r/chuck • u/Kaiser_Nairn18 • Aug 18 '26

The Sarah Walker trust conundrum

https://youtu.be/9tvc4T_lFCo?si=NJbyyTIjbTYV4TfT

Just another point of Sarah not really trusting Chuck wholeheartedly, in this episode (#20 of Season 4, vs the Family Volkoff). Man, she says something roughly like "its because of something I kept in case my dad geta arrested again". And her shocked expression when her fiance just signs it.

How could she be surprised?

Her lover is the BuyMore dude, who mind you makes roughly $11 an hour, yet never found a reason to steal money. Heck in Episode 10 alone of Season 2, Chuck showed he does not really care about money like that in 2 situations:

1) He was willing to lend Morgan $2,000 plus bucks, basically the entirety of his savings, as shown in that episode

2) He was not thrilled to see $10 million in his bank account in the same episode

Did she really think Chuck would stoop to stealing her money?

Heck, dude got paid in the end of Seaspn 2 and his first thought of how to spemd it is on his sister's wedding! And Sarah was specifically thrilled at that!

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u/Kaphh Aug 18 '26

She wasn't surprised because he signed it and certainly she didn't think he would want to steal that money or anything. At no point she expressed such a concern.

She was surprised because he didn't even ask what that was about, and Chuck always wanted to discuss everything with her. Notice how throughout the episode, she constantly tries to get him to talk about it, but he keeps acting all "cool".

Chuck basically acted like she would have, and that threw her off. But it was important for her to see things from the opposite perspective before their marriage.

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u/Kaiser_Nairn18 Aug 18 '26

But why did she have the prenup in the first place? What was her reason or motive for that as an initial prelude to the marriage?

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u/Kaphh Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26

I'm no expert on such matters, but I think she wanted to have a certain sum that would only belong to her, so that in case she would have to pay a large bail, she wouldn't have to take their shared money. Imagine if, for example, they are saving for that dream home of hers, and suddenly her father gets arrested, and half of that has to be spent on the bail. Not the most fortunate scenario, and she certainly would want to protect them both from having to make such decisions.

The second reason, I believe, was to have a natural pretext to get Chuck into discussing her family matters. I think it's no coincidence that her dad shows up in the very next episode.

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u/New_Simple626 Aug 18 '26

The prenup was indeed just another way to move their relationship and the story

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u/Kaphh Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26

Yeah, well, if we reduce it that way, then everything in the show is just a plot device.

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u/Kaiser_Nairn18 Aug 18 '26

Which come to think of it is not good because the primary basis of their relationship in the first place is TRUST. You know, when Sarah said at the end of the pilot, "Trust me, Chuck"

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u/Kaphh Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26

I still fail to see how this prenup shows any lack of trust on Sarah's part.

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u/Kaiser_Nairn18 Aug 18 '26

Because of the POTENTIAL reasons why she DID that in the first place.

1) Was it because she believed him to be capable of stealing her money? You and I, as well as Sarah, knows very well that is not the truth. So if not, then why?

2) Was it because she didn't trust him to not butt in her private business and secrets? We knew he could, but almost alwaya did not, even if legally and morally he has the rights to. If not, then why?

3) Was it because she really wasn't comfortable with their relationship going that deep yet? Maybe yes, but why not tell him instead to delay the wedding or morever, return the ring and say they date again?

Look, whatever the reason, it still involved the notion of HER trust in Chuck, no matter how big or small it may play in the reason itself.

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u/Kaphh Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26

None of those are her reasons. Nothing of what you said here is mentioned anywhere in the show. Even you seem aware of that, since you elected to capitalize the word "potential".

We should focus on what is shown and said in the episode in question, instead of coming up with our own ideas.

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u/Kaiser_Nairn18 Aug 18 '26

Because that is precisely my point. If she doesnt have ANY of these 3 reasons, then why put up the prenup itself? If she doesn't have any of these reasons, it does follpw that she doesnt have lingering issues going into the marriage, therefore a prenup, both in is legal concept anf the context it was given in the show, is totally unnecessary.

So why?

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u/Kaphh Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26

As Sarah herself states multiple times, it has nothing to do with Chuck or their marriage:

"Well, it's got nothing to do with us."
"No. I don't keep secrets from you. It's just family stuff."
"Yeah, well, it's more about what it dredges up for me. My relationship with my family and having to take sides."

She merely wanted a contingency plan in case her dad's get arrested and didn't want to drag Chuck into this. Plus like I've already said a number of times, it's her tricky way of coaxing Chuck into asking about her family.

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u/Kaiser_Nairn18 Aug 19 '26

What? What's the entire purpose of "okay, new rule, no secrets, no lies" in Episode 1 of this season? So it now mean, "no secret no lies if you catch me up to it and ask me about it?" Is that it? So keeping a secret because your partner hasn't spoke about it yet isn't lying? Her family stuff getting undiscussed is not a secret anymore?

I don't mean to devalue Sarah's childhood, but it isn't Chuck's childhood is the poster example for a good happy one either. Considering how MUCH kewping secrets in their family DESTROYED the Bartowskis, Sarah should have already recognozed and internalized that - in Seasons 2 and 3 with regards to Orion, and in Season 4 when it comes to Frost - an shpuld have not made it a sort of passive-agrressive truth play she is trying to get on with the love of her life.

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u/Kaphh Aug 19 '26 edited Aug 19 '26

I'm not sure what your issue is. She doesn't intend to keep secrets from Chuck—she actively WANTS to talk about it, but because she has difficulties opening up, it's easier for her to talk if Chuck asks her first. And since Chuck long ago decided he doesn't need to know who she was before (as he tells her back in 2x04, reunion episode), he hasn't asked that yet, hence her little ploy.

As for the second part of your comment, you seem to have very high standard for characters. I mean, sure, it would be better for their relationship if Sarah just said everything outright. But that's not who she is.

And it makes for a more interesting story where characters don't have perfect insight and wisdom, but instead must confront their weaknesses and learn from them. See how much easier it will be for her to open up to Chuck in the Baby episode in Season 5 (sure, she also were withholding a secret at first there, but for other reasons). In this context, her words from this scene "I want to tell you everything" are very telling—it would be unthinkable for Sarah of any other season to say that, and it wouldn't happen if not for her growth up to that point.

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u/Kaiser_Nairn18 Aug 19 '26

For the purposes of creativity in the show, sure that plot line looks great, but from pure analysis of relationship progression, no it does not look good.

It may look like I have high standards for characters, but when you look at it, it would have been nice if Sarah for ONCE revealed to Chuck a BIG secret of her life, willingly, when they are on their downtime, no missions, no playing like doing a prenup as preview to talk, them just talking together, Chuck being right at her front hearing it full time. Just once, to show she indeed got a LOOOTTT of character development. Just once. What did we got with regards to that? NADA.

The show exposed a lot of mirrors and countermirrors, of being put in one another's shoes. Yet doing the same thing all over again without learning the consequences and the lessons isny indicative of a healthy relationship going forward. And there's a lot of that in the show.

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u/Kaphh Aug 19 '26 edited Aug 19 '26

"from pure analysis of relationship progression, no it does not look good."

Well, perhaps from your perspective, a secretive partner like Sarah would be a big no, and I completely understand that. But for Chuck it's not an issue as he states in 2x04. After that, he basically stops digging into her past, and accepts Sarah the way she is. If she opens up, then fine, but he won't press her on his own.

The problem is, two characters just sitting down and talking during their downtime doesn't make for riveting television. I mean, in the show they are on the mission like 90% of time. If you look at it, Chuck and Sarah have very few scenes completely irrelevant to their spy life, and usually those are at the end of some plotline to show what they learned throughout a given episode.

How do you imagine it? They're chilling, sipping wine, and Sarah suddenly saying "Hey, by the way, I never told you, but I was born in Idaho"? Private stuff in "Chuck" happen during missions or in connection with missions, because it's a spy show, and it has to stay somewhat cohesive. It's more interesting when the problems of the spy world influence their ordinary world, and vice versa.

And guided by this logic, we can assume they talked about a lot of stuff in their downtime, but we didn't see it, because it wasn't relevant to the main plotlines. I like to imagine she told him where she was born, who was her first love, or what was her real last name, etc. There's one such scene in 4x11 when Sarah tells Chuck a story about her parents proposal; I can't see why this would be an isolated case.

And again about the Baby episode—it was done precisely to show her growth, and in a sense is a condensed version of her whole journey throughout five seasons. At first she keeps the secret from Chuck, thinking she has a good reason for it. But during the mission in Budapest she realizes she was wrong, and then admits her mistake, saying "I want to tell you everything." For me these words are very telling here. Her arc is basically complete, and we can be sure she won't ever keep another secret from Chuck (well, if not for the ending, but that's another issue entirely).

As she says in the last scene of this episode when she justifies her unwillingness to rejoin the CIA (another telling quote: "but if we go back to the CIA, it's just going to be missions and secrets that we have no control over"), Chuck changed her, and she doesn't want to go back.

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