Episode Report Card DeAnn Welker: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Only In (Chuck's) Dreams
By DeAnn Welker | Season 3 | Episode 16 | Aired on 05.10.2010
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Chuck's having crazy dreams involving Shaw getting shot, but also in which he predicts the future. They're barely coherent, as dreams can be, but Chuck gets them and wakes up the whole gang to report what's going to happen. No one believes him, and General Redhead makes him see a therapist, played by Christopher Lloyd, whom Chuck awesomely calls "Doc." He tells Doc that Sarah hasn't said she loves him, which is obviously upsetting, and the Doc ultimately finds him to be too crazy to stay in the field. Chuck doesn't tell Sarah and instead goes to work (with Morgan) to prove himself right. This involves going to the symphony to protect the president of a fictional country called Zamibia. Sarah and Casey figure it out and show up, and Chuck ends up looking even crazier. So they put him in a nuthouse. It's very One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, only all the crazies are former spies. Which doesn't bode well for Chuck. Sarah still believes in him, so when the bad guys from the symphony show up to kill him, she shows up (with Doc and Casey), too, and saves his life, proving him right in the process. In the end, she tells him she loves him, so he doesn't tell her that Doc says the dreams are really predicting the future, but they also show that the Intersect will likely cause mental deterioration. They go to sleep and Chuck dreams that Shaw's alive. I can almost hear the forum posters groaning from here.
Elsewhere, Anna's back to give a box of stuff to Morgan (he left it behind in Hawaii and she brought it all the way across the ocean in a beat-up cardboard box), and because he's busy running off with Casey or after Chuck, she thinks he's changed and decides she wants him back. But he tells her if it took that for her to want him, he doesn't want her. Jeffster! would be happy to have the leftovers, though. Also, the bad guy Justin from the Congo follows Ellie back to Burbank and tells her he's with the CIA and is trying to protect her father from bad guys. He tells her that her brother and husband would think she's crazy if she told them, but that Casey's a bad guy trying to infiltrate the family. She sees Casey's guns and tells Awesome, but he tells her it sounds crazy. So she goes back to Justin and says she'll help him, and she does know how to contact her father. Which can only mean one thing: Bakula!
Want more? The full recap starts right below!A few things Chuck thinks we need to know: Ellie and Awesome went to the Congo, then a Ring guy named Justin made Awesome seem sick so they'd go back home. Chuck and Sarah moved in together. Now: Chuck and Sarah are watching TV, and not liking it. Chuck says Monday nights are a bit of a wasteland. Ah, self-deprecation. The news says the president of Zamibia will be in town, then Chuck turns on Spies Like Us, which means Chevy Chase exists in the Chuck universe even though he also played Ted Roark in it. Ouch, my head hurts. Chuck teases her about how much she could learn from these spies, and she gets offended, but he tells her it was a joke. "Remember? Jokes?" Then he tells her he loves her and she doesn't respond. Instead, she just rubs his face, and he looks sad.
He turns back to the TV, then falls asleep. The credits are rolling when he wakes up and she tells him she loves him. He's so glad to finally hear her say that, but then things get weird. First we get a flash of "The terrible troll raises his sword," which was the code to Bryce's email in the pilot. Then Chuck sees General redhead outside the window clanging cymbals together. Then a picture of Beethoven flashes quickly by. Doorbell rings, and Sarah says she's so glad they found a place that delivers Zamibian food. She turns into the news anchor a little as she says it. Chuck goes to the door, and it's Shaw with Zamibian food. Chuck freaks out and pulls out guns to shoot him again, now and in flashback. Shaw falls into the fountain in the apartment courtyard, which is when Chuck wakes up. Sarah asks if he had another bad dream, and he says it was about Beethoven and Zamibia. She tells us that he has a nightmare every time he falls asleep, but he says this one's trying to tell him something.
They're at Casey's, talking to General Redhead, who's in her pajamas. Casey's in his bathrobe. When Chuck says that someone is going to try to kill the president of Namibia at the Beethoven concert tomorrow night, Casey's like, "Tomorrow night?" He likes his sleep, like a princess, so why'd Chuck have to wake him up and do this now? Chuck apologizes to both him and the General, who has a man behind her on her video, which appears to be in her kitchen. When Chuck finally says he knows this will happen because of a dream, and he explains it, Casey asks for permission to slap Chuck for having a bad dream. Sarah tries to stick up for Chuck, but General stops her and says Chuck's assignment is to see a CIA therapist about these dreams, which are getting in the way of his work and everyone's sleep.
Cut to Chuck lying on a therapist's couch rambling at Christopher Lloyd, who's acting every part the therapist, answering all of Chuck's questions with questions. His father comes up briefly, but Chuck says he doesn't want to talk about anything. Then he gives in, and starts in about Sarah being the best part of his life, but she's a little distant and doesn't say she loves him back. He knows she loves him, but... Christopher Lloyd asks, "Do you?" Then he tells Chuck his dreams are the unconscious interacting with the Intersect. Chuck can't believe he knows about the Intersect, but Christopher Lloyd says he knows everything about him, and has known for awhile the Intersect could have side effects. Chuck wonders if dry scalp might be one, because he has that. Christopher Lloyd says the end result of the Intersect's power could be to overwhelm his mind into something like insanity. Chuck freaks out and says, "Doc, I'm not insane." It's very awesome he's calling Christopher Lloyd "Doc," obviously. Chuck wants to stop President Kuti from getting killed at the symphony, but instead Doc removes him from field duty. Cake opening credits.
Awesome's going to town on a hand gripper and reading an adventure magazine on his couch when Morgan comes to visit. He tells him, malaria aside, he looks awesome. Awesome says he feels great, too, and he realized that you can die just as easily from a mosquito in Africa as a spy in Burbank, so he's not going to live scared anymore. Morgan tries to use another gripper, but he can't squeeze it, so he says it must be broken. Hee. Outside, Ellie's arriving home when Casey stops her and tells her he had malaria four or five times. The medicine she's bringing him won't help, though; he needs African snake herbs. Casey might have some back at his place. Ellie tells him she'll keep that in mind, then turns and mutters "Crazy" as she walks away.
Chuck's in his bathroom telling himself he's not crazy, and "Don't freak out." Sarah wants to come in, so she does, and he lies that everything was fine with the doctor. She can tell he's hiding something, so tells him that she knows she's his partner, but she's also his girlfriend and he can tell her everything. He says he's totally "right as rain," which he doesn't understand, because rain is kind of all over the place. She buys it, oddly, kisses him and says she's glad he's okay.
Buy More. Chuck's watching the news, where all they're talking about is the Zamibian president's visit. He pauses it when Morgan wonders why he's watching so much TV. It pauses on a picture of President Kuti, and Chuck says he's been having dreams about him. Morgan gets it; he's sort of attractive. But Chuck fills him in on the dream, and says he knows he's right but no one believes him. Morgan asks if Sarah believes him, and Chuck says he's trying not to involve her right now. Morgan says if the dreams might be right, it would be wrong not to help the "president of Zamifiria-buh." He tries again, and Chuck finally helps: "Zamibia." Hey, in Morgan's defense, it's not a real country, so it's a little confusing. Morgan says he's going to help him, then asks Chuck his pants size.
Jeffster! are at the Nerd Herd counter, talking about how they need a woman; they have needs. Lester's hitting on the hotties in electronics, DVDs, and around the entrances and exits. Jeff seems disappointed that he's being left in home appliances, which is "full of lumpy housewives." But then he adds, "My favorite." We get a slow-mo shot of a woman's legs and lower body as Flo Rida starts in. It's Anna, looking for Morgan. Lester tells her she looks like she's lost two or three grams in Hawaii. She's already completely annoyed and just wonders where Morgan is. They play dumb. Only I guess that's not playing, really.