"I don't run from the law. I am the law!" -- John Casey
Let's just kick it. Kick it with a tasty groove.
As the show winds down toward its 27 January. 2012 series conclusion, its 83rd episode takes us down an interesting road of exploration. Mostly body exploration. Not to mention, the exploration of the Jeff and Lester, and Casey and Gertrude relationships. Oh and it is directed by the star of the show, Zachary Levi, in his best job at the helm so far.
But first, Casey is in jail with his bested bud in the whole wide world, Lester. Casey is super happy about it. Especially since he has to deal with thugs who want to hurt him. Luckily for him, his girlfriend is a super spy and is able to get into the jail to provide him with a conjugal visit. After Casey delivers the goods, he convinces Gertrude to fill in for him with Carmichael Industries. Try as she might, she can't resist his manly ways and does his bidding.
Decker drugs Chuck and Sarah just so he can give them a mission. Success means all Casey's charges will be dropped. Failure? Not an option.
Inside Castle, Chuck is hunting down a lead to satisfy Decker's twisted needs. Morgan tells Sarah about Chuck's super hacker skills as the boss man sips Chardonnay right from the bottle. Eventually, Chuck identifies their hacker mark as a dude named Colin Davis.
When Gertrude shows up, she declares her intentions to help the crew. Chuck and Sarah reluctantly accept. The mission takes the three to a nudist colony where TV history has to have been made with pixelization of private parts on network television.
At the Buy More, Jeff and Morgan discuss the jailed Lester and the lesson he needs to learn about not poisoning your friends, something he is hesitant to promise.
Jeff: I didn't think it would be this hard without Lester around. I'm starting to forget him. I can't even picture what Lester looks like anymore.
Morgan: Close your eyes. Imagine David Beckham. Lester is a shorter feminine version of his wife.
Jeff: Right. I can see him now.
Chuck and Sarah infiltrate the nudist colony and find Davis but are soon discovered to be spies and have to fight their way to capturing their target. When Davis swallows the chip with the information necessary, Chuck tries to Heimlich it out of him but Gertrude shoots Davis with a dart, knocking him out.
Gertrude: Where's the chip?
Chuck: I hid it. (dropping the unconscious Davis) Inside of him.
Gertrude: So he swallowed it.
Chuck: Yes he did.
The team carries Davis off to probably do things you can't show on network television.
At the jail, Casey is assaulted by a number of evil doers but is saved by Lester, who has become the jail godfather via his tech knowledge.
Casey: What the hell?
Lester: I told you, I figured out a way to become the shot-caller in here. Now any of these people get out of line, and I will pull their plugs. Literally, I'll pull their plugs. I've been using my Buy More skills to set up cable and Internet for the inmates.
Casey: Of course you have.
Meanwhile, at the home base, Colin warns Chuck that the information on the chip currently making its way toward his poop shoot is so dangerous it could wipe out everything, or something. It is apparently a virus so powerful that the entire world could be in super duper danger. Gosh, I'm totally worried. At least more worried than I ever get watching BURN NOTICE, which isn't much since that show is total white noise. Anyway, so Chuck has to get a secondary element of the hack thingy and so there is another part to this mission.
Chuck, being the nice guy he is, offers to make his newest friend something to eat. Gertrude is not amused.
Gertrude: A snack?! Casey is in lock-down and this jerk wants jellybeans?! We should just cut him open and get that chip out right now.
I love this character!
Sarah and Ms. Verbanski have a discussion about relationships where Mrs. Bartowski seems to have fun pushing the buttons of a trained super killer.
In button pushing world, Jeff and Morgan Skype it up with Lester and reveal that they have hired Abed from COMMUNITY as his replacement. Their attempt to get Lester to see the error of his ways works very well as Abed, who is actually just a hired model/actor, is so impressive that Lester feels completely threatened. This is one of the better cameos the show has ever done, UNTIL... shocker, Shirley from COMMUNITY is revealed to be a green shirt! WHAAAAAT?!
That... was.... awesome.
Anyway, so Chuck goes to evil hack camp to engage in an old fashioned hack off for his life and the mission. There is something cool about seeing Chuck be a total nerd and to see that his hacker persona, of Piranha, carries weight with his peers. Though, like with many shows, it is kind of sprung on us out of nowhere. But I can believe it since we always knew Chuck was super smart and techie.
It is actually surprising that it took five seasons for us to get this kind of sequence on the show. And when Chuck expresses excitement over it, I find myself with a big smile.
Chuck: I forgot something. I'm really good at this!
I'm already missing this show.
Sarah and Gertrude go in, do some talking about relationships, and do something to get the mission thing and then Chuck runs away and the ladies save him. No surprise there. It's all fun, mostly because Chuck isn't able to use anything other than his natural talents to get out of it.
When next we find ourselves in the Buy More, the issue I had with the whole Lester trying to murder his friends plot from 5.04 does exactly what I knew it would. Mainly, sweep the fact that a guy nearly killed his friends under the rug because he apologized and promised to not do it again. Awesome lesson! A teachable moment! It is OK to try to murder your friends as long as you promise not to do it again. Also, somehow you can drop charges against someone who is charged with manslaughter/murder and the DA doesn't bat an eye.
At the drop-off, Chuck discusses quitting the spy biz for like the 400th time in the show's history. Which is funny since the show only has 82 episodes at this point. But that's what this show's been doing forever so why change things now? Before we get too much of that, Decker arrives to pick up the virus and reveals that it was all a setup to frame Carmichael Industries for the release of the virus. Gertrude threatens his life but Decker isn't worried.
Decker: So I suggest you get your hands off of me and get a little head start. Because soon people will be hunting Chuck, the way they hunted Bin Laden.
But Gertrude has other plans and blows Decker into tiny little bits to save the man she loves. Before she goes on the run, she and Morgan help break Casey out of jail, while Chuck and Sarah prepare for the repercussions.
If I had to rate this episode, I would give it:
92 out of 100
A fun episode with some cool tech stuff and spy elements, plus a lot of Gertrude, and Decker's death. Outside of a few nagging problems, I couldn't find much to dislike. The setup is of course that Chuck and Sarah will eventually begin to think of a way out of the spy life. Whether they achieve that or not will be told over the next 8 episodes. For now, they will have to fight for their lives, and the lives of their friends and families. It is about to get interesting.