Chuck, 2x12, “Chuck vs. the Third Dimension”

Episode Title: Chuck vs. the Third Dimension
Writer: Chris Fedak
Director: Robert Duncan McNeill

Originally Aired: 02/02/2009
Grade: B+

Things I Liked:

I quite enjoyed Chuck’s mini-speech about normally being more respectful of women in his dreams. Granted that statement somewhat contradicts the numerous Sarah fantasy sequences on the show, which are presumably from Chuck’s PoV. But still, it does indicate that the episode’s writer—Chris Fedak, who is also a showrunner—is aware of how sexist those fantasy sequences can be.

I also laughed so hard at Chuck’s faux-Brit accent that I completely missed what he actually said on my first viewing. On second-viewing, “Little Drummer boy,” hee.

Things I Didn’t Like:

I didn’t actually have 3-D glasses for this, but honestly, I didn’t see much that seemed like it would be spectacular in 3-D. The episode title—“Chuck vs. the Third Dimension”—doesn’t even seem to have anything to do with the content of the episode, which I found slightly irritating.

The more important flaw here is that the conflict from “vs. Santa Claus” was tied up much too quickly. Yes, it was over a month for viewers, and even within the show’s timeline, but the episodes are back-to-back order-wise. I realize that the show isn't designed for DVD viewing, but still, when I sit down to watch the episodes again when the DVDs come out, it's not going to feel like a few months passed. It's going to feel like it happened really fast. And considering what a huge deal it seemed to be, and considering that they practically made it a mid-season cliff-hanger, I just would have liked for the conflict to last a bit longer.

The resolution just feels too pat, and even pointless. I mean, really, what was the point? One episode of tension and we're done? I'm assuming there's going to be more to this. Sure, they had a nice open talk about it, but it's not like Sarah stopped being a good liar or Chuck was all, "It's totally cool if you lie a lot, doesn't bother me a bit!" He may have come to terms with that particular incident, but they still have trust issues. Sarah is still a really good liar, and Chuck still knows that.