I loved the fact that they made Awesome a horrible liar and I agree with above posts that stated the "decapitating a bear" bit was great!

What I really enjoyed about this episode is that the Intersect really didn't help Chuck AT ALL. He repaired the phone using his own skills, charged in after Awesome in his own brave moment, shot the guards with tranqs using his own Duck Hunt aiming skills and (tried to) develop a cover for Awesome's absence. The only thing the Intersect did was glitch when the lady yelled at him in Thai and kick Lester in the face.

This was a great episode!

I got a kick out of the scene where Awesome is concocting a story to Ellie regarding his whereabouts. He's right,he really,really is a terrible liar. But any scenes that involve seeing the lovely Ellie always rate a thumbs up from me.

I'm a little confused... I was catching up on this season's episodes so far and at the end of 3.03, didn't the assassin poison Awesome or something? Sarah showed up at Chuck's and there was a somber moment, especially when Ellie showed up asking where her husband was.

There's a chance they explained this in the teaser (I missed the first 5 mins last night), in which case, I'll be filling in that gap later tonight.

I thoroughly enjoyed last night's episode. The "decapitate a bear" explanation that Awesome gave to Elle was the funniest bit I've seen on Chuck. I repeated it (thanks tivo) 3 or 4 times. Of course I was under the influence of medicinal herbs at the time but still it was hilarious.

I thought this was a pretty good episode. I do agree with WhatI about Angie Harmon. She's a bit stiff. Sort of reminds me of the business side of Helen Hunt, without the softness. With regards to Routh, I was pretty wary of his introduction. I was afraid of more "Chuck v. Good Looking Spy" for Sarah's affections, but I think we're a bit beyond that. Also, the big push for Sarah and Bryce was the fact that they had history and I don't see Sarah's character as being one who's eye is turned just because someone is more attractive than Chuck. I think Shaw will turn out to be more of a mentor type for Chuck. The whole "I don't like guns, but I can use one" thing kinda feeds into a storyline with Chuck learning to use a gun.

Season ender prediction: Chuck shoots someone, not kills them, but shoots them.

To be fair, I think this episode was very good, more of a stepping stone to highlight Chuck's individual strengths than anything else (which was reflected in the Buy More plot by Morgan's struggle with the Lester). Being able to use his own intelligence to work on the Ring smart phone and putting his loyalty to his family before orders is very reminescent of season 1's Chuck, the one most people have grown to love and respect. And it was actually nice to see the Intersect glitch through-out the entirity of the show because I was beginning to worry that Chuck would become too dependent on it...that, and what reason would there be to keep Sarah and Casey around if not to bail him out of trouble when the bullets start to fly?

But lets not forget his weaknesses -- his loyalty to friends and family is a double-sided coin and his morals end up putting him in more danger than what's strictly necessary. And that's exactly what makes him interesting -- his weaknesses. Where would half the fun be if Chuck wasn't always getting into trouble?

At work, we think that the "ring" is just one big training exercise. All the holes could be explained.

I loved that they used the music from Fight Club.

Among the things you seemed to miss were the Animal House and Warriors references, so maybe some of the jokes slipped by you. I thought it was an entertaining episode, not the greatest but still good fun. I like how Awesome doesn't feel so awesome when it comes to spying, and his appreciation for Chuck's abilities. It adds a new dynamic to the show and allows for some expanded story lines down the road. And Routh's arrival will no doubt spark some sort of romantic complications for our intrepid Buy More hero.

Very disappointing episode, probably the worst Chuck ep yet. The story was there, but it just didn't come together like most Chuch episodes do. Some of that was Angie Harmon, I'm sorry to say, she's very attractive, but not very dynamic as an actress. Last year's Women's Murder Club was a good example, and her performance here was not impressive her either. The rest of the cast seemed to follow her tone and even the "chick fight" wasn't all that impressive. I'll watch it again this week and maybe I'll have a different opinion after, but for now, I'm a bit concerned with the "guest star" approach that seems to be a big part of this season. Guest stars have wrecked other shows, despite a few highlights, the episodes are usually sub-par and this episode seemed to fit the mold. I do find it interesting that Lana Lang will be following up the Superman visit and I hope it'll be good!

The introduction of Shaw brings a new twist to the show, and his character can go basically anywhere, so I like his addition a lot. Brandon Routh has the aura of a super man (and not just because he was Superman). The Fight Club subplot was my favorite of the season, and the main story wasn't too shabby either despite the obvious plot holes.

Review of the episode on my blog:
http://th3tvobsessed.blogspot.com/2010/01/review-chuck-season-3-episode-4-chuck.html