Chuck

Plot

A man carrying a gold suitcase runs through a secluded forest, desperately looking for a place to hide. He stumbles up a small hill, only to be shot by a henchman nearby. Still alive, he struggles towards the case, in one last attempt to reach it, only to be confronted by an ice-cold Brit, Karl Stromberg. He quickly whips out a gun and promptly shoots the man in the head. Karl is then temporarily distracted after receiving a phone call. He briefly engages in discourse, before finishing up with a quick ‘I Love You’, using the nickname ‘smooshi’. His henchmen, clearly unimpressed, begin chuckling amongst themselves due to their boss’ whippedness. Keen to re-assert his authority, he turns to them growling, then shoots the dead body once more.

At a local night club, Sarah and Carina, who’s only in town for a few days, begin discussing the pressures of the spy game. Carina attempts to try to gauge what her relationship with Chuck is like, though Sarah is quick to shut her down, insisting they have a strictly professional relationship. Reading in between the lines, Carina realises that she must have fallen in love with Chuck, and in doing so compromised themselves. Meanwhile, Morgan is over at Chuck’s place playing Xbox while simultaneously, like Carina, trying to figure out his relationship with Sarah. Chuck is similarly defensive, opting to change the subject. Morgan refuses to let them waste their night, eventually persuading him to go out to a local club - crucially, the same one Sarah and Carina are at.

After failing to buy drinks for several women, Morgan spots Sarah across the room, walking with Carina. Immediately interested, he sounds out Chuck about his chances with her after their previous short ‘date’. After catching Sarah’s eye, Chuck promises to find out about Carina’s availability before heading over to the pair.

Sarah is suspicious, believing him to spying on her, but their conversation is cut short as Karl suddenly appears, hugging Carina. She then goes on to introduce him as her fiancé - much to everyone’s surprise, while presenting Chuck and Sarah as a couple also. After having to awkwardly pretend being an item and to endure a very affectionate Karl before his departure, Chuck is quick to congratulate Carina on her news. However, he then spots a scar on Karl’s forearm, triggering a flash revealing him to be an arms dealer. Chuck immediately attempts to warn Carina, who openly admits to having already known - informing them that Karl is in fact her mark, that their engagement was simply a ruse to recover intelligence and that she would needing both their help to complete the mission.

At the Buy More, newly re-instated store manager Big Mike gathers all staff to give them a rousing speech in order to improve morale and work rate - applying skills he recently picked up from a part time class at El Segundo School of Finance. However, the sole piece of information he conveys is the mentality reflected in the Japanese language - which supposedly has over 730 ways to say yes, but not a single word for no. Afterwards, Morgan queries Chuck about the guy Carina was with, while admitting he still thinks he has a chance with her.

Overhearing the conversation, Lester and Jeff join in, sceptical over the claims that they hooked up 2 years previously. Initially, Morgan’s claims seem to be proven correct, as Carina enters the Buy More, seemingly heading towards him, only to have his hopes dashed as she diverts her path to grab Chuck to bring him to the castle. Whilst there with Sarah and Casey, General Beckman address the group, informing them of Karl’s $10 million deal for a weapon he developed - which they need to recover before he successfully manages to sell it on. In order to do this, Chuck and Sarah are instructed to reprise their roles as a couple and intercept the weapon during Carina’s engagement party. During Karl’s toast, Sarah and Chuck are to slip away and head up to the safe beside the bedroom, requiring Chuck to flash in order to get through the vault undetected.

Back at the Buy More, Jeff and Lester mock Morgan about Carina’s apparent rejection of him. This continues until he finally agrees to invite her to a house warming party at his apartment. Meanwhile, after walking around in their underwear for a little while before eventually dressing each other, Carina and Sarah once more begin talking about what happened with Chuck.

Sarah once more uneasy with the topic, leading Carina to offer her a chance to leave for San Tropez with her once the mission is complete. Mirroring the same scene, Chuck and Morgan also briefly talk about his relationship with Sarah (albeit fully clothed), though he remains adamant they won’t be getting back together. Morgan seems content on letting the matter go, instead more insistent that he gives Carina an invite to the house warming party, which Chuck agrees to. After a brief congratulatory conversation with Karl and Carina, Chuck attempts to address the rift in his relationship with Sarah, who herself is less keen to discuss the issue. Observing what’s happening, Carina makes her way over, chastising Chuck for threatening the entire mission because of his behaviour. She then stuns him by revealing the reason Sarah was being so cold towards him was because she still loved him. Shocked by the revelation, he runs over to Sarah, eager to talk to her about it but is quickly halted as she calls for him to focus on the mission at hand.

Downstairs, Karl begins his ridiculous speech, claiming how fortunate he is to have found his fiancé. This distraction allows Chuck and Sarah to slip out unseen and head upstairs to the safe. In order to buy more time for the pair, Carina invites Casey (undercover as her ‘Uncle Johnny’), who obliges by highlighting his own relative youth before reciting an endless list of Carina‘s many qualities. Meanwhile, Sarah manages to open the safe, only to be greeted with a series of lasers blocking the path to the case containing the weapon.

Chuck, who was expected to flash by now, pleads with Sarah to allow them to talk about their situation - pointing out that it was preventing him from working. She promises to do so, but only after the mission is complete. Satisfied with her answer, Chuck finally flashes and acrobatically makes his way across the room, avoiding all the laser beams to retrieve the case. However, on his way out, he accidentally triggers the alarm - alerting Karl’s henchmen to his presence. Now locked in the vault, Chuck begins to panic when gas begins to fill the chamber. Believing his death is imminent, he begins revealing he doesn’t feel like a real spy and that despite what happened in Prague, he still loves her. Sarah doesn’t actually get to hear any of this, after climbing into the ventilation system in a bid to rescue Chuck. Instead, his only audience is Karl’s henchmen, who wait outside clearly amused by what they’re hearing. By now Sarah has successfully turned off the gas valve and makes her way back to firstly knock out the henchmen and then get a fainting Chuck out of the chamber who falls into her arms unconscious.

A short time later, the group make it back to the castle safely.

Beckman instructs them not to open the recovered case, but that Carina is take it on to her next assignment. While there, Sarah admits to still being unsure whether to leave with her. She then contacts Beckman once more, expressing her concern that her involvement in the mission is preventing Chuck from flashing properly - leading her to request for a different agent to handle him. Beckman is clearly unimpressed and rebukes Sarah, refusing to grant her a transfer. A frustrated Sarah brings Chuck into a storage room to start defence training. Despite her demands for Chuck to attack her, he refuses claiming her doesn’t want to hurt her. An emotional Sarah points out he no longer can (emotionally), before knocking him to the ground.

Later on that same day, Carina heads over to the Buy More with the brief case. However, as she approaches, she notices Karl pull up nearby, tracking her location through the wedding ring. Meanwhile, in the store Lester and Jeff again make fun of Morgan for failing to invite Carina to the party. Just after this, Carina runs in, attempting to evade Karl.

Initially Morgan is apprehensive, but after a short pep-talk about Japanese words for no and fishing metaphors from Big Mike, he finally plucks up the courage. Referring to him as ‘Martin’, Carina hands over the case, instructing him to give it to Chuck. He agrees, but only after she promises to attend his party. She then dashes off, trying to escape Karl and his henchmen, but fails to do so. They bring out to the van and reveal they know her true identity and that she was responsible for stealing the weapon. Carina immediately denies the accusation, prompting Karl to show security footage of Chuck in the vault - delusional with the gas poisoning, in his ramblings revealing the group’s mission.

At Morgan’s party, Carina arrives accompanied by Karl and several henchmen, who are keen to find Chuck and recover the stolen weapon. Upon seeing Carina’s company, Lester and Jeff are again quick to humiliate Morgan. Concerned about his chances with her, he calls Chuck - who along with Casey and Sarah had been desperately searching for her after her disappearance. Wary of the potential threat Karl poses, Chuck instructs him to stay well away until they arrive.

Meanwhile, Lester and Jeff both fancy their chances with Carina and so challenge Karl and his henchmen to a drinking contest of Jeff’s ‘special’ punch (which he has built up a tolerance towards). While everyone’s distracted, Carina discreetly slips a sleeping agent into several of the drinks, hoping to knock out her opposition. However, after failing to goad the men into the contest, Jeff and Lester continue working their way through the alcohol until they soon fall foul to the sleeping powder. Realizing what had happened, Karl once more threatens her life. Misinterpreting the situation, Morgan believes him to be getting cosy with her and finally becomes fed up, deciding to make his move. He enters the room and begins verbally insulting Karl and despite Carina’s efforts, he refuses to heed her advice to stop. In a final act of defiance, Morgan retrieves the case and hands over, claiming he wouldn’t help her out any more due her treatment of him, before taking a mouthful of the doped alcohol.

Watching all the events on the security cameras, Chuck, Sarah and Casey realize they no longer have anything to negotiate with. In order to avoid any casualties, Casey emerges under the guise of a grumpy neighbour, breaking up the party with a hose. Aware they no longer need to hang around,

Karl and his men begin to leave only to be confronted with a gun toting Casey and Sarah, while Chucks opts for a lit torch leading to a stand-off ensues. Reading the situation, Chuck convinces his colleagues to drop their weapons, apparently giving Karl the upper hand. However, Chuck then throws his torch into Jeff’s alcoholic fountain resulting in a large explosion. During the confusion, they successfully manage to disarm the henchmen, though Karl still has Carina at gun point, pointing out that she’d already broken his heart and that he was willing to kill her. Chuck then steps in, empathising about having his heart broken (also directing it towards Sarah) but also suggesting that despite what happened, that life goes on regardless. Carina then steps in, revealing that although initially he was part of the mission, she had since developed real feelings for him. Believing her, Karl lowers his guard allowing her to knock him out.

Back at the castle, Beckman once more instructs the team not to open the case but rather maintain its security. After the video call, Beckman converses with an agent called Shaw, suggesting that the team must know all the details in order to protect them from future danger. The following morning, Sarah finally makes herself available to talk with Chuck. Despite the fact he doesn’t feel like a real spy, Sarah suggests that it was his emotions that actually made the entire mission successful - something a ‘real’ spy couldn’t have done. After hinting at a potential reconciliation, she leaves Chuck to finish cleaning the courtyard.

Meanwhile, inside the apartment, Morgan is still in bed with Carina - fresh from getting busy with her the night before.

Still not believing his luck, she tells him that the reason it happened was because he said no to her - an uncommon occurrence. She then informs him that she’s had better - but not many, much to his delight. Afterwards, she heads over to the castle, where she offers Sarah the chance to leave one last time. Although she finds the idea appealing, she refuses. Carina leaves, but hands over a usb key before doing so. She plugs it in to the nearest computer, which then plays the security footage of Chuck in the vault, revealing all his reasons for refusing to leave Prague with her. An emotional Sarah looks on as he explains that he felt he had to stay in order to help more people in the future, despite the fact that he still loves her.

Production

The episode was initially planned to air in early March, but NBC decided to move it up to be shown directly after the season’s premiere, as a double bill. The retention of the viewing audience was positive - only dropping from 7.7 million viewers to 7.2 million in between episodes 1 and 2.
Several aspects in Chuck vs the Three Words are recurring ideas from previous episodes. The ‘cardinal rule of spying‘, which is continually referenced throughout the episode, is first introduced by Roan Montgomery in Chuck versus the Seduction. Roan used the phrase to help Chuck ignore his feelings for Sarah to focus on his task at hand, which later became a significant reason for him and Sarah becoming involved.

This episode saw the return of DEA agent Carina Miller, who last appeared in Chuck versus the Wookie. Morgan’s infatuation with her also re-appears, though like her first appearance, he has to continually correct her when she calls him Martin. Morgan’s line of dialog describing Carina as being ‘basically a Swedish supermodel’ is a reference to actress Mini Anden’s profession outside the show.
The episode also sees two new character changes. It marks the return of Big Mike as manager of the Buy More after Emmett’s death. It also introduces Agent Shaw for the first time, though his face is not seen and he doesn’t have any lines of dialog.

Flashes:

Chuck first flashes while in the club with Sarah and Carina, after noticing a scar on Karl’s arm.
In order to make his way across the laser-protected vault room, Chuck flashes, revealing the only way to make it across undetected.

Name	Chuck vs the Three Words
Season	3
Episode Number	2
Type	Regular Episode
Is Pilot	False
Air Date	Jan. 10, 2010

Chuck

Chuck vs the Three Words

Season 3, Episode 2

Plot

Production

Flashes:

Directors

Writers

Producers

Actors

Chuck

Chuck vs the Three Words

Season 3, Episode 2

Plot

Production

Flashes:

Directors

Writers

Producers

Actors

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