Let’s not forget my other, newer NBC favorite, Chuck… far as I can tell it hasn’t been renewed for a third season yet. I hope it’s not, which is to say it almost certainly will be. I’ve mentioned before how much I love the cast and the writers. Once you get past the ideas of a supercomputer being stored in a guy’s head and 85% of beautiful women being spies, the dialogue and performances make for an extremely fun and believable-enough action comedy. But for how long?

The first season gave us excellent introductions to the characters, while entertaining with some novel and some standby plot lines. Overall, the second season has continued this trend, with Levy and Strahovski perfecting the longing glances, almost -but not quite!- saying exactly how in love they are with each other, and generally drawing out the will-they-won’t-they in un-annoying ways. But in tonight’s episode, that single driving force behind “the magic” shows signs of overextension (spoilers follow, if you missed it).

Chuck decides again that he can’t handle their cover relationship, and tells Sarah in a scene identical to the one from the first season. Sarah, teary-eyed, accepts with no complaint this business decision… again. Sarah is attracted to a super-spy, and Chuck’s feelings could be summed up as: I’ve made a huge mistake. Again. Chuck kicks in a door to get to Sarah, then reverts from semi-seasoned doofus spy to pilot episode doofus. Sarah, having denied her feelings for Chuck for months, is a heartbeat away from eloping with a jerk-bag she met at the start of the episode. Next week’s preview lets us know that Agent Jerkbag will naturally return for another episode filled with swooning from Sarah and jealousy from Chuck. Oh, and it would seem Chuck and Sarah have to move in together. Again.

In a word: tiresome. It would have been a downright bad episode without the usual Adam Baldwin awesome-sauce and helpings of funny supporting cast. I wanted to see the show concluded happily at the end of its second season because I feared the writers couldn’t wring three seasons of consistency out of Chuck that both did the characters justice and kept the story interesting. Now I’m concerned they’ll be unable to make it until May without jumping the shark.