When a show runs for so long, it tends to run into a rut within its scripts. For some shows like Smallville, most of the episodes are filler episodes while there are only a couple that push along a main-arc plot. This season, it is difficult to know what that plot is. However Smallville is ending this season, but Chuck is still supposedly going strong.
Chuck when it first started out was fun and exciting with witty nerd references and gratuitous Michael Bay-esque shots of barely clad women. The characters changed which is critical for a story, but these characters have hit a wall. In each episode they regurgitate the same lines, same motivations, like listening to a broken 43-minute-long record.
A typical show is as follows:
Chuck: I've got to obsess over finding-my-dad/finding-my-mom/finding-the-next-intersect/finding-all-of-the-pokemon.
Casey: -grunt-
Morgan: -chipper, barking Chihuahua-
Jeff&Lester: Well our approval rating is about as low as it can go, the same as Obama's, but I think we can still find something despicable to further lower our dignity and standards.
Sarah: I wish I could become a real girl, but my nose keeps growing every time I tell Chuck a lie.
The only thing really different in each episode is the bad guy. The overall group name seems to change offering the archetypal opponent that Chuck needs to be relevant. Poor writing rears its ugly head if the big picture is seen. Each time Chuck and his friends take down the organization, another one arises, or so it seems. The major plot point from the beginning of the series is that all of the intelligence data has been downloaded into Chuck's brain. Chuck does not have wifi or 3G access to any new information, yet by Intersect 2.0 he knows all about Volcov's organization and history.
Lost gave the illusion that the story was interlaced and more importantly, intentional. In truth, the Lost writers just threw in a hatch for no real reason, and it became something else later. Even Lost suffered from this block in Seasons 4, 5 and half of 6, but when it was all tied up a the end, the story was so interwoven, it looked like one of those cool shoe lace designs. Chuck fails to do this and just reboots itself each season.
Even Chuck does not institute the one-upping play into their story. The One-Up is where the next bad guy is stronger or more powerful than the last bad guy so it is up to the hero to become more powerful himself. This is seen a lot in anime. It offers little plot development while giving the illusion that the characters are progressing by obtaining a new super power, or stronger mech. It is difficult to tell if Volcov is more powerful than the Ring.
It is possible that one of the major reasons why Chuck is stuck in this rut is because their characters have progressed to the point that changing anything is usually drastic and can upset the fans. Even an on again off again relationship between Chuck and Sarah is an illusion of character development. Chuck did try this early on, but it was semi-unique in that their "relationship" was a cover, and it was all so difficult for Chuck to separate his cover from real life. So taking a page from DC or Marvel (mainly DC), their options are killing off a character, or killing off a character.
Chuck may have run its course, and it will be sad to see such a different show compared to all of the CSI, cop and lawyer shows on, not to mention all of the "reality" shows. Unless the show can reinvent itself and bring back the originality that Chuck had without pissing off too many fans, it is unlikely the show will last for much longer. If it does, it will become harder and harder to keep watching faithfully.
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