"Just Had To Reboot"

S03E19

After Ellie, Awesome and Morgan free Chuck, Sarah and Casey from the transport they were in at the end of last episode, thanks to Casey's James Bond car, Chuck promises Ellie he'll quit being a spy... as soon as he gets Shaw and the Ring for what they did to Bakula. He promises. So they send Awesome and Ellie off to safety somewhere, and Team Bartowski goes to work finding Shaw. It's not as hard as you'd think, actually, because they tap into General Redhead's cell, and she tells them about some conference where all of the Ring leaders will also be. They trick Shaw into revealing the leaders' identities, and then capture them all. Chuck and Shaw sort of fight, but Shaw gets away. Chuck's Intersect's hurting him pretty bad by this point, because Shaw stole the Governor his dad made for him, so he's passed out in Castle when Shaw shows up at the Buy More and calls for him. Sarah shows up instead, so Shaw chains her to the Buy More Nerd Herd desk (after they set off an alarm and clear the Buy More of the many "Going Out of Business" customers Jeffster! and Big Mike have lured to keep the store from... going out of business. Chuck and Shaw fight again -- to the sweet, sweet sounds of Jeffster! singing Bon Jovi -- and this time Chuck finally, finally wins. Jeffster! tell Big Mike they'll burn down the store to help him avoid it being closed (the logic is astounding), but he won't have it and leaves them. Inside, Morgan, with thumbs he broke to free himself from handcuffs, accidentally drops the detonator Shaw had rigged to bombs throughout the store. Everyone runs to safety outside the Buy More as it burns. Even Jeffster! think they somehow did it. And they're wanted men.

Happy family dinner in the end, with toasts to Bakula. Alex even shows up, after learning Casey's her dad. Then Chuck gets a text summoning him to his computer. It's a final message from his dad, who leads him back to their family home, into a secret underground lair, where he'd been working as his own type of spy for himself. It's bigger and more secure than any CIA facility we've seen, with wacky code names and villains and projects. And it's all about one thing: protecting Chuck and Ellie's mom. We even see the back of her head as she gets a phone call at the end telling her it's time to move. In other words, it's a whole new show. Again.

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Without even a commercial, we pick up where the first hour left off, Ellie driving in pursuit of the truck carrying her brother. Then she flashes back to herself as a kid, telling Chuck that Mom's going to be so pissed. She tells a younger-looking Bakula that Chuck broke their mom's favorite necklace, and Chuck whines, "I didn't mean to." Bakula gets on his knees and tells them, "There's nothing broken in this whole world that the two of you can't fix, if you work together." He sends Chuck to get Ellie's art supplies and then tells Ellie that Chuck has a knack for getting into trouble, so she's going to have to protect him, and be there for him no matter what, because she's the big sister. He asks if she can do that. She looks seriously at her dad, but before she answers (as if we have any doubts about how Ellie answered that question) we cut back to present-day Ellie on the phone with Awesome, frantic that she lost the truck so he needs to call her as soon as he can see them.

Inside the truck, Chuck looks sadder even than the mopey-looking Sarah and Casey. Sarah tells him this wasn't his fault, but Chuck says it was because he chose to download the Intersect 2.0 and chose to be a spy. The truck comes to a stop and Casey wonders who's going to get them out of this one. Chuck says no one even knows they're here. But outside the truck, Morgan and Awesome are stopped, and Awesome's telling Ellie that they found them. Ellie tells him that these people killed his father and are going to do the same thing to Chuck, so they have to stop them. He knows, Babe. But he hangs up and asks Morgan what they're going to do, since they don't have a plan. Morgan, deadly serious: "No plan. Never stopped me before."

Agent Superman opens the back door of the truck and asks if everyone's good and comfy. They all glare, and Chuck notices the Governor on Agent Superman's wrist. He throws the keys at them, and tells them to uncuff themselves, so it can look like they were trying to escape when he killed them. Wow, that's motivation to do what he says if I've ever heard it. Back in Casey's car, Awesome snits that when one is facing a group of murderers, one should have a plan. Morgan agrees, in principle, but says they're here now, so what should he do: open up the glove box? Get the spy manual? They both stop and realize they're in Casey's car, so they might actually be able to do that. They open the glove box and find a gun. They bicker over who should use it. Awesome can't because he's a doctor, but Morgan's a "lapsed vegetarian." Is that even a thing? They notice two buttons in there, so Awesome hits one, and electronic target-looking things appear on the windshield. They hit the other button and a missile launches out of the front of the car. Lucky for them, it had locked in on the truck and it smashes into it, knocking it on its side and tossing Agent Superman away. Awesome finds Team Bartowski in the back of the truck, not too much worse for wear, and says, "We're here to save you." Casey looks shocked at the answer to that question he just asked, about who's going to get them out of this one, and then grunts. Just because he's Colonel John Casey.

Outside, on the ground, Agent Superman wakes up. Scary music lets us know how truly terrible of a situation this is. Casey, Chuck, and Sarah are piling in the car with Morgan and Awesome. Casey's like, "Hey! You used my missile!" Chuck stops and looks back at Agent Superman. He flashes, which seems to really hurt his head, so Sarah has to drag him into the car just as Agent Superman draws his weapon and shoots. Lucky for all of them, the bullets just bounce off of Casey's super car. Close-up of Agent Superman's sad face -- and, as I said last episode, there is something heartbreaking about the guy -- as slow, strummy music starts. Cut to the gang in Casey's car reuniting with Ellie somewhere up the road. Chuck and Ellie get out and run to each other in slow-motion. They hug, and Ellie flashes back again to her dad asking if she can protect her little brother for him. She replies, "Yeah. Okay, Dad, I promise." And then it becomes even clearer why Ellie's been such an overprotective nag at times with Chuck.

Hugging over, the six of them try to figure out what to do . Sarah says that by now Agent Superman's alerted the Ring (uh, and probably the CIA too, right?) and they'll be looking for them. Chuck says they have to be smart, like his dad would have been, and disappear. Casey says they have to drop off the grid. Morgan says, "Give up our old lives." And Awesome agrees that's the plan. Ellie's the only one who's not so into this idea. She reminds Awesome that this isn't them; they don't live off grids. "We are regular people. We live on planet Earth. And my father was murdered today." She turns to Chuck and says, "Our father," then says this is insane and she's leaving. He follows her into her car, and Sarah comes over and asks what's going on. Ellie, clearly in charge here, asks Sarah if her husband is safe with them. Sarah says he is, so Ellie says she and her brother need to talk. She drives away. Casey mutters, "Two Bartowskis. Double the fun."

Buy More. Big Mike advertises Subway, and builds a better breakfast at his desk (ironic it didn't happen in the first half of the episode, titled "Chuck Versus the Subway," don't you think?) when a phone in his drawer, labeled "Moses" rings. He looks worried, but answers. Then he heads out to the store and finds Jeffster! He wonders if anyone's seen Morgan, Chuck or Casey. Jeffster! wants to help, but Big Mike needs his assistant managers and Chuck. Lester says they have good listening skills, and Jeff's like, "Actually, I'm deaf in my left ear, except for a slight ringing." Big Mike realizes he has no one else, and tells them their sales numbers are down and if there isn't a quick spike in numbers, the store's going to be closed. Lester suggests telling customers the truth and have a going-out-of-business sale to juice the books. Big Mike says that's crazy, and Lester asks, "Crazy good?" Big Mike thinks there might be a brain behind Lester's mouth after all. Jeff picks up the Nerd Herd phone, all, "Hello?" Lester: "That phone did not ring, Jeffrey." Why don't I get more tired of Jeffster! I mean, they're so one-dimensional, but they never stop amusing me.

In her car, Ellie wonders how Chuck has kept all of this a secret from her, when she's supposed to be the closest person to him. He says there's no one he wanted to tell more. "I mean, you raised me." He asks if she remembers when he broke Mom's necklace, and she left a couple days later, so he thought that's why she left. She says she hated their mom for leaving and making him feel that way. Chuck reminds her how she was with dad, handling the families bank account, which no 12-year-old should have to do. She says she can't believe he's gone, "our crazy dad." But Chuck says he wasn't crazy. He was a hero. Not a perfect dad or a perfect person, but he did amazing things. She cries, and he says this is the secret he most wanted her to know. She asks what they're going to do, and he says they have to go after the Ring and Agent Superman and take them down. She says okay, but then he's done with this job, being a spy, because she made a promise to protect him, and she can't, not from this. He tries to protest, but she reminds him they're all they have left and she's not going to lose him, too. He promises her he'll quit after they get them.

Chuck and Ellie are leaving her apartment (because that's totally not the first place Agent Superman would look), and he's telling her the drill: Basically, she and Awesome are going somewhere safe -- and not telling Chuck where -- until this is over. I don't know; I'd want to keep around the people who just saved the real spies' lives. She wonders if they should take Morgan, but he says Morgan's part of the team and is helping Casey's daughter go off-grid. She's like, "Casey has a daughter?" He knows it's a lot to process, but she has to go. She tells him not to forget his promise, and he says he won't. Also idiotic: After they're alone, they're working out of Casey's apartment (because, again, Agent Superman would never think to look for them there). They open a channel to a video feed in General Redhead's holding cell. She can hear them, but not see them. She asks if it's Agent Superman, and Chuck says no, it's him. She thanks God, and then tells them about a secret meeting of spies she came to Los Angeles to attend, which is where they'll be able to find Agent Superman, whose plan was to discredit her there, so he could take over both the CIA and NSA. She says the conference is tonight, and the five Elders will be there. Chuck flashes on what that means (which, of course, gives him another headache). Morgan asks who the Elders are; he says it sounds, "like, World of Warcraft scary." Chuck says they're the leaders of the Ring, and the only person who could pull off taking them all down would have to be the best spies in the world. Morgan tells Chuck he's embarrassing him, and Casey glares (but manages to avoid growling; I think he's growing). Sarah says they can do it, and Chuck says they don't have a choice; it's Agent Superman.

We hear Sarah's voiceover, telling Chuck they're going in undercover, as Russian spies, wondering if he can handle that, as we see them actually enter. She's in a slick brown wig, and Chuck's fully made up with gray hair and makeup, pretty much unrecognizable. Morgan and Casey are working together in a server room, communicating with Chuck through some sort of armbands, of course. Sarah's voiceover tells Chuck that, in order for this plan to work, he'll need to fully convince Agent Superman by making eye contact and convincing him they're strangers. He introduces himself, with a Russian accent and slips something into Agent Superman's pocket, and Agent Superman seems to buy he's a stranger. Sarah tells Chuck he did a good job, but he says it's all credit to his very convincing facial hair. In the server room, Morgan finds the room number Chuck needs to get to: 752. Then a phone number falls from his pocket, and it's Alex's. Casey wonders why Morgan has his daughter's number.

Chuck and Sarah are undisguising in the hall, when Justin and another bad guy approach. Justin tells Chuck that Agent Superman says his accent could use some work. Chuck tries to flash, but has another headachy fit, so Sarah knocks out the bad guys and asks him what's going on. He tells her the flashes are getting worse (like, duh), and she wants to abort the mission, but he says he'll be fine if they can get the Governor back. But their plan only works if she helps Morgan and Casey. She says she can't leave him like this, but he promises her he's okay and tells her she has to go, and says they have to stop Agent Superman.

Buy More. Going-out-of-business sale signs are up everywhere, and Jeff says there's a line of stay-at-home moms around the store, ready for the day's sale. Jeffster! asks Big Mike if they can screen their music video. They spent two weekends on it. Big Mike thinks it's a great idea, late in the day. "Wouldn't want to scare anyone away too early."

Agent Superman's speaking to an auditorium full of people about terrorism and blah, blah, blah LIES, when the phone in his pocket rings. The ringtone is, perfectly, the Mexican Hat Dance. Everyone in the audience looks around, and Agent Superman answers the "unknown" number. Chuck starts in by asking if Agent Superman knows that the Nerd Herd offers a variety of helpful hints for making his presentation better. Agent Superman's like, "Chuck." Chuck tells him he's in room 752, which is apparently Agent Superman's office or something important. He says they also know that the Ring Elders are in the audience, and "they have got to be asking themselves, 'Who is Daniel talking to?' " Agent Superman apparently has an emergency button on his Ring phone that sends "Leave now" message to all Ring Elders, because that's what he sends in a split-second. Agent Superman hangs up, then tells the audience to remain seated, as the presentation will begin again shortly. A handful of people get up to leave. And that would be the Ring Elders, folks.

In the server room, Casey grills Morgan on his interest in Alex. He chokes Morgan and says that his skin's flushed and his temperature is rising, so he obviously likes Alex. Morgan manages, "Or... you're choking me." Sarah comes in, and Casey quickly puts Morgan down and pretends that wasn't happening. They follow Sarah out, but Casey tells Morgan this discussion is not over. He gives Morgan a gun, tells him to put the muzzle down, and Morgan acts like he thinks a movie spy should, all stopping and spinning sideways before going out the door.

Agent Superman finds Chuck in his office, and says he's brave sitting there without a gun. He asks what Chuck's doing, and Chuck says Agent Superman's under arrest, but that's not what Agent Superman means; he wants to know what Chuck's plan is. Chuck wonders if he wants him to commit "the classic villain mistake of explaining my dastardly plot," but we all know Chuck would love to do that. He admits they didn't know who the Ring Elders were or how to find them, so they let Agent Superman ID them by warning them to leave the theater. He thanks him a lot. In a stairwell, Casey and Morgan trap Justin, who's leading some oldsters out. Morgan spouts action movie clichés: "Reach for the sky, dirtbags! You people are the disease, and I'm the cure." Morgan whispers to "Calm down there, Cobra, I didn't give you any bullets." Ha. Sarah joins them, calls Chuck to say they've got the Ring leaders, and she's on her way to him. She tells him not to give Agent Superman an inch.

Chuck tells Agent Superman that the Ring's captured, "one more check on my to-do list." Agent Superman reminds Chuck that he and his team are fugitives, so who would give him the authority to arrest him. Chuck asks about his father, and Agent Superman smugs, "Yes, I killed your father. Yes, I work for the Ring and am working to destroy the CIA. Still, I'm going to walk out of here a hero. How does that make you feel?" Chuck stands up and tells him that his Nerd Herd associates can also help with video conferencing. He turns around the laptop he's sitting behind and says, "Smile, Daniel. You're on TV." The entire room Agent Superman was speaking to before has been watching the whole thing play out, thanks to a camera in the corner. Chuck: "What do I say to that? Muah-ha-ha." He gives it just a little more faux-evil than Shaw gave it last hour. Nice. Chuck comes around the desk and tells Shaw to give him the Governor. Agent Superman would like to see him try to take it, so Chuck flashes. But, of course, it hurts him to flash, so Agent Superman gets the best of him, and is basically dangling him over the window, telling him there's no way out when Sarah comes in. Agent Superman jumps out the window, and flies on the flag hanging there to the floor below -- it's very Superman, except for the fact that he's, you know, evil. Sarah runs to Chuck, who's lying on the floor. He says, "Help me."

By DeAnn Welker

Agent Superman sees Sarah at the Buy More. She tells him he doesn't want to kill all these people, and he says she's right, but he does want to kill Chuck and wouldn't mind also killing her. Big Mike and Jeffster! realize they need a diversion to get out of the store with the suits wandering around. Just as Morgan gets the fire alarm, Jeff pulls the other one. So, was breaking the thumbs worth it at all? People run out of the store, as Chuck wakes up from all the noise and looks confused and still in pain. Agent Superman handcuffs Sarah to the Nerd Herd desk and asks where Chuck is. She tells him Chuck's not coming, because he can't. But the Buy More door opens, and Chuck struts in, in slow-motion with his gun drawn. Agent Superman points his, too. Chuck asks if a gunfight is what he really wants, and Agent Superman wonders if he has one good flash left. Chuck says he saved the best for last, and they both flash. Chuck kneels over in pain, and in doing so, pushes in the Jeffster! video DVD. It's Jeffster! as a cowboy and an Indian, singing Bon Jovi's Blaze of Glory. The sing their silly rock video hearts out as Chuck and Agent Superman fight all over the Buy More. Agent Superman has the upper hand, so Sarah begs him to please stop it.

He throws Chuck to the ground; he lands to Sarah, who begs him to please wake up. As Chuck's knocked out or passed out or whatever, he flashes back to being with his dad as a kid, then watching his dad die, then being a kid again. His dad goes outside, and leaves his work door open. Chuck goes inside and finds a bunch of crazy old computers. On the main monitor is the question "Activate?" Chuck pushes "Return" and pictures flash on all the monitors around him. Bakula comes back in and sees the transfer has been completed. He asks Chuck if he's okay, and then tells Chuck he processed an incredible amount of data, but he's okay. Chuck asks what that means. We flash back to Bakula dying, telling Chuck he's special. Then back with Bakula answering little Chuck's question: "It means you're special." Back in the present. Sarah pleads with Chuck and asks Agent Superman to stop it. Chuck jumps up, kung-fu style, and tells Agent Superman he's sorry: "Just had to reboot." This time they fight and it's a lot more evenly matched. Sarah struggles to free herself from the handcuffs. Agent Superman pulls out his detonator. Chuck gets the best of him, and has him in what's basically a death grip. Agent Superman tells him he has to kill him. (See? Sad.) Chuck lets go and says "No thanks. I've already done that once before." Agent Superman tells him that's what makes him weak. Sarah knocks Agent Superman out with the bar she was cuffed to and says, "No, that's what makes you great." She takes the watch off of Agent Superman and tells Chuck his dad wanted him to have it. She puts it on him, and they hug to where Shaw's passed out.

Lots of rescue types are at the Buy More. Jeffster! and Big Mike are crammed into the front of Jeff's van, watching it all. Bike Mike says this is not good, that he'll definitely be fired the day. Jeff asks Big Mike what if he told him there was another way to save their jobs, and be heroes. "We burn the Buy More. Burn it down to the ground." Big Mike's like, "What?" Jeff says he'd be happy to do that for Big Mike. But Big Mike's had enough of them. He tells them good riddance and goodbye and storms out of the car. Inside the Buy More, Casey tells Morgan that none of the firemen are real; they're all CIA agents looking for Agent Superman's detonator. Then he tells him he did a good job breaking his thumbs, which takes a little something special (I call it idiotic obedience). Morgan wants him to tell General Redhead, but first Casey wonders again why Morgan had Alex's number.

Sarah's dressing Chuck's wounds by the Nerd Herd desk. He tells her again that he told Ellie he'd quit after they stopped the Ring, and he meant it, because he can't lie to her. He asks if she can love a regular guy, and she says she fell in love with one. Morgan finds the detonator and hollers about it. He holds it precariously with his bandaged-up hands, and says, "Am I on a streak or what? When you're hot, you're hot." Casey tells him to be careful with the detonator. Morgan babbles about how Casey needs to now tell General Redhead how he broke his thumbs, and found the detonator. Chuck, to Sarah: "He's going to drop it." Morgan finishes, "And how I... " Then he drops it. "...dropped it." He can't believe he did it, and then it arms the bomb. Casey tells everyone to run, and they all do, getting out of the store just as it explodes. In their van out front, Lester, shocked, asks, "Did we do that?" Jeff: "I don't know." They take off as Morgan keeps telling everyone it was an accident. They turn and watch the Buy More sign crumble. Big Mike, in his own car: "Sweet Lord, they did it. They actually did it. Those crazy nerds blew up the Buy More." Oh, Big Mike, that is true on so many levels. First of all, Morgan did it, so yes: Crazy nerd did it. Second of all, the showrunners did it, so that's also a yes: Crazy nerds did it.

Cut to a news story about the Burbank Buy More fire, and how police have not apprehended the two lead suspects, who are on the run and extremely dangerous. They show a picture of Jeffster! Morgan turns off the TV, and we're at Ellie and Awesome' apartment. Everyone's there: Casey, Sarah, Awesome, Ellie, Morgan and Chuck. They all have champagne, and Chuck makes a toast. He says that his dad wasn't always a great family man, but there was nothing more important to him than family. "To a great man, Stephen J. Bartowski." Ellie: "To Dad." Everyone smiles warmly and drinks. There's a knock on the door, and Chuck welcomes Alex in. She hopes she didn't miss dinner. Chuck introduces her to the gang. Casey tells her he's so glad she came, and she says she is, too. They hug awkwardly. It's even weird for everyone watching. Morgan tells Alex that Casey's not much of a hugger, but baby steps, right? He says he's also glad she came. Casey tells him to back off before he breaks the rest of his fingers -- "or you blow up the apartment." He leads Alex away, and Morgan repeats it was an accident. Uh, yeah, and one he's letting Jeffster! take the fall for.

Ellie asks Chuck if he's done for real, as Sarah watches from across the room. He looks at Sarah and tells Ellie that he told General Redhead he's out. He says that since he got her her job back and saved multiple branches of the U.S. government (not exactly, but whatever), she accepted. He tells her he's a civilian just like her, and they hug and express their love. Then Chuck gets a text that says, "Go to your computer." He does, and when he sits down, it tells him to press enter. Chuck hesitates for only a second before doing it. It's his dad, who tells him that if he's seeing this that means he wasn't able to stop the message from sending, which means he's dead. He says he's sorry and he hopes Chuck and Ellie know how much he loves them... loved them. Sad. He tells Chuck he has a secret and needs him to get a pen.

Bakula starts a voiceover about how he didn't want Chuck to be a spy because of how dangerous it is, and what it does to people. That's why he kept a secret from Chuck about himself, about Orion. As he talks, Chuck heads back to their childhood home, and then flashes back to being a kid in those same rooms. Bakula voices over that he's been a spy for 20 years, working for himself, doing things governments are afraid to do. Chuck flips a light switch the right number of times to reveal a secret hatch under the fireplace. Bakula's voiceover continues that maybe being a spy is in their blood, and he should have told him this long ago, but basically, Chuck's story is only just beginning. Nice job at telling NBC that it has to continue a good long while, writers.

Chuck walks down into the hatch to reveal a giant spy room, with lasers and shelves as far as Chuck can see. Bakula continues that it's time Chuck knows the truth about his work and the people who tried to destroy him, because if he's gone, then Chuck's not safe from them anymore, and neither is Ellie. Chuck walks through the room, and the lasers disappear. He sees what look like labels around the room. They say, "Identity: Orion," "Identity: Hydra" "Corvus: Phase Two," and "The Aries Papers." Bakula continues that these people are ruthless and cunning. More labels: "Captured: The Triangulum" and "The Fornax Group." Lots of old equipment is all around the room. Label: "Operation: Cygnus." Bakula tells Chuck it's time he learned about his family. We see the back of a dark-haired woman's head as she types. Her phone rings. Chuck finds a table that has one half of the broken necklace on it. Bakula: "Because I did it all for her." The woman picks up her phone, and see the other half of the necklace (which, by the way, completed is a silver boy and girl set) is on her bracelet. The man on the other end of her phone tells her, "We're going to have to move you. Now!" Chuck looks at his half of the necklace and says, "Mom." One last label: "Mary Elizabeth Bartowski: Missing." Well, then. See you season. THANK GOD. (Also, Agent Superman's still alive, which I know some fans will hate, but I love. He's by far the best villain this show's had.)

By DeAnn Welker

Watch this episode here, discuss it in our forums, then see some of our favorite Chuck guest-stars.

DeAnn, a writer and editor in Portland, Oregon, wants Lena Olin to play Mrs. Bakula. You can contact her at twopmodmars@gmail.com.