When you’re a show on the bubble and your season’s about to wrap, it’s good to give the fans something tasty that they can savor for awhile. The season (don’t make me say series, NBC) finale of Chuck was pretty darn successful at doing just that. This final, wedding-based episode did a terrific job of tying up loose ends and giving certain characters some new direction without really closing the door on anything in a finite way. This is in no way meant to be an Post Game-style episode recap (so spoiler shields up) to get you up to speed, this is for the faithful viewers who watched Chuck this week and hope that the line “I know Kung Fu” is only the start of something special.

So, as is found in many season finales, much resolution came in the penultimate episode with Chuck (Zach Levi) no longer hosting the intersect and now ready to get on with his life. He declined an invitation by the government to use his skill set on their payroll, much to Casey’s disappointment (Adam Baldwin’s return to his old gig with a bunch of likeminded bros was a hoot too), but he’s at least ready to say “take this job and shove it” to the Buy More (was this Emmett’s coming out of the closet, in his one scene in the episode?). Nice to see that his BFF Morgan was still on the same page as Chuck in moving out of electronics retail and going to pursue his dream of hibachi cuisine.

Since the government made him flush with cash for services rendered, I was hoping to see Chuck have an actual big idea with what to do with the money, but he was thinking short term with his sister’s wedding and a beach getaway with Sarah (oh, and I CANNOT watch a scene with Sarah Lancaster as Ellie without thinking that she is the second coming of Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman). Having such a gift for breaking Chuck’s heart all season, of course Sarah got in at least one more opportunity, but I’m glad she saw the light and decided to pass on a whole new intersect mission with Bryce (alas, Bryce, I hardly knew ye).

All the network previews suggested that virtually everything took place at Ellie’s church wedding, so it was a surprise to see it only occupy the show’s first half to allow for plenty more plot development. Chevy Chase, while unsuccessful at getting the intersect from Chuck, made up for that by ruining the ceremony, all the while making it look like all Chuck’s bad. Last episode, with everything that happened at the abandoned drive-in movie theater, reminded me of Spies Like Us, and despite an invaluable turn in recent weeks by Scott Bakula, how hilarious would it have been to cast Dan Aykroyd as Chuck and Ellie’s dad? Fitz-Hume and Millbarge reunited!

But after a sweet do-over with the wedding, all thanks to the hero, how about the ending? A payoff for the ages! The creators of Chuck have been so patient with the titular character all season making sure to keep him out of the same league as Casey and Sarah, what he did when he was forced back into the role of intersect had my wife and I rolling, that was when we weren’t choked up with pride for our hero. If things end now, shame on NBC for their lack of commitment to well-rounded, inspired programming. In the same token, leaving fans cheering is rarely a bad way to go.

And am I the only one with “Mr. Roboto” still in my head? What say YE, Chuck fans?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 at 10:20 am and is filed under News & Views, Pop Culture, Television, The Reverend's Show, media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.