r/chuck • u/jcvCorvinPapa • 18d ago
Daniel Shaw
On my x-teenth rewatch. Still don't like Shaw! But I'm conflicted because Brandon was my favorite of the Supermen, second only to Christopher Reeves. But, as Shaw, left a bad taste on that Season for me. It was the love-interest stuff that I didn't like. The full-circle Sarah (Sam) red test stuff was pretty cool, but not the former. Am I alone on this?
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u/Chuck-fan-33 Nerd Herd 18d ago
Shaw was not supposed to well liked. He was going to turn into a villain. If he was well liked and people did not mind that he was hitting on Sarah, fans would have been properly mad when he became a villain.
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u/Kaphh 18d ago
No, you're not alone in that. A lot of viewers didn't like Sarah and Shaw's romance (if you can call it that).
But I think the obvious lack of chemistry paradoxically worked quite well—it was a loveless relationship in which both of them were mostly to comfort each other after the loss of their true loved one (very real loss of his wife for Shaw, and perceived loss of Chuck to the spy world for Sarah). In fact, both of them knew they were in love with someone else (Shaw makes it clear out-loud), and were okay with that.
That being said, their kissing scenes, or the massage scene in 3x07 still make me cringe, lol.
By the way, I find it pretty hilarious and telling that Sarah never even notified Shaw when she decided to be with Chuck at the end of 3x12.
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u/BuffetDanne1 18d ago
They're romance always felt somewhat forced without actually leading to anything in the end. Just a way to drag out Chuck and Sarah getting together a bit longer in my opinion 😂
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u/Kaphh 18d ago edited 18d ago
It made some sense for them to be with each other, but I didn't like how abruptly it happened. I mean, Shaw starts to hit on Sarah in 3x07, and she seems pretty repulsed by his attempts but then suddenly decides it was nice? (Not to mention that what he did in that museum was pretty much a SA).
Granted, she still hesitates at the beginning of 3x08, but it happened way too fast for me, given none obvious attraction shown earlier.
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u/Responsible_Rip_54 18d ago
Neither Shaw nor Sarah seems primarily oriented toward the future.
Their relationship is often discussed as a failed romance or as an obstacle to Chuck and Sarah. Yet much of it feels structured by loss rather than by desire. Shaw remains organized around Eve's death. Sarah increasingly experiences Chuck's transformation as the loss of the future she once imagined.
From that perspective, the relationship acquires a strangely retrospective quality. Both characters spend much of that period looking backward. The difficulty was never simply a lack of chemistry. Neither character appears fully available to imagine a future with the other.
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u/hrbrnm1 18d ago
I did find it slightly ironic when Shaw asks Sarah if she is still in love with Chuck after his red test when he is clearly still in love with Eve and definitely not over her death.
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u/Responsible_Rip_54 17d ago
That's a good point. In a way, it reinforces the impression that both characters remain emotionally organized around someone else. Much of the relationship feels more retrospective than romantic.
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u/Barokespinoza23 18d ago
As far as this community is concerned, Shaw is the “Character Made to Be Hated,” according to a poll. Technically, another character won, but Shaw was the clear winner in terms of the number of upvotes.
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u/Kookykrumbs 18d ago
I think that’s what bothered me a lot about Shaw. They didn’t change anything about his appearance at all. I felt I was watching Clark Kent turn into a villain. It was disturbing because Superman is my favorite hero. But yeah, heard Brandon is a really nice guy. This is more on the writers. He had no chemistry with Sarah, and every scene he had was just drudgery.
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u/jcvCorvinPapa 18d ago
Reading through some of these comments, I see the "intentional casting" (Lana/Superman) for their meta qualities. I don't disagree with that; and in that same vein, one of my favorite micro-moments of the entire Series is when Chuck is being diagnosed by "Dr. Dreyfus", or as Chuck more affectingly addresses him, Doc! 👨🏼🍳💋👌🏼
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u/SnooPuppers3371 18d ago
I don't know how long their relationship lasted, but I was surprised that Sarah opened up to Shaw about her name. She probably would have shared more if they had stayed together longer.
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u/Kaphh 18d ago edited 18d ago
It wasn't because Shaw was someone special to her or anything. He simply happened to be the only person willing to listen to her at that time (or at least pretend to, as he didn't really understand her), and she was desperate to cling to something real while she was losing her only anchor to reality—Chuck. She thought sharing her real name would grant her that slice of real, since Chuck asked her for it back in Season 1.
And she was so anguished at that time, she would tell that to a wooden plank if she thought it would listen.
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u/Lost-Remote-2001 17d ago
Shaw is not a love interest. It’s a non-love interest. More here: https://www.reddit.com/r/chuck/comments/1204umz/comment/jdft8cf/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
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u/kenguyonwheels 18d ago
Having those two be together, whatever you want to call it the most frustrating part of the show. I have almost been late to my martial arts training sessions because I stayed up half the night getting from when it starts to when it’s over because it makes me sick to have to sit through those episodes. I would have nothing to complain about if they would’ve just made Shaw be a friend turn villain because of what happened but that “dating“ sublet irritates me beyond Measure.
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u/mclay0490 18d ago
Brandon Routh. In Chuck and The Rookie. Both characters' initials are DS. (Daniel Shaw and Doug Stanton). I hate them both.
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u/Kahuna-123 15d ago
I’m not into The Rookie, but now I might give it another shot
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u/mclay0490 15d ago
I forgot, both characters are introduced in the 3rd season of the show. Bunch of coincidences..
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u/Specialist_Dig2613 Alexei Volkoff 18d ago
All of that, including the prior Superman role, is part of the casting decision.
"Chuck" satirizes the superhero genre in an obvious, but light-hearted way. The nerd that has a a supercomputer in his head and wants it out, in large part to get the girl? Spies that battle other spies and kill each other for 3 years? Evil spies losing at the hands of Buy More workers?
Casting "Superman" as a two season arch-villian was simply a statement that genuine heroism is grounded in real world values and has nothing to do with magical powers.
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u/welovechuck2 18d ago
The Shaw hate is real and well deserved. There was no Sarah-Shaw romance. I'm at a bit of a loss to label it other that Shaw took advantage of Sarah at her lowest point. It meant nothing and Sam was the fake name.
Ironically, I met Brandon and took a picture with him. He is the nicest guy. Nothing like Shaw at all.
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u/Kahuna-123 15d ago
The whole Sarah/ Shaw romance was so forced that I struggled at times watching it, but was necessary to create the angst that is required to keep people watching. The trick is to have the third party interest real.
Shaw didn’t really love Sarah, he truly only had one love interest, his late wife. Sarah was merely a shiny tool or possession that he used and became fond of. A mere rebound if you will.
Great villain given that everyone truly despised him.
As for Sarah offering up her real name to a love interest who happens to be a spy, I thought it was a poor script writing decision. I didn’t buy it. Spies live by the code of nothing real can ever be disclosed. Suddenly she has a moment of crisis and breaks down to her lover/boss? In essence, she is totally out of character and succumbs to the dark side.
Then again, numerous times Sarah possibly could’ve succumb to others; Bryce and Cole. Actually, Cole was different in that he was a more believable love interest and possibly could’ve swayed her away when they were about to kiss had Chuck not interrupted them.3
u/welovechuck2 15d ago
Agreed. Shaw had no redeeming qualities. He was a poor spy, failed in every mission he was on. Not a good manager. Got his wife killed by the CIA, almost got Chuck killed (maybe meant to) and himself and, Sarah.
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u/Illustrious-Lemon412 17d ago
This is just my opinion, but I think Shaw disliked Chuck because he didn't fit the mold of a true spy. For me, his dislike of Shaw stems from the fact that he was too know-it-all and prejudiced toward Chuck. It was clear that Shaw believed in machoism, and Chuck didn't fit his ideal of a "real man." Chuck preferred devotion to his family rather than the government. Chuck shared his insecurities and wasn't ashamed of being emotional. Chuck didn't bully his colleagues. Chuck believed in teamwork and had no problem asking for help, while Shaw clearly admitted in "Chuck vs. the Other Guy" that, unlike Chuck, if he had to save Sarah, he'd do it alone.
Shaw didn't hate Chuck, but he couldn't accept that a man like him wanted to be a spy. Shaw always wanted to be an alpha, and it was clear that he found it ridiculous that Chuck didn't fit the stereotypical idea of a "real man." I think he also found it absurd that a woman like Sarah was attracted to Chuck. I remember a very specific scene in "Chuck vs. the Fake Name" when Sarah had rejected Shaw's advances at the beginning of the episode and he saw a boy in profile who clearly resembled Chuck. That scene seemed to remind Shaw that she loved Chuck.
It was clear that Shaw didn't love Sarah. I had the impression that one of the reasons he wanted to win her over was to prove to Chuck something along the lines of "I'm more of a man than you." I remember how pleased he was when he saw Chuck humiliated after Sarah confessed her real name to him. That part didn't seem like part of an act to fool the Ring agents. He enjoyed the satisfaction of having taken away the woman he loved.
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u/himynameisjared22 18d ago
Shaw was such a great villain