Chuck Versus the Honeymooners

Chuck Versus the Honeymooners
Season 03, Episode 14

Air Date	April 26, 2010
Writer	Allison Adler, Lauren LeFranc & Rafe Judkins
Director	Robert Duncan McNeill
Previous	Chuck Versus the Other Guy
Next	Chuck Versus the Role Models

"My God, you even make terrorist groups sound sexy."

―Chuck

Chuck Versus the Honeymooners is the fourteenth episode of the third season of Chuck, which aired on the 26th of April, 2010. This was the first of the pickup episodes after what was originally slated as the series finale, Chuck Versus the Other Guy.

Synopsis[]

Chuck and Sarah decide to quit the spy life and go AWOL together. This decisions is tested when they find a former Basque terrorist aboard their train.

Meanwhile, General Beckman assigns Casey and Morgan to track them down.

Full Story[]

Chuck and Sarah are on a train heading for Zurich, Switzerland. They stay in their compartment exclusively, taking advantage of being alone together after finally committing to being a real couple. They see only the room service porter. Fearing that General Beckman would not approve of their personal relationship, they decide to go AWOL, and throw their cell phones out the window.

Back in Burbank, Beckman assigns Casey to work with Morgan, who knows Chuck best, to figure out where they went. Meanwhile, Ellie is concerned about Chuck's whereabouts and worries that he will not be back in time for the going-away party before she and Devon leave for Africa on their Doctors without Borders assignment.

Meanwhile, as the train arrives in Lyon, France, Chuck and Sarah emerge from their compartment and enter the dining car, discussing what to do with their lives. They then separately notice Juan Diego Arnaldo, a Basque terrorist; Chuck flashes on him, while Sarah sees a gun on one of the men with him. They don't mention this to each other.

At the Buy More, Casey asks Morgan if Chuck has contacted him. Devon enters to ask the same thing. He tells Morgan that if Chuck isn't there for their going away party, it won't be good with Ellie. Unfortunately, Jeff and Lester have overheard them and offer their Jeffster! services for the party.

Back on the train, Sarah and Chuck assure each other they want out of the spy business. Separately, however, they infiltrate Arnaldo's room while he is out. Sarah checks his journal, full of numbers, before hiding in the bathroom when Chuck enters. He then escapes out the window when Arnaldo returns, using the Intersect 2.0 to swing back into his room over the train roof. Sarah escapes by pretending to be a honeymooner rather the worse for drink who had run into the wrong room. When she returns to Chuck, they then both confess, and agree to 'one last mission.'

In Castle, Morgan determines that Chuck needs a new prescription, and a new issue of the Justice League. Checking the Paris train terminal cameras, he finds Chuck holding his ticket near a news stand, revealing that they are heading for Zurich. Morgan gets excited his first mission on government pay includes a trip to Europe. Casey is exasperated by Morgan's eccentricities about flying and how he wants to look Canadian. When they arrive, they get on a train, and Morgan attempts to chat up a presumed Canadian girl, Elia, but she threatens to cut him.

Chuck and Sarah come up with a plan to capture Arnaldo. They steal a pair of cuffs from a punk musician, and pharmaceuticals from an injured French skier, before "accidentally" spilling Arnaldo and his group's drinks. Casey then surprises them, demanding to know what they are doing. He doesn't believe their story about taking down Arnaldo, and he cuffs them. The bodyguards then fall unconscious, while Arnaldo notices and runs back to his compartment. Sarah and Chuck are forced to punch Casey, before giving chase. By the time Sarah throws Arnaldo into his bathroom and shows him to Casey, he fires tranquilizes Arnaldo, but a notebook blocks the darts. He then attempts to get away, just as the train stops, only to run into Morgan and gets knocked off the train.

It then turns out that Arnaldo's bodyguards were Interpol agents, who agreed to work with in return for witness protection. He disclosed of the names of his associates, from whom he has been running for two years. Casey is angry that the couple didn't run this through Beckman and tells a confused Morgan that the Chuck and Sarah are planning on quitting.

It is revealed that the girl, Elia, was actually a Basque terrorist, who phones her associates that Arnaldo's guards have been taken out, giving them the opening to kill him.

Chuck talks with Beckman, who is angry that he fouled up an Interpol operation. Another team is dispatched to extract Arnaldo, therefore, they have to stay and protect him. Chuck runs out of coins for his international call on a pay phone and the line cuts off.

While waiting for Interpol in a cafe, Morgan and Casey respectively try talking Chuck and Sarah out of quitting, but ultimately respect their decision. All the while, Arnaldo is in the middle, listening to the discussions. Each admits that they don't want to quit, but are willing to do so because they believe the other wishes to leave the spy life. Chuck and Sarah say farewell to their team and leave. As the Interpol team arrives, Morgan casually starts to chat to them about Lake Como, which he studied extensively in his travel guide on the flight to Europe, and realizes they are not from Interpol when one of the agents makes a mistake by identifying an annual boating festival as a "palace" instead. As Elia arrives, they recognized as the enemy, and they capture Casey and Morgan.

Just as Chuck and Sarah are to get on the train, they are cuffed by the Interpol agents they had drugged earlier, who assume that they are enemy agents. They inform them the team sent to pick up Arnaldo was killed. Realizing that their friends are in danger, and the Interpol agents won't listen to them, Chuck and Sarah knock them out. With no time to find the keys for their cuffs, they take a moped to get back to the cafe riding tandem. They crash the vehicle through the window, before engaging the terrorists. Chuck with Sarah are able to form an effective team and defeat the enemy agents. Casey helps by using Morgan, to whom he was tied, to do a swinging kick at Elia, before she could shoot Chuck or Sarah.

With all the terrorists taken down, Arnaldo tells Sarah and Chuck that he could tell them that having been on the run for two years, he could never escape himself, and having listened to both of them, he points out running away isn't what they really want. The two admit to each other that they don't want to stop being spies and agree to stay with the job and each other, they kiss.

Back in Burbank, Beckman congratulates Casey for apprehending the ETA terrorists. Casey, however, gives some of the credit to Morgan. Morgan tries to convince Beckman that Sarah and Chuck are a really good team, only for Casey to usher him out. Sarah then admits to Beckman that she and Chuck are dating exclusively. Beckman warns them that allowing their personal lives to interfere with their professional one is dangerous, but off the record, "it's about damn time."

Chuck then realizes he had forgotten about Ellie's going away and returns home to find the video of a tipsy Ellie saying how disappointed she was that he wasn't at her going away party. At that moment, Ellie returns to retrieve her forgotten phone. She tells Chuck that the outburst was more about her feeling sad about leaving her little brother. Chuck promises her that he won't be alone. Ellie turns to see Sarah and is delighted, "You're back together?" Chuck assures her that they are together.

Later, as Chuck and Sarah settle for the night, he puts on a vinyl album on the turntable and plays Nina Simone's 'Feeling Good,' promising Sarah that it is going to be her favorite song. They share a kiss.

Guest Stars[]

Bonita Friedericy as General Diane Beckman
Carlos Lacamara as Juan Diego Arnaldo
Lela Loren as Elia

Trivia[]

CD cases of Halo 3: ODST, are seen at the Buy More. Adam Baldwin voiced one of the characters in that game.
One of Chuck's favorite songs is Feeling Good by Nina Simone, and tells Sarah it will be hers.
The rocker that Sarah flirts with to get handcuffs is actually played by Yvonne Strahovski's real life boyfriend at the time, Tim Loden.
Trains from Paris to Zurich leave from Gare de Lyon, not from Gare Montparnasse. Chuck's train goes through Lyon at some point in the episode, which is not actually on the way to Zurich.
The train ride from Paris to Lyon usually takes about six hours on the roads. It is not a multi-day journey.
French newsstands don't usually carry American comics. When they do, the comics are usually translated. There are specialist comic book stores that do carry American comics in English, but there isn't one near Montparnasse: they tend to be near St Michel. These imported comics often arrive with a significant delay, but before the translated version. Still, even there, Chuck would likely not find an issue he does not already have.
In France, no medication comes in a plastic orange cylindrical bottle, like in America. Even prescription medication comes in flat pop-out plastic shells in flat boxes, like over-the-counter medication in the US.
Trains in Europe are used for commuting and are geared towards efficiency, not luxury. With some very minor exceptions, like the Orient Express, there is not train with comfortable rooms, room service or a restaurant-like car. Even the Orient Express does not have double beds but bunk beds. Some of its itineraries go through Zurich but don't stop there. Such a train ride on the Orient Express would cost about $3,000 per person, and it's unlikely that it would be used by Interpol agents.
When Morgan and Casey are walking towards the trains, there's a sign visible that should read "Trains en formation", which means "trains in formation." Instead, the sign says "Trous en formation", which means "holes being formed."
In most countries, including France, foreign prescriptions are not accepted by pharmacists. A local prescription is necessary. Furthermore, the practice of calling in prescriptions does not exist in France.
In Chuck Versus the Best Friend, Chuck uses eczema as an excuse for adjusting his earpiece. In this episode we discover he apparently does have eczema.
Jeffster! doing an acoustic performance with black turtlenecks is an homage to Simon and Garfunkel.
Nina Simone covered "Feeling Good" on her 1965 album “I Put a Spell on You,” the song was originally written by English composers Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley for the musical “The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd” and was first performed on stage in 1964.

Quotes[]

Chuck: Well, here we go. I gotta say, it's really weird leaving. I've never lived anywhere outside of California before, so...
Sarah: Well, I've lived all over the world, but Burbank is the only place that ever felt like home.

~

Casey: Chuck's off the grid with Walker. Do the math Grimes. [Morgan stares blankly] He's going to need a walker when Walker's through with him. [Morgan still blank] They're having intercourse, you idiot.

Music[]

Shout Out Louds - "Four By Four"
John Denver - "I'm Leaving On A Jet Plane"
Vampire Weekend - "Holiday"
Nina Simone - "Feeling Good"
Polyphonic Spree - "Section 9"