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It's almost Halloween, which means Robert Englund shows up with a toxin that makes people visualize their worst nightmares (sound familiar?). Englund plays the developer of this super-toxin, which he shows to Mrs. Bartowski (aka Frost). She takes it to Chuck and tells him she doesn't want it in Volkoff's hands, and that she's been so far undercover all these years that her records were expunged. Chuck, of course, believes her. Even after she shows up at the mission she sends him on, outs him and shoots him, he believes her again. She hands over Robert Englund and his weapon, and then promises to leave, but he begs her to see Ellie first -- and tells her Ellie's pregnant. Even superspies and/or bad guys can't resist the allure of grandbabies, apparently, because she sticks around for the meeting. However, just as she shows up to see Chuck and a very excited Ellie -- who's spent the whole episode with Awesome's mom, Mrs. Awesome (Morgan Fairchild, whose name is actually Honey) -- Sarah snatches her and tells Chuck she's protecting him from his blind spot. See, Casey went to one of his shady sources and found out everything about Mrs. Bartowski's story was a fake, and she's actually deep within Volkoff.
Halloween on Chuck also means Jeffster! makes the oddest haunted house in the history of the world. It's like something from A Clockwork Orange, but somehow scarier in its banal innocence. When their level of crazy can't put together a decent haunted house, Lester enlists the craziest thing he can think of: the depths of Jeff's brain. They come up with the Aisle of Terror of the episode's title, which is a tent with TV monitors all over it on which Jeffster! display the scariest things in the world -- things that even put fear in the heart of a lunatic. Things like public showers, old people, and babies in costumes. Skeptics should know that the Aisle of Terror is eventually used in the episode to take down Freddy Krueger, so it's obviously at least as effective as Foot Roasting, where torture is concerned. We'd expect no less from Jeffster!
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Want more? The full recap starts right below!He's Chuck, and here are a couple things we should know: He's looking for his mom, Linda Hamilton, and Team Bartowski's helping. When he found out she's a bad guy and gave up, she called him. Now we're in a basementy-looking place with a security guard when Robert Englund lurks in, and jokes he's looking for the, uh, fitness center. The guy tells him to show his security ID, so Robert Englund sprays him with a fake inhaler. It makes the guy (and us) hallucinate, as Robert Englund tells the guy this is turning his life into a nightmare from which he'll never wake up. Shades of Freddy Krueger, for sure. Then he turns to a camera and brags about how well this works. Linda Hamilton opens the door and tells him she's impressed and has a buyer in Los Angeles who will be impressed. Then she makes that call from last week to Chuck. She wants to meet him in Griffith Park in one hour, but she wants him to tell no one and come alone, and she doesn't want to answer any of his silly questions such as why she left for 20 years. Sarah comes in then and tells him it's time for dessert, but realizes he looks like he's seen a ghost. He says he just talked to one.
An hour later, at what's presumably Griffith Park. She calls, and he says he didn't expect her to show up. But she's at his 3 o'clock; just had to make sure he came alone. He asks if she's afraid the bad guys she works for will see her hanging around her own son. She says it's much more complicated than that. Isn't it always with the Bartowskis? She asks him to meet her at the playground, and hangs up. He nods over at Sarah, hiding in the bushes, and they both head to the playground. Sarah gets there first and hides, but Mrs. Bartowski, a.k.a. Linda Hamilton, a.k.a. Frost puts a gun to her head. There's a lot of banter as they aim their guns at each other. Sarah makes accusations, and Frost gets angry. Chuck runs up and is all, "Mom this is my girlfriend; Sarah, my mom." Then he asks them to please not kill each other. Awkward! Just like all future mother- and daughter-in-law relationships. Aaaand ... Cake.
Their guns are still trained on each other after the commercial, but Chuck can see they're going to be "BFF Facebook buddies." Sarah asks if Frost honestly thought Chuck wouldn't come alone, and she sneers that she thought he'd trust her. In Chuck's defense, she did, you know... ABANDON HIM. He says he has every right to have a mother issue. She says he's absolutely right and lowers her gun, so Sarah lowers hers, too. Chuck rambles about what they'll do now that they're all hanging out. Then he starts to tell her a story about his tenth birthday. She stops him, though; she doesn't want to know anything about him. Sad Chuck: "Excuse me?" Frost says she's deep undercover, and will be tortured for any information, so she's better off knowing nothing about him or Ellie that could put them in danger. Skeptical Sarah tells her it's funny that she's undercover, considering there are no records of that, but Frost says they were expunged. Sarah thinks that's awfully convenient. Well, you know, probably not for Frost, actually. It would help her story to be able to access them right about now.
To prove she's not lying, Frost presents them with a hologram of Robert Englund's nightmare potion (technical name: atroxium). She says it's a nerve gas that causes terror and insanity, and Robert Englund wants to meet Volkoff's most trusted weapons buyer. She needs Chuck to pose as him, because this is so dangerous she needs to make sure the CIA gets it. Chuck's willing, but why him? She says she thought she could trust him, and tells him to flash on it. He wonders how she knows about the Intersect. She says she might not know anything about him, but she knows everything about Charles Carmichael. Which I do not get; I mean, isn't that knowing an awful lot about Chuck? She tells him she'll set up the meet.
Buy More. Halloween music plays as Morgan greets people to invite them to the weekend's haunted house. He rambles to a customer that it will be "good scary," like jack-o'-lanterns and ghosts; not bad scary like wars and bears. Who does he think he is, Stephen Colbert? He gives Casey a flyer, but Casey wants to talk to him about something: He realized in Iran that Morgan's either exceptionally smart or incredibly stupid. (I'll spare him the suspense: He's stupid.) He thinks maybe Morgan does have something to offer as a spy and invites him down to Castle, where Chuck has something to show them all. At Castle, Chuck asks Sarah if he should be trusting his mom and she tells him just to be cautious. Casey and Morgan join them, and General Redhead pops onto the screen. She tells Chuck his flash on Robert Englund was right: He's there to sell the nightmare gas. She wonders why Morgan's there, and Casey says he thought he might be of help to the team. Morgan dorks about his prowess with the ladies, and General Redhead gets back on task. Chuck tells her he and Sarah were discussing a plan for him to go undercover and pose as the weapons buyer. She loves it, so she shuts herself off. Casey realizes something else is going on here, so Chuck fills them in. Casey wants to tell General Redhead, but Sarah and Casey keep him from it. For now.
Ellie, who's showing now, arrives home to her Awesome husband, who talks to them both. Ellie almost talks about how much Awesome's mom's pending visit is going to make her life a living hell, but then Mrs. Awesome Morgan Fairchild (whose name is Honey; did we know that?) pops up from the kitchen. Ellie says she totally was going to say "heaven," but Honey's not even paying attention to what she's saying. She's all about that grandbaby in Ellie's belly. She has a surprise: She canceled her hotel room and is going to spend the week with them. Honey takes the groceries to the kitchen, and Awesome tells Ellie he'll bite the bullet and tell her to go to the hotel if she wants him to, but Ellie's okay with her staying here. She thinks it will be nice to have Honey around for some motherly advice.
Morgan halfheartedly decorates for Halloween when Big Mike finds him and asks if everything's okay. He's just a bit overwhelmed with work stuff and helping Chuck. He asks Big Mike how to balance Buy More and his other life. He asked the right person, because Big Mike learned all about delegating in his twelve and a half weeks at the El Segundo School of Finance. They chat and then Morgan tries to delegate the haunted house building to Big Mike. But he's too busy with his Danielle Steele novel and says Morgan needs to put some real crazies on something that scary anyway. He leads Morgan right to Jeffster! (Jeff is shirtless and headbanded) dancing like fools in front of a TV. Halloweeny slasher-flick music melds with whatever pop diva they're dancing like maniacs to.
Chuck and Sarah are at the weapons meet; she's posing as the hostess and seats him. He asks if she has another of those hostess outfits for at home, which makes me wonder why she doesn't get to keep it. She's a spy, not a TV actor. Casey breaks in for Chuck to shut it; grownups are trying to work here. Which is, of course, Morgan's cue to join Casey at Castle. When Casey jokes that he didn't even notice Morgan wasn't here already, Morgan giggles that he loves their give and take -- "classic Ross and Rachel." Casey tells Morgan a good spy is trained in the art of silence, so Morgan talks into whatever magical TV device makes it possible for Chuck to hear them. Casey glares. Robert Englund joins Chuck and wants to talk price. They start to wheel and deal, when Frost strolls up and tells Robert Englund that she's done some digging, and Mr. Carmichael's story doesn't check out; he's a spy. She stands up and shoots Chuck in the chest. Then she shoots in Sarah's direction and runs away. Sarah runs to Chuck, who's alive, of course (he is the name of the show and all that), thanks to his bullet-proof vest. Sarah asks if he's okay, but Sad Chuck is back: "My mom shot me."
Castle. Chuck tells Sarah his heart hurts, and she agrees his mom totally betrayed him. But he actually means his heart hurts, since that's where she shot him. He tells Sarah he's such an idiot for trusting his mom despite everything he knew about her. Sarah says that Chuck manages to trust people despite everything in the spy world being based on deceit; that's what she loves about him. And he's funny. Morgan and Casey join them, and Casey congratulates the team on the weapon and two fugitives being on the loose. Morgan tells Chuck to relax and let the rest of Team Bartowski handle this since his mom just shot him and all. Morgan gets a text from Lester that just says "HELP!" He heads upstairs, where Jeffster! freaks him out, asking if they're allowed to get actual dead bodies from the morgue for the haunted house. Morgan's going to have to say no to that one. He says he put them in charge to get it off his plate, so they're going to have to figure it out. He wants it big, fun and scary. He leaves them alone. Lester says they have to tap into the most scary and demented place they can think of: Jeff's head. He grabs Jeff's hair and then says he should start using conditioner; his hair smells like hay.
Chuck's exiting the Buy More through the loading dock when his mom drives up and forces him into the car at gunpoint. He turns on his emergency tracking device on his cell phone, which pops up on the screen Casey and Sarah are searching for Frost and Robert Englund on in Castle. In the car, Frost's pointing the gun on Chuck and he tells her if they hit a pothole, this gets very messy real quick. She tells him she's just keeping up appearances, and he asks what the hell. She says she left him and Ellie to join a secret project called "Project Isis." [You mean that project to make reporters wear skimpy outfits? - Zach] Her mission was to destroy the Volkoff organization from within. But she got in way too deep and was forced to close the door on her old life until Chuck came looking, setting off alarm bells. She says she knew he was wearing the bulletproof vest, but shooting him means Volkoff thinks he's dead. Which means he and Ellie are safe. Chuck's guard comes right back down as she tells him that he and Ellie have always been her only concern, and that not being in their lives has always pained her. If she could do it again, she never would have left; she'd still be with her family. But she can't go back. So she takes him to a shipping yard and tells him that Robert Englund's knocked out in one of them with his weapon: her gift to him. Sirens wail as Casey, Sarah and the others approach. Frost says she has to go back into hiding, but she's sorry she shot him. He begs her to see Ellie first, to explain this all to her, too, but she says she can't. As she walks away, he tells her Ellie's pregnant and she stops and looks back at him. But by the time the CIA arrives, his mom's gone and Chuck's sitting in the container with Robert Englund. He's like, "My mom dropped me off."
Castle. Robert Englund's in a holding cell, and Sarah and Chuck discuss his mom. Chuck thinks she's a bad mom but a great spy. Sarah asks if he's okay, and he is, but he wonders if he should tell Ellie or not. Sarah knows Chuck will figure out the right thing to say. Chuck sees Morgan on the monitor in the Buy More and says he's lucky to know the foremost authority on Ellie. He goes to talk to Morgan, giving Casey the opportunity to tell Sarah he doesn't trust Frost and knows a guy who specializes in expunged documents. He can check this out. Sarah asks if he wants backup, but he has someone else in mind.
Chuck and Morgan walk from the hall into the Buy More and are impressed with the cobwebs and decorations Jeffster! have put up. But they say this is nothing compared to the main event: a room they've built called "The Aisle of Terror." They explain that Jeff participated in a psychological test (there's nothing he won't do for thirty dollars and a sandwich; or just a sandwich), where he learned about these images that will strike terror in even the most fearless lunatics. They hit play, and Clockwork Orange-style monitors play the following images as Jeff shines a flashlight in his face and narrates: old people, public showers, interspecies relationship (monkey hugging tiger). Morgan stops them and says this is one of the worst things he's ever seen, and he doesn't want any customers in here. Jeff keeps going: Babies in costumes. "Is it a baby, or is it a snail? I don't know." Chuck leaves.
Ellie, Awesome and Honey are in a baby store; Honey's giving Ellie parenting tips about positive female influences as Frost comes up behind them, watching and listening from a distance. Awesome found a stuffed bear in a ballerina suit that can do the chicken dance, but Honey's not impressed. She tosses it aside and gives Ellie a book: "Babies love dictionaries." She takes off to find an encyclopedia. Ellie tells Awesome that his mom's a bit much but she wants to be part of the baby's life, which is more than she can say for her mom. Frost hears all of this and picks up the chicken dance bear they left behind.
Castle. Sarah's checking out the nightmare gas weapon as Chuck prattles on about how his mom -- the Frost he knows now -- is so different than the mom he remembers as a kid. Sarah wonders if he's trying to justify not telling Ellie, and he asks if he's transparent. She says he's not, but she knows he doesn't want to hurt Ellie. She pulls a piece off the weapon and it starts counting down. They ask Robert Englund what it's doing, and he says he has to use his fingerprint to verify the weapon's in his possession. They let him out and tell him he'll be exposed if it goes off, and they have gas masks. He heads over and touches it with his thumb, and it stops. Sarah goes into the room to get the cuffs (and she takes the gas masks with her) when the weapon goes off. Robert Englund, evilly: "Oops." Sarah gets locked in the weapons room as the place goes into lockdown. Robert Englund tells Chuck he developed the gas by testing it on himself, so he surrendered to his insanity and isn't scared of anything. Chuck hallucinates and says he's scared of everything. He screams about scary movies as Robert Englund says he'll consider giving Chuck the antitoxin if he gets him out of here. Chuck takes him into the elevator up to the Buy More screening room. Robert Englund plans to kill Frost for double-crossing him, so Chuck locks them in the Buy More (which seems to be closed) with some other lockdown mechanism. Chuck stumbles around, hallucinating, and eventually imagines his worst fear: his mom killing Sarah.
Downstairs, Sarah pulls the lock panel off the room she's locked in (good thing Castle's so secure she can pry that off), puts on a gas mask, and takes off. She calls Casey. But he's in a parking garage with Morgan, waiting for his contact. Casey tells Morgan he's the "magnet" on this job, so he just needs to stand by the Vic and look like a spy. Back at the Buy More, Robert Englund throws Chuck into the Aisle of Terror, and Chuck flashes back to Lester saying the images in here can cause terror in even the most fearless lunatics. Robert Englund recognizes the professor's work as the images start. Then he starts to shake and asks "Is it a baby? Or a snail?" Chuck's totally puzzled at how much the old people and monkey/tiger photos are freaking him out, but he keeps going: black licorice! Man feet! Otters! Robert Englund runs out and Sarah, on her way up, knocks him out. She runs in and asks Chuck if he's okay. He tells her he's too scared to open his eyes until they get the antidote.
Casey's in hiding in the parking garage, so Morgan practices removing his sunglasses like James Bond. So he barely notices when someone puts a gun to his head. Then Casey puts a gun to the bad guy's head. Morgan realizes what "magnet" means now, and is not happy about it. He tells Casey he's not very thoughtful. The contact agrees, and Casey asks whose side he's on anyway. He lets him go, and Casey takes a look at the files. He "Hmms" and tells Morgan that Chuck's mom's story checks out. Morgan's relieved, so he sunglasses back up.
Castle. Chuck's been antidoted up, which they exposit about a little before Chuck checks his voicemail. His mom left a message: She wants to see Ellie tonight before she goes back undercover. Chuck's giddy, because he thought Ellie would never see his mom again. Sarah wants to go with him, but he tells her she appreciates the concern, but trust him: It's his mom. Chuck finds Ellie in the courtyard reading the baby dictionary, trying to get rid of Honey for a few minutes. She tells Chuck it's bad that the mother she wants to talk to is gone forever, and the mother she wishes would go away is here to answer all her questions. Chuck asks if she has plans tonight.
Casey's standing by the Vic when Sarah meets him outside. He says they couldn't meet at Castle in case Morgan was there; he doesn't want him to go running to his BFF. He says that everything about Frost's story is a lie; she's working for Volkoff. He wishes they'd grabbed her before she went off the map again. Sarah looks torn, and Casey asks what's up. Chuck and Ellie wait in a restaurant. Ellie, totally nervous, says she wants to question her mom but she also just wants to hug her. Chuck goes to look outside in case she got lost. He sees her and she walks toward him, but Chuck sees a spy on lookout. He tries to warn his mom, but a van drives up and masked spies pull her inside. He runs up and yells no, and rips a mask off someone. It's Sarah, who tells him his mom's not what she says, and that she's protecting his blind spot. Chuck goes back inside, and tells Ellie he's sorry, but Mom's not coming. Ellie asks why she keeps doing this to them, and Chuck tells her she's a spy.
week: Frost won't talk to Casey or Sarah. Chuck breaks into her cell and tells her he's going to prove she's innocent. She tells him there's one person at MI-6 who can corroborate everything she's told him. And that person? Bond. James Bond. The Timothy Dalton version. He and Chuck don't seem to get along so well, which should be fun.
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, could have lived without the Halloween portion of this episode. You can contact her at twopmodmars@gmail.com.