Chuck Versus the Goodbye

• Title: Chuck – Chuck Versus the Goodbye
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If the second-to-last episode of Chuck spent a little too much time setting up all the pieces in anticipation of one final hour, the show’s finale delivers a jam-packed episode full of callbacks from the show’s earlier years, one last performance of Jeffster, the return of the Intersect to where it rightfully belongs, and a tearful farewell to the show’s fans who have fought to keep Chuck on the air every single season for five years.

The final episode begins with Sarah’s (Yvonne Strahovski) botched mid-air assassination attempt of Nicholas Quinn (Angus Macfadyen) and Casey (Adam Baldwin) being sent on the same mission by General Beckman (Bonita Friedericy). From there the team is slowly reassembled as once again Casey will choose his team over his orders, Chuck will rely on his friends, and the Intersect will save the day.

If the penultimate episode had some clever callbacks to the series’ earlier days this one goes into overdrive as we get references to Chuck and Sarah’s first date, Sarah back in her Wienerlicious uniform, the return of Chuck’s mother (Linda Hamilton), another speech by Morgan (Joshua Gomez) to convince Casey to trust his team, and the beach from the final episode of the show’s Pilot. We even get an old school Chuck attempt to help, and a reminder why he doesn’t use real guns, which inadvertently makes Casey very, very angry.

As the team fights to gather the pieces Quinn would need to make his Intersect complete, Chuck finds himself in familiar territory in a crowded auditorium full of dignitaries with a bomb about to explode. Thankfully the show’s two most unlikely hero’s make an appearance to help save the day as the show delivers a final Jeffster performance as Jeff (Scott Krinsky) and Lester (Vik Sahay) rock “Take On Me” to give Chuck enough time to diffuse the bomb with, you guessed it, the help of a porn star.

Even in the final episode the show reminds us who Chuck as and why we, and Sarah, love him. With Quinn dead and no way to disarm the bomb Chuck has to choose between saving the final Intersect upload to try and retrieve Sarah’s memories or to stop the bomb from exploding and killing hundreds of innocent people. For Chuck, there’s only one choice.

Even if the show doesn’t give Chuck and Sarah the storybook ending some fans were expecting it gives all show’s characters one final moment to shine and let’s us know even if Sarah’s memory isn’t complete she and Chuck are going to be just fine as the show’s final tearful montage hearkens back to the beach where Sarah and Chuck’s relationship began.

The tearful goodbyes keep coming as Jeff and Lester say farewell to the Buy More for good, Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) and Awesome (Ryan McPartlin) say goodbye to Chuck as they pack to begin a new life in Chicago, and Casey gives Morgan and Alex (Mekenna Melvin) his blessing to move in together before he sets out to find Gertrude (Carrie-Anne Moss) and the life he wants.

I’ve enjoyed the hell out of this show for five years, and I’m sad to see it bow out even with a great finale. However, I am glad the show was given the opportunity to go out on its own terms with this final season. Even if the finale doesn’t answer all the show’s questions, it’s a great sendoff for the fans and the characters we grown to love over the years. Thank you Chuck.