Episode Report Card DeAnn Welker: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT There's a Ring to It
By DeAnn Welker | Season 4 | Episode 3 | Aired on 10.04.2010
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Chuck and Sarah move on from his comment about having kids straight into awkward silences. Sarah sulks and Chuck thinks they're stable and perfect. But then the spy mission to Monaco that Chuck was so looking forward to gets canceled because a prison transport breaks down and they need to use the Spy More to hold the prisoner... who turns out to be Nicole Richie. Chuck flashes on a connection between her and Volkoff and Frost (his mom's spy code name or something, if you're just catching up), so Chuck and Sarah interrogate her. She will only speak in exchange for witness protection, which they're not offering up. While they try to get her to talk, though, Stone Cold Steve Austin gets himself out of his spy cage in the new supersized Castle. And he spends the rest of the episode torturing them and fighting them (conveniently, he's with Volkoff, too). In the end, Nicole Richie even helps a little bit (as does the gang at the Buy More, but we'll get to that), and they manage to get him arrested again.
At the Buy More, Morgan's anticipating the release of some new videogame, so there are all sorts of folks in military and spy regalia packed into the store for the countdown. Unfortunately, the game never comes, so Jeffster! tries slam poetry and other tactics to entertain them, but finally admits there's no game. A full-out riot ensues, but Big Mike's thankfully back to work, and he helps Morgan get everyone to stand down. Right after his inspirational speech (or is it slam poetry? Huh?), Stone Cold walks in and Big Mike thinks he's being disruptive, so he takes him out, helping out the CIA without even knowing it. Morgan makes him his assistant manager and gives him permission to marry Morgan's mom.
In the chaos of the episode, Morgan loses Big Mike's engagement ring for Morgan's mom, and at the end, it falls down a vent. As Chuck and Sarah finally talk about taking it slow, the ring makes its way down the heating vent and lands at Chuck's feet. Just in time for him to lean down onto one knee and pick it up. They both freak out a little bit, but -- testing the waters or something else -- no one says anything about it being a total accident. So we have ourselves a little bit of a cliffhanger.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Chuck wants us to know some stuff: The Buy More is now the Spy More. Morgan became the manager, though, to dumb it down. Chuck freaked Sarah out with his sweet, sleepy marriage/baby talk. And now here we are in a prison transport truck. It breaks down on a highway, so they're redirected to a new top-secret facility. Cut to said facility, where Morgan's dealing with giant crowds waiting for the release of a spy video game in two hours. Chuck and Morgan have a very nothing conversation about the guys camped out here and blah, blah, why should we care? Morgan does, however, introduce us to the new Greta, Stacy Keibler. Morgan is sort of drooling all over himself for the two seconds she's in their presence. Oh, come now. She's no Isaiah Mustafa.
Chuck exposits that he has no time to sit around and ogle the new Greta because he's going on a fabulous spy mission to Monaco with his lady. By the way Morgan responds, it's clear Chuck's told him this at least a hundred times. Morgan asks how Chuck is so calm and settled, without his normal neuroses and fear. Chuck says he doesn't want to speak for Sarah, but she's finally settled down. They savor this victory. Cut to Sarah, savoring this "victory" in her own way: by punching Casey in the face. Casey wonders what's eating at her, so she asks about his family. He admits he'd like to talk to Alex, but none of his priorities have changed. Sarah tells Casey what Chuck said about kids and then punches Casey a bunch more. General Redhead interrupts and tells Sarah to calm herself, since her trip to Monaco has been postponed because of a prison transport heading their way. The prisoners are theirs at Castle until further notice. Sarah seems a bit relieved.
When she tells Chuck their trip's canceled, though, he's less happy. He doesn't even like the silver lining of staying in and chatting. He asks if there's something they need to talk about, but the Castle warning buzzer tells them the prisoners are there, so she tells him to "lock and load." She pretends the chat is no big deal, and then our prisoners are led in. The first one is Stone Cold Steve Austin, who instantly remembers (and head-butts) "Carmichael." Chuck gasps, "Just a quiet evening." Sarah tells him it can't get any worse, and then her prisoner's revealed: Nicole Richie, who taunts Sarah and her "dungeon." As if our new fancy Castle is remotely a dungeon.
Spy More. Morgan's giving Jeffster! a pep talk, which consists of him asking them not to embarrass him. But Jeffster! scare the crap out of Morgan by telling him Big Mike's here -- and he stole his job, remember. Morgan knew this day would come, even though he's been avoiding his mom's house so he wouldn't see him. Big Mike comes in, and Morgan tells him he's bursting with pride that he's wearing the manager suit now. Meanwhile, down in Castle, Chuck asks Stone Cold about his diet regimen in prison and Sarah asks Nicole how she managed to dye her hair. Okay, she doesn't, but I wish she had. Instead, Nicole calls Sarah "Jenny Burton", but Sarah says she's Sarah Walker, and Nicole best not forget it. They lock their prisoners in, but only after Stone Cold takes a newspaper from one of the guards.
Back upstairs, Big Mike's all peaceful and happy about finding his inner Big Mike. He says this calm and serenity comes from Morgan's mama. He wants to make her an honest woman. He shows Morgan a half-carat cubic zirconium -- he's a splurger, that one -- and says he's here to ask Morgan's permission to marry Bologna Garcia Bougainvillea Grimes. How many ethnicities is she, anyway? Big Mike leaves the ring with Morgan, and asks him to guard that ring with his life. Big Mike then asks for a job, since he really wants to take care of Morgan's mom. Morgan sort of nods yes, then takes a phone call. Big Mike calls Morgan "Son. Boss." Morgan's call is apparently someone letting him know he's only getting six copies of that new game, Spy Attack. Which probably won't go over well with the hundreds of people lined up waiting for it.
Back at Castle, Sarah and Chuck start to have their talk. She's like, "Look, it's not a big deal. Or maybe it is. I don't know." He wonders what's up, so she says she loves him, but asks if they can please... But before she finishes, he flashes on Nicole Richie, who's connected to Frost, which means she might know his mom and he must talk to her before the transport. Sarah reminds him they don't have authority, but he points out they also don't have authority to use the supply closet for what they use it for. What do they think this is? Grey's Anatomy? If he's going to do it, though, she wants to be involved as tough cop to his silent cop. He tells her to use the word "time machine" to regroup if things go bad in there. As they head in, Stone Cold makes some sort of tightly wound roll out of his newspaper.
In Nicole Richie's room, Sarah offers Nicole a bunch of stuff, but stops short of witness protection. Nicole ribs Sarah and then wonders if Chuck and Sarah are actually together. She can't believe it, and makes fun, then asks them if spy sex isn't great. Then she also brings up shacking up, getting a dog, and babies. Sarah: "Time machine." Chuck's like, "Time machine. Really?" Outside, he tells her he actually meant for her to use it in a sentence, you know, so it's not so obvious. Sarah tells Chuck not to let Nicole get under his skin about the living together and "the other thing that she mentioned." Uh, Sarah, this is a kettle. You are black. As Sarah storms back in, Chuck wonders if she's okay. Stone Cold, meanwhile, stabs a guard in the neck with the rolled-up newspaper. And folks say newspapers are no longer good for anything... Back in Nicole's room, she taunts Sarah some more because she knows this makes her edgy. Nicole talks about her own husband, who she ended up robbing blind.
They leave the room again and start to chat, but Sarah notices a guard's machine gun on the ground down the hall and tells Chuck they have a serious problem. She pulls him back into Nicole's room in slow motion as Stone Cold comes around the corner and picks up the machine gun. He follows and shoots at their jail cell, but it's thankfully bulletproof. Chuck thinks this might be about him kicking Stone Cold's ass on an airplane once, but Stone Cold tells Nicole that Mr. Volkoff says hello, and if they send her out now, no one else dies. He runs off, and Sarah asks what's going on. Nicole thinks Volkoff engineered the transfer, which put Nicole and Stone Cold on the same transport. She says Volkoff's mad at her, but he's just being petty because she blew a half-billion dollars. Sarah calls Casey.
Back at the Spy More, though, the game clock is counting down and Morgan needs Casey himself. He wants him to announce the delayed delivery, but Casey says it's a job for the manager. He gets Sarah's call and heads toward Castle. But then Greta Stacy calls him and apologizes for being in Castle, but she can't handle the losers upstairs. She finds the punched-out guards and then comes face to face with Stone Cold. Unfortunately, he knocks her out, then heads for the computer system. He's apparently not a total idiot, because he manages to lockdown Castle, with them all inside. Chuck says this isn't a good situation, since he's been in a locked space with Stone Cold before, and he g