I am a bit confuse about what the writers are doing with this character, do they want me to like him or hate him? I think that he has a good future on the show but they are butchering him physically and emotionally.

Good point, KayTang. I've really hated Chase a couple of times this season, and really liked him a couple of other times. This week I just felt bad for him. But it could change in the next episode.

Annoying is as annoying does. Why the heck is he trying to be just like Jack? Now he's gonna have to face the music (mind you I haven't seen yesterday's ep).

You know, I hated him the previous epsiode, but I didn't mind him so much when he was being tortured. I may actually come around to like him, stranger things have happened.

Why, every time I see him, do I have the almost unbearable urge to go "wa-wa war-war wa-wa-wa" like one of the adult characters on Peanuts?

Question... why am I so loving seeing him get his ass kicked?

Man, Chase's redemption is working really well. Now the make up department has to suffer with him for sometime with all that wounds.

So Charlie is Tator-Tot's daddy, how cute!

She's got his hair.

Hee. Speaking of hair, did he have more hair than usual when he took off his hat, or am I just crazy?

Oh, and that little smile after he told Nina Jack was going to kill her? Hella sexy. Not quite as sexy as Jack's mad grin at the end of the episode, but sexy nonetheless.

I didn't like Chase in the beginning, but I think he might actually be growing on me. It started when he was being tortured - I guess I felt bad for him and it never went away.

I have a friend (a fan of Gustave's recaps, naturally) who has nicknamed him Poor Man's Justin Timberlake. I didn't really see the resemblance, but then a girl I work with mentioned the same thing. This week, there was something in his face (when he was sitting next to Nina on the plane) that finally did remind me a little of JT; except that Chase is cuter...IMHO.

I wonder who Tater Tot's mom is and why he never told Spawn that he was a dad. Does Tater Tot need a name change now that she isn't related to Potato Face?

James Badge Dale was on The Sharon Osbourne Show yesterday. I missed it but it was a short interview. He was playing paintball with Sharon, he lost to Sharon because he didn't hit the bulleye.

I think the reason he looks like Justin is probably because of the hair. Even Greg (Amador) looks like him a bit with that hair cut.

I'm sorry but he still bores me. He is this nice guy who looks up to Jack and tries desperately to be just like him which is legitimate but that's about it. Can he actually think for himself?

PS: Not that I'm a fan of Justin Timberlake but seriously, James Badge Dale looks nothing like him. And neither does the actor who plays Amador.

My 14 yr old son gave himself a haircut and I told him he looked like SACB and he said thats ok "he's got Kim". I think SACB is supposed to attract the younger female viewer like Kim attracts the (any age) male viewer.

Over the weekend I saw some really funny as hell "South Park" version of The Peanuts and all I could think of was SACB! And his "festively large cranium"! hee! It was hysterical!!

I'm so distracted by his craniumsize now that his character has gone the way of the dumb. Does he have Bumpis of the Noggina? I mean it's HUGE, I wonder does it hinder the roles he has gotten and will get later.

It occurs to me that, in true Charlie Brown fashion, Chase manages to be both a good man AND a blockhead.

This hiatus has obviously already been too long. That, or I need other things to think about.

Not to worry, I'm right there with ya.

I know, I know... what a weakness, but Charlie, errr, Chase is becoming my repressed eye candy. I've never been attracted to anyone on the show for all 3 seasons, but he's done it for me. He's hot. Spawn's got all the luck.

My sister didn't like the show till he saw Chase. She thinks he's gorgeous and the hottest guy of the show. She tells that he looks like Justin Timberlake, but it doesn't seem to me they look alike.

Perhaps if you shaved Justin's hair closer and inflated his head a bit more ...

It took a while, but I'm down with Chase now. And I still think the Jack/Chase/Kim dynamic will somehow be played out further during the last eight hours.

Eh, I'm the other way around. I've always thought he was hot and I liked the character from the start. Even though I see the CB thing. Then they gave him the baby and that was too mushy for me ("I love you Spawn, but I think I'm falling in love with TaterTot too.") Vomitious Crap. Also in the Angelina Jolie range of creepy family love. I love you, but I'm IN LOVE WITH my DAUGHTER.

The only way I'm going to come out of this season liking what they've done with the character is if the baby, through her mom I suppose, is somehow connected to the main plot. I can't believe I just said I want to see more of the baby. If they are just going to stuff it in a closet for the rest of the day then they should have left it there from the beginning.

At this point, I look at the baby primarily as a plot device designed to give Chloe some development. Either that, or it was an example of something that the producers tried and abandoned midstream when it didn't play that well.

An article linked in the media thread makes mention of this very thing. Something about throwing the baby out with the bath water! Snerk! I prefer Chase scenes with Kiefer over Spawn. Any. Day.

Not that you're biased, or anything :)

BWAH!!!! Oh, no! Not. Ever! hee! Boy, Elliot, you sure got my number, don't you?

I'm wondering if Jack won't have to make some hard choices re: Chase's safety that will be doubly complicated by Chase's connection to Kim and the fact that Jack now knows that, like him, Chase has a daughter.

Good point, g-girl. But I don't think Jack has the time to think about Chase and Kim at the moment... although if Chase sticks around next season (and maybe I'm in the minority but I want him around) this could definitely present more conflicting issues between them.

You are not alone, I want to see Chase back next season and the seasons after that too. I think if the writers work on this character really well, Chase would be a really good character for 24.

It's entirely possible that Chase was brought on not just for this year.

I have visions of a Season 6 where Chase runs LA's CTU office with Kim as second-in-command. That's never been done, has it?

Chase bores me. He adds nothing to the plot, especially in the most recent episodes. Just a pretty face.

That's why I am saying that the writers have to do something to this character. They need to give Chase more personality and more purpose. He needs to do something other than walking around after Jack and being loyal.

The thing is when Chase does nothing, we complain that he is lazy. When he did something good, we worry that he is going to replace Jack. When he did something bad or stupid we call him a blockhead. I understand how hard it is to make this kind of character good without having some kind of shadow lurking over the character.

They could let him drive the car. At least the he'd do something. He works for me when he's actually doing something. Even though it was stupid when he stepped in for the delta team, at least they were giving the character a purpose. Now they just have him riding along, and that's just boring.

I think part of the "problem" has been the fact that a fanbase at large hardly ever likes a new character from the start. For instance very few people liked Chloe or Michelle from the start. That's just the way it is with fans. I'm guessing that if he's still around by season two there will be new newbies to dislike, and he'll have larger fansupport. And I like him, so at least he has some potential for like.

Oh please, no. Keep SACB, ditch Spawn. (Because he's hot.) And could, like totally, be competent. If the wanted to write him that way.

He was driving at the end. Just sayin'. I like Chase - actor and character - just fine. He's not supposed to be a second lead. He's supposed to be a supporting character... and he is. I suspect he'll have moments, both in terms of actions he'll have to take himself and of actions/reactions of other character's relative to him, before the day is out.

I think that, although the thought remained unspoken, Chase and Kim's relationship was definitely one of the reasons that Jack ordered Chase to leave the server room before the bomb went off. And - this is just a gut feeling - I wonder if, in the coming hours, he might not be faced with a situation in which he finds that he's unable to keep Chase safe.

I totally agree, mgirl. Trying, maybe in a way that he wouldn't fully acknowledge to himself, to protect Chase in a way that goes beyond how he'd protect JustAPartner is just one more plate that Jack is trying to keep spinning right now... and I wonder if it will have implications beyond the possibility that (I agree) he'll be unable to do it at some point, i.e. will Jack make a bad decision based on trying to protect Chase, whether it works or not.

Great points, everyone. I definitely take back my comment about Jack not having the time to think about it... 'cause you're right. Jack ordering Chase out of the server room did have something to do with it. I definitely overlooked that the first time. And if this has implications for how he'll make decisions from now on, it will definitely be an interesting element to the storyline.

Glad to see I'm not alone in wanting Chase around. At the beginning of the season, I didn't like Chase at all, actor or character. But slowly, James Badge Dale has won me over. I wish they'd give Chase something to do now that the Salazar arc is over, but I have a feeling the writers have something in store for him. I really want to see his character around. It gives the Jack/Kim relationship something new and fresh, and gives Jack that extra pressure now, from trying to 'use' Chase as a resource (with humanity, yes, but still a resource) like he 'uses' (and I use the term loosely, since Jack, while resourceful, does treat everyone as a human, unlike ChapHell) most people on the show, while trying to save Kim's Lov-ah Boy. I want him to stick around because it definitely adds a different dimension to that show.

And really, even if I'm one of two people who think so, Chase is hot. Really.

Yeah, I was going to say that Chase was driving at the end of the episode.

Under that kind of circumstance, I don't think Jack was thinking about Chase is Kim's boyfriend. It is a normal human instinct that when you are in danger, you would most likely tell anyone to run, even if they are not good people. It was matter of life and death.

I like Chase, and I'd hope to see him the next seasons.
Is up to the writers to make his character more interesting by giving him a purpose. For instance, they could work more on the whole Jack/Kim/Chase relation.
By the way Politikgirl, my sister also thinks he's hot.

I'd like to see Chase stick around too. Of course, I've liked him since the beginning. And I also think he's hot. There's at least three of us!

I think he is a really hot and good looking person too, from the beginning. I just didn't feel like admitting it ;) Now that many people are coming out of the closet, I feel like join in the love fest.

I'm sighing in relief. I thought I was seriously one of two people who have a thing for Chase. Now it's coming out and there's more than 2 of us. I didn't even think so from the beginning, but the more I see of JBD the more I like him.

On a serious note, I don't know if I should be worried about his character lasting the season. And not knowing is even worse than having to worry. Although with the current Michelle/Inn Fection storyline, I'm glad I don't have to worry about losing another character... I'm already worried enough over poor Michelle.

Long live Chase. Seriously.

They gotta give Chase something big to do rather than just tagging along with Jack on stuff. Have him go on a separate mission or something, and the other character's success in their missions is dependent on him succeeding. Otherwise... He's just like the little kid who was repeatedly asking if he could play and Jack finally gave in. "Okay, you can tag along, but don't get in my way!"

This is only true for recent eps though, I admit.

I don't know if I'm being paranoid but I think that one reason for not having Chase back next year could be that they wouldn't have to deal anymore with the baby stuff this season. Which let's face it - I'm all for. The baby is cute, made some funny happen with Chloe and the gang, but IMO the resolution stunk. I wouldn't have minded if they had skipped it from the beginning.

It's kinda annoying (Annyong!) becuase I'm really enjoying what they've been doing with the latest episode since they dropped the subplots. So now I'm torn between tossing it out with the bathwater or atleast hearing from someone that the mother came by to pick it up. Maybe moved to Germany with it, heh.

There's nothing wrong with it! There are dozens of us! Dozens! [/dr fünke]

For some reason, I can't see Chase going beyond one season, but I don't see him dying either... I picture him doing something AMAZINGLY heroic at the end, and getting promoted to some high-level position.

Or hey, maybe he'll be given that promotion that Tony was talking about in episode 1 of the season if he does well.

If they really want him back for more seasons, they can do it with a good creative plot even if it has to involve Angela. I am being extremely hopeful.

Oh right, the baby. I forgot about that. Heh. How convenient of me.

Despite how useless and pointless the baby storyline was, and how annoyed I was at the whole thing, it was a cute baby and I did enjoy the scene with Chase and his daughter. Really cute, and great Jack parallel. So I think they should keep the baby around next season if it means they can keep Chase around... but keeping it in the background and not as some big storyline a la Kim being kidnapped.

The way things are going this year, it won't necessarily surprise me to see something bad happen to the baby. I hope not, but I was hoping Teri stayed alive too.

I really don't want to see the baby kidnapped because it just sounds like a weird subplot to me (and didn't we learn this season that subplots suck?) and also, you can't show what's going on because the baby... can't act. I'd prefer if they just left the baby (Angela?) at CTU or whatever and just let her be. And if they kill her off I'll just be annoyed, because if they have to kill off anyone at the end of this season I want it to be someone we've gotten to know (which will make it painful for me, of course, but it'll be moving).

I like JBD too but I think his character's got "dead" written all over him.
Look on the bright side - maybe he'll turn up on a new TV show next year?