Chuck vs the Other Guy

Original air date April 5, 2010

Season 3 episode 13

Synopsis

Shaw and Sarah arrive at a warehouse where Shaw claims the Ring Director is located. They break in and Sarah works her way down to lower levels after Shaw leaves her on her own. She follows the sound of a voice and finds video equipment set up and playing a looped video of her committing her red test. Shaw approaches from behind, gun drawn and aimed at Sarah, telling Sarah that the woman she killed was his wife. 

After Sarah has left with Shaw, Beckman tells Chuck where she is and he panics. Turning to Casey for help, Chuck is able to convince him Sarah is in danger when she activates her emergency locator at the warehouse. Casey provides a phone number to Chuck to call for help, and Chuck launches an assault force to rescue Sarah. 

When Chuck arrives, Shaw is alerted by a noise and lowers the weapon he has aimed at Sarah, assuring her he knows it wasn’t her fault that she killed his wife. Chuck calls off the assault as Shaw comforts Sarah.

In Castle, Chuck is chewed out by Beckman, but Sarah thanks him. Shaw defends Chuck, saying he was protecting his partner. Shaw wants to know who set up Sarah’s red test, but Beckman says that information died with Director Graham. 

She tries to disband the team, assuming the new information prevents them from working together. Shaw says he can still work with Sarah, and he still wants the team to eliminate the Ring Director.

Morgan resigns from his job at the Buy More, thinking he will be part of Chuck’s spy team. Casey tells Morgan he is settling into the Buy More, while Jeff and Lester see this as a new opportunity.

Chuck calls Beckman, trying to convince her that Shaw can’t be trusted. She dismisses him, saying Shaw is a professional and not like him. 

She assigns Sarah and Shaw to Washington DC to head up the search for the Ring Director and benches Chuck until she can figure out what to do with him, after he went rogue.

Chuck is devastated and depressed: that Shaw is assigned with Sarah and he has lost her. He drinks and plays video games until Morgan walks in and finds him. Morgan tries to stop the spiral, but Chuck flashes. When Sarah arrives soon after, Morgan is tied up on the floor, and Chuck is sitting on the kitchen floor; half-dressed and drunk.

Sarah cuts Morgan free and sits down next to Chuck. He tells her he forgot to ask her an important question— “Sarah, do you love me?”

He repeats the question when Sarah doesn’t immediately respond. Chuck feels he has embarrassed them by asking, then she blurts out, “Yes,” multiple times, which stops him from talking. She smiles then leans over and kisses him. 

He asks her about the way she feels regarding his red test, and she tells him that Casey told her the truth. It was the best news she had ever heard because it meant that he was still Chuck— “still my Chuck.”

Sarah tells him he has to get ready because they have a mission. Morgan jumps in, telling Sarah he will help Chuck sober up and get ready for the mission.

Sarah and Chuck go help Shaw infiltrate a Ring Base where Shaw has told them the Ring Director is located. Chuck still doesn’t trust Shaw and is doubly concerned now that he and Sarah are together. 

Chuck and Sarah will break into the elevator to apprehend the Director while Shaw provides security. When they capture the Director, he tells them the Ring has developed their own version of the intersect cipher. He then manipulates the situation, creating a standoff. He tells them they have walked into a trap, and several more of his security team arrive. Shaw shows up and shoots the Director’s men, telling Sarah and Chuck to escape, and he will get the cipher.

They step out, the elevator doors close, and they hear a shot. After they leave, we see that Shaw is working with the Director, and the whole thing was staged. Shaw has been turned.

During the debrief at Castle, Beckman criticizes Shaw for shooting the Director, but Chuck defends him. Beckman tells them the cipher is flawed and was manufactured in Paris. Chuck is confined to Castle, while Sarah and Shaw are ordered to Paris to investigate.

At his apartment, Chuck tells Morgan everything that happened and shows him the video of Shaw fighting some of the Director’s security team. Morgan immediately spots that the fight was fake and points it out to Chuck. He asks if Chuck actually saw any blood or other signs of wounds during the whole mission. Chuck realizes the fight was a sham, and Shaw really has been turned.

Chuck can’t convince Beckman, who thinks he is just overreacting because he has been sidelined. She suspends him when she sees that Chuck has allowed Morgan into Castle. Morgan then reminds Chuck that they can go to Casey for help and Morgan convinces Casey himself.

Chuck and Casey take a flight to Paris, Chuck trying to flash on any information in the folder that Casey assembled. Casey tells him he doesn’t need the Intersect to figure this out; he is smart all on his own. Chuck starts to study the files again.

Shaw and Sarah are on the street where Eve was killed. Sarah realizes that Shaw is out for revenge when he starts talking about her having to pay for what she did. Someone shoots her with a tranquilizer gun containing a paralyzing agent, and the Director appears. He says the CIA suspected that Eve had been turned and had Sarah kill her. Shaw gives the Director all his files on the Intersect. The Director leaves and Shaw turns his attention to killing Sarah.

Chuck arrives to rescue Sarah while Casey deals with the Director. Chuck confronts Shaw, explains that he figured out that Shaw comes to this place every year to visit the site of his wife’s death. They fight, but Chuck doesn’t want to shoot Shaw and is unable to defeat him. Shaw tells Chuck he doesn’t want to hurt him and will keep his identity secret, but he is going to kill Sarah. Shaw assures Chuck he will kill him if he tries to interfere.

Chuck picks up his gun and pursues them as Shaw moves to throw Sarah off the bridge and into the river. Chuck tries to reason with him, but Shaw doesn’t believe Chuck will shoot him. As Shaw moves to shoot Chuck, he shoots Shaw in the chest, and he falls off the bridge and into the water, trying to pull Sarah with him. Chuck catches Sarah before she is pulled into the river and holds her but she is unconscious.

Casey video calls Beckman, showing her he has the Director and negotiates his return to duty, a job for Morgan, and a new Crown Vic.

Back at home, Morgan goes back to the Buy More to get his job back. Morgan and Big Mike make up, and then Beckman calls Morgan to offer him a position on Team Bartowski. She tells him to keep his Buy More job as a cover.

Sarah is asleep in a Paris hotel as Chuck sits by the bed and works on his computer. When she awakes, he tells her everything that happened; that he shot Shaw to save her. He assures her he is still the same guy, that he is her Chuck. 

Sarah responds, “You saved me!” She kisses him passionately, but they are interrupted by a video call on the computer from General Beckman. She wants them back in Burbank immediately.

With a look back, Sarah turns the computer away and closes it. Chuck starts to talk, but she tells him to shut up and kiss her. He does and climbs into bed with her.