Well, here I am, in scenic Bloomfield, CT.
I know, I know, it's been a looong time since my last blog. What can I say ... knowing that I'd soon be chillin' in Connecticut, I tried to have a productive week or so in LA before heading home for a bit. I won't lie - I attempted to write a couple of times during the past week, and each time I started I ended up getting sidetracked, and had to abandon ship before I could actually publish anything. But hey, time moves a bit slower here in suburbia, so, away from the sounds of LA traffic and the craziness of life in Hollywood, I feel like I have all the time in the world.
In any case, I'm currently writing from my trusty MacBook in my old room in my parents' house. On Friday, my brother and I took an early, 7 am (!) flight out of Burbank, meaning I woke up the earliest I had in probably a few years in order to get to the airport on time. I don't know how people who have to travel constantly for work or whatever do it. I guess having first-class flight accommodations could alleviate the pain of flying somewhat, but sitting on those cramped Southwest flights for hours on end is a special kind of terrible. Even drifting in and out of sleep, I couldn't wait to get off that plane. We only had one stop, in Vegas, so overall travel time wasn't too bad. But yea, it was nice to touchdown in CT and take a shower and eat dinner with the parents and grandparents, and then go on to sleep for like 13 hours or so.
Come to think of it, this is my first post-Memorial Day Weekend blog post. Looking back, it was a fun yet productive holiday weekend. One thing that's tough in this age of Facebook though - actually hunkering down and getting things done, all the while compulsively sifting through friends' oh-so-fabulous status updates. When you've got boring-but-necessary errands to do, or a project to finish, reading about dozens of people enjoying exotic vacations or having what is apparently the best, most fun day of their entire lives ... well, it kind of gets to be a drag. Damn you Facebook - the best mechanism for mass bragging ever invented.
Anyways, my holiday weekend included some basketball, some burgers, some shopping, and a hardcore movie marathon with friends during which we watched Tron, Over The Top, and The Karate Kid all in a row. Epic hardly suffices to describe it. I had never seen Over The Top before, and all I can say is, good lord, what an awesomely cheesy 80's movie. I never knew that such an epic tale could be constructed around the high-stakes world of competitive arm-wrestling, but Sly Stallone, you wily bastard, you have shown me the way.
Also, I've got to give a shout-out to the BOSTON CELTICS, baby. Tonight, LA vs. Boston, NBA Finals Game 2. After a disappointing loss in Game 1, I hope to see the boys from Beantown crush Kobe and the Lakers this time around. Hey, I may be an LA county resident for five+ years now, but as long as the Lakers are built around Kobe Bryant, I cannot and will not support the Lakeshow. I mean, look, I used to like the Lakers back in the day. I rooted for them when they had Magic, and then in the Eddie Jones / Nick Van Exel years. But ever since the Kobe reign began, I have hated LA. They eliminated my Houston Rockets from the playoffs, ensuring that my all-time favorite player Charles Barkley never made it to the Finals as a Rocket. They prevented my other all-time favorite, Reggie Miller, from winning an elusive NBA championship. Plus, I just don't like Kobe, or Phil Jackson, or Derek Fischer, or Ron Artest. Meanwhile, I am liking this year's CELTICS. Rajon Rondo has emerged as a star and a huge talent, and it's going to be fun to see him mix it up when he's under the spotlight. That said, Rondo really needs to step it up tonight. His Game 1 showing was underwhelming, and I hope to see the Celtics Big 4 each bring their A-game to this crucial Game 2. But yeah, I'll be watching from here on the EAST COAST, baby, so all I can say is: let's get it on!
So, I wanted to talk a little TV, as I'm pretty late in weighing in on a couple of big season finales.
- CHUCK capped off a great overall season with a really well-done, two-part season-ender last Monday. In the wake of a 2-hour Lost finale and a 2-hour 24 finale, I'll admit, it was a little hard to get properly revved up for a double-dose of Chuck, especially given that, for once, we know that the show is safe and sound (for the moment, at least), and poised for a fourth season in the fall. Plus, Chuck's season ended up rolling out in a semi-strange fashion. After a midseason ender that was conceived as a potential series finale, we eventually got six additional episodes that continued the story past what had seemed to be a pretty logical endpoint - if not for the series, then certainly for the season.
At this late date, I won't bother to get into all the specifics of the finale. But I will say that the show crafted a satisfying showdown between Chuck and a returning Shaw, and Brandon Routh was suitably slimy as the CIA's golden-boy-gone-bad. Also, I think a recurring theme on Chuck over the years has been that Chuck's relationships might, to some, make him weak, but many times it's his friends who are there for him in his most dire moments. In fact, some of the show's most memorable moments have been those scenes in which the proverbial underdogs save the day. This finale played that card one more time, but darn it all, it worked -- Morgan and Captain Awesome saving a captured Chuck, Sarah, and Casey, with the help of Casey's tricked-out battlecar, was a great moment indeed.
There was a lot of fun stuff in this ep, but it was dragged down a little by the whole angle of Chuck once again vowing to quit being a spy. Um, didn't we just go through this whole character arc? Would Chuck really agree to drop his spy career just as he's finally becoming a legit agent? And can his sister Ellie be anything other than whiny / annoying?
That tired plot point aside, there was much to love in this ep: Morgan's budding relationship with Casey's daughter (and Casey's heated objections to it), the return of Scott Bakula as Chuck's mad-scientist dad, and Chuck's final discovery of his dad's secret files.
In fact, that mind-warping ending was just about enough to make you forget about Chuck's earlier decision to quit the spy-life. If the alternative is to have Chuck going rogue with his own squad of underground vigilante spies-for-hire, then, hey, that could make for some pretty cool storylines down the road.
In any case, it looks like the death of Chuck's dad may very well have opened the floodgates to some really cool plotlines to come. In this episode, the death also made for some emotional drama, and really helped to build up Shaw as a big bad.
Chuck had some real high points this season, and luckily for fans, the season ender was right up there among the best episodes of Chuck that we've seen all year. Sure, there may have been a bit of a lull in getting to this point, but still, it's nice to see CHUCK go into its next season with a full head of steam.
My Grade: A-
Okay ... so the skies have been grey and ominous all day here in Bloomfield. There were tornado warnings and heavy rain and thunder and lightning. Yep, definitely not in Kansas (or LA) anymore.
From Bloomfield CT, I'm out ... for now.
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