Chuck – "Chuck vs. the Other Guy"

I really hope you watched Chuck last night, and not just because it was an incredibly entertaining episode that fulfilled the deepest desires of most Chuck fans. I hope you watched it, because I really hope the ratings will be decent enough to bring Chuck back for a fourth season. Because I want to see more television like that.

As I indicated in my post about Chuck from late Sunday night, I watched the episode in the big hall at WonderCon, which was about as entertaining as you could imagine. If you were choosing an episode to premiere for a giant room full of screaming Chuck fans, last night’s “Chuck vs. the Other Guy” would be a hard choice to beat. It’s just so fun to sit in the middle of a thousand people as they lose their minds when Chuck and Sarah finally get together, and it was only made better when the episode was followed by Zachary Levi walking out and announcing to the cheering masses: “It’s about time. You’re not wrong…We did it. In Paris.” The panel continued with Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz discussing the difficulties of finishing a season only to discover they needed to tack six more episodes onto the end, Adam Baldwin confirming that there would of course be some resolution to the discovery that he has a daughter, and a suggestion that in addition to watching the show live, audience members attempt to hack the Nielsen ratings. For more about the panel, I’ll refer you to Daniel Fienberg’s coverage of it, which includes Zachary Levi’s pleasure in the obvious choice of background scenery for Chuck and Sarah’s final scene.

“So yeah, man. It all worked out good,” crowed Levi. “And what better place to consummate their relationship. With the Eiffel Tower standing tall. How’s that for symbolism.”

Part of what made “Chuck vs. the Other Guy” such an effective episode to watch immediately before a question and answer session was that the episode answered so many of what would have been the obvious questions about the third season of Chuck. How will Morgan’s character change now that he knows about Chuck? Will Casey return to Team Bartowski? When are we getting ride of that mopey Shaw? Will Chuck ever be able to become a “real spy” by killing someone, or will that always be a line between him and Sarah? Speaking of Chuck and Sarah…I mean come on already! And the subsequent audience response would have been markedly different if “Chuck vs. the Other Guy” hadn’t been such a satisfying response to all of those concerns. Shaw’s gone for good, and gone in a way that managed to both fulfill Chuck’s trajectory toward full spy status while solidifying his newfound honesty with Sarah. Casey’s back, thank goodness, and he thoughtfully brings Morgan into the fold along with him.

The episode did an impressive job of moving swiftly but thoroughly through all these necessary developments, hitting all the perfect audience pleasure buttons along the way. It was chock full of reference, as the best Chuck always is, sliding through several John Hughes references and building up to Josh Gomez’s hilarious reading of “…there is another,” before concluding with a warm homage to James Bond. The episode was also quite funny – my favorite was the lovely cut from Chuck’s drunken ninja flash to Morgan on the floor, incapacitated by video controllers. (This scene did elicit some concern from the panel’s moderator, IGN’s Eric Goldman, who was worried that Sarah cut through all of the controller cables, which would mean they all would need to be replaced.)

No question, the episode was a deeply satisfying season finale, but I’m now fascinated by the problems it presents for the show’s future. It’s going to be tough to shift down from this giddy conclusion-induced high in order to ramp Chuck back up for its actual season finale. I could easily see these being a tricky, uneven next few episodes – they’ve got to move forward and set a lot of plot in place that will need to be resolved much faster than the usual thirteen-episode timetable. Still, even if they are uneven, these next six episodes are such a cool opportunity for this show. Television rarely ties all of its loose strings into a lovely little bow, and it certainly never builds a blockbuster ending like this, only to return a few weeks later and have to cope with the consequences of that resolution. The questions that “Chuck vs. the Other Guy” answered were satisfying, but pretty easy to predict. Yes, Chuck and Sarah get together; yes, Casey comes back; yes, Shaw dies. The next questions are much harder, and potentially more rewarding. What will Morgan’s role actually be in Team Bartowski? How will this relationship work, now that Chuck and Sarah are a couple?

I’m so looking forward to finding out, and I really hope that the answers will be able to continue beyond the next six episodes.

P.S. Sepinwall often includes a “Plot Hole of the Week” in his Chuck reviews, and I was bugged enough by one thing about this episode that I can’t resist. So, Shaw leads Sarah into a giant empty warehouse set up with an elaborate monitor system and a thoughtfully remixed version of the video of his wife and Sarah’s red test. Chuck comes crashing in with the tanks and the air support and what have you, and it turns out Shaw was just trying to tell Sarah he understands? Come on. What’s with the elaborate monitor set-up? The emo surveillance footage remix? The enormous white stage with a camera on it?