My Thoughts on Chuck's Series Finale

Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak never fail to excel at mediocrity.

Call me unsatisfied with the Chuck’s finale. Not mad, but definitely not satisfied. I felt that the writing did the tremendous actors (specifically Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, Adam Baldwin, and Joshua Gomez) of Chuck a great disservice. I guess I'm more disappointed with what the finale could have been (and wasn't) then what it actually was.

I mean, the whole bittersweet ending isn't always bad, but it just doesn't seem like the best choice for a show like Chuck - which ran 5 seasons thanks to its passionate fans (and NBC's woes). The main problem with the finale is that the ending just doesn't fit with the character of the show. Chuck was always pretty lighthearted and optimistic, never taking itself too seriously or encouraging/expecting its fans to take it seriously (nearly every episode required fans to suspend at least a moderate amount of belief/reality). The ending to the finale would be fine on a different sort of show, but it just feels really out of character for a show like Chuck. It's like the show, and not Sarah, lost its sense of identity for the finale.

While the final scene taken by itself might come across as hopeful, taken in the context of the two (finale) episodes, it just didn't sit right or feel like an appropriate ending to the series. Appropriate for the end of episode 5-12? Yes, but not the series. In the finale, I never really got any sort of real sense that Sarah has any sort of romantic connection or feelings regarding Chuck anymore. Honestly, the ending gave me an impression that Sarah and Chuck might try to date for a while but end up just being good friends and nothing more. Perhaps I'm way off base here, but that's just what my gut told me and is telling me in the context and framework of the last two episodes (what Schwartz and Fedak provided).

Perhaps the reason that the Chuck finale failed to resonate with viewers such as myself, is that it’s ending was designed to be viewed in the lens of the popular American idea (or myth) of “soul-mates,” an idea that many individuals like me don’t buy into. I get the idea of the soul-mates notion that most of the finale's supporters seem to be citing; the problem is though, a lot of people (and from that I think we can extrapolate Chuck viewers) don't necessarily buy into the idea of soul-mates. (Now is not the time or place for me to get into the details of why, but I just don’t think the concept fits well into the Biblical worldview I try to shape my thinking around.) In fact, I'm not sure Chuck as a show has ever supported such an idea. Chuck and Sarah fell in love, but it wasn't easy and it didn’t just happen. Think of all of the fighting and work they had to do in order to finally get together. Chuck as a show seemed to support an ethic of "fight for what you believe in" as opposed to a "if something's meant to happen, it will happen." This doesn't mean that Chuck and Sarah won't fall in love again, but it'd be very hard (likely impossible) to replicate the same situations and circumstances that led to Chuck and Sarah falling in love. Additionally, Sarah really doesn't seem to want to pursue a romantic relationship with Chuck. Yes, she kissed him in the finale’s final scene, but I really don't think that kiss invalidated her character's state as previously presented in the finale. So yes, if you believe in soulmates/think that Chuck (as as an entire series) has advocated for such an idea then the ending will seem happy to you. If you don't however, the notion of Chuck and Sarah merely ending up as (good) friends really doesn't seem too far-fetched. If Schwartz and Fedak really wanted for us to have that sort of hope and optimism that some are citing, you'd think they've put more of it into the two hours they had for the finale. There's a difference between being subtle and being lazy – building something into your story versus just expecting viewers to choose the right lens needed for viewers to comprehend your story in the way you’ve intended for it to be interpreted.

I think Chuck will always hold some sort of spot in my heart regardless of its ending (and my feelings towards the ending). There will however be a lot of criticism (fair or unfair) due to the sense of ownership and investment so many individuals have towards Chuck as a show. In part, perhaps those of us expressing criticism are really just trying to be convinced that the finale was a good and proper one (proper in the sense of fitting the character of Chuck as a show) so that we can come to grips with how we are feeling now.

Worst Case scenario: Chuck's finale is a primer for the upcoming movie The Vow.

(Sorry for not touching on more of the finale – there are a lot of good and poor parts to it. Chuck getting stuck with the Intersect again could be a source of great debate and contention but is a smaller issue when compared to the one I’ve discussed.)