Original air date October 4, 2010

Season 4 episode 3

Synopsis

An armored personnel carrier is traveling at night with prisoners on board. After having engine trouble, the guards call for help and are diverted to a secret and secure location. The prisoners arrive at Castle while Casey and Sarah are sparring and Sarah is freaking out about the mission she and Chuck are going on next. She feels the relationship is progressing too fast with discussion about marriage and kids.

Chuck has been talking to Morgan about how excited he is to go on this mission with Sarah. He sees it as a big step for them.

Morgan is preparing for the release of a video game and a large crowd has gathered at the Buy More. Morgan finds out that they are only receiving a few games despite gamers in the hundreds have gathered. When the gamers discover that there aren’t enough games, a riot starts. 

The prisoners arrive and they discover it is Heather Chandler and Hugo Panzer. Their history with the two, (from Chuck vs the Cougars and Chuck vs First Class), are two big turning points in their story.

Big Mike also arrives and Morgan hires him to help with the game release.

Panzer tries to attack Chuck but can only run into him with his shoulder. Heather immediately starts taunting Sarah, in her usual fashion. Chuck flashes on Heather and realizes she is in the Intersect 2.0- she knows Volkoff and Frost (his mom).

As the gamers become destructive in the store, the engagement ring for Morgan’s mom that Big Mike asked Morgan to take care of for him, is lost in the chaos. As Morgan searches for it, Big Mike takes over and stops the riot. Unfortunately, the store is a shambles and Morgan has to tell Big Mike he lost his ring. He agrees to Big Mike marrying his mom and promotes him to assistant manager.

While interrogating Heather, Panzer uses a newspaper he was given to make a knife to attack his guard and escape his cell. While attempting to question Heather, Sarah overreacts to Heather’s taunting and has to leave the cell twice to keep from responding. Chuck is wondering why Heather is so successful in pushing her buttons.

Panzer successfully overrides the computer in Castle and opens cell doors to get to Heather. Chuck and Sarah jumped into the cell with her when they saw Panzer with a rifle. As Panzer opens doors, Casey successfully overrides the safety system and gets them out of their cell before Panzer gets to them.

Crawling through the airducts to escape, Heather continues poking at Sarah while Chuck tries to control the situation. With Panzer chasing them, Casey helps them get out. When they get out of the duct system, they are trapped in a small room and Panzer catches up with them. The fight ends with Chuck losing Panzer down a duct and Sarah knocks Heather out.

Casey, Chuck and Sarah take Panzer and Heather to the roof for transport but it turns out to be an ambush by Volkoff’s men. Panzer escapes and Chuck follows after him. Sarah releases Heather from her restraint and the fight Volkoff’s men together after Casey is shot.

Chuck catches Panzer in the airduct but won’t shoot because of a gas line to the Buy More being right next to him. The duct system gives way and dumps them into the Buy More storage cage where they fight again. Chuck loses and Panzer walks away.

Panzer tries to escape while Big Mike is lecturing the rioters about their behavior and getting control of the Buy More. Panzer captures Morgan but Big Mike uses his taser and saves Morgan.

Heather and Panzer are waiting for transport when Heather finally tells Chuck what he wanted to know about Volkoff and his mom. Sarah thanks her for helping Chuck. 

Chuck and Sarah finally have their ‘chat’ about their relationship with Sarah just wanting to slow things down and Chuck agreeing. As they are talking, Big Mike’s engagement ring falls into the duct system and makes it’s way down to Castle, landing at Chuck’s feet. He bends down to pick it up and both of them see it is an engagement ring. An awkward moment ensues where both keep repeating ‘wow’ while Chuck hurriedly stands up from his ‘proposal’ position.

Points of Interest

• This episode marks the first bottle episode of season 4. Due to barely being renewed after season 3, the budget for Chuck has been cut further. The production team cuts costs by limiting location shooting as well as cast for these episodes. Cubic Z is shot all on sets within the studio without any location shooting- these are called bottle episodes with all scenes within the “bottle’ or studio.
• Stacey Keibler- this episode’s ‘Greta’- was on WWE with Steve Austin (Hugo Panzer).
• In a deleted scene for this episode, Panzer and Volkoff are directly linked with a phone call occurring between the two.
• Sarah is the one who is having her buttons pushed by Heather but she keeps telling Chuck-’Don’t let her get under your skin.’ 
• Heather calls Sarah- Jenny/Sarah. She knows Sarah by the name ‘Jenny Burton’ and her father goes by Jack Burton. This appears to have been her primary alias growing up and the one her Dad continues to function under. Is Jennifer Lisa Burton a real name?
• The ‘Greta’ program was never explained. Not in the show or by the creative team in interviews. It seems clear there was a plan that was never followed through with.
• The beginning of Chuck’s proposal arc begins with this episode. The thought is put into Sarah’s head and she freaks out. By the end of the episode, she tells a ‘sleeping’ Chuck that she would say yes if he asked. Chuck now knows Sarah loves him, she says so.
• Chuck steadies a vulnerable Sarah. Heather knows how to push her buttons but Chuck shows her that she has changed and isn’t who she used to be.

References

• Poetry Slam- Gil Scott- Heron poem that was recited to a poetry slam beat.
• Heather Chandler’s character could have been taken from the film- “Heathers”.
• Crawling through airducts occurs more than once in Chuck. It is a reference to “Die Hard” and the famous airduct scene in the film. 
• Apocalypse Now- The ‘smells like victory’ speech.

Music

Beat the Devil’s Tattoo- Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: Panzer and Heather arrive at Castle. Repeats during the crawl thru the airducts and again when Sarah and Heather fight off Volkoff’s men.

Don’t Shoot (I’m a Man)- Devo: Chuck and Sarah are locked into a cell while Panzer pursues them.

Land of the Freak- King Khan and the Shrines: The crowd in the Buy More riots; Chuck fights Panzer; Big Mike stops the riot.

In the Valley- Chief: Big Mike’s engagement ring drops through the airducts of the Buy More and drops at Chuck’s feet while he and Sarah are ‘chatting’ about their relationship. Morgan asks Big Mike to be assistant manager. Song reflects who Sarah used to be but no longer is.