| Chuck Versus the Frosted Tips | |
| Season 05, Episode 03 | |
 | |
| Air Date | November 11, 2011 |
| Writer | Phil Klemmer |
| Director | Paul Marks |
| Previous | Chuck Versus the Bearded Bandit |
| Next | Chuck Versus the Business Trip |
- "It's like middle school all over again. Like when Morgan grew his first mustache, full, thick, manly. Like a miniature Tom Selleck."
- ―Chuck
Chuck Versus the Frosted Tips is the third episode of the fifth season which aired on November 11, 2011.
Summary[]
Carmichael Industries attempts to track down a wanted fugitive while Casey reunites once again with Gertrude Verbanski (Carrie-Anne Moss).
Captain Awesome begins paternity leave with Clara and, when it’s not quite as exciting as he expected, he is led to the Buy More.
Full Story[]
Sarah and Casey arrange that Casey might "coincidentally" run into Gertrude Verbanski outside her favorite restaurant. Though Casey fails to ask her out, he plants a bug on her coat to spy on her.
Meanwhile, Chuck is having a clandestine meeting with General Beckman, who is willing to hire Carmichael Industries to apprehend Mats Zorn, a man who has CIA secrets. She is not happy that Chuck brought Morgan along.
When Chuck returns to Echo Park after hiding the mission data in Castle, he finds Alex, who asks him if Morgan is seeing someone else. Chuck tells her that he is not. He later discovers, from the bug on Verbanski, that Morgan has gone behind their backs to take a job with her. When Morgan enters the Buy More, the next day, he has a new vehicle, cologne, and frosted tips, and an obnoxious attitude.
Frosted tips
His team confronts him over going behind their backs, but he shrugs them off, before text dumping Alex. Her father suggests that he'd be allowed to torture Morgan. Chuck suggests Morgan's behavior and overinflated ego is the same super ego he had in 7th grade. He grew his first mustache, and therefore got cool points, and turned their lives into a living hell for a few weeks. It all ended when the queen of the 8th grade, Meredith Lester, pulled down his pants. He "went back to being uncool by fifth period" and he and Chuck went back to being best friends by the end of the day.
Thinking that finishing the mission would restore his friendship with Morgan, Chuck opens the safe to find the flash drive with their mission data gone. Realizing that Morgan took it to Verbanski Corp, the team goes to get it back. They infiltrate the place disguised as security. Casey infiltrates Verbanski's office before retrieving the flash drive. Verbanski and Morgan, however, were close to discovering him until the latter is called away for training, and Casey retrieves the gun Verbanski stole from him in Minsk.
Chuck accidentally gets involved with the training session because of his disguise. After Morgan beats all of Verbanski's trainees, Chuck reveals himself. He calls Morgan out for abusing the Intersect. Morgan thinks that he is just jealous now that he's not the Intersect and renounces their friendship. Casey and Sarah try and tranq him, but he avoids the darts. Chuck then pulls down his pants, distracting him long enough so Morgan can be tranqed.
With the data back in their hands, they get a fix on Zorn's next location. However, Sarah is more concerned over Casey's unresolved feelings for Verbanski and the fact that Morgan's issues might be more than an inflated ego.
Sarah talks with Ellie, the only remaining expert on the Intersect, who states the program has been altered and advises that they try stimulating Morgan's memory from before he became the Intersect. Sarah then calls Beckman regarding the Intersect glasses she sent, only to learn that she didn't send any. She returns to Castle to report this to her team, the surmise that Clyde Decker must have sent the glasses and tampered with the Intersect to overwrite the mind of the user, which was apparently intended to be Chuck. It explains the slowly degrading memory with Morgan.
Saving Morgan
Both Carmichael Industries and Verbanski Corp race to capture Zorn. As Verbanski and Morgan arrive, Chuck tries warning him of the corrupted Intersect, but then Zorn arrives. The rival spy companies then spend more time fighting each other than arresting Zorn. Zorn attempts to flee in the helicopter, but Morgan shoots a hole in the fuel tank, leaking gasoline, and threatens to blow it up if Zorn doesn't surrender, while Chuck tries reminding him that he's not a killer. Chuck recognizes the 7th grade Morgan, and reminds him about Meredith Lester, and how she had pantsed Morgan, and how they had gotten back at her. When Morgan managed to cut through the fog of the Intersect and pulled up the memory Chuck held out to him, he remembered who he really was almost instantly; "...we shaved off my first mustache and sprinkled in on her sandwich. I remember - that's who I am!"
Ellie had recommended this exact treatment, appealing to the memory of a patient, telling him who he had been before, effectively unlocking his memories. Remembering, Morgan relents. Zorn then surrenders, admitting that they are all crazy people. As Morgan tells Verbanski that he's resigning, the gasoline ignites from a nearby electrical cable. Chuck and Casey rescue both of them before the fire reaches the helicopter. Verbanski Corp and Carmichael Industries split the bounty on Zorn.
While Casey gets ready for his date with Verbanski, Devon does a checkup on Morgan, who admits that he wants the Intersect out. Devon advises that he not confuse a job with his life. Morgan apologizes to Casey for his behavior but is kicked out of the apartment. He tells Chuck and Sarah that he intends to crash in Jeff's van, which is not occupied. Chuck, with Sarah's support insist he stay with them.
Chuck is called for another meeting with Beckman, who warns that Decker has called a kill order on Morgan for having outed himself as the Intersect. He then tries calling Morgan to warn him, but Morgan doesn't answer his phone. As Morgan walks out to his vehicle, he is unaware that someone has placed an explosive on it.
Meanwhile, Devon is on paternity leave to take care of Baby Clara. But after 45 minutes, he gets bored. While watching TV, he views the commercial he made for the Buy More and decides to go there. When he arrives, he finds the store apparently devoid of employees. He then spots Jeff sleeping under his car while the engine is running and rescues him. Examining Jeff, he tells him to never sleep under his car again, realizing the man is suffering from chronic Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Jeff later comes in looking clean and groomed, and not half brain dead. Immediately, he rejects Lester's plea to join Fernando in dares that would potentially hurt him.
Trivia[]
- When Chuck and Morgan are arguing over the zip drive, Chuck calls Morgan "Gollum", a reference to the Lord of the Rings character Gollum or Smeagol.
- The way Morgan dodges the darts Sarah and Casey shoot at him is an homage to Neo dodging bullets fired at him in the movie The Matrix.
- Mats Zorn is a reference to Max Zorin, the villain from the 1985 James Bond film A View to a Kill.
- The vehicle Morgan arrives in is the Monotracer, a feet-forward cabin motorcycle from Peraves, made in Winterthur, Switzerland.
Quotes[]
- Chuck:I'm here to take back what you stole from us.
- Morgan: No, no, the Intersect is mine!
- Chuck: I want the zip drive, okay? You can keep the Intersect, Gollum.
Music[]
- Raw Meat - The Black Lips
- Rock The House - The Deekompressors
- Strangers In the Night - The Morning Benders
- Here’s a Little Something for Ya - The Beastie Boys
- Through The Crowd - Hotel Light