Entertainment

The 'Chuck' Pilot Vs. The Finale

To watch Chuck is to fall in love with Chuck. It has been three years since NBC's spy comedy went off the air with a heartbreaker of a finale and I am still not over it. The good news is, thanks to Netflix I can watch the adventures of Chuck, Sarah, Casey, and Morgan whenever I want. During a recent rewatch, I saw the pilot and the finale back-to-back and I was blown away by just how many callbacks there are in "Chuck Versus the Goodbye."

A big part of the similarities have to do with — sob — Sarah's memory loss. Her relationship with Chuck and Casey is essentially reset, leading to some interesting parallels to her first encounters with the two most important men in her life. Leave it to the Chuck writers to come up with such a clever way to bring Chuck back to where he started in a way that doesn't completely undo all of the character development he went through.

The big goodbye is made all the more resonant because the writers took time to connect it to the pilot in a meaningful way. The biggest difference is the pilot was full of all the potential for stories to come while the finale ushered fans out of Chuck's world for good. How is anyone supposed to get over that? Since it is impossible, the only thing a Chuck fan can do is appreciate just how clever the show was. Here's a look at just how many ways the Chuck pilot and finale mirrored one another:

Image: Warner Bros. TV; Dawn Foster/Bustle