In this episode, Chuck must assume the identity of a dangerous assassin and Sarah tries to maintain a strictly professional relationship with Shaw. After watching the episode, I think that instead of calling it Chuck versus the Fake Name, it should have been called Chuck Meets the Sopranos! What fun you, the viewers, are in for!
As the scene opens, we find Hannah (Kristen Kreuk) has taken a shower at Chuck’s place after spending the night and in a towel, runs into Ellie (Sarah Lancaster). They both are suitably embarrassed and part ways. Ellie tells Chuck (Zachary Levi) she is glad he is moving on from Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski), and Chuck tells Ellie that he’s going to make his famous Chicken Pepperoni for dinner tonight for her, Captain Awesome (Ryan McPartlin) and Hannah. Meanwhile, Sarah is at an outdoor eatery with Shaw (Brandon Routh), where she tells him that they shouldn’t see each other romantically anymore. As they are talking, we see a rifle being assembled and as a man walks to his car, he is shot with a tranquilizer and falls to the ground. It was Casey (Adam Baldwin) who assembled the rifle and it was Casey who tranq’d him. Sarah and Shaw stuff him into a car and bring him back to headquarters. Turns out he is Rafe Gruber, a world class assassin and they’ve brought him in to find out what his next mission is, so Chuck can assume his identity and prevent the murder of the intended victim. Just as Casey and Chuck are about to interrogate Rafe, his cell phone rings. Chuck assumes Rafe’s persona and answers the phone in Rafe’s voice, low and raspy. He is then directed to a meeting place and Chuck answers, yes of course he knows where it is, it’s across the street from the Cupcake Factory. Umm, that’s not exactly what one would expect an assassin to say.
At the Buy-More, Big Mike gathers everyone and tells them due to a clerical error, they have received a triple order of crockpots. So using the famous method to draw people in, like when you make cookies during an open house to make people like your home, he expects someone to volunteer to cook something in the crockpot so people will want to buy one. Lester is chosen and he quickly sets to work.
At headquarters, as Sarah tightens the cuffs around Rafe’s ankles and wrists, Shaw becomes jealous as he hears Rafe coming on to Sarah. When she finishes what she is doing, Shaw goes in and punches Rafe unconscious. Wow… what a jealous guy he’s turning out to be!
Meanwhile, Chuck has to lie to Hannah as to his whereabouts as he leaves to keep Rafe’s meeting. Turns out he’s meeting a bunch of Sopranos-type mobsters, Matty and Scotty. As a matter of fact, Matty IS Tony Sirico in the flesh! The back and forth between Chuck and the mobsters is just hilarious if you ask me. They work for The Ring and The Ring wants a certain person dead. Matty wonders outloud just who Casey is. Casey’s there as Chuck’s sidekick, you know… just in case. Matty asks him if he’s Alex Coburn, a sniper he used to work with. Chuck denies that, but just as he, umm Rafe, is about to learn the identity of the man The Ring wants dead, Matty jumps up, gun drawn and says he knows who Casey is … he’s a fed! Chuck has no choice but to act like Rafe would, so he punches Casey in the face and says if Casey’s a cop, Chuck will kill him himself. Sarah and Shaw are outside in the surveillance van watching and listening. Scotty brings out their “tools of the trade” and Chuck is forced to extract one of Casey’s teeth in an attempt to find out exactly who he is. Of course, he’s just trying to protect his cover until the calvary arrives. Just as Chuck removes the tooth, Sarah and Shaw, all dressed in black burst into the room and act like they’re there to rescue Casey. Chuck appears to be fighting them off as the mobsters flee the scene.
Back at headquarters, Chuck is upset that he’s late to prepare dinner, but Casey tells him Sarah and Shaw have already gone to his place to start dinner. As a matter of fact, they’ve completely prepared the dinner and dessert just as Chuck and the gang arrive. And what an excellent job they’ve done! Everyone is super impressed and Sarah tells Chuck she’s been lying all these years about how much she likes Chuck’s Chicken Pepperoni, but tonight the dinner is just awesome! Hannah makes a toast to all of them, saying how happy she is and that now, she feels like she’s where she is supposed to be.
While transporting Rafe to interrogation, he removes a Buy-More pen that he lifted while at headquarters and begins to work at unlocking his handcuffs. At the Buy-More, Hannah asks Chuck to come over and join her and her parents for dinner. She’s met his family so now he can meet her’s because they’ve just come into town. Big Mike and Lester ask Chuck to come over and taste test the concoction Lester has whipped up in the crockpot and while he’s over there, Chuck’s cell phone rings. Unfortunately, it’s back over at the Nerd Herd where he left it while talking to Hannah about dinner. Hannah tells him he had a call and that the person asked for Rafe. Realizing it was the mobsters who had called, Chuck quickly grabs a bottle from the shelf and douses his head with it, quickly slicking back his hair in the style that Rafe wears. Just as he finishes and steps onto the loading dock, the mobsters arrive. They snatch his watch off his wrist and crush it, effectively cutting off Chuck’s contact with his team. They give him a gold watch, more befitting of a world-class assassin and thank him for saving their lives. They have also come to tell him who he’s supposed to kill and where he is.
Sarah goes over to Shaw’s apartment and he answers the door sans shirt. Sarah is so mesmerized by Shaw’s abs (who isn’t?!!) that she asks him to put a shirt on. She has come over to apologize for her behavior the previous evening.
The mobsters, meanwhile, have taken Chuck to a hotel room where they’ve set up a sniper rifle for Chuck to use to take out the guy they want dead. It’s the kind of rifle that only one man, Rafe, can operate and be successful with. It also has earphones for listening in on the conversation the man is having with someone. As Chuck leans down, he puts on the earphones and looks into the sight. He can’t believe his eyes or ears! He is watching Sarah tell Shaw how upset she is at how easily Chuck has taken on the role of Rafe. Of course, he can’t let them know because the mobsters had crushed his watch… you know, the one he used to communicate with Team Chuck. The mobsters want him to kill Shaw and egg him on, but Chuck wants to hear more. And so he does – he hears Sarah telling Shaw how this life takes over your entire being. As a matter of fact, she’s never told anyone, not even Chuck, what her real name is. Chuck is just shocked when he hears Sarah tell Shaw that her real name is Sam. The mobsters, meanwhile, still want Shaw dead, but they also want to know who Sam is, since Chuck shouted out the name. He explains that Sam is the girl in the room with Shaw and that she’s his on-again, off-again girlfriend. As such, a long distance bullet isn’t good enough for Shaw, he wants to kill him with his bare hands. Of course, they understand and send him over to Shaw’s apartment. He bursts in and as they ask him what he’s doing, he answers that no one messes with Rafe Gruber and his girlfriend Sam. Shaw and Sarah immediately understand what’s going on and Shaw and Chuck begin fighting with each other to make it look good. As they’re tumbling around on the floor, Chuck tells Shaw that the mobsters are watching and listening so they have to make it look good.
Meanwhile, Casey discovers that the men who were transporting Rafe to interrogation can’t be reached. So he tries to reach Chuck by phone, but Chuck isn’t answering. Casey, therefore, uses a satellite to find out what Chuck’s location is. As the mobsters are watching through the sniper rifle, the real Rafe bursts into the room and kills them. He then tries to use the sniper rifle to kill Shaw but can’t because of all the fighting going on between Shaw and Chuck. He goes over to Shaw’s apartment and shoves his way in and tries to kill all of them. He knocks out Shaw and Sarah and knocks Chuck down. He then grabs Sarah by the throat and says to Shaw and Chuck since they both seem to want Sarah, he’ll make it easy for them and kill her. Back at the mobsters apartment, however, Casey has rushed in, seen the fallen mobsters and takes over the sniper rifle. He hears the conversation and sees that Rafe is about to kill Sarah. As Shaw and Chuck watch, they hear a gunshot and see Sarah fall to the floor. OMG, Sarah’s dead! But wait … Casey has come to the rescue! Turns out, Casey is the only one who can operate that sniper rifle correctly and he has killed Rafe with one shot to the forehead.
In their apartment courtyard, Chuck talks to Ellie telling her that he feels like he’s living a lie. It seems like he is about to tell Ellie of his life as a spy, but before he can go any further, Ellie says she understands. She says Chuck just isn’t ready for a relationship with Hannah because he still has feelings for Sarah. Realizing that Ellie is right, Chuck then goes over to the restaurant where Hannah is having dinner with her parents. He takes her aside and tells her she deserves better as he can’t be honest with her about who he is, so he is breaking up with her. Needless to say, Hannah is very angry with him, especially since she just slept with him the night before and tells him he’s the best liar she’s ever met.
Sarah a/k/a Sam goes to headquarters and brings Shaw his favorite foods. Shaw, after all, must now stay underground as The Ring now knows that he is alive. Sarah and Shaw realize there’s a lot more they have to do together and then kiss, deeply. Meanwhile, Chuck is walking around all alone.
Oh, what complicated lives Sarah, Shaw and Chuck live and it’s just going to get worse. But I bet it will be fun as always.
Review by SEASIDE at www.Series.nu
Special Thanks to CHUCKTV.NET for permission to post these Chuck screencaptures.