls play Everquest.)
In 1999? An 18 y.o. nerd in 1999 meeting an actual woman playing Everquest would have believed he died and was in heaven.
(for the record, I wasn’t 18 in 1999, nor did I play Everquest, so my assumptions may be off a decade or so :D)
I played EQ in 99 Erollisi Marr server!
I was very careful not to say women didn’t play, but that a nerd like Chuck meeting a woman who played would be enough to make him stain his underwear.
Did anyone else watch this episode? I thought this was the best one yet. Of course, I am sure the Tolkien references did not influence me at all.
Somehow, Chuck’s actions in this show seemed more realistic than prior. I liked the fleshing out of his background and the partial explanation for Bryce’s actions. I enjoyed the reference to the obscure Anthony Edwards film Gotcha! with the dart gun game. It made me look it up on the IMDB and I never realized the hot chick in the movie was a young Linda Fiorentino. I had forgotten about this enjoyable little movie until that moment in the episode. My wife had no clue about what I was talking.
John Casey’s interaction with the environmentalist cracked me up. The line was something like “Screw you, you damn dirty hippy”. Speaking as someone that helps put on a yearly environmental festival, I still found it funny.
I would just like to say: “Football in the groin” Simpsons did it first!
I liked the cavalry arriving from all over the campus, “are you going to the Toga party?”
This show was loaded or even overloaded with references to other shows. Almost felt like Kevin Smith was involved with this instead of “Reaper”.
I enjoyed the subplot with Harry as Sauron and his “One Remote” to rule them all. The list of petty rules was almost straight of the walls of the Shire before the Scouring. It was good to see Morgan get the better of Harry, mostly on his own; this was his shining moment to date.
Jim
You say “awfully white”, but from your context what you really mean is “awfully not-black.” I’m not sure I agree. The NBC shows I watch, chronologically:
Chuck: No blacks.
Heroes: A main character.
Journeyman: No blacks.
Bionic Woman: A main character.
My Name is Earl: A main character.
30 Rock: A main character.
Scrubs: A main character.
The Office: A high-profile secondary character.
ER: A main character.
Friday Night Lights: A main character.
By my count, 7 (8 if you count Stanley) of the 10 NBC shows I watch have a black main character. If you counted up the total number of main characters in those 10 shows, I suspect that the percentage of blacks would be as large or larger than in the population at large.
I think Ellie’s the hottest but, then, I’ve crushed on Sarah Lancaster since I was a teen and she played Kelly Kapowski 2.0 on Saved by the Bell: The New Class.
I think he told him to take a shower.
I love Adam Baldwin.
Chucks boss is black and isn’t the top CIA or NSA guy also black?
Yep and Yep.
Neither are main characters, which are the only characters I considered in order to disregard “token blacks” without having to judge the, uh, “token-ness” of any given character.
THIS FUCKING BOARD FUCKING SUCKS WITH THE CONSTANT TIMEOUTS.
Ellis, we watch many of the same NBC shows. Your list includes all of those I watch, and some I don’t.
According to the CIA World Factbook, U.S. population is 12.9% black and 4.2% asian. I would say that it is fair to assume that those populations are mostly concentrated in major metropolitan areas, such as San Francisco (Journeyman), Chicago (ER), New York (Heroes, 30 Rock), etc.
I do mean “awfully white”, because when dealing with urban settings, many of the ratios of white / non-white change dramatically. All those shows have token diversity. I haven’t watched ER in ages, but the last I checked, they’re racial breakdown did not match any city hospital I’ve ever been in. I pointed out that Chuck has an abundance of hot Asian women because it stands out and the writer or producer probably has a thing for them.
The Office and My Name is Earl are two shows where, IMO, it makes sense to have a token figure (btw, Office has two - don’t forget Darryl). 30 Rock somewhat makes sense, as long as they don’t venture outside of the corporate/stage area. Scrubs also makes sense, somewhat, however, it could certainly use a lot more diversity outside of the leads and secondaries. We could probably count the number of non-white patients and background characters they’ve had on our fingers and toes.
Part of the problem is the pool of working actors wherever they are filming. They purposely hire token leads, but when they do a cattle call for crowd scenes, I’m guessing they are being sent an all (or mostly) white crew unless otherwise specified. I picked on Chuck because even the store scenes are melanin-deprived. I’ve been in “Buy More” in mostly white suburbs, and I would expect much more of a rainbow throughout the store.
Another part of the problem is the appeal to demographics. According to the Factbook, 81.7% of the country is white, and there is still a large swath of non-urban whites who simply do not relate to minority characters, especially if they “act minority”. It is what it is. Personally, I’d like to see a show with a cast that reflects my own Queens block…we have representatives from at least 9 countries throughout Europe, Asia, and Latin America - either born outside the US or first generation.
My first post was confusing. Translate it as:
No blacks = 0 main characters
A main character = 1 main character
It would have been much more clear if I had been able to include an example of “Two main characters”, but wouldn’t you know, there weren’t any.
Compared to what? CBS?
Was I the only one who caught the "hot coffee " reference (real or imagined) in the previews for next week’s episode? (Sarah says something to the effect that they should sleep together, and Chuck gulps and says, “hot coffee…”)
I really liked the episode and re-watcheed directly after the end.
Something happened from the first few shows to now, which makes this my top choice of new shows this season - The mystery of the week was put in the background, only serving as a vehicle for the dramedy. Maybe the producers didn’t trust their actually rich group of characters, and went from action/mystery driven to character driven, when the show found an audience… I don’t know how it’s doing in ratings, but here’s hoping there’s a buzz that makes people tune in so it survives.