The Last Chuck Post for at Least 3 Days!

I know I have been a bit heavy on the “Chuck” posts as of late but I have one more in me at least so please indulge. This post will get into the specifics of how the Season 2 finale ended so if you are not up-to-date with “Chuck” you do not want to read on. Those of you who are still onboard for reading (all one of you) I want you to know that this post is in no way meant to disparage the joy that is “Chuck”, only point out some facts and compare those facts to other great shows (this post also contains “Battlestar Galatica” and “Alias” spoilers for season two of both shows).

After the warm fuzzy I felt when I was writing “My Power Ballad in Praise of Chuck (http://bit.ly/4rYws)” I had a counterbalancing sentiment that threatened to ruin all future episodes of this terrific show. I know what you are thinking, “he’s come to his senses about the over the top product placement”, but that’s not it. I still firmly believe that “Chuck” will do more than fine product placement.

What worries me is the Season 2 finale felt so much like a series finale that the writing staff may have written themselves into a corner. Morgan and Ana have left for Hawaii, Chuck and Ellie reconciled with their long lost father, Fulcrum has been destroyed, Bryce gave up on chasing Sarah and conceded her heart to the better man, which paved the way for Chuck and Sarah to have their happily ever after moment, and even Casey came around to the idea that Chuck’s friendship was more important than the orders of the US military. Additionally, Awesome knows that Chuck is a spy at this point. Let’s not forget that by the middle of the season finale Chuck ceased to be the Intersect.

All of that is enough to make the series end on a great high, however, by some miracle NBC did not cancel the show (even if they are thinking about it now http://bit.ly/46HhQr). The Chuck writers then did the only thing they thought they could do, rebuild Chuck as the Intersect but better (the “I know Kung Fu” line at the end of the episode had me in stitches; Chuck is apparently a superior Neo to Neo).

While this new wrinkle keeps Chuck in the spy game, it also makes Casey and Sarah irrelevant. If every time Chuck is in danger he can “Flash” for a solution what is the point of his superspy handlers? Where does the conflict come from if Chuck is not told to “stay in the car”?

I have faith that the writers and creators of this show have a plan as to where this is going; I just hope it’s a good one. This type of season finale is not unheard of in recent television history and I would like to point out two ways it could go. The first is the “Alias” and the second is the “Battlestar”. Both “Alias” and “Battlestar Galactica” had game changing season 2 episodes that forever altered the DNA of each series, with drastically different consequences.

We will start with the “Alias”. “Alias” was a show that in many ways was a forerunner to “Chuck”. It featured spies, double agents, and shadowy organization prominently just like “Chuck” though the heroine of “Alias” was more the “Sarah” of Chuck’s story, but I digress. “Alias” had a mid-season 2 finale called “Phase One” where Sydney Bristow destroyed the secret organization (SD-6) that led her to believe she was working for the CIA.

Unfortunately once Syd destroyed SD-6 the show began a slow decent in quality that some people (myself included) felt it never fully recovered from. It was a big risk on the part of the “Alias” crew and unfortunately the show runners did not map out a second act that was as strong as the nearly flawless first. If you haven’t seen “Alias” season’s 1 and 2, I strongly suggest you check them out!

The “Battlestar” thankfully is an example of a team turning the core structure of a show on its head with unbelievable results. Also at the end of Season 2, “Battlestar Galatica” aired the episodes, “Lay Down Your Burdens; 1 & 2” in which the rag tag fleet of survivors elected a man president who was incapable of leading. This awful decision allowed the new President to stop the fleet from their migration and settle a barely hospitable planet which he thought was safe from their pursuers. Then the show flashed forwards a year in time (that is the “Battlestar” proper).

The “Battlestar Galatica” flash forward created some of the best moments of the series and I would argue some of the best moments in television history. It was a bold gamble and it paid dividends.

So my question for the writers of “Chuck” is simple; “Are you going to pull off a ‘Battlestar’ or drift slowly downward with an ‘Alias’?” My hope is the “Battlestar” outcome, but the similarities between “Chuck” and “Alias” as far as show archetypes are concerned has me more than a little bit worried.