Older TV fans might remember when Moonlighting teased us for years that David (Bruce Willis) and Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) would ultimately wind up together. It was maddening, and yet when it happened it destroyed the chemistry that made the show work.
While Chuck and Sarah have a very different relationship than David and Maddie, there are parallels to the relationship that isn’t but pines to be week after week. It’s an almost maddeningly frustrating thing three seasons in to know that they belong together, and to watch all these obstacles get in their way.
This week, Chuck managed to eliminate one of them, while the other one got even bigger and more permanent.
But first, we got to see Chuck take on the identity of a master assassin. Lucky for him, he flashed at a key moment while trying to establish his cover, and managed to kick Sarah and Shaw’s team all over the bar.
Unfortunately, as Chuck keeps getting pulled deeper and deeper into the world of spying, he’s finding it harder to maintain his other life. So difficult, in fact, that he ultimately decides that it’s unfair to Hannah that he continue lying to her, and manages to cut her loose the day after sleeping with her … and at the dinner he was supposed to have with her and her parents. I don’t care what revelations you’ve had about yourself, my friend. That’s a dick move.
At the same time, the deeper Chuck goes into the world of spying, the more it seems to be pushing Sarah away from the more emotionally unsavory elements of it. At least, she seems unhappy with the changes that she’s seeing in Chuck.
Meanwhile, though, she seems to be finding herself drawn to Shaw in ways she doesn’t want, but apparently can’t resist. Which will get even more difficult now that it’s been revealed The Ring knows he’s alive.
I saw it coming a half-mile away that Shaw was going to be Rafe-Chuck’s target, but it still made for some entertaining scenes. I loved the bits between Rafe’s contacts and Chuck, as well as his confrontation with Shaw while under cover. You know it had to hurt that Sarah revealed her real name to Shaw after such a short span of time when she still had never told it to Chuck, despite all they’d been through.
I still think she looks more like a Sarah than a Sam, though.
Chuck was in his rights to want to kick Shaw’s ass. Unfortunately, the real Rafe messed that up. Luckily, Casey was there to take him down with that half-mile sniper shot. Why, only five people in the world can make that shot. I wonder if “Alex Coburn” was one of them. It would seem so. A very smoothly handled set-up for some Casey back-story to come in future installments with Chuck’s flash on the Coburn name.
Chuck flashed three times this week, but apparently the lack of flashing when Rafe was easily dispatching the team was a sign of things to come for Bartowski, based on next week’s episode.
Clacked by Jason Hughes 
on Mar 02, 2010 @ 16:17 EST5EDT
Dumping Hannah after sleeping with her was a dick move, but it was better to do it then rather than sitting through an uncomfortable dinner with her parents (and it probably wouldn’t have happened had the whole “Sam” thing not taken place) and then dumping her after dessert. I was hoping for more Kristin Kreuk, but Chuck and Sarah do belong together. Eventually.
I think it would’ve made for a better storyline if Hannah would’ve been a Ring operative who just got close to Chuck to turn him.
But I guess that would’ve been too creative. Ring operatives have to be like the monster of the week. Or better: murder of the week. “Has there been a muuuuuuurder?” Do we have a picture of Paul McCartney?
^^;
Too many people in Chuck’s life have turned out to be spies. I think it’s better that Hannah is just a civvy.
I think that Zach and Kristen had more chemistry in a few short episodes than Zach and Yvonne have had in a season and a half. Bummer that it ended so quickly because the series drags when they digress into the Sarah / Chuck moonlighting dance. It’s hopping when Levi gets to do new things and take on new personalities. The best lines of the night were Chuck as the master assassin.
“everybody loves a good cupcake”
I agree. The Chuck and Sarah Show is tiresome. It was a nice bit for the characters, but has become burdensome and takes too much away from the fun parts of the show. Having them both move on at the same time was great and gave the viewers a break from the constant pining and meaningful looks, but it didn’t last long enough.
Yeah, Sarah telling Shaw her real name (confirmed offscreen to be genuine) on their second or third date after stringing Chuck along for years was a definite WTF moment.
The most annoying part for me was having to listen to them repeat the “only five people in the world” mantra four times throughout the episode, as if 800 meters is difficult for a trained professional. Scoped, accurized rifle, bipod on a windowsill, human-sized target through a large window in daylight? There must be tens of thousands of shooters in the world who could have made that shot.
The only good part was Casey’s pride in Chuck for pulling out his tooth to sell his cover.
Not looking forward to all the male performance anxiety jokes about Chuck’s inability to flash next week.