Has Chuck Jumped the Shark?

Chuck is one of my favorite TV shows, and one that Allysen and I most eagerly awaited the return of. But...but...what have they done with our show?

In the first five episodes, the writing has taken a seriously wrong turn, for my tastes. Much of the charm and wit are missing, or at best labored. The plotting makes Chuck seem stupid, rather than endearingly innocent. They brought back Morgan and Big Mike in a ham-handed fashion—and rather nastily, with the summary execution of the Tony Hale character with a bullet through the head. They've fallen in love with the famous guest star gimmick (two from the Superman world). They seem to feel that Yvonne Strahovski has to be shown semi-naked even more often than in the past, as if any hotblooded male needs that gimmick to maintain an interest in Yvonne Strahovski. (I enjoy attractive, semi-clad women as much as the next guy, but here it just seems blatantly exploitative.) Chuck summons impossible skills at the drop of a script-writer's pen. In short...bah! I'm waiting for the show I love to return. But I'm not sure if it's going to.

To be fair, they pretty well painted themselves into a corner at the end of last season. It was clear things had to change; they couldn't continue with the same-old same-old. He had the new Intersect, the plot arc with his father was finished, and things with Sarah were at a make-or-break point. They clearly didn't want Chuck and Sarah to get together, because there would go all of the sexual tension. And yet...how did they deal with this? By having Chuck throw away a chance for a life with Sarah, so that he could become a real (bumbling) spy? Ssssss...

We haven't given up yet. Maybe they just need time to shake things out. But we're well into the season now, and we're very afraid that it's going to go the way of Andromeda after its chief writer left the show. Which is to say, down the tubes.

But I surely hope not.