All images © NBC

[Ed. Note--Xavier, one of our awesome interns, will be writing recaps of Chuck for The Yeti. SPOILER ALERT, duh.]

The episode begins with someone breaking into a vault, to steal something.

It’s a mask.

But before the thief steals the mask, the support beam holding the thief’s harness begins to come loose and one of the screws falls out

The thief tries to grab the screw before it drops to the ground but barely misses it.

The screw falls to the floor and sets off the security system. The thief tries to escape through the hole in the ceiling, but the doors close and the thief is stuck.

The thief takes off his mask and reveals himself to be CIA agent Daniel Shaw. He calls Casey and the others to get him out of the vault.

Back in the Buy More, Hannah wants Chuck to be her mentor. They banter back and forth and Chuck finally agrees to let Hannah ride shotgun on the next install he has to do. In the distance, Sarah walks into the store and Chuck tells Hannah he will be right back. Sarah informs Chuck about Shaw’s predicament while Hannah watches from the background. Morgan appears behind Hannah and she asks him who Chuck is talking to.

Morgan says that is Chuck’s ex, Sarah. Chuck returns to the Nerd Herd booth to grab his bag and runs out saying, “Gotta run, Nerd Herd emergency!”

A baffled Morgan replies, “What the, I didn’t get the call… I would know… I’m the boss…”

Hannah follows Chuck out of the Buy More too, unbeknownst to Chuck.

Chuck arrives at an art museum (which looks alarmingly like the Command Center from Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. Turns out both shows used the House of the Book as an exterior shot. The more you know!)

From Chuck:

From MMPR

When Chuck goes inside, Casey informs him about his mission- to restart the museum’s computer server before the room where Shaw is trapped runs out of oxygen. Chuck is hesitant, saying the museum isn’t just going to let him waltz onto their server when Casey reveals to Chuck he crashed it.

Chuck reaches the computer room and is greeted by the curator.

The curator is freaking out about the computer’s lockdown, because the computers control everything in the museum. If they stop working the art could be damaged due to the temperature changes normally controlled by the computer.

Meanwhile, Sarah and Casey go above the room Shaw is in to try and open it manually from above.

Casey wants to blow the door open but Sarah says the blast could hurt Shaw.

Back in the computer room, Hannah shows up.

“Surprise!” The two get to work on resetting the server.

Running out of air, Shaw tells Sarah and Casey to just blow the door open.

“No don’t!”

“Don’t do that…computer. I talk to them because sometimes I feel like it helps,” Chuck says as the curator and Hannah look at him strangely. They reboot the server and Shaw is lifted to safety. Chuck and Hannah embrace each other, excited about their successful outcome. The curator is so impressed with their work that he tells them about the art exhibit opening the following evening. Chuck begins to decline the invitation but the curator informs them it is not an invitation but a job opening. The curator wants to hire Chuck and Hannah to make sure no more bugs or computer mishaps occur during the unveiling of the Mask of Alexander (the artifact Shaw was trying to steal). Shaw tells Chuck to take the job so the group can go back in under cover and steal the mask.

After the opening credits, Shaw brings Sarah a cup of coffee, hinting at a potential romance between the two. [Ed. Note--These are not your grandparents' sexual innuendos!] Sarah is reluctant to Shaw’s advance thus far. Chuck and Casey enter the fort and Shaw briefs everyone about the mask. He believes the Ring are using said mask and other stolen artifacts to smuggle items throughout the world, since artifacts “do not have to go through a screening process” (this is TV, after all). Shaw then assigns everyone roles for the upcoming mission: Chuck is in the computer room as noted already, Casey is on surveillance duty, and Sarah and Shaw will be people attending the art opening as guests, posing as a couple.

Morgan and Ellie meet at Ellie’s place.

Morgan believes that Chuck’s new erratic behavior is a way of protecting them. Ellie is skeptical but Morgan brings up “the dark place,” referring to Chuck after one of his other exes broke up with him.

Next we get a sequence that weaves through Chuck and Hannah preparing for their mission in the computer room of the museum to Shaw and Sarah’s preparations, first posing as guests and then going in to steal the mask while replacing it with a decoy.

While in the computer room, Hannah reveals that she has feelings for Chuck and then moves in for the kill

Bow chicka wow wow!

Hannah stops though, because she sees Sarah on the security monitor for the lobby of the museum.

Hannah confronts Chuck about Sarah and asks about their relationship. Chuck says it is completely over. Hannah is curious to know what reasons Sarah would have to be at the museum other than to make Chuck jealous with the date she brought (Shaw). Chuck looks over at the security monitor again and has a flash when he sees this guy:

Chuck rushes out of the computer room and into the lobby. He tells Sarah and Shaw about The Ring agent he flashed on, Vassilis. Shaw says they have to abort the mission because he and Vassilis have a history. When Sarah asks if Shaw is sure Vassilis would remember him, Shaw says, “You tend to remember the guy who set your face on fire.” Shaw withdraws himself from the mission to not get the group’s cover blown. Chuck and Sarah go back to the room from earlier where Casey and Sarah tried to rescue Shaw. During that whole time, Hannah watched the group’s conversation and saw Chuck run off with Sarah, leading her to believe there is still something going on between them.

Chuck sends a bug into the computer system to keep Hannah busy while he and Sarah try to steal the mask. The curator starts berating Hannah about the whole thing as she tries to fix the problem. While in the room above the vault, Chuck hoists Sarah down into the vault so she can steal the mask and put in the decoy. While holding Sarah, Chuck is attacked by one of Vassilis’ henchmen, which sends him into the vault and Sarah back up. As the clock moves closer and closer to 8 PM, when the mask is supposed to be unveiled, Hannah works harder to fix the problem so the vault will open. From the van outside, Casey and Shaw work to keep Hannah busy. Hannah proves to be adept at fixing bugs because she keeps trumping the problems that come her way.

Chuck is still trying to switch the masks..but the vault doors begin to open.

Shaw manages to close the doors using a back-door connection through Chuck’s laptop (the one Hannah is using to fix these problems). The crowd gathered outside the vault are now confused.

Chuck finally manages to switch the masks.

The team returns to Castle (the CIA base under the yogurt store), except for Chuck, who goes to talk to Hannah. She yells at him for leaving her alone on her first Nerd Herd assignment and is upset that he lied to her about he and Sarah not being “finished.” Chuck says that he and Sarah have a very “unique” relationship. Hannah is upset that she kissed Chuck and says from here on out they should just keep things professional.

The next morning Ellie and Morgan talk about the whole Chuck situation. Morgan thinks that instead of all the sneaking around they should just confront Chuck straight up and talk to him about it. Chuck interrupts the two and Morgan ends up chickening out on asking Chuck what he’s been doing lately.

Back in the museum, Vassilis watches the security tapes of what happened the previous night. He realizes he can get the mask back by using Hannah. Vassilis calls the Nerd Herd and asks them to send Hannah because the museum is still having computer problems.

Hannah arrives at the museum and meets with Vassilis. She asks where the curator is and Vassilis replies that he is “tied up” (isn’t wordplay FUN?) Vassilis lures Hannah into the vault, shuts the doors, and triggers the security system to the oxygen begins draining slowly. (Just like Shaw’s predicament earlier in the episode, callbacks HEY-OH!)

Vassilis calls the Nerd Herd again and tells Chuck to bring him the mask or Hannah dies. Morgan tries to approach Chuck about all this weird behavior but Chuck runs out to get to the museum. Morgan follows him into the home theatre room but Chuck has gone through a secret hatch in the floor that connects the Buy More to Castle.

In Castle, Sarah and Shaw are trying to figure out if the mask has anything in it when the discover a secret hatch at the bottom. A canister rolls out of it and goes off which fills the room with smoke.

The smoke is revealed to be a poison called clyclosarin. Chuck flashes on the name and discovers there is a cure that can be inhaled. Chuck and Casey head back to the museum to retrieve the counter agent while saving Hannah in the process. Chuck uses a smoke grenade on Vassilis and his men, since Vassilis doesn’t the original poison canister already went off.

Back in Castle, Shaw and Sarah have a RealTalk <3-to-<3.

Shaw wants to clear the air between them in case they don’t survive being poisoned and admits he has been making moves on Sarah. Sarah admits she has been overreacting to his advances and also admits she has enjoyed being hit on. The computer monitors indicate that the contamination has been contained. The poison is having more of an effect on Sarah, so Shaw carries her out of Castle and into a car where they head to the museum.

In the museum, Chuck presents the decoy mask to Vassilis and his men. Vassilis says that Hannah must die because The Ring is not so forgiving of Chuck stealing the mask. Chuck says he will deploy the weapon if they refuse to let Hannah free. Vassilis thinks Chuck is bluffing so Chuck drops the mask. The grenade goes off and Vassilis’ henchmen freak out, thinking they are poisoned. Vassilis says the counter agent is in one of the vases in the museum. Chuck flashes on the correct vase, since it was stolen, and uses it to knock out Vassilis.

Chuck heads to the computer room and releases Hannah before she runs out of oxygen. Sarah and Shaw arrive and Casey gives them the counter agent. Chuck runs into the vault to check on Hannah. She is happy to see Chuck and embraces him.

Back in Castle, Shaw thanks Chuck for his work. Shaw also tells Chuck that the team won’t always be together, and that Shaw, Casey, and Sarah were Chuck’s training wheels but it is apparent that Chuck will be able to ride solo soon.

Chuck is a little shocked at this revelation. As he is leaving Castle, Sarah talks to him to make sure he is alright. Chuck says he got used to everyone working as a team. Sarah says they aren’t going anywhere yet but the time is nearing. The two also talk about how each has a new romantic interest and both seem to be happy moving on.

Ellie meets Morgan at the Buy More late at night. Morgan notes that Chuck has been sneaking around somewhere in the store. They walk up to the home theatre room and both sneak a peak in.

They see Chuck, and he isn’t alone…

Ellie is thrilled about seeing Chuck with Hannah because it means he isn’t sulking over Sarah. Morgan is not so thrilled since he has feelings for Hannah.

Back in Castle, Shaw and Sarah’s relationship “begins to take shape.” Shaw begins giving Sarah a massage. She lets it happen, but notes, “We both know how dangerous this is”–referring to the fact that both of them had previously had relationships with their partners and both those partners had been killed in action.

The final scene shows Vassilis talking to The Ring.

Vassilis informs them that he saw Shaw at the museum and asks The Ring what they plan on doing. One of the members replies, “The same thing I’m going to do to you,” and then someone from the darkness emerges to kill Vassilis. The camera zooms out of the room and the episode ends.

Love was a prevalent theme in this episode, as it had a role in the budding romances of the episode–Chuck and Hannah, as well as Shaw and Sarah. The conversation towards the end of the episode between Chuck and Sarah was interesting, because it could mean they still have feelings for one another despite finding other love interests. The relationship between Morgan and Chuck is going to be interesting moving forward as well, since Morgan had a crush on Hannah, who is now with Chuck. Watching these relationships develop throughout the rest of the season should be fun.

One big looming question still remains: Who is The Ring? So far, we’ve only seen a shadowy board of figures that has problems with CIA agents. Thus far, we have no idea what their actual goal is. As the season unfolds, hopefully more and more about the Ring will become clear.

See you all next week!

]]> http://www.theyetionline.com/entertainment-culture/tv/chuck-s03e07-chuck-versus-the-mask/feed/ 0 http://www.theyetionline.com/entertainment-culture/tv/chuck-s03e06-chuck-versus-the-nacho-sampler/ http://www.theyetionline.com/entertainment-culture/tv/chuck-s03e06-chuck-versus-the-nacho-sampler/#comments Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:00:32 +0000 Andy http://www.theyetionline.com/?p=1433

All images © NBC

[Ed. Note--Xavier, one of our awesome interns, will be writing recaps of Chuck for The Yeti. SPOILER ALERT, duh.]

This episode begins with a quick flash back to the pilot when Chuck and Sarah first meet each other.

Three years ago:

Present day:

Morgan asks Chuck what it was like meeting Sarah, asking if it was love at first sight. Morgan is lovesick for Buy More’s newest employee, Hannah.

Morgan walks off and Hannah talks to Chuck about working in the Nerd Herd.
Chuck tells her “Me safe, everyone else not safe.” I mean, would you want to work with/get hit on by these lovely fellows?

After more Chuck and Hannah small talk, Casey informs Chuck that it’s “yogurt time,” referencing the fact that across from the Buy More is a yogurt shop which houses a secret CIA facility underground. Chuck walks off, promising to give a confused Hannah a full tutorial of working in the Nerd Herd later.

Not your everyday backroom freezer to a yogurt store.

The briefing for Chuck’s latest mission takes place. General Beckman informs Chuck that he has to get to know Manoosh and ask him what he’s working on/why The Ring placed a large amount of money in his account. This is important because up until now, Chuck was always the asset and Sarah and Casey the handlers. Chuck finally gets to be the handler.

Chuck the spy? More like Chuck the cockblock.

Manoosh walks into the Buy More and starts talking to Hannah. Chuck interrupts the two, much to the dismay of Manoosh, who berates Chuck for “ruining the flow with that hottie.” After a brief conversation, Chuck hands Manoosh his business card and lets him walk out of the store with a computer hard-drive for the inconvenience he caused earlier with Hannah.

After the opening credits, Devon is lying on the couch and is startled when his wife Ellie puts some stuff down on the counter. Devon was recently brought along on one of Chuck’s missions unwillingly, and unbeknownst to Ellie. That’s why his behavior has been rash and erratic of late. Before Ellie can get any more information out of him, Devon rushes out of the house.

The next day Chuck is about to give Hannah the tutorial of the store when Casey informs him yet again that it’s “yogurt time” and Chuck leaves. Before he leaves the store though, Chuck asks Morgan to keep an eye on Hannah and prevent the other employees from creeping her out too much with their advances. Morgan invites Jeff and Lester into his comically small “office”—a transformed janitorial closet. Morgan informs them that he wants Hannah and wants the two of them to stalk her so he can get information on her to help win her over.

Chuck and Manoosh have dinner, and a little liquid confidence goes a long way. This conversation gets Manoosh to slowly open up to Chuck, but he never finishes explaining what he’s working on, just that it’s weapons-related. The Ring calls Manoosh and Chuck lets Sarah and Casey know (they are observing from a van on the street). Casey finds out The Ring is closing in so Sarah goes in close the deal. She flirts with Manoosh and ends up tranquilizing him so they can escape from the bar without The Ring finding them.

When Manoosh wakes up, he is in Sarah’s “room”—which is really a dressed-up room in the CIA chamber. Sarah tries to get him to talk about his weapons project again but he is too enamored with her. Who can blame him though? For a nerdy, awkward loner to wake up next to this, it would leave me speechless too:

He is tranquilized again. Poor kid.

The three watch him from the window and when Manoosh awakens he calls Chuck. They agree to meet in the Buy More so Chuck can give back the briefcase Manoosh left at the bar. Before heading to the store Chuck opens it, takes out the weapon Manoosh was working on and leaves it with Sarah and Casey.

When Chuck goes back to the store he’s confronted by Devon, who is having a hard time lying to Ellie about the spy stuff all the time. As fate would have it, Ellie walks into the store too. Devon hides behind one of the racks while Chuck talks to Ellie.

He tells her that he was in Paris on business and that he managed to find Devon and Ellie a place to stay for a week so they could have a real honeymoon. Chuck is unhappy about lying to his sister all the time, but he thinks her safety is a greater concern. As Michael Bluth would say, “Family first.”

Chuck returns Manoosh’s briefcase. Manoosh tells Chuck he’s going on a trip but when he returns, he wants to help Chuck out for being so nice to him, and that they should become business partners. The Ring calls Manoosh and he tells them he isn’t quite finished with the weapon yet. Chuck realizes that The Ring is going to hurt or possibly kill Manoosh so he rushes back to the yogurt store to get help. During that time The Ring operatives see Manoosh so he runs out the back door. They have him surrounded.

Casey manages to find a secret hatch on the weapon Manoosh gave them…

…but it turns out to just be shaving cream. Meanwhile Manoosh unleashes the real weapon on The Ring agents:

The sunglasses are a version of The Intersect, the same computer Chuck has in his brain. It allows the user to “flash” on information and temporarily gives them abilities they normally wouldn’t have. In this case, martial arts.

Guys…Manoosh knows kung-fu.

After Manoosh takes the guys out, he runs off. Sarah discovers he bought a plane ticket to Dubai. When Chuck asks why, Casey responds with:

Weap-Con. A spoof of Comic-con, where a bunch of weapons developers get together and showcase their stuff to people. Could be fun, right? Casey thinks so, and is elated that he can write the flight off as a business trip.

Meanwhile, Morgan is ready to pounce on Hannah and calls her into his office. With Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” playing in the background (Hannah’s most played song on iTunes) Morgan strikes up a conversation about foreign films. Hannah talks about Chuck’s trip to Paris (which Morgan had no prior knowledge of) and Morgan rushes out of his office.

Of course, he has to step over the desk since his closet office is so small. Before walking out, Hannah asks Morgan why Chuck is always at the yogurt shop and Morgan says it’s because Chuck’s ex works there.

Welcome to Weap-Con.
The three look around and find Manoosh, who is about to give a presentation.

He starts talking about the weapon he created. He reveals to everyone that the weapon is just himself, which elicits laughter. Then he puts on the glasses and starts mocking the crowd. A group of guys gets up and easily handled.

Manoosh lets everyone know about the glasses and everyone wants to buy a pair. Backstage, Chuck confronts him about the glasses. Chuck reveals that he’s a CIA agent and Manoosh freaks out. He’s upset about being betrayed by Chuck and tries to run but soon he and Chuck’s crew are surrounded by The Ring.

Handcuffed to chairs now, Casey reveals his escape plan to Chuck and Sarah. Earlier on, Casey bought a laser pen and it is in Casey’s shirt pocket. Casey wants Chuck to grab it out with his mouth, much to Chuck’s dismay.

Chuck manages to get the handcuffs off with the laser pen and they all escape.

Meanwhile, Manoosh negotiates with The Ring. They tell him they no longer need him, so he steps on the glasses. The Ring are about to kill him when Sarah and Casey arrive. There’s a standoff when Chuck comes in and threatens to shoot The Ring leader (no pun intended) with Casey’s laser pen. The Ring leader balks and says Chuck wouldn’t so of course, he does.

The Ring now have the upper hand, until Chuck flashes on a ninja star. He then uses his new found ability to throw the knife-pen at the leader’s hand. Team Chuck prevails and Casey tells Chuck to make sure Manoosh doesn’t leave. Manoosh pleads with Chuck to let him go and not put him in a CIA detention center. Chuck lets Manoosh go, since he feels sorry for Manoosh. Casey sees him walking off and is about to shoot him while commenting that Chuck doesn’t have the stones to be a real spy, when Chuck uses a tranquilizer gun to stop Manoosh.

Back in the underground CIA facility, Chuck is now faced with the task of letting Manoosh know he has to be detained. This is a crucial point in the show, not only for the episode but for the series since up until this point Chuck was always the friendly one. He would put his faith in people and he lived and died with his feelings and emotions. Throwing all that away is hard, but Chuck manages to put all that aside and Manoosh is taken away by two other CIA agents. Casey says the best way to deal with the pain afterwards is with Johnny Walker Black.

Back in the Buy More, Hannah confronts Chuck about the whole “yogurt time” thing. Morgan comes up to Chuck and asks if there’s something Chuck isn’t telling him. Chuck says there is nothing going on and the two walk off. Morgan is upset Chuck isn’t being honest so he has Jeff and Lester spy on Chuck.

When Ellie gets the first class tickets from Chuck for a trip to Paris, Devon freaks out and runs out of the house with the tickets. Morgan is standing outside as Devon departs. Morgan and Ellie talk about how weird both Chuck and Devon have been acting lately and they agree to team up and figure out what is going on.

Watching on the monitors, Casey notes that Chuck is finally becoming a spy and that it’s a good thing.

“Is it?” Sarah wonders, referring back to her feelings of Chuck as the friendly, goofy asset she used to protect, not a cold, emotionless spy. The screen then goes back to Sarah walking into the Buy More for the first time. She’s on the phone with her supervisor giving her instructions on what to do with Chuck. She looks up at him at the Nerd Herd desk and says, “Piece of cake,” as she walks over to  him.

Whew! We made it. Well this episode certainly had a lot going on, and it sets up for what is going to be a crazy season. First, the love triangle of Morgan, Chuck, and Hannah is one to note. From the moment Chuck and Hannah met there was an apparent mutual interest, but now that Morgan is in on things, this situation could get ugly fast. There’s also Morgan and Ellie dedicating more time to spy on Chuck to see what is really happening. Seeing Sarah’s remorse at Chuck becoming a spy is also worth noting, as she might still have feelings for him.