Kristen Bell, Chuck, and a Journeyman

Every week I find so much to like about How I Met Your Mother.  They're always doing something different and wacky and just plain old awesome.  Barney established the "Vicky Mendoza Line" last night with a graphical look at how to judge girls on a hot versus crazy scale (not to be confused with other techniques for identifying crazy-hot girls).  It is the very idea that Barney codifies such things that is funny.  Even if no one has actually codified such a scale in the real world, people think in these terms. 

Speaking of the crazy and hot scale, I haven't quite decided where Sarah on Chuck lies on the x,y plane.  Sure, she appears normal, but I'm convinced there is crazy lurking below the surface. You can't possibly think I'm wrong about that, can you?  Maybe it's a season three or season four development (if the show gets that far, the ratings are not outstanding), but I have to believe that she's got some dark secrets buried beneath the surface that will show the crazy. 

But, will I still be watching if the show exists at that point?  That I simply don't know.  The ways in which Chuck tries to hide his secret agent life from his friends and family is completely uninteresting.  Completely.  It's not done in a new, different, clever, or fun way.  Raise your hand if you didn't know that by the end of the episode Chuck's sister would completely forgive him.  Raise your hand if you think the show isn’t going to continue using these tropes week after week.  See, very few of you raised your hands either time.  I'm going to say that this is not a sign of apathy or thinking that I'm speaking in a purely hypothetical manner, but rather the fact that you're in complete agreement with me. 

Heroes, however I'm enjoying.  I think I'd rather watch the entire season over the course of three or four days than over the course of eight or nine months.  The individual revelations and story beats are interesting, but the show just doesn't have enough of them in a given episode to make me feel like I've gotten enough after the hour (or 44 minutes, minus, probably, the ridiculous Bee Movie stuff).  Even so, the Matt Parkman story line continued to develop in ways I liked yesterday, particularly with his father trapping Matt and Nathan in different nightmares.

Okay, now what you really want to know about – Kristen Bell's first appearance as, it seems to me, the anti-cheerleader.  Her relationship with the man she identified on the phone as her father seemed to be the exact opposite of Claire's with HRG.  I really don't think it's going too far out on a limb to suggest that this parallel has been established on purpose. Well, if I'm right, if she is being set up as the anti-cheerleader, I think we may have a fantastic battle to look forward to in the future.  At least, if will may the fan boys and oglers happy. 

Journeyman… well… I just don't know.  Dan is certainly being sent back with a purpose each time, it's a given.  There are then two choices as to who is sending him back – some omniscient god-like creature or a group of people that are trying to help the world.  If it's the former, and I don't think it is if the crazy scientist from Livermore Labs can call Dan in the past, last night is forgivable.  If it's a more human group that is doing it, their actions are completely unacceptable – they took Dan and left his kid alone in a crowd.  That is not okay.  These people are hurting Dan and his family in order to help others.  Who is Dan, Job?  If a god-like creature is doing this there may be no talking to it, if it's people they're just plain evil.  I can't imagine an acceptable explanation of than "hehe, whoops."  How exactly are they going to get out of that one? 

We'll see, we'll see.