Chuck

Hello Chuck-sters.  If you missed last week's mobsteriffic episode, "Chuck vs. the Fake Name," here's a recap.

"Chuck vs. the Beard" opens at Castle, where Sarah, Shaw and Casey are looking dour.  The Ring is attempting to turn a CIA agent to the dark side, and the team can't figure out who it is.  When Chuck enters, he takes a look at the collection of CIA agent photos, but can't flash on any of them.  It seems Chuck hasn't flashed in over a week, and as a result, Shaw declares Chuck is unfit for spy duty until he does.  Chuck protests, saying that he already gave up everything in his old life to become a spy.  The Intersect is just on the fritz because he's too emotional.  Between breaking up with Hannah and lying to Ellie and Morgan (and, of course, the unsaid "being in love with Sarah but she loves someone else" scenario), Chuck has too many emotions bottled up, and they are interfering with the Intersect.  "I'm not a machine," he exclaims.  "Well, OK, I am a machine, but I'm also a person," he admits.  Sarah tries to tell Chuck that he can always talk to the team about what is bothering him, but for obvious reasons, that is not going to work for Chuck.

As is becoming something of a Chuck tradition, the show gives something to everyone, as Ellie and Devon are lounging poolside, only in bathing suits.  The couple are in Malibu, trying to get away for the weekend.  Chuck, upset that he's been benched y Shaw, calls Devon so he can talk to someoneabout breaking up with Hannah, his spy status, and Sarah being with another guy.  As sympathetic as Devon is to Chuck's plight, he tells his brother-in-law that he and Ellie were vacationing specifically to escape Chuck's spy life and the lies Devon has to tell Ellie.  When Chuck asks Devon who he is supposed to talk to if not Devon, Devon responds as Chuck told him to, "I don't know."

In the Buy More, while carnival barker Lester is rousing interest in Jeff's ability to put a whole apple in his mouth, Morgan calls Chuck over the public address system to come to his office for a "disciplinary action."  After dusting off his Big Mouth Billy Bass (which is a fantastic visual joke when compared to Big Mike's huge stuffed marlin), Morgan tells Chuck that they have been together through their good years and their awkward years.  In fact, almost all of the twenty-two years they've known each other have been awkward, but nevermind....Through that time, Morgan has been able to tell when something is bothering Chuck.  Morgan knows that Chuck is keeping something from him, and he wants to know the truth.  Chuck tries, desperately to tell his bearded best friend, but he can't form the words.  Fed up, Morgan climbs over his desk (remember, his "office" is actually the supply closet) to leave.  On his way out, he stops, turns, and ruefully fires Chuck...as his best friend.  Chuck is left speechless -- his spy life has finally cost him something dear: his best bud.

At Castle, the spies are gearing up for their mission.  They have discovered a Ring agent at a nearby hotel who is supposed to meet up with the targeted CIA agent.  Despite The Ring knowing Shaw is alive, with Chuck out, Shaw has to go on the mission.  He and Sarah will pose as a married couple and check into the hotel to set up surveillance.  Casey will monitor the proceedings from the van outside.  Chuck goes back to the Buy More, and finds Morgan, Jeff, and Lester peeking their heads around the corner and looking at Big Mike's office.  When Chuck asks what they are going, he is quickly hushed by Lester, "We're on a spy mission, and you're not qualified."  If only Lester knew the truth!  Big Mike is meeting with employees of Cost Less, a large discount chain interested in purchasing Buy More.  They are there to inspect the store, and interview the employees in advance of a possible purchase and take over.  All employees will be evaluated, and any non-essentials will be fired.  The guys agree that there is strength in numbers; if they stick together, none of them will be fired.  Lester is the first called in for an interview, and, surprise!, he immediately flips on his co-workers.  He will tell Cost Less whatever they want to know, but he wants immunity.  While Lester is selling out his mates, Chuck tries to talk to Morgan, who is busy rehearsing his greeting.  Chuck tells him to relax -- it's not the end of the world if he loses the Buy More.  Morgan can just get another job.  Morgan recoils.  He didn't go to college, like Chuck did.  He has no other opportunity that resembles his position at the Buy More.  Chuck should understand that.  Before he can respond, the Cost Less guys call in Chuck.  They wonder why a Stanford grad is working at the Buy More.  Chuck insists that the Buy More has many more opportunities than meets the eye.  For example, he gets to work with his best friend.  The interviewers insists Chuck is clearly the "cream of the crop" at the store, but Chuck protests.  The real cream of the crop is Morgan.  After Chuck is dismissed, the Cost Less guys reveal that they are actually members of The Ring!  They know Shaw has a base somewhere connected to the store, and believe Chuck to be Agent Carmichael, Ring nemesis.  When one operative suggests they kill Chuck, the leader suggests otherwise.  With Lester listening arriving at this moment equipped with a handheld sonic enhancement device, the Ring operative says they can use Chuck and Morgan to their advantage, and terminate the rest of the employees.  Unbeknownst to Lester, unemployment is the least of his troubles.

Shaw and Sarah check into the hotel (with the check-in girl noting that they are a "beautiful couple"), and set up their surveillance equipment.  Casey, in the van, intercepts a Ring phone call coming from the hotel.  The caller says the intended target is poolside, wearing a blue and white bathing suit.  Sarah grabs her binoculars and scans the deck area.  She finds the man in the blue and white bathing suit.  Panning up his bare torso, Sarah discovers, the target is...Devon!  Sarah and Shaw tell Casey that they will secure Devon, while Casey finds the room form which the Ring call is being made.  Chuck, tire of looking at CIA agent photos and trying to flash (with Billy Idol's "Dancin' with Myself" quite funnily playing over the scene), calls Casey to check in on the mission.  Casey has no time for Chuck, leaving an exasperated Chuck to note, "I'm only as good as my last flush, huh?"  Casey grunts and hangs up.  Devon gets up to get he and Ellie some pina coladas, but is grabbed en route to the bar.  It's Sarah and Shaw.  He wants to know why the spies are interfering in his vacation, noting this is not a good time because "I just recovered my awesomeness!"  He wants to know if he and Ellie are in danger, but Sarah and Shaw honestly don't know. 

Back at the Buy More, Jeff is worried about what the Cost Less interviewers might find, so he pleads with Morgan to go into his locker and hide the "contraband" he has there.  Morgan agrees, and discovers a bottle of chemicals in Jeff's locker.  Meanwhile, Casey finds the Ring's hotel room, opens the door, and drops a flash grenade.  As the disorienting flash clears, Casey sees that he is all alone.  The message was a decoy set up to play into the phone via Ring communicator.  He calls Sarah and Shaw to say that they have been set up; there is no danger at the hotel.  Sara apologizes to Devon, but when they leave, Devon confides that he and Ellie need to get away from all of this spy stuff.  Morgan, thinking the Cost Less guys are coming to inspect the break room, hides atop a set of lockers.  The Ring operatives scan the room and find a tunnel behind the lockers.  They open the passage, and enter the tunnel.  Morgan sees and hears all of this, and follows them in!  As he does his best tip-toeing spy routine, a bewildered Morgan winds up in the CIA base.  He overhears the Ring team leader order all of the gathered information on The Ring be destroyed, and then blow the place sky high.

Gathered in the Ring hotel room, the team realizes that the Ring has succeeded in getting them away from Castle, and now Chuck and Castle are in danger.  Morgan emerges back into the Buy More and finds Chuck.  He tells Chuck about the CIA base and some group called "The Ring," which he notes is not a scary name at all.  Chuck, with the implications of what he is hearing wash over him (his lie being discovered, Morgan in danger, Castle infiltrated, etc.), looks like he wants to throw up.  Morgan warns Chuck not to freak out.  He knows Chuck is scared, but it is their duty to protect the store and the country by taking on the operatives.  Chuck, unable to talk Morgan out of his plans of resistance, tells Morgan to get everyone out of the Buy More and not. tell. anyone. about what he saw.  This may be easier said than done as the employees, planning their own resistance to the evil powers of corporate take-over, have barricaded the store, Les Miserables-style, to prevent their ouster.  Chuck finally gets hold of Sarah via his watch phone (The Ring had knocked out Castle's communications) and tells her what is happening.  The team will be there as soon as possible.  When Morgan returns, Chuck tells him that they don't have to do this.  Morgan assures him that he wants to be a hero, and leads the duo toward the secret passage.  They are immediately captured by two Ring operatives.

Tied up in Castle, the Ring leader (hehehe), questions "Agent Carmichael" where Shaw's files on The Ring are hidden.  Morgan wonders aloud who is Agent Carmichael.  He and Chuck are just Buy More employees.  They threaten Chuck with torture by razor, but Chuck insists, that if he was a spy, he'd be trained to resist torture.  Precisely, that's why they are going to torture Morgan, Chuck's admitted best friend, instead.  Seeing no other way out, Chuck admits that he is a spy, that he is Level 6 security clearance, and that his alias is Charles Carmichael.  During his admission, Sarah, Shaw and Casey try to enter Castle through the Orange Orange, but are unsuccessful.  Casey decides to try to get in via the Buy More front door.  When he tries to enter, he is stopped by Buy More employees armed with Nerf guns.  They question his loyalty (in another great Les Mis allusion, with Casey as Javert.  Note: I could go on and on all day about the comparisons to Les Mis as I used to work on the Broadway show, but I'll stop here.), but he assures them he is on their side.  "The only thing I hate more than hippy, neo-liberal fascists and anarchists, are the hypocrite fat cat suits they grow up to become."  They let him in.