Chuck versus Psych

I watched several episodes of these 2 shows, Chuck and Psych, while I was at home over Christmas. And I recently caught up with a few more recent episodes on hulu. Here's my take.


First Chuck: I really really hated the first episode of the new season. At the end of the previous season, they had a lot of interesting plot lines going, with Chuck and Sarah hooking up, and Morgan pursuing his lifelong dream of being a chef in Hawaii, Chuck turning into Neo, and even Jeffster hitting the big time. For the first episode of the new season the writers got together and asked, "How can we undo all the interesting things that were going on and put it back to where we can have the same plot in every episode again?" So they undid everything in a completely contrived manner, that was really lame. The most incredibly lame part was that Sarah invited Chuck to run away with her and he said "No thanks". Because, based on the Chuck character that was created in the series up to that point, there is NO CHANCE that he would have ever turned down that opportunity. In fact, that was his whole goal, to get with Sarah and try to lead a normal as possible non-spy life. But the writers couldn't let that happen, because they had to keep the same old plot line going: Chuck working at the Buy More, Chuck going on a mission, Chuck looking like a cross-eyed idiot and flashing on stuff. The show feels like it's on a treadmill -- no one can ever progress in relationships, jobs, or anything because they can't leave the set of the show. I understand that they can't depart too far from the basics of the show, but they shouldn't make it feel so contrived.

Psych on the other hand is still pretty good, even though they're slumming on the USA Network. It suffers a little from treadmill syndrome as well, and the plots are often silly, but the humorous playful banter makes up for it. The plot doesn't matter too much, as long as they keep the banter and the funny one liners going. Here's a good one from Lassiter, while consoling Juliet: "All romance ends in despair... or death, but mostly despair... Gut... Wrenching... Despair."

Winner: Psych!