A profound change occurred in Chuck Bartowski's being tonight.  In the past, epic heartbreak and betrayal would lead our friend Chuck into abject sadness.  He would retreat into his shell, feel sorry for himself and mope around.  Chuck, once again a victim of a stake through the heart, this time channeled his emotions and stood up for himself.  It may have taken him awhile, but season 1 Chuck would not have done the same thing as season 2 Chuck in tonight's final scene.  Chuck is evolving, which is always a nice sign for a lead character.  Things can't stay too stagnant, or it just gets boring.  Jordana Brewster, as Jill, said farewell tonight, though I suppose there is room for her to return in some capacity, though not likely any time soon. 

Chuck finds out that Jill is a Fulcrum agent right before Sarah and Casey inform him of it.  However, he has to keep pretending to be infatuated with her so the team can learn about one of Jill's Fulcrum bosses, code named Leader.  This is not a problem for Chuck, who is scared but still in love.  On a date at the local fair, Jill pulls a gun on Chuck, a scuffle ensues, a gravitron is involved, and Jill ends up in the government's hands.  Jill manages to trick Chuck one more time, chaos ensues, the good guys end up winning.  All the while, Thanksgiving at the Bartowski's is being planned and Big Mike enlists Lester, Jeff and Morgan to protect the Buy More from thieves. 

Jill's three-episode arc was a success.  Chuck has been consistently very good this season, and the last three episodes were the culmination of a solid half-season.  Chuck is growing as a character, the mythology of the show is taking some twists and turns, the Sarah-Chuck dynamic keeps getting more complex and the Buy More plot lines have been an amusing distraction from the heavier spy stuff.  I'm interested to see where Chuck goes from here.  The writers seem too sharp to keep playing the will-they, won't they card in regards to Sarah and Chuck for much longer.  I have a feeling the two are going to start shacking up soon, because there's logically nowhere else to go.  Jill's appearance certainly made Sarah realize her feelings for Chuck are stronger than she may have previously thought.  It's come time for her to act on those feelings, as she almost did in the first episode of season 2. 

Chuck stands to be a tad bit vulnerable over the next episode or two as he deals with Jill's departure and betrayal.  Other than that, I really don't where the series is going to head, story-wise.  The writers could spin their wheels for a few episodes and give us stand-alone “perp of the week” type stories.  Wherever they go, I look forward to it.  Chuck has exceeded my expectations at every turn this season.  As much as I enjoyed the truncated first season, it was wildly uneven at times.  The writers have found the right tone now.  Only if more people would actually watch the show, then NBC would really have something.


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of NBC)