Original air date January 10, 2010 (second of two part premiere for season 3)

Season 3 episode 2

Synopsis

A man is seen running through the woods with a briefcase. He is pursued and caught by a man with a scar on his arm. The scarred man shoots the runner, takes the briefcase, and then answers his ringing phone. “I love you, Smooshie,” he says into the phone, and the men with him laugh. He glares at them and then shoots the injured man in the head.

Sarah is out in a club with Carina, who asks about her relationship with Chuck. Sarah is cold in her response, but Carina sees through her denial and warns her about the cardinal rule regarding relationships for spies. 

Chuck and Morgan are at home playing a video game. Morgan tells Chuck he is moping, and they need to go out. They end up in the same club as Sarah and Carina. Chuck approaches them, and Sarah accuses him of spying on her. He denies the accusation, and the man we see at the beginning walks up to them. Carina introduces him as Karl, her fiancé, and says that Sarah and Chuck are a couple. The Smooshie endearment is said by both Carina and Karl. Chuck flashes, realizing Karl is an arms dealer. He tries to warn Carina, and she responds that he is their next mission.

Big Mike is back as the manager of the Buy More with Emmitt gone. Morgan asks Chuck about Carina and the boyfriend. Carina walks in and takes Chuck down to Castle where Beckman briefs them about Karl’s possession of a weapon. They are to retrieve the weapon at Carina and Karl’s engagement party. Chuck and Sarah will pose as a couple, and Casey eventually wins the title of Carina’s uncle.

Morgan, Jeff, and Lester plan a housewarming party to give Morgan a chance to invite Carina for a date.

While getting ready, Carina asks Sarah about her charm bracelet and asks her what happened with Chuck. She invites her on a vacation after the mission. Sarah asks Carina if she ever wonders about a different life, a non-spy life. Morgan asks Chuck to invite Carina to his housewarming party.

At the engagement party, Chuck  tries to talk to Sarah about their relationship, and she coldly refuses him. Carina sees what is happening and tells Chuck to get his act together. When he complains about how Sarah is treating him, Carina tells him it is because she loves him.  Chuck still tries to talk to Sarah, but she tells him to focus on the mission. Karl begins a toast as Chuck and Sarah leave the party to investigate the vault where the weapon is kept. Chuck continues to try to talk to Sarah, but she ignores him and tells Carina they need more time. She calls her ‘Uncle’ Johnny to stall. 

Sarah opens the vault, and there is a security system with moving red lasers. Chuck panics, but Sarah calms him down, promising to talk after the mission, and he flashes so he can use gymnastics to avoid the lasers. Chuck amazes Sarah by successfully avoiding the lasers and reaching the briefcase but triggers the alarm on his way out and is locked in the vault. Gas begins to fill the vault. 

 Karl sends his men to investigate the alarm while Sarah tries to free Chuck. She has to climb into the ventilation shaft above the vault to turn off the gas, but Chuck panics and believes he is about to die. He blurts out his love for her and why he did what he did in Prague, but the only ones that can hear are Karl’s men on the other side of the vault door. Sarah shuts off the gas then distracts the men so she can get back to the vault door. She ambushes the men and finishes unlocking the door they had already entered the code for. Chuck collapses into her arms as the door opens with the words,  “Sarah, I love you.” She looks shocked.

Sarah, Casey, and Carina are debriefed in Castle and told not to mess with the ‘weapon’ they recovered. It is to be returned to Langley. Chuck is seemingly unconscious on a gurney, but he wakes up and listens as Sarah requests a change of assignment. She feels she is more of a problem than a solution to Chuck’s emotional issues. Beckman denies her, telling her she doesn’t want to know what happened between them but to get over it and teach him to be a real spy. Sarah then realizes Chuck is awake and tells him it is time to train.

As they begin their training, it is obvious her anger is in control, and she attacks him with a bo staff. He can’t flash because of his feelings. She tells him feelings will get you killed and you have to bury them somewhere deep inside. He refuses to fight back, and when she demands to tell her why he won’t fight, he says he doesn’t want to hurt her. She knocks him to the ground. “Don’t worry, Chuck, you can’t.”

Carina is walking through the Buy More parking lot and tries to evade Karl, knowing he may suspect her. Morgan sees Carina in the store, and she gives him the briefcase, asking him to give it to Chuck. He agrees if she will come to his party.  She is captured by Karl. He shows her Chuck’s video from inside the vault that reveals Carina’s cover. “I’m not like Carina, a cold-hearted spy who throws the word Love around.”

Casey, Sarah, and Chuck convene at Casey’s apartment when they realize Carina is missing. Morgan’s housewarming party is going on at the same time, and Carina arrives with Karl and his men. Morgan thinks Carina brought her boyfriend to his party and calls Chuck. Morgan, Jeff, and Lester try to use their ‘Jail Juice’ concoction to inebriate Karl and his men, but they refuse. Carina took the opportunity and drugged the drink, hoping to knock them out. Instead, it knocks out Jeff and Lester, then Karl realizes she has drugged the cocktail. Morgan is angry that Carina is treating him so badly and takes it out on her and Karl. Carina has to step in to keep Karl from killing Morgan, but he feels betrayed and gives the briefcase to Karl to spite her. Morgan tries to get Carina to leave and then drinks the spiked juice, passing out also. Carina is shocked that Morgan has rejected her.

Casey decides to stop the party and poses as an angry neighbor,  hosing everyone down. Chuck, Casey, and Sarah confront Karl and his men. Chuck refuses a gun and uses a tiki torch to light the fountain in the courtyard that is filled with jail juice, this distracts Karl’s men so Sarah and Casey can subdue them. Karl has Carina, and Chuck uses his empathy for Karl to defuse the situation. Sarah listens intently as he describes having real feelings for someone, even though it can be a liability. Karl lets his guard down enough for Carina to knock him out. Sarah looks at Carina, who says “Spies don’t fall in love,” then turns to knock him out.

Chuck wants to know what is in the briefcase but is stopped by Beckman. When the briefcase is talking to a man flicking a lighter. She pleads with him to allow her to tell the call ends, Beckman is coming. She pleads with him to as Shaw, walks out without a word.

Sarah and Chuck talk while he cleans up after the party. They agree that it might be possible to clean up after the party. “But you’re on your own with the courtyard,”  Sarah says as she walks away. Making it clear that they were discussing their personal mess.

Carina, attracted by Morgan’s refusal of her charms, sleeps with him. 

Carina comes to see Sarah in Castle to ask about their vacation. Sarah refuses, and they part, but Carina gives Sarah a flash drive and tells her to take a look at it. When Sarah plugs it into the computer, she sees the video of Chuck in the vault. She sees and hears his speech about his duty and his love for her. She is moved to tears as she watches.

Points of Interest

• Mini Anden is a Swedish model/actress who plays Carina Miller. At the end of the episode Carina speaks Swedish to Sarah- I’ll miss you, pal” and Sarah replies in Polish, the native tongue of Yvonne Strahovski- “I’ll miss you too.”
• Morgan tells the Buy Morians that Carina is a Swedish supermodel. A true story.
• We discover that Morgan’s full name is Morgan Guillermo Grimes.
• By this time in the original airing of the series there were many people very disappointed in the prolonged ‘will they, won’t they’ story with Chuck and Sarah. The links below highlight some of the frustrations being voiced by fans and critics alike regarding the disappointment with the storyline. Season 2 ends with the promise of a real relationship for Chuck and Sarah and season 3 starts with taking all of that back. The IMDB page for the episode has a comment at the bottom that succinctly voices a fan perspective. Alan Sepinwall, a strong Chuck advocate, does the same in his double review for Pink Slip and Three Words. 
• Roan Montgomery (Chuck vs the Seduction) tells Chuck that ‘spies don’t fall in love’ when he warns him that trying to save Sarah will get him killed. Carina Miller calls it the ‘cardinal rule of spying.’  Despite these statements both Roan and Carina try to help Chuck and Sarah with their relationship.
• This episode marks the third appearance of the bracelet that Chuck gave Sarah in Santa Claus (a clip we see in the episode preview). It next appeared in Beefcake when she tells Chuck that they can’t break up and then we see it here when Carina finds it with Sarah’s jewelry and she dismisses it as not important.
• The foreboding of Shaw’s introduction to the show should have warned us that this won’t go well.
• In Chuck vs the Broken Heart the argument is that Chuck’s and Sarah’s feelings are helpful to the team. Now that Chuck has Intersect 2.0 that is no longer the case.
• Chuck tells Sarah he won’t fight with her because he doesn’t want to hurt her. She responds, “Don’t worry, Chuck’ you can’t.” She has shut down her vulnerability to him and to his feelings. Never have I felt that was a statement of him being able to physically hurt her.
• Sarah requests a transfer because she now believes that she can’t help Chuck, his feelings for her interfere with his job performance. Beckman knows the only chance they have to overcome Chuck’s emotional issues is if Sarah is there to talk him down.
• For those interested in the whole vault speech, here is a link to the whole speech that includes the one sentence Karl shows Carina when he confronts her. Part one in the vault, part two on Carina’s thumb drive.

References

• The Godfather- Karl’s statement; “may our first child be a masculine child.”

• The Spy Who Loved Me- Karl Stromberg is a Bond character played by Curt Jergens.

• Tron- We see the poster again.

• Entrapment- Navigating through the red laser security field.

• Nancy Drew- “Thanks for being on the case, Nancy Drew.- Carina to Chuck.

Music

Sexy Bitch- David Guetta and Akon: Carina and Sarah at the club, getting ready for the engagement party.

Oh My- The Gray Kid: Chuck and Morgan run into Carina and Sarah at the club, Chuck flashes on Karl.

Just Like Paradise- David Lee Roth: Carina at the Buy More; Carina and Morgan in bed.

Model Homes- In-Flight Safety: Beckman tells Sarah to get over her issues and train Chuck; Bo staff fight scene.

That Kinda Booty- Dem Naughty Boys: Carina at the housewarming party.

Here Comes Trouble- Maino: Jeff and Lester challenge Karl’s men to a drinking contest; Morgan confronts Carina.