Family Legacy: Secrets and Lies on the Season Finale of Chuck

"Maybe being a spy is in our blood."

Season Three of Chuck came to a close last night, with a fantastic two-hour installment that shook up the status quo of the NBC action-comedy in so many ways, introducing a number of possible new directions for Chuck and Company and tying up some of the dangling story threads from the third season.

For once, we're going into the long hiatus knowing that Chuck will be returning next season, which placed my mind at ease watching the two-part season finale ("Chuck Versus the Subway" and "Chuck Versus the Ring, Part II," written respectively by Ali Adler and Phil Klemmer and Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak (and directed by Matt Shakman and Robert Duncan McNeill), which offered the opportunity to clear the decks and go into the summer with a feeling of unpredictability about just what the future holds for Team Bartowski. (You can read what Fedak had to say about the finale in an interview he did with Hitfix's Alan Sepinwall here.)

While the two episodes did bleed into one another in terms of plot, I have to say that the first half of the finale ("Chuck Versus the Subway") was stronger than the back half. Perhaps that was due to the importance of the B-Team here, which stepped into action and made the choice to cross over from civilians into spies, or the emotional stakes of the familial relationships here. As opposed to the second half, whose flashbacks to Young Chuck and Young Ellie were a little shaky and the Buy More storyline didn't really coalesce into anything until the episode's explosive ending.

Those minor issues aside, I thought that the season finale was a particularly strong one, tying up the Daniel Shaw storyline effectively (and hopefully for some time to come) as well as that of the malfunctioning Intersect, altering the dynamic between Chuck and Ellie, and creating an expanded Team Bartowski that seems ready to take on anything together... even if it ends up being the shortest-lived superhero team ever.

So what did I think of Chuck's kick-ass Season Three finale? Let's discuss.

There was a lot riding on this two-part season finale as the writers had quite a lot of story to get through. In just these two back-to-back episodes, after all, Chuck gets his Governor, Stephen Bartowski is killed, Ellie learns the truth about Chuck, the CIA is infiltrated by The Ring, Shaw reveals himself as both alive and an Intersect, the gang is taken into custody and then saved, Beckman is imprisoned (and delivers a fantastic Obi-Won homage), Casey's daughter returns, the Five Elders of The Ring are captured, we learn that Chuck's mom is more connected to the spy world than we thought, and the Buy More blows up, all before the closing credits rolled. (Whew.)

In other words, that's a lot of action to cram into a 90-minute episode, but I thought that Alder, Klemmer, Schwartz, and Fedak managed to pull it off beautifully, creating a giant-sized installment that brought the delicate balance of humor, action, tension, and emotion that Chuck, on its very best days, is able to juggle effortlessly.

Throughout it all, there's a strong current of emotion as the action swirls not just around our troika of super-spies but the Bartowski clan itself, which finds itself reeling when Stephen gets shot to death by Shaw, right in front of both Chuck and Ellie. It's not an act of vengeance so much as it is a power play by Shaw: an effort to show Chuck that he'll never be as strong as he is because he's laden by emotion. But it's that very emotion that inevitably saves the day for Chuck as he reboots to have a final showdown with Shaw using their Intersect abilities in the Buy More. While it doesn't bring Papa Bartowski back to life, it does ensure that justice is served and Shaw gets the beating he deserves... and Chuck chooses not to kill him this time. (Might, after all, doesn't make right.)

Fedak and Schwartz introduced new elements to Chuck's backstory last season but here the mythology is deepened once again as we learn that Chuck had accidentally downloaded a prototype Intersect as a child... and lived to tell the tale. Which is how Stephen--or Orion--knew that Chuck would be all right when Bryce Larkin sent him the first Intersect. Because his son was "special" and able to handle the massive quantity of visual data without firing his synapses.

While Season One of Chuck presented Chuck Bartowski as a hero of coincidence--he was in the right place at the right time--Season Two tweaked this slightly and presented him instead as a legacy hero, someone who received his abilities because of his familial relationship, following in the footsteps of his father. But in Season Three, we learned something new: Chuck wasn't just in the right place at the right time (i.e., Peter Parker getting bitten by that radioactive spider) or had his powers thrust upon them because he inherited them: no, Chuck, it seems, was always destined to be the Intersect.

The backstory as it's presented here, seems to combine all three elements into one tasty package: As a child, Chuck wandered into his father's lab in their Encino home and accidentally downloaded the Intersect, as though he was summoned there for that very purpose. While Stephen is terrified that Chuck has injured himself, he's stunned to learn that the boy is fine and shows no ill-results from accessing the program. It's perhaps a shot too close to the heart: Stephen doesn't want his children involved in this spy world and he goes to great lengths to make sure that they're not infected by it, even leaving them alone just to keep them safe.

But that's the ironic thing in the end: if Stephen had stayed, maybe he could have prevented Chuck from ending up following in his footsteps. But, like any parent, Stephen wants a better life for his children. He tasks Ellie with protecting Chuck, something that she is more than willing to do to this day, even to a fault. I understood why Ellie would want Chuck to quit the spy life and go back to being a civilian, especially after Stephen is murdered by Shaw, but it also rankled me that she would demand this of her brother, who is an adult and capable of making his own decisions now.

While Chuck might want to segue back into a normal life, especially now that the Intersect is under control, there's still the legacy of his father's world to uphold, especially once he sees what's actually going on beneath the house in Encino: a huge warehouse-like vault filled with Orion's casefiles on a number of at-large individuals that would seek to steal his work and kill Chuck. Including one villain that's closer to home than we thought: Mary Elizabeth Bartowski, Chuck's mommy, who might just end up being a Big Bad along the lines of Alias' Irina Derevko.

Many of us have been waiting for this inevitable twist since Stephen Bartowski showed up last season but I'm also curious just where the writers will take this plotline next season. Based on the snippet we get from Mary (or at least the back of her head), it seems as though she is being protected by a top-secret organization as a high-priority asset at the behest of Orion. ("I did it all for her," Stephen tells Chuck via his last confession.) Just why does she have to be moved, especially with the Ring Elders out of commission? Is it connected to the fact that Chuck breached the Orion vault? Hmmm...

It certainly seems as though Stephen has been working to track down his long-missing wife and I dare say that Chuck's first mission next season will be to find his mother and find out just why she walked out on them all of those years before. Hint: it had nothing to do with you breaking her charm bracelet, Chuck. (Elsewhere, Michael Ausiello already has some inspired suggestions as to who should play Mary Elizabeth Bartowski.) Plus, there's the matter of the other candidates whom Chuck can pursue in the meantime, along with a nice amount of tech, I'm sure, down there in the Orion HQ, which is just sitting empty.

Chuck is now in need of a new base of operations, after all, given the fact that Morgan inadvertently detonated Shaw's explosives and burnt the Buy More to the ground. I'd wager a guess that he'll be using the Encino home as a secret headquarters while he attempts to persuade everyone around him that he's turned civilian. I actually think that blowing up the Buy More was a risky if smart move to make for the fourth season. The writers have taken these storylines as far as they can take them without becoming cartoonish and, by clearing the decks, the writers have allowed for a new status quo to emerge, one that's not trapped in the Buy More but can move into new locations and possibilities.

Which isn't to say that I'm happy to see the backs of Jeff and Lester, because that's not true at all. Should Season Four not feature the legendary Jeffster!, I'd be pretty sad as these two bring a lot of the comic relief that's needed to balance the darker elements of Chuck's espionage world. However, I could see next season beginning with these two odd-balls on the lam as they attempt to evade arrest for arson and there's still the Beverly Hills Buy More, mentioned once again in this episode, to contend with. While the Burbank store was going out of business, the merchandise was meant to be shipped to their more luxe outpost on the other side of the hill. Which means that some of the employees could be transferred as well, should the writers opt to go in that direction.

But more likely, this is The End for the staff of the Buy More. I've loved having them here as a secondary plot device, but it just makes sense for the series to move away from the workplace-based comedy and focus more on the espionage aspects... and allow the studio to cut some production costs in the process.

(Aside: I found the Buy More plot here to be the weakest element of the season finale, particularly as we already dealt with the possibility of the store being closed or sold in "Chuck Versus the Beard." While that ended up being a Ring cover story, the emotions and reactions of the staffers to the news were more convincing and interesting there than they were here, as it was a major story point within that episode and here a subplot that didn't really have teeth, though there were some meta similarities to the ratings struggle the series had had this year.)

But as much as the season finale was about endings, it's also about new beginnings as well. Chuck finally gained a way of keeping the Intersect in check and received his father's blessing about the choices he's made in life as he prepares to fulfill his destiny. Chuck and Sarah finally have a shot at a normal life and the security of knowing that their significant other isn't going into the line of fire each day... though Chuck's arrival at Orion HQ would seem to challenge that. (I also wonder if Sarah, like Ellie and likely Devon, will be in the dark about Chuck's extracurricular activities next season.)

Casey has reconnected with his long-lost daughter Alex, who--thanks to her kick-ass fighting abilities--would seem to be a chip off the old block. With the Buy More gone, Morgan is likely going to have to find something else to do with his life... or actually start living it for a change. And Ellie and Devon were able to come clean to each other about secrets kept over the past two seasons and start over.

Additionally, the threat of Daniel Shaw has been eliminated for now. While some viewers took offense to the romance between Shaw and Sarah earlier this season, it did set up Chuck's attempt to kill Shaw in Paris... and his eventual return here as a villain. I have to say that I like Chuck having a nemesis, particularly one as crafty, cunning, and ruthless as Shaw, someone who knows him inside and out from having been an ally and friend previously. While I'm still not entirely sure of Shaw's motivations (why is he working for the organization that gave the order to murder his wife?), I think he makes a pretty fantastic villain. And I loved the fact that he gave us a totally deadpan villain laugh, to boot.

Dare I say it that Shaw could show up again down the line, the veritable bad penny turning up when you least expect it?

Ultimately, I thought that the season finale nicely set up a whole host of possibilities for Season Four and our beloved characters, as well as a new direction for the series itself. The long wait until we catch up with Chuck again is likely to be excruciating but I'm going to take comfort in the fact that we only have a few months to wait for more Chuck rather than half a year this time. That's one toast I'll happy take part in.

I'm curious to know just what you thought of the season finale. Did you love it? Like it? Hate it? Did you find it to be a satisfying conclusion to the various storylines set up in Season Three and an end to the Daniel Shaw/The Ring plotline? Glad that a Ellie knows about Chuck's secret? What do you make of the new member of their clandestine little group, Alex? And just what will all of them do for cover stories next season now that the Burbank Buy More has burned to the ground? Discuss.

Season Four of Chuck begins this fall on NBC.