5×22: Chuck the Prophet
Unlike prior episodes in which Chuck appears, his primary role in this episode is that of narrator. At the beginning we see him writing his last book, which coincides with his voiceover of the show itself, implying that we are seeing the events unfold as he recounts them in the text. The pairing of his writing with what appear to be archival images and flashbacks “constructs his writing as an accurate record of history,” imbuing his words with an authority and “emotional knowledge and insight into the characters” that was previously (such as in 4×18) less solidified (Fathallah 165-66). The rest of the episode is interspersed with Chuck’s narratorial interjections, thus “constructing the Winchesters and friends for the first time as characters in his narrative rather than independent individuals whose lives we witness through suspension of disbelief” (Fathallah 166, emphasis mine).
Because of Chuck’s narration, we have a sense, more than we ever have before, that the narrative is unchangeable, that things are going according to plan (the question is, whose?), and that they will end on a satisfying note. This is not the first time in the show that characters have been, or have felt, trapped in a narrative, forced to fulfill their fate—we even saw this tension in “The Monster at the End of This Book.” But Chuck’s framing of the narrative makes it feel as though the real narrative of which the boys, and every other character, are a part is the one where they win, not the one that the forces of Heaven and Hell have been pushing them towards the whole time.
Chuck’s alternative place within the typical formal presentation of the show, as narrator rather than primarily character, forces us to call into question his relationship to authorship. In particular, his claims that he does not to know the full story ring false. After Lucifer takes over Sam’s body, Dean calls Chuck, who was in the middle of writing a section dedicated to the boys’ experiences of home on the road, to find out where the “title fight goes down.” Chuck first addresses Dean as “Mistress Magda,” apparently expecting a call from a prostitute and not anticipating Dean’s call. He does know where the final confrontation happens, though, and happily tells Dean. Still, he claims, he “honestly” doesn’t know what will happen next.
Yet, as early as 4×18, Chuck seems to have possessed some knowledge of what will happen, if not a full sense of the events of the future. Additionally, his voiceovers throughout the episode are dripping with dramatic irony, a sense of the inevitability of the ending, which Chuck must know in order to foreshadow it in his writing.
The God Author 