Episode Report Card LuluBates: A+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Mission: Barely Possible
By LuluBates | Season 3 | Episode 12 | Aired on 03.29.2010
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.It's Chuck's first day at the office, and he is not making friends. At least not with the Ring operative sent to retrieve something that looks like a Flavor Egg from a chicken soup mix from the body of the guy Chuck…er, Casey, offed last week. Aside from not making any friends, Chuck is a wee bit overwhelmed by the pace of it all. But the General slaps him around (only verbally, sadly) and tells him to man up and assemble a team. At the mention of a team, Chuck perks up and heads back to Cali to try and recruit Sarah. (To his bed! Ba-dum-bum!)
Meanwhile, Ellie gets a sabbatical from the hospital to follow Awesome to Doctors Without Borders. But Ellie won't leave unless Chuck is settled and Chuck won't go unless he has Sarah by his side. So the ragtag band of Awesome, Morgan and Casey team up to help Chuck break up Sarah and Shaw. Unfortunately, Sarah won't fall back in love with Chuck because she thinks he killed the mole, and for some reason being a killer is a deal-killer. She's leaving with Shaw in the morning, unless Awesome, Casey and Morgan can throw themselves in front of the airplane. And, of course, they do. Well, they stake out the restaurant where Shaw and Sarah are dining. Unfortunately, real Ring agents are also staking out the restaurant. They want Shaw, but they get Morgan, which is hilarious. And then Awesome takes out Shaw, not noticing the Ring operative holding a gun to Shaw's head, which was undoubtedly a good thing considering what a pussy Awesome really is.
Shaw convinces the General to let him become a double agent and join the Ring. Sarah is not too pleased by this turn of events, but Shaw will do anything to catch the people who killed his wife. And, yeah, mentioning your dead wife always wins you points with your girlfriend because then she feels too guilty to whine. Shaw sacrifices himself for the greater good and then Chuck decides to sacrifice himself to save Shaw in order to win back Sarah's affections. Because nothing says love like saving a girl's boyfriend. Shaw loses his tracking device, but luckily Jeff and Lester had decided that day to stalk Shaw. Yes, you read that correctly. They give Chuck the location and he moves in to rescue Shaw before the planned airstrike can take out the Ring headquarters.
Shaw is taken to meet the director of the Ring (who is part of the Mark Sheppard full employment act) who has an interactive presentation about Shaw's wife. Turns out the agent who murdered her was none other than… Sarah! Shaw is not exactly thrilled by that news. Meanwhile, Chuck's rescue is well under way, and so is the stealth bomber sent to destroy the Ring's headquarters. Sarah arrives just in time to see the building go up in flames as Chuck carries Shaw out like a little baby kitten. Later, Chuck tells Sarah that he loves her and that she should meet him at Union Station and they will ditch the spy life and live in Mexico. Shaw wakes up from his neck tasering and when he wakes up, it is definitely on the wrong side of the bed. While Sarah is making up her mind between Chuck and Shaw, Casey shows up and tells Sarah that he killed the mole, not Chuck. Sarah is packing when Shaw shows up at her door. He quickly ushers her to the car and makes a run for the border. The General calls Chuck and reports that they found the incriminating footage in the wreckage of the Ring's HQ and they think Shaw has taken Sarah. Obviously Chuck panics.
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Has the show stretched the Chuck/Sarah storyline to the breaking point?
Lulu Bates (a.k.a. Melissa Locker) is pretty sure she would choose Casey over either Chuck or Shaw. You can follow her on Twitter @woolyknickers.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!It's Chuck's first day at the office, but it might as well be the first day at middle school for all the fun he is having. Not only did his mom make him wear a suit, when all the other kids get awesome uniforms, but he forgot where he is supposed to be going and there isn't a hall monitor in sight. He tries to ask a bigger kid, but the big kid is busy and has no time to play NSA tour guide. Chuck pouts as the big kid knocks him out of the way. But Chuck, you didn't want that guy as a friend anyway! Not only is he a bully, but he's a Ring operative. The guy walks into the NSA morgue, and when the NSA officer stationed there (Mary Pat Gleason!) demands identification, he shoots her in the head. Which she, like, totally deserved, because RED TAPE. He then proceeds to find the body of The Mole that "Chuck" shot last week. Using some sort of magnet thingy with an ominously beeping red light, he removes a device from The Mole's nether regions. Death has no glory for a downed bulimic spy. First he binges on all those data drives and then he's forced to purge them post mortem before he can reach the pearly gates. Being a spy kind of sucks, guys!
Other ways it sucks? Their offices are booby-trapped labyrinths filled with ninjas, with no "You Are Here" maps or anything. Chuck finally stumbles into the correct office and then whips out his gun in the waiting room and tries to make some friends by talking firearms, because isn't that what spies and military types talk about? Pistols and whether Top Gun was an accurate portrayal of life in the military? Unfortunately for Chuck, this group has its grumpy face on and would rather he keep his piece holstered. The General finally comes out, and she gives his Chuck his first assignment: He is to move to Italy and be a flashy, rich ex-pat. For some reason, Chuck is only just now realizing he is a real spy with, like, actual job responsibilities. He is overwhelmed by it all. It's just moving so fast! The General does not really abide this nonsense. She reminds Chuck that he has been training for this for years now and pretty much begged to be a spy in the first place and, in short: NO. Chuck can't backtrack now. He is a spy and that's that. Chuck pouts some more, but The General won't hear it. She will give Chuck one week and one week only to whinge and hand-wring and wear sackcloth and weep and sprinkle ashes, but then he has to come back to Washington and be a goddamn spy already. Chuck perks up when The General mentions that he has to assemble a team to accompany him. He knows just whom he wants on his team... and she's in Burbank. Good lord, Chuck, SHE HAS A BOYFRIEND.