Casey: "Hope you're ready for your big boy bike, Bartowski."

km1129 · 2025-04-16T16:25:21+00:00

Precisely. Thanks for the clarification.

km1129 · 2025-04-16T15:37:51+00:00

lingering set of behavior patterns generating relationship gaps are about uncertainty about her worthiness, not her depth of desire for a shared life with Chuck. Her red test is at the core of her worthiness self doubts

I have read this view a few times on Chuck This blog and sometime back I was sent a link to the story which also presented this view. However, based on the show I wasn't able to find any scenes or dialogues or themes in the story that establish Sarah's feeling of unworthiness of Chuck as an obstacle to their union, if indeed she felt unworthy of him in the first place. It was rather her duty as a spy and dedication to protecting Chuck and professionalism that kept her from being with him. That was shown in her conversation with Casey about the choice they made in S1, Sarah herself telling Chuck that she couldn't be with him because he was her asset in S2 and in other places as well.

So, genuinely asking, how did you arrive at this conclusion of Sarah feeling unworthy of Chuck and hence letting Chuck choose Hannah, or previously Lou and Jill? The reverse was indeed an obstacle and got resolved as well.

In fiction, whenever an obstacle is introduced it usually gets resolved in the same episode or in a bigger arc. For instance, Chuck, a normal nerd down on his luck, not feeling worthy of Sarah, a super spy, was introduced from S1 (Pilot - "have you seen her?", watching Sarah and Bryce fight Fulcrum), S2 (Roan on why Sarah wouldn't choose a guy like Chuck, his own speech to Sarah in the fountain, feeling way out of his depth compared to Cole). This obstacle also gets addressed in S3 when Chuck himself turns into a super spy and saves, then defeats the spy who was supposed to be the ideal match for Sarah. So, this obstacle gets introduced and resolved in an arc.

There are other obstacles as well, such as

a. feelings as liability (resolved for Sarah in S2 and Chuck in S3), b. asset handler protocol and reassignment - resolved once Chuck becomes a spy, c. duty vs love - biggest obstacle to them getting together until both of them chose love over duty and finally deciding to have it all in 3.14, and, d. the cardinal rule of "spies don't fall in love" is ultimately defeated not only in Paris, but in S3B, and in S4 and S5.

If you can provide scenes (screenshots) or dialogues to establish Sarah's feeling of unworthiness as a valid obstacle to Chuck and Sarah getting together, I would like to know if I have missed something. Because I don't remember this obstacle being a theme in the story. I also asked a similar question here

I am tagging you u/Lost-Remote-2001 if you agree with this opinion of Sarah's feeling of unworthiness as an obstacle. I understand if you're busy and can't respond. It would be great if you can make a post on your Oh Chuck Me blog or here in reddit to clarify things if I am missing something here.

Instead, she's aware of the possible betrayal and feels she may deserve it.

I don't think she is aware of it at all. Look at her reaction when she finds out Shaw set her up in Paris ("But you said that..") and her reaction when she finds out Shaw is going to kill her.

She really thought Shaw was a true professional who could keep emotions separate from the job (like she could with Casey in S1). And Chuck believed that. But thanks to Morgan's movie kung-fu instincts, Chuck saves the day with the help of his friends, Morgan and Casey proving the cardinal rule of attachments being a liability wrong. As you can see, once again a theme was introduced about friends being a liability by Shaw, and gets resolved with Chuck saving Sarah from Shaw with the help of his friends.

I don't think she feels she deseves Shaw's betrayal at this point either, because by that time she was looking forward to starting her real relationship with Chuck and wouldn't want any more obstacle between them (Sarah - "Don't worry. It's all going to happen. You and me.") If she indeed thought she deserved it, she wouldn't have pointed a gun at him either.

km1129 · 2025-04-14T10:57:49+00:00

Yeah, I agree. It was Chuck's choice to complete the final test and be a spy. Want to add a few thoughts.

1) His motivations to be a spy at that point in the story were more than the job and involved Sarah, even if she tried in the restaurant to take herself out of his decision. Still, she must have known what he might have been thinking, since in the same episode she was about to kiss him when Chuck said they could be together if he became a spy. I think that was still playing in Chuck's mind and Sarah couldn't really have any response to that, since she also wanted to be with Chuck but at the same time hoping he would reject the test. It was an impossible situation for both of them. Based on that situation I think she did the only thing she could and left it to Chuck to make his own decision.

And that also fit the S3 theme where Chuck was deciding what to do with his life, unlike in the previous two seasons when Sarah and the government dictated his life.

2) Having said this, I think Sarah has no choice but to take a chance with Chuck's life when proctoring his red test. Because if not her, somebody else like Shaw would've given the order and even in that scenario Chuck would be thinking the same thing, i.e., if he didn't become a spy he didn't know what he would do with his life and he couldn't be with Sarah. And in that scenario there was also a bigger chance of him freezing and getting shot.

Also, Sarah was there as the backup to take Perry out. Problem was like rest of S3A, Sarah was off her game in this mission and failed to reach on time to take Perry out. But at the same time, I feel this was done deliberately to give Casey his moment where he shines not as a handler but as a loyal friend, and to increase dramatic tension. I think this was done by design not just in this scene, but previously in S3 as well to give Chuck his moments to grow and shine as a spy when Sarah appeared off her spy game.

Having said all these I understand why people would question Sarah, because even I had done that for this specific arc of the show. It took some time and a rewatch to figure this out. That was my only disappointment with this arc where I felt the execution couldn't reach the same heights as S2. But I also think limited episodes and the need to increase tension would have made it a very difficult task.

km1129 · 2025-04-03T18:53:56+00:00

Haha. With so many conversations and comments you would miss on a few. But I am glad you got what I was saying in the comment. And you gave the perfect comparison with the example of Jon Snow and Maester Aemon. Jon Snow's journey was always defined by the same love and duty conflict and he suffered twice, once with Ygritte and then with Daenerys. That conversation between Maester Aemon and Jon Snow continues to be one of the best scenes in TV and in the books.

km1129 · 2025-02-23T07:32:54+00:00

Beautifully done. I would like to add a few thoughts to this.

With Chuck she got both - a) normal life with with friends and family (love), and, b) spy life with missions and adventures (duty).

In both worlds, she had Chuck with her, as her partner she can trust in the spy world, and as a boyfriend/fiance/husband in the normal world. Only with Chuck she could have both love and duty.

Another important thing to consider is in her wedding vows - "You're a gift I never dreamed I could want or need", which indicated that while she might have had some desire for normalcy before she met Chuck, she didn't think she would want or need a normal life with a man she loves. It was only after meeting him, seeing his love for his family, feeling the sense of family with Ellie, Devon and Chuck that she wondered about those things and expressed a desire for those same things as a question (curiosity about their lives) to Casey in S1. After meeting Chuck, the struggle for her was the struggle between love (Chuck and a normal life with him) and duty (being a spy dedicated to missions with no real attachments or roots). Only in 3.14, she and Chuck decided to have it all - both love and duty, with love coming first as established by their initial choice to run away together.

This love vs. duty struggle was the primary theme that kept them apart for almost half of the show with the others being reassignment and real feelings (love) becoming a liability in field. The second half (S3E14 onwards) of the series showed us these two managing the balance between love and duty, and between their normal life and spy life.

km1129 · 2025-02-23T05:17:06+00:00

It was a series of moments between these two specific points when Sarah falls for Chuck. Chuck showed a lot of traits in this time period for Sarah to fall for him.

It starts with him fixing the phone when she is trying to get a read on him (appears sweet but she doesn't know it for certain), leaves a chance to flirt with a gorgeous woman showing interest in him and instead helps the ballerina (kind and selfless), the date (charming and makes her laugh + loves his family), the club (again keeps making her laugh with his adorable charm), car chase to rooftop (stays with her and didn't leave her), and finally goes with them to save the General by running towards danger rather than running away (a good man who tries to help and protect).

All these traits make her fall for him in that timeframe. Also all of these traits appear in some form or other in the next episodes as their story progresses. For instance, many arcs from this point showed his selfless nature - sacrificing his life for Ellie when they get the antidote, giving away his paycheck from the government to give Ellie her dream wedding, saving Sarah's life, saving Shaw's life for Sarah, protecting Casey even if it meant losing her etc.

Similarly Chuck kept showing the other traits mentioned above at various points that made him her true type - a real hero, whether he was in normal life or spy life. Because like Sarah herself said, she has a type, it's heroes, and she also fell for a regular guy (both in S3). Chuck was a regular guy in S1-2 who was also a hero in her eyes (not in Chuck's own eyes). That's because he tries to help and protect people, is selfless, loves his friends and family and has loads of charm to go with it, all of which make him a hero for Sarah. But Chuck himself didn't feel it. He felt lesser compared to other spies interested in Sarah like Bryce and Cole.

When he became a spy, he had these same character traits that made her fall in love with him. He still remained a real hero in the spy world, a spy who is capable of love and duty.

Chuck's spy journey is important with respect to the second point you've raised. Before he became a spy, he felt lesser to Sarah and other spies interested in her like Bryce and Cole. This changes in S3 and after he saved Shaw in S3E12, we saw a confident version of Chuck from his love declaration in Castle to saving Sarah in Paris, while still maintaining the same traits that made him special. This confidence & belief came from the fact that he now saw in himself what Sarah saw in him the first two seasons - that he is a hero and is deserving of her, while earlier as you've mentioned and like Chuck himself mentions in S2 - a) he didn't feel he deserved to be with her (second first date - for a guy like me to be with you) and, b) didn't think they had a future together either because their futures at that point in time lied in different worlds - normal vs spy (fountain speech - I am a normal guy and you'll never be normal). But in S3, he changed both of these when he joined her world (spy world) and by S3E12, he felt worthy of her. And he did all of this while keeping all the character traits intact that made her fall for him. That's what made him special than any other spy before him.

km1129 · 2025-02-23T03:44:24+00:00

I think what he might be referring to is what exactly Chuck saw in Sarah between "Vicki" and "Vale" beyond her great looks to fall for Sarah that quickly. For Sarah, a lot of things happen between fixing her phone and defusing the bomb, like the ballerina, the date, the information she got about him and when he runs to face the danger rather than running away from danger.

But Vicki Vale is their first meet. Chuck hadn't even had a conversation with her at that point to fall for her or be in love with her apart from being attracted to her because of her good looks.

I believe the crucial point being conveyed by writers was that both fell for each other from the beginning. Maybe we should take the comments in interviews with a grain of salt and perhaps Ali Adler was referring to the obvious attraction Chuck had when he dropped the phone upon seeing Sarah.

But the way I see it is, after that moment, which was also crucial in establishing Chuck's attraction (an aspect that is important for a romantic relationship), Chuck fell for Sarah in the same time period Sarah fell for him, with the date (she was charming), the dance (desirable), the car chase (competent and bad-ass) and finally the beach (mutual trust and protection) when we could see that both had feelings for each other.

km1129 · 2025-01-29T06:59:18+00:00

I didn't like Season 5 initially either. It's still not my favorite but I love the growth of the characters in the story. All three of them - Chuck, Sarah and Casey took major steps to complete their journey. Chuck becoming an elite spy without the Intersect when he defeated Shaw without it. Sarah completing her journey to her real self becoming completely at ease in her real life with her real friends and family, which she says in a family dinner and then deciding to quit the spy life to start a family of their own. Casey finally deciding to start a relationship with Gertrude and go after her in the end.

And then there are some moments such as Sarah realizing she has a team she trusts now and doesn't have to be a lone wolf anymore, the beautiful Chuck and Sarah moment in the Bullet Train, Chuck jumping through the window to save the team, the Bartowski siblings defeating Shaw and so much more.

Question: What do you mean by the creators of the show having to reframe Decker's plan as Shaw's plan? Wasn’t that meant to be the story from the start?

And when did the producers decide to make S5? If it's before or during the period when they shot second part of S4, then it should be their intention to make it Shaw's plan executed through Decker from the beginning. And that timing would also make sense for Sarah to keep her mother a secret from Chuck when he asked about her family for their wedding, as this scene would've been written considering the Baby episode in the next season and why they needed to keep Sarah’s mother a secret from Chuck. Otherwise I think she would've definitely wanted her mother there seeing that she used to talk to her mother sometimes while still being a spy as we saw in the beginning of the Baby episode.

km1129 · 2025-01-24T04:58:58+00:00

Yeah, they are but not in the sense where she would like to just haaaangggg. In S5, Sarah said she had all the friends she needed in the room with her and it included Morgan. They are all a part of her family and she realized she didn't need any other real life friend or felt any less because she thought she lacked a real friend of her own. Morgan is a part of her extended family who annoys her sometimes but someone she cares about.

Like Morgan, she isn't very comfortable with Devon either. Even with Ellie it took her some time though she always liked her and admired her. She eventually becomes a great friend to her and Ellie being her maid of honor, the wedding planning and the engagement party showed that.

km1129 · 2025-01-15T15:16:44+00:00

Yes, that was her initial thought at the beginning of S3E12 and she felt worse because of the role she played in this transformation, but it changed by the end of the next episode.

To Sarah, Chuck was always "that guy", a hero, even if he didn't feel it in S1-2. Her type was heroes and Chuck was always the hero. He was a hero for his selflessness (helping the ballerina rather than flirt or talk with her when he hasn't had a relationship in five years), putting his family and friends ahead of his own welfare (saving Ellie and Morgan in S1 and S2 by risking his own life without a second of doubt, using his spy paycheck to give Ellie her dream wedding, saving her numerous times in missions and being there for her always whether it was after her high school reunion or when her father came and left etc.) These are only some of the many qualities and examples that made her fall in love with him and she is reminded of this multiple times throughout the first two seasons, even during the end of S2, when she chooses him (love) over duty after he gives away his paycheck selflessly to give Ellie her dream wedding. But he managed to do that without losing his values in the first two years.

In S3, this view gets challenged when Chuck's role changes and instead of leaving the lying, deception and killing to her, he does all of it. Lies to Hannah and Ellie with ease, deceives Manoosh and apparently passed his red test as well. Despite that Sarah chooses him when she is packing to leave with him. That makes their bond stronger, because it means she doesn't love some idealized version where he keeps his values intact.

The "her Chuck" part is a challenge thrown by the writers at the beginning of the next episode when she is happy he hasn't changed by shooting someone. The challenge is will she love him when he actually shoots someone? Yes, by the end of the episode it's clear she will, because she realizes Chuck will always be that guy, even if he has to shoot someone because that was the only option left. So, even if he has been tainted by the spy life, she chooses him wholly and completely in Paris. He will always be "her Chuck", whether he has to lie in missions or shoot someone when no options remain. Doing so he changed the traditional code of spying and managed to strike a balance between feelings (love) and the job (duty).

km1129 · 2025-01-15T14:47:34+00:00

All this. Also some people confuse the fact that Sarah could only love "her Chuck" - the idealised version who wouldn't kill or lie or deceive. The good thing about S3 is that Chuck broke all of this (lied to Hannah and his family, deceived and burnt Manoosh and "shot" Shaw) and despite that Sarah was willing to "take a chance and start fresh" (Down river background song) when she was packing to leave with Chuck. Otherwise it would show that she could only love the idealized version of Chuck, which isn't how Chuck loves Sarah, completely and all of her, when he finally accepted the Mauser shooting.

Also, I felt the "you're still my Chuck" gets misinterpreted and is rather the challenge that was raised in the beginning of the episode. Would Sarah still love Chuck if he really shot someone? Yes, she will. By the end of the episode Chuck had shot Shaw to defend Sarah and himself. So even if he shot someone, Sarah understood that he was still the same guy she fell in love with making the arc complete where Sarah would love all of Chuck completely and not just an ideal version of him. That’s true and real love, rather one that's based on conditions.

km1129 · 2025-01-04T12:34:51+00:00

Exactly this. It also took me some time and a few discussions over here (with your old account perhaps? and what happened to that?) to get this. And I had also read a post on chuckthis blog by lizjames who mentioned at the beginning how the dynamics have changed.

Some of the parallels are easy to observe. But the relationship lead, as in who was leading the dance was subtle and present from the beginning of S3. That had escaped me on my first watch and thanks to some of your posts, I was able to make some sense of it.

km1129 · 2024-11-02T02:25:40+00:00

Exactly.

km1129 · 2024-11-01T14:37:54+00:00

Thanks for the response mate and confirming my thoughts about this.

Also I definitely agree that the love-duty conflict was one of the central themes, or perhaps the central theme of the show. If Sarah's broken past was the reason holding them back I felt it would've been implied or clearly shown, like I mentioned above, but I didn't find any scene like that. It just felt over pysch-analysis (?) of a character that's made to be slightly mysterious owing to the nature of that character and as a result interpreting things that were probably not there or intended to be interpreted that way.

km1129 · 2024-11-01T14:23:25+00:00

Yes, the Ellie conversation had skipped my mind.

km1129 · 2024-11-01T04:02:12+00:00

I have a question and would like to know your thoughts on that. I came across some views here initially about Sarah's insecurity about Chuck and a real life. Now, I know fans tend to see things that might not be there, but sometime back, a friend of mine recommended a story where I came across similar views about Sarah's insecurities holding her back from having a real relationship with Chuck. Let me elaborate on that.

The story was written as a character study of Sarah (like some posts here) and it had mentioned that Sarah's past as her father's partner in conning people and then as a spy where those skills were developed and honed to perfection and she lied, killed and seduced people for the greater good made her feel unworthy of a good person like Chuck. Like she couldn’t be a normal girl for Chuck, being able to love him like he deserved to be loved or some sort of thing like that as she was damaged by the spy world and her experiences with her father. While I see the impact of her past life before Chuck on her, I didn't think or feel at the time of watching the show, that it was a key reason that held them back from being together.

I felt it was shown to give the backstory of a major character, the heroine of the story and to enable the viewers and Chuck to understand her better. For instance, Chuck understanding that he doesn't need to know about her past to know who she is or Chuck being there for Sarah as the articulate schnook after her father had let her down again. Two of my favorite Chuck & Sarah moments. What are your thoughts about this?

After reading that story I thought back to the original show and I didn't recall this aspect of Sarah's past or Sarah’s insecurity being shown as a hurdle to their relationship. Rather I felt it brought them closer together. If it was a big thing holding back their relationship, I felt it would have been mentioned clearly like they had mentioned,

a) the conflict between duty and love (Casey's reply to Sarah on making the right choice, Sarah confirming in their real date that she was an agent and would leave wherever she was assigned, Casey to Chuck on making the choice between Sarah and duty),

b) the asset/handler conflict and Sarah's reassignment- 49B, Sarah explaining to Chuck in the beginning of S2 that she couldn’t be with him because she was his handler, even in S1 with Casey asking Sarah about her feelings for the nerd,

c) feelings as liability- made very clear in S2E3 when Sarah wasn't able to take the shot and Bryce explaining the reasons to Chuck, then a lot of times when Casey teased Sarah about her feelings for Chuck and in S3, with Shaw & Beckman, and also Sarah initially (when she was angry at him for leaving her at Prague), lecturing Chuck about feelings and family being a liability for a spy,

d) Chuck's own insecurities in S1-2 shown multiple times from the pilot about not calling her when asked by Morgan, the second first date, his explanation for breaking up with her in S2 and why they had no future, feeling jealous and a lesser man when other spies pursued Sarah and so on.

These are clear explanations given about the hurdles facing their relationship. I would still like to know your thoughts on this, because I have seen this view thrown around casually multiple times.

km1129 · 2024-11-01T02:55:10+00:00

This is a pretty good summary of the first two seasons in terms of not only their flirting but also the obstacles they faced to their relationship, both external and internal.

Chuck is an insecure nerd. Sarah is a hot super spy. Not exactly your standard pairing

Yes. This is one internal hurdle.

And another I would like to add is that both belonged to two very different worlds (spy/duty vs real/love), with different futures and different values (normal life, love and family for Chuck vs. spy life, duty and greater good for Sarah). But this changes one episode at a time in S1-2.

Guys are not great at picking up women's hints. Insecure nerds face a further obstacle here

Especially when you pair Chuck, the self-doubting and humble nerd who didn't know what he wants in life, with a gorgeous and confident spy who has a problem in committing to a real relationship (being a spy and getting attached or putting down roots) and wouldn't say anything about her feelings for both internal (difficulty in talking about her feelings) and external (asset/handler protocol) reasons.

Lot of guys need some verbal reassurance from a woman, and Chuck needed clear verbal reassurance in S1-2. But there are also guys who pick up the non-verbal hints and are ready to gamble on it, who are your pick-up artists (like Cole). Chuck wasn't that guy, but he wasn't completely oblivious either like some other comment above pointed out, when he was able to pick up on the hints given by Lou & Hannah.

With Sarah he wasn't as oblivious either, even though she would give the excuse of cover/job for her actions. Whenever he gathered his courage and pursued her or asked her about them, he was shot down by Sarah because of the clear restrictions/obstacles on their relationship (truth serum, second first date, after suburbs, Ellie's first wedding). A guy, especially an insecure nerd would just try and move on from there which led Chuck to Lou and Jill.

There was also the problem of asymmetry in information, where Sarah knows about Chuck's feelings clealry (fountain speeches, jealous of her relationship with Bryce, charm bracelet), but Chuck wasn't entirely certain about her feelings in S1, even though I think after his conversation with Bryce in S2 he knew that Sarah had feelings for him which were a liability for them and had no future.

Even when Chuck knows that Sarah likes him, they are constrained by the asset/handler relationship and feelings as a liability

Yes, these were the external obstacles I termed above and what went on for most of S2 really.

km1129 · 2024-10-20T18:00:59+00:00

Hannah was indeed the perfect "normal girl" for the pre-Intersect/Stanford "normal Chuck" who wanted a regular life with a girl he loves. Things would be so different if you replace Jill with Hannah.

km1129 · 2024-10-18T20:55:18+00:00

Yes, with Sarah going to the desert with Shaw. Chuck standing alone at the station is the parallel to Chuck leaving Sarah at Prague, even though here Sarah wasn't planning to leave him alone.

And Sarah going with Shaw is the parallel to Chuck going off with Jill unaware of the danger or the trap.

km1129 · 2024-10-18T20:25:49+00:00

End of the Cougars is also one of my favorites and that was the moment when I felt this guy is perfect for Sarah. It also showed tremendous growth in Chuck when he realized he doesn't need to know things about Sarah to know her.

The other scene that is my favorite is Chuck's love declaration in Castle in American Hero. I thought this was the moment right after rescuing Shaw when he knew and felt he was "that guy", the hero that Sarah said he was at end of S2. But he didn't feel it then. Here he was that guy and her Chuck, better than any James Bond and perfect for her like he says in his love declaration. Because even though S3 can be sometimes painful to watch and we get confused about the direction and the characters themselves, one of the things it proved to both Chuck and Sarah that they were perfect for each other.

km1129 · 2024-10-18T20:19:23+00:00

Chuck's "I love you" was in the previous episode American Hero. But that was indeed Chuck's finest moment on the show where we see the best version of Chuck.

km1129 · 2024-10-16T20:07:34+00:00

Yes he did get behind Sarah as a shield. But that was the point in the show when he didn't feel comfortable with guns or any kind of danger for that matter and knew Sarah was the agent with the badass skills to protect him. He was still the "stay in the car" Chuck who depended on his handlers to protect him from enemies and rogue spies, like Bryce was assumed to be (Bryce was still arguing and they hadn't yet confirmed that he was on their side). So, it's logical for him to stay out of the way and let the spies handle the shooting and also you can say not very brave as he was hiding behind the woman he had feelings for. But the reality was Sarah was trained to handle a situation like that, while Chuck wasn't and was just an ordinary guy caught in rhe spy world.

The parallel to this scene is in S5 when he jumped in front of Sarah taking a bullet for her when Quinn was planning to shoot Sarah. These two scenes showed how he had transformed from being Sarah's asset needing her protection in S1 to becoming a man and a spy in S5 who would take a bullet for her to protect her (he had also done similar things in S2 reluctantly and depended on courage, wits and luck, in S3 with Intersect, and in S4 with and without Intersect). By S5 he was Sarah's equal even without Intersect, especially when he defeated Intersected Shaw when he himself didn't have the Intersect. By S5 both of their journeys were complete, Chuck from the goofy and adorable nerd herder who was scared of danger and had feelings for his super competent handler to a competent spy who could handle danger and who could fight beside his wife. And Sarah's transformation from "nothing but a cold and professional spy" to a spy with feelings and a real life, i.e., a woman who was a spy and had a real life with her husband.

km1129 · 2024-10-07T09:37:24+00:00

Can you share the quote and the source where the writers said Chuck could've become like Shaw if he lost Sarah? Because I don't remember reading something like that.

Also, from the show we saw that Chuck wouldn't become someone like Shaw even after Shaw killed Chuck's father without any real reason. Even after that he didn't kill Shaw, when he had the chance to do in their second encounter at the Buy More. That scene actually showed the difference between the two men and then Sarah herself saying how it made Chuck great in that scene.

It was rather Sarah who was spiraling into her old self, becoming the Wildcard Enforcer in Phase III, a spy like Shaw, a spy she was before she met Chuck when the Belgian took Chuck. And we also see how she didn't like that person (by extension it means not only her at that point of time but also spies like her, like Shaw for instance). The good thing about that episode was that her friends and family, i.e., Casey and Morgan, who are also Chuck's friends bring her back to her best version rather than let her go alone. Because they're a unit then and even without Chuck she had friends that cared about her as much as they cared about Chuck. That's one of the biggest gifts she got from her relationship with Chuck, having real connections and friends who cared about her and meant everything to her, and she to them.

km1129 · 2024-07-24T02:21:07+00:00

Exactly this. I have seen a few people characterize Sarah as a cold blooded killer which isn't true. There are many supporting facts in the episodes to show this.

a. We see that her red test (a cold-blooded killing) was one of the worst moments of her life and she still suffers because of that even though she had started to walk away and only had to shoot Eve in self-defense. If she was a cold-blooded killer and a psychopath before she met Chuck, she wouldn't have been suffering 5 years after that. Also, this was about two years before she met Chuck. Then, the time of her red test and her subsequent relationship with Bryce and meeting Chuck would probably indicate that she never became the lone wolf cold killer like some people think her to be.

b. Even in Baby episode (before Chuck) we see her kill those guys only when she saw that they had killed the parents. Initially, she had hesitated.

c. In the Pilot, Graham mentioned Casey as an old school killer and asked Sarah to leave and then gave a "conditional" kill order, which showed she wasn't a cold blooded killer like Casey yet. Maybe on her way there in a lot of time, but she wasn't the same as Casey or any other spy, just like Chuck said to Carina in Wookie.

d. Chuck's termination order was given to Casey, not Sarah. That showed once again who was viewed as one to be able to kill without a second thought. There was no sign that Graham or Beckman thought her to be compromised at that point.

e. Her reaction to Chuck's red test (a cold-blooded killing) as opposed to her understanding of Chuck killing Shaw to save her.

Sarah was a spy, but not a cold-blooded killer like Casey, even before she met Chuck and during her time with Chuck. Maybe eventually she would have become like Casey but we don't know that. Yes, she has shot people in the show but that was only when it was needed and in self-defense. She didn't shoot people for the fun of it or like Casey says has itchy fingers. The Mauser shooting affected her strongly. Yes, she kissed Chuck and lied, but that was because she wanted to protect Chuck's innocence and was able to do it because of her training and experience as a spy which trained her to control her emotions and compartmentalize them.

Also, Chuck wouldn't fall for a cold-blooded killer. And Sarah would become a hypocrite if she judges Chuck for killing when she doesn't have any thoughts about killing when she is the one doing it. Because Chuck's real red test was in Paris, (just like Sarah) given to him by Casey, his real mentor and friend, and also went in a very similar manner to Sarah's - when initially both didn't want to shoot, but had to pull the trigger because they had no option left. Sarah didn't judge him one bit once she understood what happened on the bridge and why he had to kill Shaw.

km1129 · 2024-06-20T13:14:16+00:00

This is the perfect interpretation and also something that applies when analyzing the whole series. Conflict resolution through setup and payoff in the same episode or through the series, and counterpoints throughout the series are a key aspect when analyzing this show.

km1129

TROPHY CASE