If you haven’t seen the latest episode of “Chuck” yet and don’t want to know anything about it, please stop reading now. There are SPOILERS ahead.
Monday night’s episode of “Chuck” has created a bit of a buzz within the fan community. The buzz relates to the choices made by Chuck and Sarah about new romantic entanglements. In the case of Chuck, it’s the new girl Hannah played by Kristen Kruek and in Sarah’s case, it’s Agent Shaw played by Brandon Routh.
The ending of the story has left some fans upset about the choice to the point that they’re calling on fans to boycott the show when it returns and force NBC to make creators Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak take the show back to the romantic pairing of Chuck and Sarah.
The producers and creators spoke to New Jersey Star-Ledger television critic Alan Sepinwall about the episode and its timing in the run of season three. Schwartz and Fedak says that the timing of the episode as a cliffhanger was not intentional but came about when NBC decided to bring back the show in January rather than March and extend the season.
“It was not unexpected that people who are into Chuck/Sarah – I refuse to use the word ‘shippers,’ but you can, I just want my objection to that term duly noted on the record – would be not thrilled with the development,” Schwartz says. “The one thing that we didn’t anticipate is that this would be the cliffhanger, and that there would be two more weeks required, three more weeks, until there was resolution to it.”
“Not that anything’s going to be resolved next (episode), but it would still allow the story to continue,” he added.
“From our perspective, this is a necessary part of the season,” Fedak added. ” It’s like the middle chapters of a book. For the season to play out, we have to tell this story. Not only the romantic side of things, but also on the spy side of the story, feeding into the mythology of it all.”
The interview goes on to address Chuck’s confession that he loves Sarah earlier this year as well as some other plot developments from the early episodes that will play out over the course of the season.
“Chuck and Sarah is but an element of our show.” Schwartz said. “There’s a lot of other storytelling imperatives that are driving how these episodes unfold. Chuck and Sarah is a critical element of the show – we have said before that it is the heart of the show, and we stand by that – but there are other factors that are driving the story here. Given time, I think you will see this is a story that’s unfolding not just on a romantic plane.”
If you’re a “Chuck” fan the interview is a must read.
You can find it HERE.
Chavalier says
I feel that the absolute worst they can do for Chuck is let Chuck and Sarah get together. It’s the wanting it to happen that drives the show and make the relationship so endearing. I applaud the writers for this incredible season of Chuck. I love that as Chuck grows as a character there’s more that has to be overcome. It’s a whole lot like life in that regard.
Cheers!
Andrew McDonald says
“The ending of the story has left some fans upset about the choice to the point that they’re calling on fans to boycott the show when it returns and force NBC to make creators Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak take the show back to the romantic pairing of Chuck and Sarah.”
Some fans are effin retarded. They have to drag this out as long as possible. Friends ran for 10 years before Ross and Rachel ACTUALLY ended up together. If the Chuck/Sarah thing is resolved, there’s no more tension and no more wondering.
This is just another hurdle to get over. People are so stupid.
Larry Nemecek says
Let Chuck and Sarah get together?
Two words: “Moonlighting.”
Sam says
I totally agree with Larry. What killed Moonlighting was getting Willis and Shepherd together. As long as they keep Chuck and Sarah a mystery then the show will continue to succeed. Bring them together and some of the magic and tension so necessary for this kind of storytelling dies away as will the show.
Hannah and Shaw are good distractions for allowing Chuck to develop his skill set as a better Intersec spy and let the real heat between him and Sarah to simmer deeper while opening up the possibility that Hannah isn’t the good little techy girl we all think her to be, but Chuck’s greatest nemesis to date.
Will says
Well, “Moonlighting” is one word, but I get the gist. 🙂
I will throw three more words into the mix: “Lois and Clark”.
In the end, I concur with the general consensus here. The consummation should be delayed as long as possible.
Lawnbuddha says
I’ve got faith in Chuck. Every time they’ve done something that I thought would be a horrible move, they’ve been able to pull it off. I’m willing to play “wait and see” with this new development. For me, the new “pairings” wasn’t even the biggest thing in Chuck Vs. the Mask…It was the awesome Ring bit at the very end.
Bronzethumb says
The whole “They got together on Moonlighting and it ruined the show” thing is a huge oversimplification. More accurate would be “They got together on Moonlighting and then the actors had to take huge chunks of time off during the production schedule because of kids/Die Hard and the head writer quit and the person who took over threw in a completely ridiculous plot development”. It’s possible to have the Official Couple actually hook up and still have them be interesting. (anyone else here watch the American version of The Office?) And there are good stories and ideas that could happen if they were together.
But having them go with other people, at least for a little while, is the smartest move for the show right now. They’ve broken each other’s hearts so much by this point that if they *didn’t* give up on each other for a while, I wouldn’t buy it.
roxaus says
I’m a big fan of the Chuck and Sarah getting together idea, the relasionship they have is that complicated forbidden love which could only end in the two leaving the lifestyles they now live in to be with each other, much like at the end of season two. Personally i Think a rouge Spy Chuck and Sarah team would be AWESOME!
But at the same time If things continue down their current path with thier new ‘partners’ i think it is brillent character devlopment as well. People agree to leave relashionships all the time and have to learn to move on with thier lives, Joss Weadon well knows that Relationships are hard work and not a happy fairy party and maybe that are taking a page out of his book. Chuck hurt Sarah pretty bad at the beginning of this season and deserves a kick in neathers for what he did to her. Theres lots of character development to be had either way and i CANT WAIT to see where this goes.
^_^
ejdalise says
The whole Chuck-Sarah-not-Sarah thing bugs me. For one the reasons they give for not hooking up does not prevent other people from hooking up. Shaw had his girlfriend as an agent, and Sarah was romantically involved with her previous partner (and may hook up with this pseudo-superman).
If that was a legitimate reason Chuck would avoid hooking up with his new underdeveloped semi-love interest. After all, he already risked her life, and she nearly died. Why would he continue any kind of relationship with her.
No, it’s stupid. They already professed their love for each other, and Sarah and Chuck getting together would not necessarily destroy the show any more that Ricky and Lucy being married ruined the The Lucille Ball show. There be comedy fodder in relationships, and I’m thinking the writers are just not well adjusted, or immature enough to explore that angle, so they chicken out when it gets too close.
Frankly, it’s getting old, especially since their feelings for each other are obviously already affecting the missions. Why not embrace it and use it?
But, I get it; it’s all about . . . no, wait, I don’t get it.
liesl says
Moonlighting was ruined by the love rival that never went away, and if shaw sticks around much longer it’ll ruin chuck as well.
Friends dragged on for so long and the Ross and Rachel relationship was so dysfunctional by the time they got together, that I no longer cared and hardly anyone i knew was even watching anymore.
Every love story has a shelf life, drag it out any longer and it loses so much crediblity that by the time they get together, the relationship has become a bad one doomed to failure.
The only relationship I’ve ever seen drag out for years on tv that still worked when they got together was X-files and that was because they avoided the dreaded ‘love rival’ trap where you see the couple get so deeply embroiled with other people that returning to each other looks regressive and unconvincing.
There are three unavoidable facts that make this current path a path to failure for Chuck
1. No woman falls in love with a man and then dates another guy in the same team, not unless she’s daft or damaged to the point of being undateable, even if sarah was going to rebound, Shaw’s too close to home.
2. I thought she wasn’t dating chuck for two years because they’re working together, how come this logic doesn’t apply to shaw?
3. chuck and hannah have less chemistry than chuck and ellie, as a couple they couldn’t be less convincing if they tried.
Messing up the love story is the beginning of the end for any show, if they don’t want them together yet, then keep them single, but musical beds, as so often played in recent tv shows, is a sure fire route to the can.