Friday Five: Things In Chuck I Think Differently About

This is a guest post from Joe Buckley, a longtime Chuck fan and regular contributor at Chuck This! blog.

Well, this started off as “Five Chuck Episodes I’ve Changed My Mind About”. But then, I realized this was going to be a hard topic. After all, I feel very much the same about both my favorite and least favorite episodes. So instead, the decision was made to write about things (not just episodes) in the show that mean something different to me now.

However, that came out “Five Things About Chuck I’ve Changed My Mind About.” Much like Winston Churchill, “Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put!” And the title “Five Things About Chuck About Which I’ve Changed My Mind About” sounds like I’m channeling McLean Stevenson’s Henry Blake on the ol’ M*A*S*H TV show. Sigh.

But you get the idea. There are elements of Chuck that play very differently now, years later, and even more things whose meaning has changed with time, viewings and consideration. I’m sure you’ve realized this too, but let me
present a few that maybe you haven’t considered.

Starting in no particular order (except maybe in reverse order of significance to me!)…

5. Emmett Milbarge!

Actor Tony Hale’s character was a wonderful addition to the cast after the departure of T.S. Lee’s Henry Tang. Emmett was a great petty dictator for the totally ungovernable Buy Morons, able to lord it over them even as he melted flawlessly into that stew… right up to the moment he died.

Emmett’s demise was shocking and instantly transformed the character from a buffoon to a tragic figure. Ever since, I’ve found it difficult to see Emmett in the same way.

4. The music!

Many of you know that I’ve always enjoyed the songs chosen for the show. I’ve spent many hours walking (or running!) with an MP3 player and listening to nothing but those tunes. Except for the traditional Christmas music and Daniel May’s “On Sale Now” (used occasionally as the elevator music), my collection is pretty complete! So my love for the music is the same as it ever was (heh!) What’s different, though, is the rest of television.

Well, almost. What I’ve noticed is that many TV shows are now being much more deliberate and selective about their music, often beginning and ending episodes with songs that are current and significant. I don’t think Chuck was the first to do that (perhaps David Chase’s show, The Sopranos, can be credited). But Chuck made things memorable by often using parts of as many as four or even six great songs in one episode to set the mood and tone.

The Mentalist, NCIS, The Good Wife and lately Castle are all using music approaching playlist worthiness. I’m sure there are others, and I fully expect Chris Fedak’s new Forever to continue this tradition. We’ll call it a change inspired by Chuck.

3. Daniel Shaw

[No! Stop! Don’t Throw That!!! (Ouch)]

Okay, please let me explain this one. There’s a sense in which I haven’t changed my mind AT ALL! about this character. I didn’t like to see him as part of Sarah’s inner circle, I didn’t think they should have been involved romantically and Shaw was a great
bad guy.

What’s different is buried in the thought I had while contemplating the loss of Bryce Larkin and what that loss meant. If Bryce was originally slated (in concept) to be Chuck’s competition for Sarah’s affection, it really wouldn’t have played correctly to have the character go insane for the climax of S3. No, the story line would have gone in some other direction with Bryce.

But (and this is a BIG BUT!), the insane agency insider, threatening not only Chuck and Sarah but the entire CIA with his influence and Intersect capabilities is too good a story line. In fact, Shaw should have been where
Nicolas Quinn wound up, story wise.

I changed my mind about writing Shaw completely out of my imaginary, perfect Chuck plot lines. He belongs there, but in nearly the same way Quinn was there – for a three or four episode arc. Better?

2. The Final Beach Scene

This change of heart had to be in this list, right? Most of us found it, shall we say, unsettling? Unsatisfying? A bit too open-ended? Why sure. There was a lot left to our collective imaginations as we contemplated the unscripted future.

I had two changes of heart here, though. At first, I really liked the extended version of the beach finale released to the ‘net shortly after the show ended. I took comfort in the musical substitution of Nate Highfield’s “Never Seen Nothing Like You”, a sweet, romantic song, for the much more serious and somber “Rivers and Roads” by The Head and The Heart. Now, I think the latter is much more subtle, meaningful and even important. I think of the two versions of the final scene in the same way. It’s only one personal opinion, but I find the canonical version we were first shown to be much more artistic. Like “River’s and Roads”, that’s the version that left a lasting impression.

And what better way than that to keep up interest for a Chuck movie? I know that the odds of it happening are slim (and getting slimmer – sorry!). But should it happen, I’m getting in line for it. Keeping up my interest and staying in my memory are the two reasons I give for deciding I like the way Chuck ended.

1. Charah!

[What???? Buckley, have you lost your mind? Weren’t you an unreconstructed ‘shipper???]

Hold on, now. I’m still a ‘shipper and I consider the Chuck-Sarah relationship to be central. But the finale taught me one more thing about Chuck and its creators that I had missed the first dozen or so viewings. What’s different is that the final arc shows us all that the story was not really about ChuckandSarah (yes, inseparable and together, forever), even if we wanted it to be.

No, instead it was about Chuck growing from an unmotivated, adolescent, $11/hr nerd herder to an adult who dealt with the adult world (I almost said “hero”, but his inner hero was only what he uncovered, not what he became). And it was about Sarah transforming from an emotionless, deceitful con-artist/assassin into a full-fledged human woman who could love another. That’s the story they wanted to tell from the start.

It almost makes me want to add a 0th thing I think differently about the show. THE ENTIRE THING! Sorry. I had to shout it. Chuck was never about the lost, bumbling nerd herder becoming a hero in order to win the girl, you know.
Instead, it became a story about two people simply leaving their childhood limitations behind as they began a life together, rather like you and me, I suspect.

And that ending – Chuck and Sarah aren’t anywhere near as foolish and self-centered as when we first met them. That makes it pretty easy to believe that today, three years and a fraction after the show ended, Chuck and Sarah
are still together, getting over the hurdles like the adults they’ve become.