Chuck: Versus the Tic Tac (and Robert Patrick)

After finding out Sarah’s real name (Sam) earlier in the season, now we find out that Casey used to be Alexander Coburn. Via handy memory flashback, we find out that Casey left his identity behind more than twenty years ago in Honduras. After being told that he hadn’t qualified for the Army’s special operations team, he is approached by a Colonel (the always slimy and suspect Robert Patrick). The Colonel invites him to join yet another covert black ops/secret ninja voodoo squad and offers him some Tic Tacs to seal the deal. I guess Casey never learned the maxim about never taking candy from strangers.

Back in the present day, Casey talks with a mystery man. It’s Robert Patrick, who hasn’t aged much in the twenty years between the flashback and the present. He thanks Casey for taking his call—a call Casey received on a Ring phone at the end of last week’s episode. This can’t be good. He tells Casey that General Beckman (who really seems to come and go as she pleases) is planning to use Casey, Chuck and Sarah to test the L.A. CIA headquarters security system, and he wants Casey to pick up something for him during the mission. He gives Casey a fancy key. Did I mention that this can’t be good?

All of this is glimpsed by Morgan who, now knowing his best friend Chuck is a superspy, is anxious to get in on some of the action. Wearing full spy regalia—black and night goggles, recording device—he watches Casey with rabid anticipation. That is until Chuck comes up behind him and puts a stop to the shenanigans. Chuck warns Morgan that he has been kept out of the loop for a reason. Spy work is as dangerous as it gets, and I’m sure Casey and Sarah aren’t thrilled that Morgan is now in on the big tamale.

The team (minus Shaw, who is conveniently away again, not that I’m complaining) embarks on their mission, which Sarah explains is basically an exercise in spy-proofing their own security. They have to get through fifteen different levels of security, but luckily, Chuck’s Intersect seems to be working again. Electronic beepings and music in the background reinforce the notion that our spies are basically playing a real-life video game.

After surviving relatively unscathed, they reach their destination. Casey tells Sarah to watch the door as he and Chuck go inside the vault. As Chuck uses the key Beckman gave him to open a specific safety deposit box, Casey takes out his fancy key and tries to covertly open another one. Inside, he finds a pill (Where’s Laurence Fishburne when you need him?). Chuck catches him and asks if Casey is working on a side mission. Casey’s typically gruff response: he pulls a gun on Chuck and threatens to kill Chuck if he mentions any of this to anyone. Scenes like this are why Casey is my favorite.

Back at the Castle, Beckman informs the team that, though successful, they were too late. Someone broke into the vault and stole an experimental pill called Laudanol that suppresses emotions in soldiers. Basically, the pill turns soldiers into Terminators, so how fitting that Robert Patrick, the former T-1000 himself, is the dude after the pill. Chuck fantasizes about how taking the pill would make him function perfectly as a spy, with no Intersect glitches. Sarah points out—with one of her inimitable pained expressions in tow—that the side effect would be Chuck not feeling period.

Being the lovable dolt that he is, Chuck fervently comes to the realization that Casey and Beckman were testing his loyalty by having Casey steal the pill. Beckman’s face tightens (even more than it usually is) and she asks Chuck if he is certain he saw Casey steal the pill. Chuck can’t cover up in time. Sarah gives Casey the benefit of the doubt and attests to Casey’s loyalty to Beckman, but slowly grabs her gun to take control of the situation. Casey refuses to answer the allegation that he stole the pill and hands over his weapon to Sarah. Is Casey a traitor or is he being duped by someone?

That is precisely what Chuck needs to find out. Toward that end, he turns to Morgan. As this amusing twist of fate would have it, Morgan’s spy work (the term being used loosely, of course), may hold the only answers. Chuck asks Morgan if he recorded Casey’s meeting the other night.

Of course, you know that Chuck and Sarah will team up to rescue Casey. But there are several bonuses: a couple of the best fight scenes of the season, and a surprising and affecting backstory for the seemingly impervious Casey. There is also a rather drastic professional change for Casey at the end. These are pretty significant twists and shakeups that Chuck has made in the last two episodes. If they had only started doing these kinds of things sooner and had fewer filler episodes…

Season 3, Episode 10: Chuck vs. The Tic Tac (originally aired March 15, 2010)

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Photographs courtesy of NBC Universal and Justin Lubin.