Recap: Chuck vs the Kept Man (5.09)

Houston, we have a problem!

While last week’s episode alternated between heart warming scenes and some really tense moments, this weeks’ episode really brought the humor. It also brought Chuck a bit back down to earth. After several weeks of him appearing very strong and competent, we got a bit of the old, bumbling, sensitive “think with your heart” Chuck this time.

The episode started out with Chuck having a bit of a bad day. Although we aren’t told how it all went down, Chuck is being held captive chained in some sort of bunker and the bad guy is asking him how he wants to die. Chuck tells him to pick because he has too much other stuff on his mind right now – like how to run a successful private security company. Chuck babbles on in typical Chuck fashion while the baddie gets his torture tools together and threatens to cut out Chuck’s tongue. Casey and Sarah burst in at just that moment and save him and recover a few spent nuclear cores that the baddie had.

The next morning, Chuck’s still working on the idea of how to make Carmichael Industries successful. He’s been thinking about something the would-be torturer said while Chuck was blabbing on – “yeah right, spies who care!”. Chuck thinks this will be a good mission statement (C.A.R.E – Clandestine Agents Relating Emotionally) for their company. He’s so excited that he stayed up all night working on it and has added it to their website.

Casey, meanwhile, gets a surprise visit from a very intense Gertrude Verbanski who sneaks into his apartment and greets him wearing lingerie and with a gift – a blue, v-neck, cashmere sweater. The sweater, she announces, is the perfect weight for a winter evening in Miami – she wants them to go to a luxurious hotel there for a few days. Casey is a bit flustered and tells her that he can’t leave because he has to work BOTH of his jobs. He heads to Castle.

At the Buy More, Jeff is examining security footage of the store. He tells Lester that every since he got his brain detoxified, he has thought that there is something fishy going on in the store (about time!) and he’s looking for clues. Just then he sees Casey enter, hours before his shift, wearing the cashmere sweater. He wonders if he is meeting someone and then sees Chuck and Sarah enter and all three head for the home entertainment room, making Jeff very suspicious.

After obtaining a bunch of index cards and spending a few hours, he determines that Sarah and Casey must be CIA and that Chuck is some kind of asset and he explains it all to Lester. There has to be a 4th member of the team, though. Seconds later Morgan comes into the breakroom and sees Jeff’s bulletin board (not unlike the back of Chuck’s Tron poster) just as they are discussing who could be the 4th person. They try to subdue Morgan because he’s “seen too much” but he escapes their grasp and tells them that he’s been doing his own investigation and he thinks it all revolves around Devon (pictures of his Buy More ads are on the table).

In Castle, Chuck informs Casey that Gertrude has hired them to provide security for a mission… in Miami. Casey tries to get out of the mission, but Chuck and Sarah overrule him because they need both the money and the vacation. As they lay around the pool, waiting to make contact with the arms dealer they are meeting, Verbanski gives Casey another present – a very skimpy bikini bathing suit. Casey doesn’t want to wear it, leading to an amusing exchange between the two of them as Sarah tells Casey that it’s his turn to take one for the team.

When they come back out of the changing cabana, Gertrude is nowhere to be found. They track her to a hotel room and Casey goes in to find her waiting to seduce him. Sarah follows closely behind and sees more than she ever wanted to see of the two of them.

They meet with the arms dealer and Verbanski makes a deal to buy a load of weapons. They set up a meet point for later that evening. Verbanski continues to pursue Casey quite aggressively, making him very uncomfortable. Chuck keeps trying to council Casey on how to “listen with his heart” using him and Sarah as an example, but looks more and more foolish as it becomes clear that he’s not terribly attuned to what is going on with Sarah at the time. All through the episode, we see not so subtle hints that she could be pregnant – not drinking alcohol, feeling nauseated, avoiding the Jacuzzi, being emotional, etc – and Chuck is completely oblivious while Casey picks up on them.

Back in Burbank, Morgan tells Awesome about Jeffster and they hatch a plan to lead them on and throw them off the trail. Devon dons a white dinner jacket and in a very James-Bond-esque way, fakes a communique about a “U-238″ when he knows that Jeff and Lester are spying on him.

Casey, Verbanski, Chuck and Sarah go to the meet (Casey’s still wearing the sweater and getting harassed about it) to buy the weapons but it appears to be a double-cross. The dealer wants to steal their money and they are soon surrounded by his men. Verbanski had anticipated this issue, however, and signals all of her men to come in and they take both the weapons and the dealer captive. Casey is furious that Verbanski seems to have hired them only as decoys. She tells them that this isn’t the case, but he doesn’t believe her. Chuck and Sarah confront him, but he turns it back onto Chuck and tells Chuck that Sarah thinks she is pregnant and is hiding it from him. They all return to Burbank.

Sarah takes a pregnancy test…negative. They are both relieved – it’s not time, but it really gets them thinking and talking about being parents and reassessing their lifestyle.

Verbanski contacts Chuck and Sarah and tells them that she really does need them for the second part of her mission – she wanted to capture the first arms dealer to find out the location of his boss, Pedro St. Germaine, who has a multi-million dollar bounty on his head and she’s been hired by the FBI to capture him. She now knows his location in the Everglades and wants them to come help.

Morgan finds Casey in the Buy More and tries to get him to talk. Surprisingly, Casey actually spills all his concerns about Verbanski to Morgan. Morgan then enlists him to help in the mission to confuse Jeffster. Devon (still looking very [easyazon-link asin=”B000V3JGI8”]James Bond[/easyazon-link]) leaves a card at at a “drop site” in a park while Jeff and Lester watch (Lester is in full blown drag and looks….very pretty). The card says that there is a meet at 10pm the next day in the home theater room at the Buy More.

Verbanski, Chuck, and Sarah head to the Everglades while Casey stays in Burbank. Turns out it’s an ambush and this time Verbanski isn’t prepared and is taken captive. Chuck and Sarah are not captured and work on trying to rescue Verbanski. Meanwhile, St. Germaine calls Casey’s cell using her phone and wakes him up. Casey tells him to tell her that he’s done with being used. She screams and St. Germaine hits her and Casey hears and realizes that she really does need his help. He travels down to the Everglades (amazingly quickly) with 10 million dollars (counterfeit!) . The plan is for Casey to go in, Sarah to wait for the signal to take out the guards and for Chuck to wait outside as the getaway driver.

Casey goes in to trade the money for Verbanski. Outside, Sarah is disabled by a flash grenade and is temporarily blinded. Chuck takes out a nearby guard and takes her place. Casey tells Gertrude that he loves her while St. Germaine goes through the money. Apparently that is the signal for Sarah (now Chuck), to take out all the guards. Chuck rushes in and he and Casey overcome the guards. It’s down to St Germaine and he’s got a shotgun aimed right at them. Sarah bursts into the complex in a Humvee and hits him from behind, killing him.

Back in Burbank, Sarah and Chuck talk about having a family and Gertrude brings Casey another gift. This one is something that he actually likes – a super duper bullet-proof vest. She apologizes and invites him to join her for two months in Dresden. Casey likes the idea but turns her down because it’s such a long time to be away from Burbank. She asks if there’s another woman, and he tells her not exactly. We next see him drinking beer and watching a video with Alex. He tells her that he has a girlfriend that he’d like her to meet sometime.

Everything is wrapped up nice and neatly again…or is it? Back at the Buy More, Jeff and Lester tell Big Mike that they think Devon is building a nuclear bomb. They see Devon enter the Buy More and go into the home theater room. They find a trap door and open it. They find themselves in a concrete block room…where Devon is using a piece of exercise equipment – the U-238. Devon and Big Mike go back upstairs to the Buy More.

Jeff and Lester are frustrated and are about to leave when Jeff recognizes a fake wall from his time at a mental institution. He throws a weight through the “wall” and it goes right into Castle, where Chuck, Sarah, and Morgan are sitting watching on closed circuit TV. Morgan tranqs them both through the hole….uh-oh, we have a problem!

There was a lot about this episode to like! While the main spy plot seemed a bit contrived to tell the Casey-Verbanski story, the Buy More plot was very intricately plotted and was definitely the highlight of the episode for me. It seemed perfect that it was Jeff  who finally figures out Chuck’s secret. Lots of great allusions to earlier episodes as well – Jeffster’s creepy espionage skills, Dr. Woodcomb Sr previously referring to Lester as a woman, Awesome being mistaken for the spy in the family, etc. The scene with Lester “undercover” in drag was hilarious and I can only imagine how funny it must have been to shoot. I can’t wait to see how they handle Jeffster knowing the secret!

In addition to the extremely entertaining Buy More plot, we got some more great character development – Casey finally has a girlfriend, his relationship with Alex continues to grow and he opens up to Morgan about his feelings (bet Chuck is jealous!) for Verbanski. Sarah and Chuck start facing the reality that they do want to have a family and their current job is probably not ideal for parenthood. With only four more episodes left, the major plot points seem to be wrapping up in a way that wasn’t as apparent in the many previous “false alarm finales” we’ve seen before.

Although I’m very excited for next week, it’s sad to know that we’ll only have 4 more episodes to talk about! *sniff*

Memorable quotes (tons of them this week!):

What are you and I doing, right now? We’re talking about our hopes and our dreams – Chuck to the person planning to torture him

What can we, Carmichael Industries, offer our clients that no one else can?  – Chuck Discount electronics? – Sarah

I’m going to need some 3 by 5 cards, STAT!  – Jeff

Easy, there Jeffrey, I was with you on the whole conspiracy theory, but seriously this loser, a spy? C’mon – Lester, when Jeff suggests Morgan is part of the spy team

Why is it so soft? It doesn’t feel flame retardant – Casey’s not thrilled with the sweater Gertrude gives him

This is a dream mission and I’m not going to let you screw it up! Do you know how many skimpy outfits I have had to put on for this team? Have you heard me complain about wearing a cat suit, 7 inch platform high heels, or a belly dancing outfit (okay, that was private!). Just put on the banana hammock and stop whining! – Sarah to Casey

Everything. It’s all wrong. – Sarah after walking in on Casey and Verbanski

It’s oddly comfortable running in heels! – Lester

I’ve only walked 0.53 miles today, another few wouldn’t hurt me! – Big Mike

I’m about to make my biceps go nuclear! – Devon