Chuck - Season 3 - Page 2

Last night's episode was much better than the opening two eps and next week's episode looks like it will be even better. I would love to have been on set and heard the bat-shit crazy, right-wing conspiracy theories that were being exchanged between Angie Harmon and Adam Baldwin.

Last night's episode was definitely the best of the bunch. I don't know if the complete lack of Buy More shenanigans was a factor but it seems likely. Lots of good character stuff with some entertaining action and jokes. I hope that sets a trend for the rest of the season.

Although I wonder if Strahotski's quote in this video means Sarah and Chuck are finally going to have Quality Time on screen. The inference is that it's with Superman but, man, that just complicates things. I'm definitely in the "holy crap, enough with the Chuck-Sarah nonsense, keep it in the background for a while" camp.

The 'geek/super hot spy' dynamic is too central to the show to just put in the background. What they need to do is resolve it somehow. Have them get together and then turn their relationship into a Mr and Mrs Smith one or something.

Anyway, the third episode was much better than the first two. And as Chuck gets more competent at spying they should maybe stay away from the Buy More stuff. It was just so that there would be situations where Chuck was the competent one instead of the bumbling amateur, after all.

I was literally yelling at the TV for Chuck and Sarah to GET BUSY AND MOVE THE FUCK ON. It's bad enough when they're facing each other with those sappy dewy-eyed gazes BUT THEN the goofy-ass whiny-emo ballad starts playing. It's overwrought and ridiculous. My wife even looked up from her romance novel to comment "This is getting old."

BTW, the writers need to find a way to get Ellie in a french-cut Wonder Woman outfit, stat. I don't care what kind of plot contrivance gets her there. Just do it.

Wow. Two episodes in I was ready to call it quits. It wasn't funny, each scene followed the exact same formula and every single conversation was about "the relationship." Cut loose, have some fun, play with different angles - nah! Let's just beat the stale relationship to death. It reminds me of why I hated Spider-Man 3 = you keep telling me these two people are in love but all I ever see are dreary scenes of whining and dull misery. Sell me the relationship within a fun/interesting plot and I'll go with it. Chuck has demonstrated flashes of this potential over the past two seasons (pun intended!) but just about killed it Sunday night. And why would he turn her down except for horrifically lazy plot contrivance/writing? Monday was much improved and I'll hang on with my fingers crossed and hope the writers can kick up the game.

Even last season was pretty inconsistent. Felt like it was ho-hum until the back half of the season kicked in. This 3rd ep was much better, with the subterfuge complicating Awesome and Ellie's lives in new, twisty ways. If this is the direction they're taking the show, then great.

Not very great 3 episodes.
The Sarah and Chuck relationship is getting boring fast. Each episode they repeat the same fucking things.

I did love and was completely blown away on how they took Emmet out of the show. Also, the new Intersect Software has nice graphics.

But they need to change up the formula a bit and not be as routine. Specially the feelings.

The Costa Gravas nod was fun though.

The thing is, the moment Chuck and Sarah get together, properly, is the moment the show ends. Their relationship is an end point for both characters and either the show would have to be massively retooled to facilitate them as a couple or it would just end. Chuck/Sarah is the one narrative thrust the show has, because really all of the spy stuff even when their shooting for an overall metaplot always feels really self contained and piece meal. It's the nature of the show though, it's probably why its fun, because it allows the situation in regards to the 'job' to constantly be evolving.

Having said that, hated episode 1, liked episode 2 a lot more. Hoping episode 3 is an improvement on both. It's always great to see Vinnie Jones in anything.

The only complaint I do have about Strahovski is that she dances rather oddly. It's not dancing badly, but everytime she dances in the series it just doesn't seem right. Can't put my finger on it.

Maybe because she's actually a trained dancer and she dances properly?

And no, the show doesn't have to end when Chuck and Sarah get together. Sex isn't the end in a relationship, it's an early point. There are plenty of places to go after that.

Yeah, making the relationship work while they do the spy stuff, they can spend a whole season planning a wedding, then a baby blah blah. This is standard stuff.

Maybe that's what is. She's a trained dancer trying to dance in a more limited style which makes the whole thing look a little odd. Whatever, it's not a big point.

In regards to Chuck/Sarah I really don't see what other resolution to the show there can be other than those two getting together. I mean you might get another season of them drifting apart, getting jealous, putting the relationship on a break. But the moment those two are adamantly HAPPY as a couple the show loses its dramatic momentum.

Also only just watched Episode 3 and I didn't see the preview for next week, but did they just kill off Awesome?

No.

God no. He's the best part outisde the main cast.

Okay, so what was the bit at the end with Evil South African Poisoner about? Because Sarah looked pretty distraught when she told Chuck. Has he just been kidnapped or something?

Spike Marshall, Awesome was...kidnapped (not to be confused with the book written by...Robert Louis Stevenson)! Well, Now...Awesome gains the excitement he wanted in Monday's episode.

I don't know about that. I mean, it's fairly obvious they'll end up together at some point but I don't think it will mean the end of the show. I'm going through the second season on DVD and there's a stretch of episodes (around the first Jill appearance through the Christmas episode) where, if you ignore that the two aren't "together" together, their scenes together play like a couple in a good relationship. And that's in the background of some otherwise decent missions.

Hell, the writers could put Chuck and Sarah together, drama-free, and just have it in the background like Pam and Jim on The Office and it would be fine.

It would help if Chuck would grow up a bit. The person we saw in Monday's episode almost doesn't seem like the same person from the first two eps.

The third episode was great. I think it's because Chuck, Sarah, Ellie, Awesome and Casey have ridiculously great screen chemistry. That core group just work really, really, well, and it kind of made me hope that they'd intergrate at least Awesome into the spy dynamic. His relationship with Chuck is great.

That core group of characters is strong enough to weather the fact that the show doesn't really have an antagonist and that it's ancillary characters work better in far smaller doses than we actually get.

Oh absolutely. When the news first broke after the renewal that the lower budget would mean less time at the Buy More the only thought that came to mind was "good". I hope they kind of replace Morgan with Awesome as the buffer Chuck uses to separate his spy life from his "normal" life.

I'm finally all the way caught up on Chuck and I think it gets better every episode. It also seemed very obvious since the first or second episode of the series that the whole show was about Chuck and Sarah, so I'm a little surprised that people who have watched it all this time like that part the least. I thought Chuck juggling all that with work and hilariously wacky situations is what the show was supposed to be about. 24 will be on soon enough.

I don't like it when any show throws a storyline into a hamster wheel where nothing ever changes. The idea that two people flirting is captivating while a couple is boring is an odd one. I suspect it was put out there by untalented (and single) writers.

Furthermore, it makes it difficult for me to identify with Chuck when he's essentially flirting with a girl he's in love with for years while facing death on a daily basis. Regardless of the comic reality these characters live in, we're supposed to identify with them.

It doesn't stop me from enjoying the show, it just keeps it from being as interesting as it could be.

I guess. It seems like they have a feeling this might be the last season so they want to wrap up their relationship because that's the heart of the show.

I wouldn't say I like the Chuck-Sarah relationship the least (that's definitely the Buy More stuff) but I think the actors have such great chemistry with each other that the show would benefit much more if they just kept the two together and had them go on spy adventures.

I figured out something that's been bugging me about this show. There are ways to help Chuck concentrate in order to access the Intersect successfully besides getting a pep talk from Sarah. That guy should be spending half his life learning martial arts and transcendental meditation in order to not lose his shit at the first sign of conflict.

The Ring's hiring practices are confusing at best and asinine at worst.

Yeah, but what an entertaining episdoe that was. Easily the best of the year. The whole Casey being drunk thing was hilarious. Chuck doing a outward roundhouse kick to Lester's face was killer.

And finally, Morgan has something to do! There might be hope for his character.

This episode sums up Chuck. A bit flawed, but so mightly fun.

I really enjoyed last nights episode. But we have a "Chuck gets jealous when Superman puts the moves on Sarah" in 3,2,1.........

Looking forward to Stone Cold Steve Austin next week.

Loved the "Good Guys" "Bad Guys" labels. Great little gag.

Nice "Missing" reference in the Armand Assante/Awesome episode. Show's starting out about where the second season did, and that season ended on a very high note. It seems like they need time to find their groove each year. I am concerned that the Ring arc is going to dominate these first 12 or so episodes and then resolve itself with a few more to go, since they planned for 13-15 before NBC ordered more.

Fedak and Schwartz have said the extra five or six episodes act as Season 3.5. They did not alter their timeline once the extra episodes were added so if they had originally planned to wrap up the Ring story at the end of this season (which I find unlikely) then the season will have kind of a weird flow.

I thought last night was really good and I hope they stick with it. If the writers really commit to what they started last night (i.e. forcing Chuck into situations where he needs to quit being a whiny crybaby and think about shit) I think the show will really take off. At least, I hope so. I don't get what they're going to do with Shaw. He's obviously there to take the cockblocking mantle because Bryce is dead but as for the spy stuff... I get the distinct feeling we'll find out he's a big shot in the Ring by the end of the year.

I'm interested to see how the Subway promotion will be factored into the show. Sepinwall said the first four or five episodes were filmed before details were finalized and since next week takes place entirely on a plane I can't imagine we'll see any five dollar footlongs there. Sarah hasn't been in her Orange Orange uniform so is the yogurt shop gone for good?

Orange Orange is still there, it was shown last week. But I'd expect it to change into a Subway in a few eps.

Brandon Routh sounded so much like Tom Cruise in some scenes I swear they could have been dubbing him in.

I really hope that this Brandon Routh as a romantic antagonist deal is just misdirection and the press jumping the gun. And the last scene seemed to me like his character will not just be 'competent, hunky agent for Chuck to get jealous of v.4'. Maybe I'm wrong, though.

Really liked Routh as Shaw. I'm glad he was able to find work after Superman Returns destroyed his career. It was great seeing Chuck being competent as well, the stuff with the dart guns was really well done. It was awesome seeing Morgan finally being given something to do.

I'm hoping that the last scene indicates that Shaw is going to be a romantic foil but not in the traditional way. Instead of trying to hook up with Sarah I'm hoping that the CIA cost him a relationship and as such he's against ANYTHING like that and tries to break up the extended family dynamic going on between the team and the Bartowskis.

Also with a subwoofer on Routh's voice is possibly the deepest I've come across. He just boomed some of those lines.

Maybe I'm delusional, but I interpreted Shaw putting on his wedding ring to show that he is actually a married man and he cares about family too. So I really don't think he will be a romantic foil.

I don't know how you could interpret it any other way???

It could be a thing where he's a widower because of the Ring and can't let go of his wife or something like that. I don't know if Shaw and Sarah will end up together but he's definitely there to throw a wrench in the Chuck-Sarah relationship.

I hope I'm wrong but I still think he'll turn out to be a Ring operative.

well that makes sense too.

Spike has this started again in the UK and i'm missing it?

No....

Not even sure what channel it's shown on in the UK. I caught up with the first two seasons on DVD.

Virgin have the UK rights, it plays on Virgin1.

I get the frustration people have with the Chuck/Sarah relationship, but I always thought the reason most shows do this is because of the lesson learned by "Moonlighting". If I remember correctly, the sexual tension between Maddie and David was part of the driving force behind the show. Once the two finally consummated their relationship, the show went downhill and the ratings plunged. Same thing happened between Sam and Diane on "Cheers". In fact, I believe the "getting the two main protagonists together" is an official "jump the shark" trope.

I would imagine that that is probably why Chuck's relationship is being handled this way. I mean, it is NBC, after all. By going by what has become a standard formula they think they are playing it safe and that equals a good show as far as they are concerned.

I really don't mind the Chuck/Sarah aspect of the show, but I do realize that the way it's being handled is not great. And I think that's where the biggest weakness of the show lies. Not in the relationship itself or lack therof, just the simple fact that the writers are afraid to think outside the formula to make it better. The tension is fine, just write it better!

You know what? I really like Shaw. From all the characters they've temporarily brought on I think he's one of the best.

WINNAR.

So, yeah, I loved this episode. It's pretty much exactly what I hoped would happen after the season two finale. Even the Buy More stuff was good, probably because The Casey was unleashed. I hope they keep this up.

Random speculation: Superman is a deep mole of The Ring sent to get Chuck. Lana Lang is his ex-wife and still with some government agency. He "lost" her when he went over to The Ring. The stuff they found was evidence of him being a Ring member.

Or the complete opposite and she's the Ringer and he "lost" her when she went over. The meta elements of having the Superman characters in such a relationship seems right up Chuck's alley.

Also, you knew the blonde stewardess was going to be up to something in 1-25's episode because you don't just hire the nerd sister from Charles in Charge to be a simple air-waitress. Stone Cold was somewhat wasted in the ep as well, IMO.

great episode. Even without Awesome, this episode was still good.

Loved Casey and Morgan teaming up at the Buy More.

Casey kidnapping Lester, and brainwashing him to end the...insurrection was classic. A great episode, and I found the ex-Lana Lang far better in...Chuck, than her being miscast as...Chun Li, in the last Street Fighter film.

Same here. Lester's brainwash was hilarious. Reference to Clockwork Orange?

And I also like Routh.

Even though Kreuk's appearance in Chuck's life seems too convenient, I really hope that she is just a girl that he met on a plane and not an operative for the CIA or the Ring. A relationship with her would put the whole Chuck/Sarah story on the backburner for a while.

Also, if Morgan fired Lester in order to prove that he wasn't a pussy, wouldn't not having the balls to fire him after further insubordination make Morgan look like an even bigger pussy? I know that its for comic effect but it completely negated last week's Buy More segment of the episode.