Chuck -3x03 -"Chuck vs. the Angel de la Muer"-Discuss/Grade <SPOILERS>

[Sci]

Re: Chuck -3x03 -"Chuck vs. the Angel de la Muer"-Discuss/Grade <SPOIL

The CIA and the NSA also vary vary rarely do intelligence work in the United States.

Yeah. In real life, the FBI is the agency primarily responsible for domestic counter-intelligence operations. So, right off the bat, the series presents us with a very unrealistic depiction of how the NSA and CIA operate. I would suggest that they should be seen as organizations that are much more extreme than in the real world -- the "good" agents represent a romanticized depiction of espionage and counter-intelligence, while the leadership itself seems considerably more corrupt and lawless than they've (usually) tended to be in real life.

 

[3D Master]

Re: Chuck -3x03 -"Chuck vs. the Angel de la Muer"-Discuss/Grade <SPOIL

Now, having said that, I'll be disappointed if the Season Three finale comes and Chuck and Sarah haven't finally hooked up.

Or completely totally end any romantic ideas and them just being friends, and JUST friends. It's either or, but continuing the "oh, look, they like each other, love each other even, but... nope, nada, zilch, we're just going to drag it out" has to end.

Quite frankly, both Charles Carmicheal and Sarah putting on the charm together on a couple of marks - or even one mark - tickles my fancy.

Again, the CIA and NSA in this series are a great deal more sinister than their real counterparts. Seems to me that they deliberately recruited Sarah because she was a young woman who was alienated from society, had no family once her father was in jail, and had no real loyalties or direction. They took her in because they knew that they could make themselves her primary loyalty. I don't think they like the idea of agents having loyalties to anything other than the government in this series.

Actually, the real CIA and NSA make Chuck's CIA and NSA look like saints in comparison.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Re: Chuck -3x03 -"Chuck vs. the Angel de la Muer"-Discuss/Grade <SPOIL

Actually, the real CIA and NSA make Chuck's CIA and NSA look like saints in comparison.

Yes, a realistic depiction of what they get up to would squick us out. Which is why someone like Chuck wanting to work for the CIA is so unbelievable. He wouldn't last beyond the powerpoint presentation on orientation day. If he can't kill a man even in self defense, even under circumstances he knows are fake, how's he gonna feel calling in that airstrike on a village full of civilians because he suspects there may be an al Qaeda target there? Chuck doesn't seem to be the type who can shrug off a pile of barbequed toddlers' body parts in the name of national security.

They got a little closer to the mark with Casey's past as the Angel de Muerte, but they stopped well shy of anything too real. Hey Casey, remember that time your death squad in Guatemala raped and murdered those nuns? Good times!

So basically we have a fairy tale spy show here with a fairy tale romantic component. I suppose I'm being silly to expect any whiff of realism for either.

 

[RoJoHen]

Re: Chuck -3x03 -"Chuck vs. the Angel de la Muer"-Discuss/Grade <SPOIL

So basically we have a fairy tale spy show here with a fairy tale romantic component. I suppose I'm being silly to expect any whiff of realism for either.

Um...duh! I would be really upset if this show ever got too serious or realistic. Leave the drama to the angsty romance...not the real world politics.

That said, I finally watched this episode tonight! My jaw was hanging open at the end.