'Chuck' takes the red pill

Tonight on "Chuck," our hero strayed even further from the pillowy embrace of the CIA (and Sarah), continuing his quest to find Orion and get the Intersect out of his head. It was action-packed and supremely awesome. As always. And lucky me, I'm filling in for your usual recapper Sarah tonight so she can go have some fun in the real world. Sucker.

Chuck, it seems, has gone rogue and searched for Orion on his own on the interwebz, getting him in trouble with the missus. Adorably, Sarah is equally mad that he did something dangerous and against the rules, and that he didn't trust her enough to tell her. His search has allowed Orion, who somehow knows he's the Intersect (possible evidence that Orion somehow knows Chuck?), to find him instead, and send him a fancy new laptop capable of hijacking arms systems and such. As you do.

When the laptop is intercepted by Lester and then Big Mike, who mistake it for a fancy new model the Buy More is getting, the team has to break into the store at night to retrieve it. Unfortunately, Fulcrum has also traced the laptop after Orion used it to blow up a Fulcrum team, and an agent has gone in (over his superiors' objections, interestingly) to retrieve it. He takes a suicide pill after Casey takes him down, and the General concludes that rather than Orion's work, the computer was a Fulcrum trap, and that they know Chuck is the Intersect. She comes down personally to take over the operation. Turns out, the General knew Chuck found the real Orion, and has actually been searching for him for years - she's just keeping Chuck in the dark.

Orion contacts Chuck again as he waits in his room, proving his identity by flashing a symbol from the Intersect on Chuck's computer. He shows Chuck footage of the General demanding that Chuck never meet Orion, even if it means being unable to erase the Intersect from his mind. Sarah agrees to keep quiet, and a disillusioned (and heartbroken?) Chuck follows Orion's instructions to break into CIA holding and access Orion's computer, which speaks to Chuck from an image of Orion made out of crazy Matrix-y ones and zeros. But just after they secure a meeting place, the Fulcrum agent who "killed himself" wakes up and kidnaps Chuck! So...they don't disarm dead bodies? Fair enough, I guess.

Sarah and Casey follow the kidnapped Chuck (realizing he's missing after he fails to be a nuisance during their meeting with the General, ha), but don't arrive quickly enough to save Orion from falling into Fulcrum's trap and getting helicoptered away. Happily, they ARE quick enough to save Chuck, who in turn saves the computer - fat lot of good it does him. He's unable to prevent the helicopter carrying Orion (or seemingly carrying Orion, hopefully) from being blown up by a missile.

The General admits to Chuck that she doesn't want the Intersect out of his head because he's the only one who's found holes in Fulcrum's armor, and it's full-out war now. The outcome of the war rests on Chuck's nerdy shoulders, and thus...(drumroll please for the moment we've all been waiting for)...it's time for Chuck to become a spy!

But! Orion left a CD for Chuck, along with the schematics for the Intersect. He wishes that he could've told Chuck his real name (which indicates to me that it's a name Chuck would recognize...like his dad, perhaps?), but provides some hope: "If you find Fulcrum's Intersect, if you can get inside, you could get your old life back." Chuck hides it all from Sarah, which is probably for the best since the General has ordered Casey to report to her on the relationship between Sarah and Chuck, complete with video surveillance.

The Buy Morons:

Plus side: The Buy More plot was pretty well integrated with the rest of the episode - they wanted the fancy laptop and they tried to steal it a couple times, with Emmett macing Lester and Jeff, and Casey knocking out Emmett. That said, the whole rivalry between the Burbank store and the Beverly Hills store wasn't that fresh or interesting to me. Though once Burbank came out on top, I loved the bonding moment between Big Mike and Morgan. Interesting relationship, that.

Though this episode was heavy on plot/action and light(er than usual) on humor, I love where the show is headed. Any Orion-related predictions? How do you think it will play out with the General in town? Are you as excited as I am to see Chuck become a spy?