Big Mike makes his way into the local Subway(!) sandwich shop, clad in his new suit.  In walks Casey, sporting his new light grey, double-breasted suit.  When Big Mike asks Casey how he likes the new threads, Casey responds, surprisingly, "It feels...good!"  Big Mike explains that if Casey can sit down calmly with Jeff and Lester and apologize to them, they will drop their lawsuit.  Can "John Crazy" be cool?  The four men sit down for their sandwich summit.  The waitress(?) brings over two sandwiches, for which Lester insists Casey pay.  "Apologies are about more than words -- they are about money," Lester informs Casey.  Casey reluctantly hands over some cash, while Jeff combines the two sandwiches and takes a bite.  To complete the apology, Casey must break bread with Jeff and Lester by literally sharing the same sandwich with Jeff.  Unbowed, Casey grabs the sandwich and takes a mighty bite. 

Chuck visits Sarah in the Orange Orange.  "Hey colleague!" a gleeful Chuck greets Sarah, before asking if he would be receiving his spy union membership card soon.  Sarah smiles, and asks Chuck if he wants to have dinner at Tracks, a restaurant at the train station.  "Of course!  Nothing whets the whistle like a long, loud horn," Chuck says.  He'll see her tonight, and as Chuck leaves, he imitates a loud train horn.  Sarah can't help herself but smile.  Chuck makes his way back to the Buy More where he sees Casey.  He asks how the ex-agent is feeling as a civilian.  "It actually feels good to not be so wound up," Casey replies.  Well, in honor of Casey "joining the world of human beings," and Chuck passing his spy test (thanks to years of help from Casey), Chuck got Casey a gift -- Casey's old handgun.  Although it's a felony to remove a federal firearm, Casey tells Chuck, it's a thoughtful felony.  Casey wonders if Chuck is sure he has finished his spy test.  "You need to be ready for anything."  "A good spy always is, right?" Chuck assures his friend.  Down in Castle, Shaw informs Sarah that Casey's worry is correct.  Chuck's mission is not over.  Chuck must complete his "Red Test."  Chuck must kill Hunter Perry.  Sarah tells Shaw that she can't be any part in Chuck killing anyone.  Moreover, she plain doesn't want Chuck to kill anyone.  It doesn't matter what Sarah wants, this is Chuck's mission.  The only way he will do it, too, is if Sarah gives Chuck the mission.

At the restaurant, Chuck is feeling good.  He sees a beautiful Sarah and moves to her.  He apologizes for coming on too strong the night before, and thanks Sarah for helping him through his training.  He begins to confess his love to her again, when she stops him by telling him that his mission is not over.  A meet has been arranged between Perry and him.  Sarah passes him a gun in a napkin, and tells him that he must kill Perry.  "Seriously?" a bewildered Chuck asks.  In order to become a spy, and then finally be with Sarah, he has to kill someone?  Chuck can't believe this is his choice.  When he protest further, Sarah tells him again that it is his choice, "It's OK to just be Chuck."  Chuck asks if they are sure Perry is a traitor.  Again, Sarah tells Chuck that it is his choice, as she walks out of the restaurant, stopping to look back before finally leaving him.  Crestfallen, Chuck waits for his mark.

Perry arrives for the meeting.  Chuck tells him that he has photos he wants Perry to check out to see if he recognizes anyone in them.  Sensing something is wrong, Perry agrees to look at the photos, after he uses the bathroom. Chuck, wisely follows the mole.  With gun drawn, Chuck kicks in a couple stall doors, but finds nothing.  Behind door number three, however, Perry lunges at Chuck with his knife.  In slow motion, Chuck avoids a couple swipes of the knife, but Perry finds Chuck's leg and cuts him open.  Chuck flashes knife combat skills and takes on Perry.  He eventually disarms Perry and is poised to strike the fatal blow when Perry begins to plead for his life.  He had no other choice, The Ring is forcing him to work for them.  If Chuck kills him, Chuck is just like one of the bad guys.  Chuck insists he is not "one of them," so as of this moment, Perry is officially under arrest.  Chuck walks Perry out of the bathroom with his gun in Perry's back, toward where Sarah is waiting in the train station.  Perry says the gun is hurting him and asks Chuck to put it away.  Chuck, for some reason, agrees, but when he does, Perry takes off by throwing a bystander into Chuck's arms.  The pursuit begins.

Chuck chases Perry through the dark train yard, with Sarah trailing the two of them.  Perry trips and Chuck closes in on him, gun drawn.  Perry again pleads for his life, and as Chuck begins to lower his gun a little, Perry reaches for a concealed ankle holster.  A shot rings out, and Perry falls dead.  Looking first at his gun, and then around him, Chuck eventually sees Casey behind a boxcar, who runs away before Chuck can question him.  Sarah arrives at the scene to find Perry dead and Chuck with his gun drawn.  "Shaw asks her in her earpiece what happened.  Clearly upset, Sarah responds, "Chuck's a spy."  Back in the apartment courtyard, Chuck asks why Casey killed Perry.  Casey tells him that now to Sarah, Shaw and General Beckman, Chuck completed his mission, and is now a spy.  But Chuck doesn't know who he really is, he replies.  Casey can't answer that for him, but he does know that Chuck is not a killer. 

At home, Chuck tries to call Sarah repeatedly, but she won't pick up the phone.  He finds a blue envelope on his table.  When he opens it, another video player, along with a passport, badge and a plane ticket fall out.  He plays the video and General Beckman appears.  She gives him her congratulations and informs him that the plane ticket is for a flight to D.C. where Chuck will be officially sworn in as a CIA agent.  After the player self-destructs, Chuck continues to call Sarah, eventually leaving her a message that he needs to speak with her.  Sarah, back at Castle, just denies his phone calls.  Sarah is upset because she feels responsible for Chuck's killing someone.  Shaw tells her that Chuck made his choice, and like the two of them, he did it for his country.  He continues, and asks her if she is still in love with Chuck.  "No, I'm not...anymore."  She is just concerned that Chuck won't be the same person anymore, just as she hasn't been the same person since she passed her Red Test.  When she saw her mark, she was prepared to kill the woman, but then the woman dropped a piece of jewelry.  Sarah couldn't kill a person bending down in such a vulnerable position, so she passed by.  In the reflection of a car mirror, however, she saw the woman reach into her purse.  Believing the woman was reaching for a gun, Sarah turned and shot her dead.  She wanted to see if the woman was truly reaching for a gun, but sirens caused her to flee.  It was the worst day of her life.  Back at his apartment, there is knock on Chuck's door.  Hoping that is Sarah, he rushes to the door and opens it.  It is another agent who is there to take Chuck to the airport.  Is he ready? 

Commentary

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode of Chuck.  As it was centered around choices, all of the action felt specifically motivated.  This sounds like a weird thing to say, because any television show, play, movie, etc. should have motivated characters or else the action is just contrivance.  However, to me, the specific focus on each of the main characters' choices (Chuck = to kill?  To become a spy?  Sarah = to "save" Chuck from spy life?  Casey = to accept civilian life?) really amped up the importance and drama of the episode.  I know I've said it before, but we finally have come to the end of the line of Sarah's concern for Chuck's changing into someone he's not.  To he knowledge, he has, forever.  How this will effect her feelings for him will play out, but she no longer has to wonder what is most important to him (or so she believes).  Now, I'm sure Casey will eventually cough up the truth, much to Sarah's joy, but for now, I'm very happy with where everyone is emotionally and dramatically.  I thought it was an interesting and good choice(!) by the creators to have Chuck's "final exam" be a relatively simple one.  If Chuck had to infiltrate some Ring compound and take out twenty henchmen before retrieving a poisonous gas and escaping in a major car chase, I don't think it would have had the emotional heft needed for the ultimate and most important decision a spy has to make: Can I kill someone if asked to by my country?  Rather, the minor difficulty of the mission, brought into greater relief the huge decision Chuck (and Sarah) had to make.

This was episode eleven of the season.  In case you have forgotten, NBC originally ordered thirteen episodes for this season, before ordering six more during the fall.  Josh Schwartz has said that Episode 13 really is a bit of a season finale in itself, before they reopened the story to add the six extra episodes.  This being said, the next two eipsodes should have some major action and drama as the show works itself up to what would have been its season finale.  Seeing in the preview at the end of this episode that Chuck is going to flat out tell Sarah that he loves her has certainly colored me intrigued.  I can't wait for next Monday!

What did you all think of "Chuck vs. the Final Exam"?  Did you think Chuck and Sarah have crossed some point to which they cannot return?  Do you think Shaw had anything to do with Chuck's Red test, knowing that Sarah would be upset (I don't, but I'm willing to hear arguments).  Anything else that popped out at you?  Please drop your questions, comments and theories below.  Be sure to come back next week for my recap of "Chuck vs. the American Hero," and remember to check out TVOverMind for all of your TV needs.  I'm off to enjoy a Tunaroni sandwich (on second thought....).

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