Three years ago, Sarah breezed in the front doors of the Buy More and swept Chuck off his feet. Morgan is asking him how it felt, as Hannah breezes in and wows him in a similar fashion (except, of course, Hannah isn’t targeting Morgan). Casey steps in and drags Chuck off to the Castle for a briefing on Manoosh Depak, who has transferred quite a bit of money from an offshore account belonging to the Ring to a civilian account. Since he’s a computer geek, Chuck is to develop him as an asset to determine what he’s doing for the Ring. When Manoosh arrives at the Buy More to purchase a new part for his computer, Chuck mishandles it terribly, putting off both Manoosh and Hannah.
We see, too, that Captain Awesome is not awesome – jumpy, not exercising, watching a lot of television, and Ellie is as concerned about him as she is about her brother. She has discovered that he went to Paris, and wonders why he hasn’t said anything; she knows it’s one of Chuck’s lifelong dreams. Devon tries to avoid the questions but he is not good at hiding things from Ellie and comes off as very spastic, which does NOT put her at ease.
Back at buy more Jeff and Lester are hanging on, drooling over Hannah. Chuck asks Morgan to run interference, and he in turn asks the duo to find out Hannah’s likes and dislikes. Jeff and Lester succeed in confirming that Hannah is socially way above him.
In the Castle Casey and Sarah continue to work on schooling Chuck in the fine art of developing an asset. Chuck “happens” upon him in a restaurant and does a much better job connecting with him this time. Manoosh gets a call on the ring phone as they talk shop. When the trace comes back from around the block, Sarah springs into action, prancing in the front door and sweeping Manoosh off his feet – just long enough to tranquilize him and get him out the back with Chuck’s help, as the Ring agents walk in the front. The trio succeeds in convincing him that he and Sarah spent the night together and Casey tries to determine what kind of weapon is in Manoosh’s briefcase.
Devon jumps Chuck at Buy More, unable to lie to Ellie about Chuck’s Paris trip. Chuck reassures him lying gets easier with practice and demonstrates, as Ellie comes in and he glosses over her suspicion by telling her he was arranging a honeymoon trip for the two of them. Manoosh comes in and Chuck gives him back the briefcase; the Ring agents have tracked Manoosh to the store, however, and corner him while the team is in Castle. He tells them he’ll go with them, puts on his sunglasses, and uses the real weapon, hidden in them, to flash the martial arts skills to drop all six bad guys. Chuck, Casey and Sarah stare at the video in shock. Manoosh has created his own Intersect. The team deduces that he is going to Dubai, to auction his invention at a weapons convention.
Morgan asks Hannah to his “office”, which he’s fixed up to mesh with her interests in the hopes of impressing her. She lets it slip that he went to Paris. Chuck’s best friend is dumbstruck. “Where else has he gone,” Morgan wonders, as he wanders out leaving Hannah in the office.
In Dubai, Manoosh is demonstrating the sunglasses to the crowd while Casey and Co. look on. Backstage, Chuck insists on confronting him. Telling the truth doesn’t work out well and Manoosh runs back out onstage, but they’re all cornered by the Ring. They escape from their bonds pretty quickly using the laser pen Casey purchased moments before, and Chuck flashes the necessary skills to turn the tide of the battle and secure Manoosh. This time when tested Chuck accepts his newfound responsibility and sends Manoosh off to isolation.
Morgan asks Chuck without asking him, back at the Buy More. Chuck does not tell him about Paris. Morgan is dismayed, as is Ellie when Devon says they can’t go on the trip to Paris because the tickets have “strings attached”. Ellie and Morgan put their heads together to figure out what is going on with Chuck and Devon. “I have my best men on it,” Morgan assures her. He’s asked the creepy sneaks Jeff and Lester to take on a new research assignment: Chuck.
As Chuck tries Casey’s advice, getting drunk to ease the pain of what he’s done to Manoosh, Sarah reminisces about that day, three years ago, when she first saw him, never guessing that he would be able to burn an asset. Or blunt the pain with a bottle.
