The Making of Chuck
A retrospective with the creators of Chuck
Introduction
Throughout the five seasons of Chuck there were multiple interviews by various journalists with the shows creators, Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz. We will organise and combine those interviews, editing for clarity as well as brevity. We will cover the content as it relates to the seasons, characters and storylines that we are all familiar with.
Every Chuck fan has their own interpretation of what they have seen and heard with the 91 episodes of the show. The purpose of this is to pass on what the creators of the show thought and shared regarding their intent.
This can be a controversial subject with Chuck fans, many of whom don’t wish to know what Fedak and Schwartz thought. If you count yourself in that group then this is not the information for you. If, like me, you care about what the creative team intended then read on.
There will be a reference to each interview and a list at the end citing all the interviews. Some are written and others are video interviews. All were reviewed multiple times for as much accuracy as possible. I admit to my own bias regarding my thoughts on many of the more controversial topics covered. The whole point of this is to further encourage Chuck fans to enjoy the show we all love.
The Beginning/ Season 1
thefutoncritic.com published an interview on the date the first episode aired, January 24, 2007. Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz went to film school together at USC, with Chris being a year ahead of Josh. During season four of The O.C .Schwartz was looking for a new project and saw a script Fedak had written (gladiator story) that he liked and they had a meeting. Schwartz asked Fedak if he had any ideas for a TV show and Chris pitched the concept for ‘Chuck’ which he created after watching The O.C. and wondered if comedy and action based in a workplace would fly. Josh liked it and wanted to do a quarter-life crisis show so they had a spy show that had personal issues including comedy and romance.
They began creating the concept January of 2006 and a year later were shooting the second episode. It came together really quickly. As big fans of ‘The Office’ they worked the office-based comedy angle in with the Buy More. Early on they envisioned a villain or mission of the week concept as the main part of the story and seemed to know that a high-concept show like Chuck was very different.
The casting was another challenge. Casting Chuck with a nerd that a sophisticated spy could fall for ….. well, they say it best themselves in an interview done before season four.
”It was even harder than Chuck and Morgan’s search for Chuck’s mom,” Schwartz said, laughing. “It didn’t take us to quite as many countries, although close. It was really challenging. I mean, obviously, you know, we wanted to be able to … obviously Seth Cohen (The OC) was part of what we talked about, but we also wanted this guy to feel like his own character, and a man, you know? And we really wanted someone you could believe would be cowering on his birthday instead of wanting to go out and face people … his life hadn’t come together … but who, if given the opportunity and the right-fitting tuxedo, could also make that transformation and would be believable as a spy, as well, albeit a spy that spent a lot of time in the first couple of seasons hiding under tables to avoid getting hurt.
“And when (Zach) came in and read, it was instant. It was just like, here’s a guy that can hit every note, play all those different colors, who you believe is nerdy, but you also can see someone who drop-dead-gorgeous Sarah Walker is falling for over time, and, you know, just the whole package.”
Zachary Levi was cast first, followed by Adam Baldwin, both in February 2007. Yvonne Strahovski was also cast that month. Sarah Lancaster, Joshua Gomez and Natalie Martinez were cast in March 2007. Natalie Martinez was cast in the role of Kayla Hart, a character cut from the show soon after production began.
During thefutoncritic.com interview it was revealed that the ninja who breaks into Chuck’s apartment in the pilot is a stuntman and not Yvonne Strahovski or her stuntwoman double.
A retrospective interview published on uproxx.com covered all the seasons of Chuck. Their inspiration for the show was Fedak proposing what would happen if Jack Bauer wandered into The Office and took Jim along on the adventure. Fedak had a background in writing features and Schwartz knew how to work on TV, they both loved 80’s pop culture. The show grew from their thoughts with those core ideas.
They made lists of their favorite movies, tv shows and music from the 80’s with lots of common ground around Fedak leaning toward action and Schwartz with the background in teen stories (The OC). Hitchcock played a big part in Fedak’s thinking and the ‘Hitchcock blond’ came about because an original romantic interest written for Chuck, the character named Kayla, was written out after Yvonne Strahovski was cast as Sarah and Kayla was redundant as a love interest. Fedak later said, “Kayla was lost from the pilot because we don’t want to see Zac with anyone else (but Yvonne).”.
They had already filmed part of the pilot with Kayla in the story and had to cut it when Sarah (Strahovski) was obviously going to be the one for Chuck. They knew from the moment they saw Chuck and Sarah together that they would be the heart of the show. They mentioned both Almost Famous and High Fidelity as inspirations for building Chuck’s romantic story. Kayla was inspired by Almost Famous and character of Jill Roberts comes from the character of Charlie in the film High Fidelity.
The characters of Jeff and Lester were expanded after making the pilot, when they saw how good Scott Krinsky and Vic Sahay were. Harry Tang was to be a big part of the Buy More story until the actor was cast in ‘Dexter’.
Casey was always part of the plan, Casey and Sarah were in the style of ‘My Two Dads’ but as serious spies. The evolution of the concept for the show moved quickly with Fedak and Schwartz pitching the idea to Warner Bros and the pilot being filmed completely location in Los Angeles. The apartment used for Chuck and Ellie’s home was located in Hollywood in the El Cabrillo apartment complex, built by Cecil B DeMille in 1928 and a historical landmark. The Buy More was played by an area Comp USA store that was going out of business. (see location information on our location page)
After being picked up by NBC, the sets for Chuck were built primarily on stages 10 and 17 at the Warner Bros lot and they were able to build out the Buy More the way they wanted it.
Chris Fedak came up with the idea of ‘Chuck vs’ for the titles of the episodes after he named the second episode Chuck vs the Helicopter. The original concept was to do a mission of the week type story with the focus on action and comedy but after they watched Helicopter they felt that was not the right tone or direction for the show. It seemed obvious to them that the characters and their relationships had to be the focus. With Chuck vs the Tango they began the process of shifting the tone to Chuck and Sarah with their family and friends.
Morgan Grimes, as played by Josh Gomez, was designed as part of the comedy relief for the show. As the first season developed the fan reaction to Morgan was not what they had hoped. Fans of the show disliked Morgan, believing his behaviour to be creepy, stalker-like and interfering with Chuck and Sarah. Season one was halted by the writers strike in 2007, before they were able to finish the season. As a result the first thirteen episodes were all that they had for the first year. During the break caused by the strike, they decided to retool Morgan, he would be more like Alfred to Chuck’s Batman.
Chuck receiving the intersect from Bryce was originally intended to be a mistake. Chuck and CIA were right next to each other on his PDA device and he accidentally sent it to Chuck instead of the CIA. Their minds were changed when they decided to build the show out as a character driven, family story with a mythology. Working through the first season they settled on the idea that Bryce did it on purpose.
By the time they got to Chuck vs the Alma Mater they realised they needed to build a mythology for the show and characters. It couldn’t be a mission-a-week format.
“The heart of the show is the characters and what our cast does with them”- Chris Fedak
The original plan was for Intersect 2.0 to be what ended the first season but all those plans had to be changed with the writer’s strike. They wanted season one to end on a ‘save the day or run away’ decision. As will be discussed later on, many changes had to be made to plot development as a result of the strike in the first season and the threat of cancellation with all the ensuing seasons. The Jill Roberts storyline was also intended to be part of the first season.
What became obvious to Fedak and Schwartz was that Sarah Walker was the perfect example of someone who had their professional life in order but no personal life to speak of. Chuck, on the other hand, had a rich and satisfying personal life with his family and friends but his professional life was a dead end. The point being that each admires the others strengths and strives to develop that other part of their lives. Both had good reasons for being who they were but their relative strengths really matched with the others weaknesses. Two tv shows intersect, The Office meets Jack Bauer.
They were excited to develop something very different, a hybrid. Combining different genres into something that hadn’t been done before. The idea of Chuck as a fish out of water was jettisoned when it became clear it should be about the nerd who gets the girl.
Devon Woodcomb, aka Captain Awesome, was originally intended to be a villain and only part of the pilot but everyone loved Ryan McPartlin and he was so good in the role that they decided to make him permanent. Schwartz relays that the first time they heard him say ‘Awesome’ they were sold. The character was also a big hit when the pilot was screened at San Diego Comic Con in July 2007. In their interview on January of 2012, Fedak and Schwartz names Chuck vs the Nemesis (their Thanksgiving episode) as the episode they felt best represented what they wanted season one to showcase. It is also, along with Chuck vs the Imported Hard Salami, the first story arc of the show.
The Intersect flash in the pilot was originally designed to parallel an album of music. The first pic (apple pie) was the album cover and the other photos represented the data and then they finished with the album cover again. The flash would be different for each mission and each would have a different album cover. That concept did not last but it is obvious from those first flashes that the badass spy, Sarah Walker, is represented by a hummingbird.
After the writer’s strike began in November of 2007, only the episodes completed by that time could be filmed and produced. Chuck vs the Alma Mater aired the day the strike began. Episodes 8-13 had been written and some already filmed. The remaining episodes of season one were then incorporated into the story plan for season two. The last two episodes of the season had no writer input as they were produced after the strike began. The strike was settled in February of 2008 but the show had already been wrapped by that time.
The graphic novel of Chuck was written by executive producer Peter Johnson and series writer Zev Borow with art by Jeremy Haun and Phil Noto. It was written between seasons one and two of the show. The story line covers Team Bartowski fighting against many bad guys in order to help President Obama (he had not even run for President at this point). There were originally six separate issues but it is also available combined into one.
The idea was to take Chuck and team out of the Buy More and have them fighting bad guys around the globe. It was published by the same publisher, Wildstorm (a DC comic imprint), that produced Ex Machina, the comic Chuck is reading to hide his Intersect study in Chuck vs the Predator.
Season Two
They had money!
The relative success of season one resulted in the second season of the show being well-financed. Originally, thirteen episodes were ordered by NBC, but another nine were requested when the first nine were screened by the network. This was before the first episodes had even aired.
The creators choose guest stars for the show based on faces and names that would be easily identified and that aligned with certain character types. This would give them instant identification, and less character development would be necessary. Promoting those guest stars created excitement for the fans and got people back into the show after a nine-month hiatus due to the break created by the strike.
Casting Nicole Ritchie in the Chuck vs. the Cougars episode was viewed by Fedak and Schwartz as a high point of the season, publicity-wise. This was during a time when Richie had a high profile as a celebrity.
On a side note, both Chris and Josh commented that the fight scenes in both Cougars and Chuck vs. the Best Friend were their favorite ones of the show.
Action scenes were where Chris Fedak shined, and Cougars is a direct tribute to one of his favorite films, Grosse Point Blank. Schwartz commented that the writer’s room had a whiteboard that the story was laid out on for each episode. TBF was the acronym written in the place of the action scenes and meant “To Be Fedaked”. Although each episode of the series is assigned to a specific writer, the scripts for each episode are a collaboration, and Chris Fedak had a definite specialty. Fedak and Schwartz considered it ironic that Chris came in as the expert on action and Josh was the touchy/feely producer (The OC). Throughout Chuck they gradually switched roles with Fedak becoming the Chuck and Sarah promoter and Schwartz concentrating more on the comedy and spy aspects.
The elimination of Director Graham from the story was the result of them feeling that the Graham/Beckman combo was confusing, and Chris Fedak loved Bonita Friedericy, so Graham was out. They also liked the abrupt surprise element of his death.
The original concept was to have Sarah Walker in a different cover job every season, so the Weinerlicious was scraped after season one in favor of the Orange Orange. This season also continues the original concept for the character of Sarah Walker: action-oriented, gun-toting, amazing, but also romantic and soulful. As they went along, they discovered that Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) could also be funny.
The introduction of Jeffster into the show was during an episode written by series writer, Ali Adler. Neither Fedak nor Schwartz know who actually coined the name.
They cast Scott Bakula as Chuck’s dad because they both loved him in Quantum Leap, and they wanted Stephen to be liked even though he abandoned his kids. Casting a well-liked actor helped get them down that road.
The two most difficult episodes of the show to film were Chuck vs. the Colonel and Chuck vs. the Ring. They were only able to carry it off because they had enough money and enough time.
Ending season two with “ to be continued…” was an act of faith. They all hoped there would be a third season but had no word of a renewal. They loved the show too much to give up hope.
Fedak and Schwartz both expressed ,in a different interview, that they felt season 2 was the best overall season of the series. Partly because they had the largest budget and could put a lot into the episodes, especially the last two.
The ending of season 2 was supposed to be the way season 1 ended, but they had to change their plan when the writers’ strike occurred. The original plan for Chuck and Sarah to be brought together at the end of season two was pushed back. Much of season one story had to be told in season two which changed the arc of the original plan.
Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz admit to having favorite moments in the show as well. For Fedak, the motel scene in Chuck vs. the Colonel was one of his two favorites, and Schwartz cited Ellie and Awesome’s wedding as his favorite. They both speak with great affection for the final two episodes of season 2. When those two episodes aired in 2009, they were two of the most favorably reviewed episodes up to that point.
Alan Sepinwall participated in the Save Chuck/Subway sandwich campaign and even wrote a letter to NBC in support of the show. His two reviews for Chuck vs. the Colonel and Chuck vs. the Ring perfectly represent the emotion Chuck fans felt for the show at the time.
Intersect 2.0 was developed for a spy like Bryce Larkin; controlled emotions, dedication to duty, and no attachments. Chuck’s emotions and anxieties result in the glitches in 2.0 that we see in season 3.
In an interview done after Chuck vs. the Dream Job, Alan Sepinwall discusses the structure of the show with Chris Fedak. This discussion verifies what many have noticed about Chuck. The A story is the Chuck story; there is also a B and a C story. The Buy More story is sometimes the B story, but Ellie and Awesome are included, and those stories can switch spots in some episodes. They also attempt to tie the stories together thematically so that what Chuck is dealing with in the A story is shared with the B story and can also be what Morgan is experiencing in the Buy More or Ellie and Awesome are experiencing (ie trust, growing up, or making life choices).
In Chuck vs. the Predator, we see the issue of trust and betrayal addressed, and it carries over into Chuck vs. the Broken Heart with Sarah having to choose where her loyalty lies.
Chuck, Subway, and the Jay Leno Show
The fall schedule for 2009 came out without Chuck on it. This began the most remarkable fan-driven renewal campaign ever seen to that point. As a sponsor of the show, Subway became an easy mark for a sandwich campaign to make NBC believe that the fan base was serious about their love for their show.
NBC had given Jay Leno a prime-time show that would make money with product placement and wouldn’t cost as much as a scripted show would cost. Schwartz was told by the NBC executives that only successful shows would be renewed by the network, as Leno would have an hour show five nights a week. At the time, Chris Fedak was out of the picture, he and his wife were having their first child. Schwartz was not responsible for the start of the campaign; that was the result of the announcement that Chuck had not been renewed for the new season. Soon after the news broke, there was an internet and social media campaign launched by fans and the Chuck vs. the Podcast group. It was April of 2009, and the final episodes of season 2 were airing on NBC.
The campaign spread quickly with people writing letters, leaving comment cards in Subway shops, and buying Subway sandwiches as a way to let one of the biggest corporate supporters of the show know that they wanted it back. The movement was covered on CNN, the Chuck cast got involved, and the show won the ‘Save Our Show’ campaign sponsored by USA Today.
On May 17, 2009, the campaign received the announcement that NBC was renewing Chuck for a 13-episode season with an option for an additional 9 episodes. On October 28th, it was announced that the additional 9 episodes had been ordered by NBC.
As a result of the late renewal, many of the creative staff had left when the show wasn’t picked up during season 2. The last episode of the season aired on April 27, 2009. Production on season 3 began on August 6, 2009, and season 3 began airing on January 10, 2010.
Season Three
The original plan was for season 3 to begin in September of 2009 but it was pushed back to January of 2010 and got a big promotion on the network when the daily Jay Leno show didn’t work out.
They had a two hour Sunday night premiere followed by another hour episode on their normal Monday night slot. The original order of 13 episodes was followed by an order of 6 more episodes when it became obvious to the network that they had very little programming lined up (because of the decisions they had made regarding Leno).
The stress of not knowing their fate was difficult for both Fedak and Schwartz, with Fedak developing gout and Schwartz an irritable stomach.
The Renewal
NBC ordered the original 13 episodes and the season story arc was written as if there would only be those 13 episodes. Later, after the show had begun production, the other 6 episodes were ordered and the story for the 13 that were already being produced was able to be stretched somewhat to accommodate a longer story arc.
The budget that they had enjoyed in season 2 was gone and they had to trim cast as a result. Both Emmett Milbarge and Anna Wu were written out of the story, as well as rotating cast out of episodes so that they could use them later in the season, when it was more important to have them all there
.
As a result of the controversy surrounding a few of the episodes during the third season, much discussion has taken place among the fan base regarding whether the show creators violated the loyalty of the fans by developing the story the way they did.
The Controversial Season
This exploration of season three will attempt to tell the story from both sides. The perspective of the creators of the show, as well as the fans who worked so hard to save it so that there would be more Chuck.
Season 2 ended with Intersect 2.0 being downloaded and Chuck choosing to be the Intersect again. In downloading the new software, which was meant for a typical spy like Bryce Larkin, Chuck saves himself and his friends and volunteers to continue his spy life.
As season 3 begins, we see Chuck refusing to run away with Sarah in order to train to be a real spy. He sees the opportunity to make a difference in the world, to use his talents for good and take advantage of the opportunity he is given. It can also be argued that he believes he would be a more equitable partner for Sarah if he is a real spy.
He tells Sarah, in his speech during Chuck vs theThree Words, that he is doing it for her as well. She showed him what being a good spy is and he wants to aspire to that level. It can also be debated that Chuck has always felt unworthy of Sarah Walker. If he becomes a real spy then he will feel more equal and might deserve the love she has for him.
Unfortunately, because he is Chuck, he is not able to be the kind of spy Sarah or Casey is. He doesn’t have it in him to kill on command and he is unable to convince General Beckman that he can still be a spy without doing it her way. Controlling the intersect is a problem for him because of the pressure and stress he is under to perform in a way other than the way he believes he is able to.
This all leads to Chuck flunking out of spy school and his episode of deep depression from losing his career and the girl he loves. When he realizes he can still function as a spy but just has to convince Sarah and Casey to help him get his job back, the girl he hurt is less than willing to help.
Chuck Loses Sarah
Sarah took a huge risk in finally opening herself up to Chuck and being willing to turn her back on her spy life for him. When he rejected her she was hurt and angry. His betrayal closed the door on her giving him any benefit of the doubt.
When he earns his way back in, she agrees to work with him but she isn’t able to forgive him. When she hears what is on the thumb drive that Carina gives her, she realizes she still loves Chuck but she remains hurt and angry. His explanation does allow her to forgive him.
Chuck’s determination to become a real spy keeps Sarah from being vulnerable to him again. She doesn’t trust that he will still be the guy she fell for once the CIA is done turning him into a copy of Bryce, Casey or Cole Barker.
Enter Daniel Shaw
This is where Daniel Shaw and all the trouble comes in.
Casey and Sarah are both hostile to, and suspicious of, Shaw when he is first forced upon them. Shaw quickly determines that Chuck has been coddled and protected by Sarah and Casey. His determination to challenge Chuck is met by a lot of resistance, especially from Sarah, who fears for Chuck’s safety. As his training progresses, Sarah sees the signs of Chuck changing into a person she doesn’t recognize. He lies to his sister, betrays the trust of people he loves, manipulates people and burns his asset. While this is happening before her eyes, Shaw is showing interest in her as well as needing her help and offering support. Chuck also then begins a relationship with another woman (Hannah) and this gives the impression that he is moving on from Sarah.
The Fans React
This show always had a fan base that was invested in the characters. The campaign to save the show was a perfect example of how invested they were. A portion of that fan base was emotionally involved in the ‘Charah’ story. Chuck and Sarah had relationship fans/shippers who felt a sense of ownership and resented the writers keeping the two of them apart.
The ‘will they, won’t they’ story of the previous seasons was originally intended to be resolved by the end of season 2 but the delays of the strike in season 1, as well as the multiple uncertainties involved with the show’s continuation, all combined to put the culmination of the romance into season 3. Since the 13th episode was originally the end of the season, the story was written to resolve their relationship conflict over that time.
Beginning with Chuck vs the Nacho Sampler, the 6th episode, we see Sarah begin her spiral into despair and crisis while Chuck marches toward being a competent spy and deepens his relationship with a woman he believes he can build a real life with.
Shaw takes advantage of Sarah’s vulnerability and pain; then we see Chuck and Sarah acknowledge they have moved on from each other as they both turn toward another person.
The Problem With The Mask
Chuck vs the Mask aired on February 9, 2010 and then the show was preempted for three weeks due to the Olympics. The controversy caused by this episode did some damage to the popularity of the show with some of the fan base. As a result, creators Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak did interviews to try and address the concerns of the fans.
There were also concerns from the media members who were also fans of the show. The uproar concerned the apparent rupture of Chuck and Sarah’s romantic relationship, with Chuck seemingly seriously involved with Hannah and Sarah involved with Daniel Shaw. The episode shows a clear breach of their personal relationship as they both gravitate toward someone else.
In retrospect, it seems that Chris Fedak was more sympathetic of the fan reaction while Josh Schwartz seemed to get slightly defensive towards the fans who reacted in a negative manner. In their interview regarding the controversy, Schwartz denies any intention to prolong the frustration of the fans. He explains:
We’re not just going, “How do we keep them apart?” Part of your job as a storyteller, part of the writer’s jobs here on the show is to mine all of these characters for maximum conflict and drama. There is an overarching design to the season, these stories are more than just romantic stories, and people have to trust that the journey we are taking them on is one that is designed to give audiences both what they want and what they need.
It should be noted that there was nothing that could be done to change the direction of the show based on fan response. These episodes had been written and filmed weeks before. Fedak and Schwartz admitted to knowing the Chuck and Sarah “shippers” would be upset by the story in the episode but they also thought that would only last a week and the following episode would begin to resolve the problem.
But in real time they were pre-empted, the fan base erupted, and damage control ensued.
Following are the excerpts from interviews given at the time, in an attempt to calm the storm and explain the choices. This is from Alan Sepinwall’s retrospective when the finale of the series was about to air:
Josh Schwartz Well I think Chris made that point early on that as soon as you saw Zach and Yvonne together and you saw Chuck and Sarah together onscreen it was sort of an undeniable chemistry. So it”s a hard chemistry to replicate, right. I think people were probably more open to the chemistry between Chuck and Hannah at the time and kind of got that a little bit more. I think people had a harder time because they loved Chuck so much they had a hard time understanding why Sarah would go for somebody who is so different from Chuck in Shaw. I think Bryce, people understood because there was history there and Bomer and Yvonne had this great chemistry. With Brandon, I think the character really found its footing in the second half of his arc. Again, you cast people. Brandon was great. He really brought a lot and brought a lot of profile to the character and strength and was kind of the anti-Chuck and that”s what we wanted, but sometimes it takes a minute to figure out how to write for somebody.”
If you read between the lines here you get the message that they acknowledge that the Shaw character didn’t find its true course until Shaw becomes the villain of the story. After he turns he is an accepted character but before that he is not well written or accepted as a true rival to Chuck. Fedak relays his thoughts on the same topic:
Chris Fedak: And I think that once we found out he played a great villain, we found him. That that was why seeing him again this year was such a thrilling and exciting thing and felt like really good energy. But, like, we did “First Class” with Hannah and Chuck, it was a fun episode. People really enjoyed it. Then episode six where Sarah got a back rub – a back rub! -from Shaw and all of a sudden, God forbid – God forbid – she get a back rub.”
After the fact is when they figured out that the fan base would not accept any real challenge to the romance of Chuck and Sarah. They always knew the relationships in the show were the real heart, the center, of the show but as the creators and writers focused on drama and conflict they didn’t realize that the fans saw these characters as real and couldn’t handle a substantive threat to their romance.
The lack of on-air chemistry between Yvonne Strahovski and Brandon Routh probably contributed to the fan response to their character’s relationship, but the way the story arc was written also plays a big role.
Back to Normal
Once we get through the Shaw arc, when Sarah is in jeopardy and Chuck is her hero and her concerns of him becoming a different person have been overcome, then we get the payoff of Chuck vs the American Hero and Chuck vs the Other Guy. After Sarah admits her love for her hero, Chuck begins to grasp that he has to be willing to kill Shaw to save the woman he loves when Shaw threatens her life.
This was the plan all along for Schwartz and Fedak. There was never a doubt Chuck and Sarah would be together.
The original plan, before the season one strike and all the uncertainty regarding cancellation and renewal, was for this to occur at the end of season two. Being pushed back to mid- season three was how they figured to end the show. The original order for 13 episodes would have ended the story with Chuck and Sarah together, for real. Ending with the hotel scene in Paris was as romantic as any romantic climax could be.
The Final Six
The second half of season three, beginning with Chuck vs the Honeymooners, is commonly regarded by fans as 3b with everything before that, the Chuck and Sarah parting as well as the Shaw arc, as 3a.
Chuck vs the Other Guy was the finale of the show as far as Fedak and Schwartz were concerned. They had initially been told that there was no chance that Chuck would be coming back. Then after getting the go ahead on 13 episodes, writing and filming had already begun and they get the order for another six episodes.
Pushing the story back and still using Other Guy as the finale would have been impossible after the way the story had been accelerated to kill Shaw and save Sarah. The writers had to put together a six episode story line that would end the show…again.
There was no promise of a season four when this all started. When they did get a season four guarantee they had already written the second finale of season three, Chuck vs the Ring. But that was not the way either Fedak or Schwartz wanted Chuck to end either, so the hope was there as they plotted and planned for a season four.
Season 3b is beloved by many and begins with Chuck and Sarah leaving Paris by train with a decision to run away together (where have we heard this before?) and ditch the CIA.
Everyone knows this won’t work, it has never worked, but the adventure is joyful and we see a side of Sarah Walker that no Chuck fan has seen before (shout out to Yvonne Strahovski for her wonderful portrayal of a woman in love for the first time).
When Beckman sends Casey and Morgan to hunt them down and bring them back, we know that the show will never be the same but also there is so much to look forward to. Chuck and Sarah choose the spy life and being a couple. Beckman chooses to look the other way on the record but congratulates them off the record.
The last five episodes of season three brings Shaw back into the story but this time there is no confusion. He is a villain intent on revenge while Chuck and Sarah are bonded as a couple.
Ellie finally gets the truth about Chuck’s spy life, from Devon no less, and convinces her brother to give up the dangerous life that got their father killed and ripped their family apart. Presumably, Chuck can quit the CIA despite having the intersect in his head and without being knocked off by General Beckman. There is no explanation as to why this is allowed now when he would have had to be executed before.
Chuck gets the device his dad made for him, the Governor, to protect his brain from the glitchy intersect that he should no longer be using if he isn’t a spy.
The finale, a two-hour episode that makes Chuck vs the Subway and Chuck vs the Ring into a climactic spy/thriller movie, closes the book on the lies Chuck tells everyone regarding the damage the intersect does.
He still refuses to kill Shaw when he has an opportunity. “No, thanks, I already did that.”
Chuck and Sarah are together and the Bartowski clan has acquired a new member in Casey’s daughter, Alex.
The creators choose to end on a new story regarding Chuck’s mom and make it clear that Fedak and Schwartz had more story to tell. This would have been a frustrating way to end the show for everyone.
Luckily, NBC no longer had many hits in their portfolio and even though the show had lost some of its fan base during the Shaw arc and controversy, Chuck was one of their most dependable options. The official work for season four began with the official renewal on May 13, 2010. This was between the 16th and 17th episodes of season 3 (Tooth and Living Dead).
Although season 3 is mostly remembered for the Shaw arc and the culmination of Chuck and Sarah’s “will they, won’t they” arc, it needs to be noted that many other important highlights occur. Chuck becomes a real spy and ‘kills’ someone. Ellie and Morgan both find out about Chuck’s spy life. Stephen Bartowski is killed but leaves a device for his son to help him control the intersect and not be damaged by it. Casey discovers he has a daughter and wants to be a dad. Morgan grows up and joins Team Bartowski.
Season 3 is the turning point for the whole series. No matter how you responded to the stories in the third season, there can be no debate about how important those stories are to the evolution of Chuck. It was the pivotal season for the show and without the Shaw arc we would have never gotten Chuck vs the Honeymooners. That would have been a shame.
Interesting to get the creators’ ideas (and evolution) for the show’s early direction. They definitely made the correct choice in focusing on characters and relationships. That is the heart of the show, and it carried through to the very last scene! I hope they eventually get to make a movie (or movies) to keep the storyline going! Chuck and Sarah deserve a happily-ever-after…