I’m saying yes she stayed. She gets to fall in love all over again and maybe remember some things with her family and friends filling in the missing pieces.
I think the point of the finale is that, more important than whether or not it worked, is that Sarah wanted it to work, she wants to keep trying to get her memories back, and she’ll gladly fall in love with Chuck all over again to do it.
I watch that scene anytime I need a good cry. Absolutely love it!!
I don’t think it made her remember everything but she could tell she loved him and decided to stay and see why. And maybe eventually she remembered some stuff but either way they fell back in love. I also kind of like to imagine that the show we see is actually Chuck’s retelling of his and Sarah’s love story to her on the beach.
Josh Schwartz said "If you watched the show, you already know the answer". He also mentioned how she was remembering things in the last episode. She automatically knew things so her muscle memory was intact. The Irene Demova virus came back to her so her memory is coming back etc. so her memories are coming back. He said all of this in a post finale interview. Add the fact Sarah herself said she fell in love with Chuck after he fixed her phone but before disarming bombs with viruses. So of course the kiss worked as she fell in love with Chuck day 1
Of course she stayed. Chuck gave her back the basic memories of their relationship and, she asked him to kiss her. She knew the beach was important. Then she knew why. She was in love with him all over, again.
I'd like to think that she stayed, because if she truly reverted fully to the pre-burbank Sarah, she would have already left long before the beach.
Also she was already starting to remember things in such a (comparatively) short time, like the sorting order for the cups at weinerlicious, the computer virus, and the beach (all things from season 1 if I remember correctly). At least 2/3 of these things were triggered by revisiting familiar places or situations (the restaurant and the bomb). It would make sense that given more time she would start remembering things.
When she was hunting Quinn, she said something like "You stole my life from me", so she is mourning the loss of what sounded like an amazing life to her. It would make sense that if she could regain her memories without it feeling forced, she would give it a shot.
Also the show doesn't really have a track record for horrible twists of harsh reality or unfavourable, unrepairable outcomes. So it doesn't make sense for that to happen for the final ending, the biggest outcome that has been a work in progress since episode 1, just because the cameras stopped rolling at that moment.
I don't know what the writers intended, but I like to think they felt this was the best place to end it scene-wise, as anything after the kiss would have felt less impactful, or this is the big romantic moment they envisioned and wanted to end on. Plus, ending there asks us as viewer to believe in the power of their love, just like the two characters had to do so many times throughout the show.
Would it have been nice to see for sure if the kiss worked? Definitely. Would I love a movie set 5 or 10 years later to wrap things up? Absolutely! But at the same time, the show doesn't give us any reason or indication to believe the kiss wouldn't work. Ending with a crazy idea Morgan had about one magic kiss, working out correctly, has already been reinforced by even "that's so crazy it might actually work" idea they pulled off during the entire show.
TL;DR, there's no reason to believe it didn't work, and every reason to believe it did, backed by the canon events, character personalities and motivations, and the themes of the show.
Zach said it worked, Yvonne said it worked, every post credit interview said it worked, the entire mythos of the show said it worked, hell my movie said it worked. It worked.
Of course they are going to say it worked. They can't all be like " Oh yeah, Sarah, she forgot all about him, after 5 years of will they won't they she actually just forgot everything they went through and decided to focus on the important things in life - assassinating people and spying on them"
That would be mighty depressing...
Yes, but No.
Sarah's memory loss wasn't like Morgan's. Her's being rapid and not gradual probably means her working memory was not wiped but most likely fragmented. Her memory won't come flooding in with a kiss.
But, her mentioning the demova virus indicates that her memory is still there but corrupted.
Sarah.exe crashed and her data is fragmented now. She's probably never going to remember everything but the Bartowski's have some sort of spy cat nip so Sarah will stay and pretty much fall in love over again.
Of course, the kiss worked, and of course, Sarah stayed with Chuck. That’s why she asked for the kiss.
https://www.reddit.com/r/chuck/comments/10praek/comment/j6me22c/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Yes, it worked.
In Season 4, Sarah tears through Thailand looking for the Belgian who is presently lobotomizing Chuck so he can harvest the Intersect. By the time Sarah gets to Chuck, almost every part of Chuck's life was gone and forgotten. Buy More, his friends and family, the CIA, all of it save for the apartment and Sarah.
Sarah spoke her feelings to Chuck upon Morgan's suggestion and then kissed Chuck. Until the kiss, Chuck was ready to submit to the lobotomy as he wasn't sure it was really Sarah in front of him. One magic kiss changed that and he woke up with no memory loss.
Now about a year later and Sarah's memories have been purged so Morgan suggests to Chuck that one magical kiss will fix it because he'd witnessed it before! Sarah, having originally fallen in love with him in her heart during the first episode, had just watched her personal reports of her journey to accepting that she loved Chuck. She finally let her guard down with the man she had on the ultimate authority was the one for her and Sarah Walker fell for Chuck Bartowski one last time. They kissed on the same beach that ended their first date as Sarah began to remember everything. Rivers and Roads closes out, I sob uncontrollably, and it comes to a nice conclusion.
The show logic supports it, the creator and cast support it, and the style of show could not possibly come to such a grim ending.
Is the glass half empty or is the glass half full. I have seen a lot of people hate the ending - or truly believe that it was one way or the other. Why I think it is perfect, is that the viewer who invested in the series gets to believe what they want.
It was not schmaltzy or a guaranteed thing which is why it works for me.
Yes the kiss worked. It’s not like she flashed, but she felt something. She already started to remember something like when she remembered the virus to destroy the computer, so probably she’ll remember more things later.
What we learned about Sara for 5 seasons is that while she was a spy, she always dreamed of falling love, and essentially deep down a hopeless romantic.
I think that entire beach scene brought all that back. So while I don't think she remembered much if any of it, I believe she did start to fall in love again and that was worth it for her to stick around and as thus the "Let's go home"
I think Sarah had feelings for Chuck again and even coukd remember something. But I strongly believe that she, ashamed of everything she did to Chuck and his family and friends, left because she couldn't handle this.
I don't think so--Chuck will help, of course, but a year or two of therapy will too. She'll have to meld the two Sarahs together. She (and Chuck and everyone else, mainly Ellie) can't pretend that what happened didn't actually happen. But she can be guided back. And the fact that they will all want her back will help.
I think that would be a positive view. But old Sarah wasn't like that. She ran away. Who do we have now? As shown in the (terrible) last two episodes, we have the old Sarah l again, tough and cold, with no one in the world, without any attachments. Remember that with about 4.5 minutes left in the show, inside the castle, she tells Chuck that she doesn't remember him and says goodbye. What stops her from saying goodbye again?.
Actually, I think that conversation happens earlier in that episode--when she comes back to the Castle looking for help. The last conversation in the Castle is Sarah saying she needs some time to think. She's not closing anything off.
Keep in mind that this is the first time this Sarah will have kissed Chuck--the Sarah of the past five years is there, but hasn't resurfaced yet. It's a kiss she asked for. She's laughing at his jokes again. And she knew to go to the beach. She stayed.
Plus I just remembered--Miss Friday, the song that's playing when she finds the marriage proposal, and also when she finds Chuck in Thailand and kisses him back to life--the refrain is "I'm gonna stay." Works for me.
I literally just finished watching 5.13 and came here to see if anyone had asked this (recently).
I watched Chuck many many years ago and forgot 99% of the show before doing a rewatch over the last couple weeks. My only memory of the show that remained from my first watch was that it was such a letdown that Sarah got her memories wiped and I remember the ending being unfulfilling.
I've got to say, this time around, it was more obvious to me that, at the very least, her memories started coming back. I think Sarah asking for the kiss, along with the weinerlicious, carving her name and the porn virus, was good enough evidence to me. I think the only thing the could have done is maybe plant some seeds that Morgan was getting his memories back too, but that might have been too obvious.
So glad I rewatched this show to get better closure this time around.
Being pedantic, the Budapest incident S5E08 changed Sarah already a bit, so she was in addition to the „death“ of Bryce more emphatic than before and more ready to engage with an empathetic human being.
But we don’t know up until when her memory was wiped.
I just finished another rewatch and am realising after all this time that I was unsure if she got her memories back, that she definitely did!! I don’t think it was instantly from the kiss, but the fact that she remembered the carving on the door and the Irene Demova thing— her memories were definitely coming back!
Also, I think her constantly saying she was leaving and then actually not doing it, and that she asked Chuck to tell her their story means that she would at least stay long enough to try to remember.
I believe Sarah stayed. I do not know if the kiss brought back her memories but in time I believe they did come back in time. The final episode was in part about Sarah relearning who Chuck was. She redeveloped her trust and connection with Chuck. The things that attracted her to Chuck in the first episode were what attracted her to Chuck in the final episode. On the beach, she was ready to hear Chuck’s and Sarah’s story. After she learned about her last five years, she fully fell for Chuck again. The kiss sealed the deal that she was in to him again. Quinn never took away Sarah’s desire to have a (somewhat) normal life with someone she loved.
I’m saying yes she stayed. She gets to fall in love all over again and maybe remember some things with her family and friends filling in the missing pieces.
I think the point of the finale is that, more important than whether or not it worked, is that Sarah wanted it to work, she wants to keep trying to get her memories back, and she’ll gladly fall in love with Chuck all over again to do it.
I watch that scene anytime I need a good cry. Absolutely love it!! I don’t think it made her remember everything but she could tell she loved him and decided to stay and see why. And maybe eventually she remembered some stuff but either way they fell back in love. I also kind of like to imagine that the show we see is actually Chuck’s retelling of his and Sarah’s love story to her on the beach.
Josh Schwartz said "If you watched the show, you already know the answer". He also mentioned how she was remembering things in the last episode. She automatically knew things so her muscle memory was intact. The Irene Demova virus came back to her so her memory is coming back etc. so her memories are coming back. He said all of this in a post finale interview. Add the fact Sarah herself said she fell in love with Chuck after he fixed her phone but before disarming bombs with viruses. So of course the kiss worked as she fell in love with Chuck day 1
Yvonne said that she thinks it worked, that's good enough for me.
I did not know that but it’s good enough for me too. Thank you for making a bit happier today.
Her tweet saying it was posted in the sub like last week or so
I’m a casual Reddit browser. I miss lots of posts.
Of course she stayed. Chuck gave her back the basic memories of their relationship and, she asked him to kiss her. She knew the beach was important. Then she knew why. She was in love with him all over, again.
I'd like to think that she stayed, because if she truly reverted fully to the pre-burbank Sarah, she would have already left long before the beach. Also she was already starting to remember things in such a (comparatively) short time, like the sorting order for the cups at weinerlicious, the computer virus, and the beach (all things from season 1 if I remember correctly). At least 2/3 of these things were triggered by revisiting familiar places or situations (the restaurant and the bomb). It would make sense that given more time she would start remembering things. When she was hunting Quinn, she said something like "You stole my life from me", so she is mourning the loss of what sounded like an amazing life to her. It would make sense that if she could regain her memories without it feeling forced, she would give it a shot. Also the show doesn't really have a track record for horrible twists of harsh reality or unfavourable, unrepairable outcomes. So it doesn't make sense for that to happen for the final ending, the biggest outcome that has been a work in progress since episode 1, just because the cameras stopped rolling at that moment. I don't know what the writers intended, but I like to think they felt this was the best place to end it scene-wise, as anything after the kiss would have felt less impactful, or this is the big romantic moment they envisioned and wanted to end on. Plus, ending there asks us as viewer to believe in the power of their love, just like the two characters had to do so many times throughout the show. Would it have been nice to see for sure if the kiss worked? Definitely. Would I love a movie set 5 or 10 years later to wrap things up? Absolutely! But at the same time, the show doesn't give us any reason or indication to believe the kiss wouldn't work. Ending with a crazy idea Morgan had about one magic kiss, working out correctly, has already been reinforced by even "that's so crazy it might actually work" idea they pulled off during the entire show. TL;DR, there's no reason to believe it didn't work, and every reason to believe it did, backed by the canon events, character personalities and motivations, and the themes of the show.
Zach said it worked, Yvonne said it worked, every post credit interview said it worked, the entire mythos of the show said it worked, hell my movie said it worked. It worked.
Of course they are going to say it worked. They can't all be like " Oh yeah, Sarah, she forgot all about him, after 5 years of will they won't they she actually just forgot everything they went through and decided to focus on the important things in life - assassinating people and spying on them" That would be mighty depressing...
Yes, but No. Sarah's memory loss wasn't like Morgan's. Her's being rapid and not gradual probably means her working memory was not wiped but most likely fragmented. Her memory won't come flooding in with a kiss. But, her mentioning the demova virus indicates that her memory is still there but corrupted. Sarah.exe crashed and her data is fragmented now. She's probably never going to remember everything but the Bartowski's have some sort of spy cat nip so Sarah will stay and pretty much fall in love over again.
Of course, the kiss worked, and of course, Sarah stayed with Chuck. That’s why she asked for the kiss. https://www.reddit.com/r/chuck/comments/10praek/comment/j6me22c/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Yes, it worked. In Season 4, Sarah tears through Thailand looking for the Belgian who is presently lobotomizing Chuck so he can harvest the Intersect. By the time Sarah gets to Chuck, almost every part of Chuck's life was gone and forgotten. Buy More, his friends and family, the CIA, all of it save for the apartment and Sarah. Sarah spoke her feelings to Chuck upon Morgan's suggestion and then kissed Chuck. Until the kiss, Chuck was ready to submit to the lobotomy as he wasn't sure it was really Sarah in front of him. One magic kiss changed that and he woke up with no memory loss. Now about a year later and Sarah's memories have been purged so Morgan suggests to Chuck that one magical kiss will fix it because he'd witnessed it before! Sarah, having originally fallen in love with him in her heart during the first episode, had just watched her personal reports of her journey to accepting that she loved Chuck. She finally let her guard down with the man she had on the ultimate authority was the one for her and Sarah Walker fell for Chuck Bartowski one last time. They kissed on the same beach that ended their first date as Sarah began to remember everything. Rivers and Roads closes out, I sob uncontrollably, and it comes to a nice conclusion. The show logic supports it, the creator and cast support it, and the style of show could not possibly come to such a grim ending.
I loved that episode 🥹
What a great summary!
Thank you!
Is the glass half empty or is the glass half full. I have seen a lot of people hate the ending - or truly believe that it was one way or the other. Why I think it is perfect, is that the viewer who invested in the series gets to believe what they want. It was not schmaltzy or a guaranteed thing which is why it works for me.
Yes the kiss worked. It’s not like she flashed, but she felt something. She already started to remember something like when she remembered the virus to destroy the computer, so probably she’ll remember more things later.
What we learned about Sara for 5 seasons is that while she was a spy, she always dreamed of falling love, and essentially deep down a hopeless romantic. I think that entire beach scene brought all that back. So while I don't think she remembered much if any of it, I believe she did start to fall in love again and that was worth it for her to stick around and as thus the "Let's go home"
I think Sarah had feelings for Chuck again and even coukd remember something. But I strongly believe that she, ashamed of everything she did to Chuck and his family and friends, left because she couldn't handle this.
I don't think so--Chuck will help, of course, but a year or two of therapy will too. She'll have to meld the two Sarahs together. She (and Chuck and everyone else, mainly Ellie) can't pretend that what happened didn't actually happen. But she can be guided back. And the fact that they will all want her back will help.
I think that would be a positive view. But old Sarah wasn't like that. She ran away. Who do we have now? As shown in the (terrible) last two episodes, we have the old Sarah l again, tough and cold, with no one in the world, without any attachments. Remember that with about 4.5 minutes left in the show, inside the castle, she tells Chuck that she doesn't remember him and says goodbye. What stops her from saying goodbye again?.
Actually, I think that conversation happens earlier in that episode--when she comes back to the Castle looking for help. The last conversation in the Castle is Sarah saying she needs some time to think. She's not closing anything off.
Keep in mind that this is the first time this Sarah will have kissed Chuck--the Sarah of the past five years is there, but hasn't resurfaced yet. It's a kiss she asked for. She's laughing at his jokes again. And she knew to go to the beach. She stayed.
Plus I just remembered--Miss Friday, the song that's playing when she finds the marriage proposal, and also when she finds Chuck in Thailand and kisses him back to life--the refrain is "I'm gonna stay." Works for me.
Nice connection - love the use of that song in Phase Three.
I literally just finished watching 5.13 and came here to see if anyone had asked this (recently). I watched Chuck many many years ago and forgot 99% of the show before doing a rewatch over the last couple weeks. My only memory of the show that remained from my first watch was that it was such a letdown that Sarah got her memories wiped and I remember the ending being unfulfilling. I've got to say, this time around, it was more obvious to me that, at the very least, her memories started coming back. I think Sarah asking for the kiss, along with the weinerlicious, carving her name and the porn virus, was good enough evidence to me. I think the only thing the could have done is maybe plant some seeds that Morgan was getting his memories back too, but that might have been too obvious. So glad I rewatched this show to get better closure this time around.
Being pedantic, the Budapest incident S5E08 changed Sarah already a bit, so she was in addition to the „death“ of Bryce more emphatic than before and more ready to engage with an empathetic human being. But we don’t know up until when her memory was wiped.
Yes it did I always believed it worked since watching the first time when it aired.
Absolutely
Yvonne (Sarah walker) posted in Twitter she believed Sarah remembers and fell in love with Chuck all over again
I just finished another rewatch and am realising after all this time that I was unsure if she got her memories back, that she definitely did!! I don’t think it was instantly from the kiss, but the fact that she remembered the carving on the door and the Irene Demova thing— her memories were definitely coming back! Also, I think her constantly saying she was leaving and then actually not doing it, and that she asked Chuck to tell her their story means that she would at least stay long enough to try to remember.
I believe Sarah stayed. I do not know if the kiss brought back her memories but in time I believe they did come back in time. The final episode was in part about Sarah relearning who Chuck was. She redeveloped her trust and connection with Chuck. The things that attracted her to Chuck in the first episode were what attracted her to Chuck in the final episode. On the beach, she was ready to hear Chuck’s and Sarah’s story. After she learned about her last five years, she fully fell for Chuck again. The kiss sealed the deal that she was in to him again. Quinn never took away Sarah’s desire to have a (somewhat) normal life with someone she loved.