Excerpts from "Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on 'Lost,' 'Glee,' 'Grey's,' 'Chuck,' 'House,' and more!"
Question: These Chuck ’shippers are driving me crazy with their negativity after “Chuck Versus the Mask.” Can you give them something positive in regards to Chuck/Sarah that will get them to retract their claws? Please help! —Jason
Ausiello: This mini Q&A I conducted with exec producers Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak via e-mail shortly after Monday’s episode should do the trick…
Q: Did you anticipate that the episode would elicit this kind of reaction?
SCHWARTZ AND FEDAK: We knew it was going to cause a bit of angst in some viewers. We didn’t expect this level certainly, though we are appreciative that our fans are this invested in the characters. One thing we didn’t anticipate when we made this episode was that it would be the last episode before a three-week hiatus.
Q: Why did you decide to have both Chuck and Sarah embark on new romances (with Hannah and Shaw, respectively) in the same episode?
SCHWARTZ AND FEDAK: Because we are masochists. We kid, we kid. It happens sometimes in life. If you see one person moving on, it can spur you to move on as well. But we want to stress, Chuck and Sarah are not emotionally in the same place at the end of this episode.
Q: Which of the two relationships poses the bigger threat to Chuck and Sarah?
SCHWARTZ AND FEDAK: There are things far greater than a relationship that threaten Chuck and Sarah… Stay tuned.
Q: Can you offer any hope to Chuck/Sarah fans?
SCHWARTZ AND FEDAK: As we’ve said before, [Monday's episode] was Chapter 7 of 19 of this season. We love and appreciate our fans. We know our fans are why we’re back this season. But we need them to trust us to tell the most emotionally satisfying story possible. This has been mapped out from the start, and we always knew telling this portion of the story would be difficult for some. But we need people to come to back to the show March 1st — now more than ever — and we think if they do take this journey with us, they will see what we had planned the whole time. This is part of a bigger story than just “will they or won’t they.”
It’s worth pointing out that not everyone was disgusted by Monday’s turn of events…
Question: I absolutely love Kristin Kreuk as Hannah on Chuck. Any idea how many more episodes she will be in this season? —Jeremy
Ausiello: Just one. Schwartz and Fedak confirmed that Kreuk’s arc will conclude on March 1. Meanwhile, Brandon Routh’s stay has been extended yet again, although Team um… Schwedak (?) wouldn’t provide an updated episode count.
Question: Any chance the name of Christopher Lloyd’s shrink on Chuck is Doc Brown? Also, does his episode have a title? —Jeremy
Ausiello: His character’s name is not Doc Brown. And the episode is called “Chuck Versus the Tooth.”
