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Pinocchio is a wooden puppet fashioned by Geppetto whose most heartfelt wish is to some day become a real boy. Sarah Walker is a highly trained and competent spy fashioned by the CIA, and it is the heartfelt wish of many Chuck fans that she will some day become a real girl. The following is a list of five times we see her making this transformation.
5. Playing with Han and Chewy action figures in an effort to bond with Morgan (Chuck vs The Masquerade)
Sarah is trying the best she can to wade into the world of nerds that now surrounds her but comes up woefully short. Assuming that Chuck and Morgan’s precious collectibles are toys and that a Wookiee is some type of ferocious bear as she waggles Chewy around in the air and growls sends daggers through Morgan’s heart, but he’s gentle with her because he realizes right away that what she’s trying to do goes against her spy nature.
4. Cooking breakfast for Chuck (Chuck vs The Suburbs)
Sarah is enjoying her time in the kitchen with no surveillance and some breathing time during the mission to cook up something delicious for herself and her undercover husband. The Pinocchio effect is softened a bit by the fact that it’s her spy training and knife skills that make her more than competent in the kitchen. But the smile on her face goes a long way to showing us Sarah’s delight in having a real person to cook for and not just another CIA trainer.
3. Massive hangover (Chuck vs The CAT Squad)
Sarah sprawled out beside Chuck in bed, still wearing her party dress from the evening before and complaining of a headache in that “I think I’m still drunk” morning after voice. Maybe not feeling too human but certainly displaying her humanity in a very painful way.
2. Waking Chuck up in Thailand (Chuck vs Phase Three)
Here we get to see two versions of the same dialogue, and what a contrast! The Sarah in Chuck’s mind is sweet, mild and reasonable as she explains why Chuck should wake up. More like a Stepford Wife than a real person. Sarah in Thailand, however, is sobbing and pleading, baring her heart to her man as she clutches his face and begs him to wake up so she can marry him. She’s lifted the lid to her soul and let us have a peek. The spy that let nothing stand in her path to Chuck is gone and the girl is revealed.
1. Trying on the perfect wedding dress (Chuck vs the First Bank of Evil)
It was a toss-up whether to put the scene in Thailand or the wedding dress scene first for the progression to Sarah-as-a-girl, but Yvonne sells this scene for me with her open-mouthed look of joy as she realizes that this particular dress and the prospect of her wedding is making her genuinely happy. And what is more human for a career spy like Sarah Walker than the realization that true happiness in the civilian world is attainable?
What are your favorite Sarah transformation moments?
I have two.
The Breakfast scene in Suburbs is good, but I think the look of longing as the CIA cleanup crew was packing up the house was even more powerful. She wanted that life.
Perhaps my favorite image of the entire series is the look of wonder on Sarah’s face when Chuck left after giving her the bracelet. The recognition of what he was really saying, and the recognition that she liked it, was very powerful.
Those were great! I like the one where her & Chuck are standing at the window watching Ellie get engaged. Chuck asks her if she wants to come in & she says that’s just for the family, and he said “I know,” but she doesn’t go and watches instead with Casey. Our “she-male” so wanted to be a girl then and wanted to be part of a family. Kleenex time again!
S.1/E.11 “Crown Vic” where Sarah asks Casey if he’s ever dreamt of a normal life with family and kids. He puts her straight with the talk about duty to something larger than self and she falls back into line, but for one brief moment, she saw herself as a real girl.
I’d also like to add the 2 scenes at the end of Best Friend. Sarah finally learns what it means to have a friend that matters to you beyond the job. How you would put your life on the line for them and go above and beyond. She saw what she thought was Chuck doing that for his friend and the pain of his possible loss was almost too much to bear. She then realizes that she has no one in her life that would do the same for her. But all of that wasn’t true. Chuck was ok and he let her know that he felt the same way about her as he did about Morgan in a way. He would lay down his life for her, not as his handler but as her friend.
Sarah knew then she had real friends and a real best friend. It brought her one step closer to a world she never knew she wanted or could have.
Very key moments!
I also wanted to second Doctor Bob’s mention of Sarah asking Casey about whether he’s ever dreamt of having a normal life from “Crown Vic.” I actually thought that one would have made the list!
I have three things to say in my defense:
That one could be classified as Sarah’s wanting to be a girl, not actually showing signs of being a girl; Mel’s love on onomatopoeia restricts the list to five items; I forgot about that one because there are so many to choose from!
So thanks for adding to the list via the comments, everybody, and keep them coming! 😉
I believe you mean Mel’s love of alliteration. 🙂
But I agree that the list could be much longer.
Yeah, you’re right. That thing there. 😉
I love all of the choices that everyone mentioned.
My 2 favorites for the series are these:
S 1 Chuck Vs The Wookie: The Lisa Scene:
Chuck brings Pizza to Sarah’s Appt. to make up for his jelous behavior earlier in the ep. As he explains himself & his actions & nearly begs Sarah for one true fact about herself… The look on Sarah’s face was amazing. She wanted to tell Chuck everything about herself, she liked him that much already. However, her job as Chuck’s Handler & CIA Training wouldn’t let her.
She finally breaks down, when he is across the room & says her real name. (Lisa)
You could tell the affect Chuck’s general goodness was having on her & that she cared for him already.
2 S 2 Chuck Vs The Santa Claus. Sarah shooting Mauser in the Christmas tree lot.
She was not shooting Mauser out of any sense of duty to the CIA, her country or her job. She killed Mauser, because he was a threat to the man she loved.
She admitted to herself that she loved Chuck right there. Not in words maybe but in her actions. Tied… The Bracelet scene, same episode.
I admit it, I am a romantic sap & Chuck & Sarah to me, has been the best couple & TV Romance that I have seen on television in 20yrs.
BMB
So many to choose from. One reason I love the show is that there is at least one moment in every episode that shows Sarah is a “real girl”. All of the ones mentioned are great ones but the one that stands out in my mind the most is in the Honeymooners episode at the very end. Chuck and Sarah are talking to Beckman about their relationship and after Chuck tried and failed Sarah just blurts out, “General, Chuck and I are dating, exclusively!”
To me that epidimizes what Sarah’s character is. Sarah’s reality is that she is a very strong women and she told the General, another strong woman how it is going to be. That was also the beginning of Sarah learning how to express herself feeling words, not just actions, about Chuck to Chuck, and others. V
Hi All,
I agree with all the moments mentioned by everyone! I have about 5 moments from S3 that showed how much Sarah has become a real girl over the series but I’ll just menton two for now.
1. vs The Pink Slip: The Flash back scene @ the train platform – The delight on her face & she’s trying to contain the excitment in her voice but then after she kisses Chuck and he hands back the ticket the apsolute shock on her face thinking she’s being rejected. It was powerful!
2. vs The 3 little words: When she is watching Chuck Pour his heart 2 her on the PC in Castle!
What do people think?