Coming in strong off its amazing and impressive second season, NBC's Chuck had a lot to live up to in its third season. With no single bad episode yet, viewers kept wondering not if but when Chuck would finally stumble. Viewers figured it was a inevitability, and with its title character now a full-fledged spy – and not just a bank of information but also a Swiss Army knife set of skills – would this cause the show's title character to lose his odd man out/underdog appeal he had in the first two seasons?

Thankfully, none of this was to be! Masterful storytellers Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak saw to it that even though the show was heading into uncharted waters with the addition of Chuck's Intersect 2.0 powers and Brandon Routh's character, Agent Shaw, joining the team, they proved they knew exactly what they were doing while keeping the heart of Chuck intact.

Now you can enjoy Chuck: Season 3 on DVD!

Spoilers below!

 

Picking up six months after the incredible finale, we find Chuck training with the government to become a real spy. This is a huge sacrifice and causes Sarah to distance herself from Chuck, as she feels that he is giving up the best part of himself in the process. With the evil Chevy Chase led organization known as "Fulcrum" out of the picture, the team must stop a new criminal agency called "The Ring" from destroying society as we know it. The season does start off a little slow, but that is mainly because the creators had to establish the new status quo after having wrapped up so much of the story. Episodes 1 and 2 really establish the new situation and help explain what our favorite characters have been through since we last saw them, but after those opening episodes we really get back into the fun stuff – stuff that made this show so great in the first place. 

Side note: Make sure you go back and rewatch "Chuck vs Operation Awesome" because I really feel that the best moment so far this season is Captain Awesome's explanation to his wife as to why he was missing…

Smallville's Kristen Kreuk joins in the middle of the season as Hannah, a potential love interest for Chuck. This makes things even more interesting for our heroic geek and also posed the question of who is hotter: Sarah or Hannah? (Author's answer: They are both crazy hot.). We also get a glimpse into the past of Col. John Casey and the life and people he had to leave behind in "Chuck Versus the Tic-Tac", which featured a guest appearance by Terminator 2: Judgement Day actor Robert Patrick. Superman (aka Brandon Routh) joins Operation: Bartowski as Agent Shaw, a secret agent with a past connected to The Ring organization. To make things even more interesting, Morgan stumbles onto Chuck's secret when the Buy More is infiltrated by Ring agents!
 

Season 3 of Chuck was originally intended to be 13 episodes with the final episode being intended as a season finale, but NBC decided to pick up the show for an additional 6 episodes, giving fans TWO season finales! Check out "Chuck Versus The Other Guy" and "Chuck Versus The Ring Part II" for the best episodes of the season.

Special Features:

–Chuck-Fu…and Dim Sum: Becoming a Spy Guy– Several behind the scenes featurettes with the cast and crew as they talk about the new developments in Season 3.

–The Jeffster Revolution: The Definitive Mockumentary– The legend of the band JEFFSTER is explored in this hilarious short film. Watch and learn more about the band and what led to the incredible Buy More Revolution event. Do not miss out on this featurette!!!
 

–Declassified Scenes: Each disc includes a few deleted scenes which correspond to the episodes on the disc. The best scenes in this mix are from "Chuck Versus The American Hero" as Chuck is left waiting for Sarah.

–Gag Reel

Overall:

Season 3 of Chuck proves itself to continue on the path set forth by the previous two seasons while still managing to keep us firmly glued to our seats with wondering how the Chuck they will ever get out of the next situation. The acting from Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski and Adam Baldwin as well as the rest of the supporting cast continues to be top notch, making you believe in these characters no matter how rough the situation gets. On top of that, the show's continual amazing casting of top notch guest stars just keeps getting better and better as the show goes onward and upward. Its always a surprise to see who will be showing up next and how!

The use of music in Chuck also continues to impress giving us so many emotional and memorable sequences and will have you continually searching iTunes for the music you heard spotlighting several indie bands as well as many pop (and geeky) classics! If you don't already have this show in your DVD collection then you should be ashamed of yourself and immediately drive to your nearest store to pick it up so that you may experience one of the most consistantly great and always entertaining TV shows of this generation!

ComicsOnline gives Chuck: Season 3 – 5 still (sadly) dead Bryce Larkins out of 5.

Get your copy of Chuck: Season 3 on DVD at Amazon!

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