Last night was a sad one for Chuck fans, for with this two-hour finale it’s all over for good. Officially. For real this time. No more episodes, and no miracle renewal. But don’t freak out! Before those final moments, there were plenty of laughs, about 657 moments solely crafted to make us cry, numerous callbacks to the pilot and past episodes, and one last epic Jeffster! performance.
Since lots got packed into these two hours, the recaps are extra-long to keep track of the numerous references to past episodes–so if you’re interested in those, that’s where to look. And don’t forget to check out the review on page 2! Needless to say, extensive spoilers are within.
“Chuck vs. Sarah” Recap:
Sarah returns, claiming to have escaped from Quinn and killed him. In reality, Quinn used the mission log from Sarah’s initial meeting with Chuck (where she clearly stated their relationship was a cover) to convince her that she was always and is still undercover. Her mission is to find the Intersect and kill Chuck, who Quinn implies caused the deaths of Sarah’s handler Graham and previous partner Bryce Larkin. Meanwhile, Ellie and Devon are invited to join a prestigious hospital in Chicago, while Casey wonders if he’s become too soft. Chuck begins to catch on that Sarah is acting differently, making him realize just how much the Intersect has hurt him and those he loves. Determined to finally fulfill his father’s wishes, Chuck discovers the location of the government’s new Intersect, and decides to destroy it once and for all. Quinn commands Sarah to go with the gang, but to download the Intersect onto the empty glasses and then kill them all. Chuck discovers the glasses in her bag before their departure, and brings a second empty pair (presumably from Morgan’s Intersect) in case his fears are true. They venture to DARPA, the place where scientists develop wacky spy-fi tech like invisibility cloaks—complete with a “You’re a wizard, Harry” reference!
But Chuck’s suspicions are true, as Sarah ruthlessly uploads the Intersect, threatens Morgan’s life, and locks them all in the room (after Sarah does some cool Bryce-esque moves.) Quinn subsequently blows it up, but the team survives, and Chuck reveals he switched out the glasses. The team fills in Beckman about Sarah’s condition, putting Sarah on the CIA’s watchlist. Realizing the glasses are empty, Sarah returns to Burbank and kidnaps Ellie as collateral to get the glasses back. To protect Chuck, Ellie crashes her car with both of them in it, leaving Sarah unconscious. Chuck takes Sarah to their little house with a red door and white picket fence teased all season, and emotionally tells her of the moments when they fell in love, from their meeting in the pilot, to their first kiss in “Chuck vs. The Nemesis,” to Sarah’s confession of loving him in “Chuck vs. The Other Guy.” Sarah only believes this means she did her job too well, and subsequently beats the crap out of Chuck. However, seeing the “Sarah + Chuck” inscription on the wall (from “Chuck vs. The Baby”) sparks a memory. Quinn arrives, Sarah realizes she’s been betrayed, and Quinn shoots Chuck (though luckily he’s wearing a vest, a la “Chuck vs. The Nemesis”). The police arrive and Sarah escapes. She decides to go on the run, but not before Casey delivers her complete mission log, detailing how she did, in fact, fall in love with Chuck. She returns to Chuck’s apartment and tells him she believes his story, but doesn’t feel it, and tells him she is off to get her revenge on Quinn. After her goodbye, Chuck is heartbroken.
“Chuck vs. The Goodbye” Recap
Two weeks after her goodbye to Chuck, Sarah follows Quinn to a plane, where he meets with the Fulcrum agent from “Chuck vs. The Fat Lady” (returning “in every cool TV show ever” guest Mark Pellegrino) and obtains an Intersect key that the agent inherited from past Big Bad Ted Roark. Quinn and Sarah fight on the plane, and Sarah (in all her “Chuck vs. The Gobbler” catsuit glory) jumps out and parachutes into the water—but not before obtaining the knowledge of what Quinn is after. Chuck’s family convinces him to stop moping (a la “Chuck vs. The Pink Slip”) and that he should try to get Sarah back. Their idea, of course, is to get her to fall in love with him again. Morgan suggests the tried-and-true Disney solution of one true love’s kiss, but they agree that Chuck should show her why they fell in love in the first place. Meanwhile, Casey has a crisis of conscience as he contemplates how Beckman told him she needs “The Colonel” (from “Chuck vs. The Colonel”) so he can be the old ruthless Casey, unattached to his friends and daughter. Sarah returns to Castle to use their tech to track Quinn, who she believes is searching for more parts of this Intersect key. Chuck convinces Sarah that they all work best as a team, but not before Sarah gives him Casey’s scoped Desert Eagle (used by Morgan in “Chuck vs. Phase Three”) and commands him to kill Quinn by any means necessary.
The team ventures off to Berlin to get to another key part before Quinn does. This part is with a former Ring operative, who obtained it from Volkoff Industries (linking all of our Big Bads through the parts.) Chuck tries to woo Sarah during the mission, thanks to ending up in a series of places and situations close to the first season: a Mexican restaurant like the one from their first date in the pilot; doing the Tango like in “Chuck vs. The Tango”; and finally a German Wienerlicious, Sarah’s cover job in the early episodes. Sarah seems to subconsciously recall certain things about her job in the Weinerlicious, but before they can do more, Quinn arrives for the part and a typical shootout ensues (including Sarah’s skewer throw from “Chuck vs. The Helicopter.”) Chuck has a shot on Quinn, but still not willing to kill anyone, he instead fires a warning shot…which hits Casey’s helicopter, causing the backup to have to make an emergency landing and allowing Quinn to escape. Angry, Casey locks up Chuck, Sarah and Morgan and waits for the government to handle them. Morgan, however, convinces Casey that the new Casey is much better and stronger than the old Casey, thanks to his friends and emotions. Casey in turn frees everyone—but Sarah still thinks she’d be better off on her own. Chuck’s mom, Mary (Linda Hamilton) returns with Ellie and Devon and stops her, and the group agrees to work together.
Mary reveals there are three parts to the key, created by the original Intersect team and split among Ted Roark, Hartley Winterbottom, and Chuck’s father Stephen. Quinn possesses the first two; the only question is where Stephen’s is hidden. Mary also reveals that the key is used to clear the Intersect of bugs and, more importantly, allows it to be easily altered and updated by any user, making it virtually unstoppable. Ellie realizes that this new Intersect could be used to restore Sarah’s memories by uploading a dossier on her and imprinting the personality, like the Agent X/Volkoff project in season 4. They also realize that Beckman is the one who has the final part, and Quinn has already tracked her down to Pacific Concert Hall. Jeff and Lester manage to overhear this, and having gotten knowledge of the spy world in “Chuck vs. The Bullet Train” they decide to follow and help. Quinn makes it to Beckman first, discovering that Beckman had no idea she had the part, which was being secretly kept in her Intersect Project badge. He also reveals a bomb under her chair. Chuck and the team arrive; Sarah goes after Quinn, while everyone else tries to stop the bomb, which is apparently linked to the sound of the orchestra. Unable to stop the performance or evacuate the hall at risk of setting off the bomb, they realize the only thing they can do is prolong the performance—just as Jeff and Lester arrive. Jeffster! performs “Take On Me” with the orchestra, keeping the bomb active, while Chuck follows Sarah to Quinn. Sarah kills Quinn in self-defense, and Chuck gets the Intersect glasses with the full key. He realizes he must use the perfect Intersect to figure out how to unlock the bomb, instead of using it to save Sarah. He uploads it one last time, flashes on the bomb and unlocks it–realizing it’s using a Prism Express laptop, the same one used as a bomb in the first episode. Sarah remembers the Irene Demova virus used to stop it five years ago, and Chuck does it again, stopping the virus and saving the concert hall.
With the day saved, Beckman thanks them and lets them know if they ever want to save the world, they know where to find her. Casey goes off to meet with Gertrude Verbanski, and says goodbye to Alex and Morgan, who decide to move in together. Ellie and Devon accept the jobs in Chicago, and the Buy More is bought out by none other than Subway, to Big Mike’s delight. Jeffster!’s performance at the concert hall gets the attention of a German record executive, who invites them to leave the Buy More and finally fulfill their musical dreams. Chuck finds Sarah on the same beach they were on during their last scene in the first episode, and Sarah asks Chuck to tell her about their life together. After some laughs and tears as he tells her their complete story, Chuck tells Sarah about Morgan’s theory. Sarah tells Chuck to kiss her, and they share a passionate kiss. Fade to black.
Review:
Chuck was born during a tumultuous time for TV. Back in fall 2007, Chuck hit the airwaves right as the infamous Writer’s Strike was getting into swing, causing its first season to be abruptly cut. Around the time premiered, other geektastic shows faced dipping ratings (Smallville, Supernatural), and despite a number of fantastic new shows premiering around the same time (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Reaper), few lasted more than two years, and any that did (The Big Bang Theory, Breaking Bad) took several years to really reach the collective mainstream. Yet however low the ratings, Chuck was always there; it managed to defy the odds and survived three nigh cancellations, produced five potential finales, and still got to that five-year mark every genre show strives for. Thanks to one of the most dedicated fanbases in history, and some help from a certain sandwich chain, it kept coming back. It finally ends here, still just a few episodes short of 100. But then, that’s Chuck in spades: a story of quirky underdogs, even when they’re the best spies in the world. That’s a pretty big accomplishment, so no doubt this finale had quite a bit to live up to.
The first hour, “Chuck vs. Sarah,” was easily one of the darkest episodes in the entire series. The tension was high, and the act breaks were some of the best we’ve seen on the series. Ellie’s car crash was shocking and well done—and bravo for giving her yet another great moment to earn her the mantle as Wife Awesome! And wow, was the scene with Chuck and Sarah in their empty house heartwrenching. In many other shows, this would have been too sappy and over-the-top, but Zachary Levi can pull off shaken delivery and soul-crushing crying extremely well. And frankly, I didn’t expect Sarah’s “I guess I did my job too well” rebuttal, followed by an absolutely brutal fight. If this episode was supposed to rip the heart out of anyone who loved Chuck and Sarah’s relationship, it certainly accomplished it. It was hard not to hold back the tears in that entire scene.
I knew the final hour, “Chuck vs. The Goodbye,” was going to pack in the callbacks, but wow! It was tons of fun keeping track of all the little references, which I listed in the recaps. I’m a sucker for this full-circle business, so having the last mission have the same climax as the very first mission was great. I also liked that every single supporting character got mini-arcs and decisions to establish where they’ll go. While most of them, like Ellie and Devon going to Chicago, were obvious and fairly artificial, Casey’s was actually very cool. It was more reflective, allowing Casey to really assess where he used to be and how far he’s come. Adam Baldwin didn’t have too many moments to show his acting ability, but it was a well-written end to his character. His and Chuck’s hug was sweet, as was his one last slight at the Russians.
Supposedly-permanent memory wipes have been used numerous times in genre shows with mixed results (most recently Smallville, Supernatural and Doctor Who), so there was no telling how Sarah’s would turn out. I have to admit, I was a little unnerved about going through the entire final two hours with Sarah’s memories still gone. I mean, we deserve one more mission with “our” Sarah, right? But considering the pay-off, it was worth it. Yvonne Strahovski was adept at reverting Sarah to her season 1 variation, with an even darker edge, fueled by vengeance over the deaths of Graham and Bryce, as well as her amnesia. Even for those who disagree with the memory wipe, Yvonne’s performance was still enjoyable. I can’t say it dragged the episodes down, either. The memory-wiped Sarah gave the myriad callbacks a grounded reason. Sure, they could have been thrown in and it would have been cute, but it gave context to having Chuck try to use the Mexican restaurant and the tango to woo Sarah, and the Irene Demova virus was not only a clever callback to a plot point, but a cool moment for Sarah, too.
The big question, aside from Sarah’s memories, was whether or not Chuck would reupload the Intersect. He did, and to be honest, it wasn’t a big deal. It didn’t feel forced (well, a little forced, but not much) and it served more as a way to add one last element of tragedy as well as one more flash for the ages. I also like that it was never stated if Chuck kept the Intersect or got the CIA to suppress it again.
Being such a dark episode, the only comical moments in “Chuck vs. Sarah” that stuck were Casey’s apron and Morgan’s Harry Potter reference. The spy cloak was definitely cheesy and a little out of place, but it was cute and didn’t really take away from anything. The finale, however, supplied plenty more lighthearted moments; seeing Chuck’s support system of Morgan, Ellie, Devon and baby Clara crammed in his room was hilarious. Despite the tragedy of Sarah’s memory-wipe, there were some laughs when she was caught trying to escape from Castle just as Casey was letting them free. It was also cool seeing Linda Hamilton back, even briefly (and mostly as a plot device)–and she actually got to do some comedy. Her interactions with baby Clara and the gun discussion were lots of fun. Morgan’s reference to their “third last mission” was funny as well, and I loved the Buy More stalker network.
Speaking of the Buy Morons, we hadn’t seen a Jeffster! performance since mid-season 4—but their return was worth the wait. To be completely honest, I can’t explain why “Take On Me” was perfect for their final outing, but it was yet another fantastic, cheesy, 80s song that fits the show so well. The only other one I could possibly picture being a good final song would be a reprisal of “Mr. Roboto,” but ultimately I’m glad we got something different. It definitely fit that particular scene, and resulted in a very funny ending (and beginning) for their story.
We even got one last Subway plug! Big Mike only had one short scene in all two hours, but he certainly made it memorable with his announcement. Subway is almost as iconic in the Chuck universe as the Buy More itself, so I have no qualms about combining the two. Not sure how a food chain can buy out an electronics store, but let’s not question it.
As usual, all of the non-Jeffster! music was great, but the final song, “Rivers and Roads” by The Head & The Heart, was a great one to end on. It’s the same style of soft, acoustic music the show has used in its most emotional scenes, but it was certainly memorable when played along the classic Chuck and Sarah moments. And despite all the budget cuts in past years making Chuck look like such a cheap show, the cinematography of the final scene on the beach was beautiful.
There were a few gripes, though. While Angus Macfayden was competent in what he was given, he still doesn’t stand out in the grand scheme of Chuck villains. There really isn’t much more to say about him beyond what I said in his introduction; while it’s cool he ties into the mythology, he only seems like he could have been fun if we got to know him earlier. Seeing him die wasn’t the big moment it should have been. I do wish there had been another scene with Alex, though her brief one with Casey and Morgan sufficed. Also, if that Intersect key was the only way to modify the Intersect, then how has it been modified so many times over the series? I guess you could say the government’s scientists found ways around it, but still, it was a little vague exactly what it could do aside from “make it more powerful,” though I suppose it still worked as a plot device. Lastly, it seems odd that Sarah never contacted anyone at the CIA to make sure Quinn was being truthful. I get that she was distraught over her situation, but still.
Despite all the tragedy, there was always a very hopeful throughline in the final hour, much more hopeful than the penultimate episode. So even though we of course don’t know for sure if Morgan was right and Chuck’s kiss could magically restore her, there’s a good enough chance that it will that it’s okay being open-ended.
An open-ended finale is certainly not everyone’s cup of tea, so no doubt there will be dissent. And it’s understandable; we spent five years building up the Sarah and Chuck relationship, and now we don’t get official, definitive, happy-ending closure on a show filled with everyone else’s happy endings? It definitely feels a little frustrating, having this one stroke of darkness and tragedy at the tail end. But the upside to this carefully-crafted ending is just how easy it would be to say that Sarah recovered. Let the final scene play out for thirty more seconds, Sarah says “I remember” and we’re golden. We didn’t, so fans who appreciate the ambiguity of the finale (like I did) can enjoy it, while fans who like happy endings can assume that things still end up hunky-dory. It was a smart move on the producers; they got something artsy, but they also got their Hollywood ending, in true Chuck fashion—which is why I’m not complaining. After seeing finales of other shows where the definitiveness or open-endedness only leaves confusion and frustration, I do feel like Chuck struck a nice balance. You don’t feel pandered to, but it’s still very heartwarming and tugs at the heartstrings.
Overall, it wasn’t the best finale in terms of scale or overall quality–that still goes to “Chuck vs. The Ring Part II” and ”Chuck vs. The Ring”, respectively. But in terms of closure, iconic moments, callbacks, fun adventure and lots of potential for tears of both joy and sadness, this one suits the show just fine. It wasn’t about the shocking twists; it was about everyone moving on to the next stages of their lives. It followed numerous finale tropes, but still worked as a way to have one last go-round with the characters while throwing in as many past references as possible. I was satisfied and fulfilled with where the characters were going, but still have an inkling to see where the show could go next if we see the characters again. It was a catharsis, actually, to finally have the closure we all feared we wouldn’t get after five years on the bubble.
Honestly, I want to immediately pop in a DVD and watch the show all over again. And as a great man once said: That’s Awesome.
