Chuck heads up the task to find a new Intersect by creating a profile of himself and trying to find similar recruits. Four prospects come to Castle, and when the first choice (the most Chuck-like) ends up murdered, a game of Clue ensues. Recruit Damian tries to escape and ends up getting bombed, then Chuck, Sarah, and Casey interrogate everyone. After the interrogations, there's a bomb left in the chair, which hits Damian again. With bomb expert (and fake-English-accented) Lewis gone missing, they figure it must be him. So now they trust everyone else to carry a gun. When Chuck and Robin Givens find Lewis DEAD, they realize they were wrong. Robin Givens and Recruit Jody suspect one another, but Chuck figures it out: It was Damian, who bombed himself only to make himself seem less suspicious, then he killed Lewis thinking he'd take the fall. Damian gets up and admits it, then sets off another bomb. Robin Givens takes it to the bomb-proof Intersect room and locks herself in with it, but Chuck saves her by being a nerd (really; he uses his pocket protector). Jody leaves (I guess), Robin Givens goes back to Washington, and Team Bartowski (Chuck, Sarah, Casey) are back in full force by the end. All is right with the world, and sort of reset.
Except for the fact that Ellie's still working on her dad's computer, and getting close to figuring stuff out. She already realizes he was trying to put something in someone's brain without learning it. And Awesome tells Chuck he switched out the hard drive, but didn't, and then tells Ellie they're not telling Chuck, right? She agrees, not wanting to worry him. Like brother, like sister, like father, like mother, right? What a bunch of lying secret-keepers. As the episode ends, the computer pops on in front of her while she's sleeping, scans her face, identifies her and opens up some sort of "Agent X" profile. Is Ellie about to become the Intersect?
In less important but still fun plotlines, Morgan & Co. are in a battle with Large Mart after Jeffster! stole their pig mascot, Kevin Bacon. In retaliation, Large Mart stole Buy More's mascot, Big Mike, wearing a giant BM sign. There are many BM jokes throughout, and a couple nice Subway plugs (Big Mike gets to eat breakfast flat breads while he's a Large Mart hostage), and then Big Mike's returned safely -- even though the Buy More crew still has Kevin Bacon. Which might explain why they burn the giant BM suit right in front of the Buy More -- making for even more nice BM jokes.
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Subway commercial. It must be time for Chuck. A few things Chuck would like us to know: Robin Givens started an Intersect program, then General Redhead put Chuck in charge (after he disarmed a bomb with fruit juice). Robin Givens gave Ellie her dad's computer. Sabotage! Which is where we begin, with Ellie so focused on her computer and so sleep-deprived she doesn't know her baby is right to her. Awesome wonders if Ellie's sure she should be digging around in her dad's computer, since it could be dangerous. She says she doesn't know, but it's all about the brain's neurocircuitry and stuff, so "What's the worst that could happen?" And with that, she's daring the show to make a lot of bad stuff happen. So we're off.
Castle. General Redhead is filling the gang in on the new Intersect project, which Chuck will lead. Robin Givens shows up late, and General Redhead tells her what a terrible job she did choosing Intersects, since it clearly works so much better in Chuck. His first assignment in charge of the this project will be to find people similar to him to put the Intersect in. General Redhead reminds everyone they are to support Chuck, who's in charge. She shuts off, and Morgan tells Chuck how proud he is of him for being in charge. Chuck reminds everyone that he's in charge, and that he saved the city by disarming a nuke using fruit juice, but he's really not a big deal (fake humility). Morgan reminds Chuck of the last time he was in charge, when he led their party of D&D adventurers to their deaths. Chuck mumbles about how it was Tom's fault for not casting a confusion spell. But then he gets back on topic, and tells everyone he knows it's awkward reporting to him, but they're all important. Robin Givens tells him she'll be back in charge as soon as he and his stupid pocket protector screw this up. She leaves, and Morgan tells her that pocket protectors are not only practical, but also required Buy More attire.
Chuck introduces the gang to the four people who have been deemed most Chuck-like based on his own psychological profile. They'll be at Buy More in an hour. Casey: "Good Lord. Four more Chucks." First up is Lewis, a tech specialist and hacker. He's also a gamer, and he spent some time in England, which somehow gave him an English accent. Jody, a psy-ops genius. Casey tells him he had to get a girl to find someone as feely as him. Damian is . He's been typecast as a terrorist and has been stuck in the desert, which reminded Chuck of being stuck in the Buy More. Brody, who looks and dresses a lot like Chuck. He's nerdy and emotional. Casey will test them physically, Sarah evaluates them psychologically, and Morgan will evaluate their cultural knowledge. He has the best job, asking questions like, "Quick! Rush's best album?" and "Charlton Heston sci-fi question for you. Which one's cooler: Soylent Green or Omega Man?" and "Favorite Bond, Connery excluded." Jody says she doesn't know why men care about this things, and that nothing he's asking her matters at all. Morgan, puzzled: "What the hell is she talking about?" Lewis is clearly the biggest Chuck-alike. He even knows things about Chuck's cultural knowledge that Chuck had kept secret from Morgan.
Time to pick a new Intersect. Chuck says he's ready, but he feels bad for the others, since they've started to become friends. Chuck asks Robin Givens her opinion, which she says is that he's going to screw this up. Chuck mutters about her hating him, and Sarah says he stole her job, so he's her nemesis. Chuck doesn't want a nemesis, so he suggests taking her to coffee. Casey says he should watch his back instead, since the only thing that will make her look worse than this whole Greta debacle is Chuck succeeding. Brody's in the hall at Castle, and his phone starts playing Any Way You Want It because he got a text. It's from Chuck, telling him he's his guy. Brody's excited until he walks around a corner, asks someone what he or she is doing and gets knifed in the chest. Someone drags away the body, leaving a trail of blood. It's a perfect time for Cake.
Big Mike is in a giant, green, square suit with a giant "BM" on it. Morgan asks him if it's a big BM day, and Big Mike (BM) says that's the best kind of day there is. Morgan thought they retired the big BM, but Big Mike says it's for the flat-screen sale, since Large Mart has the same sale going on. Morgan tells him he doesn't have to do this, but Big Mike says other men wear collared shirts all day, while he gets to wear a great big BM on his chest. "That's job satisfaction." Big Mike tells Morgan to remember that the Buy More is a special place that can be fun. Morgan agrees and Mike heads out front to promote the sale. He's quickly kidnapped by masked bandits in a Large Mart truck. And our B plot is sufficiently set up.
Chuck finds the three living Chuckettes, and asks if they've seen Brody. They haven't, but they assume he's made his choice. Damian says that no one ever picks him! Maybe if he'd shave his terrorist-look-alike beard? Chuck's roaming the halls at Castle when Awesome calls and fills him in about Ellie working on the computer. He tells Chuck that some lady brought it over and said the Buy More guys gave it to her by mistake. Chuck tells Awesome she needs to stop the work immediately, but Awesome says it's making her so happy. Chuck asks him to please just replace the hard drive, and Chuck will take care of the rest later. When they hang up, Chuck finds Robin Givens and asks her if she gave the computer to Ellie. She barely denies it, then admits it, and he lectures as she walks away. Until he slips in blood. They open the door and find Brody's body. Robin Givens: "Well, there goes your first choice." Lewis walks by and shouts, "Dear Lord! There's been a muuurder!" Because, you know, he has that fake British accent.
Morgan has his staff lined up, wondering who broke the prank truce with Large Mart, since Large Mart is claiming that kidnapping BM the BM from the BM was retaliation. He asks Jeffster! what they did, and they lead him to a closet, where a miniature pig is locked up. It's the Large Mart mascot, Kevin Bacon. Lester says they had to so Large Mart wouldn't dominate them like always. "Because, weirdly, an adorable little pig attracts more customers than a large man wearing a big, yellow-and-green BM. Call me crazy." The whole staff oohs and awws, and Jeff says he's buying whatever that pig's selling.
Castle. Jody, Robin Givens, Damian and Lewis have to turn over all their weapons, since the killer is clearly among them. Chuck's panicked! This is like D&D all over again! But Sarah talks him through it. The non-regulars briefly wonder why Sarah and Casey aren't suspects, but Chuck puts that to rest: He knows that neither Casey nor Sarah would ever kill anyone... who didn't deserve it. Chuck says the killer has to be among the other four, and they all look at Damian. He's totally offended they'd blame the bearded guy, since "This is just what my face looks like." He is totally out of here, but not before telling them he's Greek. Chuck follows him out, and as Damian opens the door to leave Castle, Chuck notices it's been rigged with a bomb. He tries to warn Damian, but it's too late; it goes off.
Power is knocked out in Castle, as everyone scrambles. Chuck says communication channels and surveillance videos are down, but Casey manages to get the emergency lights up. Although, he does add that they're locked in and alone. Chuck panics some more, so Sarah talks him through it again. He needs to trick everyone into believing he has it under control, because that's what a leader does. Chuck tries to pass being in charge off to Casey or Sarah, but Sarah pep-talks him: "You did disarm a nuclear bomb using fruit juice." Hee. Chuck tells everyone not to worry; he has this under control. Some more pieces of Castle fall on an already injured Damian. No one's really calm, and Lewis is riling up Casey, who doesn't trust an American with a British accent. Lewis says it's not his fault; it's from his semester abroad. Jody's like, "Wait, one semester? You got an accent from four months in England?" Damian agrees that's totally annoying.
Upstairs, Morgan is at his desk with the entire Buy More crew behind him, talking to a Large Mart guy and his gang behind him, discussing how to make this work out. It's very mafia. The Large Mart guys just want Kevin Bacon, and peace will be restored. Morgan wants his proof of life first, so they allow Morgan to call Big Mike. He tells BM he can't go all day without his number 2. Mike is happily eating a Subway flat-bread breakfast sandwich, which reminds him of Morgan's mama: "Muy caliente!" Morgan's heard enough and gives the phone back. Then Morgan leads the gang to the closet where Kevin Bacon was when last we saw him. But now he's gone. Morgan promises he'll get to the bottom of this if they give him until midnight. The Large Mart leader promises Morgan a big, flaming BM on his doorstep if it doesn't happen by then.
Awesome's at home alone, starting to switch out the hard drive on Ellie's dad's computer. Which is a perfect time for her to come in and tell him about her epiphany today. She says she thought about how Clara's learning stuff so fast, and realized her dad was trying to figure out a way to input knowledge into the human brain without having to learn it. She says she knows her dad left her this knowledge for a reason, but she doesn't know what to do with it. She just wishes her dad were here. Awesome agrees and slips the fake drive into his back pocket.
Castle. Sarah and Chuck grill all of the suspects in Brody's murder. He tells Robin Givens that she wanted his program to fail "and... you've said very mean things to me all day." She says she'd never do anything like this, but he reminds her she's already gone after his sister, so she'd do almost anything. Jody cries about how emotional she's been since her boyfriend broke up with her. Chuck feels bad, but Sarah tells him not to fall for the psy-ops expert's psychological manipulation. But Chuck, a sensitive soul, cannot help it. Damian screams about how they're torturing him, I guess because he's injured and being grilled. Chuck asks why Damian's bag is covered in sand, which is a convenient way to block X-ray equipment. Damian says it's because everything he owns is covered in sand thanks to the CIA sending him to every freaking desert. Chuck pulls a boom box out of Damian's bag and compliments it for being "old-school." Damian says it doesn't even work. Because there's sand in it. Chuck says it's suspicious that Lewis is a tech guy and a bomb specialist. Plus, he says that Lewis knew Brody was his first choice and Lewis was his second. Lewis says he actually didn't know that, but thanks for not choosing him. Sarah pulls a giant knife out of Lewis's bag and Chuck asks him to explain it. Lewis: "Uh, it's my knife." Chuck asks why he has a knife used by an IRA bomb maker in his bag. Lewis: "Because I killed an IRA bomb maker and I took it from him."
When they're done, Chuck tells Sarah the only thing certain is that the killer sat in that interrogation chair. Sarah's not even sure about that, but Chuck notices a bomb under the chair and says, actually, he's pretty sure. He tells Sarah they've got to go now, and they get out of the room just as it explodes. Upstairs, Jeffster!, sleeping in recliners, shake a little. Lester asks if Jeff felt that, but Jeff hasn't "felt anything in years." Back down in Castle, Chuck and Sarah come to and can't hear anything. Casey finds them and tells Walker he's glad she's alive. Chuck, offended, says it's good to see Casey, too. Casey tells them Damian took another piece of shrapnel this time, but he'll still have to wait for a doctor. Robin Givens and Jody are both right there with injured Damian, but Lewis is missing. They figure it must be him, since he's he bomb expert. Chuck's disappointed that his second choice would be the killer.
Morgan's in his office talking to Jeffster! about the situation: "This is not just our BM we're talking about here; this is our Big Mike. Okay, he's in real danger here, fellas. Real danger. Think about it: What if these men were to take away his sandwiches? He is not built for that!" He asks them again where Kevin Bacon is. Maybe Morgan should just try going six degrees from anyone in the world. Lester says it's a mystery, but Morgan says it's actually not and he knows they stole him and now hid him. Jeff: "Or... did we?"
Castle. Chuck says that Damian's unconscious and no one can find Lewis. But the good news is that this group can trust each other again, since Lewis is obviously the killer/bomb-planter. Black-and-white flashback to Brody coming upon Lewis planting the door bomb, so he stabs him. Sarah gives Jody and Robin Givens guns, since they'll need everyone looking for Lewis, who's trapped inside Castle just like the rest of them. Chuck tells them it's important to capture Lewis alive, and Casey warns them to watch for trip wires and booby traps. They split off in groups: Chuck and Robin Givens discuss how much he wants everyone to like him -- and he tries to get her to, as well, even while she tells him a good leader shouldn't care about that. Sarah listens to Jody whine about her boyfriend breaking up with her, and Jody wonders how Sarah got the Intersect to commit. Casey's alone. Robin Givens and Chuck hear movement in the air ducts, and Sarah hears it, too. So does Casey, finally, and it's right above him. He heads up into the ducts, draws his gun, and tells everyone it's a pig. That's right: It's Kevin Bacon. Who runs off.
Back at the Buy More, Morgan's disgusted: "You hid Kevin Bacon in the air ducts?" Jeff: "If you love something, let it go. And if it comes back, you can eat it." Lester explains that Jeff lives by a strange philosophy of karma and diet. "He combines the two, but it works for him."
Back in Castle, Robin Givens tells Chuck the pig means Lewis is still out there, and she's only got Chuck for backup. So she's heading to the bomb-proof Intersect room, the safest place in Castle. Chuck follows her, ineffectively commanding her to stop. They arrive at the Intersect room and bicker. Until Chuck sees his sister looking at the computer on a surveillance video, and then he really gets mad. As they yell at each other, they both finally stop because they see Lewis in a seat above the room. They tell him they've got him and there's no place to go as they lower him down from this weird ceiling seat. He's dead. Chuck says it's safe to say Lewis isn't the killer. Robin Givens: "Brilliant deduction, Sherlock."
Kevin Bacon continues to roam above them in the ducts, as Chuck tells Sarah and Casey how grisly Lewis's body was. They figure they better finish this. When they find the rest of the group, though, Jody and Robin Givens have their guns trained on each other, each one saying that since she know it's not herself, it has to be the other. Casey tells them to put their weapons down, so they draw their guns on Sarah and Casey, in case it's them. Robin Givens asks Chuck, condescendingly, who the killer is, since he's the leader. Chuck flashes back, in black and white, on what might have happened. When he's done, he says he knows who did it. He explains: At first he thought his second choice would want to kill his first choice (Jody, weeping: "So I'm not your first choice or your second choice?"), but they're both dead now. He says he did suspect Jody for awhile because of her volatile emotional state. But he says he found her pregnancy test in her things; she's expecting. He says that brings him to where his suspicions have been pointing this whole time. Robin Givens tells him he must be joking, as they all close in around her. Chuck says that only one person was unaccounted for during both murders, and she has unique access to Castle's infrastructure. Robin Givens tells him to be careful. Chuck whispers that he knows it isn't her. Casey's like, "What?" Chuck says she had ample opportunity to kill him and didn't; he just wanted everyone to move in on her because it got them away from the real killer: Damian, who's probably armed. They all say they've got Chuck's back, but Damian stands up and says he'd like to go with Plan B.
They all point their guns at Damian, who tells them they're going to let him out or else. He opens up the boom box to reveal it as a bomb. Chuck's like, "I should have realized that." Then he explains -- and we see in black and white -- what happened: Brody saw Damian planting the explosives, so Damian killed him to cover his tracks. But once it was locked down, Damian knew it was only a matter of time before they figured it out, so he really committed by blowing himself up. But that locked the doors, so Damian tried to get a killer on their minds by planting the chair bomb during interrogation. So now they know what he did, but not why. They ask him what he's after, and Damian says he came here for Chuck. Creepy. Damian says they're going to get him out of here, but Chuck says he can't let him leave. Robin Givens shoots Damian in the leg, and he drops the boom box, activating the bomb, which is supposed to go off in one minute -- too little time for Chuck to deactivate it. Plus, I haven't seen any fruit juice.
Robin Givens grabs the boom box and runs to the Intersect room, where no one else will be harmed by the blast. In the longest minute in the history of the world, she tells Chuck she'll have to use the manual override inside the room to shut the door. Chuck tries to stop her, so she pulls a gun on him, and tells him this is what a leader does. She shuts the door, and looks sad and resigned to death until the door opens. Chuck tells her that he overrode the control panel using "my stupid pocket protector, thankyouverymuch." Sarah tells Chuck there's no time for this, and they all run out of the room and shut the door just as the bomb explodes. Kevin Bacon, somehow running for his own life, ends up thrown by the bomb through a duct opening and into Chuck's arms. Chuck is truly, truly puzzled because... pigs fly?
Castle. It's still dark, but somehow General Redhead is on her screen thanking everyone for saving Castle and solving the mystery. She especially commends Chuck, who was a true leader. He thanks her but says he owes it all to his team: Sarah and Casey were his eyes, ears and more. She's glad he feels that way, because they've decided to stick with this team -- with Chuck as the only Intersect -- for the foreseeable future. She tells Robin Givens to await reassignment in Washington. Chuck would like to add that Robin Givens was invaluable today, and General Redhead notes it. Then she shuts down. Robin Givens tells Chuck he's a good spy and she's sorry for underestimating him. He thanks her, and says he's glad he doesn't have a nemesis anymore. Then Robin Givens tells him that Ellie's incredibly smart; if anyone could figure out the Intersect, it's her. She tells Chuck to reconsider keeping her away from her path.
Buy More. Morgan's pepping up his team, preparing to head to Large Mart and break out their BM. But he comes in just then in a Buy More sweat suit, with a Subway flatbread held high. Everyone jumps up and down in slow-motion as Big Mike slow-mos in himself. They asked how he got out, and he says it was easy, since they had a couple of nerds watching. Large Mart bangs on the door and the Buy More crew sees the giant BM on fire out front. Morgan: "Our BM!" Big Mike: "It's okay. It was worth it to have some Large Mart fun again. We can make another BM." I mean, who can't? Chuck comes in with Kevin Bacon and asks Morgan if this is the Large Mart pig. Then he sees the flaming BM and guesses exactly what happened. Morgan asks Chuck what happened to him, and Chuck just says it's been a long day. He gives Kevin Bacon to Morgan and leaves.
Casey, Sarah and Chuck all arrive at the apartments, where Awesome's pacing in the courtyard. Chuck tells Sarah he'll be right in, leaving Chuck and Awesome alone. Chuck tells Awesome he took care of things on his end; no one will be bothering Ellie anymore. Awesome tells Chuck it's done on his end, too. He hands Chuck a hard drive, and Chuck says, "We're doing the right thing. ...Right?" Awesome: "Totally." Then he heads back inside, where Ellie's hard at work on her dad's glowy computer. He asks her if they're still not telling Chuck, and she says they're not; she doesn't want him to worry. Talk about your role reversals.
Chuck heads home, where Casey and Sarah are on the couch. He tells them he would have fallen apart today without them, because this is how it works: It's not one man or one Intersect. It's the whole team of three. Casey tells him never to forget it. Then General Redhead pops up on the TV and says it's good they're all here. They've interrogated Damian, who wasn't hired to obtain the Intersect. He was simply hired to bomb Castle. Chuck asks who he was working for, and General Redhead says none other than Vivian Volkoff wired Damian $10 million: "It appears she's going after the man who took down her father." Chuck's in shock. "Vivian Volkoff's trying to kill me?" General Redhead tells them to remain on high alert. Chuck, incredulous: "I'm someone's nemesis?" Casey tells him it's real this time. Back at Ellie's, she's fallen asleep in front of her dad's computer, which starts scanning the room with a bright green laser. It scans her face, and then identifies her as "Eleanor Faye Bartowski." A bunch of anatomy pieces pop up and it says "Agent X Files." The end. And no Chuck week, so we'll have to wait until April to see what happens .
Discuss the episode in our forums, then see our list of actors who should quit their shows and join this one. And see what our vloggers think of the show, below!
What are people saying about your favorite shows and stars right now? Find out with Join the conversation now!
DeAnn, a writer and editor in Portland, Oregon, is thrilled Team Bartowski is back together. You can contact her at twopmodmars@gmail.com.