The bad guy doesn't become the bad guy because he wants to do evil. Well, not usually. Though, that would be an interesting bad guy.
No, the bad guy tends to think he is the good guy. That he is doing what needs to be done. Or he truly believes the "good guys" are the "bad guys." After all, the Nazis didn't think they were the bad guys. People justify their evil.
CHUCK had several of these evil doing "heroes" through its five seasons. Let's explore them and define their level of competency.
Season 1
There wasn't really a big bad guy to speak of until late in season 1 when Fulcrum was introduced following the discovery that Bryce was still alive. This started us down a path toward arguably the best evil organization the show would ever have. Tommy Delgado is the most memorable enemy agent of season 1.
Competency Grade: 82 out of 100 - The danger was elevated once Fulcrum was introduced but it wasn't around long enough for the audience to get a true sense of their strength.
Season 2
Fulcrum essentially survived as the bad guy for the whole season with ever increasing levels of danger coming at Team B. Fulcrum was then eliminated by The Ring in the season finale.
Fulcrum agents included Jill Roberts, Chuck's college sweetheart who he started dating again before discovering she was the enemy. Ted Roark, who was something of a Bill Gates type and Chuck's hero, also turned out to be a high ranking member of Fulcrum. And throughout the second season, we were introduced to new and more dangerous members of the agency within The Agency.
Competency Grade: 98 out of 100 - They seemed to only be getting stronger at every turn and the audience felt a real fear and danger for Team B. People died. The Bartowski clan was in danger. And you felt like Chuck might be boxed up in a hole somewhere by one side or the other any day now.
Season 3
The Ring was talked about like it was this massive organization that made Fulcrum seem like a bunch of wussies. In the end, they were taken down in a stairwell by a capable spy and a short dude with no bullets in his weapon. Though, the journey was a bit more interesting than that, but The Ring was too wide spread to ever seem as much of a threat as Fulcrum. The most memorable Ring agent in season 3 was Daniel Shaw, though he was someone out to avenge the murder of his wife.
Competency Grade: 83 out of 100 - You would think that the organization that pretty much wiped out Fulcrum in a day would have been more sinister. Unfortunately, it never fully lived up to the hype.
Season 4
Alexei Volkoff was the next bad guy and he was great! The mid-season finale gave Chuck a nice comeback as he brought the Volkoff Industries down. HOWEVER, then Volkoff's daughter, Vivian, took over and the whole bad guy plot went to hell as both Volkoff's ended up as just good guys in unfortunate circumstances. Yawn.
Competency Grade: Alexei, 85 out of 100. Vivian, 40 out of 100. Overall, 62.5.
Season 5
This one felt more like season 1 in that we were given several bad guys, who may have been working together but didn't really get into the big payoff bad guy until the end. Out of the three bad guys, Sarah's old boyfriend, Shaw, seemed the most competent.
Competency Grade: Decker, 75 out of 100. Shaw, 90 out of 100. Quinn, 75 out of 100. Overall, 80.
What say you?
