Baron Of Hell

Loved it, I thought the Shaw ending was well done. Chuck needed to get some blood on his hand and they needed to get rid of Shaw for the budget. Win win all around.

riley_dude

Even the creators thought that Shaw brought the show down.

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune....hary-levi.html

Superman07

I liked the episode. My biggest issue, along with last week, is that it all felt so rushed. Again, I understand why this was necessary (13 episodes), but I think they could have smoothed some of the key points over throughout the season.

The questions I'm left with are:

- When did Shaw turn? Was there more to the scene with the director, or was he a doulbe from the start? Some of his lines made him sound still patriotic at the end (I won't tell them about you; You're borken - I figured that out), which made me lean towards having turned recently.

- Was it just Casey taking out that group leaving the cafe?

I enjoyed a lot of the small things this episode, but I think v Operation Awesome, v The Beard and v The Tic Tac were better episodes than this.

I really would have liked a longer conversation between Chuck and Sarah at Chuck's, but again they had to get the plot moving.

I did find Sarah's situation a very interesting plot device. Not only did it tie back to the Red Test, but it brought up her personal feelings of guilt and remorse. Even more poignant since she had found it it was Shaw's wife she had killed.

Very glad that it was Chuck who took out Shaw with his own skills instead of the intersect. (I love the double meaning of the episode titles - Chuck v his other self and v Shaw.) Duck Hunt for the win!

I didn't get that one bit from the interview. Fedack may have started down that path, but very quickly and abruptly shifted his response.

MrX

The video of his wife's death caused him to turn. He had thought The Ring killed her, but the tape revealed it was the government.

Yes, it was just Casey.

mnementh

Silly Shaw- that video could've been doctored.

JasonF

That's why he took Sarah to the warehouse to see the video. Her reaction confirmed that it was real.

DGibFen

I don't think it was necessarily the character of Shaw that dragged the show this season, I think it was Routh's portrayal of him. There was no chemistry between he and anyone else on the show, especially in the realm of he and Sarah's relationship.

It seemed to work better when the MI6/James Bond agent from last year did a semi-romantic angle with Sarah, and it worked with Bryce Larkin - there was some notable chemistry between those two characters and Sarah. Routh's handling of it was: "(bored)Oh, so now we make out. Yippee."

Shaw could have worked out better in the show, but he needed a different actor handling him.

BTW, well done to Fedak for the handling of Chuck and Sarah's "I love you" scene. It wasn't at the climax of some grandiose events, it was at a simple moment in time, with no interruptions or distractions (ie- no one barging in and interrupting Sarah's answer when Chuck asks her "do you love me?").

JimRochester

Totally agree. I think they wanted Shaw to be the cool, non-emotional, professional however they got someone without a personality. Bryce and MI6 conveyed total confidence and professionalism without being robots. It's OK that that was Routh's interpretation of him, but I just didn't get Sarah's attraction to Shaw when she seemed more attracted to people with more pizzaz.

SpinalGuffman

^
^^

+1

Agree completely. For me this season has been a bunch of great ideas, somewhat mishandled, sloppy, and in Shaw's case, miscast.

Chuck and Sarah's moment was a welcome exception.

I really miss the full cast and tone of the first two seasons. The juggling act because of budget stuff has really hurt the show. Both with cast stuff and set stuff. The Ring was barely noticeable... their bases and headquarters were just a mishmash of warehouses and elevator shafts ... nothing cool or memorable. And their agents were interchangeable and generic, right up to their leader. Much less of an opponent than Fulcrum.

A cool phone does not an international consortium of evil bent on world domination make...

Shamus McAnally

Doesn't bode well for the final 6... or, what season 4 would look like if Chuck does indeed get renewed.

I guess no amount of rallying will help Chuck get a better budget, so, hopefully the writers can come up with some better way to wrap the lower budget into the show better so we can get more team episodes. Don't know what kind of storylines that would entail, but hopefully they can do it without the quality of the episodes dropping too much more. (Though, with the constraints they've had, I can't say they've done a completely horrible job.)

DGibFen

http://thetvaddict.com/2010/04/06/ad...-bartowski-is/

Superman07

I really hope the back 6 is nothing but fun. Given that it's supposed to be a game changer with cliffhanger I really hope we get a season 4. I just want a good true finale that wraps up all of these great characters, and the S3 finale isn't going to do that. Plus with such horrible ratings from the other shows it baffles me that NBC has any remote choice to not renew this.

wearetheborg

Why did the govt kill her ?

wearetheborg

I recently got into chuck. I think ratings wise (to pull in new viewers), the show has been hurt by the premise.

The title character is a nerd. This probably does not go too well with attracting the common person to watch the show. His main "power" is recalling images stored into his brain -- again a seemingly boring concept I think.

The show is interesting because of the storylines, and the way the characters interact with each other; but for someone new, it is not a very attractive premise, compared to say Lost/Heroes/24 etc where the premise itself is quite nice in generating interest.

Patman

You should try explaining the success of "The Big Bang Theory", then.

zekeburger1979

Shamus McAnally

^This

NBC, in its infinite wisdom, should see how they could build upon this. The core of the audience has stayed with Chuck through 3 seasons and will for as long as the shows is on the air (regardless of where). I've purchased all the DVDs, gotten others to, and have given them as gifts. I really hope they keep this around for season 4 and some real momentum builds (and everyone is rewarded with a season like the first 2 and the last half (of the original season) of season 3).

wearetheborg

I cannot. I have been pleasantly surpirsed at its success.

BTW, anyone know what song was playing when

Shamus McAnally

Probably way too late(if it would even help), but:












(Yes, I love this show that much that I'll put my lack of humor and cleverness out there for all.)

DGibFen

At it's core, it's about the straight man (the comedic meaning of the term) who tries to impress the girl-next-door, who is a unattainable (at first) attractive woman. He has a roommate that's quirky, and two complimentary but equally comical friends that appear regularly. They all hang out together, and despite their seemingly incompatible personalities, they all become friends, blah blah blah.

The nerd stuff is the frosting on the sitcom cake, so to speak. It's the cake part that's more attractive to audiences, because a number of the plots of BBT could easily be lifted from other sitcoms, then re-written with a "nerd" tag attached.

Chuck, OTOH, is a broad based slapstick comedy/drama with action/espionage elements. For some reason, action comedies don't tend to do well with a broad audience. I don't know how to explain it, but it's as if audiences are conditioned to accept the rugged, sexually attractive hero-type as an "action star", who can occasionally quip and chuckle at things, but is generally a serious person.

Chuck's character isn't as serious, he's not "action star" attractive (Levi is still a handsome man in his own right), he's a bit more slap-stick - in a sense, he's the comical guy that should be running the tech part of an operation. But he's the main hero in this show, and that kind of "action star" is somewhat foreign to most TV audiences.

(I've also heard the argument that some people aren't comfortable with the gender role reversals - in that Sarah is the one that constantly saves Chuck, and not the other way around - but that's a silly one IMO.)

Cellar Door

Great job on those, Shamus! I especially like the schoolgirl Sarah (of course ) and the Awesome ones.

I have been voting for Chuck in the Save One Show contest.

Geddlo

Does anyone know when an announcement would be made as to whether or not the show is coming back?

TGM

yes, at zero hour.

Axeramm

I thought they explained it as the person giving Sarah her "Red Test" was corrupt.

Superman07

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