TVSquad

I found this episode kind of boring. There were a couple of funny things and the story had some okay progression but nothing that really wowed me at all. I liked that Sarah came to terms with why Chuck is always whining about wanting a day off and him telling her he saw her kill the Fulcrum agent but he realizes it had to be done. I'm not sure if it was the episode that was bad or if it was that I was just trying to concentrate so much on the 3-D while still trying to wear the uncomfortable glasses with my normal glasses that ruined it. At the same time when I watched it without the glasses it was a pain because of the lines. It just didn't seem to be an enjoyable experience for the 3-D or normal viewers. And I cannot believe that Jeff ate the urinal cake! I mean yea, he's disguisting but man that was a bit much.

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I assume the Jerome Bettis cameo was because this episode was originally supposed to air last night, after the Super Bowl. NBC really had a chance to give this show a major audience that they deserve. But they didn't, and could be a huge factor on whether Chuck gets renewed for a 3rd season in May or not...

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I found that the 3D worked better than I was expecting. It wasn't so much the whole crap-flying-at-you 3D you expect, but rather the things-standing-out-depth-wise kind.

It seemed to work well enough since the backgrounds were fuzzier and more out of focus and the characters/foreground were sharp, so in theory, it would've had a similar effect without the glasses.

My eyes are still readjusting to normal after watching it...

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shout out for the ig-88 star wars reference!

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How about the blatant Arrested Development reference with Tony Hale shouting "NO TOUCHING!", and possibly "The Final Countdown" as well.

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EPIC FAILURE!!! Please re-air the 2d version!! What use is my glorious HDTV when watching without the glasses makes it blurry and out of focus and WITH the glasses you lose all the glorious HD richness, vibrant color and beauty that is HD?

The only way I can explain watching with the glasses is like watching through waxed paper. The colors were all horrendously muted, no brightness at all, just a horrible experience!!

There is a reason these types of crappy glasses failed in the 50's, 60's and every other time they've tried to resurrect them. If they can't give us something at least as good as I-Max 3d (which is pretty darned good) then please stop trotting out this pathetic dead technology!

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I noticed the IG-88 reference as well, and the references to The Shawshank Redemption (the opera music and Jerome Bettis going to Saywatanayo.) I was also glad that Chuck and Sarah discussed her killing the Fulcrum agent. I'm glad that Chuck can be honest with her.

All in all though, I thought it was a boring episode that gave me a giant headache and eye strain. And while some moments did truly give a good impression of depth, I wouldn't wear the glasses again. The headache just isn't worth it.

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Note to NBC: This is the 1st Chuck episode I haven't watched since it started. Why? Well, thanks to not being able to get the 3D glasses for it - only one store around here had some and Pepsi/Sobe didn't restock it seems, I had to skip it. Did I try and watch it without? - Yes, but I didn't spend $1500 on a HiDef set so that I could watch a crappy picture - there's already about 3 dozen channels I don't watch regularly because of that. I soon turned it off, and soon told my kids that they would no longer be able to buy Sobes.

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I would request a normal version of this episode too. I really don't get the whole 3-D thing, it honestly gave me a headache just trying them out for one scene - and the trick of the 3-D just doesn't work on me, because even without the glasses you can just see they are screwing with camera angles and trying make certain objects pop. I gave-up on the episode once they got to the scene in the kitchen, with or without the glasses, it is wholly unwatchable.

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Apparently the normal episode will be on NBC.com (along with the 3D one). Living in Canada, I had no chance to even get the 3D glasses (that I was aware of, anyway), so I tried to use some old ones that I had stashed away from years ago. Unfortunately, while they red-blue shades of yesteryear did bring certain scenes out like they should, they also made things painfully dark and colourized incorrectly -- plus, with the old glasses, parts were just as blurry as without glasses at all. Sure would've been nice to check it out with the proper glasses to see if it was worth it (though I think unless I had a 60-inch TV or sat 4 feet from the screen, it wouldn't have mattered anyway).

Interesting idea that went outside of the box (a rarity for NBC), but overall a disappointment.

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I thought that the story was quite good, and although the damage done to video quality annoyed me, I got over it.

8/10

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Honestly, I have never watched a 3D episode of any show that wasn't its worst ever. The skip the normal plot development and character development for stupid sight gags to "use" the 3d. Of course, most of us don't just have a pair of 3D glasses lying around (and even if we did, an hour long show in cardboard glasses is asking a bit too much of the audience) so the episode is just blurry with weird colors and has the characters making all their movements at the camera for some reason. Then there was the moronic addition of Jerome Bettis (though I did like the Shawshank Redemption call-out there) as an obvious tie-in to the Super Bowl and you can see why NBC is failing. They have these good shows that are starting to build an audience, then NBC steps in and forces them to do all these stupid things for their little "theme nights". They are always the worst episodes and never feel right at all. I could have liked the episode, but the 3D and Jerome Bettis parts really took away from it and made it nearly unwatchable. NBC Sucks. Their shows are good...but they suck.

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I wasn't impressed with the 3D offerings during the Superbowl. I had friends over for the game and got the glasses ahead of time, but sitting at a normal distance from the TV (Large LCD HD), I didn't see anything worth hassling with those uncomfotable, cardboard glasses for. I tried again with Chuck and discovered that watching up close, like a foot away, it made a huge difference. It really did look three dimensional, but who watches TV that way? Not only were the glasses a pain, but now I'm kneeling on the floor with my nose up against the set, probably getting cancer, just to get the effect. Not worth the trouble. Please; no more 3D episodes.

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I've noticed that anytime one of the networks has the chance to highlight the awesomeness of critically adored but little watched shows, they get too gimicky/sitcomy and ruin the opportunity. The Office ep that aired after the Superbowl and the HIMYM with Britney Spears are two examples of this. Chuck is the latest one. I love the show, I loved the Schwartz-tastic pop culture references to Shawshank and Arrested Development, but this episode as a whole was the worst one of the season.

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Are they going to have a non-3D repeat of the episode?

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I actually thought that this episode was free of some of the dumber "ooh, let's throw things at the screen in 3D!" gags I was expecting, so that was nice. That being said, I definitely enjoyed the episode less because I was so distracted with getting the darn glasses to work right. The coloring and brightness of the picture was annoying as well.

Aside from the 3D bit, the episode was okay, but not great. Monaghan was great, but some of the plot felt more contrived (than usual).

I did catch the "NO TOUCHING!" line. I was laughing out loud at "The Final Countdown" too, but I couldn't tell whether it was an AD reference or not.

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Each episode is getting progressively worse. Let us all hope that this was the summit of predictability and uninteresting plots. Chuck has boiled down to the predictability of The A-team, with a few pathetic attempts at channeling the bumbling antics of Don Knotts. The characters have become uninteresting, and the best part of each episode has become the hijinx at the BuyMore.

I predict that a spinoff of Morgan and others would garner more viewers than a half naked Sarah, over the top Casey, and the bumbling Chuck.

I had such high hopes for this show but I am now considering deleting it from my dvr.

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I actually liked the 3D - the color was much better than other 3D movies I've seen (Journey to Center of the Earth was completely washed out in 3D).

There weren't to many objects flying out - which was fine with me as I'm not big on the gimmickry. I just liked having depth perception added.

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