Chuck: Chuck Versus The Ring [season finale]
By fred | April 28, 2009
(S02E22) There you have it, the very last episode of the season for Chuck. I really hope that this is all that it will be, and that despite all their new series order and, of course, that stupid Leno taking over the 10.00pm slot next season, NBC will still manage to keep Chuck on the air, but despite a show as good and fun as it’s been all season long, nothing is certain.
(I hope that NBC decided to go for a different approach, ordering seasons of about 13 episodes at most, against the usual 22 we usually get on networks. Because that would give writers more time to work some nice script, and we all know how they’ve often been jealous of cable shows which has that luxury, and because let’s face it: that would allow more shows, and that’s probably the only way for this show to get a third season these days…)
This episode was, however, not just a lot of fun as Chuck can be, but did a great job being both a satisfying season finale, settings things up for a third season, as well as still delivering what could be a relatively satisfying series finale should it come to this.
Still, as fun as this was, I’m not sure I liked everything that did happen. For the most part of the episode, this was the conclusion of all that was set before. Chuck followed Morgan’s path and put the Buy More in his past, and so did Casey of course since he no longer had any reason to stick around. Then Chuck refused to be come a consultant for the government, because he didn’t want to be a spy (even though this might not have been an actual field position…) but to finally get his life back, free from the Intersect, free from spies and guns and explosions, free from everything that wasn’t his life as a simple guy, in love with the amazing girl next door.
Then there was the wedding of course, and that’s when things started to go wrong. But it was all in good fun, in the pure Chuck tradition with Jeffster taking the stage and Awesome been okay with it, because he secretly knew he was helping Chuck with something of his double life as a spy. Of course everything that went down there was pretty predictable, especially Casey’s return right through the skylight.
I mean, the second we first saw that thing, we knew someone was gonna come though there, and it wasn’t hard to put 2 and 2 together and guess Casey was the one to do the honor. And I’m sure they played very loudly, but seriously none of Casey and his team mates had such things as silencer, it was lots of gunshots, lots of loud noises, including Chuck’s screams not for his life, but because everything was being destroyed…
Then again, those are the kind of things we allow in this show, because it’s a lot of fun otherwise so we close our eyes on such “details,” even though I wished Sarah had used some more unexpected gifts to fight back. Casey used a radiator last week, so knives were way too normal I say. The one thing I’m more than happy about, though, is that Chuck didn’t got the Intersect back to his head to save his sister or something like that, as I feared might happen, because that would have been too much.
He did, though, get a new version up in his brain. Of course he did, we need a third season. I’m still not sure I get his motives for doing so, after all he finally had everything he ever wanted, his dreams were about to come true : he was out from the spy life, the Intersect was out of his brain, his whole family was reunited and happier than ever, and the girl of his dreams was willing to stay with him. She didn’t get to say it herself, of course, but her almost saying it plus Bryce confirming she wasn’t leaving with him, Chuck should have been able to figure that one out.
But he did, it’s all back in his head, and if Sarah & Bryce had a relationship once when both were spies, I don’t see no reason why Chuck and Sarah couldn’t be a couple of spies who really are together, and not just as a cover.
I’m still not sure I liked that new version of the Intersect though, the Matrix-addition (BTW can you believe it’s been 10 years already (!), since Neo said those words, “I know kung fu” ? Gosh, I don’t even want to count how long since Marty asked the band to watch him for the changes of the song he was about to rock…). First of all, if he’s got skills he probably doesn’t need a handler, and the only addition of Sarah as partner could be enough. But since he’s not really a trained spy (nope, still no training…) it’s easy enough to keep Casey around, plus they’ve proven many times to be very efficient, all three of them together.
But what made it all work, was that Chuck wasn’t a spy, as he loved to repeat. He had this Intersect in his brain, all those information, but he was no spy, he didn’t know kung fu, and that’s also why it worked so well and was so funny, because where Casey would punch hi sway through, Chuck would have to use other, unexpected ways to get the same results. And, every once in a while, he would have to resort to the most lethal weapon of all, The Morgan.
But if he can take down half a dozen trained and armed spies (who work for whom, exactly?? Now there’s this brand new set of bad spies, why?) or drive a plane or defuse a bomb anytime he needs to, not using a porn virus but flashing on “how to defuse a bomb for dummies, the CIA approved version,” I just feel like it turns the show into a brand new direction, and I’m not sure I like it. (One thing I really don’t want to see, though, his Chuck have his “skills” not work right and turn into Inspector Gadget or something!)
Still, we have a new Chuck, still Sarah and Casey by his side, although now things should be open with Sarah, and of course Awesome knows his secret. And let’s not forget that there’s no Buy More anymore, and if I’m sure Jeff and that lesbian Indian would still be around somehow, it might also mean Chuck would have a brand new cover, one that could require no work at all.
Lots of exciting things to come and questions that need answers, so hopefully NBC will renew the show for a third season. Either way, the show improved from last season, deliver a strong and funny season, so at least we have that — even though that’s not enough, especially if all NBC has to offer is more Knight Rider-like crap instead…
What did everybody else think?
