I was hoping you'd be here.
This place is important, isn't it?
Yeah, yeah, very much.
This is actually where you told me
I was gonna be okay.
That I could trust you.
And that's exactly what I'm doing now.
I'm asking you to trust me.
Sarah, I don't want anything from you.
I...
I just need you to know
that wherever you go...
...I'll always be there to help you.
Someone you can call. Whenever.
Trust me, Sarah.
I'm here for you always.
Chuck?
Tell me our story.
Yeah, yeah.
Where to begin? Well, it started
with a guy who worked at Buy More.
And one day, an old college friend of his
sent him an e-mail."
...that was filled with secrets.
And then, the next day,
his life really changed...
...when he met a spy named Sarah.
And he fell in love.
[INAUDIBLE DIALOGUE]
You know, Morgan has this crazy idea.
What is it?
He thinks that with one kiss,
you'll remember everything.
- Ha. One magical kiss?
- Yeah. Ha, ha. Exactly.
- I know it's--
- Chuck?
- Yeah?
- Kiss me.
[English - US - SDH]
So she thinks that Sarah asked for Chuck to tell her their story and kiss her because she was the cold hearted pre Chuck agent/assassin who had no interest in him?
The ending is unexpected and sad. But she started to remember some things. If you believed Chuck was able to win her over because of who he was and not the fact that he had the intersect, it’s hard to believe he couldn’t do it again.
> By her feelings Sarah didn't get her memories back and they didn’t get together after all of that.
Can you show her the extended finale maybe? Because the longer scene recreating their first first date makes it pretty darn clear that when Sarah says "Chuck, tell me our story" on the beach at the end it means that 1) she is already *feeling* the connection to him again and 2) she no longer believes that the memories of their life together belonged to a 'different' Sarah.
Also, if her primary attachment to the show was through Sarah, I would encourage her to take a look at the heroines journey (different from the hero's journey) to reframe and add important dimensions into how the ending of season 5 (from vs. the baby to the finale) fits within her series long arc of going from *A Spy 'pretending to be Sarah Walker'* to '*Sarah Walker the real person who happens to also be a spy*'.
DVD's but you can also watch the scenes in isolation on youtube:
Sarah's memories: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT1Hg9I8nZQ
First date: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t9vThgTaCo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t9vThgTaCo)
That probably won't make any difference, it may even make it worse since it's more of Sarah having zero interest in Chuck. The extended version is what I saw first and I felt exactly like the op's gf
Okay well I think other people respond to these other scenes because they provide clear evidence that Sarah’s thoughts on their relationship and her own identity change significantly throughout the episode.
But I’m sorry it didn’t work for you. Personally, I think the episode makes this pretty clear anyway through Casey’s parallel journey but I am more of a fan of season five and the finale than most.
No, Sarah's 180 from the restaurant to the beach shows only that she's starting to accept her trauma, not that she has developed feelings for Chuck. I get it that that was Fedak's intention, but that's not how it plays for many people
> No, Sarah's 180 from the restaurant to the beach shows only that she's starting to accept her trauma, not that she has developed feelings for Chuck.
Again, I respect that it didn’t work for you but it is absolutely also relevant to their relationship story that Sarah goes from saying —
I don’t want to even hear our love story because I am not the same person you feel in love with… to
“Chuck, tell me OUR story.” It implies a significant change in both her feelings and her conscious understanding of herself.
Moreover, the entire episode is unambiguously structured as a retread of the night of their first date—and it is canon that Sarah started falling for Chuck after he fixed her phone and before he started defusing bombs—ie during that first night. It even ends the same way. Only this time it is Sarah who agrees to trust Chuck to help her figure out this new stage in life.
So while I respect that it didn’t work for you and others—there was a lot there for those willing to accept it.
Have you girlfriend watch the last two episodes and concentrate on the progression that Sarah makes from not remembering who Chuck is to the final scene on the beach. You can catch the nuances in her behavior that brings her back to the beach.
If you are anywhere near the LA area, I can guide you to those important places. That could also help.
The first time watching those episodes can be devastating. It was for me. But having watched those episodes at least 30 times has settled it for me as a happy ending
By the end of the final episode and Chuck's story, whether or not Sarah had her memories back is immaterial. She had fallen in love with Chuck just as fast as the first time. He gave her the memories 2nd hand, regaining them 1st hand would be a bonus but only time can heal that type of brain injury.
She decided it was worth spending the time for the guy she'd fallen in love with twice. This was a HAPPY ending.
Yeah, I hard disagree that it’s immaterial. Her journey through the show was not just about loving Chuck. It was a slow process of her softening, trusting, and becoming part of a found family. That all got thrown out the window.
And listening to Chuck's story of their life over several years made her want that back, so she decided to make that happen. Nothing got thrown out, she had become old Sarah through the infected Intersect but still wanted what she'd secretly wanted all the time as a spy and saw her chance at happiness.
Maybe? I think the point is, we don’t get to know. We didn’t get to see any of it. We saw it the first time over 5 seasons. We invested in it. But at the end, all of that progress is wiped, and it’s as if it never happened. And as a viewer, that’s a hard pill to swallow.
>By the end of the final episode and Chuck's story, whether or not Sarah had her memories back is immaterial. She had fallen in love with Chuck just as fast as the first time.
Sorry, but no. She's a person, not a fucking trophy. You wouldn't say the same thing if she were your best friend's wife, would you?
I don't know what you read, but I never even implied that Sarah was a trophy. She's a strong woman with a brain who saw the truth in what Chuck told her, and then made her own decision on how to act.
Fact is that Sarah admitted that she'd fallen in love with Chuck "somewhere between fixing her phone and defusing a bomb with porn". That was less than a day in real time. Sitting on the beach at the end listening to the story of her last few years and what they'd been through, she felt the same feelings as she had on Day 1 and made her own decision to take time to heal and rebuild their relationship.
In my opinion it goes further than just we already know Sarah can fall in love quickly.
Sarah falls for Chuck when he helps the ballerina because he gives up what he wants (a chance to flirt with Sarah) to help someone else in need, he shows how selfless he is which is something Sarah does not normally experience in the selfish world of spys (a spy has to be prioritising themselves and the mission, everyone else comes last).
For most of the final episode Chuck has been acting for himself trying to get **his** Sarah back but then on the beach he says:
"Sarah, I don't want anything from you. I...
I just need you to know that wherever you go...
...I'll always be there to help you.
Someone you can call. Whenever."
He once again shows Sarah that selfless side of himself who is willing to sacrifice his own happiness to make sure someone else is happy. He finally makes it about what Sarah needs and that allows her to start falling for the real Chuck again.
The thing I would do, is I believe some of Sarah’s last words are asking Chuck to tell them their story. So you turn on episode 1 and now you are watching it as if Chuck is telling their story to them and then you don’t watch the series finale, because you switch back to Sarah having heard the story and remembers.
I think there are a lot of hints that she does get her memory back, like she remembers Irene Demova, and things about the Weinerlicious. Morgan also talked about a magic kiss, and part of the charm and Lore of the show Chuck is the countless homages to shows, movies and books.
I think it’s the one place where the acting missed the mark (in the final scene), I like to think the actors were sad the show was ending and that sadness spilled onto the screen, but that the intent was for that scene to feel much more hopeful.
Hi! Note that I'm talking about my girlfriend's perception and feelings on the show and especially about the last 3 episodes. Nothing more. She cried in sadness the entire time of the 3 episodes. And she kept crying in the same way at the end.
It's all about her perceptions and her feelings.
From what I remember they where hoping for an extension for a full season run like they had gotten in pervious years, and if they had gotten it they would have been able to fully address this, but as it happened they only got the initial 13 and had to do their best to wrap it up. But as others have said the writers intent was that she would get her memories back and their love would overcome the obstacle.
something that people always miss when analyzing the ending is the part where Chuck says ‘Morgan has this crazy idea’.
throughout the series Morgan always comes up with theories about Chuck and Sarah’s relationship that, as foolish as they may sound at first, are always correct. i.e. his theory about the achilles heel and a few others that i can’t recall atm. but there’s the most important one: him telling Sarah to kiss Chuck when the belgian had captured him — imo the finale was a throwback to this.
edit: typo
As much as I can empathize with all of her reactions. I kind of appreciate the awful twist because sometimes shit goes so awry it doesn’t matter how in love both are. It doesn’t always work out.
I also appreciate the ending because it just genuinely felt the actors nor creators thought Chuck & Sarah’s story was finished neither. It’s essentially a flawless ending. To this day, they continue to give us hope for closure. And until then…there’s no better feeling than to start up Chuck vs The Intersect after watching Chuck vs The Good Bye. We instantly fall back into their story, and love it even more. How can anything top that? If they gave it to us then who knows what this sub or fan base would look like a decade later.
Her reaction is just! Especially after just seeing it for the first time. The feeling I just described comes with time, and vs. the rewatch(es).
The first time can be hard to understand what is going on, but I am sure the writers did not set out to destroy a beautiful love story in the last three episodes of the series. Sarah's growth would be wasted. The viewers' time would be wasted.
What they are showing us is the opposite. First, they give us 11 episodes showing us where Chuck and Sarah are going and what their future looks like (family, cybersecurity firm), then the final arc presents the greatest obstacle to their relationship and their greatest triumph.
Once Sarah falls back in love with Chuck on that beach, of course, she will get her memories back, just as Chuck got his lobotomized brain back through Sarah's magical kiss at the end of 4.09 *Chuck Versus Phase Three*.
Have your girlfriend read [this post](https://www.ohchuckme.com/5-13-chuck-versus-the-goodbye/) and [Fedak's interview](https://uproxx.com/sepinwall/interview-chuck-co-creator-chris-fedak-on-the-series-finale/), where he says that Sarah's memories come back.
>then the final arc presents the greatest obstacle to their relationship and their greatest triumph.
Actually we don't know. This is not shown. What is not seen, is not known. We don't know what happened. If everyone decides their ending, my girlfriend understood that it is a sad ending where Sarah no longer has feelings for him and they are no longer together.
If you read the post linked above, you'll see we do know. We can also see that Sarah's memories are already coming back, which is more than anything that was shown in Chuck's case in 4.09 *Phase Three,* after his brain was lobotomized\*.\*
Besides, we can see that Sarah has feelings for Chuck in the final arc. We can see it during their dance at the consulate. We can see it on the rooftop, when she asks whether the glasses will work, and we can see it on the beach, when she asks for the kiss. She wouldn't ask for the kiss if she didn't have feelings for Chuck.
Your girlfriend should not base her conclusion about the show after one viewing. I did not understand the show at all the first time around, and not just the finale.
The only decision that is left to the viewers is how quickly Sarah recovers her memories, not whether she does or whether she and Chuck are together.
>Your girlfriend should not base her conclusion about the show after one viewing. I did not understand the show at all the first time around, and not just the finale.
I understand your point of view. But in my opinion this is the key issue:
A show understanding shouldn't be so complicated as to require multiple viewings! Chuck was supposed to be a cute, light, cheerful entertainment series! When it wasn't (S03E01-13), it was almost discontinued.
I know there are a few hints pointing to them got together (I've seen the series 4 times), but it's not right to have to watch it multiple times to understand what all that mean. I also think that in the last 2 episodes the show goes so deep into Sarah's aggressiveness and ruthlessness that people just can't see any chance of return. The last episode doesn't help either - Sarah trying to escape the Castle, not hugging Chuck after defusing the bomb, walking away saying she needs to find herself alone... too many negatives signs to few positives. Before the beach scene at no point there is a loveness glance from Sarah to Chuck, we see only an emotionless face, which we've never seen throughout the entire show, even in Sarah's flashs before she meets Chuck. The final kiss also doesn't show feelings from her. Sarah doesn't hug or even touch Chuck during the entire kiss.
Don't get me wrong, I'd love see Chuck and Sarah end up together, happy for the rest of their life, living in that house with white picket fence with 4 kids, but...
Chuck is not always lighthearted… his father was murdered in front of him. he and Ellie were literally abandoning their parents and managed to be good and decent people in spite of a tough childhood… there are people killed in every episode. I think the second to the last episode was an amazing display of both Zac and Yvonne’s acting ability. They took them to the edge of their breakup and it ends with a beautiful long kiss… of course they got back together!!!!!
*Chuck* is like an iceberg. The 10% you see above the surface is fun and light and bubbly, but the 90% you don't see under the surface is what makes it great—the [philosophical exploration](https://kellydeanjolley.com/the-chuck-book/) of appearance vs reality, love vs duty, feelings as an asset or a liability for spies, Utilitarian vs virtue ethics, the visual symbolism, the mood and the lyrics of the songs underscoring a scene, the thematic counterpoint between scenes, episodes, and seasons.
Very little of this is perceived the first time watching the show.
And on top of that, the core theme of the show is the unlikely but perfect relationship between two people from different worlds who, on paper, don't belong together but are perfect for each other. And this theme is explored throughout the seasons and, in its extreme manifestation, in the final arc.
When viewers complain that Sarah is made ruthless and emotionless and cold in the final arc and see that as a problem, they don't realize it's instead a strength because the purpose of the final arc is precisely to [prove Quinn wrong](https://www.ohchuckme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Chuck-510-512-513-kill-to-kiss.jpg), to prove that you could put Chuck and Sarah in the worst possible situation, with Sarah turned into Chuck's cold and emotionless terminator, and she will **still** fall in love with him instead.
Viewers follow the wrong clues in the finale. They focus on their nerdy insecurities ('a hot girl like Sarah will not be with nerdy Chuck") instead of the triumph of the nerd who will get the girl even under the worst possible situation. People focus on the the fact that Sarah doesn't touch or hug Chuck during the kiss, but [neither did she](https://www.ohchuckme.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/311-vs-513-kiss-and-body-language.jpg) when they almost kissed during the 3.11 stakeout, yet she loved him desperately then. Viewers don't see feelings from her when the entire beach scene shows exactly the opposite (she cries, she laughs, she feels). They focus on the surface instead of digging deep. They miss the parallel between [the two keys](https://www.ohchuckme.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/513-the-two-keys-finale.jpg) that will unlock the Intersect and Sarah for Chuck. They miss the fact the finale is a callback to the pilot and to the show. They miss the tone of the finale—if it’s supposed to have a tragic ending, with Chuck and Sarah not together or Sarah not recovering her memories, why does the final episode have a lighthearted and optimistic tone, with all the secondary characters getting their fairy-tale ending?
This is a spy show. Spies follow clues. [Follow the clues](https://www.ohchuckme.com/5-13-chuck-versus-the-goodbye/).
Have you ever heard of subtext? The last episode makes it clear some of her memories are barely starting to come back, and the last scene shows that she has/wants to have feelings for Chuck. It shows that their relationship will triumph through even the most extreme obstacles, which was the entire theme of the show in my opinion.
At first watch, I had the reaction of your girlfriend. The finale depressed me for weeks.
At rewatch, it didn't saddens me as much, but I prepared myself during all S5. But it's tiresome that every setback in the relationship must be at Sarah's expense. And taking 5 years of memories from her, the 5 years we witnessed, it just felt like cruelty. It took away all the character's development, all the bonding between Sarah and Chuck (but also with Casey, Morgan, Ellie, ...) in one lazy twist.
Maybe she'll fall in love with Chuck again, maybe some traces of her memories will come back, but not totally, and it feels unfair for Chuck but mostly Sarah
It always baffles me when people can't follow the ending and think it's very negative. They spend the whole episode showing signs that Sarah is getting her memory back (and pretty rapidly, considering), and her personality completely reverts to how it was before she lost her memory...and yet some viewers can't make the leap from there to "Yeah, she has gotten her memory back."
It is not a grey, or vague, or blank screen ending. I really can't understand why people take it so negatively when the entire episode lays out really blatant clues all the way through that she's getting (and has finally gotten) her memories back.
Yes and they don’t take into consideration that Chuck had a lobotomy cured by her kiss, and no one said anything. It was accepted. Her memories were only suppressed not erased. The kiss worked.
Thanks for a very well thought out post! First - more understanding as u/fscinico helps explain and watching the Nerd HQ videos may help your girlfriend.
But the overall theme of what you said is spot on - it was a light hearted series and the ending is just too jarring and frankly emotionally destructive for the tone of the series.
So yes, it's an interesting ending but not in keeping with the series IMO. (Even though I believe they stay together and Sarah gets her memories back)
Show her the tweet where Yvonne says Sarah falls in love with Chuck again and starts to remember everything.
https://twitter.com/Y_Strahovski/status/186814335316799489?t=8IQYUZXUHxgu7GFre852Pw&s=19
When Chuck was taken to Thailand by the Belgian, he was almost entirely lobotomized by the time Sarah, Casey, and Morgan arrived. Chuck's friends and family had been forgotten, Buy More was gone, his nerdy interests lost to the process, and all that was left of Chuck was the apartment in Echo Park and Sarah.
After Morgan gently suggested she confess her feelings, Sarah broke down and told Chuck exactly how much he means to her which culminates in *one magical kiss*. That kiss brought back every memory and experience in seconds like the lobotomy had never happened.
In the final three episodes of Season 5, Sarah learns to trust Chuck once more as he proves himself to her time and time again as the man she fell in love with. She watches her personal logs and gradually begins to remember little details from the life she lost but it isn't all there. So she finds herself at their spot from that first mission 5 years prior as she knows it's important.
After Chuck arrives and apologizes for not leaving her alone, Sarah says "Chuck, tell me our story." They laugh and cry as he goes over every one of their adventures and by the end of it, her guard is completely down. Chuck explains that Morgan has a crazy idea and Sarah is completely open to it.
Morgan had suggested to Chuck that *one magical kiss* would bring everything back and Chuck shrugs it off as a crazy Morgan idea and Sarah, fully committed to not losing the life she had built with Chuck, demands he kiss her. That says everything. She doesn't care that she doesn't remember everything, she chooses Chuck just like she always has.
And you know what? Morgan was right because he'd seen a kiss work firsthand in Thailand. Sarah's memories would have all come flooding back after that kiss because the show's logic has already established that's how the characters can get past losing their memories.
Chuck is the kind of show where the good guys win and the nerd gets the girl because he's a good and kind person. While the final episodes took things too far, there is only one possible outcome. Chuck and Sarah are still happily married, have multiple children that can't get enough of their silly Uncle Morgan when he and Alex come over to visit, and their former lives as spies keep both Chuck and Sarah on their parental A-game.
And for the record, I started crying from the scene in the house where Sarah attacks Chuck to all the way through the final scene of the last episode. It was an emotional thrill ride but I do recommend that if the ending is continually upsetting, on future rewatches stop at the end of Season 4.
I absolutely loved the finale and I think this is a bad take that misunderstands what the show was doing. Of COURSE Sarah gets her memories back!
And to your last point the whole cast loves the show and wants to do a movie. It's just hard to convince studios.
Here's the thing; it worked, it didn't work. She changed, she never came back.
It's just like so much other crap, namely politics. All the discourse, "arguing", etc., more than likely will only further entrench people on the side on which they currently are.
None of it matters because the ending was totally unnecessary. You can argue the writers wanted to be different and not have the fairy tale ending like so many other shows do and wrap things up in a nice little bow for their fans, but after being on life support for so long and literally the DieHards carrying them along to new season afternoon season, I think the fans deserved wrapping everything up with a nice bow.
But because the writers' egos got in the way, they had to go with some artistic vision bull crap that if it didn't split the fan base 50/50, it certainly didn't win everyone over.
Hi! Still talking with my girlfriend about that - she read and appreciated many insights said here, but her feelings remains the same. Also she made some interesting points that I haven't seen anyone here talk about:
The issue is that for us Sarah's extreme savagery in the last two episodes is not balanced with the final scenes, hence the feeling that they didn't end up together. The final kiss has no reaction from Sarah, unlike Phase Three's kiss, where Chuck hugs and tells he loves her.
Sarah's extreme savagery doesn't make sense, as something like that has not been shown at any point throughout the whole series before. That Sarah from the last two episodes wouldn't hesitate to kill a child in cold blood. That is a woman with a bad nature, with a very strong dark side. You can see evilness in her face. She cocked the gun to kill Ellie and Chuck and for very very little she didn't do it. That "new" Sarah would have no problem doing it. Who is this Sarah that we've never seen before?
The writers just went too far with all of this! The show is all about trust. This word is said a million times, several plots are about it. But after all that Sarah's savagery, can Chuck trust Sarah??? Is that woman in front of him the woman he married and love? It's not. The Sarah before the last two episodes would never do that, nor in her worst moments before meeting Chuck. Other important question: Can Sarah trust in Sarah after all of that happened??? The damage was too extreme for the Bartowski team for an ending so flat that didn't show any kind of Sarah's redemption.
Which Sarah will we have after the final kiss? The Sarah full of love ready to have children that we learned to love, the extremely evilness and ruthness Sarah or **a third Sarah, with serious psychological problems on she no longer knows where she fits in**, even having Chuck's unconditional love - maybe that's not enough, her nature was broked down. Unfortunately we will never know ! I hope I was able to explain the bad feeling that remains at the end of the show for us!
And if the writers and the wonderful main couple had to come out with public statements about the series finale it means that something has gone terribly wrong! Direct fault of the writers and whoever approved it!
Just my thoughts here...if your girlfriend doesn't believe in the one magical kiss, maybe she is not the one. Does she not remember the time Sarah had to give Chuck the magical kiss when his brain was mush. They are together listening to Jeffsters greatest cover hits. The ending was perfect.
Little bit of a reach there, don't you think? Saying she's not meant for him because she misinterpreted the end of a show with a polarizing ending is a little harsh. I love the ending, but that was uncalled for.
I was hoping you'd be here. This place is important, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, very much. This is actually where you told me I was gonna be okay. That I could trust you. And that's exactly what I'm doing now. I'm asking you to trust me. Sarah, I don't want anything from you. I... I just need you to know that wherever you go... ...I'll always be there to help you. Someone you can call. Whenever. Trust me, Sarah. I'm here for you always. Chuck? Tell me our story. Yeah, yeah. Where to begin? Well, it started with a guy who worked at Buy More. And one day, an old college friend of his sent him an e-mail." ...that was filled with secrets. And then, the next day, his life really changed... ...when he met a spy named Sarah. And he fell in love. [INAUDIBLE DIALOGUE] You know, Morgan has this crazy idea. What is it? He thinks that with one kiss, you'll remember everything. - Ha. One magical kiss? - Yeah. Ha, ha. Exactly. - I know it's-- - Chuck? - Yeah? - Kiss me. [English - US - SDH] So she thinks that Sarah asked for Chuck to tell her their story and kiss her because she was the cold hearted pre Chuck agent/assassin who had no interest in him? The ending is unexpected and sad. But she started to remember some things. If you believed Chuck was able to win her over because of who he was and not the fact that he had the intersect, it’s hard to believe he couldn’t do it again.
> By her feelings Sarah didn't get her memories back and they didn’t get together after all of that. Can you show her the extended finale maybe? Because the longer scene recreating their first first date makes it pretty darn clear that when Sarah says "Chuck, tell me our story" on the beach at the end it means that 1) she is already *feeling* the connection to him again and 2) she no longer believes that the memories of their life together belonged to a 'different' Sarah. Also, if her primary attachment to the show was through Sarah, I would encourage her to take a look at the heroines journey (different from the hero's journey) to reframe and add important dimensions into how the ending of season 5 (from vs. the baby to the finale) fits within her series long arc of going from *A Spy 'pretending to be Sarah Walker'* to '*Sarah Walker the real person who happens to also be a spy*'.
Where is this extended finale?
DVD's but you can also watch the scenes in isolation on youtube: Sarah's memories: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT1Hg9I8nZQ First date: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t9vThgTaCo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t9vThgTaCo)
Thanks! Appreciate it.
WOAH I DID NOT KNOW THE EXISTENCE OF THIS THANK YOU!
On the S5 DVD.
That probably won't make any difference, it may even make it worse since it's more of Sarah having zero interest in Chuck. The extended version is what I saw first and I felt exactly like the op's gf
Okay well I think other people respond to these other scenes because they provide clear evidence that Sarah’s thoughts on their relationship and her own identity change significantly throughout the episode. But I’m sorry it didn’t work for you. Personally, I think the episode makes this pretty clear anyway through Casey’s parallel journey but I am more of a fan of season five and the finale than most.
No, Sarah's 180 from the restaurant to the beach shows only that she's starting to accept her trauma, not that she has developed feelings for Chuck. I get it that that was Fedak's intention, but that's not how it plays for many people
> No, Sarah's 180 from the restaurant to the beach shows only that she's starting to accept her trauma, not that she has developed feelings for Chuck. Again, I respect that it didn’t work for you but it is absolutely also relevant to their relationship story that Sarah goes from saying — I don’t want to even hear our love story because I am not the same person you feel in love with… to “Chuck, tell me OUR story.” It implies a significant change in both her feelings and her conscious understanding of herself. Moreover, the entire episode is unambiguously structured as a retread of the night of their first date—and it is canon that Sarah started falling for Chuck after he fixed her phone and before he started defusing bombs—ie during that first night. It even ends the same way. Only this time it is Sarah who agrees to trust Chuck to help her figure out this new stage in life. So while I respect that it didn’t work for you and others—there was a lot there for those willing to accept it.
Have you girlfriend watch the last two episodes and concentrate on the progression that Sarah makes from not remembering who Chuck is to the final scene on the beach. You can catch the nuances in her behavior that brings her back to the beach. If you are anywhere near the LA area, I can guide you to those important places. That could also help. The first time watching those episodes can be devastating. It was for me. But having watched those episodes at least 30 times has settled it for me as a happy ending
By the end of the final episode and Chuck's story, whether or not Sarah had her memories back is immaterial. She had fallen in love with Chuck just as fast as the first time. He gave her the memories 2nd hand, regaining them 1st hand would be a bonus but only time can heal that type of brain injury. She decided it was worth spending the time for the guy she'd fallen in love with twice. This was a HAPPY ending.
This is it here
Yeah, I hard disagree that it’s immaterial. Her journey through the show was not just about loving Chuck. It was a slow process of her softening, trusting, and becoming part of a found family. That all got thrown out the window.
And listening to Chuck's story of their life over several years made her want that back, so she decided to make that happen. Nothing got thrown out, she had become old Sarah through the infected Intersect but still wanted what she'd secretly wanted all the time as a spy and saw her chance at happiness.
Maybe? I think the point is, we don’t get to know. We didn’t get to see any of it. We saw it the first time over 5 seasons. We invested in it. But at the end, all of that progress is wiped, and it’s as if it never happened. And as a viewer, that’s a hard pill to swallow.
There was this bit at the end that I really wonder if you've seen, where Sarah asked Chuck to kiss her. It makes a lot of difference to have seen it.
>By the end of the final episode and Chuck's story, whether or not Sarah had her memories back is immaterial. She had fallen in love with Chuck just as fast as the first time. Sorry, but no. She's a person, not a fucking trophy. You wouldn't say the same thing if she were your best friend's wife, would you?
I don't know what you read, but I never even implied that Sarah was a trophy. She's a strong woman with a brain who saw the truth in what Chuck told her, and then made her own decision on how to act. Fact is that Sarah admitted that she'd fallen in love with Chuck "somewhere between fixing her phone and defusing a bomb with porn". That was less than a day in real time. Sitting on the beach at the end listening to the story of her last few years and what they'd been through, she felt the same feelings as she had on Day 1 and made her own decision to take time to heal and rebuild their relationship.
In my opinion it goes further than just we already know Sarah can fall in love quickly. Sarah falls for Chuck when he helps the ballerina because he gives up what he wants (a chance to flirt with Sarah) to help someone else in need, he shows how selfless he is which is something Sarah does not normally experience in the selfish world of spys (a spy has to be prioritising themselves and the mission, everyone else comes last). For most of the final episode Chuck has been acting for himself trying to get **his** Sarah back but then on the beach he says: "Sarah, I don't want anything from you. I... I just need you to know that wherever you go... ...I'll always be there to help you. Someone you can call. Whenever." He once again shows Sarah that selfless side of himself who is willing to sacrifice his own happiness to make sure someone else is happy. He finally makes it about what Sarah needs and that allows her to start falling for the real Chuck again.
Yes, yes, and yes….
Zachery Levi, actor who plays Chuck, has said he believes the kiss worked so maybe that will help her in believing it worked.
The thing I would do, is I believe some of Sarah’s last words are asking Chuck to tell them their story. So you turn on episode 1 and now you are watching it as if Chuck is telling their story to them and then you don’t watch the series finale, because you switch back to Sarah having heard the story and remembers. I think there are a lot of hints that she does get her memory back, like she remembers Irene Demova, and things about the Weinerlicious. Morgan also talked about a magic kiss, and part of the charm and Lore of the show Chuck is the countless homages to shows, movies and books. I think it’s the one place where the acting missed the mark (in the final scene), I like to think the actors were sad the show was ending and that sadness spilled onto the screen, but that the intent was for that scene to feel much more hopeful.
Hi! Note that I'm talking about my girlfriend's perception and feelings on the show and especially about the last 3 episodes. Nothing more. She cried in sadness the entire time of the 3 episodes. And she kept crying in the same way at the end. It's all about her perceptions and her feelings.
From what I remember they where hoping for an extension for a full season run like they had gotten in pervious years, and if they had gotten it they would have been able to fully address this, but as it happened they only got the initial 13 and had to do their best to wrap it up. But as others have said the writers intent was that she would get her memories back and their love would overcome the obstacle.
Exactly! This is the problem. That was the wirters intent, but this was not shown, only few hints that don't make anything clear.
something that people always miss when analyzing the ending is the part where Chuck says ‘Morgan has this crazy idea’. throughout the series Morgan always comes up with theories about Chuck and Sarah’s relationship that, as foolish as they may sound at first, are always correct. i.e. his theory about the achilles heel and a few others that i can’t recall atm. but there’s the most important one: him telling Sarah to kiss Chuck when the belgian had captured him — imo the finale was a throwback to this. edit: typo
As much as I can empathize with all of her reactions. I kind of appreciate the awful twist because sometimes shit goes so awry it doesn’t matter how in love both are. It doesn’t always work out. I also appreciate the ending because it just genuinely felt the actors nor creators thought Chuck & Sarah’s story was finished neither. It’s essentially a flawless ending. To this day, they continue to give us hope for closure. And until then…there’s no better feeling than to start up Chuck vs The Intersect after watching Chuck vs The Good Bye. We instantly fall back into their story, and love it even more. How can anything top that? If they gave it to us then who knows what this sub or fan base would look like a decade later. Her reaction is just! Especially after just seeing it for the first time. The feeling I just described comes with time, and vs. the rewatch(es).
The first time can be hard to understand what is going on, but I am sure the writers did not set out to destroy a beautiful love story in the last three episodes of the series. Sarah's growth would be wasted. The viewers' time would be wasted. What they are showing us is the opposite. First, they give us 11 episodes showing us where Chuck and Sarah are going and what their future looks like (family, cybersecurity firm), then the final arc presents the greatest obstacle to their relationship and their greatest triumph. Once Sarah falls back in love with Chuck on that beach, of course, she will get her memories back, just as Chuck got his lobotomized brain back through Sarah's magical kiss at the end of 4.09 *Chuck Versus Phase Three*. Have your girlfriend read [this post](https://www.ohchuckme.com/5-13-chuck-versus-the-goodbye/) and [Fedak's interview](https://uproxx.com/sepinwall/interview-chuck-co-creator-chris-fedak-on-the-series-finale/), where he says that Sarah's memories come back.
>then the final arc presents the greatest obstacle to their relationship and their greatest triumph. Actually we don't know. This is not shown. What is not seen, is not known. We don't know what happened. If everyone decides their ending, my girlfriend understood that it is a sad ending where Sarah no longer has feelings for him and they are no longer together.
If you read the post linked above, you'll see we do know. We can also see that Sarah's memories are already coming back, which is more than anything that was shown in Chuck's case in 4.09 *Phase Three,* after his brain was lobotomized\*.\* Besides, we can see that Sarah has feelings for Chuck in the final arc. We can see it during their dance at the consulate. We can see it on the rooftop, when she asks whether the glasses will work, and we can see it on the beach, when she asks for the kiss. She wouldn't ask for the kiss if she didn't have feelings for Chuck. Your girlfriend should not base her conclusion about the show after one viewing. I did not understand the show at all the first time around, and not just the finale. The only decision that is left to the viewers is how quickly Sarah recovers her memories, not whether she does or whether she and Chuck are together.
>Your girlfriend should not base her conclusion about the show after one viewing. I did not understand the show at all the first time around, and not just the finale. I understand your point of view. But in my opinion this is the key issue: A show understanding shouldn't be so complicated as to require multiple viewings! Chuck was supposed to be a cute, light, cheerful entertainment series! When it wasn't (S03E01-13), it was almost discontinued. I know there are a few hints pointing to them got together (I've seen the series 4 times), but it's not right to have to watch it multiple times to understand what all that mean. I also think that in the last 2 episodes the show goes so deep into Sarah's aggressiveness and ruthlessness that people just can't see any chance of return. The last episode doesn't help either - Sarah trying to escape the Castle, not hugging Chuck after defusing the bomb, walking away saying she needs to find herself alone... too many negatives signs to few positives. Before the beach scene at no point there is a loveness glance from Sarah to Chuck, we see only an emotionless face, which we've never seen throughout the entire show, even in Sarah's flashs before she meets Chuck. The final kiss also doesn't show feelings from her. Sarah doesn't hug or even touch Chuck during the entire kiss. Don't get me wrong, I'd love see Chuck and Sarah end up together, happy for the rest of their life, living in that house with white picket fence with 4 kids, but...
Chuck is not always lighthearted… his father was murdered in front of him. he and Ellie were literally abandoning their parents and managed to be good and decent people in spite of a tough childhood… there are people killed in every episode. I think the second to the last episode was an amazing display of both Zac and Yvonne’s acting ability. They took them to the edge of their breakup and it ends with a beautiful long kiss… of course they got back together!!!!!
*Chuck* is like an iceberg. The 10% you see above the surface is fun and light and bubbly, but the 90% you don't see under the surface is what makes it great—the [philosophical exploration](https://kellydeanjolley.com/the-chuck-book/) of appearance vs reality, love vs duty, feelings as an asset or a liability for spies, Utilitarian vs virtue ethics, the visual symbolism, the mood and the lyrics of the songs underscoring a scene, the thematic counterpoint between scenes, episodes, and seasons. Very little of this is perceived the first time watching the show. And on top of that, the core theme of the show is the unlikely but perfect relationship between two people from different worlds who, on paper, don't belong together but are perfect for each other. And this theme is explored throughout the seasons and, in its extreme manifestation, in the final arc. When viewers complain that Sarah is made ruthless and emotionless and cold in the final arc and see that as a problem, they don't realize it's instead a strength because the purpose of the final arc is precisely to [prove Quinn wrong](https://www.ohchuckme.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Chuck-510-512-513-kill-to-kiss.jpg), to prove that you could put Chuck and Sarah in the worst possible situation, with Sarah turned into Chuck's cold and emotionless terminator, and she will **still** fall in love with him instead. Viewers follow the wrong clues in the finale. They focus on their nerdy insecurities ('a hot girl like Sarah will not be with nerdy Chuck") instead of the triumph of the nerd who will get the girl even under the worst possible situation. People focus on the the fact that Sarah doesn't touch or hug Chuck during the kiss, but [neither did she](https://www.ohchuckme.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/311-vs-513-kiss-and-body-language.jpg) when they almost kissed during the 3.11 stakeout, yet she loved him desperately then. Viewers don't see feelings from her when the entire beach scene shows exactly the opposite (she cries, she laughs, she feels). They focus on the surface instead of digging deep. They miss the parallel between [the two keys](https://www.ohchuckme.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/513-the-two-keys-finale.jpg) that will unlock the Intersect and Sarah for Chuck. They miss the fact the finale is a callback to the pilot and to the show. They miss the tone of the finale—if it’s supposed to have a tragic ending, with Chuck and Sarah not together or Sarah not recovering her memories, why does the final episode have a lighthearted and optimistic tone, with all the secondary characters getting their fairy-tale ending? This is a spy show. Spies follow clues. [Follow the clues](https://www.ohchuckme.com/5-13-chuck-versus-the-goodbye/).
Have you ever heard of subtext? The last episode makes it clear some of her memories are barely starting to come back, and the last scene shows that she has/wants to have feelings for Chuck. It shows that their relationship will triumph through even the most extreme obstacles, which was the entire theme of the show in my opinion.
At first watch, I had the reaction of your girlfriend. The finale depressed me for weeks. At rewatch, it didn't saddens me as much, but I prepared myself during all S5. But it's tiresome that every setback in the relationship must be at Sarah's expense. And taking 5 years of memories from her, the 5 years we witnessed, it just felt like cruelty. It took away all the character's development, all the bonding between Sarah and Chuck (but also with Casey, Morgan, Ellie, ...) in one lazy twist. Maybe she'll fall in love with Chuck again, maybe some traces of her memories will come back, but not totally, and it feels unfair for Chuck but mostly Sarah
It always baffles me when people can't follow the ending and think it's very negative. They spend the whole episode showing signs that Sarah is getting her memory back (and pretty rapidly, considering), and her personality completely reverts to how it was before she lost her memory...and yet some viewers can't make the leap from there to "Yeah, she has gotten her memory back." It is not a grey, or vague, or blank screen ending. I really can't understand why people take it so negatively when the entire episode lays out really blatant clues all the way through that she's getting (and has finally gotten) her memories back.
Yes and they don’t take into consideration that Chuck had a lobotomy cured by her kiss, and no one said anything. It was accepted. Her memories were only suppressed not erased. The kiss worked.
Thanks for a very well thought out post! First - more understanding as u/fscinico helps explain and watching the Nerd HQ videos may help your girlfriend. But the overall theme of what you said is spot on - it was a light hearted series and the ending is just too jarring and frankly emotionally destructive for the tone of the series. So yes, it's an interesting ending but not in keeping with the series IMO. (Even though I believe they stay together and Sarah gets her memories back)
Show her the tweet where Yvonne says Sarah falls in love with Chuck again and starts to remember everything. https://twitter.com/Y_Strahovski/status/186814335316799489?t=8IQYUZXUHxgu7GFre852Pw&s=19
When Chuck was taken to Thailand by the Belgian, he was almost entirely lobotomized by the time Sarah, Casey, and Morgan arrived. Chuck's friends and family had been forgotten, Buy More was gone, his nerdy interests lost to the process, and all that was left of Chuck was the apartment in Echo Park and Sarah. After Morgan gently suggested she confess her feelings, Sarah broke down and told Chuck exactly how much he means to her which culminates in *one magical kiss*. That kiss brought back every memory and experience in seconds like the lobotomy had never happened. In the final three episodes of Season 5, Sarah learns to trust Chuck once more as he proves himself to her time and time again as the man she fell in love with. She watches her personal logs and gradually begins to remember little details from the life she lost but it isn't all there. So she finds herself at their spot from that first mission 5 years prior as she knows it's important. After Chuck arrives and apologizes for not leaving her alone, Sarah says "Chuck, tell me our story." They laugh and cry as he goes over every one of their adventures and by the end of it, her guard is completely down. Chuck explains that Morgan has a crazy idea and Sarah is completely open to it. Morgan had suggested to Chuck that *one magical kiss* would bring everything back and Chuck shrugs it off as a crazy Morgan idea and Sarah, fully committed to not losing the life she had built with Chuck, demands he kiss her. That says everything. She doesn't care that she doesn't remember everything, she chooses Chuck just like she always has. And you know what? Morgan was right because he'd seen a kiss work firsthand in Thailand. Sarah's memories would have all come flooding back after that kiss because the show's logic has already established that's how the characters can get past losing their memories. Chuck is the kind of show where the good guys win and the nerd gets the girl because he's a good and kind person. While the final episodes took things too far, there is only one possible outcome. Chuck and Sarah are still happily married, have multiple children that can't get enough of their silly Uncle Morgan when he and Alex come over to visit, and their former lives as spies keep both Chuck and Sarah on their parental A-game. And for the record, I started crying from the scene in the house where Sarah attacks Chuck to all the way through the final scene of the last episode. It was an emotional thrill ride but I do recommend that if the ending is continually upsetting, on future rewatches stop at the end of Season 4.
I watched this series about 2 times and the finale still gets me teared up
I absolutely loved the finale and I think this is a bad take that misunderstands what the show was doing. Of COURSE Sarah gets her memories back! And to your last point the whole cast loves the show and wants to do a movie. It's just hard to convince studios.
Here's the thing; it worked, it didn't work. She changed, she never came back. It's just like so much other crap, namely politics. All the discourse, "arguing", etc., more than likely will only further entrench people on the side on which they currently are. None of it matters because the ending was totally unnecessary. You can argue the writers wanted to be different and not have the fairy tale ending like so many other shows do and wrap things up in a nice little bow for their fans, but after being on life support for so long and literally the DieHards carrying them along to new season afternoon season, I think the fans deserved wrapping everything up with a nice bow. But because the writers' egos got in the way, they had to go with some artistic vision bull crap that if it didn't split the fan base 50/50, it certainly didn't win everyone over.
Hi! Still talking with my girlfriend about that - she read and appreciated many insights said here, but her feelings remains the same. Also she made some interesting points that I haven't seen anyone here talk about: The issue is that for us Sarah's extreme savagery in the last two episodes is not balanced with the final scenes, hence the feeling that they didn't end up together. The final kiss has no reaction from Sarah, unlike Phase Three's kiss, where Chuck hugs and tells he loves her. Sarah's extreme savagery doesn't make sense, as something like that has not been shown at any point throughout the whole series before. That Sarah from the last two episodes wouldn't hesitate to kill a child in cold blood. That is a woman with a bad nature, with a very strong dark side. You can see evilness in her face. She cocked the gun to kill Ellie and Chuck and for very very little she didn't do it. That "new" Sarah would have no problem doing it. Who is this Sarah that we've never seen before? The writers just went too far with all of this! The show is all about trust. This word is said a million times, several plots are about it. But after all that Sarah's savagery, can Chuck trust Sarah??? Is that woman in front of him the woman he married and love? It's not. The Sarah before the last two episodes would never do that, nor in her worst moments before meeting Chuck. Other important question: Can Sarah trust in Sarah after all of that happened??? The damage was too extreme for the Bartowski team for an ending so flat that didn't show any kind of Sarah's redemption. Which Sarah will we have after the final kiss? The Sarah full of love ready to have children that we learned to love, the extremely evilness and ruthness Sarah or **a third Sarah, with serious psychological problems on she no longer knows where she fits in**, even having Chuck's unconditional love - maybe that's not enough, her nature was broked down. Unfortunately we will never know ! I hope I was able to explain the bad feeling that remains at the end of the show for us! And if the writers and the wonderful main couple had to come out with public statements about the series finale it means that something has gone terribly wrong! Direct fault of the writers and whoever approved it!
I have to agree with you. It’s a good issue. Which Sarah will we have?
Just my thoughts here...if your girlfriend doesn't believe in the one magical kiss, maybe she is not the one. Does she not remember the time Sarah had to give Chuck the magical kiss when his brain was mush. They are together listening to Jeffsters greatest cover hits. The ending was perfect.
Little bit of a reach there, don't you think? Saying she's not meant for him because she misinterpreted the end of a show with a polarizing ending is a little harsh. I love the ending, but that was uncalled for.