America – start watching Chuck, please. It’s a good show, I swear. Really, you should totally check it out. It’s funny, there are a lot of good-looking people, there’s a bunch of that spy stuff I know you like. It’s got everything, America. Tonight’s episode of Chuck is guest star heavy, and wonderfully so. John Larroquette plays a former James Bond/suave secret agent who has relegated himself to the bottle in recent years. Melinda Clarke (from The OC), plays the bad guy, a former KGB agent who may be in possession of the real cypher. It was another good episode that added a sweet little twist at the end.
Previously on Chuck: The cypher was a fake, a trap, and it blew up and killed Graham in the process. Chuck remains the intersect, and thus will remain alive until the new one is up and running.
Chuck and Casey show up at the Buy More. Chuck learns that Graham died in the intersect explosion, so Chuck will not be leaving the Buy More any time soon. Lester is on a power trip as the new Assistant Manager. He’s going to run the Buy More with an iron fist.
More Huey Lewis soundtrack – Sarah shows up in slow-motion at the Buy More in a Phoebe Cates-in-Fast Times at Ridgemont High-type fantasy sequence. Sarah kisses him, tells Chuck that there’s a national emergency. They head to yogurt shop – it turns out that they’ve created a underground bunker inside the shop.
They are briefed. The real cypher is still out there. They think it might be in the possession of Sasha Banechek, a former KGB agent (Melinda Clarke). She might be in town to sell it. They are going to need the help of another agent, who knows everything about Sasha – Roan Montgomery (John Laroquette). Roan, apparently, hates Casey. He’s off the grid now, so they need to use the intersect to find him. Chuck storms out – he wants nothing to do with the spy stuff anymore. Sarah grabs him, tells him that the faster they get the intersect out of the way, the faster he can lead whatever life he wants, with whoever he wants – Sarah is flirty while saying this, and it convinces Chuck.
Chuck flashes on Roan’s picture – he lives in Palm Springs. And he’s a player, a ladies man, a real James Bond type. He’s a legend, apparently, though Casey thinks he’s overrated. They show up at his house, and find him passed out under his bed – a hot stewardess is also there, one of Roan’s conquests.
Captain Awesome and Ellie keep having some problems. Awesome hasn’t taken Ellie out on the town for a long time. Ellie is jealous of Chuck and Sarah. Getting briefed again, Sarah and Casey tell them about Montgomery’s situation – he’s a drunk. Finally, Montgomery shows up, dapper as hell. He says that Sasha has to be seduced, by someone no one would expect – like Chuck.
Lester gives Chuck some grunt work. He leaves instead and is told his mission – he has to seduce Sasha. To do that, Roan gives him a crash course in seduction. Awesome shows up at the Buy More, gets tips for a romantic evening with Ellie from Morgan. Morgan knows a whole lot more about Ellie than Awesome does, it turns out. Awesome is a little bit taken aback.
Roan keeps giving advice – he tells Chuck to try out his seduction methods on Sarah. He wants Chuck to kiss her. He finally does and it is quite passionate. Sarah is into it. Roan is impressed – he gathers that that was not the first kiss those two have shared.
Pre-conquest, Chuck is dressed very well. Sarah gives him a pep talk. Roan drops a bomb – Sasha is known as the Black Widow because she kills all her mates. Chuck needs a gun. Lester gets advice from Big Mike on how to strike fear into the employees – find the wounded gazelle and pounce.
Chuck has Roan in his ear as he enters the bar. Casey is the bartender. Chuck orders two martinis after sitting down with Sasha, who doesn’t drink. Whoops. She leaves soon after, goes to the bar. Chuck follows, with Roan’s advice to mention St. Tropez and the piano players at the Intercontinental Hotel.
Awesome bases his date on Morgan’s advice. Unfortunately, all the night’s events revolve around Ellie’s eighth grade persona. Ellie is not happy.
Roan spills gin on their surveillance equipment, and they lose contact with Chuck. He is then unable to respond to Sasha, who whispers something to him in French. Sasha, disappointed, leaves. Meanwhile, Chuck overhears Sarah defensively tell Roan that she has no feelings for Chuck, that he is only her asset and that is it. Chuck is distraught over this. Sarah leaps out of the van, heads inside.
Chuck decides that this isn’t over. He asks Roan for the fourth prong in his seduction technique – Roan tells him to “be a bastard.” Chuck chases after Sasha. He is a bastard and tells it like it is – she will be missing out on the greatest night of love-making she will ever encounter if she goes upstairs alone. And hey – it works. Sasha invites him upstairs for some “passionate love-making.” Sarah and Casey watch as the two make out as their elevator door closes.
Chuck enters Sasha’s room. He flashes on a knife, and he immediately wants to leave. But, after Sasha comes out of her bedroom, wearing some lingerie, Chuck flashes on her necklace – it’s the cypher. Sarah and Casey approach the room, see the two bodyguards outside the hotel room. Sasha knows what’s up – she says hello to Roan via Chuck’s earpiece.
Chuck runs out onto the balcony, closes the door. He managed to steal the cypher from her neck. He tries to climb up to another balcony, but is kicked off. He plummets a number of stories down, but lands on a well-placed mattress by the pool. He runs away. Chuck tries to speak with Sarah, but Sasha and her men have Sarah and Casey tied up. Sasha tells Chuck that if he ever wants to see his partners again, he has to meet her alone tomorrow. Sasha tells him where.
Lester has a late meeting with his employees. He unveils the wheel of misfortune. He chooses Morgan to christen the wheel. He lands on the thin strip that says “You’re Fired.” Morgan leaves, and then there’s a revolt. Everyone walks out, saying they quit.
Roan meets Chuck at his apartment. He tells Chuck that if he shows up tomorrow, there will be three dead agents instead of only two. Chuck tries to convince Roan to help. Roan assures Chuck that Sarah has feelings for him, but asks if she’s worth dying for. Chuck says yes, Roan says that never fall in love is the first lesson in being a spy. Chuck storms off.
Chuck tries to contact General Beckman – he can’t get a hold of her. Chuck heads to the Buy More and finds that no one is there. It’s only Chuck and Lester. Lester begs Chuck to help him. Lester brings the employees back. He says that Morgan can get another spin. They say no one spins. They negotiate a bunch of terms for them to come back. The last one is for Lester to spin the wheel. He does, and ends up getting diaper duty.
Roan shows up at the Buy More, he’s ready to help. He wants to know what the plan is. Chuck tells him he wants to just show up with the Cypher. Roan says they need a better plan.
At the shipyard, a package shows up for Sasha. It’s a cell phone. When it arrives, it rings, and Chuck tells her a location for the meet – it’s the Buy More. Sasha with Sarah, Casey and her cronies show up. Chuck addresses them over the TVs. One of the bodyguards finds Chuck, though, and chases him to the roof. Now that they have Chuck trapped, Sasha figures it’s time to kill the hostages. As she’s about to shoot, Roan puts a gun to her head, tells the henchmen to drop their weapons. Sasha does, but a fight breaks out. Sasha ends up getting Sarah at gunpoint. She drags Sarah out to her car, followed by Roan and Casey and says that she will kill Sarah if the cypher is not brought to her. Chuck, on the roof, unhooks a banner and readies to make a leap. He ties it around his waist and jumps. He knocks Sasha down. Good guys win.
The team is debriefed at the yogurt shop. They will try to get the intersect repaired, at which point Chuck’s “nightmare” will be over. Roan says goodbye to Chuck, and gives Chuck some romantic advice – show up at Sarah’s house in a white dinner jacket with a bottle of champagne and a single red rose.
Chuck does it, and arrives to find Bryce Larkin in Sarah’s room. Weak.
-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of NBC)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
