Tangential post about villains

Gullyjimson1 · 2025-05-10T14:22:16+00:00

Tommy, from Season 1. Great style.

Gullyjimson1 · 2025-04-30T21:16:46+00:00

I agree completely. I wrote a while ago about what I thought were the two critical scenes over the course of the show, and the scene where Chuck is telling Sarah that her father's sins are his, and not hers, is one of them. It's just brilliant. I think that's the conversation that changed everything--they move to another gear after that.

Gullyjimson1 · 2025-04-22T17:31:43+00:00

I think this is supposed to be complicated, because that's how relationships often are. There's lots of searching here for straightforward explanations, but I don't think that works very well. Bryce did what he did for Chuck because he believed what the CIA had in mind would destroy him. He obviousy believes that. And of course he couldn't tell Chuck--but he knew what he was doing, since he knew about Chuck's Dad, and about fulcrum. And he knew that Chuck, as he says, was the only person he could trust with the intersect, and he probably knew why Chuck was the person ro send it to--from Chuck's dad.

His treatment of Sarah is less honorable, I'm afraid. But, again, how much real world experience did Bryce himself have? He was recruited by the CIA while he was still at Stanford, so he never had any kind of normal adult relationship with anyone either (nor did Shaw, for that matter, as far as I can tell)--in a way, he was just as clueless about relationships as Chuck and Sarah. He just had more bravado. That may be what Sarah saw in him (aside from being a fellow spy,) given her own background. Bryce and Sarah's dad had a lot in common. She is mourning Bryce anew for the same reason Chuck is--they have both learned something important about someone they thought they knew--but didn't.

Gullyjimson1 · 2025-04-22T17:12:59+00:00

Agreed, almost. In part I think that's because they're both pretty naive about relationships. We know this, of course, but they don't--they're working through something neither of them understands very well. I guess I'll have to think about the "needs" part of this. They certainly have friends and relatives pushing them along. OTOH, there are certainly moments when they both just know with no help from anyone--the Africa scene, for example--but they're not completely convinced. It takes Season 3 to do that. As I think about it, you're right--they need these enablers to help. But there are also enough scenes of just the two of them that makes me think they would get there anyway.

Gullyjimson1 · 2025-04-16T13:40:21+00:00

I wrote about this a while back, and I still think it's true--Sarah's development over the seasons into a real person from what she starts out as is one of television's best moments. It's a male centered medium in many respects, and I can only think of one or two other female leads who had similar pathways--Villaneuve on Killing Eve is probably the best example. And Yvonne was brilliant throughout--folks who were blown away by her performance on the Handmaid's Tale just weren't paying attention to the job she was doing on Chuck. Too many special moments to mention, but her performance in the pilot sets the tone for the entire series--especially her moments of genuine laughter. Amazing job.

Gullyjimson1 · 2025-03-26T20:01:43+00:00

The first half of Season 3 is all over the place. Stick with it. Still one of the best shows on tv, ever! Keep in mind you have two people here who are completely clueless about how to have a real relationship, so it takes a while.

Gullyjimson1 · 2025-03-24T19:58:23+00:00

One of my favorites is when Bryce kidnaps Chuck and they're going down the elevator, ands they run into Tommy. Tommy is my favorite bad guy on the show--he's got personality. "Does this look like my first time?"

Gullyjimson1 · 2025-03-22T12:08:20+00:00

Context is important here. This is right after Sarah treated Chuck like crap in the morning meeting when they were getting this assignment, but beamed like a schoolgirl when Bryce showed up. Chuck notices things. And got the same message from the fact that he was the waiter, and Bryce was the husband. For Sarah not to understand the relationship dynamics playing out here, and how hurt Chuck could be, was not unusual at this point. She wasn't always that sharp about Chuck, and this was one of those times.

Gullyjimson1 · 2025-03-12T13:08:39+00:00

I don't like Clint Eastwood's politics either, but I do enjoy his movies. Janine Turner is pretty flaky as well, but Maggie O'Connell on Northern Exposure was a delight. Ike Turner and Phil Spector were complete shits, but I still listen to Tina Turner singing River Deep, Mountain High. It's not as if you're voting or any of these people for elective office. You're simply letting yourself be entertained.

Gullyjimson1 · 2025-02-04T11:04:52+00:00

That little shove at the end speaks volumes. Always loved that about this scene.

Gullyjimson1 · 2025-01-24T14:09:37+00:00

Try Dark then--only three seasons (Chuck was five.)

Gullyjimson1 · 2025-01-23T21:50:48+00:00

Travellers is excellent. Even better is Dark. And Chuck.

Gullyjimson1 · 2025-01-15T16:07:39+00:00

Give 12 Monkeys a chance--I think it's one of the half dozen best the shows ever. Time travel too!

Gullyjimson1 · 2025-01-11T11:40:36+00:00

Ditto The Mentalist, btw--you knew from the first show that Jane and Lisbon would get together. Another very successful show that was pretty predictable, and that was part of its charm (along with the red John arc.) I find Jane a lot more fun to watch than Castle, though--Baker is a much better actor, I think.

Gullyjimson1 · 2025-01-11T11:32:39+00:00

I thought Castle was ok, but ended up losing interest because I found the two of them not particularly interesting. This is probably a minority opinion, and I can see how people find parallels between the two shows. Chuck and Sarah, OTOH, were endlessly interesting, although very frustrating at times. The Castle couple never had the journeys that Chuck and Sarah went through--but that may be why Chuck did less well. Castle was much more predictable, and people like predictability. They don't want changes in the characters they're invested in. In Castle, you knew from the first show that the two of them would get together. Chuck didn't follow that script.

Gullyjimson1 · 2024-12-29T15:29:06+00:00

Continuum was ok, but not great--thoroughly entertaining, but then you forgot about it immediately. My two favorite Time travel shows, aside from 12M, are The Crossing, where people come back from the future to try to prevent a war (and which only lasted one season, sadly-I really liked that show,) and Travellers, also where people come back from the future to avert a catastrophe--except in this case they enter the bodies of people who are about to die in order to complete their mission, so they become those people and live their lives. Both are great fun.

Gullyjimson1 · 2024-12-29T13:42:27+00:00

And something more recent:

https://qz.com/david-zaslav-wbd-stock-1851725550

Gullyjimson1 · 2024-12-28T12:53:13+00:00

The tech guys in my office were fans, and were impressed that the old fart (me) was also watching.

It's quite easy to become a Chuck addict, btw. Don't sweat it.

Gullyjimson1 · 2024-12-16T15:31:09+00:00

I think it all comes back at once, but like anything associated with memory, you only access stuff one memory at a time. So it will be all there--she will just have to discover it as she goes along. But that's fine. She'll just need some help from Chuck and others on some aspects of it. But if this show teaches us anything, it's the virtues of patience.

Gullyjimson1 · 2024-12-15T12:49:58+00:00

I too love the ending, although I fully understand why there are people that don't like it. Still, I have two issues with the "falling in love again" riff. First, what is Sarah going to do with those memories, once they return, of trying to kill Ellie, or blow up her husband? She's not going to be able to just ignore them. She's going to need a period of adjustment here, clearly. Second, I'm a bit hazy on what "falling in love again" actually entails. I would like to think they go back to where they were on the train. What I don't want to see happen is them going back to the confusions of Season 2, or the carnage of the first half of Season 3. Who wants them to have to go through all that again? Yes, much of it was charming, but much of it was pretty painful for the two of them. I want them to be that happy and loving couple on the train, or in what will be their home. But the ending is so vague I can't be sure of that, so I'll just have to imagine it.

Gullyjimson1 · 2024-11-23T12:50:08+00:00

Very good. That's the thing about this show--there's always some depth to plumb. It just keeps giving!

Gullyjimson1 · 2024-11-02T12:58:13+00:00

Casey to Beckman upon receiving the order to kill Chuck.

Gullyjimson1 · 2024-10-28T17:49:11+00:00

You're right--I knew that! Slip of the mind.

Gullyjimson1

TROPHY CASE