Chuck: What about when it's not your job?
After going on the lam to find Chuck's father, Chuck and Sarah have hit a snag. The coordinates Chuck found have led to an abandoned drive-in movie theatre. However, Stephen Bartowski is in a bunker underneath the theatre, watching them through a surveillance camera. Unfortunately, Ted Roarke sees them too, although he swears to leave the pair alone as long as they stay in the dark and Stephen keeps working.
At the Buy More, Morgan has problems. The staff have turned against him after getting Big Mike demoted, and Emmet wants him for Assistant Manager. To keep Emmet from harassing Big Mike, he reluctantly accepts.
Casey is given the task of hunting Chuck and Sarah down - dead or alive - as well as a promotion to Colonel. He breaks into Chuck's room looking for clues, but is caught by Awesome. Pretending to simply be concerned having not heard from Chuck, he hears that Chuck has just called Ellie and leaves to trace the call. Awesome, however, is still suspicious.
Chuck and Sarah check into a nearby motel, watched from outside by Fulcrum agent Vincent. The two share a bed innocently at first, but the morning sees a near-hookup interrupted by Morgan having stolen the condom from Chuck's wallet. On his way out to get one, he's held up by Casey, dragged back into the room where Sarah blindsides Casey and cuffs him to a radiator. As they leave, Chuck flashes on a Fulcrum car and realises they can't leave Casey to be captured. Sarah tells Chuck to wait and goes back to find Casey - and the radiator - gone. Casey and the radiator surprise Chuck, who despite Casey's threats refuses to leave without Sarah. When Fulcrum agents take Sarah outside, Chuck backs the car into them and a fight develops, that ends with the Fulcrum agents (minus Vincent) dead and Chuck and Sarah in Casey's custody. As they drive away, they pass the drive-in, which is now advertising a midnight showing of TRON. Realising this is a message from his father, Chuck calls on Casey to go back, but is refused.
Awesome goes to Buy More to investigate Casey, where Jeff and Lester show him evidence of Casey's apparent obsession with Chuck. Awesome sneaks into Casey's apartment and finds wall-to-wall photos of Chuck as well as surveillance feeds of Chuck's bedroom. However, he sets off a security system that traps him in and alerts Casey, who leaves Chuck and Sarah in a cell and goes to investigate. Meanwhile, Jeff and Lester vandalise the Buy More electrical system as a prank, which has the side effect of unlocking Chuck and Sarah's cell. Escaping, they see Awesome on a security feed and realise he's in danger.
At Casey's, Awesome tries to talk Casey down. Casey pulls a gun on him, but Chuck and Sarah arrive and overpower Casey. Unfortunately, that leaves Chuck with an Awesome problem, which he resolves quite simply: by coming clean about the CIA, and giving Awesome the job of handling Ellie. Leaving Casey tied up in his apartment, Chuck and Sarah go to rescue Chuck's father. While freeing himself, Casey gets a call from General Beckman. The CIA is convinced the drive-in is the site of a Fulcrum operation, and will be bombed soon after midnight.
Casey frees himself and catches up with Chuck and Sarah, offering to help rescue Stephen as long as Chuck stays in the car. Sarah accepts, and she and Casey soon find the entrance to the bunker where Stephen is being held. Meanwhile, Chuck sees a small army of Fulcrum agents drive-in for what he quickly realises is a mass upload of Fulcrum's Intersect.
Emmet instructs Morgan to fire Jeff and Lester for their prank. He tries and fails to get them to apologise instead. Anna asks him why he puts up with everyone's crap and if he has any dreams, and he confesses his desire to become a Hibachi chef in Hawaii, a dream he considers unattainable.
Sarah and Casey return to the car with Stephen to find a note from Chuck indicating that he's gone to stop the upload, but they're quickly recaptured by Vincent and taken to the projection booth, where Roarke has similarly captured Chuck.
The upload begins. Chuck, Sarah and Casey all cover their eyes, but Stephen tells Chuck to look, as he made this Intersect for him. Chuck watches the images and swiftly goes catatonic, passing out once the upload is over. Roarke meanwhile is irate that his Intersect doesn't work, threatening to kill the unconscious Chuck, but the incoming bombers distract him, allowing Sarah and Casey to get the upper hand and escape, seconds before the place explodes. Ted Roarke is seen briefly accessing the entrance to the bunker.
Chuck wakes up in the back of Casey's car, and his father tells him the Intersect has gone. Chuck is free!
At the Buy More, Morgan has finally had enough and quits, pausing only to ask Anna to accompany him to Hawaii.
At home, Ellie is falling apart at the idea that Chuck has disappointed her just like her father. Awesome urges her not to give up, just in time for Chuck to appear, apologise for disappearing and explain that he went to get her wedding gift: their father! The family share a hug and leave for the rehearsal dinner, with Sarah as Chuck's guest and Casey attending as a friend.
However, back in Barstow, Ted Roarke thumbs himself a ride to Burbank. He has a wedding to go to...
Trope Flash:
- Actor Allusion: Fulcrum's secret base is underneath a deserted drive-in movie theatre, as in Spies Like Us, also starring Chevy Chase.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Roarke thumbing a ride to Burbank, stating he has a wedding to get to.
- Colonel Badass: Casey is officially upgraded from Majorly Awesome.
- Failed a Spot Check: Casey apparently hasn't noticed that Jeff has cut a hatch into his locker and has seen the wealth of information he has on Chuck.
- Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: After learning the truth about Chuck, Awesome is given the task of handling Ellie. His lingering freakout from the revelation seems to be derailing the effort as he can't answer a simple question about where Chuck is, but Ellie concludes that he's suffering wedding jitters and that serves as an effective distraction.
- Internal Reveal: Awesome finds out Chuck works for the CIA.
- Ironic Echo: When Chuck sees his father's message and urges Casey to go back and investigate, he's told, "I don't care." When he and Sarah leave Casey tied up to go back themselves, he tells Chuck he's a dead man if he leaves. Chuck retorts, "I don't care."
- Moment Killer: Morgan, Casey and a team of Fulcrum agents between them manage to effectively ruin Chuck and Sarah's hookup.Morgan: [In a note] IOU one condom. Your pal, Morgan.
Chuck: I'm gonna kill you, Morgan! - Shout-Out:
- The Godfather homages come thick and fast with Morgan's Big Mike situation.
- Chuck's dad signals him by advertising a midnight screening of TRON.
- Stalker Shrine: Without knowing Casey is an NSA agent tasked with protecting Chuck, Casey appears to have taken this trope to whole new levels, with wall-to-wall surveillance photos and a video feed of his bedroom.
- There Is Only One Bed: Chuck and Sarah share a motel bed for this reason ("The floor is gross and I'm not gonna make you sleep on it."). A hookup is thoroughly interrupted later.
- Wait Here: Chuck gets the "Stay in the car!" treatment twice, first when Sarah goes back for Casey, then when Sarah and Casey go to rescue his father.
