First I’ve gotta talk about last week’s episode “Modern Warfare” which much like “Contemporary American Poultry” was a reference fest and pushed Community further down the runway toward that pool containing a shark. Let’s be clear: I don’t believe Community has jumped the shark yet. Yet. When they do, they will most likely put laser beams on said shark in an episode devoted to Bond, James Bond.

Side note: I am sick and tired of hearing Gene Wilder’s beautiful song “Pure Imagination” (from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) in that AT&T commercial only because the song is not available for purchase on iTunes and I have forgotten where you buy compact discs.

“Glee Club.” For some reason I never thought of Glee and Community as competitors though rather obviously the writers of Community do. I think they went a little overboard in their direct attacks of the popular (how often can you say this?) FOX sitcom but Community has never been one to pull any punches. It is funny to think that most of the Glee students will probably end up at community college…

Oh yeah, JEFF AND BRITTA DID IT! TOGETHER!

And now let’s discuss “ESL” also known as the episode with lots of Chang. Ken Jeong has been on a hot streak over the past couple of years, mostly in film, but I think he’s found his perfect fit on Community as Señor Ben Chang the Asian Spanish professor. No one was surprised when Chang revealed that he had no college degree as well as only a Sesame Street understanding of the Spanish language but that story line was the only interesting or entertaining story line of the episode. And really I’m talkin’ about the scenes between Jeff and Chang. Troy’s Good Will Hunting plumbing skillz was lame. Annie’s involvement in Señor Chang’s outing was bland. Dr. not Señor Chang was a wasted cameo opportunity (though it did give Pierce a chance to show how much he cares for the study group), which reminds me, where has John Michael Higgins been? Can we start an online petition? Or get some of those Chuck fans to do something at a Subway?

More Glee/Community talk: can we get Sue Sylvester and Señor Chang to meet?

“And now crickets”

This episode opens with a retro (70′s-style?) spy show opening narrated by Morgan. It appears to have no motive other than some fun for the cast and crew. Morgan wakes up, and has a rather uncomfortable close encounter with the scantily-clad girlfriend in the kitchen. Chuck tells him he’s inviting Sarah to move in; is this supposed to put his frustration to rest? She’s standing behind him and cheerily declines, which is a little weird. After a brief stopover in the Congo with Devon and Ellie we return to Castle where Chuck & Co. receive their next assignment: he and Sarah are to shadow the most renowned pair of married agents in the CIA, Mr. Craig and Mrs. Laura Turner (played by Fred Willard and Swoosie Kurtz), in order to school the youngsters in the ways of keeping a spy-sided relationship going. John, meanwhile, will begin working on the arduous task of shaping the new Agent Grimes. As Chuck worries, and Sarah rolls her eyes, the Turners approach the apartment and moan that they have to meet themselves “thirty years ago!”

Fred Willard and Swoosie Kurtz guest star as CIA veterans

Mrs. Turner turns up her nose at the old spy stories Mr. Turner hauls out, and they tell Sarah and Chuck they are to visit a bad guy (at — wait for i-i-i-t — a PARTY!) who’s developed a decryption software that could render the nation’s security software useless. Whatever. Could have been a rogue footlong from Subway. The Turners work the room at Otto’s party as Chuck and Sarah work hard at watching and learning and staying out of the way. Unfortunately as Morgan begins making his way up the looong learning curve with Casey, we see the Turners appear to be having an off-day; as they make a scene Chuck and Sarah decide to take matters into their own hands. In the Master Suite as Sarah looks for the software, Chuck discovers a whip coiled on the bed. It’s not for someone’s kinky amusement — a low growl turns their heads and we see a tiger in the open closet. Oops.

As the tiger corners them Chuck flashes: the software is on the tiger’s collar! Cornered in a closet, they begin to sneak up on the tiger, who has inexplicably jumped up on the bed for a nap. It must be psychic, because Morgan is at the same time tasked by Colonel Casey to steal Big Mike’s keycard as he naps at his desk. Both are successful, hilariously, just before Big Mike wakes up, and just before the Turners take the software from the Bartowskis at gunpoint.

Back in the Congo, the torrential rains have stopped and Ellie and Awesome meet another, more experienced doctor, who smacks the head off a snake that also wants to make friends. Welcome to Africa! Um, what was that background music choice?

General Beckman rattles their cages in Castle. Ellie begins to make some headway in her struggle to acclimate herself to the insanity around her. Chuck and Sarah get the drop on the Turners in their hotel room and Morgan undertakes firearms training. The Turners, in chains at the Bartowskis’ kitchen table, begin to turn on each other but as Chuck’s patience reaches its end, there’s a knock at the door. Expecting federal marshals, Chuck is stunned at the sight of Otto and his tiger at the front door. Well, in retrospect, anyone who puts software on an animal’s collar would probably put in a tracking device. Right?

As the tiger sniffs around the house looking for the Turners, the Turners escape out the bathroom window and leave Team Bartowski  holding the bag again. The handler takes the tiger outside to continue the search. Next, Morgan and John return from the unsuccessful trip to the gun range and Morgan has to take on the tiger after it apparently killed its handler. Or the Turners killed the handler but spared the endangered captive Bengal. Hmmm. The Turners then decide to return to rescue Chuck and Sarah even though it spells the end of their career. Chuck and Sarah keep treason out of their debrief and General Beckman is congratulatory, until the elder agents turn in their badges and retire. Last but not least, we see a montage of Casey and Morgan squaring things between them and of Ellie becoming acclimated to Africa. Fade music. Oh, I guess it wasn’t last after all. Team Bartowski undertakes to restore the disaster area that the tiger rendered of Ellie and Awesome’s apartment. As we think things are brightening for the credit roll, Ellie discovers Devon in his tent. Devon is sick. Very sick. They head for the airport, and the doctor who had taken them under his wing pulls out a Ring phone. He dials and tells the person at the other end that he “…made it look like malaria — the wife suspects nothing!” Something about that dude whispered “cuh-REEE-pee!” in my ear from frame 1, in that time-honored Treasure Island tradition of the rescuer who just squints too much. We’ll just have to see, won’t we? Oh, yeah, and Sarah decides at the end to move in with Chuck.

After burning through a few days’ worth of room service on a train from Paris to Zurich, Chuck and Sarah confront the necessity to make a decision regarding their future, arriving at the conclusion that they should quit the spy life. The iPhone goes out the train window and the reinstated Casey immediately gets his first new assignment from Beckman: use Morgan to locate Chuck. As the lovebirds discuss where to begin their new free-wandering life, Chuck flashes on one of three very suspicious-looking men who seat themselves in the dining car: Juan Diego Arnaldo, a Basque ETA terrorist. Sarah raises her coffee cup. “To not being spies,” she toasts. Chuck instantly looks relieved and agrees. Sarah pilfers the table knife anyway, because she also recognized the terrorist.

Morgan discusses the task at hand with Casey and is interrupted by Awesome barging into the Buy More to warn him that if Chuck misses their going-away party it’s going to hurt her feelings really bad. Jeff and Lester hear the word party and invite themselves. Uh-oh, no, it’s worse — they hire themselves to provide music. Back on the train, Chuck and Sarah innocently go to bed mentioning to the other that they’re definitely not getting involved with any spy things since they’re free now. Then Sarah decides to go get some ice cream and Chuck decides to get some air. She goes down the hall (in her freaking underwear!), he out the window, both rifling through the terrorist’s compartment and missing each other in the process. Back in their own compartment a few minutes later, Sarah confesses that she recognized someone bad — and Chuck tells her he flashed on the Basque baddie. It would be irresponsible, they agree, to turn their backs on such a really bad guy. “One more mission,” they slyly agree, kissing.

In Burbank, Morgan’s expertise in all things Chuck enables Casey to determine where the fugitives are, and they depart to intercept the train. Jeffster blows out their amp rehearsing and Lester decides to do the party “unplugged” as Ellie and Devon look on in dismay. Ellie frets even more about not knowing where her brother is.

Her brother and Sarah are purloining the gear they need to take the bad guys down, as they left all their spy gear behind in France. Chuck appears to be in complete control of his flash act now. The pair slip mickeys to the terrorists but as they kiss back at their table, awaiting the bad-guy slump, Casey slips into the booth and slaps the cuffs on them, not believing their protest that they are on the trail of a terrorist. Two of the guys pass out but Juan himself hasn’t had his drink and makes his escape. The Charlses escape after him, Casey hot on their heels. At the end of the chase, they discover that the terrorist was being taken to a witness protection program by a pair of Interpol agents. Oops. At the same time, another passenger is revealed (only to us) to be trailing the terrorist, intending to kill him. Double oops.

A lot of Chuck fans who travel on business are at this point emailing the writers to find out how they too can cross the continent and the Atlantic in a minute thirty seconds. In coach. Seriously?

The team calls in to Beckman for backup. Beckman is not amused. The four of them are ordered to keep him alive until a new Interpol team picks him up. Chuck and Sarah take off following an admonition from Juan (huh?) to make sure it’s what they both want before doing it. While the pair heads for the train, and Jeff and Lester actually do a halfway decent job of singing “Leaving On A Jet Plane” half a world away,  a new duo of  agents arrives to take Juan off Casey and Grimes’ hands. As Morgan chatters to them about the scenery they make several factual errors that tip him off that they are not from Interpol. Too late, Casey draws. They have a lot of backup, and Casey and Morgan are outnumbered. Jeffster invites the guests of honor to say a few words to the crowd and Ellie, who has had too much to drink, heads for the microphone. Devon is (rightly) worried. Chuck and Sarah are about to board the train but they’re drawn upon by the agents they drugged earlier.

Chuck and Sarah escape from the Interpol agents quickly after failing to convince them of the mistake and hijack a scooter to back up Casey and Morgan. While they are still handcuffed, the duo takes out all fifteen (or five, it was kind of hard to tell!) of the bad guys and then realize they both want to keep the spy life and each other.

With the team back home, General Beckman congratulates Casey and Morgan. Her response to Chuck and Sarah’s gut-spilling: “Off the record, it’s about damn time.”

After the commercial break, Chuck manages to catch Ellie and send her away to Africa with the knowledge that he’s in Sarah’s good hands and the pair kick back to begin the new chapter of their life together.

Sarah and Shaw break into a nondescript building in the desert where, allegedly, the Ring director is located. Sarah descends a staircase. Shaw is no longer in sight. Sarah triggers a locator which buzzes on Chuck’s phone. Casey gets pretty angry when Chuck tries, again, to bring him in, but decides for the sake of Sarah to give Chuck a name and a number to call for backup.

Meanwhile Sarah comes upon video screens set up in the open area of the bunker playing the video, for the third week. “Oh my God,” she breathes, realizing what she’s seeing. You could hear her voice grow pale. Shaw approaches, weapon pointed at her, as Chuck leads swarms of soldiers into the building.

Shaw tries to calm her, when he sees no one else is there, and begins to tell her it isn’t her fault. Sarah exclaims this is the worst moment of her life! “Mine, too.” Shaw tells her — too calmly.
Why would they have the surveillance footage from her Red Test? she wonders. Then she realizes what Shaw said. “Why, who is she?”
“Evelyn Shaw.”
Now Sarah really starts to freak out, as Chuck watches from the balcony, calmed a little when he sees Shaw lower his weapon. Superspy puts his arms around her instead as if to comfort her. “I killed your wife!” Sarah wails.
No way Sarah knew, Shaw thinks to himself. “They manipulated you. It’s not your fault.” Then Chuck’s radio crackles and they look up, just as the rest of the assault bursts in. The General is livid at the cost and that he ordered it without consulting her, but at least Shaw wasn’t planning to didn’t take his revenge out on Sarah.

Chuck is pretty down himself, mixing video games, alcohol and ice cream. Morgan tries to stop him. Chuck flashes and Morgan is promptly on the floor, trussed up in every computer cable Agent Bartowski could lay hands on. Sarah enters, fortunately, and cuts him loose. Morgan leaves for his room after telling Chuck he forgives him, and Chuck finally realizes aloud that he never actually asked her the question:

“Do you love me?”

“Yes,” she responds. “I fell for you long ago, after you fixed my phone, and before you started defusing bombs with computer viruses.” They kiss sweetly, and Chuck promises to be completely cleaned up by morning. Sarah smiles. “You don’t have that long. We have a mission. Shaw has a lead on the location of the director.” [What, again? Um...]

Shaw lowers Chuck and Sarah down an elevator shaft to capture the director of the Ring. Sinister music looms behind him as he looks down after the pair. Chuck expresses concerns about Shaw to Sarah and several bullets fly around them. Shaw, above, has been set upon by several Ring operatives, but overcomes them easily (wait, what’s with the video camera???). Sarah and Chuck capture the director below, make him call his assistant to get the Cipher (the chip to power the Ring’s own version of the Intersect), then grab her too when the director passes what sounds to Sarah like a code to her through the door. A maintenance man is the next one to appear, so they grab him too. The director then scoffs at Chuck and tells Sarah the whole thing was a trap set for them, as the assistant and maintenance person draw weapons. The four-way stalemate is interrupted as the lift stops and several security goons approach — only to fall in a hail of gunfire, followed by the assistant and maintenance guy, as Shaw approaches behind them. He holds his weapon steady on the director and tells Chuck and Sarah to take the freight elevator. The door closes. Chuck and Sarah hear a gunshot. Chuck tells Sarah maybe they should wait a little longer to tell Shaw about their mutual affection. As they depart, though, the Ring operatives Shaw ‘shot’ get back up. “I think they bought it,” the Director praises him. “Good job.” Shaw huffs back, “Of course they bought it.”

Back at Castle Sarah and a now-convinced Chuck wrap up the op with the general. When Chuck goes home, however, and shows Morgan his illicit copy of the fight video, Morgan shows him how Shaw faked it. A shocked Chuck realizes they’ve been had and tries to tell Beckman. As soon as she wakes and sees Morgan (inside Castle!) she cuts him off and suspends Chuck. (This completely predictable ‘oops’ was worthy of the writers of “24″.) Sorry. Sooo, Morgan of all people pep talks John Casey into joining them and they head for France. Chuck is worried and his emotions begin to take over. Casey jolts him back: before all of this, the Intersect, the spy training, he lectures Bartowski, you were smart. By the time we touch down [he slaps Shaw's files down on the tray table] you will have everything figured out.

In France, Sarah and Shaw walk down the street. She realizes, too late, where she is. The Director shoots her with an immobilizing tranquilizer dart and they take her to a cafe where Shaw hands over the technical report so the Ring can complete their Intersect, while calmly explaining to Sarah why he will now have to kill her – but wanted her to understand why. The courier and Director depart and Shaw prepares to take Sarah to the river. As he does, the waiter arrives behind him. This time, Chuck is holding a real gun. As the two fight, Sarah can only watch helplessly as Chuck is stunned in spite of his Intersect-inspired abilities. Shaw drags Sarah to the river. Chuck recovers and catches up to them before Shaw can toss her over. “This isn’t you!” he yells into the night. “You can’t do this!” He lowers his weapon as Shaw appears to waver. Then Shaw remembers the video again. “I can do it.” Shaw replies, cold and decided. “You can’t,” Shaw adds. Just before his chest explodes. The double agent, finally tragically dead, topples into the river, nearly taking the paralyzed Sarah with him. Chuck catches her and holds her tenderly.

“I told you, John,” General Beckman protests out of the screen of John’s netbook, through a swirling haze of smoke. “You don’t work for me. Unless there’s a sale at the Buy More, we have nothing to talk about.”
John puffs his cigar. “Then you wouldn’t be interested in my little friend, here,” he suggests, waving the snoozing head of the Ring director in front of the camera by a handful of hair. We then see Morgan getting a call — from General Beckman offering him a position. Either the connection was really bad or she was grinding her teeth. “Wait just a sec while I quit my job,” he gleefully exclaims. “NO!” the general shrieks out of the phone. “Your job is your cover!”

Sarah wakes in a hotel room. Chuck, who looks rumpled over on the couch with his laptop, jumps to the bed to explain but her memory of the night before catches up more quickly. “You saved me,” the killer princess manages dreamily. Chuck’s concern that she won’t love him now that he’s a killer vanishes. Their kiss is interrupted by a call from the general on Chuck’s laptop. In an awesome Bond-like ending, she tells the star-struck lovers she needs them back ASAP for another mission, but the notebook is swirled away among the sheets. “I’ve lost them,” she complains to someone off-camera. “Get them back.” The laptop is snapped shut by a groping hand and the camera pans to a the Eiffel Tower outside the hotel window.

Yeah, this’ll hold us for the three weeks’ wait for new episodes.

Straight to the action tonight! we see Chuck chasing a guy in a suit through a rail yard – with a gun! He begs Chuck to not pull the trigger. “I gave you a chance,” Chuck says. The screen goes dark and a gunshot rings out.

“Three days earlier…” Argh, I hate that plot device.

Jeff and Lester are playing Nerf tag and knocking customers about; John corrals them and knocks their heads together (literally!), putting him in trouble with Big Mike when the hapless losers threaten to sue. The strong-arm approach to managing a situation won’t get the results he wants in the civilian world. He asks John an important question: can he bend like the reed, and not just snap like the Kit-Kat?

Back in Castle, Sarah has returned from Washington. General Beckman gives Chuck a mission which will test all he has learned. Nerves kick in when he finds out Sarah and Shaw will be in Washington (no backup?).

When we return from the opening theme, Chuck is startled in his kitchen by Sarah with his mission brief. He is to find the CIA mole who is selling secrets to Russia. Back at the Buy More Big Mike sets out to change John’s image from the outside in.

Back to Chuck, at the hotel stakeout setting up his gear. Sarah joins him and he breaks out Chinese take-out and champagne… and “Private Eyes” on the iPod. Then he starts a conversation about her and Shaw, but is interrupted by Shaw from the Castle. Back to business, but as usual he can’t let it go and tells Sarah he wants another go at their relationship when he’s passed his test. As he and Sarah are about to kiss Shaw breaks in again. Chuck missed Anatoly’s entrance into the hotel! He grabs his handy dandy video glasses and heads in.

Chuck goes into the spa, then into the steam room looking for Anatoly. He receives a note to meet the mole up in the hotel room, and they head up, tossing the note onto the floor. The Russian bodyguards turn back and ask why he’s so anxious to pick up the trash, then go after him. Chuck flashes and takes them out, and trails Anatoli up to the upper floor, slipping into the adjoining room, and out onto the balcony. Edging over he sees Anatoly’s death, then sees the mole. Then his towel slips and falls leaving him perched naked seven stories up – but Chuck is ecstatic anyway. He’s done it. But …it’s only halfway through the hour…

Big Mike meets an impeccably tailored Casey, and the bedraggled Jeff and Lester at Subway for an apology, which includes John eating some crow, then sharing a tuna and pepperoni sandwich with Jeff. Seriously, Jabba the Hutt and Leia on Tattooine, all over again. The next day Chuck gives the changed John Casey a gift of thanks: his sidearm. He also tells John that Sarah has invited him to dinner at Union Station alone. “You sure you passed your test?” a skeptical Casey asks. Flash to Castle and Shaw tells Sarah what is happening at Union Station. Chuck has to take his Red Test: he has to kill the mole he uncovered the previous night. Sarah refuses to go along, but Shaw tells her Chuck will only go through if she is the one to give him the order.

At dinner, Chuck almost gets into his emotional diarrhea. Until Sarah gives him the remainder of his mission. She looks like her appendix is about to burst. He seems randomly calmer but doubts his ability to carry it out, and she tries to reassure him (while glancing round for an exit, any exit) that if he does not, there is nothing wrong with going back to being Chuck.

Agent Perry joins him on schedule as Sarah departs. After an introduction Agent Perry takes a break to the washroom before looking at the pictures Chuck says he has for him. Chuck’s suspicions are aroused and he follows. When Perry attacks him in the bathroom, Chuck flashes and brings the hurt back to Perry. However, after he has subdued Perry and Perry says he’s no better than one of the Ring, Chuck wavers and decides to arrest him instead and Perry makes a break for it. The chase continues into the rail yard. Chuck catches him. He squeezes the trigger, a shot rings out and Perry slumps to the ground. Chuck, astonished, turns to see Casey melt back into the night. Sarah, however, only saw Chuck point the gun, heard the shot, and saw Perry die.

Chuck asks Casey later why he did it. “Because you weren’t going to. You aren’t a killer, Chuck,” he responds, but not unkindly. Chuck goes inside his apartment and finds his new mission packet: a first-class ticket, an i.d. card and a badge. He’s to fly to Washington for his induction. Sarah still isn’t answering her phone.

She is marinating in misery back at her hotel room. She recounts to Shaw her Red Test, the worst day of her life, and though she tells Shaw she no longer is in love with Chuck, she laments the change wrought in an agent by his first kill. Chuck bounds to the door thinking it’s Sarah knocking, but it’s the driver to take him to the airport. At least this week we’re spared the folk-song-and-slumped-shoulders montage.

The episode opens with a (strangely disjointed) shot of one Colonel James Cameo Keller, played by a dangerous-looking but non-metallic Robert Patrick! Colonel Keller recruits a group of sniper school washouts from some mysterious undisclosed forest locale, then shows up at Casey’s house. He gives Casey a key and tells him he has a new mission within a mission, to retrieve an object from a lockbox in the CIA secret repository where they are going to be sent to test the security. Chuck catches Morgan practicing his stakeout skills on Casey’s meeting, and his suspicions are aroused although he defends his partner to his friend.

The next night Chuck flashes easily to defeat the security measures of the CIA building they have been ordered to test. Unfortunately he also sees Casey take what appears to be a medicine capsule from another box. “Breathe a word of this to anyone and you’re as good as a dead man, Bartowski,” John growls from behind his gun.

Opening theme. Breathe. Try to, anyway.

A drug called Laudanol has been stolen, the General tells them. It renders the user without feeling, pain or emotion. Perhaps it would help Chuck flash (though at what cost?) Sadly it must have gone missing prior to their test of the security system. Chuck spills, thinking Casey’s theft was a part of the test and in a moment so tense it’s nearly beyond description the General orders Sarah to take Casey’s weapon at gunpoint and place him under arrest.

Chuck needs Morgan’s recorded conversation at Buy More, and promises to tell him about the missions. On the recording, Chuck sees the face of James Keller and flashes his identity. When he tells Sarah who recruited Casey they surmise that their partner didn’t know Keller is with the Ring and formulate a plan to break John out and clear his name before he can be moved to a black site in Thailand where torture restrictions don’t apply.

Chuck flashes as before in the CIA complex, but the security’s been changed; he hits a Plexiglass wall where the darts were previously. When caught, they are able to convince the CIA security designer they were testing again, and even get him to show them the level where Casey is being kept.

Devon and Ellie can’t settle on Doctors Without Borders, because Ellie has just received an invitation to a neuroscience fellowship at USC, which has been her dream for years and years, and go to see Chuck for a second opinion. When the couple encounters Morgan instead they ask him and in a pretty funny reveal Morgan and Devon both discover that they are both in on Chuck’s secret.

Chuck and Sarah are on the verge of breaking Casey out when the wall blows out in his cell. Casey is now standing between Keller and two henchmen and Sarah and Chuck. Chuck warns him that Keller is part of the Ring and Casey mouths, “I know,” then walks out the hole with Keller. Chuck and Sarah are easily grabbed as they try to get back out. General Beckman tells them the only reason they aren’t going straight to federal prison is that she has a mission only they can accomplish: to capture Colonel John Casey.

Back at the compound Casey, in disguise, recruits Morgan to retrieve the hidden capsule from the Buy More, the reason they hadn’t found it hidden in his apartment. Chuck intercepts the drug and shows up back at the apartment. He and Sarah corner Casey, who then reveals that he had a fiancee before he joined the NSA and Keller is going to kill her if he doesn’t deliver the drug. Chuck goes to guard her while Casey and Sarah go to the meeting and handily defeat Keller.

Chuck hides Ms. McHugh, the fiancee, in a closet but there are “too many” bad guys. He calls for help, worried he can’t flash; Casey tells him the Laudanol is in his pocket. Chuck takes it and mops the floor with the five attackers in a very well-shot choreography with a stuttering shutter speed that sharpened his every move. He is barely able to stop short of killing the last one with his bare hands as Casey and Sarah arrive, courtesy, one supposes, of the Laudenol. Ms. McHugh, sadly, does not recognize Casey and when her daughter (gasp!) runs into the house Casey waves his partners off, remembering the night he gave up his life: “What’s dead is dead.”

Back at Castle, the verdict is read. Casey is not to be jailed, but he is fired. The General — in person and not on the video screen — shakes his hand sadly and asks Chuck to escort him out. The General then commends Sarah and invites her to return to Washington to work with her.

Ellie, later at home, tells Chuck breathlessly that she’s willing to sacrifice the neurology fellowship at USC to go with Devon. Devon takes her back to the apartment and tells her to take the job. Smooch, music, champagne.

Chuck shows up at Casey’s apartment, devoid of nearly all furniture and tries to reassure him with the possibility of reconnecting with his fiancee and daughter, but Casey tells him he made the right choice between love and love of country. He then admonishes the younger man to consider the same — making a choice: “Walker’s a good woman.” Chuck considers this as Sarah mentions to her cab driver, the Capitol building in the window behind her, that she’s thinking of moving there.

No mention is made, oddly, of continuing effects of Laudanol upon Chuck.

Chuck opens this week with a meeting of the minds to discuss a problem: Chuck has been unable to flash since Rafe tried to kill Sarah and Shaw. He is distraught at being benched by Shaw, and is also sure that the reason is because he can’t talk about the job with any of his friends. He tries to talk to Devon, to no avail. Devon has taken Ellie away for the weekend to a fancy resort hotel to make up for recent events. Back at the Buy More Morgan calls Chuck on the carpet in his broom closet. Hannah quit her job and left, Chuck hasn’t leveled with him, and he is upset. Chuck tries to tell him what has come between them but cannot, and Morgan “fires” him — as his best friend.

Chuck is left behind at Castle as the rest of the team departs on their mission to determine who the Ring is targeting; intel says they are trying to turn a CIA agent at a nearby resort hotel. Casey tells the dismayed spy-newbie to go back to his day job, and upon his return to the Buy More there is an uproar. A group of prospective buyers is apparently looking at the store and, in addition to going over the actual building floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall, are preparing to interview the staff for their own jobs. The staff acts through their various characters under the stress; Chuck upholds his “best friend” Morgan as the “real cream of the crop at Buy More” when the interviewers ask about his notoriety as SuperGeek.

At the hotel, the team intercepts a communication that reveals the target of the Ring to the team: Devon. Additionally, the “buyers” at Buy More turn out to be Ring agents. The massive coordinated op is directed at locating Castle and Team Bartowski, since they now know Shaw is still alive.

Devon and Ellie are by the pool: no stress, no worries, as Shaw and Sarah lock and load to save them. Chuck is sitting in Castle trying to figure out why he cannot flash. Shaw and Sarah warn Devon as Casey enters the Ring agent’s hotel room, tosses a flash-bang and finds a decoy Ring phone. He warns Shaw and Sarah who awkwardly excuse themselves from the Awesomes’ vacation. As they deduce the Ring’s true plan, back at the Buy More Morgan witnesses the discovery of a Castle entrance behind the lockers in the Buy More, and follows the Ring operatives in while barely restraining his shock at the CIA hi-tech. Morgan sneaks back out and tells Chuck about the base and the Ring invasion. Morgan thinks the shock on Chuck’s face is because he doesn’t believe what the Beard is telling him.

Chuck argues with Morgan as Morgan tells him that the pair has to take the fight to them. Chuck reluctantly agrees, but only if they get all the people out of the store first, and if Morgan tells no one about the base under the store. Getting the employees out is impossible, as they have locked themselves down so as to keep from losing their jobs. The duo turns back, and Chuck is able to contact the team on his watch. Sarah tells him they’re on their way but them Morgan catches up and talks Chuck into heading through the door to adventure, where they are greeted by Ring operatives with real firearms.

With the two of them tied up downstairs Morgan goes through the expected fumbles about not knowing anything, not realizing the interrogation is directed at Chuck until they tell Chuck they are going to torture Morgan and Chuck is forced to admit the truth to Morgan about his secret identity.

At Orange Orange Shaw and Sarah try to get into the computer system but Casey goes back into Buy More. The Ring is distracted and takes off to deal with Casey, Shaw and Sarah. Chuck takes advantage of the opportunity to start at the beginning with Morgan, who unexpectedly is thrilled to know that he hadn’t lost Chuck as his friend — rather, that his best friend is a spy! The Ring ops are mildly amused at the “revolution” in the Buy More, but with Casey trying to force his way into Castle, not so much. The men dispatched to take him out fail thanks to — of all people — Jeff, who inadvertently gives Casey just the edge he needs. Sarah forces Shaw to hold off on the self-destruct five more minutes.

Downstairs, Chuck finishes his story. Morgan is most amazed with the relationship between Chuck and Sarah, still not believing that it was completely fake. Morgan reinforces Chuck’s feelings for Sarah and Chuck admits the reality in his own mind. His relief at being able to divest himself of his repressed feelings is so great that he flashes and takes out all the Ring operatives as they return to kill Chuck and Morgan (except the leader, who Morgan flattens last).

At Orange Orange the team has given up but just before they can activate the self-destruct they hear the back Castle entrance open. Guns drawn they race back to greet Morgan, followed by Chuck, the victorious heroes.

Shaw tells Chuck that Morgan has to go. Chuck protests. He and Sarah convince Shaw that Morgan is absolutely necessary to Chuck’s functionality. When the rest of the team has gone home, Shaw calls Big Mike at the Buy More pretending to be from “Corporate” and tells him the store is no longer for sale because of the immense team loyalty. There is much rejoicing.

On the home front, Chuck tries to reassure a still-panicked Awesome that they are doing everything possible to keep him and Ellie safe, whereupon Devon promptly goes to Ellie and suggests — seriously — that they join Doctors Without Borders and go to Africa (she’s thrilled at the prospect). Back at Castle, the decoy Ring phone discovered in the hotel begins to ring. Casey reluctantly answers. “Hello, Colonel Casey,” a smug voice says on the other side, as the camera fades to black. “It’s been a while.”

It would be impolite to tell you that next week’s mission is to locate and capture Colonel Casey, dead or alive. So I won’t tell you that.

Chuck opens after the long break to Devon working out his body while Ellie works out her mouth, berating him for keeping Chuck’s “secret girlfriend” a secret and herself for being so worked up over it. Ellie goes to Chuck’s apartment and tells him how she feels about this through the bathroom door, only it’s not Chuck in the shower. Ha ha! Good one — you wish it was Morgan. Hannah excuses herself to get dressed and Ellie and Chuck (who showed up in the midst of the embarrassment) fall all over themselves apologizing to each other.

Shaw and Sarah are eating at an outdoor cafe and she’s trying to put a stop to their relationship before it gets serious, citing the extensive trouble she’s gotten into from mixing work and pleasure. Their target arrives, is tranquilized and captured. Chuck arrives in Castle with donuts; Rafe Gruber is introduced and Chuck flashes his dossier. Chuck is to assume his position and find out who the target of Rafe’s hit is supposed to be. He holds Casey off from interrogating Gruber with a handheld torch by protesting that he can absorb the role, and gets the chance to prove it: a call on Gruber’s phone. A suddenly icy fake voice and demeanor are rewarded with the location of Gruber’s rendezvous with the customer.

Buy More staff meeting: Jeff and Lester marvel at Chuck’s ability to get women. Chuck and Hannah fawn over each other. Big Mike prepares them all to sell Crock-Pots. Wait, what? Oh, Chuck has to invite Hannah over for dinner.

At Castle Sarah and Shaw secure the prisoner and depart on their mission with the dinner deadline hanging over their heads… The mobsters are in a bar (I think they were mobsters, but I was distracted – the Number Two is played by Louis Lombardi!). Sarah and Shaw chat while listening from the van: Sarah hardly remembers who the real Sarah is anymore. Waaah. Inside the head mobster fights a nagging memory, then remembers where he saw Casey before, a sniper gig in Central America some years previous. Casey’s made and Chuck’s cover is in danger. Chuck reaches out and takes the mobster’s drawn gun and busts Casey across the face with it. As he picks himself up, Chuck checks the load and says coldly, “If he’s a cop, I’ll kill him myself.”

Casey’s taped to a chair when we return from the commercial break. Chuck falters slightly now, searching for some means to avoid shooting him, and manages to stall by digging into Casey’s mouth with the mob boss’ torture tools. Just before the cavalry bursts in he holds up a bloody molar and Casey has trouble hiding his admiration. Everyone is under riot troops in a moment, and Chuck is under Sarah. She reminds him he has to be Rafe Gruber, and this apparently inspires Agent Bartowski. He flashes and fights off every single SWAT member, getting the mobsters out and reinforcing his cover. Expresses pride in his work. He’s able to return to Castle after parting company with the mobsters until things cool down just a bit and Casey offers congratulation. Then Chuck asks him about the persona the mobster remembered and the old Casey is back, warning him to mind his own business.

The trio at Buy More (Mike, Jeff and Lester) realize and state the obvious about Chuck and Sarah while slicing vegetables around the Crock-Pot display. Wait, what? Oh — they’re crying because of the onions.

Because of the mission, Chuck was unable to prepare dinner. Well, uh, yeah… but all is not lost. Sarah and Shaw sneaked back into his place and sets up a Chuck-loving smorgasbord. While emotions at dinner begin to get sloppy, Rafe picks the lock of his handcuffs with the clip off a Buy More giveaway pen.

At the Buy More, the next morning, Chuck is distracted and Hannah answers the Rafe phone and gives away his location to the mobsters. He must rush out the back, improvising a costume, just in time to intercept them. In return for saving their bacon they have tracked down for him the person he’s supposed to kill. They also give him a gift — a gold watch. Sadly, they extravagantly demolish his old one. It’s the communicator watch. Uh-oh, no backup. Meanwhile Sarah and Shaw are at his hotel room discussing her difficulty watching Chuck become a spy. The point of view of the discussion moves from the hotel room to the scope of the sniper weapon the mobsters have prepared for Chuck. He can’t believe what he is hearing as Sarah tells Shaw of her frustration about this, and about not having told anyone her real name in three years. She tells him her real name, though, and he kisses her. Now Chuck is so distraught the line between Chuck and Rafe blurs. He tells the mobsters the guy’s got his girl. The mask he wears is shocked, hurt, and, as his face fades to the commercial, uncharacteristically …angry.

Chuck pulls himself together just enough to find out the Ring hired him to hit Shaw because they had recently found out he was not really dead. (Well so are a lot of other people — how is that a reason?) At the same time, Casey breaks in to tell Shaw Rafe has escaped, and he’s going to GPS-track Gruber’s phone, since he’ll undoubtedly try to find Chuck. Chuck tells the mobsters he’s going to look Shaw in the eye to kill him and heads to Shaw’s hotel. They enthusiastically promise to cover his back with the sniper rifle. Chuck bursts in and tries to communicate the real reason for his visit: no one messes with Rafe Gruber or takes his girl, but forgets the line between Rafe and Chuck is quite blurry right now. Chuck starts a fight while Shaw still doesn’t understand but joins right into. This allows Gruber, who did in fact track his own cell phone’s location after escaping, to show up and kill both the mobsters. Unable to get a sight on the rolling fighters with the sniper rifle, he goes over to the apartment as well. That portion of the fight is a short one that ends with Chuck and Shaw beaten down and Sarah under the gun. Bang! She falls to the carpet.

Casey also tracked the phone and is one of the five people in the world who can take the long-distance shot with the sniper rifle. Heck, that ability almost got him killed fifteen minutes ago! Now a well-placed commercial for us to catch our breath and be glad it wasn’t Sarah who took the bullet! Not long enough, the writers think, for us to wonder — how did we hear the bang of a sniper rifle inside the hotel room from half a mile away???

Chuck comes to Ellie’s door – Ellie who thinks she knows what it’s about, but doesn’t, and tells him things are moving too fast with Hannah because he still has feelings for Sarah and therefore feels guilty. Clueless like Yoda. Chuck breaks up with Hannah and it hurts both of them even more because he can’t explain why. Unfortunately Sarah seems to be fully feelings-involved with Shaw at this point as Chuck walks down the street, dejected. Because of his love life, or because Edgar is dead again, we do not know for sure.