Once You Go Black, You Never Go Back

S04E12

We open with a black-haired Sarah knocking Casey out, then return to two days earlier, when we learn via intelligence reports that Sarah has been perpetrating evil deeds all over Europe, and Volkoff is apparently starting to notice. Also, the CIA has set up some sort of tonal language code signals so Sarah and Chuck can stay in contact. Morgan is worried that Chuck will get all emo with Sarah gone, which of course is the setup for Chuck to appear impossibly happy because he believes that Sarah will always stay the same person, which is of course the setup for…well, we'll get to that.

Sarah explains to Volkoff that she betrayed the CIA to, ironically, move toward building a future with Chuck; Volkoff of course doesn't trust this statement, but buys what she's selling after she gets into position to kill him and then declines. Mary, as you might imagine, acts like a tougher sell, and she comes up with the idea to send Sarah to break one of their operatives, "The Gobbler," out of prison.

When Mary and Sarah meet away from prying eyes, though, Sarah confesses her true mission, at which point Mary informs her the Gobbler has something to do with "Hydra," Volkoff's entire informational infrastructure -- but she also warns Sarah she may face hard, character-changing choices ahead.

Sarah returns to Burbank and tells the boys she needs them to create a diversion so she can get into the Gobbler's prison, which they do, using Chuck as an apparent prisoner and Morgan and Casey as fake guards. Chuck then flashes and manages, after a fairly protracted fight, to knock the dude out, and when Sarah arrives they get him out of there, but not before she tells Chuck it could take her some time to finish her mission.

She gets more than she bargained for when Volkoff executes the Gobbler for getting captured while being the only person with access to Hydra -- or more precisely, for getting captured while being Hydra, as the database was hidden in his eyeball. After downloading the information to a more secure location, Volkoff smashes the fake eyeball/database, but Mary manages to snag a piece of it surreptitiously. Volkoff then says he's got one more thing for Sarah to do -- he's summoned Casey to meet her at a Downtown skyscraper, alone, and he wants her to go up to the rendezvous point and kill him, with Mary along to observe and Volkoff also watching via remote feed. On their way up, Mary hands Sarah the Hydra piece to give to Casey, while Chuck heads to the rendezvous point, thanks to Morgan's eagle eyes. As they fight, Sarah manages to tell Casey the deal and get him to play along, but downstairs, Chuck walks right into Volkoff's men, whereupon Volkoff brings Chuck up to observe Sarah's apparent turn to the dark side firsthand. Casey gets Sarah to throw him out the window to a ledge below, and Sarah manages to hand off the Hydra piece before, in view of everyone, sending Casey to his apparent death. Volkoff's goons then knock Chuck out, and while Casey survives, he's in no condition to tell Chuck the real deal, so Chuck is left devastated as Sarah ignores his message, while Sarah is also a wreck even though Mary assures her things will get easier to deal with. Oh, and Ellie and Awesome pick a baby name: Clara! (Really?)

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We start off with Casey, not to put too fine a point on it, getting his ass kicked. He asks his punisher if that's all she's got, and we then see he's talking to Sarah, who's wearing a long, straight, black wig (whether we're supposed to believe that's her actual hair is unclear). In answer to his question, Sarah pulls back and punches straight into the camera-- I mean, "Casey's face," and then...

We cut to "2 Days Earlier." Casey catches Morgan, and after Morgan tests out a tough-guy voice that he then judges needs more work (hey, he said it), Casey asks where Chuck is, since he's heard reports that Sarah has been taking rogue work all over Europe, and Volkoff has finally noticed. Morgan's like, that's great, but I'm worried with Sarah gone, Chuck's going to mope around the house and eat Cheetos and watch The View, and I'll admit that last, at least, would indeed be cause for concern. Morgan's speech, however, is of course Chuck's cue to enter, all slow-motion smiles and upbeat music, to the point where even Casey is like, "Dude, you okay?" Chuck says he heard the news about Sarah, and she's making great progress, but when Morgan almost sprains something trying to agree, Chuck narrows his eyes and says Morgan probably thought he'd sit around the house eating Fritos all day with Sarah gone. Heh. After Morgan corrects him on which snack food with which he thought Chuck would be feeding his sorrows, Chuck explains that his mom may have succumbed to the dark side re: Volkoff, but he knows Sarah never will. "She'll always be the same Sarah Walker." At this point I think we are all familiar enough with the show's formula to know that Chuck will be eating those words by episode's end, but there's a camera push-in to emphasize that for those of us who may be off our games here.

Sarah and her new hair are shown into an office in Volkoff Industries (we know so from the helpful sign behind her) whereupon she sees Volkoff himself putting the finishing touches on a painting of... a dog. With part of it blocked, I can't tell you if it's engaged in playing poker, but that hardly seems important, as Sarah tells Volkoff that she never wanted Chuck to be a spy, but they ended up getting "trapped in a CIA-run world with no exit," unless she did what she did, all in an effort "to buy a future with the man that I love." Volkoff wonders why he should trust her, which is the apparent cue for his three flunkies to draw their guns and level them at her, but she calmly disarms the two flanking her with punches and the one behind her with a kick, and then points two pieces at Volkoff: "The reason you're going to trust me is because I'm not going to kill you right here and right now." Volkoff approaches her and deliciously tells her how much fun she is, and welcomes her to the family with a triple-cheek-kiss and an embrace. Over his shoulder, Sarah looks concerned, but we don't have to dwell on that as we head to the opening credits.

Volkoff and Sarah are just about to discuss how she can be of use to the organization when Mary comes striding in on a wave of apparent distrust. Sarah tries to tell her that her own traitorous actions served as an inspiration, but Mary doesn't appear to be buying, and pulls Volkoff aside to tell him that Sarah will betray him. Volkoff, however, relishes the idea of converting Sarah to the level of loyalty that Mary herself seems to possess, and opines that she could be very useful, so Mary gets an idea and suggests they send Sarah to break "Yuri" out of prison. Volkoff loves the suggestion, and tells Sarah she's going to break out "Yuri The Gobbler," who's so named because he eats people. "Basically, it's a suicide mission." But a delicious suicide mission. Sarah barely raises an eyebrow at the nature of the errand, although I'd be surprised if she doesn't end up rubbing compost all over her body as a precaution.

Chuck is listening to his phone emit a series of beeps that sound like it's receiving a very complicated fax, and when Morgan enters and is like, "Um, dude?" Chuck explains that the CIA developed a "tonal language" that only he and Sarah understand, and okay, I could maybe accept that the Intersect is allowing Chuck to translate this without benefit of any decoder, but I don't care what kind of super-spy she is, Sarah understanding this with just her own ears is up there with the most ridiculous ideas ever on this show, which is saying a lot. (Of course, the ridiculous ideas are just part of the fun of this program, but let's admit it when they occur.) Alex then appears, and Chuck goes into full-on Nerd Panic as he whispers to Morgan that she's got on his "previously unworn original-issue Zemeckis-authenticated Back To The Future T-shirt!" Morgan visibly tenses up, but even though, in a long, operatic (seriously, with opera music and everything) scene, she drips orange juice and pizza sauce (hey, that's breakfast in a pinch) dangerously close to the prized possession, when he sees her, he unclenches, because, as Chuck points out, he is in love, so much so that he's not embarrassed to tell Chuck that he's going back to bed for "more snuggling." Aw. If this relationship ends, though, he's going to wish that shirt were still in its original packaging.

On the VI grounds, Sarah and Mary have a clandestine meeting on "the one square meter on this entire compound that is never under surveillance." Well, sure. Sarah tells Mary that she came to take Volkoff down and get her out of there, and Mary's on board, which is why she wants her to break Yuri out -- she thinks he has something to do with "Hydra," which is Volkoff's database of weapons contacts, "his entire infrastructure. Early on I realized that Hydra is more important that Volkoff himself." She goes on that she's not exactly sure of Yuri's significance, but she does know that since he was imprisoned, Volkoff's communications with his network have fallen to negligible levels. Mary then urgently warns Sarah that doing what she's doing will inevitably lead to difficult choices, and "you may find yourself becoming someone you no longer recognize." I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt that they're not talking about the wig here. Sarah declares her willingness to do whatever it takes...

...and then Chuck's coming out of his place, whereupon he runs into Ellie, who asks him for a favor in regard to Awesome. Chuck: "I told you, I can't get him to stop cooking with no shirt on." Chuck, I think I speak for everyone when I say this: THANK GOD. Ellie, however, is stressed out that Awesome keeps shooting down her baby name ideas, and she'd love to get that settled so she can focus on, you know, having the kid, so could Chuck help convince Awesome of the merits of the most wonderful, special baby girl name...

...and we cut to the Buy More, where Awesome incredulously repeats, "Grunka? Hee. Chuck is no less horrified, but when he recalls that Ellie said she wants the name to be original, he offers that he may have a way to "stop this Grunka think in its tracks." I hope so, because I don't care what how good the genes are, "Grunka Woodcomb" is a tough thing with which to saddle a kid.

Casey gives Morgan some crap about Alex, but Morgan, after doing his best impression of Colin Firth in The King's Speech for a while, tells Casey he really cares about Alex, which gets him some unexpected approval from the big guy. Aw. Chuck then enters and asks if Casey's heard anything about Sarah from Beckman, but Casey says they're still waiting for contact. This comes more quickly than he was anticipating, as Sarah, after disabling Castle surveillance, enters in her black catsuit and greets the boys, apologizing for all the cloak-and-dagger stuff and explaining that she couldn't let anyone see her (maybe she thinks Volkoff has eyes on the place). Morgan: "Wow, Sarah, you look...evocative." Heh. Sarah tells them how great it is to see them, but she doesn't have much time; she's headed to "Seabrook Super-Max Prison," and she needs them to create a diversion so she can break The Gobbler out of there. She shares some photos of The Gobbler's victims, which receive the grossed-out responses you might expect, and then explains a bit about Hydra before her watch signals that she's got to go rendezvous with Volkoff's men. She starts to take off, but Chuck chases after her for some make-it-count kissing before she tells him to call her on "the secure line" with a plan. I just hope the CIA thought to come up with a tonal equivalent for "Gobbler."

We've arrived at the prison, which, as a chyron helpfully informs us, is in Portland, Oregon, which I was given to understand is an idyllic place with an insanely low cost of living and massively progressive and civic-minded people, so it seems like an odd location for a jail. Then again, the fact there's not a cloud in the sky reminds me that fiction does take its liberties. Anyway, Casey and Morgan are dressed as guards (that Morgan could pass for a maximum-security prison guard is another one of those liberties I was talking about) with Chuck, sporting some kind of, er, artwork on one of his cheeks, as their prisoner. Morgan explains that the "tattoo" is they symbol of some scary gang, and then of course manages to smudge it, but Casey, bless him, tells them to get it together, as they can only divert surveillance for a short time period. Morgan gets rid of the face art as Casey reminds Chuck to knock The Gobbler out so he won't know Sarah had help getting him out of there...

...and then they're letting Chuck loose in the rec area, whereupon Morgan tells some guys to stop playing mah-jongg (they really are, which is funny) and listen up, because they're dropping Chuck off, and he loves fighting other guys. This of course sets all manner of leering eyes upon him, but after Casey and Morgan take off, Chuck asks who The Gobbler is, prompting the crowd to disperse in fear, save one dude who points Yuri out with his head, since he apparently ate the fingers off one of his hands. As Casey tells him in his comm that he'll need to initiate the fight promptly, Chuck takes in Yuri, who even sitting in a chair looks enormous, although he's filing his nails in a rather docile manner. Nevertheless, Chuck gulps...

...while Morgan brings up telling Alex he loves her, which leads to the shocking revelation that Casey is not a fan of saying those words, and as such has never said them to Alex, although he feels he's shown her the sentiment. Also shockingly, Casey does not have time for this crap...

...so let's go back to Chuck, who sidles up to The Gobbler as Casey and Morgan get ready to take on the guard in the control room, "Steve," with a small blowtorch. They enter, and after Steve fearfully asks who they are, Casey says he hates to interfere with a hard-working guard, but it has to be done... and then he uses the blowtorch to light some candles on a belated birthday cake for Steve that Morgan produces from his bag. Hee. Downstairs, Chuck tells Yuri he wants his seat, and when Yuri gets up, I recognize him as the six-foot-eight Matthew Willig, who, among other roles, played Montell in the second episode of my dearly departed Terriers, and also was "Little [heh] Chino," more familiarly dubbed by Deb as the "Beef Bus," back in Season Two of Dexter. Also, he apparently appeared in a small (heh) capacity on a long-ago episode of this show, but I don't remember him from that one, so much. As Morgan sings "Happy Birthday," Casey tells Chuck he's got forty-five seconds, and as Yuri picks up his chair and prepares to give it to him in a slightly different manner than perhaps was the intention of the request, Chuck flashes, and they fight. Unfortunately, Chuck's Intersect skillz, mad though they may be, are not quite enough to quickly overcome the rather large size and strength differential, so when he begs Casey for more time, Morgan awkwardly launches into a "How old are you now" verse, which I saw coming but was still funny in execution. Some other guards then enter and menacingly ask what's going on, but then brighten when they see cake, and in the midst of all these developments Casey manages to do some security-camera-fu such that no one will notice the fact that Sarah has appeared from the underside of a delivery truck and is making her way inside. She calls for Casey to unlock the entrance she's at as Chuck finally gets the bright idea to pick up a heavy weight plate and bash Yuri in the face with it, but after two swings, Yuri's still standing, and Chuck hilariously takes the time to stare in disbelief before knocking him out on the third try. The assembled crowd cheers...

By Couch Baron

The boys are doing pizza, beer and Risk, and Casey, you will not be surprised to learn, is winning, but he then gets a text from Sarah summoning him to the ninth floor of the Trident Tower -- alone. Chuck wonders why she didn't use the secure line, which is a fair point indeed, but Casey brushes that aside and says that Volkoff, who knows Chuck by sight, must be in the vicinity, so he has to go alone. He promises to stay in contact...

...while at the Trident, Volkoff shows Sarah a picture of Casey and asks if she ran into him at Seabrook. Wisely sensing Volkoff knows all about Casey, Sarah says she used Casey's loyalty to her to aid her errand, which Volkoff appreciates, but goes on that to prove the truth of her statement, he posed as her and summoned Casey there -- so Sarah could kill him. Sarah doesn't flinch as she takes the proffered gun, but gets some good news when he sends Mary with her, although that's tempered by the fact that he's tapped into the security-camera feed on his phone, so he's going to be watching, too. Volkoff smiles big and tells her to have fun with it, and seriously, I really kind of love Timothy Dalton now.

As they take the stairs up, presumably to make it look like Sarah wants to surprise Casey, Sarah wonders how she's supposed to make the fight look real with all the cameras around, and Mary doesn't have a solution, but hands her the Hydra piece to give to Casey should she get the opportunity. Sarah says she will, and asks Mary to buy her some time should Volkoff come up there. They then reach the appointed floor, which seems like it's under heavy construction, and Mary hangs back so Casey won't see her...

...while back at the apartment, Chuck is pacing, and then declares his intention to go to Castle to try to hack into Casey's phone, but Morgan sighs and gives Chuck Casey's location, explaining that his prying eyes caught the address. Okay, I may have complained about the show stretching the limits of credulity, but Morgan as Eagle-Eyed Nosy Guy I can definitely buy. Morgan then talks a bit more before he realizes that Chuck is already gone. Yeah, that'll happen.

Sarah pauses near Casey's location to take stock, and sees her answer in the form of some loose paint cans on the floor. Gun drawn, she moves into a nearby camera's view and heads toward Casey, who's got his back to her, but "accidentally" taps one of the cans, which prompts him to swing around and knock the gun out of her hand before he even realizes who it is. He draws his own gun and asks what she's doing, but she in turn knocks his piece away and slugs him. As Volkoff watches, Casey and Sarah get tangled up, which affords the latter the opportunity to explain the situation in brief, rushed words. She tells him to follow her lead, and then slugs him in the face. I'll have to remember that one.

Chuck has just left a message for Beckman when he runs straight into Volkoff and his men, like, NICE TO BE AWAKE THERE, INTERSECT GUY. I mean, I guess he thought any trap would be up on the ninth floor, but still. Volkoff tells him he's just in time to see Sarah take a game-changing step - making the choice to join the other side. They head upstairs...

...while Sarah desperately asks how they can sell a fake Casey death. Casey suggests he let her retrieve her gun and shoot him in the shoulder, but Sarah's not down for that, although it seems preferable to what they actually end up doing. Not that that remains a viable option anyway, though, as Volkoff and Co. arrive on the ninth floor, whereupon Mary is of course surprised to see her son. Back at the fight, Sarah slams Casey up against the window, through which he sees, some floors down, a platform constructed for painting or some other work. He tells Sarah to throw him out the window, and spins her around so she can see the ledge, which he estimates is a forty-foot drop. "I've done sixty, easy." Heh. Sarah agrees, and manages to drop the Hydra piece into his jacket pocket to give to Chuck, and then, just as the other players enter the room, Sarah gets the better of the "fight" and gets ready to do the deed. Volkoff notices she's lost her gun, and, apparently satisfied as to her loyalty, offers to kill Casey himself, but she calls him off. We then get the line from the episode's beginning as Casey, acting beaten down, asks if that's all she's got, and then she comes in close, raises her arm, pauses... and then punches him through the window. Chuck cries out in horror, but Casey does indeed land safely on the platform, and he and Sarah (she's facing outward still) both smile...until the cable holding the platform breaks, sending Casey plummeting to the (grass, thankfully) below, and Sarah gasps her way into the last commercial break.

When we return, Sarah takes another moment to pull herself together, and then faces the group and tells them it's done. Chuck can only croak out the question of why, leaving Volkoff to explain silkily that she did it all for Chuck, but he might want to give her a bit of space. "Taking a leap like this is painful for all involved." I'm assuming he's making a little joke at Casey's expense, which as long as Casey pulls through I'm going to find HILARIOUS. Chuck stares at Sarah in disbelief until one of Volkoff's henchmen rather mercifully knocks him out from behind, and although Sarah instinctively kneels at his side, when Volkoff asks if she's ready to go, she tells him she is. Mary lingers a moment to regard her son, but she too departs, while downstairs, Casey's fate remains uncertain...

By Couch Baron

...but let's wrap up Awesome and Ellie first. Ellie takes a break from reading The Joy Luck Club to tell Awesome, essentially, that he's stressing her out with not liking any names, but then Awesome suggests "Clara," and Ellie's good with that. Awesome then tries to backpedal by babbling that it's their first parental decision and he just wants to get it right, but when Ellie tells him it's either Clara or Grunka, the baby is named. Oh, and this was all a master plot by Ellie, as Grunka is actually the name of a cheap utensil set from Ikea. Hee. And aw, Awesome, you got outsmarted. Take off your shirt and go cook dinner.

On the plane, Sarah is fidgeting, so Mary sympathetically takes her hand and tells her it gets easier. Sarah asks how, and Mary, after consideration, replies, "Distance." Meanwhile, in Casey's hospital room, Chuck, his voice breaking, asks Morgan how Sarah could do this, and Morgan of course doesn't have an answer. Alex then arrives and, seeing her dad in a neck brace with a bunch of breathing tubes attached, says she barely knows him, but she already loves him so much. Morgan stands with her and assures her that he'll be okay, and, by the way, Casey loves her, too, "more than you know." So, some, then. Chuck then encodes a message to Sarah...

...whose phone then buzzes. She looks happy at first, but her face then falls, and after whispering "Distance" to herself, she rejects the call. Does...she assume that Casey survived and told Chuck the real deal? Because if not, despite the emotional cost to her, I find it exceptionally contrived that she'd let Chuck suffer with the belief that she betrayed him. Guess we'll have to wait for that answer, though - for now, the two of them end the episode apart, alone and miserable. Just like the fans of the show were hoping!

By Couch Baron

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John Ramos is a writer and film producer living in Los Angeles. He writes about film and television on his blog "Pull Up A Chair," which he would just love for you to visit. Also, you can follow him on Twitter here, or get information about his most recent film "East Fifth Bliss," starring Michael C. Hall, Lucy Liu and Peter Fonda, on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.