Hmm, did you see the results of our survey on the finale, Ross?

I like many others eventually come back here looking for something I missed in the ending of Chuck. The why I still have that bitter taste is partially what you just stated. We never get to see the AHA moment but instead are left with words like “I don’t feel it”. Words matter. Sarah was a SPY who could even fool herself so no the writers did not fully convince me with this ending.

Here’s my evaluation about the Goodbye beach scene. I hated it. Meaning, Sarah’s memory loss. But one thing comforting on this scene is Chuck’s dedication, devotion, promise, intense love for Sarah and the eagerness to do anything and everything for her. Which brings me the reason WHY he’s going all out to help and save her. It all happened on S4 E15, the Cat Squad. The Cat Squad? Yes, The Cat Squad. Let me explain.

By the middle of the episode, Sarah was in trouble when Gaez lured the Cats in a trap in Brazil. Sarah and the Cats were tied up and to buy some time, Sarah began to cut her bound hands with a pocket knife, meanwhile asking Gaez who’s the mole. When Sarah broke free, she placed the knife on Gaezs’ throat and demanded who was the mole. Gaez was about to say who it was when Chuck, being ever helpful, crashes in the room from the skylight above. Hanging by the safety rope and dangling 4 feet from the floor, Chuck helps Sarah by tranqing all the bad guys, meanwhile Gaez makes his escape. Only to be caught by Casey. Now, Sarah is PISSED. Big time mad because Chuck ruined her chance to know who the mole was. Chuck explained that he’s only trying to help and what did Sarah say?

“I don’t need your help!” She screamed.

Sarah then cuts the safety rope and Chuck falls on the floor. The cutting of the rope is also symbolic. She still loved Chuck, but she wanted to ‘cut’ some dependence on Chuck so that she doesn’t want to feel that she needs him at every decision. IOW, she wanted a little independence back, regardless of outcome.

Skipping towards the Engagement party. Sarah is in the bedroom admiring the ring when Chuck walks in and Sarah quickly says to Chuck in a loving. adorable way:

“no more apologies Chuck”.

She then went on to say how happy she is that the Cats were at the party and they’re being bride maids. She then said how complicated her relationship is with her parents and it’s very hard to get them to come to the wedding. That’s when Chuck, trying to make Sarah happy said:

“I’m done helping out”

It killed him to say that, but he was doing it for HER. Again, anything to make Sarah happy. Well, what was Sarah’s reaction? She felt threatened. She didn’t want this to happen in their relationship. She went right up to Chuck and said:

” Don’t stop helping me. I need your help a thousand ways everyday. You’re perfect”. (this scene get me every time)

Sarah now knows that because of Chuck’s good hearted perseverance, she has the life she always wanted and her friends back. All because of Chuck’s HELP. This in turn reassures Chuck that he’ll go beyond what needs to be done…to help and protect Sarah….even die for her. That’s why I believe Chuck said what he said on the beach on S5 E13 because his promise and dedication will always be there no matter what and it was all established on Cat Squad.

That said, I hope a quarterly movie or NBC brings it back or maybe another network buys it. Something has to happen. This is an emotional roller coaster, never felt with any other show.

On a side note, I thought Sarah was just adorable when she was in bed after the Cats took her on girl’s night out. Note her groggy, tired voice. Man, Yvonna can act.

She’s Perfect.

What made me check into ChuckTV today was that fact that Ryan McPartlin had a small role in the CSI: Miami episode that aired last night (No Good Deed). I knew he was going to be in an episode in the coming weeks, but I didn’t expect his episode to air so soon. Don’t get too excited, as his part is near the end and he only has a few lines. Since I wasn’t expecting it, it shocked me pretty good. It was a little weird because it was like watching Awesome behave a little differently, but honestly not that much differently. I’ll be back in a day or 2 when I have time away from college schoolwork and I’ll get into the discussion a little more then. Dang it really sucks and hurts to talk about Chuck in the past tense. Also, I haven’t watched a single show on NBC since the Chuck finale and I’m proud of it.

Season 3 would have been the best season by far had the showrunners aired 2 deleted scenes from “First Class” – Sarah had found out Shaw’s secret. The Sarah/Shaw arc would have made total sense in that she started the relationship to protect Chuck and herself from Shaw using any means necessary.

The secret (though undisclosed) – she had killed Shaw’s wife?

Those episodes wouldn’t have been yet another relationship impediment rather they were Sarah being the superspy risking her relationship with Chuck to protect him – this interpretation would have been a complete 180 from that given to Sarah’s character in the aired scenes.

What a shame – just another judgement error by the creators.

Check out Season 3 Deleted Scenes Part 2 (2 minutes in total)

I never for a second thought that Chuck and Sarah wouldn’t be together. My beef was that Sarah lost her memories and by the end of the series never got them back. I mantain that for the story they wanted to tell, the beach scene was a great culmination of the arc and the series, but I also think that the steps they took to get to that scene (regarding Sarah’s memories) were to unclear and not enough. Her memories a far to important, and to leave their return in question (no matter how small the question may be) was in my opinion a mistep in execution and not the best way to end the series.

Its funny you bring up season 3. I compare this finale to the first 7 episodes of season 3. Those episodes were entertaining and had some good moments, but the way they handled Sarah and by extenstion Sarah and Shaw, was not done very well. On the other hand I really enjoyed Chuck and his journey. This finale is very similar in that the episode was also entertaining and had some good moments (I mean that beach scene is one of, if not the best of the series), but they way in which they handled Sarah and by extension her memory loss, was in my opinion poorly executed. Whatever their intentions, I don’t think they came across on screen as clearly as TPTB would have liked.

Back in the day I had started a thread of speculation along the lines of “What if we are wrong? What if Sarah doesn’t really love Chuck and is just a very good handler? ” It was an attempt to look at things from a totally different angle and until it was made clear that she DID love him, it was possible to view all of Sarahs looks and actions through this filter. That was depressing.

Speaking for myself, It was not so much that I didn’t think Shaw was a temporary intrusion (he was a guest star after all). It was the lack of trust in TPTB getting us to a point where Chuck and Sarah would be together before the show was cancelled, at the time a significant possibility. The feeling that in the end we might not get to see Chuck and Sarah together.

I’m one of those fans who always felt Chuck should have gone bit darker – spy wise in order to help him understand where Sarah was coming from. I know that there will be those who disagree with my opinion – thats fine. I would have liked to see the writers do an homage to “Star Wars” particularly the journey of Anikin/Darth Vader/Anikin. It would have been nice to see Sarah use her emotions to reach Chuck. It would have shown how much she had grown as a character by the end of the series.

What do people think?

BTW I have joined Zach’s The Nerd Machine. I have a Chuck related Blog under the handle chuckfan0712 if any chucksters want leave a comment or Ideas for topics would be welcome. Hope to be hearing from you!

Sean 🙂