Chuck vs the Fear of Death

Original air date November 15, 2010

Season 4, episode 8

Synopsis

After Mary Bartowski suppresses Chuck’s Intersect and leaves with Volkoff, Interpol spots them in Istanbul. General Beckman brings in CIA scientists to try and remove the suppression of the Intersect while she sends Sarah after them. Chuck undergoes weeks of tests and unsuccessful attempts to bring the Intersect back while Casey is assigned to stay with him in Burbank.

Jeff and Lester discuss the new employee, Greta, and why all the new employees are named Greta. Sarah has no success and Casey is restless and jittery from being grounded for a month. Beckman then brings in CIA psy-ops Jim Rye to use some unorthodox methods to bring the Intersect back. Chuck flashes during these trials but it is filled with interference and never assists him.

Lester notices the new Greta keeps disappearing and he and Jeff follow her. Greta tells Morgan to keep Jeff and Lester away from her. Sarah is very concerned for Chuck and the challenges he is facing. She assures him he is great on his own and is a spy without the Intersect.

After several fear and pain challenges fail, Rye and Chuck are sent to Gstaad, Switzerland for a dangerous mission to acquire a rare diamond at auction. 

The Belgian, Adelbert de Smet, is after the diamond, as well as several other spies and operatives. When Chuck tries to bid on the diamond, he is held at gunpoint to get him to stop bidding. 

Jeff and Lester launch an investigation into who the new Greta is and why does she even work there. Morgan wants to protect them but Casey tells him without the intersect there is no team.

Chuck and Rye attempt to steal the diamond but the vault closes behind them and locks them in. Rye tells Chuck to flash to escape sure death from a freezing vault. When Chuck is unable to flash, Rye disables the vault with a code. Chuck realizes Rye had the codes all along and was pushing him to flash with fear of death.

The code activates several doors in the vault, all containing diamonds. Chuck uses a jeweler’s loupe to find the real diamond but they find a flaw in the first stone. It is a microdot and then they find another with a microdot. They replace the first stone with a fake and leave with the stone.

Chuck complains to Rye that his therapy isn’t working because he has feared for his life many times and the Intersect still isn’t working. Rye thinks there is a deeper anxiety causing the block and he points to his relationship with Sarah as the problem.

In Burbank, Casey is with Alex and they are talking about his relationship issues. He thinks the team will break up with Chuck losing the Intersect. She points out that he could cause problems himself by distancing himself.

Morgan warns Jeff and Lester to leave Greta alone. Greta tells Morgan she will neutralize them if they keep bothering her.

Chuck and Rye upload the microdot images to Castle. Rye tells Chuck that his reliance on Sarah as a safety net is why the therapy isn’t working. They contact Castle about the microdot and are told by Sarah that the images look like CIA files. Beckman orders Rye and Chuck to gather the rest of the stones and capture the Belgian. When Sarah offers to come help, Chuck refuses because of what Rye said to him.

Chuck and Sarah argue and Chuck assures Sarah he can handle this because he is a spy. She replies that he isn’t a spy right now. “No, Chuck, you’re not!”

Beckman orders Sarah to go help.

Jeff and Lester lure Greta to the Buy More cage with a Subway sandwich. Morgan and Casey interrupt the confrontation and Casey accuses her of stealing to defuse the situation.

Chuck and Rye discover that the Belgian knows that they breached the vault. He instructs his men to get the other stones and meet him at the gondola. Rye decides that is a good place to confront the Belgian and Chuck will have to flash.

Chuck wants to wait for Sarah but Rye convinces him he needs to do this alone. 

Greta confronts Casey about the unprofessional team he is with and leaves. 

They enter the gondola with the Belgian and his men. Sarah calls Chuck as the microdot information identifies him as the Intersect. Rye takes his phone and hangs up the call. The Belgian now wants Chuck more than the stones. 

Chuck partially flashes during the fight but isn’t effective and is captured, with Rye being killed. Sarah is driving as fast as possible to get there but is too late. The Belgian calls Sarah on Chuck’s phone and says he will kill Chuck if she follows them.

Sarah is back in Burbank and wants Beckman to authorize a rescue mission. She refuses because they have no idea where Chuck is. She orders a multi-agency alert and tells Casey to go looking for Chuck. She orders Sarah to lay low. 

Casey reassures Sarah that Chuck will be okay but she feels guilty because she knows Chuck took unnecessary risks to prove himself.

Chuck is strapped to a chair, struggling to free himself. Sarah is in their bedroom, packing for a mission when Casey comes in with Morgan. They agree to go together to find Chuck.

The Belgian enters and tells Chuck that he now wants the Intersect. He prepares to torture Chuck and doesn’t believe him when Chuck tells him the Intersect is gone. The torture will only end when Chuck talks and tells him how to get the Intersect.

Points of Interest (see Chuck wiki for notes)

• The Swiss chalet is named “Bosewicht Berghutte”- German for ‘Villain chalet.’
• Olivia Newton John’s Let’s Get Physical is referenced by Chuck after Rye explains about the tests he will use.
• The DVD for this season shows a deleted scene for this episode where Rye talks Chuck into going after the Belgian before Sarah can arrive to help.
• This episode aired two weeks after the previous episode.
• This is the only time in the series that Chuck is really angry with Sarah. She hurts and angers him by saying that he isn’t a spy without the Intersect.
• Casey admits to Alex that he has made friends in Burbank and fears the team is breaking up.
• The ‘Greta’ storyline is never explained by the writers. We have no idea what it stands for or the actual purpose of the original idea. 
• Sarah was recruited into the CIA by Graham after high school. She refers to her attending spy candidate school in this episode. She also references spy school in Seduction. There is never a reference of her attending college or university in the show.

References

• Terminator- Summer Glau plays the Greta in this episode and was in Firefly with Adam Baldwin as well as in Terminator.
• Star Trek- The Vulcan nerve pinch.
• Firefly- Casey says to Greta: “I don’t know who you’ve worked with before, or what crew you were on.” They co-starred in Firefly.

Music

Zero, Zero- Operator Please: Opening Intersect montage

Perfect Day- The Constellations: Jeffster stalks Greta

Towards the Sun- Alexi Murdoch: Casey and Alex have lunch and discuss Casey’s relationships

Hiding Place- Aushua: The final montage