Chuck Episode 3.08 Chuck Versus the Fake Name

Ellie vents to Awesome about Chuck's "secret" girlfriend and decides to confront Chuck about it. However, Ellie expresses her feelings to a closed bathroom door and she is surprised when Hannah walks out of it, wearing only a towel. Chuck comes home just in time to make a formal if awkward introduction. To make up to Ellie for all his secrecy, Chuck invites her and Awesome over for dinner with him and Hannah for his famous chicken pepperoni.

Sarah and Shaw seem to be on a casual lunch date, when Sarah tells him that she wants to keep things professional between them. But the two spies are actually on a stake-out of Rafe Gruber, a dangerous assassin that The Ring has hired. The CIA needs to know who Rafe's target is. Casey shoots Rafe with a tranquilizer gun and the agents apprehend him, bringing him to Castle. However, Casey is disappointed to learn that Shaw wants to put Chuck on the mission instead of him.

A cheerful Chuck comes to Castle, and Sarah catches on that he and Hannah have consummated their relationship. Chuck's next mission: assume an alias and pretend to be Rafe Gruber. Chuck, confident from his portrayal as Perchik in "Fiddler on the Roof," thinks he has this assignment in the bag, but Shaw smacks Chuck in the face, reminding him that he must do everything Rafe would do in every situation. Before Casey gets to torture Rafe to extract crucial details, Chuck intercedes. He needs to get to know Rafe to assume his character for the mission. Rafe's phone rings and Chuck imitates the assassin's low, raspy voice to find out where Rafe is supposed to meet his associates. It works and Casey, impressed, says, "Not bad, Bartowski" to which Chuck replies, "Who the hell is Bartowski?"

The Buy Morons are astounded by Chuck's luck with the ladies, as they watch Hannah snuggle up to him during an inspirational speech from Big Mike about pushing the store's new line of crock pots. Chuck informs Casey that he needs to finish the mission by 5:00 p.m. today because he has dinner plans; the Colonel isn't sympathetic to Chuck's personal life. Meanwhile, down at Castle, Rafe comes on strong to Sarah and Shaw doesn't like it. To show just how much he doesn't like it, he punches Rafe out.

Chuck, dressed as Rafe, heads out on the mission, with Casey in tow. They meet a pair of "goodfellas," Matty and Scotty. Matty recognizes Casey from somewhere and wonders if he's a sniper he used to work with named Alex Coburn. Immediately Chuck flashes on this name, but there's no photo of the mysterious and dangerous militant. The goons believe Casey to be a fed and Chuck, in order to protect his cover, whacks Casey in the mouth with a gun and swears to kill him if he's a cop.

Meanwhile, in the surveillance van, Sarah tells Shaw that she is worried about Chuck's ability to lie. They realize that Casey has been made and tell Chuck to stall until back-up can arrive. Chuck plays it cool like Rafe: like any good assassin, he is going to get information out of the "informant" before killing him.

Matty rolls out a special torture kit--filled with dental instruments. Casey secretly signals Chuck to go ahead. Left with no choice, Chuck using a pair of forceps pulls out Casey's tooth. The cavalry arrives just in time and Sarah, in her S.W.A.T. uniform, tells Chuck not to freak out--that he has to continue to act like Rafe. Chuck listens to Sarah and skill flashes on kung-fu, this time fighting the agents and gaining the trust of the assassin's associates. Casey's impressed with Chuck's work, but Sarah seems unsettled with how easy it was for him to keep up the lie.

Back at Castle, Casey's proud of Chuck, but an angry Rafe, being brought out in handcuffs, tries to attack him. In the scuffle, the apprehended assassin grabs a Buy More pen. When Chuck presses Casey about the name Alex Coburn, Casey tells him to mind his own business. And even though Chuck's late for dinner with Hannah, there's nothing to worry about--Sarah and Shaw have gone to his apartment ahead of time and prepared everything for him, including the chicken pepperoni. Meanwhile, at the Buy More, Big Mike, Lester and Jeff all agree that no matter what girl Chuck is with, Sarah is the one that makes his eyes shine the brightest.

Ellie, Awesome, and Hannah are very impressed with Chuck's dinner. When Chuck tries to vent to Awesome about how he didn't have time to make the dinner, Awesome doesn't want to hear the truth--he doesn't want to lie to Ellie anymore. Hannah makes a toast to how happy she is. Sarah forlornly watches this heart-warming moment through the surveillance video at Castle. When Shaw offers her some left-over chicken for dinner, she rebuffs him and goes off alone. There is trouble brewing in other places as well--Rafe, the real assassin, has used the Buy More pen to escape from his handcuffs.

At the Buy More, Hannah asks Chuck to have dinner with her parents tonight. Chuck leaves his phone unattended for a moment while Big Mike asks his cooking advice--and Hannah picks it up, not knowing that Chuck is supposed to be Rafe. Matty and Scotty make their way to the Buy More and Chuck has to turn into Rafe fast. Once Matty and Scotty get to the Buy More, they take Chuck's watch and smash it--but surprisingly this is a good thing. The two thugs give Chuck a gold watch for saving them. They still believe that Chuck is Rafe and even better, they've found the location of the guy he's supposed to kill.

Sarah visits Shaw at his apartment to apologize to him for being cold. After Shaw puts on some clothes per Sarah's request, she admits to him that she's been having trouble adjusting to Chuck's spy transition. More than that, it makes her think of who she used to be before she was a spy. Across from Shaw's apartment building, Matty and Scotty have set up a sniper rifle for Chuck and when he lines up his shot, he sees Shaw and Sarah. It all comes together: The Ring wants Shaw dead and has hired Rafe to do the job.

Chuck has headphones on and can hear everything Shaw and Sarah are talking about--including how she has been having trouble accepting Chuck's recent changes. Then, Sarah reveals her real name to Shaw--it's Sam. Shaw kisses her and she's into it. Chuck sees all of this and can't believe Sarah never told him her real name. He has to play it off to Matty and Scotty that Sam is his girl, and Shaw is stealing her.

Back at Castle, Casey realizes that Rafe is missing and finds Chuck's location. Chuck convinces Matty and Scotty he's got to fight Shaw man-to-man. Chuck arrives at Shaw's and quickly gets him to catch on that they are being watched. Chuck pretends to be Rafe but underneath this layer of undercover, a fine line of truth about the mens' true feelings for Sarah surface. Chuck punches Shaw and reveals that he knows Sarah's real name too. Shaw doesn't hold anything back and while the men fight, Rafe finds Matty and Scotty, shoots them, then makes his way to Shaw's apartment--and is ready to execute all three spies.

Rafe and Chuck fight, and Chuck tells himself to flash but to no avail. Rafe overpowers both Chuck and Shaw, and then holds Sarah by gunpoint. Rafe sees that Chuck and Shaw have a soft spot for Sarah and a shot is fired. Sarah falls to the floor. For a moment, Chuck and Shaw are in shock, but Colonel Casey has saved the day. From across the street, he used the sniper rifle and made an incredible shot, right in Rafe's head.

After the mission, Chuck gets some sisterly advice from Ellie about Hannah. Chuck feels like he is living a lie, and Ellie chalks this up to him still having feelings for Sarah, that things are moving too fast with Hannah. Chuck knows that Ellie's right and decides to break things off with Hannah--which he does at a restaurant right before dinner with her parents. Hannah is hurt, and calls Chuck the best liar she's met, something that really hits a nerve with him, more than she'll ever know.

Shaw must now hide down in Castle since The Ring knows he's alive and Sarah brings him some goodies to enjoy while he's down there. He thanks her, by her real name--Sam, and they kiss. Meanwhile, Chuck walks the streets alone.