January 31, 2012

• intersection (4.0)

  So, Chuck ended. 

  Perhaps I should take a few steps back. Indulge me for a few (read: more than a few) minutes; set down what you're doing and come along for a brief, albiet not particularly brief story. This is a story of a young man with an uncertain future, tremendous potential, and a big heart. Actually, it's a story about two of those guys (or three, if you count the occasional Seth Cohen reference). In reality, though, it's just two - Chuck Bartowski, and myself. 

  Chuck and I met back in 2009, as the series was deep into its second season. Oddly enough, I came onboard right as so many began to jump ship. Lauren (@Paishinator) and I were at the bookstore some random evening and the DVD caught my eye. I read the description and found myself intrigued, so we came home and downloaded the first season. She thought it was fun but nothing particularly amazing. I was instantaneously hooked. 

  See, from the moment Chuck and Sarah sat on that beach at the end of the pilot, you knew the ending. Somehow, after a tremendous amount of extraneous and poorly-animated spy babble (this is NBC, after all), the geek would get the girl, and the world would spin like it should. Sure, there might be some bumps along the way, and occasionally I might find myself questioning whether the magic that so thoroughly permeated the first two seasons would ever fully reappear, but in the end it would always work out and leave me smiling (with the small exception of every on-screen appearance by Jeffster, which became the most excruciatingly painful side-plot I've ever witnessed). The beauty of Chuck came in the simplistic reality of the title character. Chuck Bartowski became the technologically savvy continuation of fellow Schwartz creation Seth Cohen (so I'm a closet OC fan, get the hell over it). Chuck will always be the guy who has too big of a heart - he isn't perfect, and he makes mistakes, but somehow that core sense of decency remains intact. 

  I think Sarah Walker is more real to me right now than ever - probably because part of me thinks I found my Sarah, and let her go. Gentleman of the world, you know that feeling; you find that girl who scares you with her ability to kick your ass and make you feel like blubber whenever you try and form a sentence. Unfortunately, reality doesn't work like a serialized show, where you can turn down one opportunity to run away with the local princess, only to get your next chance six months later when fall sweeps roll around. Sometimes you have someone, and you let them go, and that's it. You don't get a second chance, and you can look back and pinpoint that precise moment when you made a decision that permanently ruined the possibility of ever changing the harsh concept known as reality. 

  As Schwartz and Fedak so often did, they struck gold with that final scene. I'm going to be perfectly honest here - I didn't love the first portion of the finale. To me, the fifth season (and parts of the fourth season as well) became obsessed with attempts to keep the spy dialogue relevant when all we really wanted was to see these characters interact. People like Ellie and Awesome became novelty prizes with strange, non-fulfilling cameos, and that frustrated me. That being said, when Morgan told Chuck that he knew where Sarah would be, I just about lost it, because I knew exactly where we were headed. The beautiful symmetry of a direct reversal from where we started to where we leave our heroes made everything seem... human. I just paused for several minutes before typing that last word, because I couldn't find the right one. It wasn't that it suddenly made the show believable or perfect or anything like that. It made you feel like these were just two people, deeply in love with one another (even if one may not realize it at the moment), who are just going to take things a day at a time, like all of us do. 

  The greatest finale episode in the history of television (in my humble opinion) belongs to The West Wing. When outgoing President Josiah Bartlett is handed the napkin given to him in season one by late co-star Jon Spencer that reads "Bartlett for America" and represents the forming of his exploratory committee for President, I had to pause the TV because I couldn't see through my ridiculous crocodile tears. But the finale doesn't end on that note - it has one last scene. As Air Force One begins to bring the President back to Massachusetts to begin his next part of life, he looks out the window and his wife asks what he's looking at. Martin Sheen's brilliant character turns to her and simply says, "Tomorrow." 

  To me, that's what Chuck always did. It left me thinking about tomorrow, and what I could do to be just a little bit better, or a little bit more compassionate, loyal, decent, hardworking, and every other positive adjective you want to plug in there. Chuck never took itself too seriously, but it still successfully made you think, and I believe it's fair to say it has (and will continue to have) the most loyal fan base in the history of television. Even though the numbers dwindled as we moved to Fridays and crept towards the conclusion, the spirit of camaraderie and collective spirit I share with fellow fans is something I find unique and special. I don't have the perfect word to describe why Chuck fit me so well, but I think the closest term I can find is the one I shared earlier - it made me feel human. 

  The Head and the Heart said it best, as the camera panned away and our heroes shared a final kiss - if you don't know what to make of this, then we will not relate. Chuck was, and will always be, an experience that went beyond a television show. Josh Schwartz may not be the world's most incredible writer or producer (although he's pretty damn good in both respects), but his characters make you feel welcome. And from a personal standpoint, yes - I really do miss your face like hell. You may not believe me, but I do. 

  So to Chuck, Sarah, Morgan, Casey, Ellie, Awesome, the BuyMore, and so much else - but most of all, to a fictional world that has become something just a little bit more - thank you, and goodbye. 

  I'll see you all among the rivers and roads, whenever I find them.

  • 1:20 AM
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