It hasn't been renewed yet, TVBytheNumbers has it on their bubble-watch.
Just caught up on this week's and last week's, and it's not just you. I generally really like this show, but the torture references sicken me.
in fairness, I don't think there was anything comic about the torture in the most recent episode, though I don't know that the writers are bright enough to have intended it as a deliberate inversion or "see how it feels when it happens to you" in the previous ep. In previous seasons, its mostly played not-for-laughs - eg when evil spy woman is cutting on the James Bond dude.
I totally agree. The last episode presented the idea of torture as fairly horrific and dangerous, although that may just be a case of OMG NOT MORGAN rather than OMG NOT TORTURE in tone.
On the other hand, I think Andrew's right. Given the current environment it's distressing how often Chuck is willing to wink-wink nudge-nudge the comedy value of torture. At least in 24 it seems icky.
I sort of get where they'd fall into it, though. That's the whole joke with Casey -- he's a fanatical right wing Cold War spy sociopath played for laughs. I mean, they've also played his willingness to kill anyone except Ronald Reagan and his time assassinating politicians and topping nations in South America during the Cold War for laughs, at this point I just put the torture jokes in the same box.
Which doesn't mean it doesn't still play weird these days, though.
The problem is, there's nothing about Casey's behavior that's played as rogue -- it's official, and worse, it's routine. Maybe he's more willing to do it than, say, Sarah, but nobody acts as if what he does is out of line or in any way extraordinary.
Well, yeah. But the official CIA/NSA position has always been shady as hell on this show. General Beckman has been pretty cool with stuff like kidnapping and murdering civilians (including Chuck) all through the show.
I mean, it's a tricky humor line to walk, and I'm not sure it always works, but it's certainly not new. They've openly embraced a real lack of clear good and evil in the spy world. I mean, they seem to have largely forgotten FULCRUM now, but one of the bits of ambiguity I always liked was that they were almost never dealing with any foreign spies. Up until they introduced the Ring, it was all about tensions and power plays between three US spy agencies - the CIA, the NSA, and FULCRUM.
Part of the problem, for me, is that behind the 'joke' about Casey's enthusiasm for torture is the presumption that torture is effective. For writers, it's convenient to cling on to the belief that people being tortured do not lie - because it's difficult to come up with an alternative information gathering device. So the myth of torture is perpetuated in fiction, and for laughs. It's offensive, but worse, it's also lazy.
I actually think the joke is just that Casey enjoys hurting people. But yeah the writers should think more before going there.
-Mark
And given the real life politics of the actor playing Casey (Hint: he writes for Breitbart), more than a little creepy.
Ohhhh no.
Ohhhh no no no.
That is the worst thing I've seen all day.
He thinks history will judge him well.
Heh, I assume you haven't seen his Twitter feed, @adamsbaldwin, then.
And now I have, and I've seen both where he's seemingly defended waterboarding, and where he's deleted his tweets on the subject. Why can't all actors be liberals, like they're meant to be?
TAW accidentally subscribed to his feed after Nathan Fillion pointed it out. Nothing like getting a steady stream of crazy fed to your phone.
I found him through Fillion's link too. I was expecting something very different. I spent 2 days a couple years ago working with him on the DAYBREAK DVDs, and he was a riot. Funny, shit-stirrer and mercilessly sarcastic. I was expecting more of that to come through on Twitter.
Yeah, he'll always be one of my favorite actors, but he thinks Sesame Street being multicultural is a grave threat to the nation. Huh?
Obviously he keeps his politics and his work separate, though.
Actually, I'm starting to think the most appropriate pinko liberal thing to do is celebrate the man for his ability to separate the two sides of his public persona. I've enjoyed every performance he's ever given, and his politics scare me. But good for him, for his ability to be so upfront and consistent with his wack-jobbishness, even while participating in some quality NPR-listener-approved narrative works.
In other words, since William F. Buckley died, I've been looking for someone to disagree with but still respect. Baldwin may not be that guy, but it's nice to practice.
-- Erik H.
So how long are they going to go with Chuck trying to have his cake and eat it too? I don't really see how he can be a "real spy" and still maintain his aw shucks, nice guy, I-don't-kill-people persona. If he wants to be a "real spy" in the sense that he seems to want... killing is part of the deal.
But still a pretty good episode, although I thought the B-plot with Casey, Lester, and Jeff was a bit weak.
That was very very good. The Bass War 2.0. looks so fun!
Wow, that was dumb of me.
So I guess the hate mail can stop for a while then?
Shaw = not dead, BTW.
-Mark
Definitely an enjoyable episode and one that did a nice job of tying up a lot of plots (unsurprising, since this was supposed to be the end of this season until NBC ordered five more shows). I like the rejiggered status quo, with Team Bartowski back together (with added Morgan) and a Chuck who's able to kill, as well as the end of the will they/won't they Chuck/Sarah stuff.
I am curious to see how far they take the Chuck/killing thing, though. His protestations about being unwilling to kill while still yearning to be a "real spy" were always kind of awkward, especially since it really just boiled down to him not wanting to kill anyone -- he was pretty OK with Sarah or Casey doing it for him.
And ever since Sepinwall pointed it out a few weeks ago, I've definitely noticed the diminished budget this season has had. It's noticeable not just in which cast members appeach in each episode, but in the scale of the action. I don't think it's really a big problem, and I think for the most part they've been able to write around it pretty cleverly, but something like the scene where they attempt to capture the Director seems like it would have been much more extravagant in past seasons.
I'm surprised they didn't go full Die-Hard when Shaw was holding on to Sarah hanging off the bridge.
Wow, Drunken Texas Sarah is fantastic. She and Chuck really do have incredible chemistry.
Nobody else watched?
I watched. Had to time shift it though.
I'm wondering if some people didn't realize it was back on again. Don't think there was a "bump" in this thread.
Enjoyed it. Especially Sarah. Drunk Texan Sarah. Half-naked Sarah. Etc.
Also liked how they manage to keep everybody together far from Burbank.
Jeffster was almost too good - not enough camp. They looked like Simon and Garfunkel but they sang a John Denver song (I think).
I spy a possible mission in Africa coming up. Pure speculation on my part.
