TV Show Review: Chuck - Season 5

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Most of the episodes are a great mix of comedy, romance, and action

Cons: The last three episodes

The Bottom Line: 

Ambiguous end

Leaves this fan mostly happy

Should have been better

Chuck Versus the Final Finale

A quick warning.  Despite attempts to be vague, my discussion of the final season may give enough clues to spoil the ending.  Really, I tried, but there is no other way to review this season.  Please keep that in mind before you decide to read this review.

By my count, season 5's finale of Chuck was the fifth finale that has been done for the show.  For the past two seasons, the show has been renewed and extended, and each time the writers crafted a mid-season and full season finale that would have satisfied if the show had been canceled at that point.  When NBC renewed the show for the fifth season, the producers were given 13 episodes and told that was it – no possibility of any more.  So I’m still a little baffled by how they chose to end one aspect of the show.

The season as a whole was very good.  Picking up at the end of season 4, Morgan (Joshua Gomez) now has the intersect in his head, and he’s excited to be part of the spy life, even if Chuck (Zachary Levi), Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski), and Casey (Adam Baldwin) are keeping him on the side lines.  All four of them are trying to make a go at a freelance spy operation without CIA involvement, thanks to the fact that newlyweds Chuck and Sarah have bought the Buy More and the spy facility underneath.

But someone is after them and seems to be pulling the strings to get them in deeper and deeper trouble.  Will they figure out who is behind it in time to save themselves?

As far as the rest of the characters go, the biggest storyline involves Buy More employees Jeff (Scott Krinsky) and Lester (Vik Sahay).  When an important discovery is made about Jeff, it changes his personality and might ultimately change their friendship and their lives.

There was much to love about season 5.  After the darker fourth year, this year felt like a return to the fun of earlier seasons.  The show once again had the mix of comedy, drama, action, and romance that I fell in love with initially.  Plus there were cliffhangers on many of the episodes, leaving us dying to know what would come next.  I had grown tired of the Jeff and Lester characters, but this season changed that and I began to look forward to their scenes again since they were once more providing much of the comedy.

The acting for the entire season was great.  This cast has always been outstanding, and that’s the case here yet again.  They handle the mix of action, drama, and comedy while hardly breaking a sweat.  And it’s those performances that have made me fall in love with these characters.  After just about every episode, I was left saying, “I can’t believe this show is ending and I will never see the characters again.”

Then came the final episode.  In many ways, it was pitch perfect.  They were tons of nods to the earlier seasons, especially the pilot, and it felt in many ways like a love letter to the fans.

But there was one sour note, and it was a major one.  The writers purposefully left things vague on how a major storyline involving major characters turned out.  There’s enough there that you could reasonably write a happy ending for them, but you could also write a sad ending.  One of the actors involved went on record as calling it tragic, so I know I’m not misinterpreting anything.  Honestly, as I rewatch this season, I’ll probably stop a few episodes before the true ending, which is a shame because there are some great moments in the last arc.  But I just don’t like how it ended.

Yes, I’ve got to rant a bit more.  I know these are the creator’s characters, and I respect their desire to have an artistic ending.  But really, it doesn’t feel like something that would be part of the show.  Chuck was always a light hearted show, and this part of the ending is anything but.  Couple that with the endings they’ve already done, where they were very conscious of what the fans of the show would want to see.  I would take any of them over this ending for these characters.  I’m not the only one, either.  I’ve talked to other fans who thought the ending was horrid.  Yes, I am given enough clues to realistically write a happy ending for them, but I shouldn’t have to.  Just an extra sentence in the final scene would have been enough for me to be happy with it.

Okay, rant over.

The set includes all 13 episodes in wide screen and full surround.  Extras include the standard deleted scenes, bloopers, and behind the scenes featurettes, as well as cast and crew commentaries on the final two episodes.

Despite my rant, I did mostly enjoy season 5 of Chuck.  It’s worth watching for fans of the show.  Just be prepared for it to end less gloriously than it should have.

Season 5 Episodes:

1. Chuck Versus the Zoom

2. Chuck Versus the Bearded Bandit

3. Chuck Versus the Frosted Tips

4. Chuck Versus the Business Trip

5. Chuck Versus the Hack Off

6. Chuck Versus the Curse

7. Chuck Versus the Santa Suit

8. Chuck Versus the Baby

9. Chuck Versus the Kept Man

10. Chuck Versus Bo

11. Chuck Versus the Bullet Train

12. Chuck Versus Sarah

13. Chuck Versus the Goodbye