Friday, January 20, 2012

CHUCK Versus the Bullet Train: 5.11 Discussion

Sarah is Sleepy - Property of WB

CLICK here for the article I wrote about the episode.

Come here all you crazies and enjoy the final seven days of CHUCK which starts with episode 5.11, Chuck Versus the Bullet Train. This is the 89th episode of the series and the final week ever with just one episode (since next week's finale has two).

So, what are your expectations before seeing it?

And if you have seen it, then what did you think?

GO!

107 comments:

  1. I'll go first.

    Looking forward to this one more than I did last week. Last week's turned out to be a more significant than I expected.

    I also think people may be freaking after they see the promo for the finale and that's always fun.

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    1. I fully expect a total freak-out over the finale promo.

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    2. People should have some Johnny Walker Black ready just in case.

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    3. just don't show me what the very last scene in the finale is in the promo or anything spoiler specific like those promo monkeys did in S3 when they showed the BUY MORE blow up in the preview . The one thing I like already is that the bad guy is not just a bunch of old people they found on a set visit to be the leaders of this whole thing like they did for the Ring Elders in RING 2 . That was some funny stuff .

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    4. It's going to be interesting to see the promo AND the reaction. Twitter and the forums would blow-up. Hah!

      @esozcanesk (below): I hear you. Not to say that I'm not looking forward to Bullet Train (I am) but I feel the same.

      K.T.

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  2. I'm expecting finale promo more than tonight's episode!!!

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  3. With all the discussions from your podcast about amnesia, double agent, effects of the intersect on Sarah wonder if this episode will reveal anything or if well be kept guessing till next week.......

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    1. The second promo for this episode already shows some foreshadowing for possible side effects.

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    2. You talking about the promo with awesome ellie. And Morgan??

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  4. very excited for tonight, bring it on! :)

    S.

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  5. Why would anyone except a retard freak out over the promo for the finale? And Chuck is supposed to have an intelligent fanbase. Yeah right.

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    1. Because people love to think of the worst possible scenarios so that whatever happens will not seem so bad.

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    2. I think this is an IQ vs. EQ (Emotional Intelligence) question. Chuck & Sarah aren't just TV characters to some people. For some people, Chuck & Sarah's well-being is their well-being.

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    3. And in regards to what MS said, people are most afraid, that with all the drama coming up, it won't live up to their shippery expectations.

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    4. Yeah.. it's scary and weird to me how invested some people are in fictional characters. It's just too much, IMO, and I don't think it's good for someone's health.

      S.

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    5. Though in a twisted way, it's really funny to see their extreme reactions. :D It's probably part of the fun in this fandom. ;)

      S.

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    6. "Chuck & Sarah's well-being is their well-being"

      Chuck and Sarah will get their happy ending. I'm sure most people realize this and are just hoping the characters don't get horribly butchered on the way there.

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    7. Who said CHUCK has an intelligent fan base? ;)

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  6. I spy sexy!time in the new Bullet Train promo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=y4dHgCPTI4c

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    3. Sexy time? hahahahahahahahaha. They don't exist anymore. But if we're REALLY lucky we might get a cheek kiss.

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  7. A CHEEK KISS?! You are asking for too much. ;)

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  8. you guys think CS shippers are crazy? The castle/beckett shippers are freakin psychotic. its unhealthy

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    1. Most boring on-screen couple? Just proves shippers have no filter.

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  9. that opening needs an seizure warning lol

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  10. Another first time director in the helm...

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  11. I don't watch Castle even though I LOVE Nathan (he will always, always be Captain Mal to me and his chemistry with Morena was great) so I didn't know they were boring.

    Why did I read train sex on twitter? DONT GET MY HOPES UP!!

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  12. Ben Browder's in this episode? My ovaries just exploded.

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  13. racial stereotypes FTW!

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  14. Why couldnt Jeff and Lester be this awesome for the first half of the season?

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  15. Dramedy in full effect tonight. Jeffster being hysterical.. but this bit with the main cast.. so intense. :( Incoming Chuck versus Sarah.. literally with next episode I'm sure considering the situation they're in now.

    It's been a pretty good episode, but wow did they amp this one up.

    Also.. the VFX with the trains splitting.. rofl

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  16. That was about the worst effect since the walking dead's explosion of the CDC...

    And... ugh... i hate memory erasure plots...

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  17. the train leaving and that awful green screen. COMIC GOLD!!!

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  18. I am loving what they are doing to set up for the series finale. I think the only thing about this episode that bugged me was that jeffester knows they are spys again. I mean if they are going to know then let them know and then send them off to Canada or something. Right now if the rumour that some was going to die wrong and john and sarah fake die then whatever but if Chuck dies at the end of this Series then there is now way there is going to be a movie. for sure

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  20. I think I hate Harley Quinn more than I hated Shaw right now...

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  21. Countdown to shippers hating the episode because it was awesome. :)

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  22. That was awesome - self proclaimed crazy shipper

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  23. It's funny how bad this episode sounds on paper... at least to me, but works so much better on screen. Gives me hope for next week.

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  24. That was awesome! The finally is going to be crazy!

    K.T.

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  25. I soooo wanted to love this episode without question or reservations but there was just a few weak links on the bullet train. Also, why can't Sarah close her eyes and not look at the "flash cards?" Overall, still a good episode.

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    1. LOL! Yeah, she should just close her eyes... but in that kind of case, I guess if she didn't, they would have just forced her eyes open or something.

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    2. LOL, I thought that. Another case of Sarah being tortured while tied down to a chair, though.. she's like Superman. They have to build in spots for her to get forcefed kryptonite basically.

      Intersect Sarah is so badass, by the way. Obviously she doesn't need it, but holy crap does she make it look good, and I loved her little geek out with Chuck about it. That was cute. Soon as that happened, though, I knew the angst train was gonna hit soon.

      Either way.. I Liked the episode. I generally don't let things drama-wise with Chuck get to me, but I guess it was a mixture of 'how could they wipe five years worth of memories/growth out of Sarah and still have it be good?' and just general angst over it being the last couple of episodes. I"m okay now, though. This episode went.. pretty much how I figured it would, right down to the car separation/Quinn manipulating her into a 'double agent with amnesia' sort of state. Still.. I'm really looking forward to how Chuck and company 'stop' her and get her back on their side. From the looks of the promo, that one part looks like either she's already been turned back, or she's still questioning the nerd's sanity, Haha.

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  26. Great show. Hillarius with Jeffster. On the edge of my seat all along! Can't wait for next week but at the same time, i don't want it to end!

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  27. I meant finale. Darn...

    K.T.

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  28. So F-word LAME. But at leas the promo is good :)

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  29. Sorry forgot this was the safe blog- I dislike the amnesia idea but in the words of one of my favorite movie quotes: "fasten your seatbelts; it's going to be a bumpy night"

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  30. Just about everyone and their dog guessed memory loss. So no surprises there.

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  31. Seemed like she had a baby bump when they scanned up from the floor as she was sitting in the chair!! =)

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  32. Wow. I loved this episode.

    For something that used minimal sets and almost was a bottle episode, it got a lot of drama out of it.

    I loved how every regular cast member played a role(except for Big M Mike). I loved how they found time for Chuck and Sarah to have some "alone time" after an entire season without it.

    I can tolerate the awful SFX because I know the budget they have. Come on. I've seen incredible plays where the entire set is a chair.
    We got the point.

    The one disappointment is the promo. It really gave away very little. They just threw together tons of scenes and I can't walk away with anything even in slow motion.

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    1. Big Mike played a little part as well with his speech he gave Lester, and maybe that spurred him to become the hero Canada needs later on in the episode! Haha.

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    2. Yeah- it was strange how they made time for random sexytimes

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  33. Finally! A really good episode worthy of rewatching right now!!!

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  34. Crazy theory: Sarah's memories from past five years are gone for good, but Ellie figures out a way extract their common memories from Chuck's head and uploads them to Sarah. As a side effect she also gets some memories of naked Morgan and Chuck pleasuring himself while she was not around (for comic relief).

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  35. That was pretty awesome. I'm bummed though, by how rough Ben Browder is looking these days. He was so beautiful during Farscape.

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  36. I loved when Casey is talking with Lester saying its his time to be a hero and lester says "Its the call..." hahaha I died laughing...

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  37. I would love for chuck to throw a little tantrum next week screaming, "it took me 5 years to break that woman down, and it's all erased"?

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  38. I predict that Sarah will kill Morgan because Chuck hesitates to stop her. Last scene in the promo-Chuck is teary eyed because something traumatic just happened......Sarah is saying "You really love me......"

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    1. Somehow, I don't think that she will kill Morgan but she does beat up Chuck!

      AB

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  39. That was pretty fantastic. Very emotional and still some funny stuff in it. It worked really well. I really liked all the characters and thought they was not one wrong beat for any of them. It was pretty special this way, especially because it managed to include nearly all of them. Beckman was only mentioned, wasn´t she?

    Not quite sure how Sarah killing Chuck is supposed to get Quinn the intersect, but that might get cleared up next week.

    And they explained pretty well why Sarah detoriated so fast. Even though I am not completely clear on how and why Quinn got the same virus infected intersect that Shaw send for Chuck. And why he wanted them back so badly, if he knew they were infected with a virus and had apparently no means to fix them. Maybe I missed something there?

    I can´t believe we only have one week left and it´s all over.

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  40. Replies
    1. Yeah, talking about falling on a crutch you don't really need. I loved her and Chuck's geek out though, Haha.

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    2. I guess she really enjoyed flashing. Their geeking out about how cool it is was sweet.

      It was a little stupid that Sarah didn´t even try to close her eyes. Even if she might have already forgotten about Suburbs. ;)
      They really should have had Quinn use something to force her eyes to stay open, like they did with Chuck in Suburbs.

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    3. Yeah, agreed, though she may have been out of it so much that it was hard for her to think straight given how much flashing (40+ times after all...) she'd done.

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  41. realistically chuck should be manhandling that fat a$$. but hey its television.

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  42. sarah flashed 40 times? lol ROCK STAR STATUS

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  43. As a final villain, he seems pretty tame. I still feel like this can and should end amicably. Maybe Chuck says, "You're right, you should've gotten the intersect." Carmichael Industries steals it for him and they walk away happy. Even better, just call Beckman and tell her there is another guinea pig ready to accept the intersect assignment. He's seems much too nice to be the final villain.

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  44. Like awelle said above, I don't get how killing Chuck gets him the "pristine" intersect, but, hey, it's meant to be a cliffhanger.

    In practice it probably means, "kill Chuck" after you do X, Y, and Z.

    That aside, for people who notice, this episode is the one and only time we saw Chuck wearing a tank top.

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    1. I noticed that about the tank top!

      By the way, I'm think he wants to 'kill Chuck' just because he wants to see him squirm considering the fact that Chuck's the reason that Quinn nearly got killed. Sort of a way to remove an obstacle and get a kick out of it all at once. What better way to take out your foe than to have his own wife do it for him?

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    2. Noticed tank top Chuck- definitely a chase up.

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  45. I thought he wanted Chuck dead so nobody would try to stop him from getting the pristine intersect. But that is only a guess. It could also be just petty revenge.

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  46. Great episode, awesome hotness. Very sweet and tense and the stakes are definately at an all time high. Looks like Chuck is finally going to get that hug from Casey and a great finish line for him and Sarah.

    Good times.

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  47. Memories or not, she was always a good person, so they will be able to turn her back to the good side. Chuck is still a lovable, trustable geek (even though he thinks he's a spy). No worries.

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  48. I enjoyed most of the episode . This is one of Wooton's I actually liked :) . The Sarah A$$ kicking scenes were AWESOME !! I remember back in S3 before 3.13 aired there was a spoiler that Sarah "flashes " , which turned out to be her memory to her red test when she first got to Paris with Shaw . But I so wanted her to actually have the intersect , just turned out I had to wit a few years :) .

    It was nice seeing her apartment again :) . I'm a little skeptical why they had Quinn remove Sarah's memory of the last 5 years with " flash cards " ? I assumed like everybody else the memory loss would happen , but now I'm a little worried how they are going to have Sarah get them back . If it were a pair of glasses or something I could see it because that scene would take like a minute . But how is she going to " flash " on the cards when she no longer has the intersect ? Or does she. ?

    The one thing I found completely ridiculous though was they are on a Japanese bullet train , does anybody know how fast those things go ? No ? Ok I'll tell you , up to 300 km per hour . So the fat guy gets kicked out the window when the train is going full speed and not only does he hang on the side of the train for a few minutes , he manages to make it to the bottom and somehow re-enter the cabin through the floor whilst the whole time the train is moving at around 300km/ph ? Lol

    Other than that , I had no complaints . Look forward to the end next week .

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  49. The drawing will bring them back together......lots of emphasis and set up.......Hey! Since when can Chuck draw?

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  50. looks like sarah has a gun to morgan's head. i guess S**t gets real for a minute. but people always forget how un-serious this show is as a whole. the ending will be satisfying.

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  51. What if chuck does the same and redacts his memories and they have to fall in love all over again together? If you think about it it maybe quite cool because they can start a family and life without any of the bad memories like actually having to wait stupidly 3 years to do it, lol.

    Happy days.

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  52. So – about the episode – WOW I loved it.

    I haven't taken the time to read the comments so far but I’m sure someone is going to point out the flaws, the continuity breaks, the pacing issues – and I really don’t care.

    I loved it.

    Casey’s impossible choice – who spec’d it would be about Alex?
    Jeff & Lester being heroes?? Chuck drawing the perfect picture of their future?
    Sarah’s memory loss – who spec’d it would be because of the cruel – and I mean cruel – treatment Quinn gave her?
    People have hit bits and pieces of the story line in their spec, but no one hit the way they did it – and did it so well.

    The only problem now is, I have to wait a week for the finale. Yeah, I know it’s gonna be alright – but really, that isn’t what matters. We – all of us here and on other Chuck blogs – we really care about these characters, these relationships.

    That doesn’t make us shippers – that makes us human. It gives us a connection to what we want so desperately for ourselves. Relationships are what give our lives meaning, and this show, for us, has galvanized that fact. We want them to succeed, to ride off into the sunset – because that may be as close as get to it.

    Yeah, I’m going to miss this show.

    I hope – I really hope – that this last week will be one of remembering and rejoicing in this wonderful gift we got and not bashing anyone. It’s gonna be gone in on week – and when you think about the access the stars, the writers, the crew have given us – there is nothing else out there that will take it’s place. You may ask yourself, “Well, how did I get here?”

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  53. Wow ! Really good episode , the end made me furious ( in a good way ) . Looking ahead to next week !!

    Some random observations from the promo

    - Chuck and Sarah appear to be going one on one in a house with Sarah knocking Chuck into a mirror
    - Chuck appears to be in a wienerlicious outfit like Sarah's boss from S1
    - Sarah has a gun pointed to the back of Morgan's head in an all white intersect room .

    getting so many goose pimples thinking about next week !!!!

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  54. Excellent episode on it's own, but the remaining two will define the show's lasting legacy.

    It's unfortunate that almost everyone was able to guess the memory loss thing. I'm hoping it gets resolved in Chuck vs Sarah, dragging it to the last episode seems bad. I'm assuming she gets her memories back at some point, destroying 5 years worth of character growth seems like a horrible idea.

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    1. I love how "everyone guessed" the memory loss, except it wasn't really being discussed until I mentioned my first spoiler blog posting that everyone dismissed when it was posted.

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    2. You may be right, I didn't visit this site at the time so I didn't know about that.

      I first speculated about it when I read the "loss" spoiler a while back.. and in the weeks following that it started to look more and more possible.

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    3. I agree with the anonymous about this memory loss issue hopefully being resolved at the end of vs Sarah or early in vs the goodbye .

      The memory loss SL , I don't think anybody really thought of that until Yvonne gave a couple of interviews about something being taken away . I saw a few specs , but nothing anybody was betting the farm on . That's until the promo aired at the end of last week and showed Sarah having issues with the intersect . Once that appeared that's all anyone was talking about . I didn't see very many people spec that it would be Quinn that would have done it . So at least to me that was a surprise .

      The last 2 finales I have not been that fond of . The Ring 2 ep had some moments , but I think the shipper in me was not so happy how Chuck and Sarah ended that ep if that was in fact the FINAL episode . Luckiliy it wasn't lol . Last year's finale was kind of blah to me to , they waste som much time during the season hardly doing anything moving the plot forward that they cram SO MUCH into the finale that it always feels rushed . Hopefully at the end it will slow down a tad so that we can get some really deep character scenes that we so all enjoy and have stuck around for and not have spent 1;21 minutes fighting bad guys over the final 2 eps and have 3 minutes of " closure " for our beloved characters .

      Magnus :

      After next weeks ep is finished and you've done the episode podcast , do you think you would do one that you could share story ideas that got scrapped or things that got changed from what they wanted to do . Like for example : Shaw's character was supposed to be Bryce but Matt Bomer got White Collar so ... stuff like that ? I think would be pretty cool :)

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    4. "fighting bad guys over the final 2 eps and have 3 minutes of " closure " for our beloved characters ."
      But isn't that basically what Magnus has been hinting at (I think Yvonne did as well)? Seems to me it'll go down this way. Last 5 mins on closure and the other time all trying to cram as much in as possible with the drama and action.

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    5. That would be disappointing, I want 10 to 15 minutes of closure!

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  55. I think this Sarah amnesia/double agent storyline is not a bad idea. I also would have liked to see that earlier and with a little more room to breathe, like you mentioned on the podcast. It certainly raises the stakes immensely and would have provided more tension than the "we need normal friends and want to be normal" stuff, while the missions weren´t always all that serious.

    And while I like the idea, I still hope that they resolve it at least in part pretty fast now, because I want Chuck and Sarah to work together against something or someone for their very last episode. I don´t quite like the trend that one of the two has to be incapacitated or otherwise taken out of the equation for the other to really shine. For the possible finales the first has pretty much been Sarah´s role since season 3. And while I get that having to come to Sarah´s rescue is one of the best motivators for Chuck and he additionally can´t rely on her, I think it sometimes makes it seem as if Chuck needs to not have Sarah by his side to have his really big hero moments. The same has definitely happened the other way around, just usually not for the potential finales. And I quite like that from time to time, because it does raise the stakes and gives them a very good motivation to go all out.

    I still possibly like it even more, when they work together and bring out the best in each other. Hack Off was quite good in that regard. And other episodes in earlier seasons, like Tic Tac or Honeymooners. And maybe the finale will have them at that point again at the end, but that would only work if they resolve that double agent stuff quite fast. And it would have been nice to explore that a bit more earlier.

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  56. Yeah I need more than 3 minutes of closure. More like 10, if I'm honest. BUT this is the final 2 episodes, so we kind of still have one episode before the finale. That is, if the two being put together was a network decision. If it was a producer decision then one episode + at good half hour of the other will be all drama. Well, that's my assumption, no telling if it's correct or not.

    I kinda like the storyline... I'm a bit apprehensive, as we only have the two episodes left now to resolve EVERYTHING. I mean, not just this latest development, but, y'know, Chuck's life in general.

    My main worry is - if Sarah's memories have been permanently wiped - how they'll play out Sarah's character post-memory loss. Is she going to act like 'Langston Graham's Wild Card Enforcer' or will she have changed and be more receptive to relationships. It took damn nearly 2 years for her to open up, and then almost a third year after that due to intersect 2.0 developments. Is there any way they can play it out so that it's believable when she returns to Chuck in the end?

    Perhaps we'll get one of those 'I don't remember much, but I remember I love you' scenes. Ah well. I'll be there next week to find out!

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  57. Err, so Sarah's memories were suppressed instead of erased? Is that what DR meant by "could be worse"?

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    1. I just meant... it could be worse. Like, she could have been partnered up with Shaw and then had tons of sex with him.... again.

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    2. Yup,that's what I love about you Magnus - 'it COULD be worse"

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    3. LOL. Man, your definition of 'COULD be worse' sure is extreme, Magnus, rofl.

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  58. Another possibility is that those glasses chuck holds in the promo are not for him but they contain all of Sarah's memories. He gives them to her and she remembers....maybe, who knows.

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    1. Chuck could transfer all his memories he had with Sarah into those glasses, so that it can be transferred into Sarah's brain then...

      Sasha

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  59. Anonymous, that's a fair observation about the glasses, although my assumption was that they were for Chuck and he is reunited with the intersect in the big finale, because let's face it, the real heartache of the season has been Chuck and the intersect's break up :/

    Kidding! ... kind of. Still, I'm definitely not ruling out the optiin that Chuck uploads the Intersect. That was how this all began, after all.

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    1. One possible clue in the promo about whether Chuck has re-intersected is the dance scene. Unless Chuck has trained to dance the way he trained to fight, he doesn't have those skills.

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  60. Does anyone else feel that TPTB have been really lazy with establishing "rules" for the intersect and how exactly does it work?

    For example, what's the difference between suppressing it and removing it, if any?

    What MamaB did to Chuck in S4 seemed different from what Orion/Decker did. Chuck was still almost able to flash in "the Fear of Death" while he hasn't been able to do it after "the Cliffhanger".

    Is the intersect still in Chuck's head but dormant? Will we ever get any kind of answers to these questions (unlikely with 2 eps left)?

    I just get the feeling that these things have been purposefully left a bit hazy, so that the writers can pretty much come up with anything they please.

    Should I be bothered by this kind of stuff? Is anyone else bothered? I guess I will be satisfied with the finale as long as Sarah gets her memories back, I'm a sucker for happy endings... but the intersect mythology could have been done better.

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    1. Everyone thinks they have been lazy in that department. But it's not going to be explained unless they fit it into the finale somehow.

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    2. Sadly I agree. The writers really got lazy in seasons 4 and 5. Though I have to admit that I have enjoyed season quite a bit, but it could have been stronger with more consistent writing/plotting. I'm still not sure about this amnesia storyline, but I'm just not the type that freaks out over a tv show when things don't go the way I want it (I leave that for real life issues). I just hope the finale makes some sense. We'll see in a few days. Gonna miss the show for sure because it's been lots of fun, but it's clear to me that it's time to end it.

      I'm really hoping it gets syndicated. There is a good chance, right? Maybe that way more people I know can give it a chance and watch it. I'll just have to warn them about the sucky episodes, lol. :P

      S.

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    3. ugh, I tried to say that I have enjoyed S5 quite a bit.

      S.

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  61. "realistically chuck should be manhandling that fat a$$. but hey its television."

    Agreed, Quinn is fat and much older! He's no match for new Chuck! That just annoyed. Oh and I don't know whay the guy wants an Intersect when he has spiderman like abilities...

    S.

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  62. The promo looks awesome. They really couldn’t do this earlier though? Sarah Vs Chuck would have been epic to watch for as long as possible.

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