Chuck Versus Sarah/Chuck Versus the Goodbye

Thanks for the memories. We wish a fond goodbye.

Photo Credit: NBC/TVFanatic.com

Well folks, that’s it. Last night saw the two-hour series finale of Chuck and it was everything we’d been promised. It was full of callbacks and emotion. Even a cold-hearted b*****d like me got a bit teary at times.

Even although it was the final two episodes, they functioned as one, to the point where they, again, dropped the opening credits for the second hour.

It was a trip down memory lane for both Sarah and us fans. From the assault on the D.A.R.P.A. lab, an homage to the very first scene of the pilot where Bryce Larkin steals the Intersect, right through to Chuck and Sarah’s dream house, it encapsulated the five amazing years we’ve had, without the need for flashbacks every few minutes.

The great thing about the finale is that it wasn’t just trying to remind Sarah why she fell in love with Chuck, it also served to remind us why we fell in love with the show.

It was funny, dramatic and touching in all the right quantities. What other spy drama wears its heart on its sleeve so openly?

The first hour, Chuck Versus Sarah, was certainly the darker of the two episodes, with Sarah manipulating those closest to her on Quinn’s orders and a lot of emotional pain for Chuck. At first we’re lead to believe that Sarah has killed Quinn, escaped, and still has enough of her memory to get home to those she loves.

Of course, she didn’t kill Quinn, but came pretty close to it, now he’s calling the shots pretending to be her handler. It’s quite amusing that Bizarro Sarah mistakes Chuck’s goofy good nature for a trap – one of the lighter moments of the episode.

Maybe it was just me, but Sarah seemed to soften slightly in deciding not to blow up the D.A.R.P.A. Intersect room. Could it have been that she didn’t see a need to kill Chuck, or perhaps it was just a disinclination to blow up a government facility.

Some of Sarah’s memory starts to come back once Chuck takes her to their dream home, although it’s not the house, or Chuck’s recounting of the dreams they had for the house, but the names she and he carved into a door frame.

Of course, once Quinn gets the Intersect glasses, Sarah is of no use to him, so he verifies Chuck’s story, that he’s been deceiving her and shoots at her. I think it was another step along the road that she was concerned about Chuck after he took the bullet for her.

Casey showed his gentler side by turning up at Sarah’s old room, telling her a bit about how they’d changed over the years and leaving the DVD of her mission logs. It was nice to see Sarah falling in love with Chuck via a series of small video diary entries.

Even although this all verified Chuck’s version of events, Sarah still didn’t feel that connection as she couldn’t remember going through all the things that made her fall in love with him.

The second episode saw Sarah back on the side of the good guys and gunning for Quinn. This allowed for more nostalgia and allowed this to be lighter as Chuck, and fate apparently, tried to take Sarah on a trip down memory lane.

The episode gave some of the usually mute Buy Morons a line or two of dialogue as Jeff and Lester were employed to help track down Sarah, using their network of contacts, or as Lester put it; “Unleash the perverts!”

We had references to Fulcrum, The Ring and Ted Roarke within the first few minutes of the episode, and the hits just kept on coming as Sarah, Chuck and Morgan went on a mission to find Renny Deutch in Berlin. First port of call was a restaurant that looked exactly like “El Compadre” in LA where Chuck and Sarah had their first cover date.

Next was a Russian consulate where we got a chance to see the pair dancing in eveningwear. This was followed by a trip to a Wienerlicious where it seemed that Sarah remembered a little more of her missing 5 years.

In an act that mirrored parts of “Chuck Versus the Ring” and his first mission in the pilot, Chuck once again put his personal desires aside in order to do what was right and took on the responsibility of the Intersect.

Thanks to Sarah, Chuck used the ‘Irene Demova’ virus from the pilot to defuse the bomb and save General Beckman, and likely a large part of the audience from being blown up.

However, the day could not have been saved by Chuck were it not for the intervention of a certain duo. One word: Jeffster!

Whereas in the season 2 finale, Jeffster played an unwitting part in helping, in this episode they were very much in on the plan. Despite turning up on their own initiative, they managed to save the day with a performance of A-ha’s ‘Take On Me’, earning them a standing ovation and the interest of a record producer from Germany.

In uploading the Intersect one last time, he was denied the opportunity to use the glasses to restore Sarah’s memory. As the team disbanded, with Casey leaving to go after Gertrude Verbanski, Sarah needed to take some time to find herself.

More pieces of her memory must have been resurfacing as she went to the beach where she had first told Chuck that he could trust her.

Taking advice from Morgan and following his heart, Chuck found her there and they started to reconnect. We got a montage of the couples important moments as Sarah asked Chuck to tell her their story and we fade to black as they share another first kiss.

 

Whilst Chuck and Sarah may have had a slightly ambiguous ending, others got their own happy endings. Alex and Morgan moved in together, Casey off to find Verbanski, Ellie and Awesome moving out to Chicago, Jeff and Lester getting a record contract. Even Big Mike got a happy ending, with Subway moving in to the Buy More!

Photo Credit: ZacharyLeviFan.com

“If you ever want to save the world again…. You know where I am.” – Gen. Beckman.

It’s been a fun ride.

Josh Schwartz, Chris Fedak, Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, Adam Baldwin, Joshua Gomez, Sarah Lancaster, Ryan McPartlin, Scott Krinsky, Vik Sahay, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Bonita Friedericy, Julia Ling, a whole host of guest stars, all the writers, directors, producers and the rest of the crew. All of you are responsible for a show that captured the hearts and minds of people the world over, and for that we thank you from the bottom of our nerdy little hearts.

 

*fade to black*

Chuck Versus the Santa Suit

The Grinch who (almost) stole Christmas!

Photo Credit: Mike Ansell/NBC

What a Christmas treat we got with last night’s Chuck! This is certainly my favourite episode of the season so far and one of my favourites of the series. It just goes to show how good an episode it was when the colossal spoiler in the promo that NBC aired two weeks ago had little impact on the enjoyment of it.

That being said, there is a bit of a large plot hole, so let’s get it out of the way quickly. Surely the CIA would have de-Intersected Shaw when they took him into custody, knowing how dangerous he and it can be. Since they apparently didn’t, the question arises; how did he survive for two years without a Governor?

Right, gripe out of the way, now I can get to the rest of the episode.

This episode was fantastically done, blending pretty much all of the elements that make for a really good hour of Chuck. It also featured the entire ensemble with Team B, Ellie and Awesome and the Buy Morons all getting to play their part.

For a change, Jeff and Lester proved instrumental in the payoff without it being dumb luck thanks to one of their schemes having wider repercussions. You could say that, for a while, they were an unofficial part of the Carmichael Industries team. Plus it was a great chance to have a Subway promotional plug (one of two – the second being a more subtle one at the CIA Christmas party) with Jeff doing a Big Mike and describing the ingredients of his delicious Subway sandwich.

Adam Baldwin got a little comedy, a little action and a lot of heart with this episode. His reaction to Chuck and Morgan finding out about his present for Alex was brilliant, and the scene where he begins to record his ‘final’ message for her on the bear was very moving. Of course he got to tell Alex in person and, caught up in his ‘lady feelings’, even gave her a nudge in Morgan’s direction – “You know, that.. that Grimes kid, he’s not that bad. You should maybe give him another chance.”

Shaw was unpopular during Season 3, even before he did his heel turn. Quite a bit of it was to do with him getting between Chuck and Sarah, and some of it was to do with the fact that he seemed so wooden. When he returned last night, there was a great desire form the fans to see him get his ass kicked up and down the Buy More. We weren’t disappointed, although I’m sure some of us would have liked to have seen him put down permanently.

After he regressed to the old Chuck last week, it was a relief to see Chuck back on form. He had a plan; he utilized everyone at his disposal, used his nerd skills and his physical training to win the day and save the world from Daniel Shaw.

I have to admit that from last week’s promo, I thought that maybe Chuck got the Intersect back, courtesy of Gen. Beckman. When we found out that Jeff and Lester had cracked the Omen code, I figured that Chuck would use it against Shaw. It was quite amusing and ironic that he used the bluff from Superman II, where Superman makes Zod think he has the upper hand when in fact he’s removed his powers.

I felt that the fight scene in the Buy More this time around was better than when both Shaw and Chuck had the Intersect. This fight was not between two guys with near superpowers, it was between two guys who hated each other. Plus we had Ellie get in on the action by clocking Shaw on the back of the head, bringing the fight to an end!

Now that Shaw is locked away you would have thought that his villainy could no longer affect our heroes, but then you get that final scene between Shaw and Sarah. Oh boy, that is a cliffhanger to ponder over Christmas! Whose baby do you think Shaw is referring to? Post your theories in the comments section.

Of course, now that the vendetta against Chuck has come to a close as far as the CIA are concerned, he should be getting back all of the assets that were frozen by Decker, meaning that Carmichael Industries should be rich once again. Having been offered open positions at the CIA means that there are a few options open to each of them.

Where will the story go after next episode? Few people know, but I am very interested to see how it all plays out.

 

Next time: Chuck Versus the Baby

SARAH’S PAST COMES BACK TO HAUNT HER AND THREATENS THOSE CLOSEST TO HER — CHERYL LADD AND TIM DEKAY GUEST STAR — Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) is forced to confront a secret from her past and feels she must do so alone, while Chuck (Zachary Levi) urges her to let him help. When Sarah encounters her original handler, Kieran Ryker (guest star Tim Dekay, “White Collar”), she fears that he will harm those closest to her, including her mom (guest star Cheryl Ladd, “Las Vegas”). Adam Baldwin, Joshua Gomez, Sarah Lancaster and Ryan McPartlin also star. 

Here’s the trailer, take a look:

Chuck Versus the Curse

Being a spy can be torture. Who wants a martini?

Photo Credit: Byron Cohen/NBC

The Buy Morons got the week off as Devon and Ellie got unwittingly involved in the spy game again in last night’s episode. We could all see that pretending to be spies whilst out on a date using Chuck’s OpenTable account would end up causing trouble.

Both thinking that each other set up ‘Operation Eagle’, they stumbled into what turned out to be a bluff for us fans. Being transported to a safe location on the orders of Beckman, they assumed, as we initially did, that it was the bad guys who had captured them. I have to say I quite liked the ‘tuck and roll’ exit from the car as it slowed down. Obviously the doors we saw locking when they got in weren’t childproof!

Team Awesome did pretty well for themselves. Despite not being real spies, they certainly worked well as a spy team. I mentioned on Twitter that Ellie is both a Bartowski and Mrs Awesome, and both aspects certainly showed in this episode.

In fact, there were a couple of other pairings that worked well together; Casey and Beckman for one, and the other non-spy couple Morgan and Alex.

It was nice to see General Beckman out of the office and involved with Team Bartowski again. Like she said, “It was a bit like old times, wasn’t it?”

It was also nice to have Ellie not playing second fiddle to Sarah in the glamour stakes, even giving her the sexy ‘getting ready’ montage. Since they’ve had Sarah Lancaster in either scrubs or plain looking clothes for a lot of the series, it’s good when someone decides to put her in a slinky dress, such as in ‘Versus the Coup d’Etat’ and remind us how hot she actually is.

This whole episode was very much a showcase of the strong females, Ellie, Sarah, Alex and General Beckman. Each of them was responsible for the success of the respective missions.

Meanwhile, the guys were not being quite so clever. Chuck went back to his old self; having his feelings for his family get in the way of making the right decision, Morgan was ready to attempt something overly complicated and, whilst Awesome came up with some good ideas, he ultimately got into deeper trouble.

I liked the B-plot in this, with Morgan having to complete a mission for Casey and retrieve Chuck’s P.A.N.T.S. It was a good excuse to have him working with Alex and they certainly worked well together.

Do we think that Morgan and Alex will have a reconciliation before the end of the series? I think so; all of the signs are there, just look at her face when she opens his box of personal artifacts.

I note that Morgan said that he and Chuck went through an acronym phase when they were younger. When they were younger? Come on, Morgan is still in that phase, you just have to look at T.I.T.S. (yes, I know! :D)

My one problem with the close of the episode is that the whole storyline with the government hunting Team B was wrapped up in an incredibly easy way. Sure, from the look on Robin Cunnings’ face, she would rather give up everything than get a taste of her own medicine, but it was very much a quick fix.

I understand that there are time constraints, given the fast approaching end of the series, but it just felt a little too neat.

We had Casey being broken out of prison at the end of the last episode, and it seems we've got another happening at the end of this one. Because of the spoilers that we’ve seen, we know that Shaw must be prisoner 1647. So it seems that releasing the Omen virus was just part of the plan in order to facilitate his escape. Essentially, the whole episode was about getting to that part.

Next time: Chuck Versus the Santa Suit

Chuck and Sarah learn who is trying to destroy Carmichael Industries; Ellie's Christmas plans come undone; a computer virus threatens to ruin Christmas at Buy More. Stan Lee guest stars.

Here’s the trailer, take a look:

From his comment to Shaw, it seems like Chuck might be getting the Intersect back! Exciting stuff ahead :)