Okay, well, admittedly I did exhale and then inhale it a couple of times.
See, my story sense told me that there would be a serious change to the status quo in the last act of the show, and I was afraid I knew what it was. Turns out I was wrong, thank God.
When last we’d left our hero and heroine on the cusp of their wedding, Sarah lay in a poisoned-indued coma thanks to the evil of Volkoff’s daughter and Chuck was going to do whatever was necessary to bring her out of it, even as her body temperature was hovering around 105, a temperature at which the human brain tends to cook.
I was absolutely positive that they wouldn’t kill off Sarah. My concern, however, was that when she was brought out of her coma, she was going to look up at Chuck and have no idea who he was. She’d know who SHE was, but she would effectively be reset to the woman she was at the beginning of the series. All the character development, everything would be wiped out because of brain damage due to the fever. This would then leave them in a so-close, yet so-far status and viewers could spend the final season hoping that she regained her memories of what they had been to each other. I hoped they wouldn’t do that because, frankly, I thought the idea kind of sucked.
Consequently, when they had the entire wedding sequence, I kept waiting for it to be a fantasy of Chuck’s that would then be dashed by the return to real life that awaited him with an amnesiac fiancee.
Turns out I needn’t have worried. Rather than take the cheap way out, the producers gave the fans what they’ve been waiting for, even though this particular fan wasn’t able to relax until the final credits. For that I am grateful, and am even more grateful for the preceding fifty-five minutes which was a twisty-turny, screw-the-consequences adventure that underscored more than anything just how far Chuck has come from being the guy who was always being told to hide in the car (a schtick that I’m certain would have worn thin for the very same fans who now reminisce about what a more fun character he was back then.) The episode was aptly named: “Chuck vs. the Cliffhanger,” because it’s always a challenge to produce a season ender that is simultaneously satisfying and yet leave the audience going, “Whoa…didn’t see THAT coming. What happens next?” Yet they deftly managed to thread that needle, particularly with the final events that had you going, “Oh, no they DIDN’T!” Oh yes, they did. Thanks NBC for promising at least thirteen more episodes of one of the best shows on TV.
PAD
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The review on AV Club was more comprehensive than usual, and brought up a couple of potential pitfalls for Season 5.
The first was the danger of concentrating too much on Morgan in Season 5. I love Morgan, the idea is great (notwithstanding that it’s convenient that Morgan also has an “Intersect-Ready” brain), and it’ll make for amusing stories, all true. But this is the home stretch, and the show just may not have time to give the spotlight to a supporting character for the final season. The reviewer used an apt illustration with Buffy Season 7, where the main cast was smothered by all the Potential Slayers.
The second was noting that strongly structured schemes and plot points have never been the show’s strong suit (Alan Sepinwall’s reviews have a regular “Chuck’s Plot Hole of the Week” feature), and the writers just might not be up to the challenge of credibly explaining how everything’s part of an overall plan.
I’m right along with you, Peter. Knew tehy couldn’t kill Sarah off, but was nervous that the wedding was all in Chuck’s head. Made it harder to enjoy the wedding scene, wish they’d had a clear Sarah-out-of-coma scene preceeding it so it could have been properly enjoyed.
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I was going to erase the DVR after I saw it, but with the ending I knew I’d have to save it for my son. He’s only a casual Chuck watcher, but this ending he’d have to see.
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As Chuck’s Dad would say, Oh, boy.
I was pretty stoked going in, having already heard about the 13-episode pickup for Season 5.
Overall, I thought it was highly satisfying. The folks behind Chuck always seem to find themselves having to produce a season finale that can, if necessary, function as a series finale (reminiscent of another NBC dramedy, Ed, which I think had to pull it off THREE TIMES before it was cancelled for real). Like Peter, I was certain they wouldn’t kill off Sarah. I did wonder how it was all going to work out, though. I was also pretty impressed to see an Intersect-less Chuck determined to do whatever it took to save Sarah, and dámņ the consequences (consequences which were pretty huge in the end). I figure Josh Gomez has to be hoping Morgan loses the Intersect pretty quickly, though. Zach Levi had to do a lot of training to pull off the much-more-intense physical stuff required after Chuck’s upgrade.
So far, I have yet to be disappointed by the finales of any of the hour-long series I follow, and that’s a feat.
As an aside, I’m always grateful when folks know a series might not go on and do a season finale that can work well as a series finale. PROFIT (which didn’t make it through one season; when I got the bootleg vhs copies they were subtitled in French ‘cuz they were only aired in Canada) had both an avenue for investigation in the 2nd season and a nice how-it-wraps-up feel. BABYLON 5 had a Season 4 finale, then it got one more season and we had another finale. (Sadly, THE PRACTICE had a very good finale, then another season and a 2nd finale that was little more than an ad for BOSTON LEGAL.) And MY NAME IS EARL ended on a cliffhanger, but there was a news report in that show’s next show RAISING HOPE about Earl finishing his list.
I know most series creators want to think they’ll have more seasons to flesh out their storylines, but it’s often frustrating when a show wraps with a sudden surprise/revelation/shooting that will never be resolved.
Since PAD avoided most spoilers (save that the wedding really happened), I’ll note:
*SPOILERS* *SPOILERS* *SPOILERS* *SPOILERS* *SPOILERS*
I liked the finale a lot. Wrapped up the Volkoffs nicely; gave the key cast members things to do, and set-up a new premise for the coming season. As for Morgan, I can see them going a couple of different ways: Given Chuck’s problems with the Intersect 1.0, Morgan might need to have it removed. Or they may just decide to play it that Chuck is now a competant and confident enough spy (as evidenced by his behavior throughout the finale) that he doesn’t need the Intersect, so let Morgan handle that aspect. A couple outstanding questions: Have they effectively written the General out of the show? If Decker and the CIA ever figure out that the Intersect still exists, wouldn’t they come after our heroes full force? Is the Agent X blackmail information really enough to keep them at bay? And how are Chuck and Sarah explaining the Volkoff money to the IRS? Will Sarah’s dad (ably played by Gary Cole) find out that his daughter is now fabulously wealthy? If the Intersect really is perfected enough that Morgan can use it safely, why wouldn’t Chuck re-acquire it also? And, for that matter, Sarah and Casey, too?
***SPOILERS AND SPECULATION***
I think the idea of blackmail combined with the team accepting their terminations from the agency (although how that applied to Casey, I’m a little vague on) is what Chuck hopes will keep Decker at bay. I agree he’ll come after the gang full force when he finds out the intersect still exists.
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As for Morgan and the intersect, it didn’t look like he flashed to me, so I’m wondering if he only thinks the download worked. I’ll assume Chuck’s watch has been reverse-engineered, so that won’t be an issue, but everything we’ve seen in the show seems to indicate that the intersect works best when put in non-violent minds or, at least, minds previously untrained by the military or CIA.
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I’m less interested in Chuck and Sarah explaining their newfound money to the IRS (Cayman Islands account) that I am about what they will do with Volkoff Industries itself. Dismantle it? Try to make it a force for good? Use it for spy intel?
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I’m wondering how much of what Decker told Chuck at the end was the truth. If it was, it seems like a whole lot of trouble for little reward, and, for the viewers, only explains Sarah’s red test. On the other hand, it would be an interesting plot twist if the Ring’s members were actually the (albeit mostly amoral) good guys out to stop a government takeover that already happened and that they thought General Beckman and Operation: Bartowski were a part of.
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Sorry for the long ramble. I have a two-hour commute these days and uised a lot of it this week thinking about the show.
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–Sam
Per interviews by Alan Sepinwall, these will be the last 13 episodes period (barring, of course, Chuck somehow emerging from the sf/fantasy Friday night schedule pileup [Fringe, Supernatural, one of the two new fairy tale shows] with a surge to the top ten of ratings. Which I consider as likely as a MySpace comeback).
Also, it does sound like they’ll be going with a Chuck as mentor to Morgan arc, which I’m less happy about. Chuck really didn’t seem to use the full power of the Intersect skills until this last episode, limiting himself to kung fu for the most part previously, and I would’ve liked more of that. Also, Morgan’s still in the character whose funny because he’s incompetent area a bit overmuch for my taste (although *vastly* improved from season one, where I, and apparently others, found him to be a character you just wanted to punch in the face whenever he appeared. Kudos to the writers and actor for managing to move off that extreme without doing a complete character makeover).
On the other hand, I am hoping there’ll be a scene between Morgan and Alex (or a random femme fatale on a mission) where Morgan tries to access whatever seduction skills are in the Intersect…
When are the writers finally going to tackle the obvious pair up of the General and Jeff. I have been waiting for the sparks for at least a season. Lester needs some more airtime. Jeffster was the best tracker operatives Casey ever encountered after all. That was about two seasons ago. I could be reading too much into these plot twists.
Dumb question, but…what’s the origin of the “Cowboy Pete” moniker you use when reviewing/recapping TV shows on this site? It’s been a tradition for as long as I can remember, but I don’t think that was far enough back that I remember why you call yourself that when you do it.
Early on I started calling my look at TV shows “Cowboy Pete’s TV Roundup.” So now when I do reviews of shows I still use that name.
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PAD
I thought this was a textbook example for how to do a season/series capper properly (I’m talking about you, Smallville). It was fun, exciting, and suspenseful from start to finish, and provided both a nice resolution and enough of a cliff-hanger to leave you wanting more. If it had been the last episode of the series, then I would have been very happy with it.
As for concerns about next season: well, there’s just not enough to go on yet. Morgan may keep the Intersect, but even that’s not a given, and even with that assumption, we’ve got no clue if Morgan is going to take to it, or even use it the way Chuck did. Undoubtedly there’s more to it than the “instant lookup” and Kung-fu/knife-fighting programs that Chuck always called on. There might be a more covert/cerebral aspect to the that just never fit Chuck’s personality. Maybe through Morgan, we’ll see a whole, new, intersect.
As for “Chuck could load the Intersect too,” sure, but don’t try to apply logic to it. The show has always played fast and loose as to what the rules of the Intersect were. (Somebody brought up the Intersect regulator watch, for example. Has that even been MENTIONED since Chuck got it? Who the Intersect works on, how harmful it is, what’s in it, how you unload it, and who has access to all that, have tended to change to suit the immediate needs of the plot. The watch was important as long as it was a Maguffin, and stopped being important when it wasn’t.
I just roll with it, because I love the show enough to cut it some (well, a lot) of slack.
I remain hopeful they can give us 13 good episodes to go out on, though it could turn into a lame-duck season with most of the show’s running plots (especially Chuck/Sarah) seemingly resolved.
But I can see a lot to explore in Chuck gaining confidence in his un-enhanced abilities as a spy. Casey’s line about Chuck being “the second-best-spy I’ve ever known” seemed a stretch, and I’d like to see that justified more on-screen. (I’d love for Chuck to get cornered against some thugs and suddenly start using somewhat-more-modest-than-the-past Kung Fu. Casey would just grunt and say, “Training paid off. It’s mostly muscle memory anyway.”) But really, it’s more about Chuck exhibiting confidence and employing the smarts and skill we know he’s had all along. The super-spycraft should just be the icing on the cake.
– JSY