Review - Chuck Season 3 Episode 7 Chuck Versus the Mask

Yes, that was the last episode of Chuck until March 1, but what a way to end the episode. Chuck is kissing Hannah, Shaw has his hands all over Sarah, Morgan is devastated, and the Ring is plotting to kill Shaw. And no Jeffster.

It's enough to tide me over a lonely month, but there could have been a bigger revelation in the end. The Ring wanting to kill Shaw isn't big news as they probably want to kill many CIA agents. What's more troubling is that look he gives while rubbing Sarah's shoulders. It was creepy, but was it from satisfaction or because he has another agenda? Making the assumption that Shaw must be good because the Ring wants him dead is fair, but there are other possibilities. What if there is another group that isn't the CIA or the Ring? What if the Ring has extra hatred for him because he used to be with the Ring? We can't count out anyone as a good guy yet, and there have been plenty of twists in the past. But my prediction is that Shaw is an extended Cole, a hero who Sarah is sexually attracted to, but doesn't reach the same emotional level Chuck does.

At the same time, we can't count out Hannah. She seems innocent enough, perhaps too innocent, as have Chuck's other brunette girlfriends who turned out to be something different. Obviously Hannah won't last long, so she has  to be gotten rid of somehow. Now that she's with Chuck all the time, she has access to him, and she's already crossed into his spy world. Conveniently, she only cares that Chuck saved her and not why she got into the situation in the first place, and wasn't the slightest bit suspicious when Chuck left with Sarah while the computers at the museum got messed up and fixed when he came back. If she turns out to be a spy, I wouldn't be surprised.

Then again, why is it our base impulse as Chuck fans to question the motives of all new characters? It's a weird thing the writers have done. The bond forged between the team is so strong that we question everything, even if there is no evidence.

The hot button issue of Chuck/Sarah was pushed about 100 times in the episode. I'm sure the shippers are up in arms, ready to burn down Josh Schwartz's house, and if that's the way they roll, they certainly have reason enough to be angry. They've wanted Chuck and Sarah together for the longest time, and the writing was on the wall for the majority of the season, but this episode was the straw that broke the camel's back. Shaw is hitting on Sarah and Chuck notices it. Hannah is hanging out with Chuck and Sarah notices it. They come to a mutual agreement to let everything go and let the other be with someone else. I can imagine all the deflated looks across America.

My concern going forward is how much time will spent on the fledging romances. One, they won't last long and two, it's just another relationship roadblock in the human form--the writers' favorite roadblock. We've seen it before, we've seen secret agents in relationships before. Hopefully the writers will show how relationships with the straight person works with no deception or lies. The endgame is to get Sarah and Chuck together, and showing that they don't work with regular people could be the way to go.

Of course that's me being optimistic. I'm not a shipper, but I just want to either see the writers move forward or not touch the subject at all. Too many times have we seen the relationship go in all directions just to end up in the same place.

Instead, the focus should be on the Ring which has proven to be a bad enemy. They're no different than Fulcrum, and do random things with weapons. Their resources are no greater, their agents aren't greater, their overall plan is not greater, so why did the Ring replaced Fulcrum? Those are the questions the show should be delving in, and not the latest plot device to advance the Chuck/Sarah relationship by moving them backwards.

Onto the subject of the episode itself. Minus the relationship business, it was a solid episode where Chuck got to use his computer skills and take a proactive approach to saving everyone. With Sarah and Shaw out of commission, he totally took matters into his own hands and saved the day with limited help from Casey who was mostly interested in blowing things up (that had to make you laugh). Even before that, he stole the mask by himself with Intersect powers, and didn't get any Intersect 2.0 flashes the entire episode. Chuck is finally going to go on solo missions which he has proven himself capable of doing.

Wow, I just check out the official NBC Chuck forum and it's like a war zone. People are saying they'll watch a few more episodes to give it a chance, and how much the episode sucked. I guess people with a vested interest in Chuck and Sarah are at the end of the line with the show. In the long run, everything will be fine even if the show isn't renewed for another season. The arc will wrap up at around the 13th episode which is where the season was expected to end. After that, there should be smooth sailing unless Josh Schwartz decides to fool around even more.

I wouldn't say that tonight's episode was a colossal mistake (though Bill running for state senate on Big Love was), but the writers have become complacent in how they want to reach the end. The goal was always the same, and yet they are always going back to the same plot devices for the relationships. I love what they're doing with Chuck's burgeoning spy abilities, but on the relationship front, they are as clueless as ever.

Score: 8.7/10