Original air date March 15, 2010

Season 3 episode 10

Synopsis

Flashback to Honduras, 1989.

Lt. Alex Coburn is with his commanding officer regarding his application to special forces. His promotion is declined, and he leaves but is stopped outside by Col. Keller and offered a chance to join an NSA Black Ops team.

Twenty-one years later, Casey is now with the same Col. Keller in his apartment. Keller tells him his team is testing government security and orders him to retrieve something from one of the vaults in the room they are going to.

While Chuck and Morgan are outside in the courtyard, reviewing Morgan’s spy training, Chuck sees Keller leave and thinks Casey might have something weird going on.

At Castle, Beckman gives the team their orders for the security test at a CIA facility and that Shaw is in D.C. Casey tells Chuck that Sarah is joining Shaw in D.C. and she tells Chuck to focus on the mission.

 They use their team skills and Chuck’s Intersect to break into the vault. Chuck gets into the target lock box, but Casey slips away and opens a different box, taking out a pill and putting it in his  bag. Chuck sees him do this and confronts him, but Casey pulls a gun on Chuck and threatens him.

Devon comes to Chuck to ask for help convincing Ellie to join Doctors Without Borders. Ellie tells Chuck she got a fellowship in Neurology at USC, her dream job. 

When back at Castle, Beckman congratulates them on a successful mission, but they were too late; someone else broke in and stole a prototype drug used to control emotions. Chuck asks if it might help him control his Intersect, but then realizes that is what Casey took. He reveals to Beckman that Casey took it, believing this to be a test for him. Casey freezes; Sarah reacts by reaching for her gun, and Beckman asks for an explanation. Casey pleads the 5^th to prevent self-incrimination. Sarah takes him into custody. 

Chuck then goes to Morgan and asks to review the tape Morgan was making in the courtyard while Casey was talking to Keller. Chuck flashes, realizing Keller is part of the Ring. He goes to Sarah, who is searching Casey’s apartment, and tells her they have to help Casey. Sarah is happy that Chuck has made the decision to help his friend and agrees. 

They go back to the CIA building to get Casey, but their security recommendations were followed, and they are stopped. The head of the security team, Fitzroy, challenges them, but they bolster his ego and convince him they are there to test the changes. 

Devon and Ellie are debating their choices, deciding to pull Chuck into the discussion. Morgan answers the door, and they consult with him instead. Devon confronts Morgan, and they discover they both know Chuck is a spy. Morgan is convinced Ellie needs to be out of danger and sides with Devon.

Fitzroy leads them through the changes, but then an alarm goes off, and  they steal his key card to get into the holding cell but arrive as the outside wall blows up, and Casey leaves with Keller after Chuck tells him that Keller is with the Ring. “I know.”

Chuck and Sarah are captured and taken to meet with Beckman at Castle. She tells them she checked Casey’s sealed file and discovered that he is Alex Coburn (who Chuck flashed on in Fake Name) and was recruited by Keller years before. Coburn was listed as killed in action at the same time that John Casey became a new recruit on Keller’s team. Beckman orders them to capture Casey, dead or alive. 

Casey hid the pill in the Buy More and recruits Morgan to help him retrieve it, but Chuck steps in and convinces Morgan to help with his mission by giving him the pill (laudanol).

When Chuck returns home, Casey is waiting and threatens Chuck. Chuck confronts him, gambling on his loyalty and friendship, while Sarah holds a gun on him from behind. When Casey backs down, he admits he is being blackmailed and Keller is threatening to kill his former fiancée (Kathleen) if Casey doesn’t get the Laudanol for him. Chuck and Sarah convince Casey they can fix this if they work together.

Casey goes to his meeting with Keller while Chuck goes to Kathleen’s house. Casey double-crosses Keller by replacing the pill with a Tic Tac mint. Sarah arrives with Casey by hiding in the undercarriage of a vehicle and ambushes Keller’s guards. Casey and Keller fight.

Chuck tries to rescue Kathleen but spots some killers coming and locks her in a closet for safety. Chuck tries to fight but can’t flash and contacts the team as Casey realizes Keller would have killed Kathleen anyway and breaks his neck as Sarah walks in. 

Casey tells Chuck to take the Laudanol. Chuck then flashes and takes out Keller’s men, and as he is choking the last of the men, identically the same as Casey killed Keller, Sarah runs in and yells at him to stop. After a moment, he realizes what he is doing and drops the guy, staring at his hands.

Kathleen was knocked out during the fight and doesn’t recognize Casey when she comes to. As they are leaving, Kathleen’s daughter arrives, and Casey is stunned to realize he has a child. He refuses to tell them who he is.

Back at Castle, Beckman dismisses Casey, but the team is cleared. Chuck escorts Casey out of Castle, and Beckman offers Sarah a job in Washington, D.C. 

Chuck sees Ellie in the courtyard, and she tells him she and Devon are joining Doctors Without Borders. Devon congratulates Ellie on her fellowship, but they agree they will be together.

At Casey’s apartment, Chuck tells him that he can go to Kathleen and have a new life. Casey reiterates he made his decision of country over love a long time ago, but Chuck still has time to choose Sarah over a job.

Sarah leaves for D.C. to discuss a new job with the General and work with Shaw. The cabbie that is driving her asks if she lives there; she responds that she is thinking about moving there.

Points Of Interest

• The box with the Laudanol is numbered 092407, the date of the pilot for the show.

• Rafe Judkins and Lauren LeFranc made their writing team debut with this episode.

• The CIA security mission begins with Chuck, Sarah and Casey working as equals, and there are no handlers. 

• Chuck goes to Sarah and tells her they have to find Casey and break him out- Sarah replies, “If we do this and get caught, we’re gonna be tried for treason. You’re gonna lose everything and never get a chance to be a real spy …… Is that what you want? “  Chuck says, “It’s Casey.”

         Sarah: “I was hoping you would say that.”  The smile shows that she recognizes her Chuck is still with her.

• When Casey tells them the story of his life before the NSA, Chuck says- “I don’t care who you were, I know who you are.” His belief in his friend and his willingness to disobey orders shows that the real Chuck is returning.
• Sarah:  “I know that you want to be the perfect spy, and I know what it means to you and what you’ve sacrificed to get there. But please don’t lose that guy that I met three years ago. Don’t give up on the things that make you great.” She then offers a gun to Chuck and he pushes it back towards her. Chuck: “I’ll always be that guy.”  This scene recalls the moment in Chuck vs the Ring when Chuck says he doesn’t want to be a hero, he wants to have a normal life. She tells him, “how many times to you have to be a hero before you realize you are that guy?”  Chuck has changed, but not the way Sarah fears. He started down that road but caught himself and now he is trying to be a spy and still be Chuck. She just can’t see that yet, her fear is too overwhelming and her experience is too traumatic.
•  “I don’t know. Some people change. You move forward as a spy and the line between what’s right and wrong becomes more and more gray. You don’t know what to believe in or who to believe in.”  A great synopsis of where Sarah is emotionally. She no longer knows if she can believe in Chuck, he has chosen to cross over to the dark side. She keeps trying to get him to turn back and she can’t see that he is doing that in; his own way.

References

• Planet of the Apes: The DVD case Morgan has the Laudanol pill hidden in.
• Mork and Mindy: Morgan refers to recording episodes of the show.

Music

You Know You Want It- Green Go: Chuck watches Casey take something from a lock box.

Black and Blue- Maids of Honor: Chuck takes the Laudanol.

Swim Until You Can’t See Land- Frightened Rabbit: Casey is dismissed and Beckman offers Sarah a job; Devon and Ellie make a decision about leaving; Sarah takes a cab in DC.