Chuck Versus the Final Exam

Chuck Versus the Final Exam
Season 03, Episode 11
Air Date	March 22, 2010
Writer	Zev Borow
Director	Robert Duncan McNeill
Previous	"Chuck Versus the Tic Tac"
Next	"Chuck Versus the American Hero"

Chuck Versus the Final Exam is the eleventh episode of the third season of Chuck, which aired on the 22nd of March, 2010.

Synopsis Edit

Chuck's fate as a spy rests on a single mission. He learns that his next solo mission will be a final test as to his ability to kill under orders, while Sarah and Shaw observe his every move.

Full Story Edit

As the episode begins, Chuck corners a rogue agent fleeing through a train station and aims a gun on him. The man begs for his life but Chuck warns him that he had his chance, and a shot rings out.

Three days earlier, Chuck arrives in Castle after promising Casey to help him get reinstated, hoping to gain Sarah's support in strong-arming Beckman into doing so. However as he arrives, Sarah, Shaw and Beckman advise him that he will be undergoing his final test - a last solo mission to determine if he is ready to be a spy. The morning after, Sarah briefs him at his apartment with a message from Beckman. Chuck is to find an ex-FSB agent-turned information broker named Anatoli Zevlovski, who is contacting a mole within the CIA who is providing information to the Ring.

Chuck and Sarah meet to stakeout the hotel where Zevlovski is staying, and they nearly miss him when Chuck tries to talk with her about what happened in Prague, and asks her for a second chance to be together. Chuck and Sarah are interrupted by Shaw, who orders Chuck to infiltrate the hotel where Zevlovski is waiting in the steam room with two of his men. A hotel clerk delivers a message to him, which Zevlovski crumples up and throws on the floor before leaving with his guards. As Chuck recovers it, the two goons spot him, but Chuck flashes and defeats them, before hurrying after Zevlovski. Chuck gains access to the hotel room next door to the mole's and slips out onto the balcony where he watches the mole dispatch Zevlovski. Chuck manages to get a glimpse of his face, and Shaw and Sarah (watching on a feed from Chuck's glasses) identify him as CIA Agent Hunter Perry.

The next morning, Chuck tells an uncertain Casey he passed his spy test, and thanks him for the help he's given him. In return, Chuck gives Casey back his gun, which he lifted (illegally) from Castle. He then heads to Castle to ask Sarah out on a celebratory date, but she asks him to dinner first. They arrange to meet at a restaurant later that evening, but when Sarah arrives at Castle, Shaw reveals to her Chuck must now complete his Red Test by killing Perry, against Sarah's objections.

At the restaurant, Sarah tells Chuck they're not on a date but that he has one final test, and orders him to eliminate the mole, who will be meeting him shortly. Sarah leaves and Perry arrives. As Sarah had warned Chuck, he is suspicious and promptly excuses himself to go to the bathroom. Chuck follows and after being ambushed in the restroom, he flashes and disarms his opponent. Chuck is unable to kill Perry when the latter protests he had no choice but to work for the Ring, and arrests him instead. Perry attempts to flee and Chuck chases him through the train station. The two end in a footrace in the station, as seen in the beginning of the episode, with Chuck eventually cornering Perry. He once again hesitates, and Perry attempts to use this as a chance to draw his own gun until Casey shoots Perry first from the shadows. Although Chuck saw him, Sarah arrives and is stunned, believing Chuck went through with the assassination.

Later that evening, Casey warns Chuck not to tell anyone what happened. Without government sanction, he has committed murder, and Chuck failed his test. Chuck tries to call Sarah to follow up on their conversation, but she refuses the call. When Shaw asks if she still loves Chuck, she tells him not anymore, fearing that Chuck will never be the same again. She begins to tell Shaw of her life changing and emotionally scarring red test, where she was to kill a woman on a street in Paris. Sarah sees the woman grab for something, a weapon? in her purse, which results in Sarah killing the woman.

At Echo Park, Chuck receives orders from Beckman to immediately fly to Washington D.C. to be inducted as an agent and receive his first official assignment, when a government contact arrives to take him to the airport.

Casey is experiencing difficulties readjusting to civilian life following his dismissal. He assaults Jeff and Lester when he catches the two goofing off at the store, and despite his threats, they intend to sue him and the store. Big Mike takes it upon himself to rein Casey in an attempt to help him smooth over his "jagged edges" with a new suit, and by apologizing to his coworkers. Big Mike mediates between them, and Jeff and Lester agree to drop the lawsuit after humiliating Casey by making him buy them lunch, and bonding with him by sharing a "tunaroni" sandwich with Jeff.

Guest Stars Edit

• Brandon Routh as Daniel Shaw
• Bonita Friedericy as General Diane Beckman
• Kyle Bornheimer as Hunter Perry
• Andrew Kirsanov as Anatoli Zevlovski

QuotesEdit

Chuck: I thought I'd take a second to see how you're adjusting to civilian life. Apparently not so great.
Casey: Baby steps.
Chuck: More like baby kicks to the groin. We gotta get you reinstated, buddy. Without a license to kill, you are menace to society.

~

Chuck: Why did you do it?
Casey: Because you weren't going to. You're not a killer, Chuck.
Chuck: Thanks.

~

Chuck: You're going to miss me in DC, you know that right?
Sarah: I know.

TriviaEdit

• When Chuck plays Hall and Oats' "Private Eyes" on his iPod, Sarah recalls it as a song from their first stakeout in "Chuck Versus the Sizzling Shrimp" but in that episode, Sarah was not in the car when the song started playing.
• After Chuck receives his missions, the videos self-destruct in an homage to Mission: Impossible.
• Anatoli uses the alias "Ivan Drago", a character in the Rocky films played by Dolph Lundgren.Chuck obviously recognized the reference commenting “Ivan Drago? Seriously?” Dolph Lundgren would later guest star as Marco in "Chuck Versus the Anniversary".
• This is the last episode in which the Orange Orange is seen and also the last episode in which Sarah is seen working there or in her uniform, although it presumably remains her cover for the remainder of the season.

Music Edit

• Rogue Wave – “Permalight”
• Austin Hartley-Leonard – “In My Sleep”
• Hall and Oats – “Private Eyes”