Writer: Phil Klemmer
Director: Jay Chandrasekhar
Grade: A+
This was easily one of my favorite episodes of the season, and probably even the series as a whole. The first half was so cute and funny and fluffy that I had a big stupid smile plastered on my face through most of it. The Talking Heads musical sequence was perfect!
I can see why they chose to swap the episode order here—this episode was a Valentine’s Day episode, so it would make more sense to air it on the 16th than on the 23rd. It was also a very strong episode, which is important after the somewhat lackluster 3D episode (and I have a feeling that this episode is also stronger than the one they swapped it with, which we will see next week). The only problem I can foresee is that with the introduction of the “Dark Intersect” and Beckman’s statement that “The honeymoon is over,” the storyline continuity may play out a bit awkwardly.
The Big Mike storyline was a bit meh to me. Considering that he cheated on his wife with “Lady Tang” back in Season 1, I didn’t particularly care or feel bad that his wife served him divorce papers.
The main flaws here were related to the Chuck/Sarah relationship, which is kind of funny since that was the main emotional focus of the episode. I was very disappointed that their evening hanging out on the couch was so boring and awkward. For one thing, I’ve always wanted to see them casually hang out as friends, because I think it would be a good way to get them both past the “idolizing one another” stage that they seem to be stuck in. Maybe there’s still some lingering tension from the events of the Christmas episode, or maybe there’s something in “vs. the Best Friend” that would explain their attitudes here, but even so, these two characters adore one another! I just can’t help but think that one of them would have made a little more conversational effort when they were both alone together on Chuck’s couch. It’s a bit schizo that they could be completely bored with one another when they were just hanging out, but put them on a mission as a married couple and they get all schmoopy. Seriously, if they can’t just hang out together comfortably, what kind of “real” relationship can they have? They have to have high stakes and role-playing to actually get worked up over one another? That’s not really something I feel like rooting for.
I can see why some people found the scene with Sarah cooking breakfast for Chuck (and his “real girl” comment) problematic. It was a cute scene simply because both actors are so charismatic—Sarah seemed to genuinely enjoy “playing house,” and Chuck’s attempt to hide his smile of joy and amusement was fucking adorable. Still, Sarah is cooking, and Chuck tells her that if she’s not careful, she might become a “real girl.” It does seem a bit sexist at first. However, goofy Sarah fantasies aside, Chuck has never seemed like a sexist jerk, and given his dream comment in the 3D episode about normally being much more respectful of women, I don’t think he meant the comment as “Real girls cook for their husbands, Sarah.” I think it was more about the fact that she was doing something normal people do and enjoying it —and let’s face it, it’s pretty normal for a wife to cook for her husband, sexist or not—so maybe she doesn’t have to be Pinocchio forever. It's true that they were “playing house,” but I still feel that Chuck's comment was playing off of things like Sarah not having taste in music and not being able to develop the standard tastes and quirks that normal people have, rather than playing to an offensive gender stereotype. And in the end, I think what came across most is that Sarah “comes alive” when she’s playing a role, and when the role ends, she turns into a block of wood again.
I liked that little piece of symbolism for Sarah and I think it worked really well in the episode, and yet, this episode essentially caused me to give up on caring about their relationship. The writers are so clearly just playing the same old “will they/won’t they” game, and I’m sick of it. All this getting close and then pulling away business is tiring. They never make any progress, they just keep repeating the same patterns over and over again. Their actual conflict—which is basically “personal vs. professional”—is organic to the characters and their situation, but the lack of progress in resolving the conflict is not.
And on top of that, the writers act like the two characters are wearing chastity belts when it comes to one another. It’s okay for Chuck to have hot sex with Jill, because Jill is a “bad girl” and not Chuck’s emotionally retarded soul mate Sarah. Sarah and Chuck, however, cannot have sex or even come close to it, because it would ruin… what, the sweetness and purity of their love? And of course, once people have sex, their relationship is no longer interesting? I still love Sarah and Chuck as separate people, but I can’t afford to care about their schizo romantic relationship anymore, therefore I do not. So way to go writers, by the time these two characters finally become a couple or have sex, I will be far beyond caring. I’m all for a little bit of drawn-out UST, but this is becoming completely ridiculous.
I’m still giving the episode an A+, though. It was quite an engaging hour of television, even if Chuck and Sarah had me throwing my hands up in the air by the end.
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