Chuck and Sarah: why them?
Chuck doesn’t have luck with girls. This is made very clear during the first few episodes, like when he was pushing potential dates away with his stories about an ex named Jill at his birthday party. Ellie tries and tries but to no avail to hook him up with one of her friends, getting her boyfriend Captain Awesome to help too. But Chuck doesn’t feel like he fits in with these people, these girls. They don’t like his ‘costume’ and they don’t find him funny. Luckily, Chuck’s luck is about to change.
Sarah Walker is dark and mysterious… not in a literal sense, however. In fact she’s really quite blonde and friendly. But that’s just the exterior. In fact, her name may not even be Sarah Walker and she may not really be from Washington. But she definitely is a highly-skilled CIA agent that doesn’t take no for an answer. Sarah’s set herself up for disaster in previous relationships, but she doesn’t let the past repeat itself. And she’s sure as hell not going to let a nerd like Chuck Bartowski break her heart on the job like Bryce Larkin did.
Working at a Buy More can’t be that fun. Especially when you’re the supervisor of a Nerd Herd and you fix computers for a living. Chuck Bartowski was going through a quarter-life crisis: he didn’t know what was going on with his career; he lives with his sister and her boyfriend, and hasn’t been on a date in five years. It’s not because he’s unattractive or unintelligent, in fact it’s completely the opposite. It was just that no girls seemed to get him. They didn’t appreciate his sense of humour or his charm. Fortunately for Chuck this all changed one afternoon when Sarah Walker walked through the Buy-More doors.
Sarah wasn’t looking for romance, yet she walked into that store fully aware she was going to be asking someone on a date. Not just anyone though; whoever had government secrets stored in his brain. Get to him before the NSA does, she told herself. Bryce may be dead but Sarah was still cleaning up after him. Why would he do such a stupid thing? E-mail government secrets to one of his college buddies fully aware that this person would never be able to return to normal once viewing the e-mail? There was a lot about Bryce Sarah didn’t know… a lot she never wanted to know.
Asking Chuck out was easy enough. He was single and therefore didn’t oblige. However, it’s apparent that Sarah is already beginning to think of him as more than just a ‘subject’. After watching him set up a mock ballet recital for a little girl’s dad to videotape, her expression is easy to read. There’s something different about Chuck and she knows it.
The two meet for dinner at a local restaurant where Chuck impresses Sarah with his humour. It’s obvious to see that the two have undeniable chemistry and that Chuck can’t believe his luck. Not only is Sarah a perfect ten, but she seems to understand him. A few more minutes and its official that Sarah’s interested. ‘I like you Chuck,’ she says while flashing an electric smile. And yes, this was a genuine reaches-your-eyes kind of smile.
Chuck learns trivial things about Sarah, like the fact that she doesn’t listen to music and doesn’t watch TV. The whole time they talk about TV and music Sarah is without a doubt flirting with him. I’m pretty sure ‘flirting’ wasn’t in the job description, but it could be argued either way.
At the end of the day (not to mention after a dance, a car crash, and Chuck saving the day), Chuck goes to the beach to mull over what has happened to him in the last 24 hours. He’s gone from being this regular, boring guy with a mediocre job and life. He’s now got all the secrets of the US government implanted inside his brain.
While the sun is rising up over the ocean, Sarah comes into focus. It was obvious she was also at the beach all night, thinking alone somewhere. The two talk and Sarah tells Chuck to trust her no matter what because his life depends on it. The two sit together on the deserted beach for awhile enjoying the sunrise. I’m pretty sure no one can argue that that’s not romantic.
Shortly after Sarah decides that it’s best for her to pose as Chuck’s girlfriend so as not to arouse suspicion. She takes up a job at the Wienerlicious restaurant across from the Buy-More so she can keep an eye on him at all times. Chuck’s family and friends have a hard time believing him when he says that Sarah’s his ‘girlfriend’, but when Ellie meets her she believes him. Ellie approves; she knows good girlfriend material when she sees it. She constantly tells Chuck that Sarah ‘isn’t like his Stanford friends’ and that she’s ‘really great’. That would be great news for Chuck if he and Sarah were actually dating.
It takes a big argument for Sarah to realize how much she really likes Chuck. The fact that he didn’t trust her (Chuck VS the Helicopter) really upset her. That’s one of the first signs that this relationship is more than just platonic (and artificial). After talking to Ellie about what happened (sort of), Chuck agrees to go and talk to Sarah, saying that if their relationship were remotely real the first fight is sort of a big deal. That whole scene inside Wienerlicious sets up the whole real/fake relationship debate… its pretty clear that there’s some tension developing.
The biggest, most pivotal moment in their budding relationship however was when they were standing out in the courtyard outside Chuck’s house. After he revealed to Sarah that he didn’t feel like a hero because no one knew about it, she comforted him by saying she knew and that’s all that matters. Suddenly feeling bolder, Chuck said ‘If we were really dating this would be the part where I’d be forced to kiss you goodnight.’ Sarah replies by saying ‘Would it be so bad?’ There’s undeniable tension between the two at this point. Chuck responds by smoothly saying ‘I think I could suffer through it,’ and after contemplating it for a minute Sarah says ‘me too,’ a dreamy look in her eyes. After a few tense and awkward moments, Sarah breaks her gaze and walks away leaving Chuck alone in the courtyard.
Now after that long summary if you still have to ask ‘Why Chuck/Sarah?’ you should probably stop reading. Well not really, but it would make sense. Within the first three episodes a believable relationship has developed. Sarah, just getting over the death of a former colleague and boyfriend, was hurt. There was a lot about Bryce Larkin she didn’t know and it hurt her to learn about him from Chuck. Before she knew it she was falling for him because of his sense of humour, decency, and maybe because he was (as Morgan so lovingly puts it) ‘good looking but not classically handsome.’
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