Season Three of Chuck Brings Angst and Catharsis

There’s a certain melancholy attached to starting a really good series on DVD. You start off hoping to get sucked in but knowing that when the multiple marathons have brought you to the end of what’s available on DVD, malaise will set in. My family finished watching season three of Chuck a couple weeks ago, and I couldn’t quite bring myself to rush out and write the review right away. It felt too final. Of course, there is a season four, but I hate to plunge into it “live” having missed the first half of the season, so I have a feeling it will have to wait. I’m sure it will be worth it; the first three seasons certainly were.

Season three of the action-comedy-romance created by Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz has a slightly different tone to it than the first two seasons. While there are still laugh-aloud moments in every episode, I’m not sure I would classify it as primarily comical. Each of the characters faces major challenges in this season, and at times their obstacles feel downright oppressive. In fact, there were several episodes that left me feeling depressed, though the season ends on a mostly uplifting note.

The biggest reason for the change is that Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi), the unassuming computer technician who unwittingly filled his head with government secrets in the first episode, has experienced a shift in his life plan. After spending two seasons largely focused on ridding himself of that unwanted knowledge, he had a brief taste of freedom before downloading the new Intersect, this time intentionally, in a moment of crisis. With this new version, he not only is able to identify baddies instantaneously, he has the chance to immediately learn how to accomplish complex tasks such as doing kung fu or performing surgery. These abilities come only intermittently.  He has to concentrate harder than usual to call them forth, and he doesn't always have control over them once he gets them, but just knowing that they’re lying dormant in his system is enough to change Chuck’s attitude toward espionage. He is no longer a reluctant spy simply waiting to go back to his old life. Instead, like Clark Kent, he feels a duty to use his newfound powers for good.

Because of these abilities, season three is the most action-packed yet, though I sometimes missed his more unconventional means of getting out of scrapes. That’s not to say that he never escapes his enemies primarily through his quick wits or that his two handlers, tough, pretty Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski) and steely, deadly John Casey (Adam Baldwin), don’t ever have to come to his rescue. But we do get several fight scenes with him that are pretty much straightforward action. As he gets closer to becoming an actual, official spy, it becomes harder and harder for him to avoid making morally reprehensible decisions, and I worried along with Sarah that the season might strip him of many of the qualities that make him so lovable in the first place.

Of the main trio, Sarah has always been the straight man of sorts. She’s sweet and incredibly capable, but she doesn’t usually make me laugh as Chuck and Casey do. In season three, she’s not just rather serious, she’s angsty. This season begins several months after the season two finale, and we learn that Chuck declined an opportunity to run away with her, opting instead for the life of a spy. It’s a rather perplexing decision, considering how desperately he loves Sarah. On the other hand, it would have meant abandoning his beloved sister Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) and giving up the chance to help a lot of people, so his decision is at least somewhat understandable. But throughout most of the season, Sarah remains bitter over this incident, and her relationship with Chuck suffers. For at least half the season, it seems that there is a dark cloud hanging over Sarah’s head, and it’s draining to watch, though there’s a definite sense of exultation when she finally begins to come out of her funk.

Deadpan Casey has subtly, gradually softened up since the beginning of the series, and at this point, while he still looks like he could rip your head off – and would if he had the right motivation – he is as sympathetic as he is intimidating. Casey must deal with several significant changes this season, and we come to see just how important Chuck and Sarah have become to him. More surprisingly, he has several opportunities to bond with Chuck’s best friend Morgan Grimes (Joshua Gomez), and despite his initial irritation with Morgan, the two turn out to make a pretty effective team. Meanwhile, a secret long buried in Casey’s past comes to light and reveals a truly tender side of his personality.

Chuck’s beefed up spy duties threaten to drive a wedge between him and Morgan as his behavior becomes ever more erratic, but the strength of this lifelong friendship proves capable of withstanding seemingly insurmountable obstacles. After two seasons of frequently coming across like a doofus and a nuisance, Morgan really begins to grow up in this season. At the urging of paternal boss Big Mike (Mark Christopher Lawrence), he takes on new duties at the Buy More that demonstrate an unforeseen knack for leadership, and he shows both cleverness and bravery when he finds himself in the position of needing to come to Chuck’s rescue. By contrast, Chuck’s brother-in-law Devon (Ryan McPartlin), a buff, easy-going doctor who rarely seems rattled in the first two seasons, gets a taste of Chuck’s lifestyle that leaves him truly shaken, and he spends much of the season looking haggard and haunted. This leads to some funny moments, in particular a hilarious confrontation with Morgan as he tries to convince Ellie that they should leave Burbank to participate in Doctors Without Borders in Africa, but it’s rather unsettling to see the man Chuck refers to as Captain Awesome so utterly stressed out.

With the arrival of Chuck’s new “superpowers,” it’s not much surprise that Superman references would fill the season. This is most noticeable in two of the season’s casting decisions. Kristin Kreuk, known for playing Clark’s longtime crush and on-again, off-again girlfriend Lana Lang on Smallville, surfaces as a potential love interest for Chuck who, after meeting him on a mission, moves to Burbank to work in his Buy More. Generally, I found her character here more likable than Lana, who was sweet enough in Smallville’s first season but soon began to exhibit obnoxious and shifty traits. More significant to the arc of the season is Shaw, a highly accomplished agent who becomes Chuck’s boss. Played by Brandon Routh, who donned Superman’s red and blue suit in Superman Returns, Shaw has an impeccable record, not to mention killer abs, and Chuck’s not so crazy about the way he’s disrupting the cozy little trio he’s become so accustomed to, especially since he seems to have his sights set on Sarah.

Along with all the Superman stuff, the season remains steeped in pop culture references that sometimes seem to come out of nowhere. Chuck’s unpredictable kung fu chops lead to an episode-long subplot about a Fight Club in the Buy More, one of the more disruptive ideas cooked up by Lester Patel (Vic Sahay) and Jeff Barnes (Scott Krinsky), Chuck’s most aggravating co-workers. I must admit, though, that they got a big smile out of this folkie with a performance of a John Denver song while garbed like Simon and Garfunkel in what’s probably my favorite episode of the season. And really, they didn’t sound half-bad. Battlestar Galactica gets a prominent shout-out in one of the season’s most dispiriting episodes, and Subway, the corporate sponsor partly responsible for keeping Chuck on the air, is integrated in a number of amusing ways. While many pop culture moments throughout the season made me smile, my hands-down favorite has to be the out-of-the-blue nod to one of Sesame Street’s most popular segments.

Taken as a whole, I love the third season of Chuck as much as the first two, but this is definitely a darker season. Several likable characters get burned, some of them fatally, and the main trio face some deeply troubling crises that threaten their sense of self-worth and psychological well-being. However, when good things happen this season, they feel all the more cathartic, so the dark moments are worth enduring, especially since there is joy and humor to be found in even the direst episode. I’m so glad that Chuck got a third season, and I’m sure that the fourth will be just as engrossing.

Smallville's Shortened Seventh Season Piles on the Fun With Kryptonian Kara

Back in 2006, my brother Nathan, then a senior in high school, got me hooked on Smallville on DVD. In the months leading up to his departure for college, we watched the first three seasons. Over the course of his freshman year we watched two more. But since then it's been slow going in getting caught up, so that we only just now finished season seven and are faced with the fact that we're probably never going to actually catch up with this show, since if past seasons are any indication, season eight will hit DVD about a week before season nine premieres. Well, maybe we'll try to cram it all into one week. Or maybe we'll just resign ourselves to watching Smallville exclusively on DVD. Frankly, I'm pretty surprised at the show's longevity, simply because it's a prequel, and Clark's seemed on the verge of donning those tights for about three seasons now. But I'm not complaining, and if I still have Smallville to look forward to after LOST concludes, so much the better.

Season seven of Smallville is, in some ways, lighter than the sixth, in which Clark must deal with the aftermath of a staggering personal loss and the impending nuptials of the girl of his dreams to his best-friend-turned-arch-nemesis, all while trying to round up a series of bloodthirsty intergalactic convicts who make the meteor freaks look like minor irritations. It isn't that the stakes aren't high in the seventh season, but the sense of peril is less pervasive, and there's even a fair amount of domestic tranquility for Clark, who really seems like an adult for the first time (though Tom Welling looks exactly the same as he did when Clark was supposed to be a freshman in high school). Though he's still a farm boy, he's now running the place, with his mom Martha (Annette O'Toole) out of the picture in Washington, D.C. Moreover, he's spending more and more time in Metropolis, where intrepid reporter Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack) and dorky heart-of-gold photographer Jimmy Olsen (Aaron Ashmore) work for The Daily Planet, soon to be joined by budding journalist Lois Lane (Erica Durance). Can it be long before Clark joins their ranks? For the second season in a row, an alternate reality sequence has him donning the iconic thick-framed glasses and suit. Now if only phone booths weren't so hard to come by nowadays...

Though political advancement removes Martha from the equation, Lex's (Michael Rosenbaum) father Lionel (John Glover) still has a significant role to play in Clark's life. It's curious to see him playing the protective, paternal role, especially since Martha is no longer there to act as a link between these two powerful men. While Lionel often acts in ways that seem suspect, he claims to be on Clark's side, and despite years of experience with Lionel's villainy, Clark generally seems to believe that this tycoon has turned over a new leaf. Lionel has been one of the show's most compelling characters for me, in large part because of Glover's brilliant performance; his theatrical background and his masterful way of masking his character's motivations remind me very much of LOST's Michael Emerson. And like Ben, the bug-eyed baddie Emerson portrays, Lionel is a character I've been longing to see redeemed in the end. Since I don't see how that can happen with Lex, I've transferred my hopes onto Lionel. It takes a while for him to become a part of the season, but once he does, his participation is crucial.

We've also got Lana (Kristin Kreuk), who just won't go away no matter how many times it seems like she may be off the show for good. Since I never hopped aboard the Clark and Lana ship, and since I know he's going to end up with Lois anyway, I'm not sure I appreciated Clark and Lana's cohabitation in this season as much as I could have. I mean, poor Clark has wanted this for years, and now he finally has a shot at domestic bliss with his one true love, a woman who now knows most of his deep dark secrets. But her tenure as a Luthor girl did nothing to improve the toxic aspects of her personality; despite the sweet exterior, some of her actions this season are downright diabolical, and it isn't long before distrust and deceit starts to settle in at the Kent Farm.

Though he stoops to some very dark deeds this season, at times, Lex still manages to come across as a decent human being, particularly in his associations with the newest member of the principal cast, a blonde beauty named Kara (Laura Vandervoort) who happens to be Clark's biological cousin. Yes, it just so happens that Kal-El was not the only Kryptonian to escape to Earth, but Kara was stuck in suspended animation for a couple decades longer. Her first act upon awakening in this strange new world involves rescuing Lex from a watery death in a precise parallel of what Clark did in the show's very first episode. Lex sees her first as an angel of mercy, later as the key to solving the mystery that has plagued him for so many years. Kara carries herself with an air of innocence and youthful rebellion. Though she remembers the infant Kal-El, Clark is now older than her, and since she's on his home turf, he has to show her the ropes. Unlike Clark, she doesn't feel the desire to keep her powers secret; convincing her to lay low is one of his most trying tasks throughout the season. Meanwhile, he struggles with revelations about an old family feud that cast Kara in a questionable light and suffers the indignity of knowing this newcomer might be a novice in the ways of Earth but is fully equipped to take to the skies. On the whole, I found Kara a refreshing addition, injecting an extra dose of youthful fun into the season and allowing Clark a different sort of significant relationship in his life while opening a window to a deeper understanding of his biological mother.

Because I've always loved Jimmy Olsen and because Ashmore captures the character's sweetness and goofiness perfectly, Smallville has finally sold me on a Chloe romantic relationship with someone other than Clark that I can root for, particularly since Chloe's status as Clark's most cherished and indispensable friend is assured at this point. Chloe and Jimmy share some of the most tender moments of the season, as well as some of the funniest. Granted, their courtship has its ups and downs, particularly since Chloe is afraid to reveal to him that she has been endowed with a miraculous gift with potentially fatal side effects, and Kara's immediate (and rather inexplicable) infatuation with him complicates matters somewhat. But I'd much rather watch these two characters I genuinely love and can sympathize with equally work together through the trials that come their way than cringe over the twisted couplings that surround them. I'm starting to think theirs may turn out to be Smallville's grandest love story. It's fun to throw Lois into the mix too, especially when she and Jimmy end up working together, since their personalities contrast so magnificently. While romantic sparks never fly between them, it's sweet to watch them develop a deeper sense of respect and affection for one another. Meanwhile, Lois's luck in love seems to change this season when the hunky new boss Grant Gabriel (Michael Cassidy) takes a liking to her.

Some old faces resurface this season, including the silky artificial intelligence known as Milton Fine (James Marsters); filthy rich, gadget-heavy vigilante Oliver Queen (Justin Hartley), who secures a surprising assistant in his quest to rid the world of injustice; and, much to my excitement, the long-neglected Pete Ross (Sam Jones III), who vanished without a trace back in the third season. Don't get too excited; he's not in it for the long haul. But just getting a brief visit with this terrific character, the Ron Weasley of Smallville, is a true gift to long-time fans of the series. Other significant characters, such as Jonathan Kent and Dr. Virgil Swann, are referenced but not seen, while one sinister character maddeningly assumes Clark's identity, which naturally leads to complications, mostly with his relationship to Lana. Of course, every season includes at least one instance of Clark being "not himself," either because he's under the influence of some nefarious substance or because someone else has assumed his form, but this is one of the more effective uses of that device. On a related note, two otherwise ordinary people in Clark's life suddenly develop unusual abilities, which leads to comical situations but ultimately causes insecurity all around.

Most of the season's best episodes shine a light on past events. Lara and Blue both help Kal-El's mother to emerge from the shadows of memory as a vibrant, loving woman, while Fracture offers a fascinating peek into Lex's labyrinthian mind, giving us a compelling reason to consider him redeemable despite all evidence to the contrary. This little-seen side of Lex emerges again in the chilling Descent. I also enjoyed the It's a Wonderful Life-like Apocalypse, in which Clark has a chance to see what the world would be like if he'd never made it to Earth. Throughout the season, surprising connections among characters come to light, and the trustworthiness of various characters remains unclear. It's a season that keeps us guessing, and having a whole lot of fun along the way. It's a shame that, due to the writers' strike, there are fewer episodes than usual, but even so, season seven is top-notch.

A More Adult Clark Makes New Friends and Enemies in Smallville's Sixth Season

Three years ago, my brother Nathan got me hooked on Smallville, the CW show that re-imagines the adolescence and young adulthood of all-American superhero Clark Kent. Within one year, we'd watched the first five seasons, but we only just finished season six now, which leaves us two seasons behind and despairing of ever catching up before the series concludes. Whether or not we manage it, we'll certainly be sticking it out to the end on DVD.

Every season of Smallville finds Clark and company with different preoccupations. This time around, Clark (Tom Welling) has a doozy of a problem on his hands when he accidentally releases several of the most heinous criminals in the universe from the Phantom Zone where he was trapped by Zod, the evil entity whose possession of Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) set up the season five cliff-hanger. Rounding up the rogue Zoners becomes his top priority, though he also has his eye on Lex, who is secretly experimenting on meteor freaks while getting uncomfortably cozy with Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk), who, much as he hates to admit it, is still the girl of Clark's dreams.

For the most part, Lex's devotion to Lana seems to be the only thing keeping him from fully succumbing to his devilish destiny, though there are still flickers of decency that come across elsewhere, particularly in a powerful late-season moment with Clark. Their interaction is limited, however, and generally bristling with animosity. It's clear that Lex hasn't far to go to become Clark's nemesis, just one indication that the series must be nearing its end. I get the sense that if Lana had embraced Lex's advances a season or two earlier, it might have been enough to curtail his villainy; by this point, he's just in too deep.

Another indication that the series is moving into its endgame is the relocation of much of the action to Metropolis and the addition of both the Justice League and bumbling photographer Jimmy Olsen (Aaron Ashmore). As a long-time fan of Jimmy, I was tickled to see him join the cast of characters, though I had mixed feelings about the manner in which he was introduced as an old flame of Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack), since he turned up just when it was beginning to look like Clark might actually return Chloe's long-unrequited affections. Since we know that Clark has to end up with Lois Lane (Erica Durance), though, I guess there's not much point in throwing him and Chloe together now and risking the strength of their friendship. In that light, adorable Jimmy is most welcome as a sincere suitor and a consistent source of comic relief.

The season drops occasional hints at the future Lois and Clark romance, especially in Crimson, the Valentine's Day episode in which Lois applies some aphrodisiac lipstick with disastrous (but largely hilarious) results. But Clark is still mooning over Lana throughout the season, while Lois spends half the season getting acquainted with charming billionaire Oliver Queen (Justin Hartley), a prep school rival of Lex who turns out to have as many secrets up his sleeves as Clark does. Their sassy repartee reveals a couple well suited to each other, but like most of the romances on this show, their blossoming love is threatened by the things they conceal from each other.

Even Martha Kent (Annette O'Toole) has a romantic prospect on the horizon, though in this first full season since the death of the Kent patriarch, her grief is too fresh for her to consider anything beyond friendship with the ever-enigmatic Lionel Luthor (John Glover). He is a powerful ally for her as she strives to serve honorably in the senatorial seat Jonathan won at such high personal cost. At this stage of the game, Lionel may be the most fascinating character for me simply because he's such a wild card. Chloe is the only other major player without an established destiny in Superman mythology, but it's a pretty safe bet that Clark's best friend isn't suddenly going to turn evil. Lionel, on the other hand, started out pretty rotten, and some of his actions in this season still seem reprehensible. But he also appears to be fighting for the side of good at times, and if nothing else, his affection for Martha is genuine. While his redemption would be ironic in the face of Lex's ultimate villainy, it would lessen the sting of that terrible transformation. Like Michael Emerson, who portrays the inscrutable Ben Linus on LOST, Glover constantly keeps us guessing with his complex performance.

In some ways, this is a very dark season. Lex's plans grow more and more grandiose and grotesque, and we learn in a flashback of a disturbing chapter in his youth. The Zoners wreak major havoc on some unsuspecting humans - not to mention the fact that there are still troublesome meteor freaks to contend with. The hustle and bustle of urban Metropolis can't match the comfort of bucolic Smallville, and an intrusive, oppressive score often ensures a skin-crawling sensation, especially in any scene involving Lex. On the other hand, new situations and characters inject freshness into the series. Many of the scenes with Lois and Oliver and Jimmy and Chloe are just plain fun, and it's a kick to see how the writers find ways of paying homage to these characters' forebears. Noir, an episode late in the season in which Jimmy dreams his way into a film noir version of his life, plays like a love letter to The Adventures of Superman. Clark has his own alternate experience with reality in Labyrinth, a much less aesthetically pleasing episode that finds him cooped up in a mental institution; reminiscent of LOST's Dave, in which an old friend of Hurley's turns up to inform him that the Island is all in his head, it allows us to see these familiar characters from an unusual perspective.

While I started getting tired of Lana's drama queen ways back in season two and always faulted Clark just a bit for overlooking the intrepid Chloe in favor of whispery, whiny Lana, giving her such intimate access to Lex puts her in an interesting position this year. Though she shows an alarming capacity for duplicity and vice, she also reveals the depth of her feelings for Clark, taking the character in refreshingly tender directions as she comes closer to figuring out just what he's been hiding all these years. Having Lois follow in Chloe's footsteps by writing for a tabloid is a fun way of bringing her closer to her journalistic future, and Chloe's bond with Clark is as solid as it's ever been, with one late-season development giving her role as his most reliable wingman even more creative possibilities.

Smallville grows more complex every season, sacrificing some of the innocence of previous seasons but creating a more intriguing web of plots and characters so that each episode is an important piece of the puzzle rather than being just a showcase for the meteor freak of the week. Will Clark ever don the famous suit and take to the skies? I can't wait to find out!