- Morgan: What do you do when you see your girlfriend do something so horrific, it just gets burned into your brain forever?
Chuck: I don't know, buddy. But I know exactly what you mean.
As Chuck's colleagues, along with Ellie and Awesome, gather at the Buy More for the Christmas Eve sale, they're taken hostage by an armed robber who crashes his car into the store. Chuck seems to be making headway with the hostage-taker, Ned, but then a failed attempt at rescuing Chuck results in Sarah and Casey being taken hostage too.
A hostage negotiator, Lt Mauser arrives and takes charge. On his recommendation, Ned sends Sarah and Casey outside, leaving Chuck alone, a situation that becomes worse when he flashes on Mauser's watch and realises he's with Fulcrum. Worse: so is Ned, and he knows Chuck is a CIA asset. Mauser demands information from Chuck, with Ellie's life on the line: where are Bryce Larkin and the Intersect? Chuck has no idea where Bryce is, but he sure knows where to find the Intersect.
Chuck is taken by Mauser into an ambulance that will take him to a Fulcrum facility. Sarah and Casey shoot out the tires, crashing the ambulance and giving Chuck the chance to run. Mauser chases him, and the agents follow. Sarah and Mauser fight, ending with Mauser at gunpoint and under arrest. However, he taunts Sarah that, unlike the other Fulcrum agents they've stopped, he WILL be found, and when that happens Chuck's life is over. Chuck arrives just in time to see Sarah shoot an unarmed, surrendering Mauser. Sickened, he returns to the Buy More where he and Morgan share a miserable moment together.
Trope Flash:
- Agony of the Feet: Ned shoots Casey in the foot, causing him to lose a toe.
- Big Damn Kiss: Lester plants one on Anna while on a gurney. It's probably only the fact he's wearing a neck brace that saves him from a beating. Unfortunately, Morgan sees and is heartbroken.
- Christmas Episode: The episode takes place over Christmas Eve.
- Dirty Coward:
- When Ned is persuaded to release a hostage, he barely finishes his sentence before Emmet runs forward, begging to be let go with an obviously-fake sob story about a sick mother.
- Anna makes no secret that she views Morgan as one of these after his Commitment Issues last episode.
Ellie: Oh, I hope [the guys] aren't about to try something brave.
Anna: Morgan's with them. Trust me, you have nothing to worry about. - From Bad to Worse: Sarah and Casey are released, leaving Chuck alone in a hostage situation. Then Mauser turns out to be Fulcrum. Oh, and so is Ned, and he's identified Chuck.
- I Have Your Wife: All Chuck's family are hostages in a situation he soon realises was engineered by Fulcrum.
- Manipulative Bastard: The whole hostage situation was created by Fulcrum to see who Sarah and Casey would rush to protect. Which turns out to be Chuck.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: Chuck witnesses Sarah shooting an unarmed, surrendering Mauser at point-blank range when he declares that Fulcrum will find him and then Chuck's life is over. He's understandably horrified and goes into a Heroic BSoD that continues into the next episode. However, Sarah did it to protect Chuck from being exposed to Fulcrum.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Ned does a good impression of a bumbling incompetent while taking the staff hostage, busting a rescue attempt, disabling Casey and getting information out to his Fulcrum bosses.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Chuck, when he flashes on Mauser's watch and realises he's Fulcrum.
- Sarah and Casey, when they find out Ned isn't married, so who did he call when he said he was speaking to his wife?
- And again when they see Chuck being taken away by Mauser.
- Shame If Something Happened: Once Mauser has identified Chuck, he demands to know where Bruce Larkin and the Intersect are or Ellie will be killed. Chuck identifies himself as the Intersect to save her.
- Shout-Out:
- Reginald VelJohnson is back as Sgt. Al Powell, who turns out to be Big Mike's cousin.
- As Chuck closes down the Buy More, Beethoven's Ode to Joy is used, echoing a similar scene from Die Hard.
- Skewed Priorities:
- Jeff, Lester and Anna take bets on how the car chase they're watching will end. Anna has "crash, followed by hostage situation." After Ned crashes into the Buy More and takes the staff hostage, she demands the guys pay up before running for cover.
- After Emmet is released, when interviewed by the press outside he turns every answer into a shill for the Buy More's Christmas Eve sale (which no one can go to, because of the hostage situation) instead of talking about the hostages or anything. Big Mike is impressed with his dedication.
- Tempting Fate: Awesome, talking to Ellie about his skydiving plans moments before the hostage situation begins:Awesome:Babe, it's completely safe. Besides, I need the adrenaline rush, a little sense of danger in my life.
