Episode 110: Chuck vs. the Nemesis

From Chuck Wiki

Chuck vs. the Nemesis
Air Date	November 26, 2007
Written by	Chris Fedak
Director	Allison Liddi
Next episode	"Chuck vs. the Crown Vic"

[edit] Summary

It's Thanksgiving, and Chuck's day is stuffed with a big surprise: Bryce Larkin (Matthew Bomer), the agent who originally downloaded government secrets into Chuck's brain, returns in need of Chuck's help to prove he's not a rogue agent. Meanwhile, Morgan leads the charge to help Buy More prep for the busiest shopping day of the year.

[edit] Synopsis

The episode opens to a heart monitor beeping. It is attached to Bryce Larkin, who is strapped to a hospital bed in an empty white room. As he wakes up, an orderly comes to tend to him. The camera moves back to show Sarah Walker and John Casey watching from an observation window. As Bryce drifts out of consciousness, he mumbles the word "Chuck".

At the Buy More, Morgan tells Chuck that he is crazy because he broke up with Sarah. Morgan senses that something is wrong, however, and asks Chuck about it. Chuck doesn't want to talk about it, so Morgan goes to see Anna. Meanwhile, Chuck contemplates his breakup with Sarah; believing it to be a bad idea. He notices Anna and Morgan kissing, and mentions to Morgan that he finds that creepy (after Anna goes to help a customer). Morgan ignores this, and instead asks Chuck if Anna can come to his Thanksgiving dinner. Chuck tells him that is OK; but is confused when Morgan asks if Ellie Bartowski will be there. Morgan explains that Anna believes he has a crush on Ellie as well.

Big Mike reappears, and warns the staff about Black Friday - the biggest shopping day of the year; and much to the dismay of the staff, explains that they need to come in on Thanksgiving for training. As Big Mike finishes, Sarah enters, and reveals to Chuck that Bryce is alive. In the next scene, Chuck, John and Sarah are watching an orderly try to question Bryce from the observation room; however Bryce refuses to talk. Sarah and Casey believe that he might talk to Chuck, because he has been asking for him. As Chuck prepares to go in, Casey warns him to be careful, because Bryce is a rogue, trained assassin.

Chuck enters Bryce's room; but Bryce does not believe him to be the real Chuck Bartowski, and asks him to prove his identity. Chuck does so by speaking to him in Klingon. Upon hearing this, Bryce breaks out of his restraints, grabs Chuck, and holds a syringe to his neck. Sarah and Casey burst in, guns ready, but Bryce uses Chuck as a human shield, preventing them from firing. Bryce asks Casey if he "cares to try again", but Chuck does not understand what he means. Bryce, still holding Chuck hostage, backs out of the room, down the hallway, and into an elevator. As the doors close, he lets go of Chuck, explaining that he was only holding him hostage because he cannot trust anyone.

Suddenly, the elevator slows down to a stop. Bryce again holds Chuck hostage as the doors open. On the other side, a man is standing. Chuck flashes on the man, who talks briefly to Bryce about something named 'Fulcrum'. When they are done, Bryce and Chuck return to the elevator. Chuck asks him about Fulcrum and the man they just met, but Bryce avoids his questions. Suddenly, Bryce presses the emergency stop button, injects Chuck with the syringe, and escapes through the elevator hatch as Chuck passes out. Chuck regains consciousness as Sarah and Casey open the elevator and find him on the floor.

The next day, at the Buy More, Morgan is shouting directions through a megaphone to the Buy More employees, training them for Black Friday. After teaching them how to do crowd control, he explains to them that they will use the word 'pineapple' to indicate a Very Bad Situation; such as an earthquake. Chuck gets a call from Ellie, asking him to leave so he can help with the groceries and Thanksgiving dinner. Much to Chuck's surprise, later that evening Casey appears at his house; explaining that Ellie invited him for dinner. When Ellie leaves the room, Chuck asks him if he really killed Bryce. Casey replies that he thought he did. Moments later, Chuck tells Ellie that Morgan is bringing someone to dinner (a real person, not imaginary). Ellie is surprised to hear this and quips that she is surprised that Morgan has a friend.

Just then, Morgan and Anna ring the doorbell. Ellie and Chuck answer it. Anna brings a casserole, but is very cold towards Ellie. As Ellie, Captain Awesome, Morgan, Anna, Casey, Sarah and Chuck are eating dinner, Morgan complains that there are no marshmallows on his sweet potatoes. Anna declares that dinner is ruined, looking pointedly at Ellie. Chuck tries to defuse the situation by apologizing and going to get the marshmallows from his car.

As Chuck goes to the car, he suddenly notices Bryce. Bryce apologizes for not being able to catch up with him the last time they met, and asks him what happened since then. Chuck reminds him that he was kicked out of Stanford because of Bryce. Bryce tells Chuck that he needs to talk to Sarah without Casey knowing; the man they met in the elevator works for an organization named Fulcrum that wants a copy of the intersect.

Chuck enters the house again, carrying a bag of marshmallows. As Chuck prepares the sweet potatoes, Morgan tries Anna's casserole. It's burnt and very crunchy, but he pretends to enjoy it. He offers it to everyone else at the table; but they all turn it down. Captain Awesome starts a conversation about white-water rafting with Casey. Chuck, seizing the opportunity, discreetly tells Sarah that Bryce wants to speak with her in Chuck's room. Sarah, surprised, excuses herself. Once in Chuck's room, Sarah and Bryce talk. The conversation soon drifts to their previous relationship, and they share a kiss. Much to his horror, Chuck (who happens to pass by the door) sees this.

Chuck, in shock, wanders back to the table. Awesome asks everyone to name something they are thankful for. When it is his turn, Chuck, who is still distracted by what he just saw going on his his room, states that he is thankful that Bryce is dead, and is not making out with Sarah in his room. Everyone, except Casey (who excuses himself to investigate), is shocked; and Morgan comments that Chuck's statement was very "dark". Casey enters Chuck's room, only to discover that Bryce is gone. Casey is annoyed, and chides Sarah. Meanwhile, Morgan moves on to the sweet potatoes. Anna becomes mad that Morgan enjoys Ellie's dish more than hers, and walks out; with a protestingMorgan following. Chuck also goes after them; leaving a bewildered Ellie and Captain Awesome.

Outside, Chuck is trying to catch up with Anna and Morgan when Sarah appears. Before she can respond to his questions about her actions; Sarah notices someone in Casey's apartment. They sneak in to discover Bryce. Sarah confronts him. Bryce explains that Fulcrum is a group of criminals that want a copy of the intersect and had members with special access in the CIA and other agencies. Somehow, they got hold of his access code, so he encoded the Intersect, sent it to Chuck and deleted it. He claims that he broke into Casey's apartment because he does not know who he can trust. Chuck flashes on the code-name of the Intersect, 'sand-wall'; and verifies that Bryce is telling the truth.

Just then, Casey walks in, gun drawn. Despite Chuck and Sarah's protests, he shoots Bryce, who falls to the floor. Chuck immediately faints. Though Bryce was shot, it was not fatal as he was wearing a bulletproof vest. When everyone settles down, Bryce explains that he stole the Intersect secrets and sent them to Chuck when he realized that Fulcrum was a dangerous group. He wants to turn himself in to the CIA so he can work against Fulcrum, but he needs to be sure it's real CIA Agents and not Fulcrum operatives. They decide to have a meeting at the Buy More where Chuck will look the agents over, and if he doesn't flash on them as being part of Fulcrum, then Bryce is good to go. Meanwhile at the Buy More the crowds are foaming at the mouth to get in the door. Big Mike says he's going into his office and doesn't want to be disturbed for any reason. The doors open and the Nerd Herd guides customers to the areas of the store they want to go, with Chuck and Anna doing a better job than Jeff and Lester who get so freaked out they hide under the counter.

The meeting almost goes awry when Morgan runs into Bryce, but believing Bryce to be dead, he just tells him he looks like Chuck's friend from college who wrecked his life. Later Bryce apologizes to Chuck for insulting him the night before. The agents come by, Chuck does not flash on them, and Sarah goes to take him in. In the car Sarah and Bryce are talking about their past when their car is side-swiped by a van driven by a Fulcrum team. Back at the Buy More, Chuck is at the Nerd Herd desk when Tommy, the man who confronted Bryce on the elevator, comes up to Chuck and says he needs to get a very special computer called The Intersect. Tommy tells Chuck that his men have captured Sarah and Bryce, disarmed Casey, and that he's willing to kill everyone in the Buy More to carry out his mission. The Fulcrum team that captured Sarah and Bryce call in to say that they've captured them, only to have Sarah and Bryce get up and take them out. Sarah tells Bryce that they have to get back to the Buy More to protect Chuck.

Tommy is walking Chuck toward the exit when a panicked Jeff comes running up to him saying the registers are down and he can't get them working. Tommy tells Chuck if he says more than one word he'll kill Jeff right there. Chuck looks at him and says "pineapple" the phrase indicating a store wide emergency requiring evacuation. Jeff runs and tells Morgan "pineapple." Morgan thinks he's messing around, but when Jeff says he was told it by Chuck, Morgan grabs the bullhorn and announces that the store needs to be evacuated, much to Big Mike's chagrin. The shoppers start a stampede for the door, in which Morgan carries out a trapped Anna, and Chuck gets away from Tommy. Casey takes out his captors and he and Chuck take cover in the Home Theater room, where Casey unveils the arsenal he keeps in there, calls for an NSA team to get over there, and starts a shootout with Fulcrum. Sarah and Bryce arrive on the scene and begin taking Fulcrum agents out, Chuck is extremely impressed by how well they work together. However when trying to get out of the Home Theater room, Chuck is taken hostage by Tommy who winds up in a stand with Bryce and Sarah. Bryce asks Chuck a question in Klingon, when Chuck responds, Bryce tells him he's sorry and shoots Chuck in the chest. Casey then takes out Tommy as the NSA team begins to arrive. Sarah goes to check on Chuck, who apparently answered "Yes, I am wearing a vest." as he opens up his shirt to reveal the Kevlar.

While Chuck comments on how it still hurts to get shot with a bulletproof vest, Morgan carries Anna to safety. Lester comments that this was rather goofy of Morgan but Anna tells him that he passed this test. But she has to scurry when an enraged Big Mike comes over to confront Morgan about evacuating the store on its biggest day. However Morgan is saved when a fireman/NSA agent tells Big Mike there was a gas leak and whoever evacuated the store may have saved a lot of lives. Big Mike walks off exasperation as Morgan basks in the glow of vindication. After giving his report to General Beckman, Bryce emerges from the Home Theater Room wearing a tuxedo. He tells Chuck that he is going deep undercover to stop Fulcrum, and that Bryce Larkin is dead. When Chuck asks him where he's going, Bryce tells him that he can't tell him. He then turns to Sarah and says "we'll always have Omaha." Later that evening at Casa Bartowski, Chuck goes over to Casey's apartment and asks what was meant by that statement. Casey says it was probably a meeting point, and that if Sarah wants to go with Bryce she has to do so tonight. But not to worry, if Sarah leaves they'll get him a new girl.

Back at her hotel Sarah is looking very conflicted. Her room phone rings, and it is Bryce on the other end. She goes to pick it up when her iPhone starts ringing, and Chuck's picture and number appear on the screen. As two men who care about her wait, she's unable to decide which one to pick up.

Previous episode:	Next episode:
"Chuck vs. the Imported Hard Salami"	"Chuck vs. the Crown Vic"