12.08.2010

mxpw vs. Frea - Chuck vs. the Intersect / Pilot

Chuck vs. the Intersect / Pilot
Season 1, Episode 1, air-date September 24, 2007

Chuck is a computer geek who gets a computer full of information zapped into his brain...information that contains secrets that the federal government desperately needs to keep in Chuck's head...and keep Chuck, himself, intact.  Chuck meets a woman who agrees to go on a date with him, but she's one of the government agents who's interested more in his head than his body.

So in the first "Retro Version" of mxpw vs. Frea, the two commentators attempt to battle the boredom of hiatus with an episode that regularly shows up on favorite lists of Chuck bloggers everywhere.  Last week, there was no optimist.  This week, there is no pessimist.  Amazing how that balances out.

Unfortunately, the monkey minions chained to the keyboard were unable to capture the first part of the conversation between our esteemed episode critics (or it was about Fates/Fortune and contained spoilers), so we now take you to your regularly scheduled mxpw vs. Frea, already in session:


Frea: ...and wow her accent fluctuated so much in the Pilot.

mxpw: I know!

mxpw: I was thinking that too.

Frea: At times it was the deeper accent of later seasons, but she got kind of high pitched and breathy at points

mxpw: During the roof scene is where I noticed it the most.

Frea: Me too!

mxpw: Her accent was really showing then.

Frea: Also when she and Chuck were walking on the overpass

Frea: She sounded like somebody who had spent the first ten years or so in Australia, but who has been stateside for awhile.

mxpw: Honestly, considering how young she was and the fact that this was her first major role, and in America no less, it's amazing her accent was as good as it was.

Frea: Agreed.

mxpw: I think that's actually what I noticed most during my re-watch: How young they all were. But especially Yvonne. She looked like such a baby! She was only like 24 when they filmed the Pilot, I think, and it shows.

Frea: Heee!!! I was thinking the same thing.


Frea: And also that Sarah Lancaster had a really weird thing where she kept looking down.

mxpw: Maybe she just didn't want to look at Josh Gomez.

Frea: Also, noticed some new fun things I hadn't seen before

mxpw: Oh?

Frea: The scene where Ellie and Chuck are talking at the fountain that no girl wants to hear the ex-girlfriend story.

Frea: In the background, you see Morgan and Awesome cleaning up and then Awesome tosses something into a trash bag Morgan's holding, and fist-pumps. It made me giggle.

mxpw: I love that opening scene with the parade of women. The vacant-looking red head was the best part.

mxpw: I've seen that episode like six times and I don't think I've noticed that bit before.



mxpw: Good catch!

Frea: I will always have my issues the parade of women, but I enjoy it for what it is.

Frea: The staring into the camera trick they used in the pilot is something I'm glad didn't stick around very long.

mxpw: It gave us, in my mind, still one of the best sight gags of the whole series.

Frea: Though it was hilarious in the dancing scene.

mxpw: Bryce dropping from the ceiling and the "(Not an accountant)" under his name.

Frea: The side-swiped titles! Honestly, I miss those.

mxpw: There's a lot of stuff in the Pilot they didn't keep!

mxpw: Like, for instance, Chuck doesn't react when he flashes in the Pilot.

Frea: I even made a little sweeping motion with my right hand when the (not an accountant) slide came in.

Frea: Yes, he just sort of tranced out, didn't he? He actually looked a little forlorn during his flash while he was on the overpass on the date with Sarah. And Sarah was just all, "Did I break my date?"

mxpw: Hahaha, yes. You could hear the slight nervousness in her voice.

Frea: Every time I watch the date, I have a hard time not squeeing like a total fangirl, not going to lie.

mxpw: And as Phase Three showed us, apparently Sarah does actually consider that their first date.

Frea: "He had me at baggage handler."

mxpw: Yeah, pretty much, though I really do think the ballerina scene was what really did it. Baggage handler just sealed the deal.

Frea: I mean, they really did look like they were just having fun in the faraway shots while Casey was in the Suburban watching them. I can understand why she would consider that their first date.

mxpw: I have to admit, I have trouble not squeeing like a fangirl too while watching the start of their relationship. They looked so fun and natural together.

mxpw: Yes, exactly! I never actually noticed that before until now, but you could tell they just clicked.

mxpw: It kinda makes me want to pull Sarah aside and be all like, "So, Sarah, if I told you four years from now you'd be marrying this guy, what would you say?"

Frea: I think after the first half of the date, she would be like, "Um, it takes me four years?"

mxpw: Heee

Frea: "Oh, whoops. I meant, what? He's an asset!"

mxpw: Yeah, I can totally see that.

Frea: So I have a confession to make:

Frea: This is my most-watched episode of Chuck. I've seen it too many times to count. And I had more than enough evidence of that when I was quoting along with the entire thing on my rewatch.

mxpw: Haha. I can say I've seen this episode more than any other as well, I think. The only possible competition is Seduction, DeLorean, and Colonel. I've only seen Phase Three four times so it doesn't make the cut.

mxpw: But since you brought it up, favorite quote?

Frea: "Thanks for the tip, Ponch!"

Frea: "What's that, sir? Xerox machines? On it!"

mxpw: Mine is still probably, "Whooooa! Computer emergency!"

mxpw: It's all in the delivery.

Frea: I remember that being sooooo hyped in the promos for the show and being so excited for the episode based on that alone.

mxpw: Although I have to say, I laughed rather hard for some reason when Chuck was rambling about his future plans to Sarah in the car after they went down the stairs. "And maybe someday become Assistant Manager, but I don't even know if I want that." Again, it was all in Zac's delivery. Kinda sheepish and fading off like he realized how unimportant what he was saying was.

Frea: While watching that this time, I was like, "Why are they staying in the car? Why is she not driving away?" You can see her looking around for Casey and his goons, keeping an eye out (except, of course, for the direction he actually comes from), but she's not even attempting to start the car or anything. It was kind of like, "Oh, let's wait here so we can use the really cool sideways T-bone shot."

mxpw: Heh, yeah. The Chuck Pilot is one of the best pilots I've ever seen, but it is not without its flaws. Even though it might not seem like that from all our gushing.

Frea: Some really clunky dialogue, especially for Sarah, and some really cheese-ball things, but I don't care, really. I love this Pilot so much.

mxpw: It's always really bothered me about the inter-agency rivalry that they have in this episode. Like the idea that nobody on Casey's team (including Casey himself, Mr. Semper Fi) had any problem with killing a fellow government agent just doing her job was really a kind of discordant aspect of the episode. I mean, it made for some great scenes, but it was weird.

mxpw: Also, you know what I realized? They never catch the bad guy! At least, I don't think. This is like the only episode where that's happened.

Frea: Yeah, they never caught him. I was thinking about that. Maybe he can come back. The scene in the Large Mart is kind of over the top with Chuck getting freaked out about him being followed, only to repeatedly fake out with power tools, but I love the hilarious "Terminator vibe" line after we see the guy walk threateningly right at the camera. Excellent writing/sight gag.

mxpw: Actually, I think the best sight gag in that scene is the beginning with the "Astro Diapers."

mxpw: That cracks me up every time.

Frea: I know! Me too!



Frea: I love that Chuck's computer monitor has a post-it note that reads "I am a Professional Nerd" on it.

mxpw: Speaking of great sight gags, although this is more an aural gag, I always loved the end with the Ennio Morricone music playing in the background. You think it's the soundtrack, until they pan over to Morgan and you see he's actually playing the music himself.

Frea: We're about to jump into the shallow end of the pool. One of my all-time favorite Chuck expressions happens while Fistful of Dollars is playing--his sneer before Harry Tang bumps him. Oh geez. I, ah, may put that on slow-motion. The man has a very sexy sneer. And the producers really do have a point that Yvonne Strahovski is their saving grace, as she can make Zac Levi look average by comparison.

Frea: But hey, since we're already in the shallow end, how about that date prep montage? Yowza!

mxpw: Oh there's my opening!

mxpw: You read my mind. I was trying to think of how I could introduce the date prep montage, heh.

Frea: Just helping a buddy out.

mxpw: Thank you for doing my work for me.

mxpw: So, even after four years of some really great scenes, that's still one of the best moments of SWP on the show. It was hot. Probably mostly unnecessary, but still completely appreciated.



mxpw: I mean, she looked really, really good. But I do think that scene, and the scene at the end when she's looking at the Cabo pictures, really showed how young she looked back then.
Yvonne has changed a lot since the Pilot, that's for sure.

Frea: I think she looked her youngest when the Suburban was coming at her and she threw the knife at the road block button. Also, kind of a defining Sarah moment, the fact that she seemed kind of exhilarated rather than frightened to be facing down the GovernmentWorkerMobile.


mxpw: The Sarah from the Pilot is pretty different from even the Sarah from Helicopter, I think. She had an edge to her that gradually dulled throughout S1. It's funny, but that scene Chuck sees in the Intersect at the very end is still, I think, the most efficiently brutal we've ever seen Sarah be on the show. It does make you wonder what she used to be like before she met Chuck.

Frea: According to Phase Three: Graham's wild-card enforcer.

mxpw: I guess Phase Three gave us a hint of that, but I still don't believe Casey's comments about her being a wildcard enforcer for Graham. She's too methodical for that.

mxpw: Ha!

Frea: Great minds, my dear Maximus, great minds.

Frea: I agree; I took a lot of Fates Sarah's characterization from the Pilot and then from Helicopter. From the pilot, Casey's the most underdeveloped, the brutal enforcer type that doesn't mind burning down buildings and leaving bodies in his wake. The scene on the helipad proves that; I got vibes of Whedon characters from Casey's sort of "Bored now" acting and rambling about going out for pancakes. I don't think he became "a patriot" until much later in the development after the Pilot, for example.

mxpw: I think you're right about Casey being fairly underdeveloped or that he didn't become a patriot until later. He was too brutal and indiscriminate for that. But I don't know, I still think Sarah is almost as underdeveloped. We can guess that her motivations for doing what she does are because she wants to clear her name, but it's never really clear why she acts the way she does. At least with Casey, you can kinda glean why he is the way he is: he's a burnout, a junkyard dog unleashed to deal with problems.

Frea: I think she's underdeveloped, writing-wise, but I think Yvonne makes up for a lot of that, even then. She really does put a lot into that character, which was why I liked her from day one. I guess I bought too deeply into the date scene because I never questioned why she would be there. One dude burned her, and the other's cute and rambly and funny. I know, Frea the feminist is categorizing Sarah solely because of her interest in a guy. Oh geez, what is the world coming to?!

mxpw: Oh I'm not denying that once she goes on the date, her primary motivation is protecting Chuck. I'm talking mostly about before that. I mean, it's not even really clear why she'd even need to clear her name until she talks about "Bruce" and then the end with the pictures.

Frea: See, I thought, "She's going to be so much fun," the instant she ripped off her ninja mask in the car. Of course, this was three plus years ago, so I can't remember if I was like, "Called it!" or not, but I might have been.

Frea: Oh! Speaking of Sarah, she's the cause of one of my all-time favorite exchanges and Chuck actions in this episode. The Vicki Vale rap and the phone/folder drop!

mxpw: Haha, yes, that's one of the better first meetings I've ever seen on a TV show. Though, I have to say, it's a little hard to concentrate during that scene with the way Sarah smiles throughout it. She makes my brain mushy.

Frea: Also, nice soft Gaussian blur glow filter on her close-up.

mxpw: Yes. I think that the writers from today should take lessons from their own history about how to use the Buy More. I thought their use in the Pilot is fairly perfect. Just the right amount, with the right tone. Granted, things have changed so much that they'd never be able to quite capture that feel again, but man, if they could even come close...

Frea: The Buy More was definitely so much more prevalent during the first season because it meant more to Chuck. I'm about to surprise you, but one of the things I love about this episode is Morgan. I love Josh Gomez's delivery of every single line he had. I love his freaked out happy twirl away when he confirms that Chuck is free to go on a date with Sarah. I love his adoration of the Herder: "This baby's riding on chrome...or plastic!" I thought his lack of boundaries was hilarious as opposed to annoying as it later became. And something new I picked up, when Morgan wakes Chuck up post-Intersect download, Chuck asks him, "Did you spike my punch?" And Morgan happily goes, "Yes!"



mxpw: I wish I could have been on set for the filming of the ninja scene, because I really want to know how JG and ZL got through the end of that scene without cracking up and how many takes it took.

mxpw: But yes, I actually agree with you about Morgan. I think the Pilot is one of his best episodes pre-S3.

mxpw: He was pretty much perfectly used.

Frea: "Why, Sarah! What manly shoulders you have!"

mxpw: Haha

mxpw: They did look rather broad, didn't they?

Frea: The better for her to carry the weight of the world during S3, my dear.

mxpw: Of course, I've long suspected that that was a male stuntman in that scene, so...

mxpw: Oh man! The idea that S3 Sarah would ever come about after watching the Pilot is like... It boggles the mind.

Frea: I love that Chuck uses his brain, not the Intersect, to save the day. Casey's line, "That's not an X-Box. And you are not an X-Man" is a little too nerd-aware for him, but I love it. And I love that Chuck's like, "I know, but this has a DOS override and I can think outside the box!"

Frea: Of course, that also leads to one of my all-time favorite lines, "Don't puke on the C4."

mxpw: Yeah... I was just thinking that earlier. It's actually rather depressing seeing what Chuck was like in the Pilot. Here's a guy who was completely overwhelmed and had no idea what he was doing demanding that he be allowed to solve a problem. And yet we have Chuck from FOD through Leftovers in S4 who seems to be incapable of tying his shoes on his own.

mxpw: It really does seem at times like Chuck is the only character on the show who hasn't really grown.

Frea: His progress was excellent....right up until Ring I.

mxpw: *sigh* Yeah.

mxpw: So is there anything else you want to talk about before we wrap things up?

mxpw: Oh, I guess we would be remiss without mentioning Ellie and Awesome.

Frea: Well, yeah.



Frea: The amusing thing about Awesome was when this was written and made, they were still planning to make him evil, right?

mxpw: Ellie's line about inviting real, live women to the party still amuses me to this day. You can tell she know she has a nerd for a brother.

mxpw: Yes, they were initially going to make Awesome a Russian spy, I believe. But decided not to when he clicked with the audience.

Frea: I'm so glad he clicked with the audience.

mxpw: Glad they decided not to. That would diminish the great "Group hug! Awesome!" bit at the end.

Frea: Which remains today one of my favorite moments of the series.

Frea:   I love Ellie in this episode. I remember being so excited to see that Sarah Lancaster was on the show. I was a huge fan of hers before she came on, thanks to her work on Everwood (even though she played what was kind of viewed as the Shaw character of that show, minus the bad acting) and a few other shows that I had seen. I think the only time I was more excited to discover something about this show was when they first debuted the opening credits in either Wookie or Tango because it's one of my two favorite Cake songs and has been since freshman year of college. But yeah, so happy to see Sarah Lancaster, and her scenes with Josh Gomez never failed to make me laugh. She plays protective older sister very well and she's got great comedic timing. Makes me wish we had more moments like this and Truth,, really.

mxpw: I think my favorite Ellie bit in the Pilot is after the party and Morgan comes out to sit next to her and is talking and talking and Ellie just doesn't speak throughout the whole scene and just like walks away. Pretty much every scene with her and Morgan in the episode are great.


Frea: It's just great to visit the start of it all sometimes. Nice to see where we've been and where we are now, really. Sure, the Pilot's far from perfect (definitely some continuity errors like they forgot their own timeline a few times and Chuck's room is completely pitch-dark outside in the beginning, yet it's early evening in the courtyard at the party; and Bryce's blood-stained shirt looks like he'd drained the blood of an animal sacrifice on it, which may have granted him his awesome parkour abilities during that scene), but it's just so much fun. Excellent chemistry between all of the cast members, great writing for the most part, an excellent premise, awesome stunt-work, the full on animal shapes in Chuck's curls...Man! I want to watch it again!

mxpw: I can't say I blame you for wanting to watch it again. You pretty much said all I want to say. I mean, it's a great episode, still funny even after all this time, has awesome SWP, Chuck was extremely likable and charming, Morgan was likable, the humor was more subtle than it usually is on the show, which I really appreciate, and it's the start of my favorite fictional relationship ever. What's not to love?

Frea: The line reading "He's coming with me," but other than that? Nothing! Hee. Which episode are we watching next week, Maximus?

mxpw: That would be one of the best episodes ever! Okay, not really, it's just really good. But it does debut everybody's (not named Frea) favorite red head.

Frea: Carrot Top?

mxpw: Okay, second favorite red head.

mxpw: Chuck vs. the Wookie.

Frea: Awesome. We'll be watching that Tuesday night (and you may be able to join us on Twitter for that...if we remember), and the next Old Time mxpw vs. Frea will be up next Wednesday. Until then, stay sexy.

mxpw: Stay classy, San Diego.

Ratings:

Frea: 9 Astro-Diapers out of 10

mxpw: 4.5 Sarahs Getting Ready for A Date out of 5

16 comments:

  1. Johnclark8.12.10

    I have to disagree with a few things, I don't really think the pilot was all that impressive to be honest. I mean the comedy beats were pretty decent but other than that didn't feel like anything else clicked. I honestly wasn't seeing any 'clicking' in the date scenes. Also I kinda liked the ruthless burnout Casey, he's a bit more interesting than the Ubber-Patriot-Reagon-phile.

    I still say First Date had the best SWP in the whole series. The leopard print lingerie, just wow. On numerous occasions I've had to rewind the scene where she pulls the dress up a times.

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  2. coffeegirl8.12.10

    i fell in love with zac in the scene where chuck was standing outside sarah's hotel room holding a bouquet and sporting that cute cute adorable smile. just loved him in that scene. it was the scene that got me hooked on the show!

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  3. lets not forget the pilot started the trend for SWP that shows yvonne is so hot that she can do fanservice putting clothes on.

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  4. Yep cannot disagree with you guys on the pilot being pretty darn great. The Vicky Vale scene was the clincher for me.

    I will say this about the wildcard enforcer comment. Sarah is probably a methodical person but in Casey's "mind" she was/is a wildcard enforcer.

    She takes out an NSA team on a dance floor in a club surrounded by people. They drive down a flight of stairs backwards in a car. She pulls a gun on the asset to be and this is just in one day/night. All wilcardiness (ok a made up word)

    Remember Casey does not like CIA operatives or at least used to. The ending scene where she is fighting the guys and shoots the camera....ruthless. The scenes with Bryce in Columbia...doing things outside the box or off the reservation as they say. Casey is straight ahead...take everyone out and count the bodies after....no wildcard with him

    Thanks for the revisiting of the classics.

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  5. JohnClark8.12.10

    I've often wondered to what extent Yvonne knew/was consulted on the writers/directors flagrant use of her sexuality to draw an audience.

    I mean do you think Chris and Josh said to her at the audition, "So, Yvonne in order to hit the male 18-49 demo were going to need you to strut around in your underwear every 2-3 episodes, and frankly were not going to be that subtle or artistic about exploiting you for your sexuality." How weird would that conversation have been?

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  6. I still don't buy that Sarah fell for Chuck during the pilot, that line felt like Fedak trying to salvage the front thirteen of S3. I think his charm and likability caught her off guard more than anything.

    When looking back at Sarah's characterization in S1 she seemed like a female Bryce to me. Adrenaline junkies who loved the thrills of being a spy. That's something his character never lost. In fact it almost seems like the burnout/broken spy back story got transferred from Casey to Sarah.

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  7. Er, John Clark, I'm pretty sure that Yvonne would have read the script, and that the montage is in the script, so I imagine that's more a conversation she would have had with her agent. A "Would you be willing to do this?" conversation with tones of "You have to start (in American TV) somewhere." And now look at her, there's a campaign launched to get her an Emmy and she gets to do episodes like Phase Three. I'm sure as uncomfortable and awkward as some of those scenes may have gotten for her, it's probably a fair trade-off.

    And JC, really ? I kind of built my whole characterization for Fates Sarah around that principle and that was long before "Other Guy" aired, so that line felt like sweet justification. I think that's Yvonne's fault, honestly, because she always seemed to play the character as so into Chuck, always touching him and adjusting his tie and petting his hair. If she'd been a female Bryce, she would have left at the end of Nemesis. I think the ballerina scene was the start of the slow death of "Female Bryce." :)

    And I dunno, dnm, that line still felt like a retcon to me because it always seemed like Sarah's major issues as an agent were falling for her partner, not being uncontrollable and crazy. Casey was the one who was ruthless and cold ("cold-school," heh). But it's S4, by this point, you can rewrite history. It's not like this show has a insanely dedicated fanbase that picks up on every single little thing and can tell you episode title and scene number when it happened, noooo (which, given the number of plotholes, strikes me as really ironic).

    Alris, pretty much agreed. :) And coffeegirl, I LOVE that scene. Apparently, the smile got to Sarah, too, if the way she dropped the phone was any indication, right?

    One thing I didn't note in the review -- Lester and Jeff actually appeared to do their jobs in this episode. This was back in the day when the Nerd Herders had a reason for being at the Buy More. Good times.

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  8. @Frea

    Well your characterization of Sarah is consistent while the show's seems to be all over the place. I think I told you this over at ChuckThis, your Sarah would rival Buffy.

    I have no doubt she really liked him in the pilot but falling for him seemed to happen over the course of the following episodes. Her falling coincided with the death of "female Bryce". Protecting Chuck replaced the thrills of why she wanted to be a spy. So by Truth everything came to head for both her and Chuck.

    Don't get me wrong I don't buy into the enforcer bit at all. I think it's the need to dirty or darken her character's past for some reason. That's why I mentioned it seemed like they shifted Casey's back story/characterization in the pilot to Sarah somewhere in S2. Or I was blind and didn't see that part of her character.

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  9. @JohnClark 1 - Well, obviously we are in disagreement with just about, well, everything having to do with the Pilot. As for the SWP comment, I can't really say. I think it's impossible to actually pick a favorite scene. First Date is certainly very good, though.

    @Coffeegirl - I think I was sold on Chuck as a character when he's getting ready for the date in front of the mirror and he does that ridiculous lip curl and mimes like he's going to kiss the mirror.

    @Alris - Haha, I never thought of it quite like that before, but you're so right! She's so hot you're only a little disappointed when she actually gets dressed.

    dnm - I think I have to disagree with you, actually. I think the things you suggested are not very wildcardy (making up words is fun!). I think if Sarah were a wildcard, then she wouldn't have been so precise with the NSA team. She doesn't seriously wound any of them or injure any civilians. She was very exact and methodical there. The car chase is a little crazy, yeah, but that was really more a lack of options than anything. Pointing her gun at Chuck...I'll give you that one, at least as much as from Casey's POV he'd see it that way.

    My problem with the wildcard enforcer bit was that it was like the opposite of how Sarah has always been. It was more a description of Casey than Sarah.

    @JohnClark 2 - I seriously doubt Yvonne has any issues with it. If she did, it's doubtful that she'd have agreed to the role in the first place. Besides, I trust that she knows what she's doing.

    @JC - You take that back! I don't want the idea of Sarah being a "Female Bryce" in my head! Ugh!

    But yeah, I have to disagree with you. I've long since believed that Sarah fell for Chuck during the Pilot. It always seemed pretty obvious to me. I thought it even when I watched S1 as it was airing, so long before Other Guy. I mean, I'm not sure it's all that farfetched. We know as early as Wookie that other people (Carina) were already picking up on the fact that she had feelings for Chuck and Wookie was only the fourth episode ever. If not the Pilot, then she fell pretty soon after.

    As for the other stuff...I don't know. I've never seen Sarah as an adrenaline junkie, per se, but more somebody who got satisfaction out of doing her job well. I have to echo Frea here: If Sarah were an adrenaline junkie, she would have left with Bryce at the end of Nemesis.

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  10. Her falling for him during the pilot fits well with how I always have seen it. By Tango we also have Ellie saying she had seen how Sarah was looking at Chuck and Sarah admitting she wouldn't mind kissing him (she could suffer through it).

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  11. Thanks for a fun review guys - this is my most watched episode as well and while I don't know it inside and out (as you both appear to) I do know it was when I decided that this show was worth the investment of my time! And this ep is the only one from a prior season that is on my iTouch all the time.

    I think Sarah saw something different in Chuck - something she liked but couldn't put her finger on - from the very beginning. What did she say to Graham - I don't know about this guy, he seems too nice (again, don't know as well as you). Then the page turned to a new chapter when he said I could be your baggage handler. I've always thought that I like you Chuck is Spy-eese for I'm falling for you.

    I do, however, disagree with you regarding the line from Phase Three. Frea, you touched on it above in your comments, referring to the female Bryce - well, I've always thought that Sarah would have turned out to be Carina if she didn't meet Chuck. That would mean that she was already on the way there in the pilot. Carina could be - well - unpredictable. She has no use for relationships of any kind and she is taking from her career at LEAST as much as she is putting in. (not that there's anything wrong with that) I could see Sarah being of the same mold. thanks for the walk back in time. Looking forward to more hindsight!

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  12. Ayefah8.12.10

    If she'd been a female Bryce, she would have left at the end of Nemesis.

    Only if she thought it was For His Own Good. C'mon, you know Bryce was totally in love with Chuck. It's the only thing that'll make his characterization make sense! :P

    Sarah's wildcard factor is that once a mission gets personal for her, all bets are off, because she has an utterly vicious temper. And for a while there, she was so out of touch with her own feelings that things could get personal without her even realizing it. (That's certainly what happened in the pilot.) Now she's on a much more even keel...unless you take away her boyfriend/lodestar, in which case it's killin' time.

    And yes, I do find that mildly creepy, just like Chuck's security-blanket dependence on Sarah is creepy. (Kidding! Sort of.)

    But the real wildcard on the team has always been Chuck, because everything is personal for him, and he always cares more about people than principles. That's why orders slide right off his back. But since he doesn't have a vicious bone in his body, he wears it less scarily than Sarah does, even with 2.0.

    One other stupid Morgan moment I loved from the pilot: When he puts his feet down on the courtyard and you realize that Chuck's bedroom is on the ground floor.

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  13. nnegandhi8.12.10

    I took the "wildcard enforcer" term to mean something other than out of control or prone to random actions. In computer terminology (yes, I'm a nerd) a wildcard is something that be substituted in for anything else. Applying this to Sarah, I took this to mean she was Graham's go to girl for any kind of sticky situation. She would do anything to get the job done, even if her actions crossed the line.

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  14. Anonymous9.12.10

    I feel silly for asking this but what does SWP stand for?

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  15. Anonymous - Please see newfangled FAQ thingie up above.

    That's right, folks, Castle Inanity now has a FAQ! Both Frea and I are very excited about this. We've never had anything that needed a FAQ before. So please go visit it and if you don't see your question there, let us know and we may add it.

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  16. I know the vast majority of fans dislike S3 but Sarah said in 3.06 before meeting Manoosh (sp) that she felt a strong connection with Chuck when she first met him. Argue about when Sarah started liking Chuck, but canon end any argument on the matter.

    -BCF

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