‘No thanks. She’s still there.’
With the attainment of his goal of becoming a spy, Chuck believes he can finally be together with Sarah. Everything seems to be falling in place when Beckman tells him he can pick the members of his team. Naturally his first choice is Sarah. So Sarah’s angry reaction upon Chuck’s return and offer is a shock for him. Telling Chuck that because he has killed, Sarah; based on how her Red Test affected her, does not believe that Chuck can emerge from that test as the same guy she originally fell for.
Sarah is grieving for what she believes is the death of the Chuck Bartowski she fell in love with. If we apply the Stages of Grief to Sarah:
1)Denial
2)Anger
3)Bargaining
4)Depression
5)Acceptance,
in 3.11, she was in the denial phase, hence her proclamation of no longer loving Chuck. Now she has moved onto the anger phase which her behaviour and responses upon Chuck’s return validate. Chuck is trapped because he cannot reveal that Casey killed the mole and not him.

Fearful that Sarah is slipping away from him into a life in DC with Shaw; Morgan, Casey, and Devon rally to Chuck’s aide; albeit they do so with ulterior motives. As expected, the results of this mission are less than helpful but provide a lot of enjoyment as Civilian Team Bartowski(CTB) unknowingly vy with a Ring Team intent on capturing Shaw. This leads to excellent Ellie moments as she first scolds CTB and then Chuck.
This time Chuck returns to woo Sarah with a clear head. Rescuing Shaw, with the knowledge that Sarah may very well end up leaving with Shaw, Chuck does the right thing again. Even if it is at a personal cost. Through his actions, Chuck proves to Sarah that he is indeed that guy she first fell for. Chuck is the ‘True’ American Hero of this episode as what he did was for selfless reasons in stark contrast to the revenge reasons that motivate Shaw.
Chuck’s closing speech is much like the one he gave Sarah at the end of Lethal Weapon. Except this time he is blunt and direct in relaying to Sarah his feelings. And again, he leaves the choice up to her. He shows Sarah how deeply he feels by being willing to give up the spy life he has worked so hard to attain to be with her.
Episode Flashes:

• Beckman’s waiting area with multiple receptionists and spies waiting to see her
• Chuck trying to find out how to sit comfortably with a gun
• Chuck and Beckman scene – ‘I understand that the hand wringing and the second guessing are all part of your process.’
• Ellie excited to go to Africa because she thinks that is what Devon wants
• Chuck’s Civilian Team Bartowski(CTB) – Casey, Morgan and Devon!
• Morgan telling Casey to take a number
• Morgan telling Casey love is a battlefield
• Jeff and Lester being totally cognizant and up to date on the Sarah/Chuck/Shaw triangle -‘Guy knows how to fill out a pair of slacks!’
• CTB with their own agenda – ‘We help you get the girl back, you help us get out of Burbank.’.
• CTB and Ring Team targetting Shaw at the restaurant
• Morgan telling Devon, ‘You live in a bubble. A freakish bubble of awesomeness.’
• Morgan calling Shaw out of the restaurant and getting carried away with instructions
• Morgan getting tasered! ‘Man down! I’ve been tazzed! Bring a stretcher. Wheelbarrow….change of pants!’ LOL
• Ellie scolding CTB
• Ellie’s anger at Chuck for going to CTB instead of her
• Ellie’s pep talk to Chuck telling him to act like a Bartowski and that one can never go too far in the pursuit of love
• Jeff & Lester berating CTBs stalking skills and proving theirs by tailing Shaw in Loretta
• ‘Stalker’s Log: Possibly for sexual encounter. Both men are physically fit. Should be lively.’
• Casey selling ‘Hot Zone’ vacuum cleaner
• Chuck’s Batman jump into Shaw’s sports car
• Dr. Jibb Pop Machine elevator entrance into Ring base
• Ring Leader – very cool
• Chuck and bad guy’s reactions to impending flash bomb explosion
• Stealth Bomber Sequence
• Chuck’s rescue of Shaw – The ‘True’ American Hero
• Chuck’s final speech to Sarah – ‘One time because it feels really nice to say. I love you Sarah Walker.’
• Casey’s confession of killing mole in Sarah’s apartment. Adam really nailed it.
• Reveal that Sarah killed Shaw’s wife – Eve.

Phil Klemmer was tasked with kicking off the Sarah and Shaw relationship in 3.07 – Chuck Versus The Mask and along with Matt Miller in Chuck Versus The Greatest American Hero, he has drawn the short straw once again in ending it. If he volunteered for these two episodes then Phil is to be commended as the Real American Hero of the Chuck writing staff. If it was the luck of the draw then Phil should not take it personally if no one takes him up on an offer to pick lottery ticket numbers.
With this episode the final pertinent pieces of the Sarah and Shaw relationship have been placed in the open. I have been withholding final judgment until this moment, hoping that the writers would pull a rabbit out of their hat to salvage this arc. Alas, it is not to be. For all the props I have given the show in my reviews, I am behoven to call foul when appropriate. To be blunt, the Sarah and Shaw relationship was a sham. It did not work and the episodes that included it, suffered because of it. A further examination of why will take place in an article(s) looking back over the first 13 episodes during the upcoming two week break after 3.13 airs.
Proof that the Sarah and Shaw relationship is irrelevant is that if you can isolate and ignore those moments the episode still works. Works very well. The inclusion of Morgan into Chuck’s spy life continues to reap great dividends. The interplay between Casey, Morgan, and Devon is a hoot to watch. The action beats were great. The Chuck and Sarah moments were as good as they have ever been. Casey’s continuing struggle in the civilian world continues to intrigue.
‘I love you Sarah Walker. Always have.’

As mentioned in the 3.11 review, I was banking on a Casey and Sarah counterpart scene to bookend the one that Chuck and Casey had, which came to be true. While the scene did not prove to be the deciding factor in Sarah’s decision it did put to rest any lingering doubts she had during her packing. Adam and Yvonne played the scene beautifully. Casey’s furtive glances at Sarah’s packing on the bed and his round about way of wishing Sarah well was done to perfection. My favorite scene of the episode.
With the reveal that she killed Shaw’s wife the stage for the next episode has been set.   So glad that the episode ended with Sarah being shown as having clearly made up her mind.
Spy or not, Sarah believes it.  It’s just Chuck.

‘You ready to die today?’

Tis the season of change in the Chuckverse. Even for a show where events often occur at a rapid clip, Chuck Vs The Tic Tac places characters on their own personal precipes on a scale never encountered before. To wit, five of the main cast members are left at the end of this episode faced with life altering changes:

1. Chuck
2. Sarah
3. Casey
4. Devon
5. Ellie

The quoted line is the question asked of a young Alex Coburn who must chose to serve his country or return home to his loved ones. Coburn choses to serve his country and in the process gives up who he is ie dies and is reborn as John Casey.
In Tarot, the Death Card is misleading. It signifies death as not an end but an agent of change. Or a new beginning. Redemption stories are about the death of the past. Coming of age stories are about the death of the child. So all stories begin at a point of change for a character. All stories are really about death in terms of change.
‘I know you’ll make the right decision. You always do.’
So Colonel Keller tells John Casey. But did young Alex Coburn really? Its a tough question where there is no clear answer. Casey certainly seems to think so. Was his decision to serve his country altruistic or did he see it as an opportunity to hide from feelings which he and his girlfriend acknowledged he has trouble dealing with. The answer is not clear and maybe this aspect of John Casey’s life can be explored in the future. Maybe Chuck will show a new path to John Casey.
The background reveal of Casey’s backstory explains much of his character. Quite a nifty piece of work as it sheds new light on Casey’s history of intolerance for the relationship tension between Chuck and Sarah since Team Bartowski came into being. Casey was often quick to express his displeasure when the relationship spilt out into missions and he always delighted in making Chuck and Sarah painfully aware when the other’s attention was diverted elsewhere. But he was always there to give both of them a nudge too when he saw things heading in bad directions. His actions in previous episodes take on a different light now because of his back story.
Most significantly for Chuck, making the right decision is at the basic core of his character too. We have seen Chuck do this time and time again even when it comes at his personal happiness. For Chuck, and for Sarah, to see the personal price that Casey has paid is hopefully a revelation that will play some part in the final outcome between them.
‘Don’t give up on the things that make you great.’
What Tic Tac does is crystallize the issues running between Chuck and Sarah. There is an accepted conceit that Sarah, and Casey, believe that in order to be an effective spy one has to make personal sacrifices. For Chuck to be a spy, Sarah believes that he will lose the very qualities that attracted her to Chuck in the first place. This is the challenge Chuck faces. To prove to Sarah, and maybe even to Casey, that the two lives do not have to be mutually exclusive. That being a spy does not mean giving up the essence of who you are. For Chuck has an ace card up his sleeve. The Intersect. With it, if he learns to control it properly, he has the power to prevent that from happening.
The catch to mastering control of the Intersect is he needs to have someone watching his back. Not so much in the physical sense but the emotional one. Someone to share with. To keep it simple. To keep it real. This is what he and Sarah need to discover together.
Episode Flashes:

• Robert Patrick by just being himself, which is all his role asked, was still cool
• Morgan spying on Casey
• Team B working their way through 15 levels of CIA security
• Castle debriefing scene which starts out with Chuck goofiness and quickly escalates into the most intense scene in the series to date – a Showcase sequence that demonstrates Chuck at its cross genre best
• hats off to Fitzroy’s ability to quickly upgrade CIA security
• Chuck’s smash into plexiglass wall and Sarah’s reaction due to said upgrades
• Sarah’s applauding of Fitzroy’s upgrades to defuse the situation and turn it to their advantage
• Fitzroy and Morgan. Is it just me or would these two together not be hilarious?
• Fitzroy revealing he is a big fan of Carmichael’s and his glee at Chuck kissing Casey back in Season 2
• Sarah’s punchout of Fitzroy and her exasperated ‘Yes’ to Chuck for it being necessary
• Devon and Morgan circling one another as they feel each other out as to how much they each know about Chuck
• Morgan agreeing to help Casey if he gets a codename like Condor or LadyFingers
• Chuck promising Sarah he still is that guy that Sarah met three years ago
• Sarah and Chuck helping Casey despite the potential consequences
• three excellent fight scenes:
  • Casey getting to do a Terminator toss of Robert Patrick
  • Sarah getting Casey’s back and taking out 5 baddies on her lonesome
  • Chuck’s slomo/speedup drug enhanced flash fight
• Sarah seeing her nightmare version of Chuck, echoed by what she saw in Casey’s fight, the perfect emotionless spy and confirmation she wants no part of that version of Chuck
• Casey’s discovery that he gave up much more than he realized
• Casey giving Chuck advice about him and Sarah. Can a Casey and Sarah talk be that far away?
• Ellie telling Chuck that her choice in Devon was her best choice regardless of the sacrifices made

This is an entertaining and intense episode which marks the impressive writing debut of Rafe Judkins & Lauren LeFranc. They blend together those cross genre elements of the show with deft ease. The debriefing scene in the Castle after the first mission is genius. To take something that starts out as a piece of Chuck charming goofiness and turn it into the most intense scene in the serie’s history is writing prowness at its best.
Add on to that some true comedic moments for Sarah, long overdue and most welcome, coupled with some kick ass action sequences and great scenes with Morgan, Ellie and Devon and it is all the more impressive. The cast continues to shine this season with Yvonne and Adam getting to extend their acting chops. Zac was stellar as usual.
The only quibble would be around the use of Laudanol by Chuck to suppress his emotions to better use the Intersect. While the intent is clear; to show Sarah the nightmare version of Chuck she dreads; the implementation was weak. Maybe budget restrictions were the true culprit here but for Chuck to be freaking out about having to fight too many guys, when he easily handled a similar number the episode before, undermined the purpose of those scenes.
‘Walker is a good woman.’

If anyone had any doubts about whether the Chuck and Sarah romance storyline is headed for imminent resolution, Casey’s speech to Chuck at the end of 3.10 is a big, flashing neon sign. It is has been a long running hope of mine that Casey would play an important part in resolving the Chuck and Sarah relationship and it looks like that is going to transpire.
Do not be surprised if John Casey has a similar moment with Sarah soon.

‘I’m firing you as my best friend.’
A relationship that has been crippled since the pilot and gone through a lot of ups and downs; mostly downs; has finally been repaired. No not that one. The Chuck and Morgan one. For almost three years now Morgan has been pushed off to the side ever since Bryce sent Chuck the Intersect. From that moment Chuck has been unable to be best buds with Morgan. But now Morgan knows everything that has happened to Chuck and has become paramount in Chuck’s ongoing ability to flash.
‘I’m tired of being a loser.’

It is good for Chuck to hear from someone else that their life is not what they want it to be either. Morgan was badass to the extreme in this episode. The character is severely flawed in several aspects but his fearlessness, or lack of looking before leaping perhaps, and his unfaltering loyalty to Chuck are admirable. While the benefits in the bromance between Morgan and Chuck may seemed heavily skewed to Morgan’s side, Morgan provides Chuck with a constant reality check.
‘Its awful you had to pretend to be in a relationship with someone you clearly loved.’
It has been pointed out that the previous episode had Chuck realize he still had feelings for Sarah. In the confessional scene where Chuck tells Morgan all, Chuck undergoes an emotional release that expunges all the things he kept secret since the Intersect first came into his life. The final beats where Chuck confesses out loud his love for Sarah are needed. It is one thing to realize something internally but to put those thoughts into words; to publicly profess something, takes those thoughts and turns them into something real. Something tangible. This is the power of spoken or written words. They turn thoughts into something with weight and heft. They capture feelings and thoughts. This was a catharsis for Chuck, and Morgan, and was not a repetition of beats from previous episodes.
Episode Flashes:

• Chuck’s shifting looks at Sarah and Shaw when told he can talk to them about his problems
• Morgan calling Chuck to the office for disciplinary action
• Jeff’s snake jaw ability to place a whole apple in his mouth
• Chuck practicing with flash cards to try and get his own flashing back
• Morgan stumbling onto the locker entrance to the Castle
• Morgan sneaking around the Castle and meowing when he bumps into a wall
• Casey’s flashbomb scene
• Morgan’s willingness to do what has to be done to defend the Castle
• Chuck and Morgan bonding when held as prisoners
• Morgan’s joyous reaction to finding out Chuck is a spy
• Morgan allowing to Chuck to voice out loud that he does love Sarah
• Jeffster rocking it to Creedence Clearwater Revival – aww yeah!
• Chuck taking out the bad guys once he flashes
• Morgan taking out the last bad guy with the requisite Hai-Yah!
• Morgan giving the bad guy he knocked out the Star Wars Ewok confirmation poke
• Morgan’s exit from the OOC and calling Sarah – Agent Walker
• Casey’s dismayed reaction to the release of Morgan
• Morgan ribbing Casey, ‘Colonel Casey. Always so angry. I knew you had a secret.’
• Chuck owning the Duck Hunt level – foreshadowing of his reacquired confidence?

A very upbeat episode that harkens back to the lighter tone of the previous seasons that features the entire cast and the directing debut by Zachary Levi. He does some great work here with some nice shot compositions including not just the flash bomb sequence but several scenes of fight choreography too. He proves himself adept at character moments too and his scenes with Morgan are set up to highlight the emotional beats. Josh Gomez and Zac Levi have some great moments too, together and apart.
While the Morgan, Chuck/Morgan and BuyMore storylines ranged from awesome to very good the spy stuff was, at best, trying. If there is one area the show needs to tighten up it is the logic of the spy story. Most of the time I am more than willing to meet the show halfway on these points but increasingly it seems like my need to reach is going beyond the halfway point.
The hotel feint was suspect. In the spy game information is the gold standard so when we are told they received intel it should be explained. Also we are told no known spies are listed at the hotel but did anyone take a moment to look at the names? Devon and Ellie’s should have jumped out. Or did they only look under, Occupation for spy?
Then there is the Ring cell phone. We were told in 3.02 that the Ring phones operates on a closed system and that the system had been tapped for use by Team Bartowski. So it seems in 3.09 that the Ring knows that their cell phone system has been cracked. Rather than utilize that for tactical advantage as a tool for misinformation they use one of their cell phones as a trap and give up that advantage in the process.
The closing scene has the same Ring phone being used to put a call through to Casey. How did they know Casey was there to pick it up? If they really wanted to contact Casey, would they not have sent him a phone directly like they did with Devon in 3.04 or used other means?
As to jumping on a self-destruct plan to solve the Castle takeover, surely there must be other nonlethal contingencies in place? Not to mention the idea of blowing up a facility in an area with civilians present!
Going forward into an anticipated fourth season I petition the showrunners to step up their game when it comes to the future spy story plotting and logic.
‘You are rehired as my best friend!’

Chuck has started his ascent. With Morgan at his side as Alfred to Chuck’s Batman, Chuck now has a sounding board to keep him grounded. Rather than turning inward towards himself, Morgan enables Chuck to focus outward and release his emotional insecurities.
It is fitting that the first relationship crippled by the Intersect has been repaired. Look for big things going forward for Chuck Bartowski. Including the resolution of that other relationship. There is no discussion of the Chuck and Sarah relationship in this review for good reason. This episode is about Chuck re-establishing himself through the life long bond of brotherhood with Morgan.
Chuck has rediscovered his old self. With this healing complete, we can expect to see a confident and more assured Chuck than we ever have to date.
Chuck has his wingman back. Someone who understands him, whose loyalty is unquestionable, and who will always have Chuck’s back. By any definition of the word they are brothers. Fortunate sons indeed.

Identity.
‘Everything you think and feel. Even your innate reflexes have to change.’
So Sarah and Shaw inform Chuck as he is prepped to take the place of hitman – Rafe(as wraith as in ghost) Gruber. Being a spy has a heavy price. Taking on the identity of another person is much more than that of merely playing a part. The immersion into a new persona has to be all encompassing. Your own identity has to be submerged. One slip could cost lives.
Do enough of these covers for long enough and you begin to lose who you really were. Or are. This is the subtext which runs through Chuck Vs The Fake Name. In this episode we are clearly shown the opposite paths that Chuck and Sarah are running on. Chuck is losing himself while Sarah is desperately trying to retain her identity. Something she was able to do when she had Chuck as her anchor.
‘I can pass for an cold blooded killer.’

For Chuck, the game is still so new and his desire to become a spy is so strong that he does not yet see the downside. He does not see that he is losing those intangibles that made him the person to whom Sarah was attracted to in the first place. Chuck is on so much of a tunnel vision express he cannot see how it is affecting his relationships with his family and friends.
All around Chuck are warning signs like the Ellie/Hannah encounter, the dinner he did not prepare, the lies he is telling to Hannah, his total ignorance of the state of his friendship with Morgan, and even the fact that he is dating Hannah, a civilian, in the first place. He is very much a person with blinders on. Unaware of the consequences that inevitably will arise.
‘The way he lies to Hannah. Lives are being affected.’
Sarah sees Chuck doing and saying things in the real and spy world that are stripping away the better parts of him. There is a price to these actions and we see one of the results when Chuck breaks up with Hannah. The hurt and the pain he has unwittingly inflicted on Hannah are the actions of a person that Chuck would have never sanctioned before. Now he has become that person and Hannah rightly calls him on it. He is no longer that nice guy.
‘I barely remember who I am anymore.’
For Sarah being an alias goes even further than that. She has been in the game for so long now that her grasp on who she is, is slipping away. Just the simple act of saying her real name now feels unnatural. When you reach that point the sense of loss must be great indeed. For names have power. Names are the tool by which people are identified.
With Chuck being so focused on becoming a spy, Sarah has lost the anchor she was using to cling onto. In a revelatory moment Chuck overhears Sarah telling Shaw all of this. It is a paralleling of Chuck’s speech to Sarah in the vault back in Chuck Vs The Three Words. If nothing else Shaw has become Sarah’s confidant. A sounding board for her concerns. With Shaw, Sarah has someone who can understand the issues that spies deal with when they are living the lie. They have both been there and back again. Chuck has not.

Episode Flashes:

• Casey sniping the assassin with a tranq dart
• Chuck sliding down the Castle rail bringing donuts
• Chuck’s first crush Mrs. Seaver – the mom from Growing Pains
• Chuck flashing on Alex Coburn in regards to Casey – someone else with an alias?
• Casey’s urging Chuck on to torture him by taking out his tooth
• Chuck’s reaction to the torture tools – ‘Is this stuff sterile?’
• Casey telling Chuck how proud he is at Chuck’s ability to play the part
• Sarah’s cheese knife throw
• Hannah’s toast during dinner coupled with Sarah’s reaction to watching it
• gangsters voicing fan concerns and giving Chuck relationship advice
• Casey sniping the assassin for real; making the shot only 5 other people could do
• Chuck and Ellie talking as brother and sister
• Hannah calling Chuck on being a very good liar and not being a nice guy
• Sarah trying to create something real

This is a strong episode that features great performances by the leads. Zac kicked ass inhabiting the role of a hitman with zeal bringing menace and humor to the role. He was equally adroit at handling character moments most of which involved painful revelations. It was great to see Chuck and Ellie share a brother and sister moment again too.
Yvonne turned in another stand out performance and continues to express Sarah’s struggles not just in dialogue but through her amazing ability to emote through body language and facial cues.
Adam Baldwin was badass as Casey. Again. The revelation that he too has a potential alias will no doubt have payoff further along. The respect that John Casey has for Chuck’s abilities as a spy was most welcome to see.
The BuyMore stuff was a mixed bag. While Jeff and Lester being perplexed by Chuck’s prowness with the fairer sex is in line with their characters their use as a Greek Chorus to point out the magic of Chuck and Sarah’s relationship did not work for me. Those two are the BuyMore equivalent of snipers. Using them for them for meta statements was a choice due to the budget restrictions the show is under but that moment would have worked much better using Morgan and Big Mike instead. Or better yet, dropped altogether. In contrast, the use of the gangsters to discuss, ‘Will they? Won’t they?’ relationships and give Chuck relationship advice was a hoot and a humorous wink to the fans.
‘I thought you were a nice guy!’
Chuck has hit rock bottom. The pain he inflicted on Hannah and the revelations from Sarah have been a hard slap of reality. Chuck is positioned to find his way back. But what a difficult balancing act it will be to keep his identity and yet be able to function successfully in the spy world.
Ali Adler has written another great episode.   Chuck and Sarah are struggling in unfamiliar territory.  They are making mistakes and are searching to find the right answers.  Never have the two of them been more vulnerable; more human; more real.
I love that.

Note: the moments in question may reside in this episode but that is a matter of circumstance. There are preceding story telling decisions that led up to this point. It is not an issue that can be analyzed in isolation.


Chuck: ‘Sarah and I have a very unique relationship.’
Indeed they do. Relationships are what drive this show. Not just Chuck and Sarah but all of them. More precisely it is the characters. This is the crux of the matter about the unhappiness being expressed by what transpired during the last 8 mins or so of the show. It is not about  WHAT of the show. It is the HOW.
When a piece of creative work is put forth to be experienced by an audience there is an unspoken bond taking place between the two parties. The creators are offering a story telling experience via the use of dramatic tokens. In turn for these tokens the audience gives the creator their willing suspension of belief. The creator sets up the premise of the show and within the first half dozen episodes build up an array of dramatic tokens for the audience to use to suspend that belief.
These creative tokens come in various forms via characters, plotting, show mythology, story telling logic, internal consistency, etc. Those tokens create ‘buy in’ for the audience. They know from episode to episode the show will be worth investing in because the tokens will be be in play. The more dramatically and empathically these tokens are woven into each episode the more engrossed the audience becomes. Synergistically so does their suspension of disbelief. The better the creators can get the audience to suspend their disbelief the stronger the audience’s involvement becomes. There is a symbiotic relationship going on between the two parties.
The amount of initial suspension of disbelief is dependent on the type of show. Obviously shows grounded in the reality of our world require less suspension. Comedies and shows with fantastical elements require a greater suspension of disbelief. The creators of such shows must compensate for this by offering up bigger storylines, bigger characters, bigger action and so on.
While Chuck may take place in a real world setting, it is one rife with fantastical elements. The show’s basic premise, that a computer database can be downloaded into a person’s brain, allowing them to access information, and now physical abilities, is a big step for the viewer to take. In turn the show offers a mix of entertainment that includes comedy, action, drama, pop culture/nerd references, romance, music, wish fulfillment, spy world vs real life conflicts, and characters.
Out of all of these tokens the show offers, the bedrock one is the characters. Chuck is blessed with an awesome cast and the chemistry between the two leads is captivating. This has turned out to be both blessing and curse. Double-edged sword as it has been referred to elsewhere. For the character/romance token has become so powerful and so dominant that the other tokens pale in comparison.
What it has allowed the show to do is skate around most tokens with a greater degree of freedom. The tokens of story logic, internal consistency, and story mythology are not scrutinized to the same degree we would with other shows because the entertainment payoff is well worth it. We get some great laughs, action, music, spy intrigue, romance, wish fulfillment, and character interaction because of the cross genre show pedigree.
But the caveat is all of our suspension of disbelief hinges on the characters and, by extension, the Chuck and Sarah romance. They are the realest things in the show. They are the anchor for the viewer’s suspension of disbelief. The moment the show wavers on that token then everything else built around it comes crashing down like a house of cards.
The show has set up the dynamics of a, ‘Will they, won’t they?’ tension that has been carried over the 3 seasons of the show. The longer that tension is maintained the more mass it acquires. The more mass it requires the bigger the elephant it becomes in the room. I liken it to a dramatic ball of inertia, or DB for short.
The longer the show runs with this DB, the more history and emotional investment by the viewers it acquires. So it becomes more and more of a complex story telling exercise that the writers must address if they want to bring in other romantic parties to the mix. The days of having a guest star show up for 1 or 2 episodes and strike up a romantic relationship with Chuck or Sarah are long past.
Now it requires several episodes to set up a storyline that can overcome the inertia that the DB has accumulated. It is not just an operation of injecting the new characters into the storyline. That is the easier part of the equation. The more difficult part is positioning the two leads where the new characters can be integrated into their lives in a manner that is not contrived. To add to the difficulty, all this must be done in a manner that the viewers will find plausible and dramatically interesting.

Extremely vital is the storyline being told, must be told honestly. This means that story points, character traits, etc established previously must be adhered to going forward. With Chuck this comes down to being true to the characters. A difficult one to maintain too as character evaluation is subjective and varies from individual to individual. We may agree on the broad strokes but beyond that there are many interpretations on the finer points.
When it was announced that the third season PLIs were going to be around for 4 and 8 episodes it appeared that the story requirements would be addressed. However as we have seen that has not been done entirely successfully. Of the two, the Chuck and Hannah one has been the more successful. Hannah has been in consecutive episodes and it can be seen that her character is a perfect match for Chuck. Though in 3.06 little was done to advance her arc with Chuck.
(Total aside here – I find it hard to believe that Chuck would be interested in striking up a new relationship given his focus on becoming a spy. He, more than anyone, is aware of the danger he is putting Hannah’s life in by mixing civilian and spy worlds together. This is one of those out of character issues that arise based on previous character history. To date the show has given me little to remove this objection.)
Matching Chuck up is easier than it is for Sarah because of the fundamental nature of the characters. Chuck is open emotionally and provides many doorways to new relationships. Sarah is the opposite and hence requires a lot more story finesse to do so. So when Shaw is MIA in episode 3.06, any momentum built up between him and Sarah is lost. This was a tactical error.
Shaw’s absence places the Shaw/Sarah storyline in a difficult spot. Sarah may have expressed concerns over Chuck turning into a spy in 3.06 but, again, nowhere enough story time is allocated on this point to make the necessary dent in the DB. Especially when Shaw does return in 3.07 and Sarah spurns him for three quarters of the episode. This makes telling the story honestly no longer possible if the goal is to initiate these new pairings by the end of the episode.. What happens then is a rush to move the characters to a targeted position. An exercise in artificiality. In this rush corners have to be cut. This means corners that involve story logic concessions and the use of out of character behavior.
This is the overhead the show must carry when it decides to sustain the, ‘Will they, won’t they?’ dynamic over time. If the Chuck showrunners want to use that device then they must be willing to pay that price. A price that has to be based on honest story telling instead of rushed story telling.
Rushed story telling is what happened in the last 8 minutes of 3.07. That is the HOW that is the issue.
Rushed story telling takes away the capacity for true storytelling and diminishes the most critical dramatic token the show has to offer; that of the characters. That is why the reaction is the one that resulted from fans.
It is not about telling the showrunners what to do.
It is not about objecting to injecting new PLIs into the storyline.
It is about whatever the show does, it does so by being true to the story telling and the dramatic tokens it gave us.
It is about the implicit bond of trust between creator and audience.
A speedbump was encountered on the third season journey. We saw it, we hit it, and we have gone passed it. It was a bump. Not a supernova. Let’s look forward instead of back, shall we? Because the road ahead is oh so, very inviting!