Chuck's fully back in the CIA this week -- so much so that he and Sarah go to Milan a couple times, leaving Casey behind (apparently because of an incident with a stiletto heel, Casey's not allowed anywhere near Milan's Fashion Week). The mission is get "smart bullets" (which contain GPS) from one of Volkoff's spies, whose cover is as a Russian model. In other words: She's hot. And Chuck can't help but notice, so a tiny bit of jealousy ensues on Sarah's part. This in addition to Chuck feeling all crazy that Sarah won't unpack her suitcase despite living with him for eight months makes for a bickery episodes for our adorable spy couple (and, is it just me, or have they both gotten cuter?). They go to Milan once and capture decoy bullets, so head back a second time to get the model's sequin dress (where the real weapons' chips are in disguise). After a knockdown, drag-out fight on the Fashion Week runway, Sarah emerges victorious over the model, who's arrested to much fanfare from General Redhead. Chuck and Sarah return home and she finally unpacks. Then he actually might ruin the relationship by suggesting marriage and kids. The end.
Elsewhere, Awesome shows up at the Buy More and tells Morgan it seems too perfect to be the Buy More, and is Chuck a spy again? He believes the lies that he's not, but doesn't think Ellie will buy it. Morgan knows Awesome's onto something, so tells General Redhead her store is too perfect to serve as an effective cover. She tasks him with fixing things, and he runs out and hires Jeffster! (on the lam since the Buy More fire) and the rest of the old Buy Morians back. They arrive just in time for Ellie to show up at the store and see that nothing's changed at all. So General Redhead makes Morgan store manager. No more, Mister Ass man for Mr. Grimes. (I'm just curious how Big Mike's going to come into play, since he wasn't in this episode.) Back at their apartment, Ellie and Awesome deal with the pregnancy in their own ways: him by freaking out and wanting to take care of her, and her by looking through an album of photos of her mom and dad with them as babies. I'm guessing the reunion with their kick-ass spy mom won't be quite so cuddly.
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Previously: Chuck's back at the Buy More, which is a big, fancy CIA base. Ellie's pregnant. Casey has a daughter. And Linda Hamilton is Chuck and Ellie's mom. Now: The show opens with a hot girl (Karolina Kurkova) in a sequined dress running from a suited man. Then she stops, turns, shoots him dead, and stands there looking sexy like any hottie would do after shooting someone dead.
In Burbank, Awesome's clearly up to speed on Ellie's pregnancy, and he's in freak-out mode, calling Ellie out of commission and telling Chuck, Sarah and Morgan they all have to step up and help. He wants to make important decisions about baby gear and also: what foreign language will the baby learn? They all remind Awesome he has a little time to prepare since the baby's not even here for six months. Ellie moves the focus to Chuck and Morgan going back to the Buy More, then she yawns, causing Awesome to have another Awesome freak-out. (remember when he was, like, a badass? What happened there?) She tells him to relax; the baby's the size of a walnut. Awesome tells her their little walnut already has eardrums and can hear her snippy tone. Chuck and Sarah whisper about how crazy this is, so Awesome tells them they could be . Morgan, very reminiscent of Bugs Bunny as he munches on a carrot, mutters that Sarah would have to unpack before they could have a kid. Which is technically not true, of course, but it is effective exposition, because...
... Now we're in Chuck's closet, where Sarah's half is totally empty except for a fully packed suitcase. He tells her not to worry about Morgan; it's not weird at all that she hasn't unpacked in the eight months they've lived together. Cut to him at the Buy More telling Morgan how weird it is. Morgan tells Chuck that every relationship has an Achilles heel, a singular problem that can't be overcome, and it usually arrives just when things seem perfect. Chuck asks if Sarah not unpacking is their Achilles heel. Morgan just tells Chuck to keep his feelings to himself so as not to give Sarah a reason to bolt. General Redhead calls Chuck to her office, leaving Morgan to meet Old Spice guy Isaiah Mustafa, who is obviously a big, tough, perfect specimen of a man, staring down insultingly at puny, nerdy Morgan.
At Castle, General Redhead's showing the original Team Bartowski photos of Sofia Stepanova, the running hot girl from the beginning of the episode, who uses her cover as a runway model to work for Volkoff. Currently, she's smuggling smart bullets, which use GPS to find their targets. As they discuss, Casey ignores a call from Alex, his daughter. It should be noted that his iPhone has an American flag wallpaper, naturally. General Redhead is sending Chuck and Sarah to intercept the weapons, which Sofia's going to sell at Milan Fashion Week. She reminds Casey he will not be able to attend after the "Yves Saint Laurent incident. Casey mutters: "Stab one guy with a stiletto..." Sarah says she's packed and ready to go, and Casey tells Chuck how in love Sarah is... with missions. Casey and Chuck mission-prep and make small talk about whether Burbank can ever feel like home to a spy. Casey says it feels as much like home as Darfur or "that cave in Afghanistan." He says spies don't put down roots and asks if this is about the Achilles heel thing, which Grimes told him. He tells Chuck that beautiful women have a lot of baggage, and Chuck should be happy Walker's is just a suitcase. Because, you know, she could have two cases, a carry-on, and a purse (though she'd have to pay extra for the second suitcase). Cake!
Milan. Models. Chuck comments on Sarah's "strapless Versace," and she asks how much Project Runway he's been watching. They spot Sofia, assume the smart bullets are in her purse, and Chuck heads in to grab them. When he reaches out to pick her pocket (or purse), though, he accidentally grabs her butt instead. As you might expect, it's quite awkward, mostly because this is Chuck, who won't just -- oh, I don't know -- MOVE HIS HAND. Instead, he leaves it resting on her butt as they talk about what in the hell he's doing. She tells him his hand is "still touching my perfection." He responds, "I'm not a weirdo pervert, by any stretch of the imagination." She tells him no harm's done and takes off. Chuck tells Sarah he didn't get the purse, and starts to awkwardly explain the awkwardness when Sarah sees Sofia leave her purse on the bar. The bartender picks it up and takes off, with Chuck and Sarah following. He hands it over easily and they find a bomb inside. Sofia watches gleefully as Chuck and Sarah work to defuse it. But first, Chuck tells Sarah he doesn't mind if she won't unpack. "I still love you." She defuses the bomb, and immediately turns to Chuck: "You still love me?" That's not exactly how he meant it, but when it's your potential last words, you should probably aim a little higher than, "You have flaws but I still love you."
Back at the Buy More, Casey's stocking Roombas and Morgan's tagging along. Awesome shows up and comments on how "scary efficient" the Buy More is now. Morgan and Casey pretend they hadn't noticed, but Isaiah Mustafa's shooting price stickers from twenty-five, then thirty feet away. Awesome asks if everyone here is a spy, because Ellie would freak after Chuck promised to give up the spy life. Casey says Chuck's out, but the Buy More's still his cover. Morgan looks around, and grimaces his idea face.
Back at the mission, Chuck follows Sarah around, stammering an apology, while she tries to figure out where the smart bullets could be hidden with how little Sofia was wearing. They argue about how his last words could have been about her weird packing thing, and how he really gets that she needs to pack light for a mission. Oh, speaking of, they're on a mission right now, aren't they? Sarah suggests they get back to that. And back at the Buy More (have you noticed that even though this show looked like it was totally changing at the end of last season, it found a way to be about both the missions and the Buy More once again), Morgan tells General Redhead that things at the Buy More are running too smoothly. She takes it as a compliment, but he says it's so right it's wrong. See? Morgan might not know much about the CIA, but he does know about running a Buy More. He pours some Yoo-Hoo on the floor, and it's mopped up immediately, whereas it would have lasted for a week at the old Buy More (until Jeff came along and licked it up). They continue their tour, where a child stares at Isaiah Mustafa and tells his mom he doesn't want to be an astronaut; he wants to work at the Buy More. Morgan says no one should ever want to work at the Buy More. He proves his point to General Redhead while messing things up as they walk. CIA workers right everything almost as soon as he can move it out of place. General Redhead asks what he proposes.
Chuck and Sarah rappel from the top of the building into Sofia's presidential suite (he tries for a Spider-Man kiss, but a cutely upset Sarah won't oblige, THANK GOD BECAUSE LIKE ANYONE ELSE NEEDS TO PAY HOMAGE TO THAT STUPID STUPID KISS). Inside Sofia's room, they find a fully unpacked closet. Chuck can't help commenting on how she's a spy, too, and is all unpacked in a hotel, so they must not all have issues with it. Sarah thanks him for the snarky comments, but notices a safe and gets back on task. She starts to run some sort of decoding opener when they hear Sofia and her burly bodyguard Lou Ferrigno come in. Lou acts all needy with her, but she snits for him to just stand guard. Sofia comes into the closet and strips down to hop in the shower while Chuck and Sarah watch from their hiding spots behind her clothes. Sarah and Chuck bicker a bit about the naked hottie in the bathroom, and then split up to perform their tasks. Sarah goes to get the room card as Chuck Intersects his way into the safe (why were they using a decoder thing in the first place, then?). When he gets the smart bullets out, Sofia's standing behind him with a gun. He turns and sees she's naked, so she turns away. Sofia: "Look at me." Chuck does, but he says, "You should know: I have a girlfriend." Hee. Cute. Out in the other room, Sarah won't let Lou turn around, as she fakes Sofia's accent and he confesses his love for her. Sarah, such a softie, punches his lights out. In the closet, Sofia asks Chuck who he works for and how he found her. Chuck says he'd love to get into this, but asks if it would be any trouble to ask her to get a towel to cover herself. Sarah comes in then, so Sofia quickly grabs Chuck and holds him close with a gun to his head. Sarah asks if she's naked, and Chuck's like, "Who?" Then: "Her? Yes. Yes, she is." They escape to their ropes on the balcony, with the weapon in tow, and Sarah shoots back in the room at Sofia, with a "Put some clothes on."
Back at Castle, General Redhead gives Chuck and Sarah the news that, while their work in Milan was excellent, the smart bullets had fake chips, so she must have been hiding them somewhere else. Now they just have to wait for Sofia to pop back up the radar before she'll send Chuck and Sarah back in. Isaiah Mustafa pops on the Castle screen to tell General Redhead the Better Business Bureau has arrived to bestow the Buy More with an award for excellence. If only he were shirtless and on a horse, seeing him on a screen would be a perfect shout-out to the Old Spice campaign. General Redhead sighs and tells Chuck she hopes his "woolly friend" Mr. Grimes will come through with his recruiting.
Jeffster! is living in a van somewhere making Blair Witch style depression videos about running from the "po-po" and living on the lam. But it's not all bad, because Jeff has a new pet rock. Morgan and Casey watch them from afar, as Morgan explains that the Buy More without Jeffster! is just another electronics store. Jeffster! sit around a barrel fire discussing the meaning of life (and/or how much they miss Ace of Base) -- the only thing missing here is Tommy Chong with his bong -- when Morgan and Casey show up, scaring the crap out of the self-important fugitives. Lester reminds them of their suicide pills, just like Thelma and Louise. They freak and talk and then try to bargain, until Casey tranqs them (but you know it takes a lot of tranqs to knock out Jeff). Casey and Morgan drag them to the car and discuss Alex. Apparently Morgan's been talking to her (as friends), and wonders why Casey doesn't talk to her. Casey growls in response.
Back at the apartments, Awesome catches Sarah and Chuck and asks them what's up with the Buy More. He says, "Everyone there is attractive and highly skilled. It was like I work there. But why would I work at the Buy More? Unless I was a spy." They lie to him that Chuck's out and it's Sarah and Casey's cover. Awesome buys it and apologizes for asking, but says he's just worried about Ellie. Casey and Morgan wheel Jeffster! in, still tranqued, as Chuck says how normal everything is. Inside, Ellie wonders why Awesome's brought her another batch of baby stuff. He finally admits this is about her mom; he doesn't want her to feel like anyone or anything is missing. She says she hasn't needed her mom before and doesn't need her now. Chuck and Awesome are all she needs. They make a deal that he is allowed to help her, but he has to let her help, too. He agrees.
Sarah unpacks a dress and hangs it in Chuck's closet, but he asks her not to do that just because they talked about it. He wants her to do it when she wants to, when she feels comfortable. She says she does feel comfortable, but putting roots down isn't easy for her. He totally gets that, and loves her for who she is, so he takes the dress out and puts it back in her bag, talking about one dress. Which makes him think of the dress Sofia took off while they watched. She put it in a suitcase instead of hanging it up, and they'd seen her wear it before. So they think the chips must be in the dress, which means she'll slip it through Customs with all of the Fashion Week fashions. They must get back before Fashion Week ends. Good thing they're already packed!
Milan. Fashion. Chuck and Sarah are dressed like Boris and Natasha, basically. They spot the room where the dress must be, based on the two heavies guarding it. Luckily, Chuck has tranq gloves that he rubs the men up with, knocking them out. Sarah, obviously a skeptic, is just glad they worked. They close the curtains and sift through dresses until Chuck finds the sequin dress. Sarah takes off her jacket and is in sexy black bra and underwear. She puts the dress on as Chuck comments on how great of a mission this is. She takes off her bra (strapless dress), and gives it to Chuck. Bodyguards show up and they try to run through a back door, but Chuck doesn't make it. He tells her he loves her, and shuts the door, to send her and the dress to safety. Hey! He chose the right last words this time. Unfortunately, though, Sofia's on the other side of the door with Sarah. Chuck uses his Intersect to kung-fu Lou Ferrigno and four other guys with guns -- and he does so handily, as usual, except for a little trouble with Lou's giant muscles. It's nothing a few slaps with his tranq gloves can't take care of, however.
Sofia leads Sarah out into the model area with a gun, and insults her. Sarah turns and kicks her. They fight a truly rockin' girl fight -- complete with ripping wigs off, curling-iron burns, bloody faces, and a full-on punching and kicking session all over the runway. They pull weapons from their fancy heels, do back flips in tiny dresses, and otherwise fulfill every man's dreams: action + hot = seriously: Why isn't this show Number 1 in America? Is there something I'm missing about the male brain? And it's not like there aren't any cute guys to look at for the ladies, because Zachary Levi just keeps getting cuter and cuter every season. Are we getting less shallow or something? Anyway, the fight ends with Sarah looking like the winning model on the runway. Applause! At Castle, General Redhead praises them for their work arresting Sofia and getting the smart bullets.
Awesome's making Ellie a protein shake, but she's ready to return some stuff to the Buy More. He tries to stop her, but she wants to do some of the work in their lives, so he lets her go. Then he calls Chuck and says, "The hen has left the nest." Chuck's like, "The hen has what huh?" Awesome explains, and says he knows Chuck's not a spy, but will Ellie believe it when she sees the new Buy More? Chuck watches the perfection on the surveillance cameras and realizes she probably won't. He heads upstairs to dumb it down. Ellie does seem to notice the eerie perfection when she arrives, until Chuck greets her. He's all stammery, which is when Morgan shows up to assure them the Buy More is still the Buy More.
Cue Feed My Frankenstein as Jeffster! lead the old Buy More gang in, acting tough until they all topple on top of each other. Ellie asks if one of them can help her, and Lester says, "No. We're on break." He slaps Jeff's bare (and hairy) chest as he walks away. Jeff gets in Ellie's face and says he hears she's pregnant. "Is there room in that womb for two? Let me know." Ew. Ellie doesn't seem shocked, and just says some things never help. General Redhead congratulates Morgan on the airtight cover he's created and gives him the keys to the Buy More. She makes him store manager, with a "Don't make me regret this." Morgan offers the old crew drinks on him tonight. They all cheer and he tones it down to "happy hour well drinks." He invites Casey, but he says he has to do some mission prep. Casey says this isn't his home, then walks away and calls Alex. Finally.
Later, Ellie's in bed to a sound-asleep Awesome. She gets up, goes to her closet, and pulls down a box from the top shelf. She rummages through and finds a family album, where she flips through cute pictures of younger versions of Bakula and Linda Hamilton with babies. It's funny that Jeremy Messersmith's "A Girl, A Boy, and A Graveyard" is playing as she's doing this, and it gets to the part that says, "I feel like I'm some kind of Frankenstein/Waiting for a shock to bring me back to life." Maybe they were going for a Frankenstein musical theme? I'd have to go back and figure out the other songs in order to actually determine that, though, and I don't have the energy. Awesome shifts in bed and she makes sure he's asleep, then goes back to feeling sad about her lost family. God, Ellie and Chuck's childhood makes me sad.
Chuck finds Sarah putting all her clothes away in his closet. He says she didn't have to, but she wants to, because she wants this to feel like her first real home. He tries to help her unpack, and finds a picture of them in her bag. She says she takes that with her everywhere -- Portugal, Russia, Burbank -- and it makes her feel safe. She knows it's taken longer than a normal girl, but he's her home and always has been. They kiss and he throws her onto the bed, where they kiss some more. He tells her what Morgan said about the Achilles heel, and how he started to believe it was the packing thing. But now he realizes it's stupid, and they don't have an Achilles heel; they have a real future. They spoon, and he says, "Maybe Awesome's right: Marriage. Baby. Who knows? Maybe we're ." Sarah's eyes pop wide open in panic. I think they may have just found that Achilles heel.
week: Casey and Sarah spar, and he wonders what's up with her. Oh, and Steve Austin and Nicole Richie are back to fight with our wonder couple once more. Oh, and it looks like Chuck proposes, but then he looks shocked by it, so it might be a red herring.
Watch the episode below, then discuss it in our forums. Then see some of our favorite Chuck guest-stars!
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DeAnn, a writer and editor in Portland, Oregon, doesn't think Chuck and Sarah need an Achilles heel to keep this show interesting. You can contact her at twopmodmars@gmail.com.