Bands of Charah: Florence + The Machine

Wow... the final days of CHUCK filming seems to have hit everybody hard, me included! I thought I would get through a lot more posts in the sabbatical between CHUCK eps and for that I apologise! But I really hope you all enjoy this one focusing on one the hottest acts in music right now Florence Welch (aka Florence + The Machine) and Chuck & Sarah, the hottest couple in TV...ever!

My reason for choosing Florence + The Machine for this second Bands of Charah post is simple... I love her beautiful voice, in many ways it reminds me of Sarah Walker. Why you ask can a voice remind me of Sarah Walker? Well, Florence Welch's voice is just remarkably beautiful but it also has a primal raw energy that can over-power you; call it the aural or musical equivalent of a Sarah Walker beatdown

But special credit for this post idea has to go to the very awesome and supremely talented @jenmaxner, Jen really is one of the great CHUCK fans out there on twitter and definitely worth a follow if you love talking CHUCK. We have bonded over many things including a shared enjoyment of Florence + The Machine. So Jen I particularly hope you enjoy the following post.


Sarah's Choice: Shake it out
Album: Ceremonials

For starters this song is just so amazing the lyrics are amazing and Flo's voice... holy smokes!! You know how you hear or see something so beautiful that you throw your hands up and say "I don't think I could ever be THAT good or create something THAT beautiful no matter how hard I work!!" It must be the gift of a higher power...or something like that! But then you could argue the same about a certain leggy blonde super spy... But I digress...again!

 I seem to be distracted...for the life of me I don't know why?

Anyway back to the lyrics...it is just spooky how they reflect the life of Agent Sarah Walker before beginning her life together with Chuck. Let's face it Sarah Walker came with baggage; and despite the chivalrous offer of Chuck "to be her own personal baggage handler"... Sarah was always one to keep her issues strong and not let anyone in. It has been discussed at length that Sarah's life as the daughter of a Con-man and then a CIA agent meant of life of keeping secrets, dealing with life-threatening situations and especially not letting anyone in on how you are feeling or what you are thinking. 

Meeting Chuck and getting to know him as a person and spending time with his family she looks back on the life she has led and her regrets in life; the metaphorical "ghouls coming out to play and demons wanting their pound of flesh" but despite Chuck's insistence to know more about his friend and handler she is still hesitant to let Chuck inside the walls she built...but Chuck is nothing if not persistent and eventually took down the walls brick by brick. Sarah begins to understand that he just wants to know her because he loves her; Chuck realises he doesn't need to know everything about her past but he wants to be involved in everything to do with Sarah future! Any devils or demons Sarah has to face...Chuck will stare them down with her every step of the way, never taking a backward step simply because Sarah Walker means that much to him!

In many ways the melancholic nature of this song reminds me of dreaded first half of Season 3...Sarah often feels that the devils and demons of the spy life have corrupted Chuck and not only can she not be with him now but she can't see a future with him either. Most of all Sarah will never forgive herself for corrupting the soul of Chuck.




And it's hard to dance with a devil (or Daniel Shaw) on your back...


Silly Sarah didn't count on Chuck irrepressible chutzpah...he is her Chuck and always will be her Chuck! By The American Hero's Down-River moment the realisation eventually permeates into her hard-headed spy skull and she gets it!! That is the epiphany moment...

 And I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't
So here's to drinks in the dark at the end of my road
And I'm ready to suffer and I'm ready to hope
It's a shot in the dark and right at my throat
Cause looking for heaven, for the devil in me
Looking for heaven, for the devil in me
Well what the hell I'm gonna let it happen to me

Sarah knows despite the asset/handler/partner taboos and her dark history that she loves Chuck and Chuck loves her and she can no longer live in fear of this...She has to lay it on the line for a chance at a life with Chuck; just as he does for her in Paris!

With the love and support of Chuck (as well as the rest of the Bartowski gang) she can shake it out!!

Not sure this is what the song meant by "Shake it out"...but it works for me!!

Chuck's Choice: Dog Days
Album: Lungs

Let's face it Chuck's life before he met Sarah Walker had gone stagnant; he worked in a dead-end job and was letting his talent and intellect go to waste but then she walked into the Buy More...

Happiness hit him like a train on a track
Coming towards him stuck still no turning back
He hid around corners and he hid under beds
He killed it with kisses and from it he fled

Life with the intersect and teaming Sarah & Casey allowed Chuck to realise his true calling as the every-man hero and eventually as the leader of men he is now! At the beginning he wanted nothing more than to get rid of the intersect from his head...but he had to "run" with the spy life to keep alive and protect his family...

 Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father
Run for your children, for your sisters and brothers
Leave all your loving, your loving behind
You cant carry it with you if you want to survive


The dog days are over
The dog days are done
Can you hear the horses?
'Cause here they come

But when given a chance to live without the intersect and have a normal life (most likely without Sarah)...he chose to continue to "run" again with the spy life because he could make a difference to the world and because he loved Sarah and in all honesty being around Sarah Walker makes Chuck want to be a better man.

This song is about chasing opportunity... leaving your comfort zone and the life you know to chase something better and more rewarding! This is what Chuck did; he made the choice to be an agent because Sarah showed him that he could make a difference and how could he live with himself going back to his own life knowing what was happening at the coal-face with operatives like Casey and especially Sarah.

Make no mistake though, more than anything the opportunity Chuck was chasing after was a chance to have life together with Sarah, the women he loves! Once he knew Sarah felt the same way, nothing on this earth (or in the universe) was going to stop Chuck from making this a reality...not Beckman...not The CIA...not The Ring and most definitely not Daniel "Frakkin" Shaw!

As long as Chuck has the love of Sarah and the support of his family and friends; the dog days are well and truly over and may the halcyon days begin!

I agree with you two... I am just relieved the Shaw episodes were finally over too!

Both of these songs invoke memories of what life was like for Sarah and Chuck before they met each other...

Sarah Walker was brilliant spy who dedicated her life to the protection of her country and was a true hero. But she was a lonely also soul who threw herself into the spy life with no family support to anchor her in the real world.

Chuck has a great (albeit different) family to which he is the emotional centre; he could not be a better brother to his older sister Ellie and her boyfriend Devon. He is a great friend and especially loyal to his best friend (Morgan) and other work colleagues who are not always easy to get along with or for that matter... even like. But he has lost all confidence in himself, the whole world can see he is meant for better things but he just can not. The sad truth was the Jill and Stanford experience really did a number on him!

Separately both are good people who have a lot to be proud of; but both have flaws...but together? Wow, they just complete each other and both become greater than what they were before. The whole of Chuck and Sarah (Charah) are much more than the sum of their parts!

This to me is perhaps one of the greatest things about the show;  the idea that trust, love and respect can drive people on to greater heights...

• It made made Sarah open up her emotions and believe that she can be more than just a CIA Agent...to the point where she can be considered the emotional heart of Team Bartowski/Carmichael Industries (in episodes such as DeLorean, American Hero, Phase 3 and Frosted Tips).
• It gives Chuck the confidence to believe he can both be a hero and a leader of men, hard to believe when we are first introduced to him.

I think we can all agree that both Chuck Bartowski and Sarah Walker are individually very good characters but together they transcend their flaws and enrich each other to become really awesome together!

Dog Days?...Over!!

PS: I know how hard the end of Chuck filming has hit me and I guess most of you Chucksters out there may feel the same! I want to say that talking and sharing experiences of CHUCK with others has been of some consolation and thanks to all you guys!!


I am proud to call myself part of the CHUCK fanbase; it really is an awesome group of people!


I also want to share a video made by the talented (and recently flippant) @dren_lla  who made a simple yet poetic and moving Thank You Chuck video... Top marks rookie!! ;-)


Enjoy the Versus The Hack-Off and Five Chunks of CHUCK will be back next week (with an all new bonus section)


Till next we meet... Be Awesome!!