Chuck -2x20 -"Chuck vs. The First Kill"-Discuss/Grade <SPOILERS>

[the Dagman]

BuyMorians unite! It's Monday again! That means we are getting a new episode of Chuck!

It looks like we are building towards a season finale climax in another couple of episodes. Last week we had a great reveal and a couple of famous guest stars. This week, two guest stars from prior episodes will be back (one of which is also currently in a movie franchise sequel at your local movie theater). Who knows? Maybe even three if you want to go by the episode appearance count on imdb.com. Oh boy! (yes, that's a hint)

Spoiler: tonight's episode's listing from NBC

When FULCRUM kidnaps his father (guest star Scott Bakula), Chuck must turn to his old girlfriend Jill (guest Jordana Brewster) for help.

Spoiler: tonight's episode listing from IMDB.com

To locate his father, Chuck must trust someone who has betrayed him in the past, and the Buy More crew scramble to head off Emmett's evaluations.

If you are a Chuck fan, this looks like a "don't miss" episode. Also, if you are a fan who wants to help this show get renewed, watch it again over on hulu.com after it gets posted late tonight or early tomorrow. NBC is a major backer of hulu. So your watching it counts as a view as much as any Nielsen house does. Be sure to watch it there too and help the show survive.

As always, I am on the west coast so I will not be here for any commentary during the airing of the show. I will be on after Chuck and Heroes finishes up.

 

[Sheep]

Re: Chuck -2x20 -"Chuck vs. The Dream Job"-Discuss/Grade <SPOILERS>

This is "Chuck vs. The First Kill" if I'm not mistaken. "The Dream Job" was last week's episode.

 

[the Dagman]

This is "Chuck vs. The First Kill" if I'm not mistaken. "The Dream Job" was last week's episode.

You are quite correct. I erred in forgetting to update that portion of the thread title. I made the change to it, hopefully it will make it to the front page. If not, could a moderator please change it for me? Thanks, and sorry for the confusion.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Interesting episode title...

 

[Thrall]

I think he's gonna kill Jill. He'll have to choose between her and and Jill shooting Sarah, and he'll cap her ass. Just a hunch. It will royally screw him up and Sarah will give him a pitty f**k to make him feel better. But that's just wishful thinking.

 

[FreezeC77]

yay it's Anna

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Chuck killed Anna???

That's what I get for logging on in Cali when it's showing on the East Coast.

 

[Thrall]

I am Charahing so hard right now I'm going to explode of fantasticalness! If they don't renew this show I say we bring back lynch mobs!

 

[sttngfan1701d]

This was easily the best episode of the series thus far. It showcased all the action/comedy formula's strengths as well as significantly advancing the storyline. But the problem is, considering the anemic ratings, it looks like we're building up to a series finale in 2 weeks. And that's just sad because this is a great show that I've totally fallen in love with.

But at least we get some bombshells in the next two eps. Chuck and Sarah finally get it on and apparently

Spoiler: finale

there's a "shocking" death in the "game-changing" finale

.

Qhich suggests they're going all out and hedging their bets that there will be no third season, and if there is, everything will be different.

 

[Thrall]

This was easily the best episode of the series thus far. It showcased all the action/comedy formula's strengths as well as significantly advancing the storyline. But the problem is, considering the anemic ratings, it looks like we're building up to a series finale in 2 weeks. And that's just sad because this is a great show that I've totally fallen in love with.

But at least we get some bombshells in the next two eps. Chuck and Sarah finally get it on and apparently

Spoiler: finale

there's a "shocking" death in the "game-changing" finale

.

Qhich suggests they're going all out and hedging their bets that there will be no third season, and if there is, everything will be different.

I hope you're right. I really, really do. If I have an ending I'll be sad but content. If not, I'll be a boiling pot of rage that can only be subdued through beer, food, and sex. So if I get fat(er), develop alcoholism, and get various types of VD it's NBC's fault.

 

[sttngfan1701d]

From day 1 I always felt this show had a very finite lifespan, but I didn't think they'd cover so much ground in this season alone. Then when the direction in which they were going began to be clear, I had a feeling that they knew they probably weren't going to be renewed, so they went all out.

It's a shame, it really is, but even the official NBC description of the "season" finale makes it seem like this is the end, and if it's not, where can they go? They've moved so far away from the original formula that even the Buy More bits seem forced now. And Chuck is hardly there. So it makes me think that if there is a season 3 (and that's a big "if" at this point, considering Journeyman got canceled despite getting similar ratings to Chuck), there'll probabably be a BSG/Heroes/Veronica Mars-style "jump" in the narrative.

And it depresses me even talking about it, because I've pretty much accepted these will be the last two episodes.

 

[Thrall]

From day 1 I always felt this show had a very finite lifespan, but I didn't think they'd cover so much ground in this season alone. Then when the direction in which they were going began to be clear, I had a feeling that they knew they probably weren't going to be renewed, so they went all out.

It's a shame, it really is, but even the official NBC description of the "season" finale makes it seem like this is the end, and if it's not, where can they go? They've moved so far away from the original formula that even the Buy More bits seem forced now. And Chuck is hardly there. So it makes me think that if there is a season 3 (and that's a big "if" at this point, considering Journeyman got canceled despite getting similar ratings to Chuck), there'll probabably be a BSG/Heroes/Veronica Mars-style "jump" in the narrative.

And it depresses me even talking about it, because I've pretty much accepted these will be the last two episodes.

Me too. I can only hope and pray the writers did the right thing and ended it with some closure.

 

[Sheep]

It's a shame, it really is, but even the official NBC description of the "season" finale makes it seem like this is the end, and if it's not, where can they go?

Where can one find this official NBC description? I couldn't locate it on NBC.com.

So it makes me think that if there is a season 3 (and that's a big "if" at this point, considering Journeyman got canceled despite getting similar ratings to Chuck), there'll probabably be a BSG/Heroes/Veronica Mars-style "jump" in the narrative.

I'd be perfectly fine with that as long as the writing and character chemistry is still present in the new version.

And it depresses me even talking about it, because I've pretty much accepted these will be the last two episodes.

The only thing giving me hope is that the rest of NBC's lineup is pretty much lukewarm crap even if Leno is going to be eating up 5 hours of primetime every week next season. If I recall Chuck's ratings have actually stabilized and increased slightly in recent weeks too.

As for Chuck's first kill, that makes two excellents in a row from me--a rarity for ANY TV show let alone one that sounds as stupid as Chuck does on paper.

 

[Thrall]

It's a shame, it really is, but even the official NBC description of the "season" finale makes it seem like this is the end, and if it's not, where can they go?

Where can one find this official NBC description? I couldn't locate it on NBC.com.

So it makes me think that if there is a season 3 (and that's a big "if" at this point, considering Journeyman got canceled despite getting similar ratings to Chuck), there'll probabably be a BSG/Heroes/Veronica Mars-style "jump" in the narrative.

I'd be perfectly fine with that as long as the writing and character chemistry is still present in the new version.

And it depresses me even talking about it, because I've pretty much accepted these will be the last two episodes.

The only thing giving me hope is that the rest of NBC's lineup is pretty much lukewarm crap even if Leno is going to be eating up 5 hours of primetime every week next season. If I recall Chuck's ratings have actually stabilized and increased slightly in recent weeks too.

As for Chuck's first kill, that makes two excellents in a row from me--a rarity for ANY TV show let alone one that sounds as stupid as Chuck does on paper.

Chuck's problem is the time slot and nothing but. A small little cult show just can't keep up with what its being forced to go against. I promise you that if you move it to another night the ratings would improve.

It's strange. I have this need or ability to always stick with the underdogs. The unpopular. The easily dismissed. I'm a die hard Kansas City Royals fan. My favorite X-Man is Cyclops. Chuck is my favorite current show. The Misfits are my favorite band. Deep Space Nine is my favorite Star Trek show. It's strange. I just have a distrust of anything the masses deem popular I guess.

 

[sttngfan1701d]

Where can one find this official NBC description? I couldn't locate it on NBC.com.

Spoilerfix has it. They say the source was NBC.

Episode 2.22: "Chuck versus the Ring" - When Ellie and Awesome's wedding day finally arrives, Chuck must save Ellie's life and her big day from being ruined by Ted Roark (guest star Chevy Chasehttp://spoilerfix.com/chuck.php#) and Fulcrum. Meanwhile, with the Intersect out of his head, Chuck is up against his most dangerous mission yet: figuring our what to do with the rest of his life. Source: NBC

Sounds like a series finale to me. If not, a jump of some sort.

 

[Ryan]

I don't know about Chuck sometimes. I don't want him to be a super agent or anything; he should always be a fish out of water. But the fact the he was just going to cower there and let himself be beaten to death, I dunno. Chuck should at least have a little survival instinct.

And I don't know what he was thinking letting Jill go. Wasn't Jill trying to kill Sarah supposed to bring closure to all this? He just let a Fulcrum agent go who knows pretty much everything because why? She agreed to help Chuck so she could get out of prison?

Chuck's gotta stop letting his girl issues screw up his decision making.

 

[firehawk12]

I could see that it was building to this for the last few weeks... I just wished that Chuck was given the agency to resist the "good guys" himself rather than blindly trust whatever line Sarah decides to feed him.

Instead, they used that moment on Chuck freeing Jill... which is fine, but I think the payoff would have been much better if that resistance/rebellion happened at the end.

 

[sttngfan1701d]

That's one of the problems I've always had with this show. I love it, I absolutely do, it's my favorite show. But DAMN does Chuck have girl issues!

it's worst when he gets all insecure about Sarah and they have their little "moments" where he's saying his thing and she looks all uncomfortable. I get that the writers have played up the feelings between them, but during these moments Sarah sometimes looks at Chuck like "Man, will you shut up and be professional about this for once?" And then in the next episode they do it again but this time SHE'S insecure: "You still trust me don't you, Chuck? You trust 'us?'"

On the one hand I like that the show still likes to use Chuck to represent the "human/emotional" side of things, but on the other hand I wish they wouldn't allow Sarah to be dragged down into insecurity when they have their Clark/Lana moments.

But I guess they felt they had to do it this way in order to advance the character arcs, to do in the space of 35 episodes what would normally take 4-5 seasons to play out.

 

[Sheep]

I've put way too much thought into the "game changer" and the rumored major character death and think it has to be Ellie. Fulcrum's supposed to interfere with the wedding, so either Ellie or Awesome biting the bullet wouldn't be that far of a stretch. If it's Ellie, Chuck's no longer tied down to home and the Buy More, which frees the writers up to do a jump forward with Chuck and Sarah on the run and Casey either assisting but more likely chasing them. Yes, this effectively eliminates the Buy More crew, but as has been pointed out, Chuck's never there anyway so it's harder and harder to keep them around and not make their plots seem tacked on.

 

[Skywalker]

I'd miss the Buy More gang, but if their being written off is the price of moving the show forward, it's a price I'm willing to pay.