A Night at the Museum: Breathless Lovers on "Chuck"

While Chuck's emotional heart lays in the thwarted relationship between Chuck and Sarah, it's impossible to maintain the will-they-or-won't-they dynamic indefinitely. We've seen both internal and external rationales for why they wouldn't end up together, not least of which is the pull between professional duty and personal desire.

Some potential love interests have come and gone: there was Rachel Bilson's Lou, Jordana Brewster's Jill, Matthew Bomer's Bryce Larkin. Each of them in their own way cast a thorn into our star-crossed lovers; after all, while Chuck and Sarah might be meant for each other in a cosmic way, that doesn't mean that they wouldn't seek out less complicated companionship in the here-and-now.

I don't think any of us would have predicted that Kristin Kreuk and Brandon Routh would provide perhaps the very best love interests for Chuck and Sarah to date. Yet on last night's episode of Chuck ("Chuck Versus the Mask"), written by Phil Klemmer and directed by Michael Schultz, we saw Chuck and Sarah each take an important step towards connecting with someone else.

So what did I think of last night's episode? Let's discuss.

I thought that the introduction and integration of both Shaw and Hannah were handled extremely well over the last few episodes. Routh's Shaw has fit in quite nicely to the world of Chuck, offering the team a charismatic if haunted leader who is determined to shake things up for the Intersect. After two seasons of Chuck being told to wait in the car, here's a guy who not only believes that Chuck is ready to become the spy he's meant to be but plans on helping him achieve that goal, sending him out on his first solo mission and making plans for his handlers--Sarah and Casey--to eventually pull back altogether. In other words: the training wheels are coming off.

Likewise, Shaw offers something very different to Sarah: the opportunity to be with someone who has lost the person closest to them and who wants to love again. And despite the, er, physical similarities, Shaw isn't Superman. He might be a dashing superspy who seems to have all of the answers but there's also a sweet innocence to his courtship, bringing her an Americano just the way she likes it (swizzle stick and all) and using their cover story at the museum to get close to her. Confronted by Sarah, Shaw admits that he is attracted to her (who wouldn't be?) and the two begin the delicate mating dance of modern couples. (Casey, meanwhile, takes his coffee "black and bitter." No surprise there.)

As for Hannah, she holds the promise of happiness for Chuck: a gifted woman who is slumming it a bit with her job at the Buy More and who sees the potential for something more within Chuck. She's not just the damsel in distress (though in this episode, she proved to be just that when she was trapped in the vault) but rather capable of uncovering Chuck's secret with her astute mind. The closer they get, the more dangerous it becomes. She nearly unmasked Chuck at the museum by getting those vault doors open too quickly, after all. But she's also a liability for that reason as well: the more she knows, the more danger she's in and their burgeoning relationship makes her an even greater target.

At the same time, Hannah is also driving a wedge between BFFs Chuck and Morgan. The look of sadness on Morgan's face when he spied Chuck and Hannah making out in the home theatre room at the Buy More was heartbreaking. We've never seen these two as romantic rivals before, so there's a nice tension here developing between the friends and roommates. Morgan's suspicions about Chuck's whereabouts may have been allayed for now (Hannah is a convenient smokescreen) but that doesn't mean that he won't stop poking around and looking for clues. Which does worry me a little bit...

It's also likely that Shaw will make the team more vulnerable by his very presence. The Ring believed that Shaw had been killed by Sydney Prince but now they have reliable (if now dead) intelligence that suggests that Shaw is alive and well. I'm thinking that The Ring isn't going to let him continue to walk around with his head attached to his neck. Look for this evil syndicate to step up their efforts to take out Agent Shaw ASAP.

I loved the conversation at the end between Chuck and Sarah as he tells her that if he has to see her with someone else, he's glad that it's a hero like Shaw. Sarah, for her part, shoots back rather sweetly, "What can I say? I have a type." In unison now: awwwww! It's nice to see these two have an adult conversation on the same level as one another and not have it be accusatory or vindictive. Really, quite cute in fact.

Chuck did manage to save the day this week and nearly with very little help from the Intersect itself. Nicely played, Mr. Bartowski. Could it be that you've actually been paying attention to Sarah and Casey's lessons, after all? As for Hannah, Chuck saved her life, after she nearly died from asphyxiation inside the oxygen-deprived vault and was rewarded by Hannah seeing her boss in a very new light. That Hannah can't quite remember why she was in there or the fact that the baddie actually locked her in there, we'll chalk up to lack of oxygen for now, no?

All in all, I thought that "Chuck Versus the Mask" showed a definitely improvement from last week's somewhat subpar episode and pushed the series back on track again. I'm loving the inclusion of Hannah and Shaw as the series broadens its universe to include some new characters and I'm actually hoping that they stick around for a bit.

What did you think of last night's episode? Happy to see Chuck and Sarah find love in other people's arms? Concerned that Hannah will uncover too much information about Chuck's double life? Discuss.

Chuck returns with all new episodes beginning March 1st.