Tuna Quest

Previously, on Jan. 23-29…

01 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment

by marisacarpico in Previously, on Television... Tags: "Chuck vs. the Gobbler, Chuck, Chuck Bartwoski, Cristina Yang, Grey's Anatomy, Jason George, Mamie Gummer, Mina Minard, Off the Map, Otis Cole, Sarah Walker, Yvonne Strahovski, Zachary Levi

Well, it’s a whole new year of television Tuna Questers and with the return of The Vampire Diaries all of my shows have resumed new episodes. While TVD had a strong episode, after the extended love fest that was my last article I think it’s time to get a little critical. I’ve been largely happy with my shows since they returned from their winter hiatuses, but there have been a couple exceptions.

Let’s start with Chuck, which has been very impressive for most of its run. The show’s conceit of a regular guy suddenly thrust into the world of espionage only works because the eponymous hero seems so very normal. He freezes in fear during dangerous situations, seriously questions killing people even when doing so is probably best and struggles to keep his spy life from ruining his personal life. For the most part he’s very believable, which is thanks in no small part to Zachary Levi’s performance. Levi makes Chuck personable and sweet yet also strong and capable.

However, Chuck has a few flaws and while they were once quirky or even endearing, this season they have become tiresome. Most of Chuck’s flaws relate to his relationship with his superspy girlfriend Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski). Typically, that means dealing with his sense of inadequacy over and over and over again, but another side of that has been doubting Sarah’s devotion. After all, Sarah is such an excellent spy because she compartmentalizes her emotions and dedicates herself fully to the job even to the detriment of her own emotional well-being. Yet no matter how many times Sarah professes her love or risks her life to save him, Chuck always retains the capacity to doubt her. Early in the show, Chuck’s fears seemed legitimate. He was, after all, an electronics store employee with no hope of advancement and she was a superspy. However, Chuck, thanks to the supercomputer implanted in his brain, has become a formidable spy himself. Furthermore, Chuck can no longer doubt the strength of their relationship because Sarah told him she wants them to be together for the rest of their lives. Yet despite all of this, the most recent episode, “Chuck vs. the Gobbler,” once again ended with Chuck doubting Sarah.

Yvonne Strahovski as "Evil Sarah"

In an attempt to save Chuck’s mother, Sarah pretends to betray the CIA and goes undercover to work for this season’s villain, Alexei Volkoff (former James Bond, Timothy Dalton). Becoming “Evil Sarah” doesn’t just mean a change in look to match the pop culture idea of a bad spy—namely black hair, dark eyeliner and a leather cat suit—but more importantly Chuck has to perceive some change in Sarah’s character that suggests she may not be just playing at villainy. During the episode, the writers ham-fistedly pushed the idea that Chuck should fear that undercover work would change Sarah. Of course, by the end of the episode Sarah pushed fellow spy Casey out of a building window to show her loyalty for Volkoff. While the audience knew Casey told Sarah to push him to avoid blowing her cover, Chuck didn’t. He just saw Sarah push Casey through a window thus leaving him in a coma. So we left Chuck in a state of emotional turmoil wondering if the life that had changed his mother had also changed his girlfriend. While I understand Chuck’s fear, I still have to wonder if he doesn’t owe her more confidence.

This isn’t the only time Chuck has dealt with Sarah doing something questionable in the course of her work. It’s happened before and each time Chuck came to understand that what Sarah did in the course of her job did not necessarily define who she was. So it seems somewhat contrived to have him fear yet again that she has become a villain. If we’ve learned anything about Sarah Walker, it’s that she is unwaveringly loyal and always does what’s best for Chuck and for the job. Sarah has evolved tremendously in the course of the show so it is inexplicable to me that Chuck has not experienced the same evolution and learned to trust Sarah implicitly. Even though he has doubted her commitment to their relationship before, her spy work is irreproachable and knowing that, Chuck should not even entertain doubting Sarah.

In typical Chuck fashion, I’m sure this will just be a hiccup in Chuck and Sarah’s relationship, but if the audience knows Sarah is innocent and Chuck’s concern isn’t believable then why waste an episode even developing it? Sure I buy that long term undercover work can change someone, but Chuck should have faith in Sarah if he’s seriously considering proposing to her. She really is as wonderful as she seems and Chuck should know that by now. I expect a much higher level of writing from Chuck and to see such a disappointing storyline is just beneath the show.

The newbie doctors of "Off the Map"

My second major problem this week is ABC’s new medical drama Off the Map. After three episodes I still can’t quite decide how I feel. Though executive producer Shonda Rhimes, who created Grey’s Anatomy, insists it is not simply that medical drama set in the jungle, unfortunately, I can’t agree. In fact, everything I hated about Grey’s appears in Off the Map.

When I left Grey’s in its third season, I did so for various reasons. First, there was the over-written dialogue that was too snappy, too quotable, too everything; it had no connection to the way people really speak. Then there were the overly dramatic plots that could not possibly happen at the same hospital. Seattle must be the most absurdly dangerous city in the world if Grey’s is any indication. However, the most unbearable element was that each character was so one-dimensional and melodramatic that I couldn’t bear to watch anymore. They didn’t seem like real people, but archetypes in a simplistic fable that lacked a meaningful moral. Each character only existed to manipulate emotions and engage in meaningless, melodramatic romance. It’s plot for the sake of melodrama and it quickly grows dull.

Off the Map has many of Grey’s problems and while the absurd medical plots are silly, the characters are the real issue. The character problem fall under two very linked categories. The first sparks from the older, seasoned doctors whose experience in the jungle has made them jaded and condescending. These traits are embodied in Dr. Otis Cole (played by a solid but unvarying Jason George) who barely seems to have time to speak politely to the new doctors let alone bear to teach them anything. Yet every time he appears onscreen he is lounging around uttering insults, flirting or cultivating a serious sweet tooth—apparently his coping mechanism for sobriety the back story of which I’m sure the audience will have to endure in some teary confession emphasized with flashbacks of tired addiction stereotypes. The character represents a jaded attitude that borders on aggression. He is always disgusted by the new doctors’ inexperience, but not once does he teach them. Rather he casually points out their defects then walks off in some dramatic show of superiority.

Cole’s unnecessary rudeness would be bearable if it weren’t directed at the second category of character problems: a seeming disdain for self-confidence and emotional reserve. Once again, these traits can be summed up in one character: Dr. Mina Minard (played by an engaging but under-used Mamie Gummer). However, unlike Dr. Cole who is the perpetrator of the problem, Mina is the target in this case. In fact, Dr. Cole is the character guiltiest of inflicting Mina with disdain, though the other characters are just as critical. Like Grey’s Dr. Cristina Yang before her, Mina is the doctor who is so focused on succeeding at her job that she often comes off as rude or worse unfeeling. Mina is focused solely on the work. She doesn’t get wrapped up in romantic entanglements and she has a mania for not getting emotionally involved in cases; so like Dr. Yang before her, Mina must be punished. While the other doctors operate while on zip-lines or battle anacondas she stays at the clinic, kept from gaining the experience she deserves simply because the older doctors don’t like her. Sure the show attempts to suggest that Mina is unlucky or in the wrong place at the wrong time, but there are two very distinct reasons she does not get the fun, sexy cases. The first is the other doctors’ perception of her as emotionless and a bit uncivil. Mina can certainly border on rude, but really she’s just attempting to be professional. While the rest of the doctors are off fornicating, she focuses on the work and since this show is a glorified smutty romance novel, she’s looked down upon for not partaking.

Second, and more importantly, Mina’s resistance to becoming too emotionally involved (with patients or her fellow doctors) is a cardinal sin in this type of melodrama and she must pay. To fully understand how Mina is punished, let’s look at all the ways her foil Dr. Lily Brenner (Caroline Dhavernas) is rewarded. First of all, Lily is rewarded for carrying on a casual flirtation with her boss Dr. Ben Keeton (Martin Henderson). Whenever Keeton goes on an exciting case, he always chooses Lily to accompany him, which of course always leads to a moment when Lily and Keeton share longing stares as their patient languishes in the corner. Most of Lily’s advancement in the clinic thus far has been due to her possible romance with Keeton. Not once have we seen Lily save someone through her expertise. Instead in every case we see her become so emotionally involved with her patients that it nearly compromises her judgment as a medical professional. Even when indulging a patient’s emotions might harm them, she insists they satisfy their desires before their medical needs. A patient needs to be airlifted to a better facility or he will die? Too bad, we have to let him scatter his wife’s ashes first even though it endangers his life. Not once have her superiors chastised Lily for not thinking of the patient’s medical needs first, rather Keeton gives her an admiring glance and the show glorifies her as some big-hearted angel. She is the impetus for most of the show’s emotional moments, which only reinforces the idea that she is the “best” doctor of the group. Mina on the other hand is always professional and has done much of her work autonomously, yet she is still the most disliked and criticized. In every case she is told to become more emotionally involved and her patients are often made to suffer because she focuses on medicine not emotion.

The show’s consistent suggestion that emotional involvement is what makes a good female doctor is why I find Off the Map so repugnant. By glorifying Lily and villanizing Mina, the show essentially says that good female doctors must focus on emotion over medical concerns. Women should be controlled by their emotions and to take on any characteristics traditionally attributed to men, like subdued emotions and focusing on the job, means inferiority. It’s like the feminist movement never happened. It’s insulting to think that a show created by a woman and produced by a woman could be so disdainful of a female character who is self-confident and devoted to her work, especially when the actress playing that character is working so hard to deliver a layered and engaging performance.

I’m still going to give Off the Map a few more episodes because Mamie Gummer really is doing some terrific work. I just hope the writers start giving her material worth her talent and stop punishing a female character for being strong.