Last year at this time I praised NBC’s Chuck for its volley of satisfying finales, none
of which ultimately stood as a swan song.
Image from Chuck 3.14 “Chuck vs. the Honeymooners” © 2010 Warner Bros. Entertainment.
Season Two concluded by both wrapping up the current narrative satisfactorily and nodding towards the future. Chuck’s original 13-episode order for Season Three did the same. And the next episode a month later — the first of an additional 6 that rounded out the season — served as a lovely coda, with the actual Season Three finale making for a fine farewell too. I felt back then that while I’ve enjoyed Chuck it would have been all right with me had any one of those chapters served as its final bow.
Season Three’s ultimate finale did leave me wanting more than the previous possible finishes, because the Buy More burned down and I hoped that Season Four might free us from that place and its sophomoric subplots for good. Chuck’s admirable willingness to push the mythology and character arcs forward faltered in that regard, alas, returning us to the status quo at the store before long, but as if to atone for it the 13th episode of Season Four brought us the most fitting, loveliest last shot of the show to date.
