photo: nbc
Chuck Vs. The Final Exam
Original Air Date: Mar 22, 2010
Jeff L – Staff Writer
JeffL@thetwocentscorp.com
Chuck has given up his “I’ll never be a gun guy” stance from previous episodes and it looks like he shoots and kills a guy (Kyle Bornheimer) to open this week’s episode – which is all about Chuck finally becoming the “real” spy he’s been training for these past three years.
The b-story centers around Casey’s difficult adjustment to real life. It must be hard to be an international spy one day and then a Buy More green shirt for real the next. He’s made assistant to the Ass. Man. while Morgan is at a training seminar and of course he busts some heads while he’s in charge. Literally. Jeff and Lester threaten to sue.
Of course, Chuck is doing his part to get Casey re-instated, but I have a feeling that will come later in the season. Sarah comes back from her weekend in Washington with Superman and General Grandma pops up to inform the gang that Chuck’s final spy exam will begin very soon to determine Chuck’s fate: pass and he becomes an international spy, working alone – without any handlers and based in Rome; fail and it’s back to the Buy More for good. Either way, it sounds like Chuck won’t be seeing much of Sarah.
The next morning, Sarah shows up at Chuck’s apartment to give him his briefing and inform him that his mission has begun and that she and Superman will be observing and reporting on his final exam to General Grandma. Chuck’s mission is to tail a Russian agent and identify a mole working for the CIA who is selling secrets to the Russian who in turn is selling them to the Ring.
Big Mike (who’s enjoying a Subway sandwich) gets fitted for a new suit and convinces Casey to do the same, telling him that if he’s going to change he needs to look the part first.
Chuck begins his mission, but takes the opportunity of his alone time with Sarah to suggest that once he completes his final exam that he and Sarah should give a shot at being together. They’re about to kiss when Superman interrupts them to a) break up the romance between Sarah and Chuck and b) inform them that Chuck’s target had already entered the hotel under Chuck’s nose.
Chuck tails the Russian and his henchmen into the hotel and eventually the spa. He ends up, clad only in a towel, tailing his man to the seventh floor of the hotel and out onto the balcony where he spots the CIA mole kill the Russian agent before his towel floats away on the breeze. Superman tells Chuck that his mission is a success. “I’m a spy,” Chuck says, “I’m a naked spy!”
Casey and Big Mike have a meeting of the new suit club at a Subway (Yay! Go eat there and tell them Chuck sent you). Lester and Jeff show up and offer to drop the lawsuit if Casey will “break bread” with them. In this case, they mean take a bite of the sub that Jeff’s already been drooling all over. Casey does it, of course.
Chuck and Sarah, now colleagues, make plans for dinner. Chuck visits Casey to thank him for all his help being a “real” spy over the past three years. As a gift, Chuck gives Casey the gun they confiscated from him after he got fired by General Grandma. Casey, knowingly, tells Chuck that he needs to be on the lookout and ready for anything. Chuck says “a good spy always is.” But Casey thinks there maybe more to Chuck’s final exam than Chuck realizes. Superman informs Sarah that Chuck’s mission is to kill the mole. Chuck must complete his “Red Test” and Superman thinks the only way Chuck will do it is if Sarah tells him to. Sarah doesn’t want any part of it but she complies.
At their dinner, Chuck tries to put the moves on Sarah again, but she informs him that he has to kill the mole. They’ve arranged a meeting with him and the mole and Sarah hands Chuck a gun. Chuck tries to protest, but understands he must do what needs to be done to complete his mission if he wants to be a “real” spy and therefore worthy of Sarah.
The mole shows up and Chuck spooks him. He pretends he has to go to the bathroom and Chuck follows him. They fight and Chuck decides against killing the man. Instead he tries to arrest him, but the mole escapes. Chuck chases him through the train yard we saw at the beginning of the episode. The mole trips and Chuck, gun in hand, closes in. The mole goes for his own gun and a shot rings out. The mole is killed. Chuck spots Casey with the smoking gun, but Casey runs off before Chuck can say anything. Sarah arrives on the scene to see Chuck has “killed” the mole. Superman asks on the earpiece what happened and Sarah informs him that “Chuck’s a spy.”
Later, back at the apartment, Chuck confronts Casey about the shooting. Casey tells Chuck that now, in the eyes of Superman, General Grandma and Sarah at least, he is a real spy. Chuck doesn’t know who he really is but they both know he isn’t a killer.
At home, Chuck tries unsuccessfully to call Sarah and finds an envelope with his passport, bades and a plane ticket to D.C. where he’s to begin his work before heading to Rome. Sarah, at the Castle, remembers he own “red test” and worries that Chuck is not the man she fell in love with oh so many episodes ago. Agents show up to escort Chuck to Washington.
I enjoyed the episode, although I felt like it was ridiculous to have all of the training of the last three years come down to whether Chuck would kill a guy or not. I mean they’ve spent countless man-hours and dollars training the Intersect to be a spy. Why would they drop the whole program and make Chuck go back to the Nerd Herd full-time if he wouldn’t pull the trigger on a mole? I don’t really think they would, but it does ramp up the tension to have an all or nothing test that Chuck must complete. I’m kind of tired of Superman and his character always putting Chuck through the ringer while moving on Sarah at the same time.
What did you all think of “Chuck vs. the Final Exam”? Do you think everyone is making the right choices? Have Chuck and Sarah crossed the point of no return in their relationship? Do you think Superman might have setup Chuck’s “red test” knowing that Sarah would be upset? Please leave your questions, comments and ideas below.
Be sure to come back next week for my recap of “Chuck vs. the American Hero,” and remember to check out thetwocents.com for all of your TV recaps, reviews and editorials. I’m going to Subway.
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TheTwoCents 
Nicely done recap. First time read, I think I’ll be coming back. 🙂
“What did you all think of “Chuck vs. the Final Exam”?”
I liked it.
“Do you think everyone is making the right choices?”
That depends on what Chuck told that lady who knocked on his door.
“Have Chuck and Sarah crossed the point of no return in their relationship?”
No. And I think Sarah will eventually, one way or another, find out that it was Casey who pulled the trigger, not Chuck.
Do you think Superman might have setup Chuck’s “red test” knowing that Sarah would be upset?
It sure looks that way doesn’t it? And from the sound of it Shaw was moving Chuck way too fast, and there’s no good reason for Chuck not being able to arrest that guy. I don’t trust the tree.
Thanks for the great responses!
I hate that Shaw is putting the moves on Sarah at all. I mean, he can see that she’s vulnerable and what kind of self-respecting man would pounce on an injured animal? I mean, really? That’s just low.