Writer: Matt Miller
Grade: A-
Y’know, I've been able to ignore Ellie’s trend toward the annoying for a long time, but these last couple of episodes kind of pushed me over the edge into active dislike. She means well, but then most nags are well-meaning... Anna has been knocked down quite a few pegs in the “strong female character” category, as well. Remember when she was an edgy, sexually ambiguous tough girl who didn’t take any crap, as opposed to a clingy girlfriend?
Cole and his dramatic "It's hard to leave someone you care about" spiel to Sarah didn’t do much for me, because he had even less to go on as far as "caring" about her than Chuck does. Cole thought she was hot and competent, and maybe he picked up that she cared about her co-workers, but I still thought he was laying it on a bit thick for the level of interaction they had. His purpose on the show--romantic foil for Chuck--was so obvious that I just couldn't bring myself to invest much energy in this pair of episodes.
I also didn't think Cole and Sarah had particularly noteworthy chemistry, but mileage will vary on that. I'm probably biased because I didn't find him attractive and thought he sounded like he was talking through a nosebleed, so I was cringing through most of their scenes together.
However, Cole's relationship with Chuck in this episode was fun--I found that much more interesting than any of the Chuck/Sarah or Cole/Sarah stuff. It was nice to see someone put some faith in Chuck's abilities and encourage him to actually do stuff, rather than just "stay in the car/bunker."
Cole’s interest in Sarah was a bit on the shallow side, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that the writers still need to work on what Chuck sees in Sarah besides the fact that she's pretty and she saves his life. He's gotten some of her backstory this season, which helps, but I need more. Part of the problem is that Sarah gets to see Chuck interacting with his friends, his family, and even Casey on a regular basis, which gives her plenty of reasons to have developed feelings for him. Chuck doesn't really have the same opportunities to see how Sarah interacts with others on a regular basis because she's cut off from everyone on the show but Casey and Chuck himself. I'm not even sure how they can "fix" that issue because it's pretty organic to the situation the characters are in.
I thought having Chuck and Sarah move in together was a great idea because it might allow him to get to know her better in a more down-to-earth kind of way, so I was pretty disappointed that it ended up being a red herring. Then again, considering their chemistry, they probably would have ended up making out on the couch after just a couple of days rather than making any real attempt to be roommates and get to know one another, so it was probably for the best.
And hey, lookie, Chuck’s been a busy little bee putting together that web of the spy world on the back of his Tron poster! Not quite as awesome a reveal as finding out that John Connor knew about Jessie and Riley being from the future, but still pretty cool. And we got another mention of his dad, which probably wasn’t thrown in just for the hell of it.
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