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We pick up six months after Chuck uploaded the super, kung-fu fighting intersect in the season finale. He's being trained to be a super-spy, but when he fails, Agent Redhead fires him. This sends him into a funk of sleeping on the couch, growing a pervert beard, and eating barrels of cheese puffs. We find out in flashbacks that's because he gave up the chance to run away from the spy life to be with Sarah in order to take this spy job that he was just fired from. When he heads to Buy More for more cheese puffs, he finds out Sarah's still working at Orange Orange, and sees Casey coming out of Castle when he heads over. Casey tells him he and Sarah are about to leave for a new mission, so Chuck realizes it's time to find Sarah and talk about what happened.
Unfortunately, Chuck being Chuck and Chuck being Chuck, he finds them mid-mission and ends up disrupting it all, using his new skills to play Mexican guitar and punch the bad guy. When the bad guy finds his Buy More badge and goes to find him, he first finds -- and KILLS! -- Buster Bluth, then finds Chuck and Sarah. He locks them up in Mexico, but they break out and Chuck basically saves the day, since the guy was a Ring operative. So Agent Redhead turns Operation Bartowski back on, and everyone goes back to their old jobs and their apartments. Except Ellie and Awesome, who move into one across the courtyard and Chuck shacks up with Morgan (who failed at Benihana and Anna).
It all feels a lot like a reset, which I can accept, since they're probably trying to draw some new viewers. Oh, and there are some slight difference: Agent Redhead tells Sarah that Chuck's dangerous, so Sarah has to keep him emotionally stable. She says they used to protect Chuck from the world, but now that's switched up. Apparently that new Intersect put more than kung-fu and guitar skills in Chuck's head. Which makes you wonder why Agent Redhead would have fired him in the first place, unless she intentionally set the whole episode's actions into motion? Anyway, Chuck tries to pour his heart out to Sarah, and she shuts him down, saying he's a spy now and must keep his feelings hidden. Which feels once again like a reset, and one I'm less willing to accept without complaint. The episode ends with Chuck and Casey training (boxing each other after Chuck flashes). I missed this show.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!We open by reliving those last few moments of last season, when Chuck uploaded the new Intersect and learned kung-fu. Everyone was shocked, including Chuck. Typing tells us it's "Six Months Later. Prague." Chuck's being manhandled by some thugs, one who addresses him with a thick accent, calling him "Agent Carmichael." Chuck: "Call me Charles." The guy laughs, but Chuck goes on that the guy, Uri, has a case that belongs to Chuck's boss and he'd like it back, please. Uri mocks him, all, "What if I don't, Guy With No Gun?!" General Redhead tells Chuck, through the earpiece he's wearing, that they have a lock on the case, which is in the room with Chuck. Uri mocks him some more, so Chuck flashes and jumps up and does some kung-fu to get Uri's gun. He points it at them and asks for the case back. General Redhead tells Chuck to shoot him, and even Uri says, "Shoot me." But Chuck doesn't. Instead he just goes kung-fu on Uri and his two or three goons. He knocks them all out and then General Redhead asks him what's going on since his heart rate just spiked. He replies into his watch that he's fine. He got punched in the face and it's throbbing, but otherwise he's good.
He takes the case and runs. General Redhead tells him to get to a roof, because the chopper's inbound and the guys are after him. He runs to the roof, but she says the chopper's too far out, so he should zipline to the building. He protests, but she tells him it's in the intersect. He pulls off his belt, but tells her he's not flashing. She tells him to flash, but he says if she stresses him out, it's never going to work. I think he's going to have to learn to deal with stress if he's going to keep up this spy thing. She tells him to flash a few more times, and he tries to tell himself to as well, but it doesn't work. Just then, Uri and his guys come out and point their guns at Chuck. General Redhead walks out with a megaphone and lights come up. She says, "That's all, Frank. Terminate the simulation." She tells Chuck to come down now.
On the ground, General Redhead asks Chuck why he didn't shoot Uri, and he says that even though it was a simulation, they were very close to each other and he's just not comfortable with the whole shooting people thing. General Redhead tells him this isn't working out. Chuck knows they've had setbacks, but he swears he can be a great spy. She says they spent millions to get him up and running as the new Intersect Agent, but it's not working. Chuck thinks maybe his dad can help, but General Redhead says the problem isn't with the computer; it's with Chuck. She says Intersect 2.0 was designed to go into a real spy, like Bryce Larkin (even in death, he's overshadowing Chuck), someone who can control his feelings. She fires Chuck. When he tries to stop her, saying she has no idea what he gave up for this, she says, "Frank," and one of her own thugs knocks Chuck out with some sort of stun gun.
As he falls to the ground, he flashes back to uploading the Intersect while Bryce died and we hear Casey tell him to tell his sister he's going on a last-minute trip to Europe for six weeks. Chuck asks where they're really going, and then we see Chuck and Casey having the conversation "Six Months Earlier" (so ... right after the finale, for the easily confused). Casey says they're going to a training facility for Chuck to learn how to use the new Intersect, to become a superspy. Chuck asks Sarah if she's heard he's going to be trained to be a real spy. She heard, but doesn't look happy about it. He asks what's the matter, and she says if he does this, he's going to be a spy for the rest of his life and everything will be a new mission and a new identity, and he won't be the same person. He says that's a great thing, but she says they could run away together and never look back. She has some money saved up, and would have to get them new identities. She tells him to go to the training facility in Prague, but to meet her at the Nedrazi train station in three weeks and she'll figure it all out. He asks what she's saying, and she says she wants to be a real person again. With him. She says this is what he wants, right, and then asks if he'll run away with her. He says yeah, and they both smile.
Back in the present, Ellie and Awesome are asking Chuck what happened, where Sarah is. He just sits there zoning out, but finally says he lost her, the girl of his dreams, and it was all his fault. Ellie suggest picking up the phone and calling her, since she's sure she misses him too. Cut to Sarah swimming in a cute white bikini. When she gets out of the water, her phone rings, and an accented guy sitting to the pool hands her the phone, calling her "my dear." As if a spy would just leave her phone lying out to her new mission/boyfriend. She looks at the phone, with Chuck's picture on it and throws it into the pool. On the other end, Chuck says, "Pick up Sarah." But then the phone goes dark in the pool. Opening credits. No Anna, but it looks like the rest of the cast is back: Chuck, Sarah, Morgan, Awesome, Big Mike, Jeffster!, with Ellie and Casey.
Then commercials, including one I must recap because it's sort of a spin-off of this show (great idea, NBC (and Honda)!). Ellie and Awesome are driving through the foresty countryside in a silver car. They tell each other "good morning" sweetly, and then Ellie says the Winter Classic was a great idea, but the two of them driving back to L.A. like this is ... Morgan pops up from the back seat and says, "Awesome!" Ellie and Awesome both scream in shock that Morgan's been hiding in there. Morgan joins in the screaming as they drive by a horse. Then they're unloading his stuff (close-up of the Honda logo) out in the countryside, and he says it's not a big deal; he'll wait for a bus. He has a luge and a bunch of other wintry stuff like ice skates. He says it will all be valuable sports memorabilia after he gets Olympic athletes to sign. But he doesn't know what he'll do with three passes to the Olympics. Awesome gets all excited, even saying, "Babe, people ski with guns! It's awesome!" Ellie says Vancouver's over 2,000 miles away, and Awesome and Morgan both look sad. But she finishes with, "We're gonna need some snacks." They all hug and then drive off, discussing which superpowers they'd have. Ellie chooses to disappear, Awesome chooses to stop time so he can have an eternity with Ellie. Morgan chooses X-ray vision and practically burns a hole in the back of Ellie's seat with his eyes. Awesome screams at him. Honda Accord Crosstour.
The day, Chuck wakes up, puts on slippers and a robe and heads to the kitchen. Ellie and Awesome are eating breakfast in their scrubs. She greets him with a good morning, and he grabs a barrel of cheesy puff balls from the top of the fridge. They ask him how he's feeling, but he mostly ignores him and heads to the couch. He sits and eats the puff balls, and we get a montage (to Kenny Rogers's "Just Dropped In") of his feet putting on the slippers, him grabbing the robe, and him eating the cheese puffs as his facial hair gets longer and longer. In other words: He's in a funk. When the montage ends, Ellie wakes a bearded Chuck who's sleeping on the couch. She tells him that if he won't talk to her, there's someone else. Morgan pops into Chuck's line of vision, and Chuck grabs his face and sits up, asking if it's really him. Morgan says he's visiting for a few days, Hawaii's awesome, and he's flying through the ranks at Benihana. Chuck says he's proud of him and they should get together soon, but he passes out before he finishes talking. Morgan tells Ellie and Awesome it's worse than he thought. Ellie tries to force him to get up and do something today, but then tells everyone to leave and they all go as she mutters they'll leave him with h
is cheese balls, which is all he cares about anyway. Speaking of, Chuck notices the cheese balls are all gone, and sees the Buy More sticker on the bottom, so he knows what he has to do to get them back.
He takes his beard, robe, slippers, and an added trucker cap and sunglasses to the Buy More, looking very much like a creepy pedophile. Jeff greets him as "Sir," and asks how he can service him. Chuck deepens his voice and says he's looking for cheese puffs. Jeff robotically says, "Aisle 3. It's been a pleasure serving you." He walks off and Chuck realizes how well the disguise is working. So well that Buster Bluth, watching Chuck approach the cheese puffs via security cam in his office thinks Chuck's a homeless person. He calls security to Aisle 3, saying there's a street person, and he might be the one stealing toilet paper from the bathroom. As Chuck heads off with the cheese puffs, Buster stops him. Chuck removes his sunglasses, and Buster seems delighted to see it's "Bartowski!" He walks around him, then calls everyone up to get a good look at how the mighty have fallen. He says Chuck smells like the putrid scent of failure. He calls him a loser, and pathetic. Chuck keeps flashing on him as Buster calls him a hot mess. Chuck grips the cheese puffs, so as not to unwillingly kick Buster's ass, but then he tells Buster he's fine, and Buster says that's good, because he almost kicked Chuck's ass. He walks off, and Jeffster! approaches. Lester calls Chuck "O Captain, my Captain," and asks him if he returned to take control of the Buy More. Probably not in that outfit. He apologizes that he doesn't think he could help even if he tried. Lester thinks he probably wouldn't care since he still has Blondie. Jeff says she's getting hotter, and they tell him they still see her at the Orange Orange. Chuck's happy to hear she's still here, so he heads door.
He unlocks the door and walks in, but Casey knocks him out. He lands in a pile of his cheese puffs and then Casey calls him a "lemon" and "pathetic." Wow. That's a lot of insults for our hero to endure so soon into the new season. Chuck says he came to get a light jacket he might have left downstairs. Casey sniffs Chuck and makes a disgusted face, then tells him to pick up the puffs. Downstairs, Casey tells Chuck to hurry since he needs to finish packing. Chuck asks, fake casually, if Casey's talked to Sarah. Casey says no, and then his phone rings and Chuck sees it says "Agent Walker." He's like, "Can I talk to her when you're done?" Casey, on the phone, just says, "Yeah. So. Yeah." Chuck interrupts to ask if Sarah got any of his messages, and Casey says into the phone that "It's the lemon." Then, "Duly noted." He hangs up and says Sarah didn't say anything about Chuck. He begs to go on a mission with them, since he can still flash. He just needs to prove it to General Redhead to put the old team back together. Casey snarks that then all of his dreams would come true. Casey pulls up some stuff on his spy computer. It looks like a map of a place called "El Bucho" and a menu from the same place. Chuck says he's heading out. Casey tries to ask what happened between Chuck and Sarah, but Chuck just says, "Something I need to fix."
At home, Chuck shaves, showers, and gets dressed in his old Nerd Herd outfit, pocket protector and all. He arrives at El Bucho and gets in by telling the guys at the door that someone called about a computer emergency: "Sound board's down." That really is a good cover. Everyone trusts a geeky computer guy. Chuck gestures at Casey as he comes in, and Casey radios to Sarah that they have a situation. She sees Chuck, and comes over to him, asks what he's doing there. Chuck says not to worry. He's just here as backup, to prove to Agent Redhead. But the guy from to the pool walks in, and Sarah asks Chuck to kiss her. He wonders if they shouldn't talk first, but he insists. So he does it. Then she pushes him away and slaps him so hard he falls to the ground. The pool guy walks up and asks who the hell that is. Sarah says it's just her ex, who's having some trouble letting go. So mean, but maybe he deserved it.
In a food pantry, Casey asks Sarah why she knocked him out, and she says, "It was a slap." Chuck protests that he was caught off-guard on an empty stomach. He says he can take a punch, and Casey says, "You mean a slap." Chuck says he's sorry, and didn't mean to screw anything up. He's just here to help, and thinks he can be a spy even though things went wrong in Prague. He looks at Sarah and pleads with her, but she tells Casey to get him out of here and leaves. Chuck asks Casey for a chance, but Casey says it's a simple courier exchange. He says the guy with Sarah is the mark, and he's meeting with a major Ring operative tonight. Chuck reminds us that the Ring killed Bryce. Casey says the moment the Ring guy meets with Sarah's fake boyfriend, they'll strike. He tells Chuck to get out of here before he spooks Javier Cruz, the courier. Chuck flashes on the name Javier Cruz, and sees that he's an international assassin. Casey leaves, though, and tells his guys to get rid of Chuck. Chuck's screams that Javier's not a courier are met on deaf ears as he's led out. Casey, in the other room, tells Sarah he dumped the lemon. Chuck's locked out in an alley, and trying to get in. He loses his pocket protector nametag in the alley as he tries to flash on the door. A guitar player walks up right as Chuck flashes on the door, so Chuck accidentally kung-fu kicks him unconscious. He apologizes, but then has an epiphany.
He walks back into the place in the guitar player's jacket and with his guitar. Someone sees him, says he's late and ushers him on stage, ignoring his request to use the restroom. On stage, another guy in the band asks where Manny is, and Chuck says, "Spastic colon. I'm filling in for him." Nice. Chuck awkwardly kicks his guitar case shut and starts making "Mah, mah, mah" sounds into the mic. Casey tells Sarah he's going to blow the whole op, but she says to give him a second. Then Chuck flashes on the guitar and starts playing. Sarah's fake boyfriend asks if that isn't her ex, and she says, "Yeah, he's a bit of a show-off." Chuck mouths "assassin" to Casey, but when Casey asks where, Chuck just shrugs. The fake boyfriend offers to take care of Chuck, but she says no, and asks him to come dance. Chuck watches them dance, and then fake boyfriend asks how he knew Sarah was here and who is he anyway. She says he has nothing to worry about and they dance sexily as Chuck gets more and more frustrated on stage. Casey tells someone to tranq him, but he ducks and they tranq a member of his backup band instead. Outside, the guitar player Chuck knocks out wakes up and removes his moustache and wig. He heads in and points a gun at Sarah and her fake boyfriend. Chuck sees the gun's laser and jumps off the stage to save her. Everyone jumps up, and he says there's an assassin. Casey and Sarah are pissed he blew the whole thing since half this place was undercover agents. Chuck swears there was an assassin, but Sarah tells him he doesn't work anymore, and it's over. Some boots (either the fake guitar player/assassin or Sarah's fake boyfriend, who disappeared in the melee) find Chuck's pocket protector nametag outside. Uh-oh.
morning, Ellie's happy to see Chuck shaved, but he says it was a rash decision. He sits down in front of the TV with his cheese puffs. Ellie says she can't bear to watch him wallow around like this and leaves the room. Awesome comes over and tells Chuck he's really nailing the loser cover. Chuck assures him this is not a cover; he was fired and isn't a spy anymore and isn't sure he ever was. Awesome asks if this is really Chuck, and Chuck says yes, he's Chuck Bartowski, total loser, cheese ball addict. Awesome asks if the CIA lets you just quit like that. He thought they'd send someone to kill you or something. Chuck laughs that Awesome watches too many movies, but when Awesome leaves, you can tell Chuck's a little worried.
Later, Chuck's asleep in front of snow on the flat-screen TV (which is impossible, right? Those TVs turn snow into a blank blue screen or something?) when Morgan shows up and wakes him. Chuck's clutching his cheese ball barrel, by the way. Chuck freaks out, "Don't kill me!" until he realizes it's Morgan, who just wants to cheer him up and find out what's going on. Morgan, by the way, is in his Benihana uniform, which is odd since he's not even in the same state as his cooking school, right? Anyway, Chuck tells Morgan that he had a great job opportunity and he's already been fired from it twice. Morgan says that's amateur hour and doesn't come close to rock bottom. He takes Chuck to the Buy More, and says he got canned from Benihana two weeks ago and Anna took off with the prep chef. "Couldn't flip the shrimp," he says. "Couldn't flip the shrimp." He leads Chuck into the screening room at the Buy More, where he's apparently been living. Buster's watching on the security cams, though, and realizes it must be Grimes who's been stealing the TP, since it looks like he lives there. Weird he wouldn't have noticed the bedding and piles of crap before now, isn't it? Buster says he should have known Morgan couldn't make it in Asian business culture, and he'll let the authorities deal with him tomorrow.
Sarah's also watching it on a different security cam in Castle, when Casey says he's going to miss this. She asks what, and he tells her about some gun that shoots 3,400 rounds a minute and that he never got to use. Sarah shuts off the cam she's watching Chuck on, and Casey tells Sarah the poor bastard is still in love with her. She promises Casey that he's not. Casey says he doesn't know what happened between the two of them and doesn't want to, but he's seen people having their fingernails pulled off be treated more humanely tha
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n she did Chuck. Ha. I love that even when talking about love he makes a torture reference. Sarah says she was just doing her job, but Casey tells her the job's over and she should put Chuck out of his misery. "He deserves that much." Who would have thought he'd be the voice of reason?
Then we're inside with Chuck and Morgan, who seem to have packed up Morgan's stuff and are leaving. Morgan tells Chuck to say goodbye forever, and that they had some good years here. Chuck says he'd rather forget it all ever happened. Sarah cuts them off, and Morgan says he'll give them some time and will see Chuck back at his place. Sarah extends her hand and says she wanted to say a proper goodbye. They shake hands and Chuck says it's been a pleasure working with her. She agrees, "Agent Bartowski," but he says that's nice of her, but they both know he's not an agent. She sees a guy come up with a gun as he tries to talk to Sarah. She tries to stop him, but can't manage it before Javier knocks Chuck out from behind.
When chuck wakes up, he's in a dirty cell somewhere. Javier comes in, and Chuck calls him Javier. He says they got off on the wrong foot (literally), and his kicking him was completely unintentional. Javier wants to know who Chuck is, but Chuck says he's nobody and probably even has documentation somewhere that proves that. Javier takes his shirt off, and is very ripped, which Chuck comments on. Javier tells him to try again what he did outside the club. Javier hits Chuck a few times, and then tells Chuck he's going to tell him everything he knows: who he works for, and about the girl. Chuck passes out, and as he does so, he remembers Sarah telling him where to meet her at the train station. Then he's showing up there, where she's waiting. He's in black pants and long black coat, looking very much like the agent he'll never be but always was. Sarah has a passport and everything else for him. She tells him to trust her; it's all going to work out fine. He tries to stop her and tell her something. She kisses him, but stops when he doesn't really kiss back. She says it wasn't the kiss she was expecting. He tells her there's a whole facility here designed to turn him into Intersect 2.0, and that this is a life of adventure, blah, blah, blah, spycakes. She says it's not that simple, and he doesn't know who he's working for (huh?), that nothing is real. She holds his hand and says this is simple and a real life. She says they have to go, this is it, is he coming. He lets go of her hand, but tenderly touches it as he says he can't. He's sorry. He wakes up in his cell saying he's sorry.
Back at Castle, Casey asks some random guy if there's any sign of Walker. She was last seen at the Buy More, so he looks at the security cams. He sees Buster's feet, and orders the guy to get a chopper. The guy asks on whose authority, and Casey says, "Mine. The Colonel." Back in his cell, Chuck mutters that he's dead and starts to cry. Sarah talks to him from the cell. She tells him to break out of his cell and come get her since she can't pick the lock. He wonders if they could reverse those rules, but she says he can do this, and has been trained to do this. He says she and Casey were right: He's a lemon, he doesn't work, his emotions mess everything up. She says no; she was mad and wrong. She says she's worked with the best spies in the world, and you know what? He replies cutely, "They're on their way here to save us." She tells him to flash, that he knows what to do. Then his door's opening, and Sarah adds, "Chuck. Don't freak out." Which is also nice, show. Javier comes in and tells Chuck when he's done with him, he's going to deal with Sarah. Chuck flashes and then kung-fus Javier. Sarah asks what happened from the room, and Chuck says, "Something ... awesome." He picks up his keys, and some sort of flashing computer thing to him.
When he opens Sarah's door, she wants to go, but he wants to tell her that he knocked the guy out with one punch. She's like, "Let's talk and run." When they get outside, they're on a roof and sort of surrounded. She starts shooting, but is almost out of ammo. Chuck notices a handy zipline-type cord running from the roof they're on to the ground. Which, of course, finally causes him to flash. He removes his belt, and promises Sarah it will work. She stays she trusts him, and holds onto him as they zip down into what looks like a Mexican market. When they land, Chuck can't believe that worked, but Sarah isn't sure it did since they're surrounded by guys with guns. Chuck says there's something he needs to tell her, but she says not now. He thinks it might be his last chance. But then Casey comes in with his chopper, shooting what must be his fancy gun. He takes out Javier and his men, then beckons Sarah and Chuck into the chopper. And he never stops smiling and whooping about how great it all is.
Back at Castle, General Redhead explains that Javier Cruz was a vital operative of the Ring's Mexico syndicate. The device Chuck captured is a smart phone used by the Ring, and is the first one they've ever picked up. Chuck's all, "Hey! Good job, Team Bartowski." Sarah tells General Redhead that she and Casey are planning to depart for Lisbon tonight, since there's chatter that another Ring cell is operating there. General Redhead says that's not necessary, because she's putting Operation Bartowski back into the field. Chuck gets all excited about it, as General Redhead explains that they'll work together to take down the Ring. She turns herself off, and Chuck tells Casey and Sarah how excited he is to have the old gang back together again. He hopes his new cover will be something cool, like race car driver.
Cut to Casey and Chuck at the Buy More, where he thanks him for getting him his old job back. Casey says it was easy with Buster gone, and Chuck says he still can't believe Buster took a job at a Large Mart. I'm not sure why Casey would lie to him about that since Javier's dead anyway, but it probably doesn't matter. And Chuck thanks Casey for that other favor, the bearded one. Morgan walks in, then, and says, "We're baaaaack." He tries to high five Casey, who growls and leaves. Morgan tells Chuck that someone from corporate called and begged him to take his job back. Chuck feigns surprise.
In Castle, General Redhead tells Sarah that she needs her to help keep Chuck's emotions in check, because he's unstable. Sarah asks if she thinks he's dangerous, and she says he is, but it's worth the risk. She says they've protected Chuck from the world for two years, but now they have to protect the world from Chuck. When Morgan and Chuck arrive home, Ellie and Awesome are moving boxes out of the apartment. Chuck asks what's up, and Ellie says the apartment across the courtyard opened up, so they're moving there. Chuck looks sad, but Ellie says it's not about him; it's about them. They needed a place for two. She says he can get a roommate since he has plenty of friends. Morgan says he's so happy right now, and Ellie says, "Other friends." Ellie leaves, and Morga
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n declares it a bachelor pad, then calls dibs on Ellie's room. He goes inside, leaving Chuck alone in the courtyard.
Sarah shows up and tells him they need to talk. He says he'll go first, and tells her they told him he could be a spy. After years of kicking around like a loser, really important people told him he could change the world. Him, Chuck Bartowski. He says it wasn't about her, but she stops him then and says that she acted impulsively and it won't happen again. He tries to stop her, but she says he's a spy now and has to keep his feelings to himself. Whatever. I'm so sick of all of the reboots of this relationship. They might as well never move forward because when they do they just jump back to here again. Then Casey comes out and tells Chuck it's time for his training. They go to a training room, and Chuck flashes as they're boxing. They both go in for a punch as "Eye of The Tiger" plays, and it stops mid-punch, just like ... one of the Rocky movies (I remember it happening, but can't be expected to remember which movie, because I don't even like Sylvester Stallone that much). This one leads right into the episode, so no previews.
DeAnn, a writer and editor in Portland, Oregon, likes cheese puffs. You can contact her at twopmodmars@gmail.com.
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