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When a team Casey worked with (and then took down) during the Clinton administration has ties to Frost, Team Bartowski comes up with a plan: Fake Casey's death and they'll come to the funeral. They do, of course, led by Eric Roberts, and they steal drugged Casey from his coffin to take his hand back to Iran (to open a vault filled with gold bullion that can only be opened with his handprint). They get Casey to a garage somewhere in the city, and his drug wears off enough for him to escape and call in a Code Red to the Buy More. Unbeknownst to him, he gets Jeffster!, who hilariously think he's having a drug trip and save the day -- or at least they save Casey. While he's drugged out in a Stormtrooper mask at Morgan's, Chuck and Sarah get captured while looking for him. The bad guys take them to Iran to lure Casey, who heads there with Morgan in tow. Unfortunately, since it's in Iran, they can't have any more backup than that. Morgan screws up Casey's plan by failing to dim the lights, so they all get captured. Luckily, Morgan's wearing some anti-electrocution gloves and jumps onto a wired cable, sending enough volts into all the guys (standing in water) to knock them out and really save the day.
Chuck also finds out from the gang that his mom's not a prisoner, but Volkoff's right hand, and these bad guys' boss. He's starting to think she's not such a good guy, so he gives up his search at the end of the episode. Then she calls. And, when Morgan finally tells Casey he's dating his daughter, Casey loses it (but he's under the influence of the death drug, and Morgan's point was kind of to get him mad). Morgan ruins things with her by being a coward, then Casey tells her it was his fault and, in the end, all seems to be good. Though Casey does growl a warning to Morgan that if he breaks Alex's heart, Casey will break his everything.
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Want more? The full recap starts right below!Eric Roberts (Packer), a meathead named T.I., and a nerd named Mackintosh work with Casey during the Clinton administration to find a cave in Iran filled with gold bullion. Casey locks it up so that no one can get in without his handprint, but before he seals it shut, Packer, T.I. and Mack pull guns on him. Because, you know, they'd like a little of that gold. But Casey, being Casey, throws his knife and knocks the lights out and then takes them all down in the dark. He locks up the bullion, and says they're all going to Leavenworth.
But, thankfully, we don't have to. Although we get the Buy More instead, which isn't that much better than a prison, since even when it burns down, we cannot escape it. Jeffster! invite Casey out to reunite the gang, and he's like, "I was never in your gang." That doesn't shut them up, though, so they ask him to go drink white zin and play Magic the Gathering. He says no, and I think this was just a way to set up a scene later in the episode, but it's still amusing. Also at the Buy More, Alex shows up to see Morgan, but when she tries to hug, he fist-bumps her instead. She reminds him they're dating, not buds, but he says not everybody knows that yet, even though he said he was going to tell Casey. She gets that Casey's intimidating, but it's important to her that they're honest with him. Okay, then why doesn't she tell him? She has to get to class. Chuck tells Morgan to be careful how he breaks the news to Casey, who might kill him accidentally. They watch Casey take apart a price-check scanner. Chuck asks Morgan to cover for him at the Buy More (is that even necessary now that it's not even really a cover) so he can work on the Costa Gravas files with Sarah to try to find his mom.
Castle. They've combed through all the files, and found nothing. But Sarah thinks maybe they should think about Volkoff's private prison systems. She shows Chuck a picture of Packer, T.I. and Mack, who she says will know where the Volkoff prisons are. Chuck flashes and says that those guys used to work for someone they know. Cut to Casey telling them about dragging the guys across the desert after securing the bullion. He had them court-marshaled, but they promptly escaped. Chuck interrupts and references The A-Team but no one gets it. (Casey says he was, and did not watch, The A-Team.) Casey says they've tried to get him over the years, but last time he "told them to stay hidden." Casey says the only place he could think of to get them all back together would be at Casey's funeral. Chuck has a plan: Kill Casey! I do not approve of this decision. Cake credits.
Team Bartowski is sharing Chuck's plan with General Redhead, who's surprised they want to use government resources to stage a funeral for Casey. Casey says the guys would come for his handprint, so they could break into the bullion in Iran. Chuck explains they'll leak the information in all of the back channels, and they'll have agents in the funeral audience. General Redhead thinks this is a good plan and holds Chuck back after letting Sarah and Casey go. She tells Chuck she's impressed at his progression as a spy. She says he put duty above emotion, using Casey as bait. She says it usually takes years before spies are willing to put their teammates in harm's way.
As Casey's getting his uniform on in his apartment, Chuck tells him it's okay to back out since this is dangerous and he's just developed this relationship with Alex. Casey tells him it will all be fine, and asks what Chuck's going to give him to make him seem dead. It's called Tetradotoxin, and it normally kills people but they've modified it to slow his breathing and heart rate. He'll seem dead, but will be alive and awake, but paralyzed. And because Casey's been exposed to so many truth serums, tranquilizers, etc., in his career, they're not sure how long it will last in his system, so they're stashing a second dose of it on Casey's person in case he has to re-dose himself. Chuck tells Casey that he and Sarah will be busy on the mission, so they need someone to deliver the eulogy. They were thinking...
Cut to Morgan accepting the job, and getting all nervous about it. Chuck was thinking this could be a good time to sing Casey's praises so he can get on his good side before he tells him about Alex. Morgan's still nervous. Then Ellie and Awesome show up to tell them they're having a girl. While Morgan and Awesome go in the kitchen to drink champagne to celebrate, Ellie tells Chuck she does want him to find their mom after all, because she's having a girl and wants to know if she'll know her grandmother.
At the funeral, Morgan and Chuck are staring at Casey's fake dead body when his eyes pop open, freaking Morgan out. And I don't know how they got Adam Baldwin to be so entirely still, but it is pretty freakish-looking. Casey glares at Morgan until he leaves his eyesight and calls Alex to tell her he's going to tell her dad today. Chuck and Sarah have a seat, and Chuck points out the only people here are agents. Then Mackintosh shows up and Chuck corrects that: Some people here hate him. Mackintosh goes to the casket and stabs Casey's hand with a pin. Chuck tells Sarah Casey can still feel pain (so maybe "paralyzed" was not the correct description?). Morgan gets nervous and then starts his speech with lots of feedback and awkwardness. He says the one word he'd choose to describe John Casey would be forgiveness, and that he wanted to tell John something before he died. He knows that John is "somewhere out there beneath the pale moonlight." It's not very often a contemporary show references An American Tail. Nice. [Cough Community cough! - Zach]
As Morgan rambles on and on -- about Casey palming a watermelon with his large hands -- T.I. comes in and burns Casey's hand with a cigar. Chuck wonders if they should go in before someone takes a blow torch to his face, but Sarah says he's been through worse, and they have to wait for the third guy. Which is, of course, Packer's cue. Morgan tells J. Case they miss him and he should come back soon "in song and limerick." As Packer looks to be crying over Casey's casket. But really he's laughing. At the government for thinking they'd come unprepared. They've rigged bombs under the floor so the casket falls through and, when the smoke clears, Casey's gone. Chuck: "I lost Casey."
Back at Castle, Chuck's stressing about how this is all his fault as Sarah makes a call to "tactical" to get 100 men ready to go on her command. They locate Casey's tracking device and send "tactical" to the location. It's on a cat. Casey, meanwhile, is seemingly dead but awake (remember?) in a warehouse with Packer, T.I. and Mackintosh, who are trying to figure out how to remove his hand. They consider a knife but then go looking for a surgical saw. While they look for it, Casey's eyes open and tries to force himself to move. Back with the saw, they start to move in toward his hand -- and, really, pretending to be dead during this has to be worse than the lead sprinkler -- when the warehouse's doorbell rings (because that happens all the time). And the guys, being criminals, of course want to be polite to whoever's buzzing at the warehouse where they stopped to saw off their former friend's hand. Makes sense. Right?
Back at Castle, Morgan really wants to be useful but Chuck just wants him to go back to the Buy More and help keep Casey's cover by saying he's on a delivery. This will be important very soon. Chuck and Sarah keep looking for him. But as the bad guys are answering their door, Casey manages to force himself to move, and then he Frankensteins himself out of there. They come back in with pizza that Mack ordered and it takes them a second to notice Casey's gone. He's left his wallet and the syringe of refill dead juice behind. Somehow, when Packer picks it up and sees Casey's license, he knows he's not dead. I mean, why wouldn't a guy ask to be buried with his wallet? Packer gives Casey the needle full of dead juice, but Casey manages -- even drugged -- to take them all out on his way out the window. Once outside, as he's passing out, he makes a call to whatever blurry number he can't read. We see it ring in the Buy More and he starts talking: "This is Casey. Code Red. I've been drugged. Trying to stay conscious. Need extraction. In an alley. Fourth and Hill. I'll be in a Dumpster." Jeff, on the other end, tells Casey not to worry; he knows that Dumpster. He calls Lester for help with a "Nerd Herd emergency."
Chuck and Sarah have tracked Casey's cell, meanwhile, to the Dumpster, where they find it, but not him. They see the open window he came through and don't have to time to wait for tactical before heading in. Jeffster! have Casey in their Nerd Herder. They get a call from Morgan and Lester says they had to save Casey, who "from the looks of it has been hitting the O.G. kush." Morgan doesn't know what that means (and neither do I) [Cough marijuana koffkoffkoff! - Z], but Morgan tells them to just get Casey to his apartment; there's a key under the mat. Lester: "We've got keys." They are so weird and awesome. Morgan calls Chuck with the good news, but he gets trapped in some laser beams in the warehouse before they can leave. Sarah checks it out and figures out that if Chuck leaves the laser beam, a bomb goes off. She works to bypass the circuit, even though Chuck tells her to just leave him there (guess what: she doesn't). He says she's fifty percent sexier for saving his life.
Back at Morgan's, Casey's very Weekend at Bernie's on the couch, blinking at Morgan. When someone knocks on the door, Morgan throws a Storm Trooper helmet on Casey and answers it. It's Alex, so he goes outside to talk to her. Back in the warehouse, the bomb turns itself off without Sarah disarming it. Which is because Packer and Mack turned it off and came back in. T.I., meanwhile, is at the apartments looking at the mailboxes. Casey's has his real name on it, which is totally ridiculous. As T.I. figures it out and looks for Casey, Alex and Morgan have a spat because Morgan hasn't told her dad about them yet. He sees T.I. so, knowing he wants her to be safe, he tells her to go. She thinks it's a breakup and tells him to "Have fun playing Halo for the rest of your life." As if he wouldn't do that in a relationship, too. T.I. sees Morgan and tells "eulogy guy" to give Casey a message: They're taking Chuck and Sarah on a gold-digging trip, and Casey better show, alone, or he'll have two more funerals to go to.
Morgan calls Awesome at the hospital and tells him he has Jeff passed out after taking some drugs of some sort. Awesome offers to come over, but Morgan tells him to stay at the hospital since Jeff's done this a million times. Awesome suggests getting "Jeff" angry or otherwise getting his heart rate up to wake him up. Morgan first slaps Casey, but then tells him he's been dating her daughter. He says things have been getting serious with the holding hands and kissing. He says it felt like she'd be spending the night soon, and Casey wakes up choking Morgan. He tells him he'll kill him and then drops him. Morgan gets up and welcomes him back, so Casey punches him in the gut. Morgan and Casey prepare to head to Iran, and Casey says there won't be anyone there but the two of them since there's no American presence. Morgan wants to talk, but Casey refuses, and says they're not even friends anymore. Morgan says Casey doesn't have any friends anyway, since the only people at his funeral wanted to see him dead.
Iran bunker. Chuck says that, since they're going to kill them anyway, can they tell him about one of Volkoff's prisoners named Frost. Mack says she's no prisoner; she's their boss. Casey and Morgan arrive and start messing with the computer compartment outside the cave. Important: Casey's wearing rubber gloves while he messes with it and taps in the computer, which gives them control of the bunker: cameras, sewer, lights, etc. They get the camera on, and see Chuck and Sarah chained up. Mack continues to Chuck that Frost is Volkoff's right hand, and he sends her in when there's a problem, which then disappears. Back outside, Casey makes Morgan put on the rubber gloves and tells him how to turn off the lights when he hears Casey says the word "security." Morgan points out it's three to one, but that's how Casey likes it. He heads in.
In the bunker, Packer and the gang pull their guns on Casey and force him to drop all his weapons (they know the guy, so they know there are a lot). Casey says he would have come unarmed but wasn't sure what kind of security he'd run into. Morgan tries to kill the lights, but fails, so Casey repeats himself. Morgan tries again and releases water all over the floors. He tries again and cables start flickering. Packer sends his other guys to get the gold and asks Casey if there are any more surprises. They use Casey's hand to open the door and then chain him up as he tells them there are special forces outside. Mack says he might get lucky and shoots outside the bunker. Morgan: "Ow!" T.I.: "Was that a little girl?" Morgan was skimmed on the arm, then surrenders easily and comes inside. They realize he's not a threat, so they don't even chain him up. They tell him not to move, then start emptying the vault. Morgan has some sort of "Couch Lock" revelation seeing a hanging electric cable and the water everywhere. Casey tells Chuck and Sarah to lift their feet up and Morgan grabs the cable and jumps into the water with it. It shocks the other guys, and Morgan, too.
Cut to Sarah's, then Casey's, then Chuck's faces over Morgan as he comes to and asks what happened. Chuck says he took 10,000 volts, and Sarah adds that he went into cardiac arrest and they lost him for a minute. Morgan: "I died?" Casey: "For like three seconds." Chuck tells Morgan that's the bravest thing he's seen anyone do, and to never do it again. Morgan would like to go home now, please.
Buy More. Jeffster! approach Casey to tell him that they do "installs" like the one he did twice a week, so he can count himself in. Jeff tells him they wake up in some of the best Dumpsters in the city. They leave him, and Morgan finds him to ask if they're good. Casey grunts, and Morgan takes that as a yes. Morgan tells him that he and Alex are pretty much over anyway, then invites Casey to a party. He tells him to think of it as the people who'd really be there if there were an actual funeral. Cut to the party. It's Ellie and Awesome, Sarah and Chuck, and Morgan. Casey shows up and everyone's super-nice to him. Then there's another knock. Morgan answers it, and it's Alex. She looks a little upset, but as he tries to apologizes for everything, she cuts him off and says her dad told her what happened: Morgan dumped her because Casey said he had to, but that Morgan stood up to him and changed his mind. She says that couldn't have been easy, and it was brave. Morgan goes along with Casey's lie and says he wants to be with her if she wants to be with him. She does. Morgan goes into the kitchen and thanks Casey. But, lest we think Casey's gone totally soft, he grunts and then tells Morgan if he breaks her heart, Casey breaks his everything.
Sarah finds a thoughtful Chuck in the courtyard. She asks what he's thinking about, and he says his mom. He thought she was a prisoner who needed to be saved, but then he found out she's a bad guy. Sarah says they don't know that for sure, but he says he does know that he's putting all the people who would never leave him in danger to find the one person who left him. He's going to stop looking for her. He says he thought he needed to bring his family back together, but he already has a family: all of these people. They tell each other they love each other and she goes inside. Then Chuck's phone rings. When he answers, it's Linda Hamilton, who tells him "Hello, Chuck. It's your mother."
week: Robert Englund shows up for the Halloween episode. Linda Hamilton tells Chuck she wouldn't have left, and he asks if she's going to vanish for good now. She says she did what she came to do. Then it looks like she shoots him dead, which has to be a setup, of course. But, still: Excitement!
Watch the episode below, then discuss it in our forum. Then see some of our favorite Chuck guest-stars.
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DeAnn, a writer and editor in Portland, Oregon, hopes that Linda Hamilton isn't just Bakula 2.0. You can contact her at twopmodmars@gmail.com.