Chuck vs. Sleeping Beauty

Haven't done a "Chuck" episode post in a while. But this past Monday's episode, Chuck vs. Phase Three, did so many things to remind me of why I love this frickin' show. It's Gender Role Reversal Time again folks!

Ever since Chuck got an upgrade (Intersect 2.0) and has been able to kick a little ass on his own, well, I like that Chuck can kick a little ass on his own. It's even better when he and Sarah duo tag team in the ass kicking department (Honeymooners, anyone? Which, as side note, I'd like to thank the creative team on the show for the number of sexual positions they put those two in without actually showing them having sex. Nice touch lol).

But the first two season of the show had Chuck as the perpetual damsel in distress and Sarah as the knight in shining armor (or at least with shining scary knives strapped to her thigh). He was Lois to her Superman/Clark Kent. Always finding himself in some kind of trouble. Always in peril. And she always there to save him. So it's nice from time to time when the show returns back to that premise. I wouldn't want it to be a permanent thing or something they use too often since this show has been great about letting it's characters grow, but fun little revisits are always welcome.

This week we get a little revisit. Briefly, Chuck gets kidnapped with the Intersect 2.0 malfunctioning. Sarah goes apeshit looking for him. Fighting her way across Thailand and quickly becoming a legend the locals call the Giant Blonde She-Male.
I don't think I've ever seen a scarier Agent Walker.

“You've got me. I’m just a needy, love-crazed girl on a husband hunt … who’s trained in over 200 ways to kill you.”

"Anyone else want to be my boyfriend?"

But her scary determination serves a purpose. Chuck grounds her. Being with him allows her to cling on to her humanity and innate goodness. Her scariness in this episode was a glimpse of what she would be (and what she once was) without that connection.

Which leads me to the whole point of this post. The Sleeping Beauty and the fun this show has with gender role reversal. My gosh, Chuck is even wearing a dress!

Sarah to the rescue again. And a very nice nod to the fairy tale - awoken with a kiss.



Serious kudos to Yvonne Strahovski in this episode. She's always shown amazing range on this show, but just when you think she couldn't possibly get any better, she outdoes herself.

What in the hell was I thinking?

I was totally freaked out yesterday. A couple weeks ago I decided to go to the Ken-Mar Rescue Wine and Cheese fundraiser in which Yvonne Strahovski of "Chuck" was a special guest. Really, I had no intentions of going to this. Celebrities kind of freak me out in general. Which is weird because of the nature of my job I end up crossing paths with famous people from time to time. Even crazier is the few people I've met ended up being very nice and down to earth.

Downside number 2 was I had a bad experience with an online TV fandom in the past and I really don't want to relive that. But thanks to Twitter, I interact with a lot of "Chuck" fans now. So far, they have been great. In fact it's gotten to the point where I kind of love "Chuck" fans. I think I've managed to spot the creepy assholes in the fandom to keep my distance. But, the women who watch the show (the few of us who do), well half of you are Filipino (what's up with that?) but all of you are kind of awesome.

My plan had been to keep my distance from anything fandom oriented as much as possible. So going to things like this fundraiser are usually on my 'no' list. But things in life change, especially for me this year. One of those changes is I need to get out more to mingle and network with people. Around the time I was coming to that realization I kind of got the message I should attend this event. Plunge. (To be honest, the final straw was there was going to be a live rock band there. Seriously lol)

"Chuck" is pretty much a cult show and Yvonne is far from a household name, but seeing as I have a mad girlcrush on her I knew this wasn't going to be easy. I figured, ok, I'll go, meet with other fans, drinks some wine, eat some cheese, watch the band, and then find a corner to kind of hide in and watch everything else. Of course, when you're hanging with fans (now friends) they encourage you to do other stuff. Like take a picture with your mad girlcrush.

I had repeatedly declined. But it gets to the point where you're asked so much you start to look like a dick for saying no. So I caved. What the hell. I got in line with the others. Plunge, again.

If you think this will be one of those stories where it turns out Yvonne was very nice, and I was overreacting and it really wasn't so bad after all, you're wrong. Yvonne was very nice. I went up and said Hi, nice to meet you. Shook hands. Had a few photos snapped. Bye and thank you. Shook hands and got the hell out of there. I think I looked up at her once (you have to look up, she's frickin' tall) and because there were bright lights shining on us it totally reminded me of this scene from the pilot episode of "Chuck"



That really didn't help my nerves. But once it was done, it was done. And I wouldn't look like a dick in front of the very nice, fun people I got to hang out with for the afternoon. However, then we got the idea to take a group photo with Yvonne. The Sarah Walker fangirls with, well, Sarah Walker. I would have preferred that in the first place, so it seemed like a cool idea. Although looking at those photos later, particularly the Charlie's Angels poses ... yeah, what the hell were we thinking?!?!? rotfl!

Eh, it was mindless. It was for a good cause. And everyone was really cool. Why be a dick about it?