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In “Chuck vs. the Colonel”, Devon “Captain Awesome” Woodcombe became the first of Chuck’s inner circle to learn of his secret spy life. Devon’s reaction was positive. In fact, he seemed thrilled to learn that Chuck had more of a career going for him than the Nerd Herd at the Buy More. Will Devon still feel that way when season three finds him in the difficult position of protecting Chuck’s cover and keeping secrets from his new wife, Ellie?
Devon becoming more ingrained in the spy world next season is an exciting premise for a variety of reasons. Chuck is no longer as naive in that life as he once was, and now we will hopefully see that path of discovery again through the eyes of Devon as he is introduced to it. It will be interesting to see if Devon will discover the dangerous element, not just the excitement, of spy life. Also, will he realize that Chuck and Sarah’s relationship is not what he has known it to be all this time. There would also be a certain entertainment value in seeing a Captain Awesome who is not quite as awesome in the spy realm as he is in everyday life, but what are the odds of that happening?
After Devon’s near meltdown in Colonel, when Ellie simply asked for information on Chuck’s whereabouts, there is a serious question looming as to how long he can keep the truth from her. But do we really want Ellie to know? Ellie learning Chuck’s secret would no doubt make it easier for Chuck to balance his spy and family lives. It would also alleviate the aspect he hates most–lying to loved ones. If Ellie knew the truth, it would spare Devon from being put in the unenviable position of lying in order to prevent her from discovering Chuck’s dangerous other life. Those well-intentioned lies hold the potential for causing problems in the Awesome’s new marriage, which almost got derailed before it ever happened thanks to spy interference at Devon’s bachelor party. A seed of distrust has already been planted in “Chuck vs. The Broken Heart”, and it probably wouldn’t take much to raise Ellie’s suspicions again.
The down side to Ellie learning the truth is that it would mean losing the one truly normal part of Chuck’s life, the one touchstone he has to keep him grounded in the real world. Chuck will need that normalcy even more now that he is carrying intersect 2.0, and the new skills that come with it, in his head. Ellie is probably the one person who most deserves to know her brother is a hero, but she is also the one person whose knowledge of it would change Chuck’s life the most.
Chuck will be living separately from Ellie and Devon this season, but Devon’s involvement in spy world should prove an excellent way for the writers to keep he and Ellie closely tied to Chuck’s chaotic life. It will also provide a means of recapturing those moments of naiveté and guilt through Devon that Chuck experienced as he first learned about the spy world; lies are sometimes necessary to protect those you love.
To quote some of my fellow Chuckster’s, “Word!” 🙂
Most astute happy.
Devon stepping in to take Chuck’s place as a fresh newbie looking into the spy world is a clever move. Seeing how long the Awesome Adrenaline junkie can resist Bonding it up for awhile should be a hoot.
The Sarah and Ellie moments should provide plenty of gold moments as well.
Devon is a great character. The writers started him out as a goofy frat boy gone to med school, but made him into a very steady and likeable guy by the end of season two. He is the most mature guy in the show! I think he will not be caught by surprise anymore to the degree that he was in the Colonel episode. He will not find it easy to lie to Ellie, haha!
Devon would seem to be the link that keeps Ellie wondering whats going on with Chuck. Hoping this will provide more Ellie/Sarah moments
I’m VERY excited about this development, as a lot of my LJ and Twitter friends know. I really can see so many awesome scenarios, and I trust that whatever the writers decide to do, it will be fantastic. <3
The only other family member that knows Chuck’s secret is his father, Orion. Do we know if he will be making another appearance this year!
Nice speculation. I would like to see Devon as an ally to the real relationship as well as the spy cover.
Captain Awesome not being so awesome of a spy and learning that Chuck’s spy life is not so compatible with his own plans for the future sounds a lot more interesting than the Captain becoming a fourth member of Team Bartowski. He is a doctor though, so his skill set should come in handy.
Thanks everyone for the comments. I appreciate them.
Good exploration of Devon’s involvement in Chuck’s spy life post-Colonel. I think you captured the heart of the situation very clearly – Devon’s going to be put to the test severely as Team Bartowski expects help to make their covers work but at the same time limit what he actually knows. It’s a lose-lose situation for him. Ellie’s going to be wondering why he’s always taking Chuck and Sarah’s side on things, which is not going to help him with his matrimonial promises any! Owie.
And, as you pointed out, Ellie just can’t be told the truth since that would remove the last anchor of normalcy in Chuck’s world. So Devon is effectively stuck on an island between both worlds, fully in neither.
Great article!
Great article here. These speculative pieces (Radioactove Spinach included) are a fun way to fill in the time until March. Anyone up for an article on Morgan? What will happen with Anna? Why did Morgan not go to Benihana school in Hawaii?
Agent52, I’m working on an article about Morgan now.
Was Anna in any of the casting calls???
I agree with most of this article. But for those of you who are saying that Ellie discovering Chuck’s secret would take away the last remaining piece of normalcy in Chuck’s life, have you guys forgotten about Morgan and the Buy More? Morgan is still part of Chuck’s normal life and we know he probably won’t be discovering Chuck’s secret anytime soon.
As for Awesome, I’m wondering if he’ll now ask Chuck if there was a spy reason for the loss of his hospital key card. Now that he knows Chuck’s secret, he might wonder about that. I’m hoping something like this does happen so that maybe he can come up with a way to explain to Ellie what happened at the bachelor party. Also, Devon knowing Chuck’s secret does put Chuck’s cover in danger because he isn’t trained to lie or protect a cover like Chuck, Sarah, Casey, and Orion are. There could easily be a moment in which Ellie and/or Morgan catches Devon off guard without being aware of it and he accidentally blurts something out that tips Morgan and/or Ellie off.
And about Morgan and Anna and Hawaii, it’s going to be interesting to see how they bring them back. Morgan may be finished with his chef training and is back to open a restaurant or something or maybe something happened that prevented him from going to Hawaii at all. I also can’t wait to see what happens between Big Mike and Emmett at the Buy More.
tyler…in my opinion, Ellie learning the secret is a totally different dynamic than Morgan learning. Ellie is Chuck’s home life, his family…and her learning the truth would take away that one little corner of a normal family life that he has held onto since his parents left. There are, of course, many people in Chuck’s life that do not know his secret, and none of them learning it would change his life more than if Ellie learned it. Morgan and the Buy More are hardly staples of normalcy, whether Chuck’s secret is known to them or not.