Strahovski and Crown Vics
Episode 1.11 already, “Chuck Versus the Crown Vic!” My, how time flies.
This episode is full of Yvonne Strahovski with bare shoulders, and boy are they cold. It seems that the mix-up with Bryce has left Sarah chilly towards Chuck, her job, and life.
This episode was a nice episode for Adam Baldwin who got a lot of screen time torturing Chuck about his non-relationship with Sarah. He’s a fun character, and it was nice to finally see him get a little bit more attention.
Morgan was a train wreck in every scene he was in, but it’s starting to become at least slightly endearing. At least Anna is cute.
Yvonne did a remarkable job as always playing off her emotions with a steely disposition, and breaking only when no one was looking. She manages to amaze every week with her superb acting skills.
All that being said, this episode was a dip from the previous few. It didn’t really deal with the bigger plot much, and there seemed to be an inordinate amount of bad editing.
In one scene, you can actually see Casey talking with no words coming from his mouth. The entire section with Sarah and Casey talking about Chuck is awkward and strangely edited.
The plot would have yielded a bigger pay off if the Crown Vic had made an appearance in previous episodes. This episode feels like it was written to be isolated, and then edited to fit the bigger serial plot as an afterthought.
Nonetheless, you can’t expect a home run with every single episode and this one at least gets to second base. That’s more than most television shows can say.
Perhaps the worst news of all, however, is that this was the last episode of the year! This news caught me totally by surprise. I thought there was one more left before the hiatus. The ending was brutal — waiting until the new year is going to be extremely painful.
We’ll be here, though, full of Yvonne Strahovski goodness to fill the void. Stick with us!
As always, high res screen caps should be up tomorrow afternoon. There are lots of nice shots of Yvonne to be excited about. Until then, talk about the episode here or on the forums.
December 4th, 2007 at 12:19 am
totally agree with you. The quality seemed to lack compared to recent eps. But I got to admit it was still enjoyable.
December 4th, 2007 at 1:20 am
2nd post! omg Chuck was sooo intense tonight! i rather liked it quite a bit. OMG Yvonne was sooo gorgeous when she woke up in the morning! i hope you guys got a screen shot of her opening her eyes looking at the ceiling! oooo boy! Im so sad that this is the last episode! thats a bummer!
December 4th, 2007 at 2:08 am
The first 10 minutes didn’t present in HD on my end, and the show never picked up a 5.1 surround signal. I had to watch it with standard 2.0 stereo. The HD finally kicked in when Morgan and Anna are sitting in front of the fire and they decide he gets to meet her parents. Did that happen to you too, Lykaon?
December 4th, 2007 at 2:24 am
Devon:
I just watched what I had recorded in HD, and I had random picture and sound trouble throughout the telecast. Good thing I’d already seen most of it in SD on another TV, otherwise I would have never caught some of the dialogue. I’m on Comcast and I figured they just had local bandwidth problems. Which provider do you use? Weird since we’re on opposite sides of the country.
December 4th, 2007 at 6:42 am
I have Verizon FIOS and I had no problem with picture or sound. The episode just seemed poorly edited on my end.
December 4th, 2007 at 9:52 am
I loved this ep, I guess mostly because Yvonne looked GOOD, and Yvonne dancing geeky=love
December 4th, 2007 at 10:34 am
For my first post I hate to be critical of my new favorite show but I have to admit I was disapointed with this episode and where I fear the series is going to go for a while. So I guess we were to believe Sarah was never “in love with Chuck,” per se, she was only in love with the idea of being in “a normal relationship” with thoughts of family and children and Chuck (and by her tone, it could have been almost anyone) just happened to be the guy she was around at the time these thoughts were swimming in her mind. So now they can just shake hands and be “friends,” boy that’s exciting.
Admittedly, Yvonne proabably never looked better (mini T in bed, awesome black dress, tiny bikini) and that was a big, big plus. But I’m still struggling with how the series is now going to go backwards with the relationship. I understand it was way too early in the series to actually hook them up and that Sarah now sees Chuck as a equal member of the team “you’re good at the job, and not just here fixing computers.” I fear we are only going to see a dramady for a while (well I guess not until the new year, boo hoo) with little romance.
I can’t wait for the pictures.
December 4th, 2007 at 10:57 am
The scene where they talked by the Christmas tree actually translated to me completely differently.
What I saw happen is Sarah trying to make up with Chuck because she wanted to get with him.
If you watch the awkward pause before they shake hands, I think the direction was that she was ready to start a relationship with him but he stuck his hand out and offered friendship instead.
So she IS in love with Chuck AND she wants to be with him. But he is jaded by her treatment of him and Bryce and had already decided she wasn’t going to be with him. So when she started to make up, he tried to be a ‘man’ about it and offer friendship.
And she took it, not knowing what else to do. At least that’s how I interpreted it.
December 4th, 2007 at 11:46 am
That’s a fair analysis and she may be in love but remember this was when she was to make things right or get reassigned so I don’t believe she was ever going to get with him. And about the handshake, most every woman outside of the work environment kind of reacts awkwardly to a handshake, especially outside of a first meeting.
Definitely agree Chuck was feeling a little jaded and just being a man by offering friendship, he obviously wants more (who wouldn’t). I’m a guy, we rarely just want to be friends but sometimes we realize that’s all were going to get for awhile so we take it, hoping it will become something more. If he plays it right, it could work, maybe by staying close and just being “friends” Sarah will perhaps experience the pain of unrequitted love that Chuck has been going throug, she definitely didn’t like seeing him with anyone else.
The angst is the best part of the show, Yvonnes facial expressions are unbelievable, she says so much with just a little glance. I’m just hoping it doesn’t go away, even for a little bit. What are we going to do until mid-January?
December 4th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
Scott: I use Comcast too. The first 10 minutes or so didn’t present in full HD and it never presented in 5.1. But I recorded it and re-watched it with my Dad after Heroes and the 5.1 kicked in when the HD did… so I dunno.
And Lykaon, I totally agree with your interpretation! I think Chuck thinks nothing is going to happen, but Sarah does indeed want to be with him.
December 4th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
I agree with Lykaon’s translation exactally. I felt like if Chuck had held off with the handshake and friends comment just a few more seconds Sarah would have said something to the effect of I really like you but it’s hard to be together with our job blah blah something like that.
That scene actually reminded me of the one at the end of truth I believe when Chuck said he had a list of things to do and the first one was… break up. You could so see that Sarah was all excited he was gonna put the move on her then bam, dumps her. This was the exact same scene all over again.
Anyways, I thought it was a decent episode… the car stuff was funny as hell. I thought Casey was gonna strangle Chuck, that made the whole episode worth it right there. Well, that and Yvonne in a bikini. But that’s a given considering the name of this site we’re posting on. lol
December 4th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Perhaps Sarah is having the same problems many hot women do in regards to us good guys. She is attacted to the realness and humble nature of Chuck and the possibility of a normal relationship, but can’t get the thought of the exciting, dangerous, allure of the “bad guys” out of her head. She clearly likes to use her sexy looks and charms for her work therefore see knows that she can have any man she chooses. She has probably never had a man in her life who would prefer keeping her as a friend over making a move on her. That said this is a fantasy show, geeky guy working at Buymore, living with his sister, having a chance to be with Sarah, Lou, and other gorgeous women. Doesn’t happen much in the real world and if it does it takes lots of work and time for the guy to worm his way in. And often it is a one shot deal and once she clears her head she is off again to the “bad guy”. So for me, I understand it perfectly. As for the website - Yvonne is the most beautiful goddess in the world I truly don’t believe there is another women in the world as hot as she is. Thank for all the great photos!
December 5th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
I think that this was a good episode. I definately think Sarah is in love with Chuck, if you remember when she is talking to Casey about a normal life. And the ending scene was very similar to the end of the truth episode.
December 26th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Hmm. Interesting episode, but I had the same thought as Lykeon…that Agent Casey’s obsession with the Crown Vic should have been alluded to in earlier episodes. And, they could have even had a few close calls where Chuck almost destroys it with his incompetence as a spy.
But that said, I thought they did a great job building the tension up to the point where Casey had no choice but to give Chuck the co-ordinates of the Crown Vic, and watch helplessly as it blew up. Great “guy stuff.”
Y.S.’s emotional arc throughout the first 11 episodes has been terrific. You could watch those episode with no sound and “get it.” And, given the schedule at which hour-long TV shows are shot, that’s not an easy accomplishement.
I’d like to bring up another point…and I hestitate because it’s makes me look like a real geek! But, here goes: Throughout the entire series, Sarah is right handed. But she deftly throws the knife at the alarm clock with her left hand. Maybe this is symbolic of the range of her personalty and skills, and a way of saying that we don’t know Sarah as well as we think we do. That she’s capable of things we might not think she is. That would underscore her shift in attitude when it comes to Chuck.
Maybe I’m reading way too much into this…
January 7th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
i have to agree with alot of you about the whole Sarah loves Chuck thing. When I saw the pause before the handshake I was thinking here we go but nothing happened and I myself thought that Sarah wants to be more than friends. I mean if you watch her facial expression and the body language…
Also, when Jeff comes over with the miseltoe you can tell she wanted that kiss. She was, I thought, ultimately disappointed. I think she wants to be more than just friends with Chuck but she doesn’t know how to go about saying it to him.
Maybe, she is reluctant to tell Chuck how she feels because she doesn’t want, I guess, the whole Bryce thing to happen all over again. Because it is possible, in her mind, for Chuck to get hurt.
i also believe that Sarah was talking about Chuck when she was asking Casey if he ever wanted a “normal life”
well thats my opinion that I have so far and keep up the great work you guys!