Bryce Larkin is back in L.A., and Chuck's love life is suffering accordingly. But Team Chuck have bigger problems; Fulcrum have stolen an update for the Intersect, and the data on that chip could blow all their covers. To recover the chip, the team must go undercover at the birthday party of Von Hayes, the tech mogul Fulcrum have hired to decrypt it... with Bryce and Sarah posing as a married couple.
Yeah... it all goes horribly wrong. Chuck gets distracted from his cover as a waiter, is thrown out and has to sneak back in. After witnessing a confrontation between Von Hayes and the Fulcrum agent who's come to collect the decrypted chip, he ends up taken hostage by the Fulcrum agent as Von Hayes runs away with the chip. Sarah rescues Chuck, but ends up in hospital with a concussion.
Von Hayes reaches out to make a deal, and a second exchange is set up. However, Fulcrum turn up uninvited and try to steal the chip. Von Hayes makes a run for it (again) and Chuck is taken hostage (again). Sarah hesitates to shoot with Chuck in the line of fire, leaving Casey to save him.
Before leaving, Bryce has a serious talk with Chuck about Sarah, insisting that she didn't take the shot because she's in love with Chuck, and that's a serious problem. He also leaves Chuck a gift of a snazzy pair of shades, which upload Chuck with the Intersect updates when he wears them.
Trope Flash:
- Always Someone Better: Bryce for Chuck, paralleled by Morgan's problems with Mitt, a bully who works at a nearby sporting goods store.Chuck: No matter what we do, there's always going to be someone cooler, more athletic and better looking than us.
- Big Damn Heroes: After Sarah hesitates to shoot near Chuck, Casey shoots the Fulcrum agent holding him hostage from offscreen. He also has Von Hayes by the tie in one hand and the duffel bag full of small, unmarked bills on his shoulder.
- Bookends: The episode opens on a Flashback to a mission of Bryce and Sarah's, where Sarah unflinchingly shoots the Mook holding Bryce at gunpoint. When the situation is repeated with Chuck as the hostage, she's unable to shoot.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Morgan's problems with bully Mitt are resolved when Anna steps up to fight him instead.Mitt: I don't fight girls.
Anna: Neither do I. [Asskicking ensues] - Stealth Hi/Bye: Bryce is prone to these. Chuck calls him out on it after a couple of times.
