Chuck – Recap & Review – Chuck Vs. The Fake Name

photo: nbc

Chuck
Chuck Vs. The Fake Name

Original Air Date: March 1, 2010

Jeff L – TwoCents Staff Writer
JeffL@thetwocentscorp.com

It’s been a long three weeks since our last new episode of Chuck. Did everyone enjoy the Olympics? I know I sure didn’t. I missed the gang at the Buy More much more than I enjoyed watching cold people sweeping a hockey rink with weird brooms.

The episode opens in Ellie and (shirtless) Awesome’s place. Ellie is still trying to figure out why Chuck isn’t confiding in her any longer. I’ve been watching this show since the beginning and if anyone can remember a time when Chuck did confide in her about something other than his fake relationship with Sarah, I’m hard pressed to recall it, but I digress. Anyway, Ellie goes to confront Chuck and ends up running into a half-naked Lana. Chuck shows up with a box of donuts (nice breakfast after the hookup, sir. I’ve got to hand it to you) and awkwardly introduces Lana to his sister. He promises to make everyone a fancy get acquainted dinner that evening.

Having a meal themselves, Sarah and Superman are working. She tells him she doesn’t think it’s a good idea that they see each other. We’re led to believe she’s still pining for Chuck. Or is it that she just wants to be herself for the first time in three years. Sarah isn’t even her real name after all. The two spies spot their target leaving the restaurant and Casey tranquilizes him from the rooftop with a sniper rifle. The man is named Rafe Gruber. He is a martial arts expert and assassin for the Ring. He is apparently so good, he can hit a target from half a mile away – something only a handful of people could accomplish. Casey thinks he can do better.

Chuck is assigned to assume Gruber’s identity and find out who the Ring wants dead. Chuck tried to question Gruber to learn his mannerisms, but the assassin would rather deal with Casey’s interrogation via blowtorch than be questioned by Chuck. Gruber’s Ring phone buzzes and Chuck takes the call and sets up the meet.

Not much tonight by way of B-Story, thankfully. It seems the Buy More overstocked on Crock Pots and all of Buymoria is in awe of Chuck’s lady killer skills.

Chuck brings Casey to the meeting, and it turns out the meeting is with Paulie “Walnuts” (Tony Sirico) and Skip Lipari (Louis Lombardi) from The Sopranos. They want to hire Chuck/Gruber for an assignment. Paulie thinks he recognizes Casey from somewhere and eventually pegs him as someone named Alex Coburn a sniper. Chuck flashes on the name but we can’t see the face in his flash. Paulie and Lipari flip out and accuse Casey of being a federal agent. Chuck disarms them and tells him he wants to kill Casey himself. They tie Casey up and Paulie pulls out his Marathon Man dental kit. Chuck uses it to yank one of Casey’s teeth during the interrogation after some funny back and forth looks between the two with Casey encouraging Chuck to yank his tooth to maintain his cover. Outside in the van, Sarah and Superman discuss some more about Chuck’s becoming a real spy and Sarah doesn’t think that is necessarily a good thing. Anyway, they call in backup and feds swarm the meeting. Chuck, not wanting to blow his cover, flashes on his kung fu skills and takes down all the agents (including Sarah and Superman) allowing himself, Paulie and Lapari to escape.

Back at the Castle Chuck apologizes to Casey for yanking his tooth. Casey says Chuck saved him a trip to the dentist. Chuck wants to know about the name Alex Coburn but Casey tells him to mind his own business. I wonder if Alex Coburn is the Fake Name in question from the title of tonight’s episode. Some agents lead the real Gruber out of the Castle cell and he tries to go after Chuck but they slam him to the table where he’s able to snatch a Buy More pen before the agents can get him back under control and out the door. Uh oh.

Chuck was too busy being a deadly assassin to prepare his promised dinner, so Sarah and Superman did it for him. Everyone loves Chuck’s famous pepperoni chicken (for the first time ever – No. I mean it. For real this time). Awesome tells Chuck he doesn’t want to be in on any more secrets because he can’t lie to Ellie anymore.

Of course Gruber, one of the five deadliest men in the world, uses the Buy More pen to escape from the good guy agents who were transporting him.

At the Buy More, there’s more crock pot hijinks. Chuck/Gruber’s Ring phone goes off and Lana ends up taking the call. It’s Paulie and Lapari coming to meet Chuck. Chuck dashes off to transform himself into Gruber. Paulie and Lapari present Chuck with a fancy gold watch as a reward for rescuing them from the feds. They tell Chuck they’ve found the target for the assassination and hire Gruber/Chuck to get it done.

Sarah shows up at Superman’s hotel (and Superman is shirtless – I think they might be trying to draw in some ladies with tonight’s episode because Awesome was shirtless for the entire opening of the show also). Sarah apologizes for her earlier behavior with Superman and the two look like they might be on again.

Elsewhere, Chuck is introduced to his weapon for the job. It’s a high powered sniper rifle with some sort of headphone setup so he can hear his target (for some reason). He scopes in on the man, and it’s agent Superman, but wait, there’s more. It’s also Sarah, who’s spilling the beans about herself to Superman. Turns out, Sarah isn’t even her real name. Her real name is Sam. Sam? Really?

Sarah/Sam leans in for a kiss from Superman and Chuck is aghast. Chuck covers for not taking the kill shot by telling Paulie and Larari that the girl in the hotel room with the target was his girlfriend. He convinces them he wants to look Superman in the face when he kills him. He heads across the street and Paulie agrees to cover him with the sniper rifle. If it looks like it’s going bad, he promises to take out the entire room. If he could do that why did they need to hire Gruber in the first place, but again, I digress.

Meanwhile, back at Castle, Casey is talking to headquarters. He tells them he has been trying to contact the agents who were transporting Gruber, but he can’t contact them. He fears the worst. He is able to locate Chuck and is heading over there immediately. Casey’s not the only one though. Gruber is also tracking his Ring cell phone to locate .

Chuck bursts into Shaw’s hotel room and confirms his cover as Gruber but under his break he tells Superman that they are being watched. Chuck punches Superman, but the fight (actually over Sarah/Sam) turns pretty real pretty quickly. The two are rolling around on the floor when Gruber shows up at the hotel room to find Paulie and Lapari watching the action through the sniper scope and some binoculars. He quickly dispatches both men and takes control of the sniper rifle. Unable to get a shot, since Superman and Chuck are below window level rolling around on the floor, he grabs a handgun and heads over to the other hotel.

Gruber grabs Sarah and he’s about to shoot her in front of both men, when Casey saves the day with the sniper rifle. He takes out Gruber proving, after all, that he was just as good a sniper as Gruber (if not better).

Later, Chuck ends things (badly) with Lana, claiming that he can’t be totally honest with her and she deserves better. We might not be seeing too much more of Kristin Kreuk in Buymoria.

What did you think of the episode? Be sure to check www.thetwocents.com for more on Chuck and all your favorite TV shows and leave your comments and/or questions below.

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