- Chuck must show Captain Awesome how to be a spy when he is targeted by an evil agent. Morgan's promotion to Assistant Manager changes his relationship with Jeff and Lester.
- We open with a black screen, and heavy, nervous panting. Somebody's wearing a hood over his head.
"Well, let's have a look at you," a woman's voice says. The hood comes off -- and it's Awesome! Alive! Which is Awesome! (Ryan McPartlin) Except that... well, he's on a rooftop, in a rolling chair, at the mercy of a woman who identifies herself as Sydney (Angie Harmon), and informs Awesome she needs him for a mission. Shouldn't be difficult, she says -- he's one of the CIA's best. He tells her she's mistaken, he's a doctor. Sydney tells him they know exactly who he is, and leans him precariously over the side of the rooftop, asking him what it's like to be a super-spy.
Back at Castle, Chuck (Zachary Levi) freaks out on Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) and Casey (Adam Baldwin), who still don't know where Awesome is. He decides to calm down by leaving for work. And what's going on at Buy More? Big Mike (Mark Christopher Lawrence) has pulled Morgan (Joshua Gomez) into the office (which is unusual, since mornings are Big Mike's "me time", a gentle respite accompanied by pastries and self-reflection) to ask if Morgan's ready to become his assistant manager. Purely a nepotism move, of course; Morgan's mother is still giving it to Big Mike, and giving it to him good, which makes Big Mike happy. Anyway, Morgan accepts.
On the sales floor, Lester (Vik Sahay) and Jeff (Scott Krinsky) are being their useless selves, walking away from a customer who asks about Buy More's big sale on HDTVs. This leaves Chuck to take the brunt of the woman telling him off in Korean. To his credit, he gives it right back to her after he flashes in Korean, so the score evens out. As she walks away in disgust, Sarah enters the store with a look on her face telling Chuck she has news. Of course, this is when Lester and Jeff reappear and ask Chuck to settle a very important argument: Van Damme or Seagal -- who would win in a fight? Lester starts imitating Seagal's martial arts moves, which causes Chuck to flash again...and kick Lester in the face, knocking him out.
Sarah takes this golden free moment to tell Chuck they're not sure where Awesome is, but they think agents of The Ring have him. She's not sure why. And then, bingo -- Awesome conveniently walks into the store and up to Sarah and Chuck, looking very frightened. "They think I'm you!" Awesome blurts to Chuck, anxiously looking over his shoulder.
Chuck and Sarah take Awesome to Castle where, with Casey sitting in, they video-conference with General Beckman (Bonita Friedericy) . The General informs the gang they're dealing with Sydney Prince, head of The Ring's Los Angeles sector. Awesome nervously tells the team Sydney knows everything about him, and Ellie (Sarah Lancaster), except for the fact he's not the real spy in the family. Casey gets it -- Awesome looks like a debonair super-spy while Chuck looks like, um, Chuck.
Awesome produces a device Sydney gave him, the same kind of communications device Chuck retrieved earlier (from the assassin in the season premiere). The NSA has developed a plan to crack the closed system on the device, so Chuck takes that as a cue to take Devon home to Ellie. Not so fast, says General Beckman. Using Devon is the best option because Sydney won't take Devon to his superiors until she's sure he can turn him, or burn him. It'll be very dangerous, but Awesome says if Chuck can assure him that he'll get him through this, he trusts him.
"I will, Devon," says Chuck. "I promise."
Back at Buy More, Morgan pretends to bust Chuck's chops for leaving early, then lets him know he's now assistant manager. Right at that moment, Lester walks up sporting the shiner Chuck gave him. Chuck apologizes profusely, but Lester won't have it -- on the contrary, he wants to thank him: "The electrified sensation of pain coursing through my face was like an adrenaline shot to my soul." It made him feel so alive that Jeff wants Chuck to hit him in the face. Chuck responds by walking away to meet Awesome and take him back to Ellie. In the background, Lester punches Jeff in the face.
Awesome and Chuck get back to the apartment, and Awesome doesn't know what to tell Ellie. He's a terrible liar. Chuck wisely advises him to keep it simple. So when Ellie runs out to greet them in the courtyard and ask where he's been and why he didn't call, Awesome launches into a story which begins with a jog through a park, eventually ending (disastrously) as a tale of him decapitating a bear. Ellie is not fooled, so Chuck tells Ellie "the truth." Which is: Casey was drunk -- Awesome throws in Casey wet his pants and exposed himself -- so Devon spent most of the day talking to a buddy on the force to get Casey released. Casey arrives home at that very moment, and Ellie greets him with a look of disdain before escorting her husband inside. Chuck tells Casey nothing.
At the Buy More, Morgan notices all of his co-workers sporting sunglasses and bruises. It's a nerd version of "Fight Club"!
At Casey's place, Sarah talks Chuck off the ledge -- again -- and Casey lets Chuck know it's his responsibility to show Devon the ropes. Chuck agrees, thinking they have a little time. After all, Sydney's not going to call right away, right? Knock knock -- Devon's at the door. He says Sydney left what looks like a makeup case on his doorstep. The team tells him to open it, just as the Ring communicator lights up. Devon answers, and Sydney instructs him to look at the contents in the bag, which happen to be an earpiece and a watch. She tells him to put on the earpiece, and Chuck whispers reassurance this is standard operating procedure. Devon puts on the earpiece, which lights up red. Sydney informs him from this point on, he will only communicate with her using the watch, and listen to her via the earpiece, which also contains a GPS tracker so they can know where he is at all times...and a detonation device. If Awesome tries to take it off before he has her go-ahead to do so, or if he deviates from orders, it will ruin that pretty face of his. Chuck observes that's not standard operation procedure, not at all. Sydney tells Devon to meet her downtown and Crystal Towers, in a hour, by himself.
One hour later, Devon is in place, wearing two watches: One is The Ring's communicator, and the other is for the team. (Chuck labels one "bad guys" and the other "good guys" so Devon doesn't get confused.) The plan is to trace Sydney's call as soon as she reaches out to Devon. Once they have a lock on her, they'll bring her in and Devon will be out of harm's way.
Sydney calls and instructs Devon to go up to the penthouse, circumventing the building's extensive security -- no problem for any super spy. Which Devon is not. She hangs up before the team can lock on her signal, but they know she's close. Chuck freaks out for a moment, then realizes what he has to do. He instructs Devon to head into the lobby and wait for him.
Devon nervously goes into the lobby, where the security guard greets him and flashes his sidearm to show he means business. Devon confesses he's in a messed up situation and waiting for his friend Chuck. The guard, Julius, cuts off his bumbling monologue and tells Devon he'll feel a lot better if he can just tell his wife about what's going on with Chuck. Devon tries to explain "it's not like that," but is stopped short when Chuck shoots Julius in the neck with a tranquilizer dart. Chuck snags the guard's pass and accompanies Devon to the penthouse level, where Chuck smoothly takes out six guards with more darts, explaining his Intersect powers away by crediting many hours of Duck Hunt.
Sydney calls Devon again, congratulates him on still being alive, and instructs him to cut out one of the guard's eyes to defeat the retinal scan behind a certain unmarked door. Chuck helps Awesome hold the unconscious guard up to the scan and part his eyelids to open the lock -- success. The door opens, and the boys realize they're in what seems to be a computer nerve center...for the Central Intelligence Agency.
Chuck relays the new info to Sarah, but her com goes out at the very moment Casey realizes Sydney is right on top of them. They get a visual of her walking into the building parking lot. The pair moves to snag her, but the van doors lock and all of their computers lock down. General Beckman informs them she has gotten new orders for the mission, and Casey and Sarah must stand down. Sarah argues if what Chuck is telling her about them having infiltrated one of the CIA's HQs is true, then this is a set-up. Yes, General Beckman confirms, it is indeed just that. She hangs up.
Sydney, now in the building, calls Devon and tells him there's a man in the office at the end of the hall, and orders him to get to the man and kill him. Chuck assures Devon they won't be killing anybody. They carefully head into the office, and see a man leaning over a bank of computer screens. Devon steps aside as Chuck nervously tells the man not to move, but also not to be afraid. He begins to introduce himself, but the man cuts him off.
"Chuck. Chuck Bartowski. I know," he says, turning around and going about his business. He informs Chuck he knows everything about him, and about them, The Ring. He tells Chuck they don't have much time. Chuck quickly tells the man if he knows Sydney is there, then he knows that she wants Chuck to kill him. Conveniently, that's what the man orders him to do, handing him a gun. Chuck protests he doesn't kill people, he has rules, as the man carefully finds a spot over his heart on his shirt.
"Shoot me here," the man says. "Try to be precise." He tells Chuck he has to die, now. He says The Ring knows too much, and there is no other way. He puts the gun in Chuck's hands and places the business end of the barrel on the spot. Chuck pauses for a moment, but says he can't do it. The man takes a red capsule, then explains if Chuck doesn't kill him, he and Devon are as good as dead. He hands Chuck a folded note and instructs him to put the gun in Devon's hands and hide. After all is done, Chuck is to read the note.
"Truth is," the mystery man says, pointing the gun at his own heart, "I hate guns too."
"Who are you?" Chuck asks...but before he can get an answer, the man pulls the trigger -- BANG! -- and falls to the ground. An agitated Devon runs into the room at the sound of the shot, and examines the man to confirm he's really dead. Then he picks up the gun and yells at Chuck it's real, not a tranquilizer gun. Before Chuck can explain, he hears the sound of heels clacking down the hall. Chuck reminds Devon to tell Sydney he (Devon) shot him. Chuck then hides behind a cabinet.
Sydney struts in, sees the man dead on the ground, takes a closer look at the bullet hole and checks for a pulse. She smiles contentedly. Then she instructs Devon to remove his watch. He carefully peels off the "bad guy" sticker while she's not looking and gives it back to her. She then deactivates the earpiece and pulls it from him.
She tells him to lose the body and keep the communicator, because she'll be in touch.
"Welcome to The Ring," she purrs as she departs. Once they're sure she's gone, Devon freaks out, unsure of what just happened. Chuck isn't sure either. He unfolds the paper to read a note within: "Med kit in desk. The pill was amiodrone. Save me." Amiodrone, Devon realizes, is used to stop the heart momentarily. He examines the bullet wound and says it's a clean shot, he can save the "dead" guy. Chuck tosses Devon the med kit, and Devon uses the syringe inside to re-start the man's heart. He awakens, panting sharply and coughing. "To answer your question," he tells Chuck, "My name's Shaw."
That would be CIA Special Agent Daniel Shaw (Brandon Routh). General Beckman, debriefing the gang back at Castle, explains Shaw has spent the past five years doing nothing but trying to take down The Ring. From this point on, he has total command authority over any Ring-related missions. Casey scoffs at the agent's youth, which Shaw dismisses by politely telling Beckman he'll take it from there.
He says he knows all about Chuck and the Intersect. He presents them with an overview of current Ring intel, but Chuck reminds Shaw that Sydney is still out there thinking Devon is a spy, meaning Devon is in danger. Shaw affirms Chuck's concern, but points out since the Ring operates as a series of decentralized cells, capturing Sydney will mean they can keep Devon's identity a secret. What that also means is Devon isn't out of danger quite yet. Chuck protests he won't let Devon be put in harm's way again, and Shaw asks if he has a better plan. Chuck stares at a schematic of the communicator.
At the Buy More, Morgan can't find any employees on the floor. Wondering where everyone is, he hears grunting and bloodthirsty cheers in the back. He heads in to discover a Fight Club going on, led by Lester. He's even electrified the cage with a car battery. Morgan tries to stop it, but nobody listens. Jeff is in the center ring, pummeling all comers. Morgan shuts it down, and Lester responds by defiantly calling him "ass man."
Chuck heads over to Awesome and Ellie's, where Awesome shares he's freaked out and doesn't want to do any more missions. Chuck assures him he won't put him in harm's away any more, and asks Devon to hand over the communicator. Chuck takes it to the back room of the Buy More and opens it up to make modifications, but is interrupted when Morgan comes in to vent about the Fight Club and shares the details of the electrified cage. Chuck tries to appease Morgan by listening, but can tell from his computer monitor he's running out of time.
Chuck tells Morgan, as the communicator reactivates, sometimes the best thing to do with a problem is open it up, take a look at its weak points, and attack it head on with that information. Morgan praises Chuck's profundity and thanks him. Back to work! Chuck activates the device, achieving his goal of backtracking the communicator's secret channel. He dials Sydney, who wants to know who he is and how he found the channel. Chuck informs her that's he's the real spy who killed Shaw, Devon was just a decoy and he's the guy The Ring is looking for. "I'm in charge of this mission now," Chuck says.
Chuck then calls Sarah and tells him he's told Sydney to meet him at the Burbank Buy More which, as Sarah informs him, is utterly stupid. He tells Sarah to bring Casey and Shaw to round up Sydney, but Shaw picks up the phone and informs Chuck if he's going to come up with a plan by himself, without getting a direct order, he'd better be prepared to finish it himself. Then Shaw hangs up on Chuck.
Sarah and Casey watch the store's camera feed as Sydney and her goons enter and find him, going through his pockets. Sarah and Casey move to arm up and save Chuck, but Shaw holds guns on them, which he says he doesn't like, and tells them to stand down. Sarah warns him Chuck's fear will keep him from flashing, but Shaw wants to see what will happen.
Sydney puts two of her goons on Chuck, explaining if he really took out Shaw, then he shouldn't have any problems with them. But Chuck doesn't flash. One of the guys punches him in the face, splitting his lip...but still, no flash. Chuck takes off, making Sydney's agents chase him around the store. Shaw is amazed at Chuck's ineptitude, and Sarah defies Shaw's orders and runs to help Chuck. Casey pulls his piece on Shaw, informs him that he (Casey) loves guns, and gets Shaw to drop his weapons. "Good boy," Casey growls, and heads up to join the fight.
Chuck is hiding in the fight room cage, crouched in a box. Sydney comes in with two of her men, and Chuck electrifies the cage at the moment one reaches for the door handle. The shock is enough to make him accidentally shoot the other man and knock him out. Sydney draws her piece, but Sarah reaches her in time to kick it away. Intense hand-to-hand combat ensues but Sydney, unfortunately, gets the upper hand and knocks Sarah down. Chuck emerges from the cage and grabs Sydney's gun as the rogue spy runs out the back door.
Chuck comes out and has the drop on her, politely asking her stop and do as he says. Sydney points out spies don't say please, and Devon would have shot her between the eyes by now. She then pulls out the communicator and asks Chuck if he wants it, holding it in one hand while sneakily pulling a blade out of her back pocket with the other, preparing to throw it at her. Chuck again begs her not to make him shoot her, and she smiles, opining she doesn't think he can. She pulls out the knife and a shot rings out just as Sarah gets to the scene...but she wasn't the one who dropped Sydney.
After a moment, we realize Chuck didn't either. It was Shaw, who sneaked up behind Sydney to take her out.
"Like I said, I hate guns," the agent tells them, "but it pays to know how to use one." Chuck looks at the communicator, now broken.
Back at Castle, Shaw congratulates Chuck for containing Devon's identity. Chuck warns Shaw there's nothing in his life that he cares about more than friends and family. Shaw counters friends and family make us vulnerable, and unable to pull the trigger. Sarah bristles at the comment, as Shaw tells Chuck she would say the same thing. Sarah shocks Shaw by agreeing with Chuck, saying sometimes it helps if you've got something to lose. Shaw and Sarah exit, leaving Chuck alone to contemplate.
At the Buy More, Lester continues to antagonize Morgan, and Big Mike takes notice. He barks at Morgan to get his house in order and take control of the situation. Morgan decides to identify the problem and attack it head on, firing Lester in front of the rest of the crew. Lester tries to call his bluff, but Morgan holds firm. Lester breaks down and begs for his job back, saying he needs it to move out of his mother's place and he has nowhere to go. Morgan pretends to hold his ground, but hires Lester back on a probationary basis.
Later, Chuck and Morgan have Ellie, Awesome, Sarah and Casey over to dinner for Morgan's "Teriyaki Surprise." Chuck quietly tells Awesome he's out of danger, Morgan announces his promotion. As they celebrate around the table, Shaw watches them on Castle's security monitor, a blank but slightly sad look on his face. He turns from the screen for a moment and pulls out a small velvet box containing a wedding band. He puts the ring on his finger and resumes watching the dinner from a distance.
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