Chuck 3x13 Review

Chuck’s “Chuck vs The Other Guy” is a direct continuation from the prior episode “Chuck vs the American Hero.” We get to witness the outcome of Beckman dropping explosive news on Chuck (Zachary Levi.) Tensions remain high as Shaw’s sudden humdrum attitude sparks confusion among the main cast and Chuck struggles with a failed mission to save and win back Sarah. How does it all play out? In a jammed packed climax of an episode that easily ranks in the top five of season three for this viewer!

Chuck’s Choice and the Surprising Outcome

We open the episode with a direct continuation from the last one, with Beckman telling Chuck that Shaw knows Sarah killed his wife. As the audience we were reeling from the shocking news just as much as the characters. Having Chuck vs. The Other Guy give all involved the chance to digest the news while seeing the outcome is a smart tactic for engagement.

Speaking of the outcome, we get to witness a frenzied Chuck run around trying to find help after Beckman tells him to stay put and wait for the CIA to find Sarah. Morgan naturally is automatically willing to help the search, for the small price of officially joining Chuck’s team. Casey remains rule abiding and is hesitant to help until Chuck claims that “he knows how he feels about her.”

After receiving a tip for where to get help from Casey, Chuck springs into actions with his team. His Team! (we will come back to this little detail later.)

While Chuck is iconically breaking into the warehouse that Sarah and Shaw are currently in, he witnesses Sarah learn the truth about her first kill. Shaw reveals to her that the woman she killed was none other than his wife. Unsurprisingly she is shocked and thanks to Yvonne Strahovski’s amazing acting skills you can see the sorrow coursing through her eyes. The impact of the news is only slightly dampened for her when Shaw begins to comfort her and tell her it isn’t her fault. At this moment, Chuck’s teammates break in and effectively end the unforeseen soft moment between Shaw and Sarah.

Cue the intro and the end to an action-packed opening!

Sarah’s Heart-Stopping Confession

Once the show remains from it’s jamming intro we are welcomed back to a few key scenes; Shaw wanting to keep the team together despite knowing that Sarah killed his wife, Morgan officially quits his job at the BuyMore because of him thinking that he’s joining Chuck’s team and oh yeah, Sarah finally admitted she loved Chuck! While all characters on Chuck deserve praise for how well they are written, this viewer can’t get over how well Sarah has progressed over the last three seasons.

Her admission begins after coming over to Chuck and Morgan’s house to Chuck for a mission, only to find him in his underwear holding a Guitar Hero console and Morgan tied up

with the game cords. Naturally she is confused and questions what’s going on only to find out the news that we heard a few minutes prior; that Chuck knows she and Shaw are going to Washington to head up a team to take down The Ring.

Naturally Chuck is under the impression that he is on the last chance with Sarah and asks the question that has been on both of their minds pretty much since the show began; does she love him? We all were on the edge of our seats as she took her sweet time to reply, even allowing him to ask if he’s making a fool of himself. When she finally does say something, we get a sweet little moment between them where Chuck mistakes her ‘yes’ for her calling him a fool. Sarah lighthearted laughs and says: ‘No Chuck…yes.’

That single word makes Chuck visibly emotional as he tries to understand the simple idea of Sarah loving him. She makes the situation even more emotion driven as she goes on to say how she fell for him a long time ago, even going as far back as refencing their first day in the pilot. Both of their reactions to the release of knowing that they love each other is phenomenally executed on both sides. The moment ends with a long-awaited kiss and the two of them going off to their new mission brought on by Shaw.

All of this happiness…..what could go wrong?

Shaw’s Final Choice

As we all know with happiness in TV, there is always some plot twist right around the corner ready to squash it. In this episode of Chuck that plot twist is Daniel Shaw actually not being okay with Sarah killing his wife all those years ago. While it’s not the most surprising of twists it does leave am impact on both Chuck and Sarah.

Sarah is tragically captured by Shaw in Paris after he dosed her with a pass out drug and all seems doomed until it’s revealed that Chuck and Casey found their ways. While Casey is off fighting off the Ring cartel, Chuck deals with Shaw. At first, we witness Chuck handling things how he normally would; by trying to talk out the problem. It’s clear that he doesn’t want to hurt anyone but Shaw and his robotic self threatened that he would kill him if he continued to bother with his plan to kill Sarah.

At this point it’s clear that something big is going to happen. Shaw managed to take Sarah away again after winning his fight with Chuck. We are left with a moment where Chuck is looking panic stricken towards where the other two are disappearing and then the shot that changes the whole episode; Chuck looks towards the gun that he dropped earlier.

I like to think that there was a universal agreement that when we noticed his gaze the simple thought of “..No Way” went through all of our minds.

The Realization

As we return to Shaw and Sarah, we are only able to take a moment to breath before Chuck shows up, with a gun no less. After a back and forth between the two men where Chuck tries to talk Shaw out of hurting Sarah or him and Shaw taunting Chuck as saying that he won’t be able to fire a gun: someone shoots.

That someone? Chuck. Chuck ends up shooting Shaw twice in the chest much to the surprise to the other man who quickly falls over the railing to the bridge they are standing on. Not before attempting to pull Sarah down with him though!

The quick action Chuck jumps to them and grabs Sarah before she fully falls over the bridge like Shaw did a few seconds prior. Shaw and Chuck make brief eye-contact before Shaw finally loses his grip and battle to the bullet wounds. As he now floats off into the river below, Chuck lets out an audible sigh of relief as he hugs Sarah close to him.

Heartwarming Ending to a Wild Ride

With Shaw now dead and the Ring Leader captured by Casey (who gets reinstated!! ) we are left with Chuck and Sarah in a Paris hotel room to discuss what just happened. Naturally Sarah is a bit hazy on the details after being drugged. Chuck begins to tell her that everything is okay but before he can reveal that he was the one that killed Shaw, you can see the realization on Sarah’s face. Quickly she goes over the story of events and says, “Oh my God, you shot him.”

Due to the season’s theme of Sarah not wanting Chuck to change into a real spy, the fact that she realized he killed Shaw sends him into a quick panic. He doesn’t get to say much before Sarah smiles and proclaims that “He saved her.”

They share multiple kisses until they are suddenly interrupted by Beckman telling them good job and that she has a new assignment for them. Obviously they are not in the mood to hear about works so they request that they spend more time in Paris before abruptly shutting the laptop and focusing their, ah, attention back on each other.

It’s in this moment that both they and we are viewers know something is forever changed between the two. After three long seasons of the ‘will they won’t they’ trope, we made it to the end of their friendship and have entered into their canon era.