Scott Bakula has an ax to grind — literally, he’s sharpening an ax at a remote woodland cabin that gets a daily newspaper delivery. He gets Ellie’s coded message in the classified ads and replies; she passes his reply on to Justin. At about the same time, Morgan caves to Sarah about Chuck’s dream wherein Shaw was still alive. Chuck, however, lies openly to his father about still being in the CIA when he suddenly arrives at the Buy More to check up before responding to Ellie’s distress call in person.
Ellie is meeting with Justin, and he gives her a device to block Casey’s comms in the courtyard of the apartment building. Sarah and Casey discuss potential plans for flushing out the zombie Shaw. Chuck suffers as they retrace Sarah and Shaw’s steps until Chuck flashes on a penthouse belonging to Shaw, and they have an idea where to go. Stephen shows up at Ellie’s house, surprising her and Chuck. He tries to talk to them but he knows Chuck’s still spying in spite of his attempts to dissuade him. Ellie, near hysteria at the thought of the threat John might present to her father, sneaks away to meet Justin (fear not, John is close behind her).
Chuck and Sarah take off to Shaw’s old penthouse to try and determine if he’s still alive. They are interrupted, however, by the arrival of Shaw(?) at the door. Hiding in the closet works for a few moments, but they’re betrayed and he makes an escape, hotly pursued by Sarah and Chuck. After a failed long jump, “Shaw” returns to confront Chuck, who is hanging from the roof. “Shaw?” Chuck rasps, struggling to remain aloft. “Shaw’s dead,” Justin growls. “Want to join him?” He’s driven away by supporting fire from Sarah, on the street below. Stephen is the next to appear, and hauls Chuck up to the roof. “Just an analyst, huh?”
Back at Castle, they discuss the contents of Shaw’s case, dropped by Justin in his escape, and Stephen bemoans Chuck’s continued involvement. Justin meets Ellie and tells her he has a backup plan, but it will require actual spy work on her part.
John Casey presents the phone conversation between Ellie and Justin to Morgan and asks if she would cheat. Morgan doesn’t buy it for a second but goes to Devon and asks how they usually spend their days. Eight beers or so later, Morgan is hilariously speechless at the unbelievable (royal is a comic understatement) way Devon treats Ellie.
Stephen confronts and finally gets a straight answer from Chuck about the Intersect, but only after throwing a devious trick. He leaves (very distressed), meets Ellie in the courtyard and, speaking of devious tricks, continues with a tracking button on his coat compliments of his misguided (and very distressed) daughter. Back at his remote cabin, Stephen boots up an incredibly complex computer system and electronic workshop and gets busy. Chuck worries aloud to Sarah, who has tracked down his father for him. The Ring arrives and interrogates Stephen — and is still interrogating him when Chuck shows up. He flashes and he and Sarah save his Dad. Awww… His Dad confesses that what he’s been working on is a “governor”, a pacemaker of sorts that helps prevent the adverse effects of the Intersect.
Morgan assures John Casey that Devon is no problem to their relationship, so John sneaks into their apartment to put in some surveillance. Ellie arrives while he’s upstairs and frantically calls Justin. He tries to get her to shoot him but she beats him down with a frying pan and runs off with Justin as he lays unconscious on the floor.
Sarah gives Chuck her will amidst his protests. Stephen continues his work on the Governor. Chuck sits down at his MacBook Pro and begins tapping out his own will. Shaw begins downloading the Ring’s Intersect. Casey stirs weakly as he awakens on the kitchen floor at Devon and Ellie’s; Ellie is locked in Justin’s office worrying, but we don’t see Justin.
Wait, back up – WHAT? Shaw? Intersect? Yeah.
And if anyone asks, yes I am in fact ignoring the subplot of Lester and Jeff playing music in the Buy More.
