ChuckTV.net The CHUCK archive
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!
We’ve come to the end of our five year journey. JEFFSTER! are off touring Germany; Casey is doing dangerous stuff with Verbanski; Alex and Morgan are moving in together; Big Mike is working for Subway/Buy More; Ellie and Awesome have awesome new jobs in Chicago; and Chuck and Sarah are restoring her memories and falling in love all over again while .
Most of us have been moving through the five stages of grief for the last week or more. Maybe you’re all the way to acceptance, maybe you’re still on denial. Maybe you just want to reminisce with fellow Chucksters. This is the place to do that.
By the way, stage 2 is “Anger” and stage 4 is “Depression”. Just sayin’. 😉
Please remember to be courteous to each other. This is an emotional time for all of us, and this is a place of support.
Absolutely loved the finale, the final moments of the episode were haunting and beautiful and akin to the raw nature Chuck (the series not the character) conveyed in Chuck vs. the Colonel.
Also – sorry if this has been said and I missed it – loved the Firefly reference with Casey telling Beckman “they were happy to be doing good works”.
Love the site guys, have always been a silent reader and listener.
I just wanted to say that after watching the final story arc, I am pleased with the way everything ended. To those who wanted everything neatly ended… well we got that in the middle of season 3 and the end of season 4…
This was a remarkable ending because in real life things happen to people, I chose to believe Sarah is slowly recovering some of her memory, and that she is starting to get imprints of emotions even if she never remembers the past 5 years, she has a husband who loves her, and is doing all he can to help her. That means something, that means everything.
The biggest problem I had with the ending was Quinn. It almost seems that a better ending would have been for Shaw to escape from the final battle with Chuck with his Intersect hacked and in need of repair… it just seems that Shaw could have served the same function as Quinn, but it would have been more satisfying to have Shaw, a noted expert on the intersect , turn it against Sarah, and have her get the key and intersect to repair the damage Chuck did to his. It would have been a better link to the first half of the story, and the killing shot by Sarah would have had far more impact. Just saying.
I still feel depressed, I can’t believe Chuck is over. This is the first show that I have watched from beginning to end, never missing an episode. This show has given me so much smiles and laughter and uplifting my spirits when I’m down. I will really miss the characters in this show. Thank you for the amazing 5 seasons.
Hi Everyone,
It’s 11:30 Monday, January 30th, my wife and two boys are asleep upstairs and I have finished watching Chuck’s series finale again for the 3rd ok 4th time, ha. I’ve waited to write this because I really wanted to make sure that the emotions of Chuck ending really didn’t cloud my judgement on how I really felt about the last two shows. I’ve read blogs been on twitter reading what the fans have said as well as what the actors themselves have said since Friday. Yes, I listened to the podcast as well. By the way Grey, Mel, and Liz you guys have always done a great job with the podcast and I enjoy this website very much for that I thank you.
I’m going to talk about the show itself first, when Chuck started five years ago I was just married, by the beginning of the second season my wife and I were celebrating the birth of our son. I’ll never forget DVRing the show on Mondays but also having the tv on NBC to give it ratings while I was feeding and putting my son to sleep. I remember it like yesterday on the night of the season 2 finale, I was able to get my son to fall asleep before 9 and I ended up catching the last 15 minutes of Chuck and the words, “guys I know Kung Fu” or better yet, Casey saying, “chuck me”.
This show has provided me with many great memories and for that I’ll miss it greatly. I think the show has so many meanings and reaches to so many people because of message it brought. It’s about a good guy, family, and friends and yes they kick butt too. Who doesn’t like that?
Regarding the finale, I’m good with it, it actually took me 4 times of watching it to get there. Don’t get me wrong Friday night the emotions of the show coming to an end, all the call backs and eventually the good byes, I don’t think anyone would have had a solid opinion of whether it was good or bad (my opinion). As always, the show made you laugh, cry (you pick the order on that one), and eventually even jump up and down with joy because at the end question or not, Chuck kissed his girl and more importantly she asked him to kiss her.
I am in the camp that Sarah and Chuck are together and love each other but I’m a romantic (yes I said it). I don’t think anyone was expecting this ending, does it make sense when you listen to Josh and Chris talk about it, I guess, what else are they going to say. I’ve heard the arguments for why people don’t like it and why they do and I honestly see both sides. At the end of season 4 Sarah was knocking on death’s door before Chuck saved her but they got married a day or two later. I could do with or without the baby thing and it would have been nice to have gotten the beach scene the way we did but afterwards just before the show comes to an end you see Chuck and Sarah in bed maybe hugging or his feet keeping her’s warm.
During the Push Mix the whole point of the proposal or not hearing a response was not needed because you saw the reaction. You generally don’t see a woman jump into a man’s arms hug and kiss if the answer is no. Again I’m ok with the ending but I wish I could say I felt great about it.
I’ll always be a Chuck fan and any support for a movie of whatever format count me in. I don’t think one will come this year but don’t forget we did get Dukes of Hazzards Reunion Movies (2 of them) more than 10 years after their show runs, two Knight Rider movies (Knight Rider 2000 in 91 and the one that relaunched the updated series a fews years back). Hey there was a Baywatch movie (really we needed to see one of those?) a Highlander straight to DVD movie a few years back and probably countless more “show” movies that I just can’t think of at the moment. My point is, is that Chuck is not a long shot for this, someone made a comparison to Grey about Veronica Mars but Veronica Mars only had 3 seasons and they did change their approach to the characters so it is different. Fire Fly had two seasons and still made a featured film.
I encourage the fandom to go out and keep Chuck alive, buy the dvds, buy the t-shirts, and do the campaigns but rest for a bit and give it some time. This was a great show that meant a lot to so many people but it has come to an end and we should celebrate what it was and not worry about another season that won’t come.
Anyways this is my #goodbyechuck. I’m sorry if it was long and in some cases not grammatically correct. Again thank you to Liz, Mel, and Grey for adding to the experience of Chuck.
Thanks for your post. Really beautifully written and so true.
Be kind to my rambling, I’m going to write in stream of consciousness so whatever I put below might be a bit convoluted.
I can honestly say that I loved the ending and couldn’t understand the emptiness I was feeling after the show ended. It took me until reading the comments here to realize why it was there.
Like one of the other posters said, its like when MASH ended, it’s not the ending I’m mourning, but that there will be nothing else. It’s over, and all that energy I put towards the boards, getting my co-workers to watch the show, mailing postcards, or buying foot-longs on Chuck days is just…not needed anymore.. at least not at the moment.
I always felt a bit closer to the Buy More portion of the show (especially in the first couple of seasons) because I worked retail. I worked in “the Cage” and knew so much about the crazies in a big box style store. Sure my store was books and music and not electronics but the similarities were there…we had fewer perverts, though I did know someone like Jeff for 3 years of my 12 years at Borders and most of our ‘artists’ were thespians instead of aspiring musicians….
Now my store is gone…and the Buy More is gone…
I’m a bit lost…. I need cheesepuffs… badly.
Im shifting between stage 1 and 4.. I think I’ll make it to reality and finally get past my denial when it doesn’t come back on :(. I doubt I work through stage 4 completely though. I rarely watch tv but I watched chuck religiously and got a dvr just for chuck. I really wish they’d put it back on. But know it probably wont happen. I hate when stations cancel perfectly good shows that ain’t all bout sex, partying and cursing. Just sayin…
I feel like I am on all of these stages! I think that I’ve come all the way to acceptance but then I just keep on deny that this really is the end! And when I realize that this really is the end (maybe not right?) I get like really depressed and so mad at NBC for canceling this truly awesome show!!!! 🙁
The networks have learned that allowing a show to have a conclusion is good business. Good. The final Chuck episode plays out with heart, snags the emotions, and suggests interesting futures for the characters.
Like The Truman Show; Powerful.
Like Caprica, Smallville, and Charmed; plenty of possibilities for spin-offs.
As the writing and presentation of shows like Chuck grows better, the network model grows weaker. The ratings and ads system is a thing from another time. People are increasingly less likely to watch ads or reruns. Syndication weakens. (Why else stop a show like Chuck at 91 episodes and not the “magic” 100?) And this insane war by the “IAAs” on their own audience needs to stop.
In Chuck, a techno-geeky environment, the embedded advertising seems right. Don’t flaunt it too much. Keep it low-key, and you have a “natural.”
Let me make that clearer. Why don’t you make Chuck into a network delivered program relying on embedded ads (so copying is encouraged). Maybe try out branded items marketing and on-line links. You need a test bed anyway, and here is a perfect choice. Act quick, while the people and props are warm!
(PS: you should take this seriously. I have innovated a lot, releasing everything from jokes and games into the public arena, to various patents and other inventions done for RCA, some of which GE still owns.I mention this to get your attention. Please consider my above comments a gift.) fcf
While we appreciate you’re innovative ideas, this is a fansite, not NBC; we’re not the people you need to convince. Also, the show wrapped production almost 2 months ago now, so the people and props are not “still warm”. The sets have been struck, the props have either been destroyed or placed in storage, and the people have moved on. Maybe there will be a follow up movie or TV reunion in the future, but the series is over.
I’ve been watching the podcasts, rewatching the final episodes have gone form one to four pretty quickly and now I am coming down to the final stage “resolution”(people forget about that one). I am resolved that the end has come(sounds kinda biblcal, old testament) no offense.
I have typed more posts in the last few days then I have in the last month. It’s kind of like during a bad storm people congregate together for support to hide from the reality that product placement only goes so far I have praised bloggers of websites, read every review in print and on youtube, chastised some critics that the show that could not be killed is dead(that was during stage 4). You guys have been great and look forward to your next challenges – Thanx
After re-watching the ending, I am OK with the final scene. After all, it was just not one kiss, but several kisses as the scene faded. Also, when Sarah saw their names cut into the molding of the house, she began to remember. I have no doubt that when she also sees the copy of the “pre-nup” she signed at the end of “The Family Volkov” (season 4 episode 20) and the wedding program itself, (next episode), her memory will completely restore.
I have read many comments thanking NBC for allowing this show to complete, that is actually have a finale (see Heroes). However, NBC is also the network that, in my opinion, tried to kill this show off on numerous occasions over the last several years. Chuck has a very devoted fan base as witnessed by the fact that its ratings remained constant and competitive over its first three seasons. This despite being up against Monday Night Football and DWTS. Think about surviving three seasons in that time slot against that competition. Truly an accomplishment.
But that time slot was also the show’s death knell. NBC never attempted to move the show to a more favorable time slot, say Wednesdays at 9:00. Instead, they moved several simply dreadful shows there such as Harry’s Law, in an attempt to boost their ratings. (I believe Harry’s Law has moved a third time in NBC’s futile efforts to save this sinking ship).
Chuck was never given the opportunity to expand on its season 1 audience. In fact, NBC wanted to cancel the show after its third season (the best in my opinion) only to have viewer outrage and loyal sponsors (Subway, Toyota, etc.) literally compel NBC to give it a season 4. With all the stops and starts given to the writing team, it is somewhat miraculous that they were able to maintain a coherent story line. Season 4 was the writing at its weakest point until the last several episodes.
Finally, NBC decides to give the fans a final season and just to help the show along, decides to finally move it to another time slot – FRIDAYS at 8:00. Are u kidding? Nothing like throwing dirt on the coffin.
A cable network (possible) or another broadcast network (unlikely) would be smart to pick up this show for a 6th season. The writers have certainly left open several compelling story lines with which to begin.
I cannot speak for sponsorship, but a cable network beginning a series with an already solid fan base of several million viewers seems like a good investment. Judging by the comments written here, those viewers cross multi-generational lines from you teenagers to older folks like myself who simply enjoyed watching a great show and cast.
I hope all Chuck fans can keep up the pressure somehow to see this show revived. I can dream!!!!!
For me Chuck end on Season 4. In S4 we have a great happy ending. Season 5 can be safe for me only if on DVD will be a alternative endnig or maybe a 2 minutes what is going after kiss, just a Sara flash memories and she say to Chuck “I remember everything” and “I love you” Chuck:” I love you too” or a flash forward to they dream house and with a baby. That will be a great ending and a closure to my favourite show ever. Now when I rewatch season 4 i have a feeling that is no sense to watch this because in end S5 this does not count ( i really want to belive that Sara restore all her memories with this magical kiss but i want ending as above). Now only wait to dvd and hope on better clousure but if don’t be on dvd this show end to me on S4.
Strange i feel exactly the same and now its Tuesday and i still feel completly robbed of future rewatching of the show, this used to be a happy moment for me to rewatch earlier episodes but all i can think of now when i look on a episode it what they did in the final episode , sorry the magic isint there anymore
I agree. It feels as if they’ve cancelled the 5 years of the show and wiped out the characters I’d got to know and get familiar with over the years. Hope there will be a season 6 to fix this and see the whole team get back together.
And sorry for my bad english 🙂
For those chucksters who are in the UK tonight on five star at nine o’clock chuck vs the first date 2.01. I have it on DVD but will be watching, anyway as you can’t get bored of chuck.
I have already set my DVR to record this too, in case I miss it “live”. Funny, no matter how many times I watch Chuck episodes there’s something special about watching it on broadcast TV – I don’t know why. It will be a test for me … because my knowledge f what eventually happens in the finale has already made it more difficult for me to even contemplate re-watching early episodes since I now know that all the progress and evolution gets set back to zero (except in my mind, yes, I know).
Don’t worry I’ve started watching bits of season 4 and season 2 and in my opinion it makes it better. (If that was possible.)
Yes, but possibly only if you really liked the final scene of the finale?
It took me a while and about five rewatches of the final scene to see it was a good ending. So I don’t really know how you cope. You could always get a faulty intersect and hope for memory loss.
Wilf: Think it this way. It was the same as phase three. And Chuck gets all his memories back with a kiss. So why don´t Sarah? It´s natural to think that they have same effect to each other. After all they are soulmates.
The question is not just whether Sarah will get her memories back or not. In the last 2 episodes she is turned into a unsympathetic, ruthless, heartless villain, nothing like the character she was before, not even in the very first episode. Right from the season 1 pilot it was clear that underneath the tough attitude there was a vulnerable and sensitive girl who wanted to come out. But in the finale she is totally estranged, she remains unmoved when Chuck tells her that he “loves her with all of his heart”, remains unimpressed by the fact that he saves her life, is annoyed when he doesn’t shoot Quinn. She’s become a heartless villain even though she doesn’t have the intersect anymore, so how can one expect her to retrieve her emotions and her love for Chuck even though she asks him to kiss her? She is nothing like the character we have grown to know and love over the past 5 years, the Sarah Bartowski we have delighted in this year is suppressed somewhere in the head of a Sarah Walker we don’t know. What a sad ending to a brilliant show!
Trish: She isn´t excatly turned to a heartless villain. In ep 12 she really believes that Chuck is dangerous villain and that´s why she does this all to him. And in ep 13 her coldness is same as in season 3 beginning. Way to hide her real feelings from Chuck.
Actually Chuck saving her brings her back a little while. It´s clear when she makes sure he´s ok and didn´t want to leave him but he insist her to run.
And the shooting Quinn in germany is all about her not remembering it and thinking that Chuck is the same as any other spy. And so it´s natural she blames him to letting the man ruining their lives go. And escaping castle is same as with Casey. Momentarily thinking that this team have made you too soft to succeed paing back to Quinn.
My life will become as before Chuck, i’m so sad, this is my favorite show, yet I have followed many series, but it was the only one that really interests me, Grey’s Anatomy, Dr. House and others are worthless to me compared to Chuck.
I hate NBC and others, who think only of money, and I don’t understand why Chuck didn’t have the effect it had on me (and many other chucksters) on everybody, this series was really awsome, the best, I can’t believe it’s over …
Chuck was my only “appointment” show for the last five years. I own the DVDs from each season and pre-ordered the final season. I do love this show, BUT I detested the ending. To me one of the greatest strengths of Chuck was the maturation of the characters. Think of most dramas or sitcoms — We may know more about the characters after 3-4 seasons of back stories, but the people are basically the same (e.g. NCIS a show I enjoy, but other than a willingness to kill characters off — the leads are the same people after 8 seasons. — it is even worse for sitcoms) But Chuck was different and unique. Each actor was able to show changing priorities, but the ending undermines that concept for the Sarah character. For me, it took away the impact of the fifth and final season. When key choices faced the main characters, such as rejoining the CIA, it was Sarah who said she now wanted something different. During the pregancy scare, she even typed potential children’s names. In that scene she and Chuck discuss how far they have come. Setting this relationship back to square one when they have to “do it all over again” undercuts what I liked best about the show. Another troubling thing about the final two episodes was Sarah declaration that she believed Chuck’s story, but she “didn’t feel it.” I am sorry, but when Sarah is watching the video log that Casey left her — first the clip shown her by Quinn; then a reflection from Chuck bringing her a pizza (I think it is Ch. vs. Wookieee – when she tells him her middle name is Lisa — and the audience isn’t sure if Chuck hears her); then the clip confirming his story that she kissed him when they both thought they were going to die (Ch. vs. Imported Salami?); but most importantly the final clip shown from the video log — she sees herself anguishly declaring “she is in love with Chuck Bartowski, but she doesn’t know what to do about it.” I don’t know about anyone else in the audience –perhaps, Yvonne Stravhovski did too good of a job on the video recording — but I don’t believe anyone, even a hard-hearted spy could watch that and not “feel” something. Moreover, we see Sarah crying during that sequence. Whether she is crying over the fact she can’t remember or some other reason — we see an emotional impact. BUT the remaining screen time gives this little credence. For example after failing to catch Quinn, Casey locks them up. Chuck and Sarah converse through the cell walls (similar to Ch. vs. Pink Slip? S3). Casey decides to release them and Sarah is trying to escape without Chuck. Even when she seems to remember certain things – arranging the cups, Irene Demova virus – they aren’t related to any emotional ties. Finally, when we reach the last scene and she tells Chuck to tell her their story — why would we think she will believe Chuck when she doesn’t believe the story when it comes from her own recorded videos? Moreover, despite a few laughs during the music overlay, there is no smile on her face when tells him “Kiss me, Chuck.” Even if she eventually remembers everything — how long will it take? We had seen a character move from “a spy is all I know how to be” to someone who wants to package her skills with her husband’s computer abilities to have a real life for the kids they hoped to have. However as I said at the start of this lengthly comment – that is taken away. She may gradually remember, but character progression was taken away. One final comment — I don’t know if anyone else reads the “Episode Guide” section on the NBC Chuck website. If you don’t let me encourage you to take a glance at it. IT is probably a computer glitch, but the last page of the episode guide has the picture of Sarah and Chuck on the beach — but no text. The page is blank — they may fix it later, but for me it was highly symbolic. I was left with an empty feeling with the end of Chuck.
My new plan to fix this is to do my own version of the last episode as soon a can lay my hands on the bluray, the only thing i really wanted was Sarah to remember,
so i decided to make my own endig before i gonna show this for my kids. I mean if they want us to imagine it for ourseves we need to fix it for ourselves, there are so many computer neerds ouy there as myself that loved this show, with skills soo i gonna start with just adding in the last kiss flashes when sarah shows lovely moments says i love you , i picked episodes when she says it to the shrink when she says it in thailand the silent proposal , looking up babies names , say someday at chucks drawing, that in my opinion is something to remember not that stupid wienershop or pornstar, do you want anything proper done you have to do it by yourself, and i really hope that someone else does their alternative ending to share by the fans, just to get a proper closing.
Now i have been angry and dissapointed on this since friday but now i feel better becouse i have a mission
I had this same idea, and was trying to figure out what scene I thought would make me feel like Sarah was really back. I think the best thing is to play the final 2 minutes of Chuck vs the Honeymooners where Chuck plays her the Nina Simone song right after the finale fades to black. Perfect and simple.
Lee: It´s obvious she is lying when she tells she don´t feel it when we already have seen she do. You can see that she look down first and then tell him that. The same she does on vs the thruth when Chuck asks do they have any future.
And the coldness in her is just her way to hide what she feels. Just like beginning of season 3.
Well Mel it’s day 4 and I’m still depressed about the show being over. I’ve had time to reflect on the ending and I also read some of the interviews that Josh & chris gave and I am holding out hope for maybe a movie or maybe 2 movies. I know I won’t be watching NBC, not because they cancelled Chuck (though that does play a part), mainly I don’t really watch any of their shows. I will be watching their smaller networks though USA and SY-FY because I like some of their shows like Covert Affairs and Sanctuary to name some. I give big thanks to You, Liz and Grey for helping keep all of us Chuck a holics informed, THANK YOU
Thanks for reaching out, Chris. I’m not sure how much business NBC will be getting from me, either. I still watch Parks & Rec on a regular basis, but that’s about it. *shrug*
I don’t think it will hit me until July when Comic Con arrives and the Chuck panel is not there then I realize Chuck isn’t going bank in to production in July or August
I really enjoyed the finale, but felt a little empty when we didn’t get some kind of confirmation that Sarah’s memories were really back. I think that feeling was more because I knew the show was actually over though. As I’ve re-watched the finale over and over, I interpret things a little differently.
I believe the flashbacks in both episodes are not just flash backs to show the viewers what happened, but Sarah’s memories returning. The first set in the house (first kiss, proposal) she remembered, but thought they were just part of her cover, and believes she just convinced Chuck they were real feelings. When she saw the carving of her and Chuck’s names she gets another memory and this is the first one she realizes were real feelings. This memory along with her video shows her she really did love Chuck, but she couldn’t feel it, yet.
She starts remembering small things like the Weinerlicious cups but we don’t get a flash back because that is just a habit. We see she isn’t remembering more, because she is fighting against it. We don’t get anymore flash backs until the final scene when she is ready and wants her memories and her life with Chuck back. The flash backs and her reactions to Chuck telling her their story, I think, is her memories legitimately returning.
This, along with Chris Fedak’s comments about their future, is really all the confirmation I need to feel good about the incredible finale. Also, now I can re watch the entire series and pretend it’s Sarah regaining all her memories slowly.
Thanks for making new points. I really don´t get it that all flashbacks could me her memories returning.
But I don´t agree with the feeling part. Because love for your soulmate is something that taking away memories couldn´t erase. So I believe the feelings are always there.
LIke that Chuck almost get her back in intersect room but Quinn messes things up by giving her orders before he succeed.
Seriously? NBC made the biggest mistake by cancelling CHUCK. If NBC had FRIENDS on the air for give or take a few for 10 years and it was a mediocre show with mediocre talents who thought they were worth 2 million a episode why couldn’t it keep CHUCK 2 or 3 more years? CHUCK still had a few good more stories to tell. So why don’t we all band together once again and get CHUCK back on the air again not just as reruns but as new episodes for season 6 even if it’s not on the same network? Is there anyone out there with a petition toget the show back on the air again
Just w’tanted to say I really loved and enjoyed this show, the charisma and talent of the cast was awesome. The overall lot and storyline, the grwoth and maturity of each of the characters was just great! I can’t believ it’s over. I didn
Just wanted to say I really loved and enjoyed this show, the charisma and talent of the cast was awesome. The overall plot and storyline, the growth and maturity of each of the characters was just great! I can’t believe it’s over. I didn’t miss an episode! The writers and support staff created a light comedy, with plenty of drama and action, and emotion filled interaction. Can’t say it enough, just a fantastic show! I enjoyed the ending, no one died and you felt like Sara was well on the way to herself in the loving care of Chuck. I also enjoyed Jeffster and their singing! One of the best shows by far. I would love to see a similar TV series or even a movie with these very same actors. Thank you for a wonderful 5 years, CHUCK, I wish all of you the very best. I will buy the DVD set.
I’m distrought that Chuck has sadly come to an end, I’ve followed the series from the very begining when chuck was just a simple Nerd Herder!
Reading some of the statements from NBC officials I was disgusted at how their ratings work! I can’t believe a company as ‘BIG’ as them will only use live viewing counts… what about the DVD sales, all of the people that use the DVR facility or the downloads available on iTunes!!? Surely NBC know that Chuck has a fantastic and amazing amount of followers!! Just look at the sheer amount of fans that attended Comic Con or the amount of downloads Chuck accumilates, especially as a whole over the last five years!!
Yet again, I’ts all about money and how much of it Corporations can line their pockets with! The rich get richer while the poor get poor’er (or depressed from Chuck being no more!)
As we say in England, ‘Hats off’ to the writers, for producing a work sheer brilliance, art and all around amazing entertainment!! Chuck will be sorely missed!!
NBC did not make Chuck they only bought the TV rights DVD sales, downloads, overses sales, goes straight to Warner Bros.
NBCs business is advertising they want to spell space for as much as possible and if people arent watching then they have smaller revenue, DVRing does not count as most people will skim through the adverts.
Chucks ratings this year went down from last, I think it would have been different if we had been getting a1.5 or so for the whole season as the cost of advertising on Chuckj where far lower than a lot of the new shows and a lot of them are cancelled already.
I am in the depressed stage currently. I am also still pissed off by the ending of Sarah and Chuck. They should have never ended the show making the two main characters start their love over again. It hurts me because I have seen someone go through memory loss and it is a tragic event and for the producers, writers and director of Chuck to allow this to happen to Sarah is unforgivable!
Ok so I’m still in depression the show is over. when does that stop. What comes next cause this sucks.
Hi Mel/ Liz,
I’ve been a silent Chuckster for quite some time now, always logging onto your site for updates and viewers in site on anything “Chuck” but never really contributing. It’s been several days now since Chuck vs Sarah vs the Goodbye and it’s only now that I’ve mustered up enough will to write you since it got aired. Though episode 11 wasn’t at par with all the other Chuck episodes,with the little inconsistencies and the Baddie who just didn’t deliver; episode 12 & 13 was well crafted and gave us an ending with closure on all accounts but with a sense of hopeful loss. Casey’s “da svendanya” to Chuck was the most heart felt.
Like many of it’s viewers Chuck has also touched my life in ways that’s surprises even me, more so now that it’s over. It’s this show and it’s cast that’s gotten me through the worst years of my life,with its witty humor and great chemistry between Yvonne and Zac. I really saw the love between their characters and its that love that saw me through long lonely nights. Now that it’s over “sad” is an understatement to describe how I feel, and the best way to describe it is… it feels like when I was getting married, that fleeting moment of sadness as I was leaving my the side of my parents to the joy and uncertainty as i was about take my bride from the arms of her father. That brief moment extended into days of sadness and uncertainty, yup that’s how its been for me.
All these coming from the end of a comedy/spy show. I know probably a lot of these feelings are misplaced but there’s no denying that its there but I get by. And yes I could follow the careers of the cast as they venture onto the big screen or what nots but the sad fact is it’s the characters that they played so well that I fell in love with and with the end of the show so does my chance to briefly escape this daily existence called life. The best show on the planet is over and theres no turning back. The only consolation is that I have the entire series on my cellphone ready for viewing anytime / anywhere, if only to recapture the simple joy of seeing the gang one more time. I’ve done a lot of crazy things for this show…fond memories.haha
Sorry this might not be the appropriate avenue but I didn’t know how I could extend my deepest thanks to the cast of chuck specially Yvonne and Zac, though i follow them in twitter this would too long and out of place. I also would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you, Mel and Liz, for the great Job you’ve done on your website all those years.
Maraming Salamat!
(Thank you very much!)
Silent Chuckster
I have been viewing the clips from the end of Chuck. I do not think the cast realizes what they gave us all was hope.
Hope that the good guys can win. Nice people can be happy, and no matter what life throws at you,survive and be happy if you keep trying.
Yes I know it was just a TV show, but it still touched my soul. The end was heart rending initially, but I can hear Sarah saying “I love you Chuck” as it fades to black, even if is only in my own mind.
I have been viewing the clips from the end of Chuck. I do not think the cast realizes what the gave us all was hope.
Hope that the good guys can win. Nice people can be happy, and no matter what life throws at you,survive and be happy if you keep trying. I know it is just a TV show but it touched my Soul. The ending was heart rending, but as it fades to black I can hear Sarah saying “I love you Chuck” even if it is in my own mind. I hope all the cast cherish this adventure they have taken us on the rest of their lives. I will
Oh I think they know that they had something special that only comes once in a lifetime.
I never would have believed that this was going to end and then I got the news. I went through all the stages of grief and now i am devastated. I would like to know if
I must admit that I think I am at the bargaining phase I know it has finished but Like many I am hoping for more. More in the season 5 DVDs, more books, comics that are official, even a Chuck panel of some sought at Comic con or more likely at Nerd HQ, I think Comic con misses a trick here concentrating on New products that companies are trying to sell and maybe not catering for Classic populay older shows. It just comes across as an E3 for the entertaiment industry.
I also hope of course for a tv/online movie to continue the story, I mean they have now got rid of the Buy More, Jeff and Lester and so any project could concentrate on Chuck, Sarah, Casey, Morgan, Ellie and Devon.
I cant believe how much I miss the show already and that is after looking at various websites, listening to podcasts and watching the final to episodes again.
I have to say Ioved the last episodes but I can not fully agree with you re it being A love letter to the Fans, it is like sending a love letter and not ending with I love you.
I loved the setting of the last scene, Chucks approach of not wanting anything from Sarah but that she knows he will always be there for her, was very him.
I loved that we saw even during Vs Sarah that on three seperate occasions she did not want to kill him although being ordered to by Quinn to my mind. When she was watching her video log she is definately showing some emotion then but in light of her later talk with Chuck about not feeling it I have no idea what, as somone else has said maybe regret that she cant remember, or guilt about what she did to Chuck and Elle.
I liked gthe fact that she remebered things during the episode and the fact that she said earlier she was going to disappear and that she could not stay in Burbank but yet she did and not just stay there went to somewhere that is so significant in the Chuck and Sarah relationship. She said that she did not remember why it was important but something about that spot triggered something inside her, comfort, peace, safety. there must be a huge chance that the stories Chuck told her would giver her similar feelings, memories. She is smiling when she asks him to tell the story, smiling laughing and crying during, and again when he tells her about the kiss, Then of course she tells him to kiss her.
All this leads to me believe 99% Chuck and Sarah are going to be fine and be confident that Sarah will get most of her memories back but the there is the propblem. That leaves that niggly 1% and then even assuming the everything is ok side when will Sarah be confident enough in her feelingsto be ready to have a child. I’m a romantic and Zac and Yvonne and the writers made me fall in love with these characters, and i dont want them to have to wait 2-3 years to get back to where the were 2 weeks ago.
It would have only taken very small changes to the scene, Sarah being more into the kiss, either touching Chuck in some way holding his head, him stopping but then her kissing him, a line of dialogue after the kiss, ‘I feel it now’, ‘I remember’, ‘you always were a good kisser’ or of course ‘ I love you Chuck’. I never wanted an ending that wrapped it all up in a bow and as I said i am not going to write off the Chuck and Sarah reltionship and not rewatch old episodes againj like some have said but I do think that the door of them not being together shoould have been slammed shut and locked when to my mind it is on a very dodgy catch.
I will just finish this comment with the fact that living in the UK these were the first episodes that I watched live (dont ask how) and my first reaction made it much harder to go to sleep at 3.00 am.
I really understand you. It would have been better if there was some warmth from her side too at the end. But after rewatching phase three I get that she is really back but still somewhat confused. Chuck isn´t really a fully there either after waking up with her kiss.
Geez I wish you were in on writing that final scene. Woulda put me in a better place. 🙂
This whole five stage thing just isn;t happening with me its more of an emotional rollercoaster. Yesterday for instance i was pretty sure i was over it, this morning I was back to square one, the same thing happened the day before as well, if its when i’m sleeping I can’t really help it either. I guess I will have to accept it will be along time before I accept that the only truly good thing on Tv has gone. Its true you dont realise how much you miss something till its gone.
Jon – I completely agree with you. Watched the last two episodes last night and got through it…thinking I was good. Then I downloaded “Rivers and Roads”…and I’m back here reading about how much I’m missing them all!!
Awesome writing style!
Like so many people who have commented before, I’m going through a mixture of despair and hope and overall empty feelings now and then in regards to Chuck ending. Sometimes I’ll have random scenes from various episodes pop into my head as well. I appreciated the comments and insights from the Chuck vs. the Podcast on the last two episodes, and I have read a lot of commentary that has proven cathartic. I had a few observations from the final two episodes that I wanted to share:
-The last episode is a chance for Chuck to ‘save’ Sarah when Sarah has ‘saved’ Chuck so many times before, and like Mel mentioned in the latest podcast, there was a lot in the last episode that was a mirror of events that had happened before, and this event stood out to me as one of them.
-Season 5 has a lot of scenes of Sarah getting beat up pretty bad and these final 2 episodes allowed her to be the one doing the beating up to counterbalance those earlier episodes. It also allowed her character to finish off strong, even though it was at the expense of her memories/relationships, and I think it shows the writer’s respect for her character.
-The final episode did such a good job ‘book-ending’ the series that it forced me to want to watch the pilot again. When I did, I noticed more mirroring, for instance the scene where Chuck, Sarah, Morgan and Casey are in the CIA headquarters heading towards the Intersect room, Sarah’s beating up of the guards is the same as Bryce’s, but it’s also from the reverse camera perspective. And in the final beach scene, Chuck is sitting where Sarah was in the pilot and vice versa . . . just to name a few!
Overall it seems like there were so many little details that went into those final 2 episodes and that, to me, shows the writers and creators really respected the fans and gave us a gift, and allowed us to ‘choose our our adventure’ for what happens next. They know we’re intelligent fans!
Thanks everyone!
(oh, and in addition to this awesome website, if you want more insight and commentary you can check out the ‘Chuck This’ blog!)
good ending but i am sad about the series finale:(.
I can’t believe it’s over. This show has always been the one that I looked forward to it returning every season. Shame it had such a tough hill to climb for it to keep getting renewed. NBC is a bunch of idiots. Chuck was more then just a show, it was a showcase of music. I’ve discovered so many new artists since watching this show. CHUCK you will be missed. Now I have to go out and buy all the seasons.
Thanks for the bloggers, a ton of gratitude for Mel and Liz, and to all the Chucksters out there I am one of those who is still hoping that it never ends… As much as I want to accept that it ended, my life will never be that complete, I know it seems too much to say it like that but that is the truth and I still am in despair… Hopefully, I get over it but *&%# it’s hard…
I’m still on stage 4 🙁 I’ve loved this show more then I thought I could love a TV show
I was reading non-Chuck things the other day and came across a post about the best performances leave you wanting more. Be it in sports or scripted things such as theater, movies, television or whatever medium that is being presented.
Did the ending of Chuck leave you wanting more? (You know it did.) A great performance right up to the end wasn’t it…. the best ones always leave you wanting more. Bravo.
i can’t believe this is the ending,, it’s my favorite show ever. i love the twist of the story and the characters. they all played the role very well.. best show ever.
i can’t believe it ended. i really love the twist of the story. the characters are perfect. the played the role very right. best show ever..
I was, as Chuck would say, “emotionally constipated” until this show came along. Now, for days I’ve been screaming at the internet because I was unhappy with how things ended for a couple THAT DOESN’T EVEN REALLY EXIST!!
Not sure what that means, but thanks to Chris and Josh for creating these characters. However, if I knew where you guys lived I’d still egg your houses over that final scene!
And thanks to an amazing cast and crew, I may never be able to watch that finale again but I have many other episodes I continue to enjoy thanks to the magic of DVD and the fact that this show is infinitely re watchable.
Oh yeah, and thanks to Mel for letting me vent here amongst fellow fans!
OK, so this is my therapy post!
I cannot believe how the ending of Chuck has affected me. Yes, in a good way! For a while I think I was feeling like there should have been more. But, after watching the final episode for the tenth time, I finally realized that, for me at least, it was a good ending. I started thinking about all the “hints” in s05e12, and the look on Sarahs face as “deja vu” was setting in (in Castle). it was obviously confusing her. So when she watches the video log Casey gave her, she realizes that something had gone on and she wants to know what it was. Going on that premise, the end made for sense. To have the final words of the show be “Chuck, kiss me!” Tells me that she wanted Morgans theory to be right and for me, I accept the end of the series….however, Monday’s won’t be the same.
I wish all the actors the best of success and thank you for your work…it was truly fun!
I’m right there with you, this show really does have a place in my heart that I didn’t even know was there!! I’ve slowly come to the same conclusion too after my billionth rewatch fo the finale. I seem to catch something new with each watch that gives me an extra tid bit of relief. Although I still wish they’d just made it clear so I didn’t have so much anguish about it.
I noticed I have a hard time watching earlier episodes and hearing Chuck & Sarah’s musical score. I don’t know why I picked it up so much in the finale. But now when I hear it in other episodes it makes my heart sink a little. Its such a pretty little tune, but in the finale it just seems so heartbreaking.
That´s excatly what it is. The more you watch it the more hopeful it become 🙂 Everytime there is something new to find to tell me that everything is fine and they get each other completely back in the end.
Especially after someone comment here that all flashbacks are her memories coming back. It have started to look whole different 🙂
I’m super sad that tomorrow is Friday and there won’t be a new Chuck waiting on my DVR when I get home. I seriously miss this show, I can’t even express in words.
I don`t watch much tv period,but I liked watching Chuck.It was my favorite It was far better than any other show that Iv`e seen on tv.It should have easily gone 6 or 7 seasons.Going to miss my weekly fix of Chuck and most of all Yvonne Strahovski she is so beautiful.
Hey guys, it’d be awesome if you checked out the video I made!
Chuck – Up In Flames.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sowbrVLTfb8&context=C3a6113cADOEgsToPDskJJCj0ltyXXHRrJQ56fZlZ7
Hope y’all like it!!
Can’t seem to get to this video – it’s blocked
An Awesome Show Appears
– Only die-hard Chuck fans will fully understand. Others will think I am crazy.
My story starts when I was sixteen, and in the tenth grade. It’s a pretty big deal and it put a lot of pressure on me. I have a proved incapacity to cope with such situations and naturally, I fished around for distractions – reading, writing (mostly nonsense) and watching TV. I had very recently heard of Heroes and I decided to give it a try. It did not air in India and I did not know then about torrents and such, so I asked a worldlier friend of mine to give it to me. I remember this very clearly: he gave it to me on a CD in a hotel envelope. When he gave it to me, he said he had also given me a new TV show called Chuck and told me to watch. I was really stoked about watching Heroes though (ordinary people getting awesome superpowers and figuring out their lives? How did they manage to screw it up?) And I made a noncommittal reply; I probably did not even remember the name then. I ended up watching all of Heroes in two days and then there was nothing else for me to do. I saw the Chuck CD again but for some reason the name Chuck reminded me of an 80’s sitcom and people with bell-bottoms and afros. I checked it out on Wikipedia and this was my first positive step. I read the premise and saw the episode list. And then, I checked out the cast. And let me tell you, when I saw Yvonne Strahovski’s picture on her Wikipedia page, that’s when I decided I would give Chuck a try.
And so it was that one afternoon in 2009, I watched my very first episode of Chuck. I loved it. My sister came home from school and I watched it over again with her. We watched six of the episodes that day and the other on the day after. Boy was I hooked. The second season had already come out but I had no way of obtaining it. Meanwhile, I spent my time reading the episode plot (yes I do that) and watching the blooper reel, interviews and reading the Wikipedia pages of all of the Chuck cast (as well as searching for shirtless pictures of Ryan McPartlin!). I kept badgering my friend to download and give me the second season, but he had lost interest by that point. I waited for a year, and in 2010, I finally downloaded the second season. And let me tell, it is the best season of Chuck in my book. The cast and crew did an awesome job in this season and the fountain scene with ‘Skinny Love’ is my eternal favourite. It also established a new paradigm in the Charah story. It was at this point that I realised that the Chuck soundtrack is pretty darn awesome and I still listen to all of those songs. It super-charged about the third season and by this time it was airing in India on Animax. To the contrary view of many fans, I did like the third season. I clearly hated Sarah with Shaw and Shaw for that matter, but the episodes that rose out if, ’Chuck vs. the Mask’ and ‘Chuck vs. the Best Friend’ feature among my favourites. And the beginning was good. It would have been too early for Chuck and Sarah to get together, now that in retrospect we know Chuck ended up having five seasons. It added that much more drama and romantic anguish, which along with the background score that accompanies these moments is one of the main reasons Chuck is so heart-warming. As you can probably tell, by time I was more addicted to Chuck than a druggie to meth.
The guest cast list for the fourth season was awesome – Linda Hamilton and Timothy Dalton (I only knew him from Hot Fuzz not Bond). I think the fourth season was just effing awesome! It was fun, it was exciting and it had the best bonding moments of the Chuck cast. I liked Casey the best this season and I really loved the new Morgan. The faux finale was freaking cool. Although the episodes did start deteriorating towards the end, I liked the last two and the wedding-practice scene with Chuck and Sarah was…I don’t know, awesome! The Decker plotline was slightly disappointing but I wanted to see where they would go with it. And so came the fifth – and as NBC made it clear – final season of Chuck with a 13 episode order. The first few episodes were so-so, I mean they were trivial. But it picked up from Hack-Off. And the episode titles were really titillating. I think this season did justice to Sarah’s character, in so many ways (I’ll come back to the finale stuff). The end of ‘Chuck vs. the Baby’ was so sweet, it made me cry and made ‘We Are Young’ one of the most-played songs on my iPod.
And now we come to the ending. What did I feel knowing Chuck was going to end? Really, really bad. Honestly, for me ‘Chuck vs. Sarah’ was an average episode. I didn’t really like it; it was more a set-up for the finale than anything else. And I was really angry that Sarah wasn’t getting her memories back. Till the point where she got her mission video logs. I mean, wow. Seriously. They were amazing. I re-lived so many memories watching them. And I could almost see Sarah changing before my eyes, through the seasons. I felt very empty at the end of this episode. I really do not have any words to describe the finale. I cried throughout, even when Jeffster left for Germany. I don’t know if I cried because of the scenes or because Chuck was ending. And at that last scene and those montages, I was bawling like a baby. All those moments, those memories, lost forever. But that last kiss gave me hope. In my mind, they did get together, but in a way that left me numb in my heart.
The condition my condition is in – I have gone back to watching cast good-byes and watching gag reel, reading interviews and watching ALL of the episodes that featured in the final montages (The pilot came first, of course). Chuck’s Five-Year-Plan did work out, and very well. I don’t what exactly it is about this show that I love so much and that induced me to write a 1000-word essay on it. But I know what it feels like. And it’s awesome.
I was pretty unsatisfied with the final moments of the finale also. It seemed to go against the grain of the spirit of the show. We had a lighter-hearted (but with heart) show that never took itself too seriously. A show the family could watch together with developed (but evolving) characters and entertaining (but not too visceral) action. A show that knew what it was and took advantage of it in a sly, self-conscious way. One that knew it had a devoted fan base and, despite the inadequate system that gauged viewership and doomed it, kept catering to THAT audience instead of what would get it what the network wanted. The production team said that the final two hours were a love letter to those fans. And a lot of that was present, but I feel that there were a few “eff you” shots at the network (Quinn’s “pu**ies” remark, the crotch grabbing during the Jeffster number). The rather adult/grownup ending was just more jarring than I would have expected, something that ran counter to the previous 90:55 of the series. Now, if they were hoping to create buzz, an uprising, a net-wide cry and clamor of publicity for more of the story to present to a studio for future production, I think they have it. But the taste a lot of us have in our mouths after those final moments was more bitter than were expecting, hoping for, and deserved. More than 5 days after watching it, I’m still bummed about many aspects of the ending of Chuck. This is true with both developments in real life and the fictional one. So to help myself reconcile with what we were given, I came up with my own short-term future. But I guess it’s too long, I’ve tried posting it without success a couple of times.
Okay, it’s been a week since the series finale–ordinarily it would be ‘Chuck’ night & the cruel reality is setting in….now what?….I’m totally bummed & just wanted to whine & get some support from this support group. 🙁
I completely understand Rose…I just put in a Chuck DVD because in exactly 2 minutes I will be going thru Chuck withdraws:( Thank goodness for a support group for us to pour our hearts out to!
I did the exact same thing… Season 3, here I come!!!
Thanks, it’s helpful to have this group & website–at least we have each other to get through the sadness…
Avon…one thing I noticed about Chuck and Sarah’s ‘theme’ in the finale is that there’s an ‘end’ to it. I don’t think that in all the other episodes is there an end…
I’ve sent my letter in to WB to get a CD out – everyone’s gotta do the same – brilliant music.
Mel, any idea on who picked out the songs for the show – they were amazing…have to think that Rivers and Roads is gonna take it for season 5!
Yeah, in one of the interviews they said it has an ending to it, which I hear. Its a beautiful little melody. But when I watch older episodes now when I hear it I get a pit in my stomach. Call me crazy, but it just seems like a sad melody now.
I sent in my letter too, I’d really love a CD, or even a digital copy available on iTunes would be good enough for me.
They REALLY REALLY REALLY need to make a CHUCK movie!!!