Original air date February 23, 2009 (originally scheduled to air Feb 9, before Suburbs)

Season 2 episode 14

Synopsis

Flashback: Tarzana, CA  1992

Elizabeth C. Stanton Middle School

Morgan is chased down by a female student who is berating him for spying on her in the school gym. Chuck comes to his rescue and tells him to stay away from girls for at least 15 years.

About 15 years later, Morgan is asking Chuck, Lester, and Jeff to help him spy on Anna, who he thinks is seeing another guy. Ellie and Devon are dividing duties for wedding planning. Chuck, Lester, and Jeff are using Jeff’s van to spy on Anna while Sarah and Casey spy on them. They see Anna with her new guy, and Chuck flashes on Jason Wang. After arriving back at Castle, Team Bartowski gets a briefing from General Beckman regarding Wang and his involvement with a Triad gangster group smuggling guns and drugs. Chuck is instructed to get close to Wang through Anna. Chuck complains that this will make him betray his best friend. Meanwhile, Devon enlists Chuck to help with the wedding to-dos by finding a band for the reception.

Back at Castle, Chuck tells Casey and Sarah about his concerns about betraying Morgan, but they both reiterate duty comes before personal loyalty. Lester and Jeff find out Chuck needs a band and volunteer their band, Jeffster. Anna admits she is seeing someone new, and Chuck intervenes to stop Morgan from overreacting. He is pushed by Casey to talk to Anna about a double date with her new guy. She invites them to a custom automobile party he is giving.

Chuck and Sarah plan to plant a bug at the party while they socialize. Morgan is seen outside the party spying and realizes Chuck and Sarah are friendly with Anna and her new boyfriend. 

Ellie calls the Buy More with a computer emergency, and Jeffster takes the opportunity as an audition for the wedding gig, but Lester has an anxiety attack and can’t perform. 

At the party, Chuck flashes on some Triad members who arrive. Sarah talks to Anna while Chuck follows the gang members to the garage and attempts to plant the bug but makes too much noise and then drops the bug. Meanwhile, Morgan has been discovered spying, and the gang is called outside to deal with the intruder. Chuck rushes out with Casey and Sarah and has to humiliate Morgan in front of everyone to convince the Triad gang he is only a stalker. 

Chuck is devastated by what he had to do, and the bug is discovered, which leads the gang to believe that Morgan is indeed a spy. 

Chuck speaks to Morgan to convince him he was trying to protect him from embarrassing himself, but Morgan doesn’t accept his explanation. When Chuck and Sarah discuss the situation and he tries to explain what Morgan means to him, she responds that the mission is more important than just Morgan being hurt. Devon tells Jeff he will give them an audition.

When Chuck and Morgan speak again, it is Morgan’s inability to take care of himself that he seems upset about. Then the Triad enters the Buy More, looking for Morgan. Chuck uses the knockout spray he got previously in Castle to save Morgan again. The Home Theater box he puts him in is then taken by the Triad members while Chuck is distracted when he flashes on a tv interview with Wang. The Chinese Ambassador is buying one of Wang’s cars, and it will be exploded to kill the Ambassador. When Casey, Sarah, and Chuck go to save the Ambassador, Chuck leaves the Nerd Herder to save Morgan and sees him put in the trunk of the Ambassador’s car, and the bomb is in the hood ornament. Chuck gives chase in the Nerd Herder, and Casey jumps on top. Sarah has found the original van, but it is empty. She is confronted by Smooth Lau, the female gang member, and they fight with Sarah eventually winning.

Casey gets into the Herder with Chuck and takes over control using the remote in the glove compartment. They catch the car carrying the Ambassador, and Casey engages them while Chuck sneaks to the front and removes the bomb. As Sarah arrives, she and Casey watch the Herder drive away, and Casey tells her Chuck has taken the bomb away as the Herder explodes. Sarah’s emotional reaction is in the foreground as Chuck steps into the scene with the remote control.  He apologizes to Casey and Sarah for shocking them and then removes Morgan from the trunk of the car and takes him back to the Buy More while still unconscious. 

When Morgan regains consciousness at the Buy More, he apologizes to Chuck for needing to be saved again, and Chuck tells him what he means to him.

At the debrief in Castle, Beckman congratulates the team. Upstairs at the Buy More, Jeffster performs, and Devon brings Ellie to hear them, telling her he isn’t really considering them as a band, but everyone deserves a shot at their dream.

Chuck and Sarah enter as Anna and Morgan reconcile. Sarah apologizes to Chuck for not understanding about Morgan, saying she doesn’t have anyone in her life that cares for her like that. Chuck responds, “Yes, you do.” Chuck takes Sarah’s hand as they listen to Jeffster’s performance.

Points of Interest

• The switching of the two episodes makes the chronology of Anna and Morgan making up and breaking up a bit of a mess. This storyline flows from Santa Claus. It also flows more smoothly for the Chuck and Sarah story if you transition from Suburbs to Beefcake. The distance created at the end of Suburbs doesn’t really vibe with the closeness we see here.
• We meet Jeffster for the first time!
• GLG-20 bug is first seen in Chuck vs the Marlin. Used by Fulcrum in that episode and the EM-50 is used by the CIA. Both are references for Spies Like Us and Stripes.
• Chuck and Morgan’s middle school is names after the suffragette and abolitionist.
• Beckman’s office shelf has a cup that closely resembles the Holy Grail from Indiana Jones.
• The fight with Smooth Lau in the vehicle and Sarah’s fight scene in Chuck vs Phase Three (season 4 episode 9) are the two most violent as well as beautifully choreographed and executed of the series. 
• Sarah’s reaction to the Nerd Herder exploding, believing Chuck to be inside, is another of the many times we see how she really feels about Chuck even though she can’t say it. Alan Sepinwall’s review of this episode has this to say about Yvonne Strahovski’s performance: Even if you hadn’t figured out Chuck was using the just-introduced remote control to pilot the car without being in it (and I’ll confess to missing that), you knew the show wasn’t going to kill off Chuck. But Sarah doesn’t know that, and Yvonne Strahovski sold that moment so well that my assumptions about Chuck’s safety almost didn’t matter. Geez, she’s good.
• For a complete story about the making of the Jeffster musical interludes see the feature on Tim Jones on this website!
• Chuck mentions his mom, who walked out on the family when Chuck was in the fifth grade.
• General Beckman has a personal life! Getting Cosmos with Condoleeza is the first personal note we get for this character (for those who need reminding, Condoleeza Rice is a former Secretary of State of the US, 2005-2009).

References

• The Legend Of Zelda- the video game is referenced.
• Alf- Morgan wears a t-shirt bearing the lead character of the tv show.
• Groundhog Day- Chuck wakes to the alarm, a continuing reference in the show.
• 8 Mile- “one shot, one opportunity”. 
• Eminem (Lose Yourself)- Jeff’s speech to Lester is lyric from the song.

Music

Been Caught Stealing- Jane’s Addiction: Chuck rescues Morgan in 1992.

Momma’s Boy- Chromeo: Stalking in the spy van.

Why Do These Parties Always End The Same Way- Benji Hughes: Anna introduces Jason Wang to Chuck and Sarah.

Wannamama- Pop Levi: Sarah fights Smooth Lau.

Africa- Toto: Jeffster performs in the Buy More.