As the second-to-last episode of the season begins, Chuck and Sarah are trying to have a blissful day off planning their wedding. Lucky for them, Ellie's already got her people (Awesome and Morgan) on everything. Not so lucky for them is that Chuck's mom is breaking into Vivian Volkoff's Colombian caves to try to steal the Norseman device, the weapon that can kill people anywhere in the world using just their DNA. And Vivian's henchmen capture her, so Chuck, Sarah, and Casey have to head to the rescue two days before the big day. They rescue Mama Bartowski, but not without a lot of bickering between her and Sarah or a run-in with Vivian (they leave her and Riley locked up in the cell they rescue Mary from). When they get back to Castle, General Redhead fills them in on Vivian's plan to sell the Norseman. Because Vivian knows all of Team Bartowski except one, Morgan will go undercover on the mission as a potential buyer. This is stressful for everyone, but mostly Casey, who promised Alex he'd keep Morgan safe. And we all know how difficult that can be.
At the Norseman sale, Riley and Vivian turn the Norseman on all the potential buyers, killing them instantly. Fortunately, they don't have Morgan's DNA, though he fakes dead sufficiently to get them to leave. When the cleanup crew comes in with acid, though, he has to use the camera glasses he's wearing to help Casey sniper shoot all the cleanup crew through closed curtains from the building over. Impressive! Even if it doesn't make a lot of sense. Sarah and Chuck cut off Vivian and Riley on their way out of the building with the device. Chuck tells Vivian he's not Agent X, like she thinks; her father is. She doesn't believe it, until Riley confirms it, but also adds that Chuck's mother and father made him into Alexei Volkoff to further their own CIA careers. Chuck swears it isn't true and pleads with Vivian, but Riley sneaks up behind him. He almost kills him, but Sarah kills Riley instead, in the nick of time. Vivian's disappeared by this point, but at least they have the Norseman. They consider going after her, but Mary reminds them they have a rehearsal dinner to get back to.
The rehearsal dinner all goes quite well, thanks to Ellie and a lovely wedding video from Chuck to Sarah (courtesy of Jeff, of all people; Lester's creepy version was a disaster when they screened it for Ellie). Mary makes a loving toast to Sarah, so all is right between them. Then Chuck gets an encrypted phone call. It's Vivian. She tells Chuck she's in pain, and she wants him to feel what it's like. Since his family is to blame for her being alone in the world, she tells him to look around and think about which one of these people she's going to take from him. He begs her not to, but she says she's already done it, because she has another Norseman. Sarah gets up and asks Chuck what's wrong, and he starts toward his mom, sure Vivian's going to hurt her. But Sarah starts hearing ringing in her ears and bleeding from her nose. She collapses just like all the others killed by the Norseman as the episode ends.
week's preview does show her in a wedding dress, but it looks like it might be a dream, considering the rest of the preview shows her fighting for her life in a hospital. And the announcer guy promises us a Chuck-style twist ending. Sounds like another agonizing wait for a renewal announcement.
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A few things Chuck wants us to know: Chuck and Ellie opened up to each other, and Ellie filled everyone in on Agent X, who turned out to be Alexei Volkoff. His daughter Vivian started working on a DNA-driven weapon called the Norseman. Now: Mary Bartowski hangs above a bunch of liquid tubes, trying to steal them, when a scientist leads Vivian and Riley in. Mary pulls herself up above the room just in time, but doesn't get the liquid tubes. The scientist apologizes for taking so long to assemble the Norseman (the liquid tubes), but he's ready to show them how it works. Vivian thinks whoever's been trying to sabotage them won't find their way down into this crazy cave they're in. Mary hangs above them, listening. To test out the Norseman, they apparently input the scientist's DNA. When they turn on the weapon, he covers his ears and bleeds from the nose, then falls over dead. Vivian winces a little, then Riley lectures her about how she should really start killing people herself to spread fear. They leave the room, and Mary drops down into the room. But Vivian, Riley, and some henchmen come in and Riley tells Vivian this is the woman who betrayed her father for twenty years. "Frost, welcome back." Only it's not really a warm welcome.
It's morning in Burbank. Chuck and Sarah are in bed, waking up. She asks him if he knows what today is, and he guesses a bunch of CIA stuff. But she tells him this is a day off and will be all about them and their wedding. She's sorry her bridesmaids couldn't help more, but "that coup is taking longer than expected." He says it's okay, since Awesome, Ellie, and Morgan have taken over everything. But he tells her he still has to do that one thing she doesn't know about "because I'm adorable." He says this in his supposedly adorable voice, which Sarah seems to love but which makes me cringe. Sarah tells him everything is perfect, and nothing can go wrong. He sits up in bed, all "You did NOT just say that." Then a loud crash comes from the courtyard and Morgan screams for help. Chuck asks Sarah why she'd ever say that; hasn't she ever seen a movie? She eagerly tells him she finally saw Mannequin. So, you know, only about twenty-four years before she sees this year's movies.
In the courtyard, Morgan's wrapped in twinkle lights and hanging from a second-story window. Awesome and Ellie are trying to figure out how to help him when Chuck and Sarah come out. Chuck flashes and does some crazy flips and jumps to rescue Morgan then get back down to the courtyard. Awesome can't believe Chuck doesn't do any core work considering how amazing he is at gymnastics. Ellie's had enough of the small talk, though, so she sends Chuck and Sarah back inside and tells Morgan this doesn't get him out of putting up twinkle lights, because this place has to be magical. Magical! She Bridesmaidzillas about it enough that Awesome tells her she's a little scary right now.
Alex is visiting with her dad when Morgan comes in and asks Alex to go get him some more twinkle lights so Ellie doesn't kill him. They get all smoochy and cute (although Casey's growl seems to mean he doesn't agree) until Casey's phone buzzes and he says, "Uh-oh." It's General Redhead, but he won't tell Morgan what's up. Instead, he heads across the courtyard to tell Chuck and Sarah the bad news: His mom might not be able to make it to his wedding, since she's been captured by Vivian Volkoff. Cake.
Chuck and Sarah are at Castle now. Sarah's annoyed his mom's been working on Vivian Volkoff, which is their case. Chuck thinks she was trying to help them avoid working so they could plan the wedding, but Sarah thinks it was a bad decision to go in alone. Chuck flashes on his mom's last communiqué, which places her in a Colombian mine. Sarah tells him that's a quick flight and they'll get her back in time for the rehearsal dinner. But Chuck says he needs his best man...
Cut to Morgan agreeing with that sentiment, in that he wants to go with Chuck to rescue his mom. But what Chuck needs is for Morgan to finish his super-secret gift to Sarah: a rehearsal dinner video of the two of them. But, because there are no pictures of young Sarah, Chuck wants Morgan to PhotoShop some in. That is such a terrible idea that it seems like a Morgan idea, not one Chuck would give him. When Chuck leaves, Jeffster! and Big Mike approach Morgan. Lester says they have over 1,250 hours of Sarah-related footage for Morgan. Big Mike calls them his "clients" and says they've been exploring their filmmaking abilities for a while. Morgan says he's a little enraged, but also needs this footage, so... his need for it wins and he'd like it, please. But Lester says he's a "montage artist," and will need first and final cut on this video. Morgan says he's certain it will turn out terrible -- Lester: "I can hear you." Morgan goes on that he does need the footage, so he agrees to the terms. Big Mike says his clients are in.
Morgan finds Casey at Castle, and tells him that he got the wedding stuff off his plate now, so he can go to Colombia, too. He plays with a big gun but realizes he prefers a smaller one that makes him look bigger. Casey tells him he's not coming, he's not part of any team, and he should stay here and focus on his twinkle lights. Morgan: "Ouch."
Colombia. Chuck, Sarah, and Ellie arrive in a remote mine on a colorful bus. They aren't sure where to look until Casey notices the extra heavy security on a mine. They figure they'll find out what the guards are up to. Which means they sit at a little outdoor café where they can scope out the mine entrance. Sarah orders some food that ends up being a plate of disgustingness: a skull of something and what look like beetles or something. They leave the food, and chase down some guards, who they beat up and steal their clothes. Casey stays in his regular clothes, though, and pretends to be their prisoner. Chuck's Star Wars reference -- he calls Casey "Chewie" -- confuses Sarah, who says "Chewie" makes no sense, because Casey didn't try any of the disgusting food. Chuck starts to explain the reference, but instead tells Sarah he loves her. Awww.
Chuck and Casey are on some computers elsewhere, and Chuck figures out that Vivian's going to sell the Norseman, though he can't figure out where it is. Casey tells him they better get out of here "before your girls kill each other." Chuck hears that. Back at Mary's cell, though, Sarah's head is down as she pretends to be the real guard and lets Riley and Vivian into Mary's room. Riley tells Sarah there are to be no interruptions. Chuck and Casey head back toward Mary's cell. Chuck radios to tell Sarah that if Vivian turns up, she should keep her alive as they need to find out where the Norseman is. In the cell, Riley tells Mary he wants to see her dead and has been waiting for Vivian to be able to do it. He gives her the gun, but Mary tells her she knows she won't do it. Riley urges her on. And then Sarah comes in and pulls a gun on Riley and Vivian. Chuck comes in then and tells his mom it's time to go. Vivian can't believe the woman who betrayed her dad is the mother of the man who betrayed her. Except that she can. Chuck tells Vivian there's so much more she needs to know, but Vivian doesn't want to hear it. Casey says they should go before more guards come. They lock Vivian and Riley in Mary's cell and head out.
Back in Burbank, Sarah and Chuck are having a tense car ride. She's not saying anything, so he stammers that they should talk now that they're not on a long plane ride home with his mom. He says he was just trying to get them all out of the mine safely, and Sarah says she knows but it sometimes feels like Chuck will protect her from anything. "Except your mom." I love that they're having a typical spat about the in-laws even though they're, like, Super Spy Couple. Chuck acknowledges she's right, but says he can protect her, even from his mom. General Redhead buzzes Chuck's phone just then, calling them to Castle.
She's learned that Vivian's planning to auction off the Norseman in Moscow, and it's up to them to intercept it. Chuck wonders if no one else can do it, given that their rehearsal dinner is the night. General Redhead says they don't have time to train a new team. "Oh, and thanks for the invite." Chuck stammers until General Redhead relieves him: "I'm not serious." Sarah wonders how any of them can get in since Vivian knows all of their faces. General Redhead asks Mary to explain the plan: An agent will impersonate a buyer, outbid the others, and walk out with the Norseman with no bloodshed. Chuck reminds them again about Vivian knowing all of their faces. General Redhead tells them that one of the men Vivian invited was just detained by Interpol. He's an Italian arms smuggler who looks coincidentally like Morgan. No one likes this idea, but General Redhead's not arguing; she shuts herself off.
Cut to Morgan doing a terrible Italian accent. Casey hates this plan, but Mary says Morgan will be fine with Casey and Mary's backup. She tells Chuck and Sarah to stay here and get ready for the wedding, but Sarah says Mary's not taking them off their own mission. Chuck stands up to his mom and says they've been on Vivian for months. Mary points out that, in that time, she went from harmless co-ed to dangerous weapons dealer, which is why Mary had to get involved in the first place. "To fix your mistake, sweetheart." Sarah, indignant: "Our mistake?" Chuck changes the subject to tell Mary that Agent X is Alexei Volkoff, and Mary says she knows that but Chuck isn't supposed to, which is yet another mess she'll have to clean up. Sarah firmly says she and Chuck are going and Mary will be backup, but Mary disagrees. Chuck interjects that he agrees with Sarah and his mom stops, shocked. Sarah thanks Chuck, then Morgan cuts in to pull Chuck aside and tell him he's sorry he has to do this and can't do the video Chuck asked him to. But not to worry, as his top people are on it. Chuck looks as skeptical as he should.
Upstairs, in the Buy More screening room, Jeffster! is screening the video for Ellie and Awesome. It starts pretty cute, with sweet music and photos and footage of Chuck and Sarah being cute and cuddly. Then Lester comes onto the front of the Chuck and Sarah montage, with sweaty hair, a gray bodysuit, and a heart over his crotch. He says, "heart." "Pancreas." Spacey music kicks in, with weird close-ups and other Lesterisms. Awesome and Ellie are totally disturbed. She bolts up and tells Big Mike that she will need his clients' footage because she's taking it from here. Big Mike wonders about his ten percent; Awesome tells him that no one was ever paying. Big Mike: "What?! Then what have I been doing all day?"
Castle. Morgan tries out his still-terrible accent on Casey, who's not amused. He says he'd like Morgan to stay here and sell microwaves. Morgan doesn't get why Casey's been training him so hard and now doesn't want him to go. Casey says it's because of Alex, who's worried about him. He says he promised Alex he'd keep him safe and with a mission like this, things could go sideways, in which case he's broken a promise to his daughter. Morgan tells him that it's okay because "Nothing will go wrong." He's seen a lot of movies, though, so he immediately wonders why he just said that. Casey growls.
Volkoff Headquarters, Moscow. Casey and Mary are on the roof of a building scoping out the building where the meet is going to take place. They discuss how hard it can be to protect their idiot children. In a van down below, Morgan's nervous so Sarah and Chuck are giving him a pep talk. Chuck compliments his suit, "part Goldfinger, part Drax," which proves Morgan knows plenty about being a bad guy. They give him glasses with a camera in them and remind him Casey will be watching with a sniper rifle, and we all know how he loves to shoot things. Morgan's still nervous, so Chuck starts humming the Darth Vader music. Morgan starts in, too, and Sarah looks puzzled and amused. It pumps Morgan up enough, though, and he heads inside.
Morgan enters the room of bad guys in time to hear one of them say, "This better not take long. I've already tried to kill three people at this table." Well, that's not very scary now, is it? I mean, tried and failed all three times? Morgan wants to seem just as badass, though, so he sits down at the table and pretends to talk on his cell phone: "You heard me the first time! Shoot the puppy! I'm so sick of feeding him. Kill the puppy. Ciao." He hangs up and tells the other bad guys how hard it is to find good henchmen these days. Sarah and Chuck detect the Norseman on its way in, and alert Casey. Vivian and Riley show up and explain how amazing the Norseman is. Vivian tells them all about it and says whoever ends up with this weapon that can kill people from halfway around the world, totally undetected, has an enormous advantage. And it's an advantage she intends to keep. She flips on the device and everyone at the table grabs their ears. Morgan just looks confused. Chuck realizes what's going on and tells Morgan via his earpiece that he has to die or they're going to kill him. Morgan covers his ears and throws himself to the ground.
As Morgan plays dead, Chuck tells him not to panic because they'll get him out of this. Casey assures Chuck that Vivian and Riley are in his sights and he'll take them out if he needs to. Vivian just looks sad about what she did, so Riley starts telling her how evil all these people were. He walks around the room and tells her what some of them have done. She stops him; she gets they're dangerous men. He says he's not trying to get her to be someone she's not; he's trying to get her to be who she needs to be. And, he says, she may get her chance because someone in this room is pretending to be dead. Chuck and Sarah look panicky, and Casey says he can't see Riley. They radio to Morgan not to move, but he keeps twitching a little bit. SO annoying. Riley asks if the faker is going to get up, and a different guy pops up. He says he's Sebastian Carlile. "Carl to my friends, which you are not." He has a gun, too, but makes some small talk about how clever he's been to track them since Munich. Riley uses the opportunity to shoot him. Riley apologizes to Vivian, and assures her the murder is hers to try. They head out, and Casey tells Chuck and Sarah the Norseman is on the move. Chuck and Sarah crawl into the front of the fan, and Chuck tells her something he's always wanted to say: "Fasten your seat belt." She thinks it's cute, but he's like, "No, literally." So she does.
Chuck radios to the gang that he hasn't heard anyone for a while, so it safe to leave. Casey tells him to go for it, but just as he does, he hears someone coming. He flails back to the ground before they get there and sees they're entering with acid, "just like that scene in Breaking Bad. Casey's never seen it, so Morgan takes the time to whisper his shock. "You'd love it. It's like the perfect counter-programming." Casey is a little focused on the bad guys closing the curtains and the fact that he can't see the targets to protect him now. He tells Morgan to "Run!" Morgan does, but he's obviously spotted. Casey tells him to show him the targets with his glasses, and Morgan does. I'm not at all sure how this works, but Casey manages to shoot all the bad guys, through the curtains, thanks to Morgan's glasses looking at the guys inside the room. There's a brief scare when Morgan doesn't respond to Casey, but then Morgan says he's okay but he thinks Casey shot him (he has an arm wound). Casey tells him to meet him at the elevator.
Outside in the van, Sarah and Chuck see that Vivian and Riley are leaving the building in a car. Chuck tells her to hold on, and he backs the van up super-fast around the other side of the building so that it collides with Vivian and Riley as they're coming around. Good thing they were going the right way. Riley's passed out in the car, which gives them opportunity to grab the Norseman. Unfortunately, it's in the trunk, though, so Sarah has to find something to open it. Instead of grabbing ... oh, I don't know ... the keys from the ignition, she heads back to the van. Chuck opens Vivian's door and asks if she's okay. She tells him not to pretend to care. Chuck says there's a lot she doesn't know, but she says she knows enough. "I know that you're Agent X." Chuck says that's not true, actually, and tells her that "Agent X ... is your father." Hey, is that a third Star Wars reference? Chuck tells her that her father wasn't evil, but he was turned into that; and she's not evil either. Riley gets out of the car with his gun drawn on Chuck, and Vivian asks him if this is true. He says it is, but the rest of the truth is that Chuck's parents created Alexei to further their careers. Chuck says that's not true, but Riley says it is and that he won't have Chuck lying to Vivian anymore. He comes around to get closer to Chuck to shoot him. Mary comes up just then and yells "no." She draws her gun, but it's moments too late. Fortunately, Sarah was watching too and she kills Riley before he can pull the trigger. She runs to Chuck, and says she'll always save him. They hug, but Mary runs up and asks where Vivian disappeared to. Chuck wants to find her, but Mary says they should go. "You two have somewhere to be."
The apartment courtyard is all decked out for the rehearsal dinner. Ellie's upset because she fell asleep right in the middle of editing Chuck and Sarah's video. Awesome says it will be okay, but Chuck and Sarah show up before they can discuss it any further. Ellie gets all teary and runs off for a mascara refill, which gives Chuck and Sarah the opportunity for a sweet moment where he asks her if she's ready for this. Sarah: "Absolutely." The party fills in all around them, and everyone's happy and celebrating. Big Mike has a Brandy Alexander, and Morgan lies to him about what happened to his arm, which is in a sling. He says he hurt it playing Wii tennis. Big Mike says it's amazing he's not single. Casey approaches Morgan with a real man's drink: a Scotch. He tells him he's done in the field if it's going to worry Alex, and can Casey tell her that? She's already walked up behind Morgan, though, so Casey tells him to stand tall like a man and tell her himself. Morgan turns around and sees her, and she says she loves him. They kiss for a second, but then Morgan worries Casey's watching. Alex thinks it's cute.
Mary clinks her silverware on her glass and starts her toast. She says she's been back in Chuck and Ellie's lives for only a little while, so she sometimes overcompensates. "But, lucky for me, my soon-to-be daughter-in-law is very forgiving. She's never heard me say it, but Sarah is one of the strongest and one of the most amazing women that I have ever met." She proposes the toast to her, and thanks her for taking care of Chuck. "May you have many more adventures together, and may you always keep each other safe." Chuck and Sarah tell each other they love each other, and Chuck says it's time for the little surprise he's been working on. He gets up to go to the video. He hits play, and Ellie looks panicky. She comes over and tells him she has to tell him something about the video. He asks what about it, but it starts and there's no creepy Lester. It's all cute pictures and footage of Chuck and Sarah. Jeff walks up and tells Ellie that Lester never let them see his version; he hopes Ellie likes it. Ellie's so shocked and happy that she actually plants a kiss on Jeff's lips and then walks away. Lester watches the video and wonders "What is this garbage?" Chuck and Sarah both watch the video, across the courtyard from each other. It's a little odd he wouldn't go back to the table and sit with her to watch the romantic video, but I guess necessary for what happens .
Chuck's phone rings. It's encrypted, so he hesitates -- I mean, this is his rehearsal dinner, after all, and you know the guy wants a break -- but answers it. It's Vivian, carrying out the scene we saw in last week's preview. She tells him she hopes she's not interrupting anything important, but she just called to make him feel pain like she feels right now. She says she's lost everyone close to her and has him and his family to thank for it. Chuck tells her they can talk about this, but she tells him to look around the room (well, technically, Vivian, he's not in a room; it's an outdoor courtyard) at his loved ones and ask himself which one she's going to take from him. She tells him she has another Norseman. He pleads with her not to do this; this is not her. She says she's already done it. Sarah can see Chuck's worried so she gets up and walks over to him just as he and Vivian hang up. Vivian flips on the Norseman. Sarah asks Chuck what's going on, and he walks around her and says he thinks Vivian's going to try and kill his mom. She grabs her ears then and asks what that noise is. Chuck turns, realizing it's her, sees she's bleeding from the nose now and watches her collapse. He starts freaking out, "No, no, no! Baby, baby, baby! He asks someone to call 911. The whole party gathers around Sarah, trying to help. Which is how we end it. I have to say it's pretty annoying that everyone else died instantly from the Norseman, but Sarah's somehow strong enough to survive (because, duh). However, I like that it's bringing a serious, scary dimension to this finale. And I also like that this is what Vivian chose for her first kill. (Though I do wish Vivian would stop being such a spoiled, stubborn brat and just listen to what Chuck's been trying to say to her this whole time: that he does want to protect her and be her friend. But it's probably too late for that now.)
week: The finale. Everyone's seated, watching Chuck and Sarah get married. But it's all glowy like a dream sequence. And, since Sarah's not wearing the simple dress we saw her choose, but a big, puff of a dress, it can't be real, can it? Then we see her in the hospital, with Chuck telling her he'll do anything to fix this. She looks sweaty and in pain, but alive. All of Chuck's family and friends are there, concerned. Mary tells Chuck he's going against the CIA, and he says he'll do anything he needs to do. Announcer guy says he'll need a little backup. Chuck asks Alexei Volkoff if he'll help him save Sarah. Which means he frees him, I guess. Announcer guy tells us that, in Chuck finale fashion, we can expect a big twist. Which just means we'll all have to worry that the show's going to run out of lives after all the times it's been renewed from its position on the bubble. If these folks are right, its chances aren't so good. Couldn't they give us a nice, wrapped-up wedding ender in case it's really the end? I think there's still time. Are you listening, Josh Schwartz?
DeAnn, a writer and editor in Portland, Oregon, wants renewal, but wants a happy ending if that doesn't happen. You can contact her at twopmodmars@gmail.com.