photo source: schmoesknow.com
I fall in love with movies and I still find the fact that films can make one individual relate and be drawn to characters in a span of two and a half hours (on the average) magical. Logically, tv series could do it easier than films because a viewer would be spending more than 2.5 hours with the story and its characters. And I had actually experienced that with a tv series once, more than a decade ago, when a show entitled "Jack & Bobby" was shown in a local tv network.
photo source: gstatic.com
However, after discovering that this magnificent show about the teenage years of two brothers - one of whom will be the future president of the United States - got cancelled after the first season, I realized that the things that draw me to a tv series may not be what a successful one is made of.
Fast forward to May 2017 (when the only series I have followed so far since Jack and Bobby was Game of Thrones), I was watching The Head and The Heart's Rivers and Roads Video on YouTube. The band is of the country folk genre, and their music is so enthralling with lyrics that speak deep to your mind, your heart and your soul (perhaps which is why they are aptly called The Head and The Heart). I was browsing through the comments section when I noticed that almost all of the comments says "Chuck brought me here." I then recalled hearing about a series with the same title way back in college (read: 6 or more years ago), and I could remember people getting excited over it. So I searched for the show online and was able to find a site where I could watch the first episode. It was one morning of May 2017, and I was on board a delayed flight from Cebu to Manila when I decided to watch the first episode of Chuck, which aired in the U.S. in 2007. My memory of the day I was introduced to the world of Mr. Charles Irving "Chuck" Bartowski, Sarah Walker, Morgan Grimes and the whole gang - and Buy More - is very clear. I don't think I will ever forget it. But, unlike others, Rivers and Roads brought me to Chuck.
What makes Chuck special? I couldn't actually tell what sets it apart from the other series as I only have two (and an episode or two of) other series to compare it with, but what I can attest to is that Chuck is a show that is full of heart. It is basically a love story inside an action-packed setting of the spy world. The beauty of the show lies in how a viewer could effortlessly relate to the characters, or on how it could pull a viewer's strings of emotions and make a him/her empathize with what a character feels. One can easily see himself in the ordinary nerd that Chuck is who continually raises similar questions that a person his age would ask. Or one is invited to become a part of the beautiful relationships in the show: the heartwarming sibling love between Chuck and Ellie, the unbeatable bond of Chuck and Morgan, or the honest and genuine love Chuck and Sarah have for each other amid a world of pretension and lies. Its beautiful storytelling, supported by the impeccably-selected background songs in almost every scene, always hits home, to the point that I had to choose between sleep and Chuck. And I must admit there were nights I fought with myself to choose sleep.
Six months later, my journey with Chuck ended when I finally decided to finish the fourth and fifth seasons of Chuck last October. It was a bittersweet feeling - watching the final scene and knowing that what comes next in the stories of Chuck and Sarah and the gang will be pure imagination until a new episode or movie arrives. But it has been 5 years since the last episode of this wonderful series, and while I feel fortunate that I was introduced to Chuck, I fervidly want more people to get a taste of this series and perhaps experience all the emotions I felt following this story, and create the same deep, personal attachment I consider among the best things that happened to me in a very long time.
Indeed, it was a personal journey with Chuck and Sarah and John Casey and Morgan and Ellie and the whole "Buy More" gang. It was like being a part of a fictional family with characters, story, words, and music harmoniously touching my soul every episode. It may sound like a cliche, but this is one of those stages in your life you could certainly say "I'm just happy it happened."
A lot of great things happened to me this year, but definitely on top of that list is stumbling upon this series, and knowing that I will be forever a fan of Chuck, and that it will be forever a part of me.
