That sweetly charming, nerd-friendly secret-agent series Chuck will end its five-year run with two back-to-back episodes called “Chuck Versus Sarah” and “Chuck Versus the Goodbye.” But the finale could just as easily be named “Chuck Versus the Kleenex” because there’s that much weeping and wailing and tissue-grabbing going on down at the set.

“We were all feeling a great big bag of emotions heading into this season, knowing it would be our last, and it’s only gotten worse — there’s real mourning going on here,” says star Zachary Levi in between takes of a blazing gun battle on the backlot at Universal Studios. His character, computer geek-turned-spy Chuck Bartowski, and wife Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) have tracked the show’s final big baddie, Nicholas Quinn (Braveheart star Angus Macfadyen), to the local Weinerlicious in Berlin. Their goal is to kill him. Levi’s goal is a bit more difficult.

“It’s everything I can do to keep from losing my s–t,” says Levi, his eyes welling, his words catching in his throat. “Almost every scene in the finale has been tough to handle. Chuck is saying goodbye to certain characters that mean the world to him. The last scene we shot at the Buy More — the very soul of our show — was so hard we couldn’t go home. We all just sat around on the set in the dark for hours afterward sharing memories. I was a mess.”

His leading lady isn’t doing much better. “It’s so sad it’s crazy,” says Strahovski as she reaches for a paper towel off the snack table and dabs at her eyes. “To think I won’t have this show and these people — this family — in my life anymore! I was hoping to get away with maybe a tear or two, but I can’t stop doing the ugly cry.”

It doesn’t help that the finale itself is packed with trauma and heartache. “It involves the very breakdown of the Chuck and Sarah relationship,” reveals Strahovski. “It’s just awful because they’ve become such a fun, loving, Mr. and Mrs. Smith-type couple. The last episode very much asks: Will they or won’t they make it?”

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