'Chuck': Casey's past catches up with him

Big changes are in store for all our friends on "Chuck," and Casey's world is rocked especially hard. I understand shaking things up from time to time, but this episode had me spinning! (In a good way, of course.)

John Casey vs. Alex Coburn: We finally get a glimpse into Casey's past life as Alex Coburn, an engaged (!) lieutenant whose death is faked after he's recruited to a black-ops NSA team, becoming the John Casey we know and love so very dearly. The man who recruited him -- John Doggett or T-1000, depending on your brand of sci-fi nerdery -- emerges from the past to give him a new mission: Steal a supersoldier-creating pill from a CIA vault that his team is already assigned to break into as a security test. That's a pretty solid plan, actually.

After some awesome Intersect 2.0 ninja-ing the team makes it into the vault, where Chuck sees the tail end of Casey's theft. Casey threatens him at gunpoint, but Chuck being Chuck, he accidentally rats Casey out to Gen. Beckman, thinking it's a test of his loyalty. Whoops. Casey is arrested, but Chuck discovers that Keller, Casey's recruiter and the man who instructed him to steal the pill, has been dishonorably discharged from the NSA and is now a Ring agent.

Chuck is determined to rescue Casey before he's shipped off to Thailand to be tortured, even though it means risking his dream of becoming a real spy. Sarah: "Is that what you want?" Chuck: "It's Casey." Sarah: "I was hoping you'd say that." Aww! It's times like these when you look inside yourself and wonder if you'd be willing to risk treason charges to break a friend out of a CIA facility. I mean, I'd like to think that I would, but I suppose you never really know until the time comes. It's not quite the same as helping a friend move, or picking them up at the airport...

But the twists and turns have barely begun, my friends! Just as Chuck and Sarah make it through security, Keller blows out a wall and takes Casey, who knows Keller is Ring, with him. Tasked by Beckman to retrieve the pill and capture Casey dead or alive, Chuck and Sarah accomplish the former before getting into a standoff at gunpoint with Casey, who finally explains himself. Alex Coburn, it seems, was engaged before faking his own death. The Ring will kill Kathleen, the love of his life who thinks he died 20 years ago, if he doesn't turn over the drug within the hour. Breathe a sigh of relief, Casey fans. We knew he couldn't be a Ring agent!

While Sarah and Casey do some serious butt-kicking at the ring compound, culminating in Casey killing Keller with his bare hands, Chuck goes about rescuing Kathleen. Hilariously, he tries to pretend to be the gas man, running her out and back into the house because of supposed gas leaks before locking her in a closet "for her own good" as Ring agents circle the house. Favorite part: Ring agents knock on Kathleen's door, pretending to be the gas company. Chuck: "But I'm the gas man!"

Afraid he can't flash when confronted with so many ring agents, Chuck takes the supersoldier pill on Casey's advice -- even though it will accomplish its duty by rendering him emotionless and fearless. It's all well and good for a while, with lots of "Matrix"-style bullet-dodging and kung fu action, but Sarah runs in just in time to see Chuck strangling the last Ring agent with his bare hand before coming back to his senses, horrified. Um ... our little baby is all grown up? Did anyone else think this would be a "Dumbo and the magic feather" (or to use a more recent reference, "Dumbledore's Army and Felix Felicis") situation, with Casey giving Chuck a fake pill and counting on the placebo effect to get him through? I guess that isn't Casey's style!

Kathleen comes to, but doesn't recognize Casey and is soon distracted by the arrival of her daughter, Alex. Wow, what a way to find out you have a child! But rather than stay and introduce himself to his daughter, Casey tells Chuck, "What's dead is dead. It's too late now." Awww. The general, recognizing Casey's many contributions to his country, doesn't send him to jail. Instead, she gives him a "second second chance," which seems awesome until you realize she's kicking him out into civilian life. WHAT?!?! He's just Mr. Casey now, and I seriously can't handle it. He's almost emotional as he leaves. Almost. Bummer, you guys. Bummer. I'm just going to assume this will be quickly reversed and move on with my recap before I get almost emotional, too.

Casey's not the only one the general's messing around with, either. She recognizes Sarah's "accomplishments" with Chuck, the result being his lessening dependence on her. Reminding Sarah of a past request to transfer, she offers her a seat on her flight back to D.C. so they can discuss the matter. Geez, by the time this episode ends it's gonna be the Chuck and Morgan show! And as Sarah arrives in D.C., Casey gives Chuck a little advice that's hopefully not all for naught: "You know I made my decision between love and love of country a long time ago. And it was the right decision for me. Now you have to make a decision whether it's the right one for you. Walker's a good woman. It's still not too late." Casey! I didn't know you had it in you, you old softie!

Ellie vs. Awesome: Ellie's been awarded a neurology fellowship at USC -- her dream job since middle school. After much deliberation, she decides to go with Awesome to Doctors Without Borders anyway, telling Chuck that dreams change and she wants to be with Awesome, even if it requires some sacrifice, because "he's the best choice I ever made." Glad she's giving Chuck a relationship frame of reference that doesn't involve faking his own death in service to his country. In fact, it seems like Ellie is making a choice similar to Sarah's when she decided to go with Chuck to Prague, but Chuck worked off the Casey model. Now that Casey's pointing him in another direction, I'll be interested to see where it leads.

ETA: As Guy reminds me below, I somehow managed to cut my paragraph on the resolution of the Awesome/Ellie "conflict." Just as Ellie goes to tell Awesome she'll do Doctors Without Borders with him, he congratulates her on her fellowship and agrees to stay so she can take her dream job! Perfect couple? Perfect couple.

Odds and Ends:

• Morgan's "spying" on Casey made me laugh out loud when his voiceover describing the scene said, "There's a chill in the air, and a hint of vanilla." I'm really growing to love that little dude.
• I also love Morgan trying so hard to keep Casey's secret after being given a "mission" to retrieve the pill from the Buy More, but ultimately giving himself away because Chuck knows he'd never actually pick up a "Planet of the Apes" DVD: "You hated the original because their upper lips never moved!"
• The CIA facility break-in, take two, was pretty outstanding. Chuck doing back flips into a Plexiglas wall was funny on a purely physical level, but poor Stanley! The look of realization on his face when they demanded his key card after getting a "tour" of the security system was priceless, as was Sarah's decision to punch him in the face in order to move things along.
• I really liked the scene where Sarah confesses that she thought Chuck had changed, and asks him to keep the things that make him great and not to lose the guy she met three years ago in order to be the perfect spy. He's overheard her say as much, but I'm glad she was able to say it to his face, and that he was able to promise he'll always be that guy. Unfortunately, she loses her stomach for the conversation before he can get anything more out.
• Morgan and Awesome could totally carry a spin-off. Their simultaneous realization that they both knew about Chuck's secret was classic.

Phew! There was way too much action in this episode for one recap. What do you think about the upcoming changes in almost all our characters' lives? How many do you think will last? And how much do you love John Casey even more now?  

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