ChuckTV.net The CHUCK archive
This week’s Friday Five is courtesy of Joe Buckley from Chuck This!, a collaborative blog that analyzes some of the deeper points of Chuck and what it means to be a Chuck fan. Also, what it means to be EVIL!
Top Five Moments of Villainy and Treachery!
When I started thinking about a possible “Friday Five” topic, I asked myself: “Self? What could I bring up that hasn’t been discussed before?” After all, we’ve had our five favorite scenes, our five favorite Sarah Walker Moments our five favorite… hey wait! Have we had our five favorite kisses yet?
Well, that’s not me! I’m EEEVVVIIIILLLL (mua-ha-ha)! so I thought I’d list my five favorite moments of Villainy and Treachery, capital V, capital T! You know, those moments when someone was fooled or misled or stabbed right between the shoulder blades and those moments when you couldn’t help but whisper aloud “Oh Nooooo! Chuck and/or Sarah are DOOMED!” solely because they trusted the wrong person?
These people are so treacherous that Lazslo Mahnovski telling Chuck to “CUT THE RED WIRE! CUT THE RED WIRE!!!” (in Chuck vs. The Sandworm) doesn’t even make the list. These people are so villainous that Heather Chandler marrying a geek just to get rich is merely making a life-style choice. Her dealing with the Russians is “Revenge of the cheerleaders,” not treachery at all!
Nope. Not evil enough! Not enough double crossing and back-stabbing! Here’s my list.
#5 From Chuck vs. The First Date – It’s not always the bad guys who are treacherous. As evil as Michael Clark Duncan was as Luther Colt in this episode, at least he was honest and straight forward while dropping Chuck off a five story building. Not so Gen. Diane Beckman and Director Langston Graham. Right at the moment when Chuck proved that he can be a spy, they order Casey to eliminate him! Casey, being always the good soldier who follows orders, cocks his gun and says “I used to like the sound of that.”
#4 From Chuck vs. The Aisle of Terror – Did I say it’s not always the bad guys who are treacherous? Who’d expect mom to pull a gun on them and shoot them right in the chest? Mary Elizabeth Bartowski is both amazingly good and deliciously evil as she convinces Chuck that he can’t trust her. “It’s much more complicated than that, Chuck!” Then, of course, she convinces her son that he can. Chuck is certainly terrorized, and Freddy Krueger’s – uh, Dr. Wheelwright’s – Atroxium toxin has very little to do with it. His nightmare is all about mommy dearest.
#3 From Chuck vs. The Dream Job – Real bad guys can be treacherous too, and one of the best villains ever was Chevy Chase’s Ted Roark, the head of Roark Instruments, “Software Rock Star”, the inventor of the RI-7 game computer and a little bit of a monster. When the evil capitalist discovers Chuck is Stephen’s son, it’s: “You have a son?? Congratulations!! Kill his son.” Now that’s treachery, turning on your old partner like that. Tsk-tsk.
#2 From Chuck vs. The Subway – No one is more treacherous than your mentor when he goes bad. Ask Casey; he knows. Love him or hate him, Daniel Shaw made Chuck into a spy in the course of season 3, and then became the most villainous, treacherous and evil guy around when he shot Stephen for the sole purpose of getting a rise out of Chuck. Mua-ha-ha! How do you feel now, Chuck?
#1 From Chuck vs. The Other Guy – What’s more evil than double crossing Chuck? Double crossing Sarah, of course. For all the treachery that Daniel Shaw piled onto our boy, he had to have help from the Ring Director to pull off my number 1 moment of treachery and villainy. He led Sarah to Paris and distracted her so the Director could use his tranq, leaving her helpless as he unleashed his plans for revenge. Only that could be evil enough to get Chuck to pull the trigger. We hated Shaw so much that not only did fans all over the world jump up and shout “Shoot him, Chuck! Shoot him!”, but 928 television sets were also shot at the same moment by fans trying to save Sarah themselves. You can look it up! I know I want to every time I watch that episode. And by the way, does anyone have a TV set they want to loan me? Bueller? Anyone?
There you have it, Joe’s choices for the most villianous, most treacherous moments on Chuck. Do you agree? Want to add your own moments? Sound off in the comments below, then take a gander at Chuck This! and join in their discussions as well.
I agree with 1 & 2 since Shaw was the most cataclysmically treacherous character they’ve brought forth in four seasons. But to keep this list from becoming a Hate-Shaw-Fest, it obviously had to overlook other Shaw abysmalities. My list would replace 3, 4 or 5 (take your pick) with Shaw’s “handling” of Team Bartowski, from sending a poorly-trained Chuck into obvious danger on an airborne mission for which he was only partially briefed, with a pen that malfunctions at high altitude, to his brusque and condescending treatment of Casey, to his romantic pursuit of Sarah right under Chuck’s nose when he had to know (or should have known) that it would adversely affect Chuck’s functionality as the intersect, thereby endangering the whole team. God, I hated that guy.
Exactly, Dr. Bob! I had to work hard to keep “He Who Shall Not Be Named” in only two of the five picks!
Fortunately, there’s been lots of treachery. I sorta like Roark for his treachery, myself. In fact, the way he was handled (by Miles, as played by Tug Coker, IIRC) could have made my list.
@Doctor Bob:
“I agree with 1 & 2 since Shaw was the most cataclysmically treacherous character they’ve brought forth in four seasons. But to keep this list from becoming a Hate-Shaw-Fest, it obviously had to overlook other Shaw abysmalities. My list would replace 3, 4 or 5 (take your pick) with Shaw’s “handling†of Team Bartowski, from sending a poorly-trained Chuck into obvious danger on an airborne mission for which he was only partially briefed, with a pen that malfunctions at high altitude”
Well, you have to remember that Gen. Beckman agreed with him in all of that too. So it wasn’t just him alone. And I’m not sure Chuck was so poorly-trained, wasn’t he training at the Spy Academy for months? Besides, Shaw and Sarah basically saved his butt in the First Class episode, so he wasn’t really left all alone. And the pen didn’t work… well, it’s a comedy!
“to his brusque and condescending treatment of Casey”
Really? But he was mostly nice to Casey. He even brought him coffee the way Casey liked it: black and bitter! 😀
“to his romantic pursuit of Sarah right under Chuck’s nose when he had to know (or should have known) that it would adversely affect Chuck’s functionality as the intersect, thereby endangering the whole team.”
I’m not sure Shaw really knew how emotionally succeptible or ‘weak’ Chuck could really be yet. Plus Sarah was a free woman as far as Shaw knew. And he was first and foremost a man. Can’t blame him for trying to get a beautiful girl. If anything blame Sarah for her fling with him (and even that isn’t very fair since as far as she knew Chuck was interested in Hanna, plus he also broke her heart really badly at that train station, and apparently wasn’t the guy she fell in love with in the first place. The girl was just trying to move on. Obviously she couldn’t and she was back with her true love Chuck. Sounds fine to me.
I find your admiration of Shaw to be curiously refreshing. You have the courage to swim against the current of fan opinion. Kudos to the free-thinkers of this world!
eh, there are a lot like me actually. Of course you won’t find them in the Chuck fansites. 😉 People are too biased here, imo. I just really think that many are jealous because BR stole a lot of the limelight from the main cast. The guy just has a huge presence, so it was inevitable. No offense. And now I’m really done with this discussion. I don’t know if I’ll continue watching the show, it’s not terrible but the quality has really dropped, sadly.
Oh, but it was lots of fun while it lasted!
I actually liked shaw at first because he pushed chuck to be more independent and I knew that the romance between sarah and shaw wouldnt last and the series was at a point where chuck and sarah couldnt have a fake relationship anymore so i knew chuck and sarah would start a real relationship but shaw functioned better as a villain
My television is very expensive, which is the reason why I didn’t keep a loaded weapon with me anytime I watched an episode with Daniel Shaw in it–especially “Chuck Vs. The Other Guy.”
Safety first, Gambs! 😉
did any of those people wear a tux and put a silencer on their gun
Very nice job Joe. I was wondering why Volkoff isn’t on the list, I would put him at number 1.
He’s definitely on my list, although not quite #1 yet. His massive deceit and attempt to blow up Chuck & Sarah in his first appearance was impressive, but I think we’ve yet to see the depths of his villainy.
You are so right, Mel. AND….they’ve got 14 more episodes to show us those depths. Life is good!
Volkoff definitely has a shot at making the list if he keeps up the good, treacherous work! But it’s not easy to make the top five list. It takes also takes dedication and inspiration! I think he has a ways to go yet 😉
id kinda like to see him as a bad guy turning good
Volkoff is a nice guys who is in love with Chucks mom, and since he is in love with the woman who saved Sarah I can’t hate him 😛
And don’t forget, kids love him!
I hate to go there but I have to. My only complaint about your list, I agree with most, is that “The actor who shall not be named” in what should have been his finest hour, the explanation scene for his new villainy, the cafe scene, gave probably his weakest performance of his entire arc. There is no sense of evil, no sense of him being betrayed by the CIA and finally reaping his revenge for the murder of his wife. It was flat, emotionless and “stiff as a board”. So with that I find it hard to place it #1. It should have been so much more than it was portrayed.
I disagree with all of that. I think Brandon Routh did a very good job displaying the emotions; Daniel Shaw looked conflicted as it was meant to be since he didn’t really want to kill Sarah, but his need to avenge the murder of his wife was bigger.
Good point, Brandon.
Uplink, that’s a serious point that deserves a serious answer. Truly, it was “the moment” more than the actor that let me put this one on my list. Give all credit to Yvonne Strahovski, I was watching *her* eyes, and saw Shaw’s treachery reflected there.
And that made me go “wow!” when I saw it the first time.
My own opinion is that Routh made a pretty good evil character for pretty much the same reasons we didn’t like him as a mentor (someone to turn Chuck into a spy or someone to turn Chuck into a machine???) – that very controlled insanity.
Funny, none of my friends and sister who watch the show hate Brandon in the role of Shaw. In fact, they liked him a lot. I really think that some of the Chuck and Sarah shippers who hate him because of his romantic relationship with Sarah. I’m not a shipper and I loved him in the role. I guess I just don’t take the show as seriously as some of you guys do. To me is just a fun show, nothing more.
And yet in the forum you’re complaining about season 4 to the point that people wonder why you’re still watching.
I’m not a shipper either, and I thought Routh was OK in the role of Shaw but Shaw could have been so much better. Part of that was writing, part of it was acting, part of it was directing, part of it was editing. That ship has sailed, however, and it brought us to a truly amazing season 4, so I suppose the ends did justify the means.
Yeah, well I guess I was hoping this season to get better, but somehow I doubt it. OH well, I will always have seasons 1-3 to enjoy! Not bad.
Season 4 is my favorite. 🙂
Good for you! I wish I could say the same. After the amazing finale in season 3, I was really expecting something a lot better. Oh well, I guess I just have to move on.
Funny none of my friends who watch the show liked him as Shaw. In fact they like him as an actor less now. Its easy to dismiss fans who didn’t like him or the story as shippers while ignoring the valid complaints. I’m not a shipper and I disliked him in the role.
I didn’t like him in the first 13, but I thought he was great in the S3 finale.
The two biggest complaints I had about the first part of the Shaw arc was that he didn’t have any chemistry with Sarah, which made his PLI status hard to swallow. Also he never really was all that impressive a super spy to me. He made colossal errors in judgement throughout the first 13 (which was the writing).
I have never been sure that this was BR’s fault. He may have acted the part exactly how TPTB wanted him to.
In contrast, Hanna and Chuck did have chemistry. You could buy them as a couple during that whole love trapezoid period.
Well its all water under the bridge – speaking of which, it was so satisfying in Other Guy seeing Chuck pump Shaw full of lead and the see him fall into the water under the bridge.
The writing was a major factor in the failure of his character but so was the acting. Great actors can take poorly or underwritten characters and give them life through their performance. We’ve seen that on this show before, sadly Routh didn’t.
“…928 television sets were also shot at the same moment by fans trying to save Sarah themselves. You can look it up!”
I tried, but couldn’t find the right key-words to search google with.
Can you just post the link? 🙂
(For those who can’t tell: I am joking. Please don’t waste your time flaming this post.)
WM, those would be the same people who couldn’t tell that I was joking! Both of them are fully informed now! 😉
99 times out of ten statistics like these are completely made up.
Oh, absolutely, Gord! And that stat is on the Internet too! 😉
I agree with all points above.
Both the Generals wishing to eliminate Chuck and Casey’s growing fondness for him made for a good story.
Roark made a nasty SOB along with He Who Must Not Be Named who I think is near the top of the best villains this show has ever had. I hated HWMNBN with a passion but man did he make a great bad guy.
Great list. Daniel Shaw is without a doubt the baddest villain in the whole series so far. He really tortured Chuck and company.
And loved the Shaw arc for the most part, it was very interesting, imo, even if the writing was always the best.. and I definitely loved Brandon Routh in the role. I liked him as the hero and the controversial spy, and adored him as the villain. Moo haha. LOL.
sorry I meant to say that the writing WASN’T always the best.
I don’t know exactly where to put her on the list, but I would definitely add Jill. When she was revealed as a Fulcrum agent, it totally shocked and surprised me. And she was brilliant when she used the lie detector to get Chuck to trust her and escape Chuck’s custody. Of course, she did pretty much redeem herself when she cooperated with Chuck “The First Kill,” but her original betrayal was pretty villainous. I wouldn’t mind see her resurface in a future episode.
Oooooo! That’s a great point, Silvercat. If I could have picked 10 moments, Jill would definitely have made the list.
I think Silvia (From Suburbs) might have too. She was treacherous before she got Chuck into the lab underneath the cul-de-sac!
Volkoff revealing himself and then blowing up the Orion Cave is easily the best moment, with everything he did in Leftovers a close second.
The only thing villainous about Shaw was the performance and writing.
Here’s two more to consider:
On the evil side there was Lt. Mauser who posed as a police negotiator but was really a fulcrum agent in search of the intersect. On the comic side there was Emmett Milbarge and his take over of the Buy More.
Mauser threatening to expose Chuck even if he was put away was a great moment in villainy! Thanks for reminding me, CF50!
I have to tell ya, I looked for a way to get both Emmett and Harry Tang (“Again! AGAIN!!!”) in the list, but, well, you know how that goes when you only get 5 picks!
Emmett tricking Morgan into getting Big Mike to confess to his absenteeism was definitely the show’s most villainous moment! 😀
If not #1, it’s certainly up there, Merve! Good choice.
I have to agree with Shaw being the number one bad guy followed closely behind by S&F for creating the Shaw storyline–I almost dropped out of the viewers club over that one. They have rebounded pretty well at the end of season 3 and now in season 4.
I totally agree that “He who shall not be named” showed the depths of his evil in attempting to murder Sarah and really murdering Papa B, Chuck’s family. But for me his most chilling moment was in Subway when we found out he had taken control of the CIA itself and had turned who knows how many agents to the Dark Side. Last time I had chills of dread like that was when Palpatine turned the Senate into The Empire as the Jedi were exterminated. Woah I am a Star Wars geek!
Great moment of treachery, Christina! That one should be high on anyone’s list.
And one of my biggest laughs is still the Star Wars spoofing that Morgan’s been doing, like in Suitcase when Lester waves his hand and goes “These are not the Buy Morons you are looking for!” Morgan retorts “These are not… Hey! Cut that out!” 😉
What! No comments. I can only assume that everyone agrees with your top 5 villainous deeds. So there’s no room for Jill? Or Bryce? Let’s face it; there’s still room for believing Bryce to be underhand and deceiving. If it wasn’t for Bryce, Chuck would never have broken up with Sarah in Vs The Break Up. He knew Chuck; knew he would always do the right thing, so just planting the idea that Sarah’s feelings were putting her at risk was enough for Chuck to do the right thing and break up. I won’t even mention Vs The Ring and the lengths he went to there to keep them apart!
Joe, excellent list. As much as I hated the portrayal of Shaw; on paper, he was definitely a treacherous villain.
There are almost 50 comments…you may need to clear your cache to see them all.
Ah, thanks, Meandmine. If I only had one or two more picks, Jill’s betrayal would definitely make the list.
Bryce is an interesting case! Especially before I knew that he had been trying to save Chuck from a life of deceit, then he was fantastically villainous! Getting Chuck kicked out of Stanford was as treacherous an act as we’ve seen. But one of the show’s greatest strengths is how it makes us go back an re-examine what we thought we knew. That whole story of what happened at Stanford had to be re-thought in our minds!
Quite frankly I’ve wondered since the we’ll always have Omaha line if Bryce met Sarah on Project Omaha and if he only got into it because Chuck was out. It was clear that he knew about the project but not that he was picked for it. So it could be that he advanced his career by framing Chuck and ended up getting Sarah out of it. He might have convinced himself that it was in Chuck’s best interests and that any career advancement was a trade off for losing his friend .
After all, how much less damaged would Sarah have been if Chuck had met her earlier and without all those rules to keep them from having a relationship. Plus if she’d been with Chuck instead of Bryce (because there were no rule stopping them that would be 3 less guys who manipulated her that she would have been with.
Joe 1-4 was fairly obvious, but I’m glad you gave “credit” to Graham and Beckman. The former, if not evil, was certainly ruthless and suspect. As we’ve discussed at Chuck This, Graham may be partially responsible for events and behavior in Sarah’s past. We are also curious about his role in shaping Mama B’s career. I don’t believe Beckman is necessarily evil, but has clearly demonstrated questionable judgement and excessive reliance on CIA operatives due to falsely enhanced reputations.
You know, KG, I really hope that we someday find out more about Graham and his relationship with Sarah. I would bet that there’s a major story there in someone’s mind that’s just dying to get out.
Believe it or not Mel—Season 4 to this point is also my favorite season. A lot of season 3 will never be played on my BluRay—most people could probably pick the episodes I intensly disliked.
Agree. Much of Season 3 will never be seen by me again. In fact, all of Disc #2 will never be put in my DVD player by me.
Season 3 starting picking up steam with vs The Tic Tac or with vs The Beard, which ever one of them aired first.
I can’t believe Agent Vincent was left off of the list.
Mind you he had to do what he did, it would be unprofessional not to.
I thought about Vincent, Gord – he was a great character. I really hope he comes back somehow.
But I couldn’t think of any time that he really stabbed Chuck in the back! He was actually pretty up-front about how he treated Chuck, even praising him a bit! No treacherous moments at all. Of course, we can’t hold a little thing like wanting to kill Chuck against him, can we?
First Date oddly enough is when I stopped hating Casey. His speech to Beckman when he tried to talk her out of it and the look on his face when the hit was canceled did that.
Aisle of Terror – just when Chuck thought his parents couldn’t confuse him further – up shows Mama B and leaves him completely confused.
Dream Job- it is amazing how good Chevy Chase was at being the cheerful bad guy- plus having the guy who you hoped would be your boss at your dream job turn out to be the guy who screwed over your father and then kidnapped him has got to be a dream killer.
Subway and Other guy- One word I definitely disagree being used in referring to Shaw is mentor. That’s what we were told he was going to be but he never lived up to the name. First Class was the closest he came to being that and even there he failed . He seemed to be more about breaking up the team and undermining Chuck after sending him on the mission.
He was incompetant as a good guy and a bad guy and didn’t seem to get that at least Sarah had killed his wife on orders from someone she trusted . He OTOH killed Papa B to upset Chuck and cheat at beating him. He never questioned whether his wife was set up to die by the Ring or why they showed him that info at that particular time.
His treachery in shooting Papa B definitely counts as extreme villiany but he doesn’t count as a particularly good villian, hero or mentor.
Better choices for villian would be Vincent (Arnold Vosloo) who was seemingly unkillable and as far as I’m concerned could pop up again and Miles , who killed men who had fought with him and trusted him without batting an eye.
I agree that Vincent was a better villain, Ladycat. But it was treacherous moments I was after! Vincent almost respected Chuck, after all!
what about jill she double crossed chuck several times
She redeemed hersef a bit in the end though.