Loved it or hated it? What did you think of Chuck Vs. the Muuurder?

[Welling_is_pretty]

what did everyone think of this episode?

I really enjoyed it. There was a lot going on but in a good way.

Loved the "Chucks". Brody was so funny as Chuck!twin (and I wonder if they named him Brody for Adam Brody cause he seemed a little Seth Cohen-ish and of course Josh was responsible for The O.C.).

The girl first came off as a real "B" then turned into an emotional mess.

The Brit dude was fun (but yeah, who speaks with an accent after 4 months abroad?). And the greek guy Damien was funny with his ranting.

I loved the mention of the Nemesis (one of my favorite episodes is...Chuck vs. the Nemesis).

The return of the Subway commercial was nice and little Kevin Bacon.

The BM stuff was, IMO, not funny (I don't care for that sort of humor) but it was nice to see the Buy Morons back in action (did anyone else notice Skip has a beard now?! ).

And Deon and Ellie are keeping secrets from Chuck now? That's a twist. Also the Agent X Files (which made me think "X-files", especially since they keep talking all these psi references the last few eps) was a nice hook for future episodes.

Casey eating milk and cookies at the end made me giggle endlessly.

An interesting mystery, fun and funny and every one got their moment to shine (I even liked the bits of Chuck/Sarah we got). I do wish we'd had a bit more Casey (he was very much "the muscle guy" this time around as was said) and I didn't care for the BM storyline as I said but otherwise a good episode.

[closetclana]

I liked it overall. But what happened to the concept that you have to have a special brain to hold the intersect? They didn't talk about that at all in this episode.

When the Chuck look-alike was killed it was a little shocking to me. I couldn't stop thinking that that sort of thing could have easily happened to Chuck that whole first year if it weren't for Sarah.

I'm with you about not caring much for the BM sideline. But I usually don't care for the BM stuff. I did think the pig was cute, and thought the tie-in with the pig in the air ducts was funny.

I'm super interested in the Ellie story line, and excited to see what happens with that. While I'm not a big fan of the idea of Ellie being Intersected, I do want to see her contribute more to the team.

[WhoRU?]

Ellie story is looking certain to be the new interest now. The pig have a good showing and the BM sideline is basically the comic sideshow if it's own. So really it is two shows into one which seems to the main format on this show. I am not complaining tho.

It was a shame for me that there was no other new intersect beside Chuck. I really wanted to see how the new intersect works on the new recruits.

But having Ellie looking into the intersect puzzle is a real twist. Afterall she is best qualified for the medical research assessment and is likely the intersect would work on her best.

I gave it a 8 tho, it was interesting and strong enough but I expected a bit much more and forgot it was only the one episode and therefore perhaps it woul be too much to get though to the main arc of the story. I can't wait for the finale of the season with a new nemesis on the scene.

[big yellow taxi]

This episode didn't work for me, which was disappointing as, being a huge agatha christie fan, I had high hopes for it. I thought brody was cute though, and I liked the girl turning out to be an emotional wreck. The other two were forgettable, but I feel I need to point out that English people don't really talk like Lewis (right?) did. Well, okay, some of us might. But seriously, how come you never hear a Northern accent on American shows?

Anyway, that whole plot didn't work for me. Mostly because I don't understand why they were going after a new intersect. I thought chuck's brain was special? Also, I found Chuck unbearably annoying and cocky - what has happened to him this season? I miss season 1/2 Chuck.

The BM story was crap, but the pig was adorable. There was some good Chuck/Sarah/Casey stuff, without Morgan, thankfully. The saving grace was Ellie's story, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how it develops.

I thought Nemesis was a reference to the Christie novel of that name.

[Welling_is_pretty]

But what happened to the concept that you have to have a special brain to hold the intersect?

They seem to go back and forth on that. I mean, way back when Bryce Larkin was supposed to be the Intersect. Did that mean he had a "chuck" type brain (which, frankly, I could see, they had a lot in common)? And remember when they were testing the new Intersect with that big group of guys who got blown up by the Ring? Were they all special too? I'd like some clarification on this, I think. It's confusing.

but I feel I need to point out that English people don't really talk like Lewis (right?) did. Well, okay, some of us might. But seriously, how come you never hear a Northern accent on American shows?

You don't? And here I thought Brits all sounded like that (or Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins? (kidding! ) I think that was supposed to be a 'jokey' accent or something, actually. I mean, really who sounds like that after 4 months in another country?

And now you've got me curious--what's a Northern accent sound like?

I miss season 1/2 Chuck.

Me too. I get that he's come into his own abilities and wouldn't be the bumbling, unsure Chuck anymore but he's never been and never will be "Joe Cool", as it were.

[SVfan26]

They seem to go back and forth on that. I mean, way back when Bryce Larkin was supposed to be the Intersect. Did that mean he had a "chuck" type brain (which, frankly, I could see, they had a lot in common)? And remember when they were testing the new Intersect with that big group of guys who got blown up by the Ring? Were they all special too? I'd like some clarification on this, I think. It's confusing.

This. In a HUGE way.

How hard would it be to show/tell us either why the Intersect only really works in, and for, Chuck or why it can work for just about agent they want to give it to??;

* How do we know if the Intersect upload would have worked on those guys that were with Graham? - We don't, and never will, because they were killed when the Fulcrum-trojan-bomb blew up the computer/room.
* How do we know if the Intersect upload would have worked on that drive-in full of Fulcrum operatives? - We don't, because Orion sabotaged it to remove the Intersect from human brains, instead of implanting it.
* How do we know how Bryce would have handled the Intersect? - We don't, and never will, because he was killed off [for good(?)] before he could upload and use it.
* How do we know how Shaw would have done with prolonged non-Governor help during his Intersect possession and usage? - We don't because Show never elaborated on it and we must assume, as shown in VtAT, it was removed from his brain at some point.
* How do we know how either of Rick or Vicky would have handled the Intersect without the emotional dampening stuff added in? - We don't, and never will(?), because the GRETA project has seemingly disbanded.
* And (currently) lastly; how do we know how the Intersect would have worked with any of the 4 candidates TeamB brought in to test it on? - We don't, thanks to what we saw and heard happen during Vs the Muuurder.

And after all that, in Show's past, they alluded to the fact that only Chuck's brain could really handle Intersect uploads; thanks in part to his subliminal image test scoring while at Stanford and the failed Fulcrum Intersect subjectees in Vs the Suburbs.

And as to why Chuck doesn't seem to wear the Governor at all this season, especially since end of First Fight through Leftovers; I believe that the only reason Chuck needed the Governor for the last 2 or 3 eps of S3 was because the government modified Orion's original Intersect 2.0 for Bryce specifically (somehow), and thus started malfunctioning in Chuck. And with Ellie figuring out the brain stuff on the laptop, when Chuck used it to unblock what his mom did to it, it either fixed the Intersect to suit him or using the fixes, the laptop's Intersect 'overwrote' the modified 'program'.


So, in the end, which is it; Only Chuck's brain is special enough to truly house and use the Intersect to its full potential - or - can just about anybody do it with help (ie, Governors, emotional-dampening, etc).

[closetclana]

^ great look at this topic.

What do you think about the whole Stanford thing - Chuck being tested by that professor - didn't that show that he had a special brain that would take the intersect?

[Welling_is_pretty]

I think that the Professor testing Chuck was meant to indicate it takes a special kind of brain to use the Intersect (someone who see/adapt to all those images, etc.). I do think there are others who could 'host' the intersect beside any of the Bartowski families (there must have been some trial tests with those other than Bartowski family members when the first intersect was being constructed, right?).

It's just that they would need to 'see' things like Chuck, like a Bartowski would. I'm guessing the candidates with Graham (and probably Bryce too) had to take some sort of test (a la what the Professor gave at Stanford) and if they got a high enough score they were considered viable candidates to host the intersect. But that would mean that after Chuck picked his applicants (or before?) they also would have had to taken such a test.

I don't know, it's confusing!