Amy approaches the two guards outside the VIP room and starts to flirt with them.  With the goons distracted, Sarah and Zondra knock them out from behind.  Their guns drawn, the CATs enter the VIP room.  Meanwhile, Carina calls Chuck and Casey video video and warns them that the CATs are walking into a trap!  The CIA detected a call from Burbank to Gaez just before their mission.  There is a mole in the CATs.  Gaez appears and says, "Long time CATs."  A number of his henchmen circle the women.  "Drop your weapons or die," Gaez relishes.

With the CATs tied up, Gaez wonder why they have spent all of these years fighting against each other.  "You're the bad guy, that's how it works," spits Sarah.  Gaez suggests that they all work together.  Chuck, meanwhile, climbs along the roof.  He is going to drop in and use the Intersect to disarm everyone and save the CATs.  Casey says Chuck is just feeling guilty because Sarah's car blew up.  Inside, Zondra and Sarah accuse each other of being the mole.  Since Gaez is just going to kill them anyway, Sarah wants to know who the mole is. 

What Gaez doesn't see is Sarah cutting through her ropes with a hidden knife.  Sarah cuts herself free, and puts the knife to Gaez's throat, demanding to know who the mole is.  Gaez is about to reveal the traitor, but Chuck crashes through the skylight, and dangles just above the ground.  Gaez uses the distraction to reverse Sarah's hold.  With Sarah in danger, Chuck flashes some targeting skills and shoots tranquilizer darts at the guards, taking them all down.  In the melee, Gaez escapes, but he doesn't get far as Casey punches him out.  Sarah is upset that Chuck interfered; now she'll never learn who the mole is.  Chuck pleads that he was just trying to help.  "I don't need help with my job.  I don't need help with my past.  I don't need help!" she exclaims, before cutting Chuck down from his rope.  He lands with a thud.

Back at Castle, General Beckman tells them they did a good job.  It is now confirmed that they have a mole.  Chuck, Sarah and Casey are to keep the CATs in Castle so Casey can interrogate them.  After the debrief, Sarah tells Chuck she has a job for him.  Upstairs in the Buy More, Alex enters.  Morgan, candy and flowers in hand, tells her that he has the perfect date planned.  Alex is excited, but she notices something: lipstick on Morgan's collar.  She leaves; Morgan is heartbroken.  Down in Castle, Sarah wants Chuck to go search the CATs bags at their apartment for bugs.  Chuck protests and tells her about the Italian safe house, but she cuts him off -- he's still helping!  Sarah places Chuck in the elevator to go back upstairs and locks him out of Castle.

Zondra finds Sarah and tells her that she's not running anymore.  It's time to settle this old school.  The two spies fight in Castle's gym, with punches and accusations flying.  Sarah lands a punch to the face.  "You've still got that jab, Walker," Zondra comments.  Casey brings Amy in to interrogate Gaez as his "muscle," who clocks Gaez across the face.  Gaez doesn't know anything about any illegal activities, he's a business man.  He's never even heard of The Gentle Hand!  Casey notices that Amy has been staring into a make-up compact for the last few minutes.  "Are you just going to stand there primping?" he asks.  Amy turns and blows powder in Casey's face, knocking him out.  Zondra and Sarah retrace the times Gaez has gotten away, and they realize that neither of them could be the mole, and Carina wasn't in Italy at the safe house.  That only leaves Amy!  At her name, Amy arrives wielding a kendo stick, and knocks out Zondra.  Yeah, she's a traitor, but she spent so many years acting like the world's biggest ditz that now she deserves a pay day.  She asks Sarah to join her and Gaez.  "Never," Sarah retorts.   Amy notes that they know where Sarah lives. "You.  Chuck.  His sister and her baby.  Don't follow or look for us," she warns Sarah before knocking her out with the kendo stick.

In Echo Park, Chuck pulls the CATs' bags out of his apartment.  Ellie knocks on the window and comes out to the courtyard.  Chuck rues his attempt to get Sarah's friends back in her life.  Doesn't Ellie want friends and family at her wedding?  Yeah, Ellie says, but Sarah's a different person.  She tells Chuck that sometimes he needs to step back and stop trying to help so much.  "Did I blow it already?" he asks his big sister.  Yeah, but Sarah still loves him.

At Castle, Morgan has had enough with Carina.  "You're really angry," Carina says, with a smile.  "Damn right I am!" Morgan replies.  He loves Alex, and Carina messed that all up for him.  Carina says she figured he didn't love Alex because he never told her.  Morgan relents, knowing he has been too scared.  He needs to tell her, and he marches off to so do.  Carina looks at the security feed in Castle and notices everyone knocked out.  She tries to warn Morgan, but Amy punches him out.  Gaez knocks out Carina, too.  Sarah comes around, and calls Chuck, who is upstairs in the Buy More. 

Chuck immediately starts to apologize for being the idiot of the century.  Sarah warns Chuck that Amy and Gaez are in the elevator, coming up into the store.  Chuck wants to apologize again and know that everything is OK between them, but Sarah tells him there is no real time for that.  Chuck locks down the store so Amy and Gaez can't escape.  He starts to look though DVDs.  Before he tries to take them on, he wants to take ten seconds to apologize for being a fool.  He breaks the discs into sharp pieces.  Sarah tells him that they are at the Nerd Herd desk.  Chuck promises that he has no intention of opening up any more cans of worms in the future.  He just wants her to be happy.  "Just get out of this alive," Sarah replies.  Chuck looks at the pieces of DVD and flashes ninja stars!  He throws the disc pieces, disarms Amy, and sends Gaez flying.  He sees Gaez's reflection and flashes some judo skills.  He takes out Gaez, but Amy jumps on his back.  "I don't like fighting girls!" he exclaims.  Chuck spills his keys during the fight.  Amy lands some blows, grabs the keys and makes for the door.  A cord whips through the air, and trips Amy up.  There stands Zondra wielding a flat iron.  "Going somewhere pussy?" Sarah taunts, as the three CATs stand over Amy with their guns drawn.  Chuck shoots them an impressed smile.

Back in Castle, Zondra throws out the flat iron.  Sarah admits it's a small price to pay to find the traitor.  Zondra and Sarah apologize to each other.  Sarah wonders if they could try to make up the lost years.  "Well, there is this engagement party," Zondra replies.  Carina wants to come, too, as she has someone to whom she owes an apology.  Sarah goes one step further, and asks if they want to be her bridesmaids.  They agree.

Sarah sees Chuck at home and says there will be no more apologies.  She thanks Chuck for contacting the girls.  She's just not ready to dive into her past now.  Chuck agrees; family is complicated and he is done helping.  "No, don't stop helping," Sarah tells Chuck.  She needs his help a thousand ways every day.  "You're perfect," she assures him.  "Well, I'll stick to that then."  

They enter the party out in the courtyard.  Morgan is sad, and drinking his troubles away with a Dos Equis beer.  Alex arrives and tells Morgan that they're done.  it's not that she thinks he's unfaithful, she just doesn't fit into the spy world.  Morgan assures her that she is special, but she doesn't feel special, just lied to.  Alex tries to go, but Morgan pleads to hear him out.  He was so uncomfortable because he didn't know how to deal with her running into someone else he had a relationship with.  He's been in so few relationships that the chance she ran into an ex was a statistical impossibility.  Morgan promises nothing happened  with Carina.  He loves Alex.  He's in love with her.  She smiles and says she loves him, too.  Carina arrives and tells Alex she owes Alex an apology.  "Its ok," Alex replies, "he loves me."

Sarah finds Ellie.  The latter admits that the whole wedding must be hard without family around.  Sarah says that she doesn't know where her dad is, and she has a strained relationship with her mom.  Ellie knows that it is complicated, so they'll talk and bring in Chuck later.  Sarah agrees, and asks Ellie if she will be Sarah's Maid of Honor.  Of course she will!  With that, the gruff voiceover returns.  "Aw, who says cats can't play nice?  Maybe we will add another member to this squad."

Commentary

Now, that was a fun little episode Chuck, wasn't it?  I really did nothing but smile the entire time.  Yes, the Charlie's Angels homage was obvious, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was clear from last week's episode that the second half of this season is going to investigate Sarah's pre-spy life in preparation for her wedding, and I thought this was a nice entree into that story.  Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak could have immediately moved into a situation with Sarah's parents, but coming off of the drama surrounding Chuck and his mother, that may have been too much emotion too quickly.  Having a couple lighter episodes, without so much angst, was the better way to go. 

So, we are introduced to the CAT Squad instead: three of Sarah's former co-spies and friends.  We get a bit of Sarah's backstory, but nothing truly deep was revealed about her.  It felt like this was outlining the sketch that is Sarah's history, with the more important shading and coloring being provided at a later date by Sarah's parents.  I like this approach.  A television season is a marathon, not a sprint, so I don't mind having fun for a few episodes, and avoiding having my heart knocked about every episode.

Of course, there were some nice emotional moments: Sarah telling Chuck at the end that he's perfect and she needs his help every day; Casey smarting over seeing Kathleen with another man; and definitely Morgan and Alex's "I love Yous."  Overall though, it was a nice continued segue (along with last week's "Chuck vs the Seduction Impossible" from the quite dramatic story of Chuck, Mary and Volkoff into the exploration of Sarah's former life. 

What did you think of this week's episode?  Are you looking forward to seeing Carina and Zondra at the wedding?  Maybe a bachelorette party episode?  Were you rooting for those crazy kids, Morgan and Alex?  Did you miss Jeff and Lester?  (I didn't, not at all.  Though I do love having them when they are there.)  Did you miss Devon?  (I always find Captain Awesome to be...Awesome).  What did you think of Lou Diamon Phillips as Gaez?  Please leave your questions, comments and theories below.  For another take on the episode, check out Emma's review.  I'll be back next week with a look at Chuck's Valentine's Day episode.  Until then, I'm off to be sultry over here.

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