#however also

As an analysis I'm cool either which way, both readings work imo. But idk how I feel about the way the analysis of Chuck as Network seems to be largely from a place of wanting/needing to defend the writers and deflect all blame for questionable writing choices to a Big Bad CW...

(not that I'm saying I 100% don't think some of the writers' creative visions/desires were censored or that I completely disbelieve the idea that some of the creative team may have hinted at the fact via plot and/or set design... those El Sol beers in Heaven continue to stand out as potentially Significant to me, for instance... but I just... am not at all sure the censorship and supposed hidden/subtextual messages about it are to the extent the current hype is portraying it as...).

HOWEVER. If we're gonna read the narrative as having STARTED OUT with Chuck as Writer (which def fits best in his early scenes in S04 and S05, where he was pretty clearly a Kripke stand in) and then CHANGED to Chuck as Network LATER - you know what would have worked REALLY GREAT to convey that? Having Chuck the character be a LITERAL HUMAN PROPHET (read: Kripke/writers) who was later POSSESSED BY GOD (read: the Network/CW).

ie. that one theory, of several, of how Chuck as god would actually work within the narrative of the show we were batting about during those many years when god!Chuck was still purely subtext (the theory that was, incidentally, my second favourite... after the idea that prophet!Chuck was an amnesiac god who deliberately turned himself human because of reasons al a the Doctor in Family of Blood).

Because - perfect representation of how Networks 'take control' of writers and how they (often/sometimes) force a narrative of their choosing/design onto a show/characters that remains, nevertheless, credited under the writers' name(s).

Now... I'm not saying my reason for bringing this up is because I have ALWAYS FUCKING HATED HOW THE SHOW EXPLAINED CHUCK BEING GOD AND HAVE FOREVER BEEN GUTTED AT LOSING PROPHET!CHUCK AS A CHARACTER VIA THE RETCON.

...except that is exactly what I'm saying (obviously)

And I will now be forever headcanoning that the scene at the end of S05 with Chuck in white WAS prophet!Chuck being possessed (and thus killed, obliterated, removed from the story) by God, who then went on to use his body/form for the lolz and made up the bullshit 'explanation' of prophet!Chuck being "method acting" (with the metanarrative therefore being - the writers, inc Kripke, were never the 'god' of the story, that was ALWAYS the Network, who took over, or at least became a more significant force over the story, when Kripke left at the end of S05).

So yah.

Prophet!Chuck was real. God!Chuck is a different character. I've finally defeated that one narrative choice that kicked me out of the story all those years ago (all thanks to the other narrative choices in the final two episodes that did the same all over again) - huzzah.

The conversation continues... - Willam being called out/talked through his transphobic comments for a good 15 mins by Courtney/Alaska mostly.