'Chuck,' Gary Cole and the big con

We learn a little bit more about Sarah's youth this week on Chuck -- and how could you not have an interesting childhood when Gary Cole is your duplicitous daddy? Plus, we learn what NOT to do with any spare cash we might have lying around.

This spoiler has a bridge to sell you.

Hey, everybody, it's Gary Cole! Hi, Gary! Chuck wonders what the hell Sarah could possibly see in Gary -- he's so old! But Sarah's not dating Gary -- he's her father, dedicated con man. He used to use cherubic young Sarah in his schemes, but he's been working on his own for a while. His latest score involves ripping of an Arab sheik for $750,000 by selling him a building he does not, in fact, own.

Small problem: The sheik in question has ties to terrorists. The CIA would love to get a crack as freezing his bank account, but they haven't been able to find it. If they could get him to transfer money to the CIA's account, they could trace it back and nab him. Therefore, they need Sarah, Chuck and Gary to step up the con.

Things get set in motion when Chuck poses as Mr. Liechtenstein, the fictitious owner of a not-actually-for-sale building in downtown L.A., which Gary has ostensibly sold to the sheik. Sheik Amad and his goons insist they want to meet with Liechtenstein in his offices, which leads to a quick con job -- Sarah, Gary and Chuck pose as exterminators and clear out a floor; Casey ("Cop Face") stands in as security; the team dresses up the empty office as Liechtenstein industries; and everyone holds their breath that nothing goes wrong. Things immediately go wrong -- paint is still wet, a letter in the nameplate is falling off, Amad insists on using his own translator even though Chuck doesn't actually speak German. They finesse; Amad makes the money transfer, and the team retreats to Sarah's hotel room to celebrate a job well done. Gary offers to go get some ice, and Sarah stupidly lets him -- OF COURSE he's taken off with the money, the computer, and everything else. The cash never made it into the CIA account. So where is it?

Turns out Gary transferred it to Chuck's bank account, which is a good thing, because Gary gets nabbed by Amad and his goons, and Sarah goes to rescue him. It becomes clear that Sarah doesn't have the money, and the bullets threaten to fly, but Chuck shows up at the last minute and gets Amad to enter his bank number so he can transfer the cash. That gives the CIA the info they want, so Casey swings in posing as a treasury agent and nabs "con artists" Chuck and Sarah. Amad grabs Gary and threatens to shoot, but Sarah shoots him in the shoulder. That's one way to work out abandonment issues!

The next day, General Beckman congratulates the team on a job well done -- then tells Sarah that they'll be arresting her dad at 5 p.m. Casey (!!) puts in a good word for Gary, which surprises everyone. Back at the hotel, Sarah sends her dad out for ice cream five minutes before he's supposed to get arrested -- she still can't give up on him. Gary runs into Chuck, and thanks him for showing up with the money. "I gave you 10 million reasons to run away," he says. "And one really good reason to stay," Chuck replies. Awwwww.

The Buy Morons
Hey, Anna's back! Yay! If only she had more to do... She decides its time that she and Morgan move in together in their own place. Oh, Anna... Morgan moans about his circumstances to Captain Awesome, who does the least awesomely smart thing on the planet -- he loans Morgan $2,500 for the apartment. Awesome, you idiot! Because yes, Morgan immediately spends the money on a clapped-out '81 DeLorean similar to the one in Back to the Future, except it (1) doesn't travel through time, and (2) hardly runs at all. Ouch.

Awesome and Anna are furious with Morgan, and demand he pay the money back immediately. Morgan hits Chuck up for a loan (that's how Chuck finds out the money is in his account), then lends Chuck the car. Amad steals the DeLorean to make his getaway, thus ensuring he gets caught. But because the car was stolen, Morgan gets Blue Book value for the vehicle -- now he can pay back Awesome and still have money left over for the apartment! All is well... until Jeff and Lester show Morgan the next car to come in, a near-perfect version of the Dukes of Hazard's General Lee. Sigh.

Highlights, thoughts and odds and ends

• I so love Gary Cole. The mug shots that came up with Chuck flashed on Gary, with various instances of seriously bad hair, just made my night.
• Gary dubs Chuck "Schnook" and Casey "Cop Face." Hee!
• But even with Gary, this was just an ok episode. Listen, Chuck, this is what happens when you set the bar so high -- no coasting!
• And I alomst hate to say this, as I really, really do love Gary, but... wouldn't it have been fabulous if Sarah's dad were played by Huey Lewis? Sigh. Maybe Chuck's dad, instead... Because come on, producers -- you can't put a bunch of Huey Lewis music in the first several episodes without letting him appear at some point in the show.
• Nice Ennio Morricone -type music when Morgan is doing the slow march into adulthood -- until the DeLorean pulls him off course. The music then switches to "Oh Yeah" by Yello. Hee!
• Gary brags about what a great little con artist Sarah made: "She could make an honest-to-god doc believe she had a broken arm." "That's because I did," Sarah says. "One time!" Gary protests.
• Chuck says he needs to borrow one of the company cars. No can do, says Lester: "Emmett found Jeff's underwear in the back seat, and he's having them all reupholstered as a safety precaution." Wise choice.
• Other disturbing Jeff bits: "If I could travel in time I'd go to Lester's birth -- I'd love to see the look on your face as you emerge from the vaginal canal." Um, ew?
• We get a little bit of info about Chuck's past, too: His dad was an engineer who worked all over the place. He used to send cards and such, but about 11 years ago, he just disappeared. Who wants to bet that he's wrapped up in the whole Intersect business?

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