Monday, April 12, 2010

Chuck - Chuck vs the Other Guy, S03E13

I am running out of ways of expressing that Chuck continues to surpass my very high expectations week after week. This episode again did everything in just the right way to make the choices of the characters believable and the development credible.

We started in a state of high tensions - Shaw (Brandon Routh) disappeared with Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) just after he learnt that she pulled the trigger on his wife 5 years before. Chuck (Zachary Levi), of course, couldn't sit still and so called out the cavalry to go save her.
As it turned out she didn't need saving, as Shaw had no grudge. And though Chuck got a lecture about the cost of the unnecessary rescue op, Shaw commended him on behaving like a true spy. Plus, Shaw's methods of going off the grid and taking Sarah to an abandoned warehouse to show her the footage from her red test were just as extreme as Chuck's.

Next, Chuck, feeling down on himself and convinced that Sarah will go off with Shaw again, gets drunk, eats ice cream, and plays video games in a stupor, going so far as to tie Morgan (Joshua Gomez) up when his friend tries to stop him. He looked absolutely super when Sarah showed up to get him - they had a mission to go on. But before she told him about that, he asked her if she loved him. And though Chuck was sitting forlornly in his boxers with a Guitar Hero guitar around his neck, Sarah said yes. She's loved him since the first episode of the show.

Then, we got a cool action sequence in which Sarah, Chuck, and Shaw went after the Ring. Shaw recorded footage of their mission, and of his saving them all and killing the bad guys, including the leader. Though this was not part of the plan, could anyone blame him, as the man had been the cause of his wife's death.
Sarah and Shaw go to Paris to pursue another lead, while Chuck stays behind.

Now, we all knew from the moment Shaw's action sequence was over, and the bad guys got up, clearly still alive, that Shaw had in fact gone rogue. But the way Chuck found out was absolutely brilliant. I am not surprised in the least that Morgan is an expert in faked action sequences. He only had to watch the video tape of Shaw's moves once to notice that he was pulling his punches and not connecting. And for once, Morgan really does have some skills that are useful to the NSA and CIA.

And when General Beckman (Bonita Friedericy) refused to listen to Chuck about Shaw being a traitor a second time, he got Casey (Adam Baldwin) involved.

Casey, of course, got my favourite line of the episode, as he and Chuck were on their way to Paris, and Chuck could not figure out where Shaw would take Sarah. "Before you were a spy, before you were the intersect, you were smart." How very true.

Chuck shows up just in time to save Sarah, and when he has no other choice, he kills Shaw to save his love. To be a true spy, Chuck had to kill someone - he could not do it in cold blood, but when the choice was obviously between his and Sarah's lives and an enemy's, he was able to do it. And Sarah was able to love him because he was still himself.

Finally, Casey convinced Beckman to reinstate him, using the leader of the Ring operation as collateral. He also requested a crown vic, and that Morgan join the NSA. There is always a way to recover the status quo within the boundaries of the possible.

The only thing I still wonder about is the point of Sarah and Shaw's involvement. Sarah and Chuck love each other, have always loved each other, and will always love each other. Give up the will they/won't they drama and focus on the other stuff that makes this show so wonderful to watch!
What a perfect way to go into a 2 week hiatus.

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