NBC Synopsis: CHUCK IS DETERMINED TO GET HIS GIRL BACK-BRANDON ROUTH (“SUPERMAN RETURNS”) GUEST STARS-Chuck (Zachary Levi) has his pick of the best CIA agents for an undercover operation, but he has only one girl in mind for the job-Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski). Casey (Adam Baldwin), Morgan (Joshua Gomez) and Awesome (Ryan McPartlin) team up to help Chuck win her back.
Chuck This Ranking: 61
Dave’s Ranking: A little lower, not much
First Impressions: Post “Chuck vs The American Hero” Reaction Thread
Full Write Ups: Chuck vs The American Hero (3.12) by Ernie and Joe
Message in the Song, Part 2 by Faith
The Last American Hero by Joe
S3 Revisited: The All American Fraud by Joe
Alternatives: Season Three Alternatives: American Hero by Dave (and Joe)
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atcDave
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Chuck This 
I’m not a fan of S3 because of how Sarah’s character was eviscerated. However, this episode made me think that the budget challenges had way more of an impact than I realized up to that point.
I refer you back to the dialog of Breakup in S2:
Chuck: I brought you some gardenias
Sarah: They’re my favorite. How did you know?
Chuck: I’m not an entirely incompetent spy you know.
At the beginning of this episode, when Chuck gets some things to win Sarah back, Chuck gets red roses. It’s a minor point (although they made a big deal of it in Breakup – to show how Chuck was different than Bryce), but it’s such a basic error (since there is no way Chuck would make that mistake) – that it was almost comical.
Unfortunately OLI story lines are cheaper than fight scenes and that’s what the TPTB fell back too. So on rewatch, I just roll my eyes at the S3 OOC incidents and enjoy the good parts. Not many shows turn things around after jumping the shark. I was very glad that Chuck managed to do that starting with the last part of this episode.
Interesting observation Greg. I sure seems like a pretty basic continuity error.
I agree completely the later part of this episode starts to feel a lot better, like a weight has been lifted!
What I remember the most about this episode was how everyone hinged the goodness or badness of the episode on a tiny, non-speaking, 4″ x 6″, irrelevant prop in the background of a scene.
I don’t know if it quite rose to being a deciding factor; but I sure did appreciate seeing that prop!
What?! I’m not aware of this prop. What are you talking about? In what scene?
Glad I’m not the only one in the dark, Russ. I’ve been hazarding some guesses, but can’t bring myself to watch the ep to find out just yet. On a mildly related note, I learned today that Jack burton was a character in some 80’s movie, the name of which has already escaped me. Someone should write a book detailing all the dam pop culture references in this show!
The prop is the picture of Chuck and Sarah that was back on her nightstand as she was frantically packing. A small thing, but it sure meant a lot to me!
Jack Burton was the hero in “Big Trouble in Little China”. An excellent, and VERY funny action comedy with Kurt Russell in the lead. This movie has a double Chuck connection; the villain was Lo Pan, played by a younger James Hong; who was also The villain Lo Pan in “Chuck vs The Sizzling Shrimp”.
Dave, I totally missed that interesting bit of movie trivia!
Hum… I don’t think I’ve seen Big Trouble In Little China, which is dumb of me. I’ve certainly heard of it.
It’s one of those that now counts as a cult classic.
Apparently the studio had no idea to promote it when it first came out, so it tanked at the box office. But it’s done well on video formats.
I guess I was one of the lucky few who saw it in the theater, it’s always been a favorite.
That picture is not an irrelevant prop. It’s there for a reason. That scene is the mirror of the one with Shaw in the hospital. The two scenes are essentially taking place at the same time and show both Shaw and Sarah making a choice for the person they love.
This episode, maybe more than any other, really defines Season 3 for me. Just like the season can be divided into halves, so can this episode. I really can’t stand anything about the first 25 minutes. I mean, Sarah and Shaw on a date?!?! Sarah’s heart-piercing “I don’t [trust you]”?!?! But once Chuck locks Sarah in Castle, the entire feel of the episode (and season, for that matter), changes and swings back to the Chuck of old.
I enjoyed seeing Chuck take charge and commit to helping Sarah find happiness and give her want she wants, even if that’s not him. He risks it all to save Shaw, not only because he’s a good guy and a hero at heart, but because (as far as Chuck knows) Shaw is who Sarah wants, and he wants her to be happy. That is love. Selfless, unconditional, absolute love.
But this is where I really like to enjoy fan fiction more than cannon, because this marks the point where the camel’s back is just about to break. How many times must Chuck chase after Sarah? Especially after she says pretty much the worst thing she could have said to him – that she doesn’t trust him. If I wanted to psycho-analyze her (and believe me, many, many others have done it far better than I EVER could), I might think it’s really herself she doesn’t trust, but I’m not sure how to make sense of that or explain it, so I shan’t try.
But if you tell me you don’t trust me in that situation, I move on to the many other fish in the sea. I know she said she had baggage in the pilot, but man oh man, she’s a regular bell hop. At this point, I almost wish Chuck had forgotten Sarah and instead saved himself for Vivian (I always thought they could have made a nice couple if there was no Sarah in the picture). I do love Chuck and Sarah together, I really do, but like a lot of you say, I think you really must forget this arc to accept them as a couple.
Anyway, at lest we all survived another re-watch of this painful arc. It really doesn’t get easier to stomach with time, at least for me…
“I enjoyed seeing Chuck take charge and commit to helping Sarah find happiness and give her want she wants, even if that’s not him. He risks it all to save Shaw, not only because he’s a good guy and a hero at heart, but because (as far as Chuck knows) Shaw is who Sarah wants, and he wants her to be happy. That is love. Selfless, unconditional, absolute love.
…How many times must Chuck chase after Sarah? Especially after she says pretty much the worst thing she could have said to him – that she doesn’t trust him.”
You expressed it beautifully.
Chuck’s love for Sarah and his tireless commitment to chasing after her again and again (and again, S2E2) is a beautiful metaphor of God’s tireless love for Israel (which seems apt since Sarah is a Hebrew name for “princess”) and is also beautifully illustrated in Francine Rivers’s book Redeeming Love, whose heroine is also named Sarah. https://amzn.to/3bPHhzY
If we identify with Chuck, it would be easy to give up and beg for Hannah back or wait for Vivian. But if we look at it for Sarah’s benefit, what woman wouldn’t want to be loved by a man who (per Ellie) never stops, never gives up, never goes too far, and goes to the ends of the earth (4×24) for her? That man is every woman’s dream.
Sarah’s words to Chuck at the beginning of 3×12 (his “I need you to believe me,” and her “I don’t”) hurt Chuck but those are the words of a woman experiencing massive emotional pain and going through the second of the five stages of grief (anger). She doesn’t trust him because the guilt from her own red test and her spy life after that clouds her judgment, and with Chuck morally corrupted by the spy life, she (thinks she) lost her own chance of being redeemed by him.
Chuck is a double-redemption story. Sarah saves Chuck from a meaningless life. Chuck saves Sarah from a dehumanizing life. Chuck’s actions in 3×12-13 are a representation of Sarah’s redemption by Chuck. He saves her spiritually at the end of 3×12, when he retains his innocence (by not killing the mole) and twice physically in 3×13 (in the warehouse and in Paris). As you said, saving Shaw for Sarah and against his own interests is the purest form of love, the height of selflessness. It’s redeeming love, and we all want to experience it.
Excellent post! I would also add Shakespeare who said …love is an ever fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken…alters not with his breif hours or weeks, but bears it out, even to the edge of doom…
As referenced above…I remember being very concerned at some point in watching/re-watching about whether Sarah had decided before or after Casey’s confession to leave with Chuck. But I can’t for the life of me remember why I thought it mattered so much? Maybe I wanted to think that she Chose Chuck, even believing that he could have killed someone. Like maybe that meant she really did love him in at least somewhat the same way he loved her – dark flaws and all?
I could buy that…
I certainly wanted to believe that she was already intending to leave with Chuck, before Casey confirmed what had happened. To me, that did make a significant difference, in that she had sorted out her feelings for Chuck without the need for an external stimulus.
It mattered a lot to me too, I think that’s why we were talking above about how important that little detail of the picture at the bedside mattered so much.
Sarah had already decided for Chuck, Casey just helped her feel better about the decision. And I’m glad I’m sure of that!
Well for me it was such a strong Easter Egg I wrote a fill in scene for it lol. But I think the focus on that picture by the Director and editor is absolutely a clear indication that she had chosen to leave with Chuck. Plus the time on the clock is significant. It’s 6:10 and she is supposed to meet Chuck at 7pm. She is hurriedly packing and as far as she knew Shaw was still in the hospital and so there is no need for the rushed packing. If she was leaving with him she could have taken her time. I think all the evidence points towards ehr going to meet Chuck BEFORE Casey arrives. He just confirms its the right decision and clears her anxiety about him changing because of her. Plus I had heard once that someone from the writers confirmed she made her decision in Castle when Chuck left after kissing her.
I agree with that, Wilf et al. I always thought that the common interpretation was that she had already made up her mind to go with Chuck before Casey appeared, and that his words confirmed for her the rightness of the choice she had made. It also means that she did not have to bear the guilt of having helped Chuck to become a killer. I also really liked Casey’s quick look around followed by, “have a nice life, Walker” (or some such). He knew what she was doing and to whom she was going.
A very good point, Russ – Casey knew what Sarah was about to do.
I think Sarah was already packing to go with Chuck even before Casey’s revelation.
She could have been packing for D.C. (Beckman had told her to have a safe flight, so Sarah could have been packing to fly to D.C. that night or in the morning) but, if so, the scene was filmed all wrong.
First, you wouldn’t have the camera show the picture of her and Chuck on the nightstand right after he risked his life to save the man he thought she was leaving him for and after Chuck’s passionate love declaration and proposal to run away with him. That picture would just be a metaphorical slap in the face. What woman packs for D.C. after what Chuck did and still has his picture on her nightstand?
Second, that scene mirrors the one at the end of Nemesis (1×10), where she had to decide between Chuck or Bryce. In that scene, it was made clear that she had decided to leave with Bryce but was experiencing almost-paralyzing emotional conflict. In this scene, she has to decide between Chuck and D.C. (moving on), yet she’s not experiencing any conflict (although she’s not happy while packing). Yet, if she’s packing for D.C., she should experience a lot of conflict after what Chuck did and since she’s now known and loved Chuck for 2.5 years (compared to the two months in 1×10).
Third, when she first talks to Casey, she seems relaxed and even tells him that if he’s there to plead Chuck’s case, that’s not really necessary. What woman who’s packing for D.C. after what Chuck did for her that day would say to Casey that pleading Chuck’s case is not really necessary in such a relaxed tone? That’s just a massive slap in the face.
If she’s packing for D.C. with that nonchalant attitude after what Chuck did for her, she doesn’t love Chuck. But we know she loves Chuck, so either the scene is filmed all wrong or she’s packing to go with Chuck.
And I think Casey thought she was packing for D.C. He didn’t know of Chuck’s love declaration and offer to run away with her, so when Casey saw her suitcase on the bed, he probably thought she was getting ready for her flight to D.C. That’s why he said he wanted to tell her something about Chuck “in case it changed anything.”
Then again, he also glanced at the picture of Chuck and Sarah on her nightstand, so who knows what he was thinking (WTF? Bipolar woman?).
I think your assessment is exactly right. She’s decided for Chuck, but isn’t entirely sure/happy about it. Until Casey arrives and puts her doubts to rest.
“American Hero”—time for me to (yawn!) wake up and again enjoy the very late-Season-2-like second half of this episode. I’ve known a few real couples in love who—with only a tiny fraction of the life complications and relationship stressors that plague TV spies like Chuck and Sarah—have acted foolishly, poorly, and sometimes even hurtfully toward each other before coming to their senses and happily bonding. So I’m content to write off the “misery arc” as a brief lapse of reason by all parties and enjoy what comes next. Things are about to get much better. Not always perfect, but much better!
Well I completely agree things are looking up, starting with the terrific end to this episode.
But sadly, the couples I’ve known who behave as foolishly as our heroes do here, never work out. I guess that’s part of why this sort of story always fails me, all I can see is a doomed couple. I have to believe better for these characters.
Two odd scenes in season 3, one in fake name, one in hero. When Sarah didn’t die in Fake Name, at least I think (been a long time since I watched Fake Name) the camera panned away b4 we saw Sarah react to Shaw or Chuck, as in hugging or dialouge, i.e. which one of the two did she seek comfort from, which one tried to comfort her, or did she just walk away? In this ep, same deal when Chuck emerged from the building with Shaw. What did Sarah do? Run to Shaw, ignore Chuck? Thank Chuck for saving her boyfriend, then leave with the ambulance? Both scenes had the potential for powerful, emotional writing and acting. Instead, much like the final on the beach, what happens next is a question mark.
I remember a few times even back in S2 there were scenes that just had to end with a hug (First Date, Best Friend, Broken Heart) where they cut the scene before anything happened. It was obviously part of how they were teasing things out, I don’t think it’s uncommon on television.
But you’re right about those examples, and I would add the end of Beard. It just adds to what rings false about this period to me.
Shaw was not Sarah’s boyfriend. He was her partner (with benefits (?) that we never see).
Ahh, American Hero. To me its an episode that is such a mishmash of things. Huge plot holes, great dramatic moments that are completely ignored like they never even happened, incredibly stupid behavior for spies, stealth bomber airstrikes in downtown Los Angeles, huge 180 degree flips for Sarah and the incredibly offensive, annoying and incessant beating of “Shaw is a true American Hero” drum. When to anyone with half a brain would know that his “sacrifice” was incredibly stupid and not in the least bit heroic even before Chuck shows that he truly is one. But they were still playing up that whole failed storyline that Shaw was the perfect spy. It is anything but a great conclusion and justification of the god awful journey they took us on.
Again they had to make Sarah stupid and a terrible spy to sell this big reveal. She never once questions why she can’t get a signal all the way to the desert from downtown LA. She never notices that Shaw is wearing his wedding ring for the first time. I mean every single woman I know would absolutely notice if their one-time boyfriend who they haven’t officially broken up with yet was now wearing a wedding ring. But we have to ignore all of that pathetic spy work and basic human recognition because the big reveal is coming for Sarah. It just reaks of a messy resolution to a very messy story.
There are a few good moments in the episode, Chuck carrying the block of wood out before he got “burned” and Sarah’s reaction to see him once again triumph against great odds. The scene in Castle and Chuck’s blunt and honest speech. Casey’s realization that Chuck is still standing up for him and keeping his secret. And his decision to tell Sarah the truth, “in case it changes anything”. The Easter egg that she was leaving to be with him. Plus wouldn’t you know it has the only scene where there was ever even a tiny drop of chemistry between Sarah and Shaw. But it is all wrapped up in such a messy resolution to a very messy and poorly executed storyline. Its ultimate saving grace is that the end is near and we are fairly certain that Sarah has finally wised up and chosen “a good one this time”.
Pretty much agree with all of that. Pick up right after the scene where Sarah doesn’t believe/trust Chuck and this becomes a pretty good episode. I know Shaw kisses Sarah in there, but he’s not the first spy to do that.
I’m writing this part as if I didn’t know what happens in episode 17. I was positive, at the time, that the whole Sarah-Shaw “romance” started at Sarah’s declaration that she no longer loves Chuck and ends when Chuck carries “the block of wood” out of the exploding building. What was on screen was Sarah trying an exploratory relationship with Shaw (the restaurant scene was their first date, after all) but she drops him as soon as Chuck tells her how he feels. I never credit the attempts at damage control by Schwedak et al, I go with what was on screen. Still needed an emotional showdown scene, maybe a sparring session in the dojo gets out of hand (that would have been a great scene), to settle it. It would have made what came afterwards much stronger.
True but that is the problem with this episode and this storytelling. The scene where Sarah doesn’t trust Chuck for the first time ever in the series, and tells him to his face should have been a HUGE scene. It should have been a critical moment in their story, a turning point, something. But as soon as its over, its like it never happened. They could have run color bars for that amount of screen time and it would have had the exact same impact on the story going forward. Even though I hate the ending of Final Exam it fits perfectly into what must comes next in Castle. But then its simply dropped because we need to get to Chuck’s hero moment and sell the illusion of Shaw the hero spy turning to the dark side because of the big reveal to come. How do you write a powerful scene like that and have it mean absolutely nothing? It boggles my mind but they had to because Chuck and Sarah were getting together in about 40 minutes of screen time no matter whether they deserved it or it was set up properly or not. That scene should have broken Chuck and Sarah for even longer than Prague did because it was organic to the story being told and not just a contrived reset like Prague was. But even though I like the outcome, I really don’t like the storytelling here.
Casey’s interrogation scene in S3E17 should be completely ignored. It plainly contradicts what Shaw says at the restaurant in S3E12 (“I’m sorry…we should have done this sooner”), it misrepresents the relationship between Shaw and Sarah before that interrupted S3E12 dinner (they were not boyfriend and girlfriend; he was her confidant [with benefits?] while she was waiting on Chuck), and it obviously ignores that Shaw and Sarah’s first dinner (S3E12) was a parallel to Chuck and Sarah’s first dinner in S1E1. As Chuck said he could be Sarah’s very own baggage handler, Shaw here toasts to a fresh start with no baggage (Chuck). It was only after Chuck’s red test that Sarah had decided to move on and went on a first date with Shaw in S3E12.
Casey’s interrogation scene should never have aired. Like the rest of S3E17, which was one of the worst episodes of the entire show, based (like 3×16-19) on the faulty plot line of a suddenly faulty Intersect (after 2.5 years of working perfectly), almost completely driven by Chuck’s lies to Sarah and especially his father, and with a stupid central plot element (Shaw’s never-mentioned-before penthouse that was already known to the CIA/NSA anyway since they put it in the Intersect and that would have been swept by such agencies at the end of S3E13 once they found out Shaw was a traitor).
A lot of that is just the problems that come with the way television is written by committee. But I think the whole situation would have been completely rationalized if Sarah had just said “Shaw sure was trying hard to get into my pants but he never succeeded….”
All problems solved!
Yes, Sarah (like the rest of the team) was made dumb during the Shaw arc. They all thought till the very end that he was a great guy.
In a way, this is maddening (how could Sarah not notice the cell phone signal scrambling, Shaw’s wedding ring, Shaws attempt to kill her in the warehouse, and many other details?), but also endearing because it made Sarah choose Chuck in 3×13 during their “do you love me?” scene even though, at that time, she thought Shaw was a great spy who even forgave her for killing his wife.
In fact, the one thing we can say about Sarah (which we cannot say for Chuck) is that, even though she had a barrier with Chuck till 3×12 (Intersect, her job as his handler, Chuck’s becoming a spy) and no barriers with her other love interests (Bryce, Cole, Shaw), she always chose Chuck.
But yes, during the Shaw arc, she was made dumb to make it work. Her character was sacrificed in service of the plot, which is a shame—actually worse than just a shame since Chuck is a character-based show.
I am so very glad they never showed it, but did Sarah actually break it off with Shaw, or did she just choose Chuck and move on? i know anything could have happened “off camera,” but I kind of get the impression that Shaw always knew she loved Chuck, even when she said “not anymore,” and that he somehow just know that they were no longer whatever it is they were.
I’m not even sure she would have needed to “break up” with him, given how tenuous their “relationship” on screen (at least) seemed. They really came off to me as a matter of convenience more than anything.
As far as we know they never “broke up”. And in the elevator scene in Other Guy, Sarah sort of shushed Chuck when he asked about it. She could have broken the news during their flight to Paris. But I think it was just ignored.
It strikes me as funny that in Paris, Shaw explains to Chuck that he just wants to kill Sarah, so Chuck needn’t worry. So IF Shaw was perceptive enough to know what Sarah felt, he totally missed how far Chuck reciprocated. Shaw was pretty dense!
I’m pretty sure the three rounds center mass were a clear break-up notice.
I don’t know, Shaw was kind of slow!
My point of view on this is that if Shaw really had any enduring feelings for Sarah, he would not have chosen to make himself a target to bring down the Ring. He said explicitly that this was to get back at the people responsible for killing his wife. I see his wooden acting as a sign of such deep grief for his wife that he is an emotional zero with respect to anything or anyone else, including Sarah. I don’t think Sarah held any sort of deep passion for Shaw, either. She cared for him, as Chuck observed before he ran off to rescue him, but her relationship with Shaw was a regression to her skewed version of male-female relationships. Even when she was trying to reject Chuck’s efforts to win her back, she showed more emotional depth than when she was Shaw, except perhaps when she thought he was going to die.
I agree with all of that Russ.
There was nothing to break up with Shaw. They were never boyfriend and girlfriend. They were partners with benefits (benefits we assume since they are never shown). Shaw knew Sarah was in love with Chuck all along since he asked her after Chuck’s red test if she was “still” in love with Chuck.
I think Shaw would reasonably think they were a something, or just a starting something, from the end of Final Exam through American Hero.
Yes, that’s reasonable but I think even Shaw would realize that it wouldn’t be a traditional boyfriend/girlfriend thing. After all, he did like the fact Sarah called him by last name and kept things very professional. In fact, we see no affection between them whatsoever. I think he loved that. In Shaw’s eyes, he and Sarah would have had the perfect spy relationship that even Beckman would have approved of.
That’s a great point, Dave, and funny at that! It does appear as though they (TPTB) just kind of moved on, never to address it. They did that a lot this season…except when they regrettably didn’t (see that oh-so-painful earring scene in “Living Dead” for a great example of when they SHOULD have ignored it!).
Some of my favorite episodes of the series are coming up (Other Guy, Honeymooners and Role Models). This is the end of the worst and the start of (some of) the best.
Yeah I agree with all of that Martin. It does though seem funny to me that Sarah just moved on from Shaw like he was nothing.
Shame they wrote those scenes in s3.5, it spoilt a good run of six episodes, didn’t find it all that funny.
In 3×02 Carina mentions the bracelet and Sarah dismisses it, of course she’s extremely hurt, yet in LD she’s wearing the earrings given to her from a man who tried to kill her.
The earrings… I think that was an ill-advised last chance to have Casey really poke at the chaos of their relationship, you can tell that is how it was intended, but it obviously did not land that way.
Yeah, I just always took the earrings as a pretty “thing” from a man she had no feelings for. So score one pretty bauble and move along.
But of course Chuck is more sentimental and more emotional, so when he hears their history he is hurt.
Sarah, to her credit, rids herself of them immediately for Chuck’s sake. I can safely say my wife and I have dealt with similar issues. Things are just things unless they represent something to us.
Yeah; I actually take a lot of comfort in that. To me it just confirms that he was a fly-by-night thing. I wouldn’t even call it a fling. Just a place filler. Of course, that what makes the earring scene in “Living Dead” that much harder to take, but that’s a discussion for another day…
Beckman was given two EXTREMELY stupid lines in S3 this episode has one and the other was in PS and is so bad i’m not even repeating it.
This episode is middle ground for me; everything with Sarah is bad but all of Chuck and the other characters-not Shaw -is superb; in particular this ep has Ellie’s best “i’m your big sis moment!”
You know, when I first watched this I loved it, but the more I watched it and with reading so many reviews and comments here, there are parts I really dislike and I was going to keep my opinions to myself but I need to air them
So firstly: I didn’t like the early confrontation between C/S (that’s a side of SW I have never liked) wouldn’t it have seemed strange to Sarah that Chuck turned up all chipper after supposedly killing a man, this is the guy who doesn’t like guns and I know he’s changed over the weeks but killing a man is the next level
Then there’s Shaw, that guy is always around and that was a huge probably for me during s3.0 far to much air time, that’s why I am a firm believer that the evil look he gave at the end of mask was a plan to split C/S and keep it that way
At the end of Tic Tac, Beckman says to Sarah that she hadn’t forget about her transfer and she had a spare seat on her flight back to D.C. and leaves, the next shot is Sarah realising that she might be leaving Burbank and for good and doesn’t look that happy.
So now where back in castle, episode AH, when she finishes talking to beckman, I can’t see any regret of leaving Burbank but we are only talking seconds, so that might not mean anything
Now the kisses, I have to say I thought that the more passionate kiss was to Shaw, now whenever Sarah kisses passionately she always has her hands on there face which she didn’t with Chuck plus it looked like she pulled away from Chuck at the end, but then I could be wrong because she passionately kisses Chuck in the train carriage in 3×14 and doesn’t put her hands to his face.
During Chuck’s speech Sarah says “Chuck you don’t have” what did she want to say? something I guess we will never know and she does seem conflicted at the end of the scene
So onto the hotel, have always slightly veered SW packing for the train station, the clock 18:10, the photo, the camera work makes a point of, the time is not so relevant whether she is catching a train or plane but why would you have a photo on view if you were leaving to go to D.C. for the rest of your life and be with another man (creep) the music timing admittedly you could question.
And this and many, many things have bugged me going into s3.5 and s4, does she actually deserve Chuck, they say she’s out of his league but is she? in 3×13 hotel room he says “but I’m still the guy, I’m still Chuck”, why does he have to make an excuse, does he not feel worthy of her, why, she’s far from perfect, he’s a far better man (when he’s not whiny) than any other man she’s been attracted to or is that the problem, she prefers the good looking cold type, in which case she should have gone to D.C. and let Chuck move on. s3.0 really ruined Sarah and I felt it was a slight cloud having over her character and difficult to shake off.
It’s not that Chuck needs to make an excuse, but he is trying to assure Sarah he is the same guy she fell for, remember he knows by that point that Chuck losing himself in the process of becoming a spy is Sarah’s biggest fear
I’ll let Dave tackle your other concerns
Gee thanks Josh… (!)
For starters I would agree this episode, this whole arc, presents an unappealing portrait of Sarah. Mostly I recommend ignoring it. KateMcK’s “Chuck vs the Fight” presents a far better resolution for most S3 episodes.
As far as where Sarah was at here, I think she’s trying to invest in Shaw purely as a distraction to the role she played in ruining Chuck. But she’s been changed in ways Shaw could never understand, that would be a doomed relationship in any universe. I think you nailed it exactly in saying she thinks Chuck has lost himself, so she’s mad at herself and furious with him. In this episode Chuck pleads his case through both words and actions. Sarah strongly resists his efforts at making amends and she thinks he’s lying to her at first (perhaps the actions prove when the words fail). But he does win her back over; because he IS still Chuck and she is Sarah. It’s fragile at first (when Chuck proclaims his love and kisses her), but she does decide for Chuck and is packing to run off with him at the end. I think she still has reservations due to all that’s happened, but she knows she’d never be happy with Shaw. But then Casey sets the record straight and her reservations are swept away. The “mission” when Shaw shows up at the end is a meaningless distraction. It’s work, and she likely knows finishing this would make a big difference for her and Chuck’s future.
That’s my take on it all anyway. I’ve only watched the episode a couple times and it’s been six or so years now since the last time. I’m unlikely to rewatch it ever again.
Not meant as a bad thing Dave, it’s a compliment. Coming here taught me how to recognize contrived writing; it has saved my life when watching TV post Chuck.
I don’t mind rewatching the misery arc mask is the episode I skip though…when great actors look awful in scenes you know the script is awful.
Getting through 3.0 requires trying to understand answers to questions we should not have to ask at all.
Cheers & sorry Dave
Didn’t mean to go on, just having a rant out loud, but thanks, thing is I’m enjoying these reviews so I’ll carry on now with s4, which I have already seen a few times, possibly my fav season, loved Dalton but I won’t type any comments.
Read vs the Fight, liked and now looking for my next one, some are extremely fluffy!!
I do appreciate the compliment Josh! But it involved work so I saw fit to complain! Just having fun with it.
You don’t need to apologize Neil, if I didn’t want to respond I wouldn’t have.
I am very pleased that you have commented so much, this has been a fun couple of days.
I’m pretty sure it was mentioned, but just cover all bases, remember all these S3 episodes also have an “alternatives” post. That was literally because there came to be so much passion involving those who loved and those who hated S3. If you really want the big picture, be sure to read both.
And please don’t ever feel any hesitation to comment. Even things that don’t get a response remain a valued part of our history.
“wouldn’t it have seemed strange to Sarah that Chuck turned up all chipper after supposedly killing a man, this is the guy who doesn’t like guns and I know he’s changed over the weeks but killing a man is the next level.”
Not only that. Do you remember how Chuck looked at his hands towards the end of Tic Tac (3×10) when he realized that he almost strangled the bad guy to death under the influence of Laudanol? Sarah watched that reaction, too. She was there. She’s the one who stopped Chuck from doing it. Shouldn’t it strike her as odd that, only a few days later, Chuck is all chipper after supposedly having executed a mole a couple of nights before? But ok, I understand; she’s in massive emotional pain. The guilt from her own red test and for having dragged Chuck into the spy life clouds her judgment. I get it (to a degree).
“So now where back in castle, episode AH, when she finishes talking to beckman, I can’t see any regret of leaving Burbank but we are only talking seconds, so that might not mean anything”
Sarah looked away after Beckman’s words in 3×12. She wasn’t happy there either.
“Now the kisses, I have to say I thought that the more passionate kiss was to Shaw.”
Neither kiss was passionate. Shaw’s kiss was a tender goodbye kiss. Chuck’s kiss was also a tender one. She didn’t put her hand on his face (she had reservations about Chuck after his execution of the mole) but she wanted to continue the kiss when Chuck ended the kiss, and she did look woozy and emotional afterwards.
“During Chuck’s speech Sarah says “Chuck you don’t have” what did she want to say?”
Probably something about spies not having to express their feelings. At the beginning of the season (3×2 bo training?), she told him that spies don’t have feelings, that he must bury his feelings in a place deep down inside. Feelings get spies killed. And here he was telling her he loved her.
“So onto the hotel, have always slightly veered SW packing for the train station,”
I think she was packing to go with Chuck. She could have been packing to go to D.C. (Beckman’s final words to Sarah were “have a safe flight”) but there was no timeframe given to her about her flight and, more importantly, the scene makes no sense as filmed if she’s packing for D.C. (It’s 6:10 pm, Chuck’s picture is on her nightstand, she’s experiencing no inner conflict and looks nonchalant when telling Casey that pleading Chuck’s case is not necessary).
“in 3×13 hotel room he says “but I’m still the guy, I’m still Chuck”, why does he have to make an excuse, does he not feel worthy of her, why, she’s far from perfect, he’s a far better man (when he’s not whiny) than any other man she’s been attracted to”
I dislike those words. Chuck had absolutely nothing to apologize for. He should have said, “I’m sorry, I tried to talk him down but he left me no choice. I couldn’t let him kill you.” Period. That’s all he needed to say.
Cheers Josh
It probably seems strange me making all these comments after the fact, it’s not as though I don’t know what happens in the future.
I have a habit of watching shows and then thats it, it wasn’t till I started reading these reviews and comments (it it has been a lot of reading with every review and comment on every episode) that you start to watch more closely and view your own opinions.
This site is very good at doing that. I loved S3.0 before I came here and quickly realized what a mess it was after reading much of the analysis and comments.
Actually I think this is great, and I always hoped this site would remain as a resource and a sort of community for Chuck fans. Let’s face it, if you seek out a fan site for any show you are probably more interested in it than any of your friends or family, right?(!).
So here you can celebrate, commiserate, question or whatever you need. Now of course, so long after the show ran it won’t be the sort of vibrant community it was back when it was new. But we’re still around. And it makes me happy to revisit these discussions from time to time.
Yeah I’m of the same opinion, I am enjoying it but sometimes ignorance is bliss
I remember when s3 aired in the US, I was unable to watch it over here for quite a while, so I was reading the reviews on-line after each episode, then when it came to watching it, I was dreading it because of the attack from the fans, although there are some episodes I still will not watch after I’ve seen them a couple of times
I loved the O.C. (JS) again, seen it many times, so you would think I would have been prepared for this show, I think he upt the angst in this one though, cruel.
I am guilty of catching gossip girl somewhat regularly during its run if for no other reason than I did not have a TV in my room and lost the battle with my sister to watch anything else. It kinda grew on me, JS is a talented writer no doubt but I maintain that he should have stepped down before season 3 started if he was going to let that show leak into Chuck. It wasn’t a teen drama and he turned it into one, I fear he may have thought Gossip Girl’s formula was what Chuck needed regarding drama, he was very wrong…
Yeah I think Josh nailed it exactly. He plainly misread his audience.
Neil and Josh, if you haven’t already, I’d recommend the chapters of the Chuck Book that focus on S3.0: https://kellydeanjolley.com/the-chuck-book/
It’s the most convincing defense of the season’s dynamics that I’ve seen. Like Dave, I hated the first half of S3, but I’m at least content with it after reading the book, as opposed to finding it inexcusable. I’m still not a fan, but I no longer feel that it represents a betrayal of the fundamental dynamics of the show. The general point relevant to this discussion is that we (and Sarah herself) are probably underestimating just how deeply hurt Sarah was by 3.01, and should cut her a little more slack.
It’s also worth remembering that the live experience of Chuck was different than binge-watching it. A lot of the reason people hated it so much is because they’d finally seemed to be together after the fans had to watch them circle each other for two years. Watching that get taken away and then seeing those two be often outright cruel to each other was unbearable; I even stopped watching the show during that period.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’d guess that if you’re watching them all fairly quickly, the half-season isn’t nearly as draining.
Arthur
Thanks so much for the info, I read it a few months ago actually.
When I was searching for answers about where Sarah had decided to go at the end of 3×12, I came across his blog “Where is Sarah going” and then found the page for the book, very insightful and I will probably read it again soon.
It’s funny but this is the blog which semi convinced me that she had decided on D.C. (before Casey turned up) until I get to the bottom of the page and I see Dave had contacted him and mentioned the photo, which I went back to look at and changed my decision (and I’m sticking with it).
I’m just doing re-runs as I got the urge but I do tend to shy away from mask & FN but after reading the collective reviews of Fake Name and how important it is towards the outcome, I might pluck up the courage.
It’s far more than the nightstand picture. If she’s going to D.C., the whole scene is wrong. The 3×12 packing scene mirrors the one at the end of Nemesis (1×10), where Sarah has to decide whether to move on from Chuck or not. That scene is filmed masterfully and make it obvious that (a) she’s leaving with Bryce and (b) she’s experiencing a massive, almost-paralyzing inner conflict. Yet, she’s only known Chuck for only two months.
Here we have a similar scene. She has to decide between Chuck and moving on. Chuck supposedly killed the mole (bad) but then planted doubts in her mind and, for good measure, just made the ultimate sacrifice of saving the very man she’s leaving him for not only because it’s the right thing to do (Chuck is the true American hero) but because he wants to make her happy, even if that means that she’s moving on from him. This is the ultimate act of love, and there is no way in heaven or earth that she’s not affected by that. As dense as Sarah is made to be in 3×7-13 for the sake of plot, even she must have realized the significance of that gesture. And right after that, Chuck steamrolls through her emotional defenses and declares his love for her and asks her to run away with him, which is what she asked him a year before in Prague.
Are we supposed to believe that, after all that, she’s packing for D.C. with the picture of her and Chuck on the nightstand (a huge slap in the face) and tells Casey with nonchalance that if he’s there to plead Chuck’s case, it’s not really necessary because she’s decided to leave for D.C. anyway? Is this the heroine of our story, the woman who in the next episode tells Chuck she’s loved him since the first day they met?
I am willing to accept the that the story, the intent, was about how deeply hurt Sarah was. I can understand that. I may object on some other character grounds; but the main objection has always been about the entertainment issue.
And I think Arthur is largely correct about HOW we watched the show. For so many of us, at the end of S2 we FELT like we had seen a beautiful and epic screen romance unfold. Not to say that Charah would have looked like a mature couple any such, but the legitimate obstacles seem to have been overcome.
Then the rug was pulled out from under. That most dreaded of television conventions, a reset. And all told, it took a full calendar year from when things first seemed ready to happen, until they did.
So even if character actions maybe, barely, CAN be rationalized; the entertainment failure cannot be.
Spot on Dave. Entertainment failure was the bigger issue here. Largely because the couple we left at the end of season 2 was willing to give it a shot. What we got felt like the writers “shot the couple” it left an open wound that they continued to let fester. They were flawed as a couple but seeing them as a work in progress a year sooner would have been way better tv
I totally agree on the entertainment issue. I mean, I’m a big enough fan of the show that I’m still commenting on its blogs six years later, and S3.0 stopped ME from watching the show. Which is a shame because an episode like Fake Name was otherwise a pretty entertaining romp. For that matter, I still can’t watch a show like Legends of Tomorrow because it has Shaw’s face in it.
Six years later, I’m not watching Chuck so much anymore, so it’s become more important to me that it’s a valid part of my favorite love story than entertaining.
At no point do I recommend rewatching the Mask, however. Save yourself, Neil!
I have a defense of Sarah’s behavior in 3×1-13 as well, someof which may be based on Jolley’s book (which I read months ago and may have been internalized in my analysis of the show).
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I just discover Chuck and your blog helps me understand it better, thank you for that. My question is about Chuck and Sarah’s I love you scene. He said all the right things after saving Shaw for Sarah, but her reaction to the whole thing was most puzzling to me. Chuck gave her the choice to show up, and she seemed put off. He kissed her, and she did nothing. TBH, Shaw got a better kiss in the same episode, and he’d just dumped her. Chuck told her he always loved her, and she nodded like an annoyed cheerleader to a nerd, then he left and she was like, “oh, crap, that was awkward.” What am I missing? This was the moment I was waiting for and TBH it was a bit of a letdown.
A lot of what happens this season is hard to figure!
But I think there’s two things to consider here; first is a bit of whiplash for Sarah. Chuck had dumped her back at the Prague train station. She sort of thinks Chuck isn’t interested in her, at least not “that way”. Even if he is, she’s been trying to “move on” for several weeks.
Secondly, she hasn’t given any thought to how she feels about things now. So even if Chuck wants her, what does she want to do about it?
I’d also mention the obvious thing that shows she has made her decision before Casey arrives at her apartment. The picture of her and Chuck is back out in her apartment. So even if she is initially confused, she does decide for Chuck pretty quickly.
There’s also a clock next to the photo and it says 6:10. She’s supposed to meet chuck at 7. The way they’re both positioned facing the camera tells me Sarah is definitely going with Chuck.
Oh I forgot about that, good catch!
It’s way more than just the picture and the clock.
The whole 5-act structure of the episode builds up to Chuck proving to Sarah he is the same guy she fell for.
Sarah’s initial charge that he is not is the (Chekhov’s Gun) setup of the episode; Chuck selflessly saving Shaw for her sake and Casey’s revelation are the payoff.
The moment Chuck utters the first “I love you” and the song “Down River” starts playing in the background, we know this is the moment Chuck and Sarah come together. The song starts with “Finally…” and is about a couple’s reconciliation after a storm and about taking a leap of faith together. This song is the counterpoint to the two songs in 3.01 Pink Slip, “Wait It Out” (Sarah’s song) and “My Backwards Walk” (Chuck’s song). “Down River” is the only song in 3.12 Aerican Hero and is about a couple’s reconciliation.
Chuck’s love declaration is the pivotal moment of the series, the moment everyone has been waiting for for 47 episodes, and he delivers it perfectly, right after making the ultimate gesture of selfless love for her. There’s no way it doesn’t land. Just look at the way she looks at him as he talks to her; as conflicted as she is, she hangs on his lips and even has to remember to breathe as he leaves.
Sarah’s packing scene is the mirror of Shaw’s hospital scene that plays right before. These two scenes take place at the same time and show the characters’ choice on their nightstand (Shaw’s wedding ring and Sarah’s picture), and both receive a call/visit (Ring/Casey) that will cement their choice (Eve/Chuck).
When Casey visits Sarah, he looks at the bag on the bed and her nightstand picture and says his bit about hoping what he says might change things. She also looks at the bag on the bed and says it’s really not necessary to plead Chuck’s case, implying she has already decided to go with him).
That’s when her faith in Chuck gets rewarded with Casey’s truth and, as he leaves, he again looks at the bag on the bed and wishes Sarah a good life.
Is this ChatGPT?
ChatGPT, What is Sarah’s reaction to Chuck’s love declaration in the TV series Chuck?
As an AI language model, I do not have emotions or the ability to watch television shows. However, I can provide information about the TV series “Chuck.”
In the TV series “Chuck,” Chuck Bartowski confesses his love for Sarah Walker in the final episode of Season 3. Sarah is initially taken aback by Chuck’s declaration of love, but she eventually reciprocates his feelings. Their relationship continues to develop throughout the rest of the series.
Ooooh, much better!
Hi George and welcome,
I have to say I read this moment a bit differently, so I’ll set the scene as I see it. At the end of S2, Sarah is ready to leave behind her entire identity behind for Chuck, which is also the type of thing she never thought she’d do – the lief she’s chosen is somewhat antithetical to the marriage, white picket fence, American Dream vision. But she reverses her life course, all because of the depth of her love for Chuck. And Chuck rejects her.
So she hardens her heart, and decides that this was her fault – she shouldn’t have made the choice to run away from Chuck in the first place. In an earlier episode, she tells Chuck that he can’t hurt her anymore, implicitly because she’s no longer the type of person who would make herself that vulnerable to anybody. And really, she’s lying to herself.
So when Chuck tries to win her back, she resists, over and over again, in partially self-destructive ways. She tells herself it’s because she’s learned, but really, she’s hurt and scared, because Chuck’s rejection shows he might not be as reliable as she’d believed. Either way, she’s closed herself off to Chuck and told herself it’s never going to happen.
After he kisses her in this episode, the camera zooms in on her and she clearly has tears in her eyes. She’s in a moment of crisis, because for the first time this season, Chuck has forced her to seriously re-consider whether this is something she wants badly enough to jeopardize not only her career, but also being hurt by Chuck again. As the camera pans on her, she’s realizing she’s actually considering making the leap again.
Also, plugging Kelley Dean Jolley’s writing here, difficulty expressing love is one of Sarah’s character traits. The show does a lot of work making it clear how her life has oriented her away from being vulnerable in general, especially with her relationship with her parents. It simply takes her a long time to figure out how to articulate the speech in the next episode, and it’s a theme that recurs. Here, she’s simply left speechless.
Sarah’s reaction to Chuck’s love declaration is a mix of mesmerized, overwhelmed, and confused, which makes perfect sense given the circumstances.
The premise of American Hero is that, in Sarah’s eyes, Chuck is not the same guy she fell for because he has betrayed the promise he made her in 3.10 Tic Tac when he assured her he would always be “that guy.”
But then Chuck goes and makes the ultimate gesture of selfless love by saving Shaw for her sake and by offering to quit the spy life and everything else for her, and he does this right after the other guy chose a suicide mission over her. And Chuck does all this with a pitch-perfect love declaration.
Sarah is understandably conflicted. She can’t reconcile this Chuck, who is most definitely her Chuck, with the cold spy assassin he’s supposed to have become.
In order to understand her reaction to Chuck’s love declaration, we have to understand that (1) it has nothing to do with Prague and (2) it has a lot to do with Prague. Come again?
Sarah’s reaction has nothing to do with Prague because she forgave Chuck on the spot after watching Carina’s thumb drive video at the end of Three Words. The moment she realized Chuck’s noble, loving, and self-sacrificial intentions, her anger melted faster than frozen things in summer. All we have to do is notice the way she looks at him and acts around him from Angel de la Muerte on. Further evidence is her reaction to Chuck’s request to be together during the stakeout in 3.11 Final Exam, when she presented no resistance whatsoever. Season-3 Sarah (post Carina’s video) is a goner. All Chuck has to do is say the word, and she’s his.
But her reaction has a lot to do with Prague because this show is self-referential, and Chuck’s love declaration is a reversal of Prague. He’s quite literally reversing Prague not just in the decision to choose Sarah over the spy life, but also in the very conversation and their roles in that conversation. See below.
3.01 Sarah: Meet me at the Nadrazi train station in three weeks’ time at 7 o’clock.
3.12 Chuck: Tonight at 7 o’clock, Union Station.
3.01 She’s determined. He’s in emotional turmoil. She kisses him. He’s passive.
3.12 He’s determined. She’s in emotional turmoil. He kisses her. She’s passive.
3.01 Chuck: [I can’t quit the spy life.] There is an entire facility here dedicated and designed to turning me into Intersect 2.0 (aka a commitment).
3.12 Sarah: [I can’t quit the spy life.] I’ve made a commitment, and not just to Shaw.
3.01 Chuck: Me, a real spy, living a life of adventure.
3.12 Chuck: I want to spend the rest of my life with you, away from the spy life.
3.01 Sarah: This is simple. This is a real life.
3.12 Chuck: Don’t go. Don’t do it. Leave with me instead. We’ll go anywhere that you want.
3.01 Sarah: We have to go, Chuck. This is it. Are you coming?
3.12 Chuck: Don’t answer now. I don’t want to have to convince you. I just want you to show up.
And Since the show is self-referential, Sarah’s reaction is a mix of 1.08 Truth, 2.22 Ring, and 3.01 Pink Slip.
The reference to Pink Slip is above.
The reference to Truth is in the mesmerized look she has when Chuck says he’s going to kiss her. She looks at him the way she did in Truth when she thought he was going to kiss her in the Wienerlicious at the end of the episode.
The reference to Ring is her objection to quitting the spy life because of a commitment and the way she nods once Chuck blows past that objection and asks her to spend her life with him, whereas in Ring, he had asked for a vacation.
As for her conflicted reaction, it makes perfect sense because she still thinks he killed the mole and she was unable to save his innocence. You can see she drops her shoulders in surrender during the kiss, that she wants to continue the kiss after he pulls back, that she is sad because that is the kiss she was expecting back in Prague before he lost his innocence through his red test, and you can see her conflict as he leaves because she can’t reconcile this Chuck with killer Chuck.
But that’s where Casey comes in, with his love declaration. He will dissolve that conflict.
A few things I find interesting about 3.12 American Hero that I don’t see discussed very much:
The episode sets the stage for Chuck’s selflessness by showing that Sarah is mad at him for allegedly killing the mole while Chuck keeps his mouth shut for Casey’s sake. Sarah asks about the truth twice (in castle and at the restaurant), then she finally hears the truth from Casey, but the scene never explicitly acknowledges Chuck’s selfless gesture. Casey doesn’t even mention that Chuck is keeping his mouth shut for his sake.
Then we have Chuck’s selfless gesture of saving Shaw for Sarah’s sake, but even the selflessness of this gesture is not explictly recognized by Sarah as something that makes Chuck great in her eyes.
All that she brings up in the next episode about what makes Chuck “her Chuck” is the fact that he didn’t kill the mole.
It seems kind of a waste to introduce not one but two selfless gestures on Chuck’s part only to see them ignored by Sarah as something that makes Chuck great in her eyes.
I know that she gets it, but it would have been nice to actually see it on the screen.
For example, I remember that in Pride & Prejudice, there is an entire scene dedicated to making a similar point, with the hero keeping a secret from the heroine because he is too noble to parade his selfless nature. The movie Fireproof has a similar scene exclusively dedicated to showing that the hero is keeping his noble gesture a secret, and both movies milk the event for all it’s worth.
In Chuck, instead, the nobility of Chuck’s gesture in keeping the secret from Sarah is lost, and all that is emphasized is that Chuck has not “changed” because he has not killed the mole. The fact he hasn’t killed the mole on government orders is great, but it’s only one of the three noble things Chuck has done here, yet it’s the only one that is openly recognized by Sarah.
Now, I know there is no love for season 3 on this site and it would be tempting to simply dismiss this choice by the writers as yet another failure of season 3, but I would like to hear some thoughts on why the writers would set up the two noble gestures in this episode if they are not going to milk them for all they are worth.
Casey tells Sarah about the mole in the next episode.
Yes, but what I would have loved to see emphasized is Sarah’s recognition of Chuck’s two selfless gestures (keeping his mouth shut about the mole and saving Shaw for her) independently of Chuck’s inability to kill the mole.
Instead, they all get mixed up together, and Sarah’s only direct mention that makes Chuck great and “her Chuck” is the fact that he didn’t kill the mole.
The writers spend an entire episode setting up the stage for Chuck’s selflessness through these two gestures, but then never capitalize on them through Sarah’s direct recognition. I guess Chuck gets a thank you from Sarah for saving Shaw, but even that does not seem to be enough to make him “her Chuck.” And she never even brings up Chuck’s noble gesture of keeping his mouth shut about the mole, let alone mentioning that would make him “her Chuck.”
The only thing that, apparently, makes him “her Chuck” is the fact he didn’t kill the mole.
In Pride & Prejudice, when Lizzie finds out about Mr. Darcy’s noble gestures, she specifically apologizes for her behavior towards him, for her lack of trust in him.
In American Hero instead, we have Sarah tell Chuck in castle she doesn’t believe him about the mole, but never apologize to him later for not believing him. Again, the nobility of that gesture gets lost, and the only thing that is emphasized is what to me is the least noble of Chuck’s three noble gestures—the fact he didn’t kill a corrupt mole responsible for the death of hundreds of innocent civilians and nine government agents.
Sarah angrily telling Chuck at the beginning of American Hero that she doesn’t believe him is a big moment. It deserves an equally big counter moment in which Sarah openly acknowledges her error for not believing him. But that moment never comes. That’s not satisfying. There’s no catharsis for that angry Sarah moment in castle.
Actually, it was this episode. After saving Shaw, Chuck put his heart on the line for Sarah, kissing her in Castle and saying he was going to wait for her at the train, if she decided to come. Sarah did not respond at that time because they were building up the drama. They showed her packed to go, which could have been going to DC, but the picture of Chuck and Sarah was on her bedside table, which I took as a sign that she had already picked Chuck.
Before she left, Casey showed up and told Sarah that he completed Chuck’s red test. Sarah thanked him because while she had picked Chuck and was worried about him changing (as she said to him in the conversation in “Chuck vs the Tic Tac”), she had been upset that he had changed. Despite that, she had picked Chuck anyway. She just wasn’t happy about having put Chuck on that path. Casey’s confession told her that Chuck had not changed and she had made the right decision (because the one thing she was worried about wasn’t true), so she thanked Casey.
Instead of having Sarah acknowledge the selfless gestures, they focused on Sarah picking Chuck despite having changed. Casey’s confession just backed up her decision. It wouldn’t have made a difference to Chuck if Sarah told him she knew. Their moment was her saying “Yes” to Chuck’s drunken, accidental question. If she said that she knew at that point, Chuck would think she only did because of that. However, that’s not the case. She did anyway. The “Yes” was more poignant without them talking about what Sarah knew.
Before she left completely, Shaw showed up. She went with him because getting rid of the Ring would help Chuck. It wouldn’t go well if she blew off her boss and ran away with the Intersect at that exact moment.
The fact that Chuck was asking Sarah to do his shooting for him when they were in the elevator in “Chuck vs the Other Guy” heavily implied that at that point, they both knew she knew.
At the end of “Chuck vs the Other Guy,” Chuck was making a big deal about still being him despite the fact he (thought he) killed Shaw. Sarah accepted him anyway, which was the point
The next time Sarah saw Chuck or Casey was in the next episode, in Castle after Chuck sent the tank. I think the next time we saw Casey talk to Sarah at all was in Switzerland in “Chuck vs the Honeymooners.”
For Charah, it was always Chuck thinking he had to be a hero to deserve Sarah, Sarah thinking he already was one and loving him anyway, Sarah thinking she didn’t deserve Chuck Sarah feeling guilty about changing “her Chuck,” and Sarah picking Chuck regardless of what she thought he did.
They made Chuck make the grand gestures because _he thought_ that was the right thing to do, even if he lost Sarah, and Sarah chose him eventually anyway. They didn’t make it so Sarah only picked him because of the grand gestures.
Jeff brings up another interesting point that I think is underdeveloped in 3.12 American Hero: Sarah’s guilt. Sarah mentions at the end of 3.11 Final Exam that she feels guilty about Chuck’s red test since she encouraged Chuck into the spy life, but that guilt is nowhere to be found in American Hero. She is simply mad at Chuck.
American Hero is an odd episode. It’s the pivotal episode of season 3a and arguably of the whole series becasue it’s the episode where Chuck and Sarah finally make the decision for each other above the spy life. Their decision is consummated in the next episode, but it’s made in this one.
This is the episode the entire season 3a is built around, the climax of the thematic tension between Chuck’s balance of love and duty and Sarah’s want of a real life.
Yet, I think that, thematically speaking, it’s the weakest episode of season 3a, with 3.13 Other Guy as a close second. American Hero has the following flaws in my book:
* Sarah rejects Chuck because he’s become a killer but hooks up with the very guy who turned Chuck into a killer (tacky at best and psychologically impossible at worst)
* Sarah feels guilty for encouraging Chuck into the spy life, but this guilt is nowhere explicitly addressed in the episode.
* Chuck makes three great gestures to show he is still “Sarah’s Chuck,” but only one is recognized by Sarah as such, thus wasting the cathartic moment for the other two. There is even a chance for Casey to explicitly tell Sarah that Chuck is keeping his mouth shut about the mole for Casey’s sake, but Casey uses that time to again point out that Chuck is not a killer like him and Sarah, thus again placing all the attention on only one of the three grand gestures.
* Sarah’s reaction to Chuck’s love declaration follows the trope of “final suspense” (will the heroine choose the hero or not?) but, in order to do so, makes her reaction to the moment everyone has been waiting for since the beginning of the series underwhelming to many viewers (e.g. her reaction to Chuck’s kiss).
Fedak said that he thinks that storytellers often say too much, and I think he’s right, but season 3, and particularly American Hero and Other Guy may suffer from the opposite problem: it says too little and leaves a lot that should be said to Sarah’s nonverbal communication, which, as good as it is, it can be (and it is) interpreted in multiple ways.