A lot certainly happened in this last episode of Chuck (for a few weeks.) The “is he/isn’t he?” questions about Daniel Shaw continued throughout the episode, with the truth only being revealed through the most unlikely of scenarios.
Before the pick-up of additional episodes, this was planned as the third season finale, and in many regards it acted just like that. There was a lot of tension, humor, action and even a massive shift in the status quo by the time things wrapped down. What’s fun for us is that we’ve got six more episodes to see how these new dynamics play out.
But before we could get to any of that, there was the matter of Shaw kidnapping Sarah, and what Chuck could do about it. Credit to Brandon Routh and the writers, as I wasn’t sure what to believe through the first half of the episode.
They did a great job with the fake-out at the warehouse, convincing us that Shaw is the “super hero” spy we all believed him to be these past few weeks. It was certainly possible that his rational mind was able to justify Sarah’s killing of his wife as her “red mission.” As it turned out, though, he wasn’t as understanding after all.
The uncertainty reigned supreme until the reveal in the elevator when he hadn’t, in fact, killed the director of the Ring. I thought the roundhouse kick looked a little suspicious as well, but considering that Chuck is a television show and not real, I chalked it up to that. But what Sarah, Chuck and General Beckman all missed, Morgan Grimes picked up on.
Morgan has shown those moments of brilliance and bravery, though it’s surrounded generally by buffoonery. Those balances are what makes the show so great. With the loss of Shaw on the team, you’d think the reinstatement of Casey would be enough, but somehow the little guy must have gotten under Casey’s skin, because Beckman promoted Morgan too.
Beckman was particularly grouchy this week, dismissing Chuck out of turn even when he had proof that Shaw was faking his allegiance to the side of right. Chuck was proven right in the end, though, despite having to work outside of the system to save the day. Does this mean Beckman might give him a moment to plead his case in the future, even if he does annoy her?
Essentially, the episode was a giant reset button, restoring Operation Bartowski to Burbank as its headquarters, and Sarah and Casey as Chuck’s partners. The only differences are that Chuck has earned his stripes as a full-fledged spy, and Morgan is now an official part of the team. Beckman thought Bartowski was a handful, she ain’t seen nothing yet!
I have to admit that I kind of liked the writers having Chuck kill Shaw, because an inability to pull the trigger when it really matters is a huge liability in the field. As much as it can change who he is as a person, if Chuck being a spy is the direction this show is going in, then he kind of needed to pull that trigger.
Maybe he can only kill when his loved ones are in danger, and maybe that’s okay, too. I think he needed that extra boost of confidence that he can be okay with no back-up when needed. Even if he never kills anyone again, it was an important step.
Then, there’s the fact that he probably didn’t even kill Shaw. We’ve all seen enough action movies, and read enough comic books (some of us) to know that anyone shot who falls into the river and floats away isn’t dead. They may be out of commission for awhile, but Shaw will be back.
Chuck will be back April 26, 2010, so until then I’d like to imagine that Chuck and Sarah take a trip to the Eiffel Tower before heading back to more danger and adventure in Burbank, where “Agent” Grimes and Casey will be waiting.
Clacked by Jason Hughes 
on Apr 06, 2010 @ 13:57 EST5EDT
Some good bits in this episode. Not sure I buy Morgan as an official team member, though. At least they moved the Chuck/Sarah story forward and we can make room for some more fun on this show again.
I hear you about the Morgan thing. If it would have gone down any way other than Casey blackmailing him into it via General Beckman, I probably would have had a small problem with it. i look forward to his “training,” and any time Morgan and the General cross paths.
This was a great episode overall, I would have been satisfied with this as a season finale. I love how this show shakes things up relatively quickly. They haven’t been afraid to change the roles of pretty much every core character (Chuck, Sarah, Casey, Morgan, Awesome) at some point, and it keeps things fresh.
If this wasn’t my favorite episode of the series, it was pretty close. I liked the Shaw fake-out and the fact that Chuck did what had to be done to save Sarah. Even though Morgan caught the fake fight where all the trained spies missed it, I don’t see what he can bring to the table in terms of being an official member of the team, but I have faith in the writers. My only worry is at the rate people are finding out that Chuck’s a spy, eventually the entire Buy More will be nothing but a big front operation for the team. Actually, that could be fun!
I like the way the creators of the show have kept things moving by actually developing characters and changing their status. So few shows do that these days, with everything reverting to the status quo by an episode’s end (unless they kill off a character). With Chuck, you never know what big thing might change next, and that keeps things interesting.
I liked the direction the writer went in. Now that Chuck is a full fledged spy you can see that he’s getting over his clumsiness. The problem with that it that there won’t be humor in it anymore. Morgan supplies the comic relief now as the clumsy spy. He can only get into trouble with spy gadgets. Now that the ring is broken up, I thought it would be interesting if Fulcrum could come back with get this, Emmitt Milbarge as an evil recruit. They could have him wearing a Pirate patch over the eye he got shot at by the bad guys. Emmitt has a few issues and I think he would be a very interesting character bringing him back as the bad guy. I thought he was a sissy effeminate type character but if you have him dressed in black leather and pirate patch he could make the plot really thicken on Chuck episodes.
Morgan is prone to buffoonery in his normal life, but when things get serious in Chuck‘s spy world he’s proved to be remarkably level-headed and effective. Considering the low levels of insight and professionalism among the real spies, I have little doubt he can bring much to the table as a non-active support member of the team.
Shaw’s demise was gratifyingly bloody, but nowhere near as prolonged or painful as it should have been. If they bring him back in the future, I’ll drop the show immediately.
Hi i have a question… i just finished the 2nd season of Chuck and im starting to watch the 3rd season but im the 2nd chapter and suddenly things happend but i didnt see them… like Sarah telling Chuck he should hyde his feelings cuz hes a spy or Casey being a spy again … is it me? did i slip it? or thats how the show works??