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Chuck Versus the Tic Tac
Season 03, Episode 10
310ChuckVStictac
Air Date March 15, 2010
Writer Lauren LeFranc & Rafe Judkins
Director Patrick R. Norris
Previous Chuck Versus the Beard
Next Chuck Versus the Final Exam
"I don't care who you were. I know who you are."
―Chuck

Chuck Versus the Tic Tac is the tenth episode in the third season of Chuck, which aired on the March 15, 2010.


Synopsis[]

Casey commits treason when his former mentor, James Keller (Robert Patrick), threatens someone he cares about. Chuck and Sarah must find a way to clear his name.

Meanwhile, a dream fellowship awaits Ellie, while Devon pushes her to join Doctors Without Borders and go to Africa with him instead.

Full Story[]

As the episode begins, Marine 2nd Lt. Alex Coburn is being reviewed by a ranking officer regarding his application to special forces training while in Honduras in 1989. His promotion is declined, however, as he walks out of the command tent, he is stopped by Col. James Keller (Robert Patrick). Keller offers him a chance to live his dream on a top-secret NSA black ops team. Twenty-one years later, Casey is meeting the same Col. Keller, his former commanding officer, in his apartment. Keller advises him his team will be testing government security, and during the mission orders him to retrieve something from one of the secured vaults. Outside, Morgan is practicing his spy techniques when he is interrupted by Chuck. Chuck sees Keller leave and finds Casey's behavior suspicious.

Later at Castle, Beckman issues the team their orders to test the security at a secret CIA facility. Utilizing their skills and the Intersect, the team successfully reaches the vault. Chuck and Casey enter while Sarah stands guard outside, and while Chuck breaks into their target lock box, Casey slips away to open another, removing a nondescript pill and slipping it in his gear. Chuck sees this, and when confronted, Casey aims his gun at Chuck and threatens him if he says anything about it.

Back at Castle, Beckman congratulates the team on their success, but reveals the test came too late: Someone has already broken into the vault and stolen a prototype drug called Laudanol, an emotional suppressant designed for agents to control their feelings in the field. Chuck immediately asks if it could help him control the Intersect properly, and then realizes that was what Casey had removed from the vault. Believing that it is a loyalty test as part of their mission, Chuck reveals he saw Casey steal it. As Sarah reaches for her gun, and Beckman confronts Casey, he chooses to plead the 5th to avoid incriminating himself and is arrested. While a government team searches Casey's apartment for the drug, Chuck corners Morgan and views the tape he made of Casey's conversation with Keller.

Chuck flashes and realizes that Keller works for the Ring and that Casey apparently doesn't know his old commanding officer is a traitor. He confronts Sarah while she assists in the search of Casey's apartment, and insists they have to help him. Despite the risks, Sarah admits she's happy to see Chuck willing to help Casey and agrees. The two re-infiltrate the base in hopes their security recommendations have not yet been implemented but are defeated almost immediately. When cornered by a team led by the security specialist, Stanley Fitzroy, Chuck and Sarah play to his ego and convince him they are there to review the changes. He then leads them safely to the lower levels where, after another alert is triggered, Sarah takes the key card from him needed to access the prisoner holding cells, but they are too late. An explosion rocks the facility, and they enter in time to see Keller and his men breaking Casey out. Chuck tries to warn Casey that Keller is with the Ring, but Casey admits he already knows.

Tictac

I trusted you...

Chuck and Sarah attempt to escape but are captured and taken to Castle where they meet with Beckman. Beckman reveals that after opening Casey's sealed file, she discovered that he is actually the same Alexander Coburn upon whose name Chuck previously flashed in Chuck Versus the Fake Name, and was originally recruited by Keller. Coburn was officially killed in action in Honduras on the same day John Casey appeared as a new recruit on Keller's black ops team. Beckman orders the team to find and apprehend Casey, dead or alive. Meanwhile, Casey tries to use Morgan to recover the drug from where he hid it in the Buy More, which Chuck had already deduced. He corners Morgan and, playing on his desire to help out on a mission, recovers the pill.

Chuck then returns home where Casey is waiting, having guessed Chuck would know where to look. He threatens Chuck if he doesn't turn over the drug, but Chuck gambles on their friendship and Casey's honor, and Casey is unable to pull the trigger. As Sarah moves in from behind, Casey backs down. He admits to his team that Keller is blackmailing him into recovering the Laudanol and Casey left behind a fiancée named Kathleen McHugh (Alexandra Bromstad/Clare Carey) when he faked his death. Keller is using her as leverage and is threatening to kill her if Casey doesn't do as he says. Chuck and Sarah convince Casey they can stop Keller and save Kathleen if they work together.

While Chuck heads to Kathleen's home, Casey arrives at his meeting with Keller. There, Casey reveals he has double-crossed his commander by replacing the Laudanol with a Tic Tac mint. Sarah, who had smuggled herself into the compound, ambushes Keller's guards while Casey engages Keller. Meanwhile, Chuck tries to get Kathleen out of the house, but spots assassins before he can, so locks her in a closet to keep her safe when Keller's men enter. Keller tries again to turn Casey, but Casey realizes Keller would have killed Kathleen regardless, and breaks his neck. Chuck warns the team he was unable to get Kathleen out and can't flash, and Casey tells him to take the Laudanol. The Laudanol suppresses Chuck's emotions and enables Chuck to flash, and he coldly and efficiently defeats Keller's men. In a scene parallel to when Casey killed Keller, Chuck is seen choking out last of the goons with his bare hands when Casey and Sarah finally arrive. Sarah calls for him to stop, and after a moment he realizes what he was doing and does so.

Tictacsupress

Chuck on Laudanol

Casey is reunited with Kathleen who does not recognize him when she comes to, he doesn't tell her who he really is. As the team leaves, Kathleen's daughter arrives. Casey is stunned when he realizes that Alex McHugh (Mekenna Melvin) is his daughter but stands by his decision not to involve himself in their lives.

At Castle, Beckman drops any charges against the team for their actions, but Casey is summarily dismissed, and told to his new life is as a civilian. As Chuck escorts Casey out of Castle, Beckman offers Sarah a post in Washington, D.C. Later at Casey's apartment, Chuck tells him he can still have a chance with Kathleen, that he can still go back. Casey quietly tells him, "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 that's the right one for you. Walker is a good woman. It's still not too late."

Sarah has gone to Washington, D.C., to talk over a transfer with the General and spend time with Shaw. When asked by the cabbie if she lives there, she only answers that she's thinking about moving to the area.

Meanwhile, Devon is still attempting to convince Ellie to join Doctors without Borders with him as a means of getting her safely away from Chuck's spy life and tries to get Chuck to talk her into it. Ellie, however, confides in her brother that she has received a neurology fellowship at USC, a job she has dreamed of since she was a child. Devon is less than thrilled, as he sees getting out of the country as a way to protect her from any danger. The two get into an argument and, when going to see Chuck to settle the matter, run into Morgan instead. Devon takes Morgan aside to try and convince him to support him, and in the course of their discussion each discovers that the other knows Chuck's secret. Ultimately, Morgan agrees with Devon, but the argument is unsettled.

Later, Ellie finally manages to talk to Chuck, and tells him she has decided to go with Devon. Devon then pulls her away and she finds him throwing a private celebration for her for winning the Fellowship, and he admits that it is Ellie's happiness that matters and agrees to support her.

Guest Stars[]

Quotes[]

Chuck: [laughs] Yes. I get it now. You're good. You are very good, General. You guys are good. Very good. This is a test, right?
Casey: Bartowski....
Chuck: [amused] First it was the solo mission on the plane, then burning an asset. Now this time it's 'Chuck will you betray your country or will you turn in your friend and partner, John Casey, for stealing the pill?' I'll play ball. Okay. [Pointing to Casey] Guilty. He did it.
General Beckman: Are you positive you saw Colonel Casey take the pill, Mr. Bartowski?
Chuck: Yeah....no?

~

Stanley Fitzroy: I'm just so glad you're pleased with my new security measures. You know, I'm kind of your biggest fan.
Chuck: Really?
Fitzroy: Yeah, yeah, I read and file all of your mission reports. Remember when you reverse-engineered an antidote to that bioweapon and kissed Colonel Casey only to realize later it was all for naught? That must've been exciting and scary at the same time, huh?
Chuck: Can we just skip the details for now?

Trivia[]

  • Guest star, Robert Patrick, appeared in Terminator 2: Judgement Day, as the T-1000 Terminator. That film also starred Linda Hamilton, who portrays Mary Bartowski.
  • Colonel Keller is the only villain with whom Chuck has no significant scenes at all, merely a glimpse of each other as Keller breaks Casey out of his cell before Chuck can.

Music[]

  • Green Go – “You Know You Want It”
  • The Maids of Honor – “Black & Blue”
  • Frightened Rabbit – “Swim until You Can’t See Land”
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