Chuck Episode 4.01 Chuck vs. the Anniversary

Recalling a flashback from childhood, Chuck listens as his mother reads him a bedtime story about the Frost Queen. As they say goodnight, Chuck forlornly asks his mom if she's leaving again. She admits she is, but promises to come right back to Chuck and Ellie. Now in the present, Chuck stands in his father's secret basement warehouse, announcing that he must find his mom. An amazed Morgan appears and agrees to help his best friend on his quest. Chuck makes Morgan swear under oath that they are to tell no one.

Back at the apartment, Sarah is getting ready for a mission to Hong Kong with Casey. Chuck's already feeling lonely. He kisses Sarah and tells her to be safe; they say "I love you" and goodbye. Sarah and Casey leave and Morgan pops in, announcing he's made all the travel arrangements for their journey. They criss-cross the globe in search of clues for Chuck's mom, the trail leads them back to Los Angeles and a secure data room. Chuck finds a promising-looking safe; he punches in a code he and Morgan were given on their travels. But the safe is empty. Dejectedly, Morgan picks up a discarded menu from a Chinese food restaurant off the floor. At least they can go get dumplings. But unbeknownst to them, they're being watched - by one Mary Bartowski, safely tucked away in a secret location.

As Chuck and Morgan return to Morgan's car, they're confronted by a gun-toting repo man. Their travels have bankrupted them: Morgan's AMC hatchback is no longer his. The repo man drives off with a squeal. Meanwhile, in a Hong Kong high-rise, Casey and Sarah get the drop on Marko, a tough-looking spy for Volkoff Industries who holds an intricate controller in a metal suitcase. Defiantly, he flips a switch and sends a power surge that darkens the entire city. Sarah subdues him, grabs the case. She and Casey leap over the balcony just as Marko's men arrive. The two veteran spies land safely on the street thanks to backpack parachutes.

As Chuck awakens alone in his room, he's surprised by a camera-phone toting Morgan. Morgan wants Chuck to start "sexting" Sarah to keep their relationship passionate over long distances. Chuck really wants nothing to do with it, but Morgan keeps snapping away. He tells Morgan to leave. He's got a big day ahead: Ellie has set up five job interviews for him. But despite Chuck's stellar background, the job interviews don't go well: one interviewer falls asleep, another throws up, another leaves for coffee and doesn't return. The last interviewer is ready to hire Chuck but then receives a mysterious phone call and Chuck is soon escorted from the building by security - without any explanation. Clearly someone's been interfering.

Morgan and Chuck ride the bus to the newly re-opened Buy More. The new store looks beautiful - as does the Nerd Herder who greets them, Greta. Chuck heads to the manager's office to deliver his resume. To his surprise the new manager is none other than Dianne Beckman - aka General Beckman. She welcomes Chuck back - apparently his services are still needed by the CIA, which has now taken over the Buy More. It's a full-blown sub-station, with electronic links to security agencies worldwide. Chuck protests the thought of returning to the CIA, but Beckman informs Chuck that the President himself has authorized his return - and that she'll block any job offer from the outside world that might come his way.

Casey and Sarah return to Castle with the device they captured from Marko. On Beckman's orders, they bring Chuck downstairs into the new Castle, where he's forced to flash. Chuck discloses it's an electro-magnetic-pulse generator from Volkoff Industries, an international arms merchant. In a private moment, Sarah confronts Chuck about the sext message she received. Embarrassed, Chuck pins it on Morgan, but Sarah reveals she thinks it's cute. She also tells him that she's headed out again soon on another mission; they make a plan to celebrate their dating anniversary upon her return. She leaves and Chuck recognizes the logo on the captured Volkoff case: it matches the one on the Chinese menu he found with Morgan earlier. It appears his mom is somehow connected to Volkoff.

Chuck realizes the menu may hold a clue to finding his mom. But Morgan accidentally left the menu in his car - a car that's now been repossessed. The two go into stealth mode, sneaking into the car yard where the repo man has parked Morgan's beloved yellow beater. As he reaches for the menu on the dash, a shotgun blast shatters the side window; the repo man is protecting his bounty. They grab the menu and make a run for it.

Back at his dad's secret basement, Chuck carefully examines the menu. As he and Morgan look for any clue as to its meaning, Chuck flashes. The menu is actually a coded catalog of Volkoff's weapons for sale. They call the printed phone number, presenting themselves as would-be customers from the "new Ring." They're invited to come to Moscow for a meeting.

Casey and Sarah are on a private jet flying overseas on their mission to wipe out Volkoff's Asia facility. Wondering about her relationship with Chuck, she asks Casey if he's ever managed a long-distance relationship. He's not the right guy to ask: all his relationships ended when he either left or the woman died. Sarah starts thinking more about the "sext" Chuck sent to her. When Casey goes to the restroom, Sarah snaps a few (INSERT SKITTLE PHOTO) sexy phone pictures of herself to send to Chuck. (Link to Sarah's sext photo gallery). Moments later, Sarah and Casey are overcome with some sort of gas being pumped into the passenger cabin; Marko has infiltrated their flight!

Sarah and Casey are tied up in a former KGB Facility in Moscow, now under Volkoff's control. A menacing Marko assures them that he will break them both down. Walker answers with a roundhouse kick that knocks him unconscious, just long enough for Sarah to try to summon help via text from her phone. Meanwhile Chuck and Morgan show up at the same facility, posing as the would-be customers. They have no idea Sarah and Casey are being held at the very same facility. Chuck flashes on the data center's location and he and Morgan make a dash for it. They locate the main computer and begin searching for clues about his mom. Morgan discovers an electro-magnetic-pulse suitcase; Chuck tells him to be careful, since activating it would destroy every circuit in the building.

Holding Chuck's phone, Morgan notices a text from Sarah reading "Need U." Morgan assumes that Sarah is sexting Chuck - and invites her to "show me more." Every subsequent message is somehow misinterpreted by Morgan. Sarah and Casey grow desperate; it's a matter of time before Marko's men return. Chuck finds a file on his mom, code named "Frost." He begins hacking the encrypted file to download it. Another text comes in on Chuck's phone; finally they realize Casey and Sarah are being held in the very same building they're in.

Marko and his thugs return, trying to extract information from Casey and Sarah. Apparently two other spies have been trying to infiltrate Volkoff for six months; he shows surveillance pictures of Chuck and Morgan to his captives. Sarah and Casey disavow any knowledge of them. But Marko knows better and he soon receives word that the spies he's looking for have been captured in the building. Sarah and Casey fear the worst as Marko instructs his men over a walkie-talkie to kill Morgan and Chuck. But in the nick of time, Chuck summons a skills flash that enables him to knock Volkoff's men out and escape. He and Morgan head for the warehouse where Sarah and Casey are being held.

Marko retreats; Chuck arrives and knocks out his remaining henchman. Chuck unties Casey and Sarah and takes them back to the data center. As the files that might reveal his mother's whereabouts are downloading, Chuck comes clean about his quest to find his mom. As Sarah upbraids Chuck for lying to her, Marko threatens them over the walkie-talkie: the building is electronically protected and they will die it its traps. Chuck elects to set off the electro-magnetic-pulse device to save them - knowing full well it will destroy the files that could help him find his mom. The building goes dark.

Casey and Sarah lead the way out, engaging in a brutal firefight with Marko and his men. Victorious, our four spies exit the facility and head to their pickup point via the Moscow municipal bus. Chuck and Sarah make up and celebrate their anniversary with a kiss.

Back home, Chuck takes Morgan, Sarah, and Casey to his dad's secret room and explains more about the search for his mom. They all agree to help out - but it means that Chuck's got to re-join the agency. They also decide they should avoid telling Beckman about the search for now, but that Chuck should tell Ellie. Reluctantly he agrees. He returns to his apartment and encounters a radiant Ellie in the courtyard. As he's trying to find the words to convey the truth about their mom and that he's going back to being a spy, Ellie pre-empts him with some big news of her own. She's pregnant.

Later with Sarah, Chuck admits he couldn't tell his sister the news. She understands and goes on to tell him that she dug into the CIA records and found a little bit of information about his mom; her case files shows her as "captured." Chuck's determined to find her. We cut to a stark room at Volkoff where Marko is talking to Chuck's mom: her son is looking for him. She asks whether Marko's told Volkoff of the search. He says "no," at which Chuck's mom bolts upright, sweeping Marko and his henchman to the ground with a lightning-quick series of kicks and punches, followed by a series of quick dispatching shots from a hidden handgun. She stands over Marko, who pleads for his life. "I have a family," he implores. "So do I," she tells him, then finishes him off with a single shot.