Chuck (Zachary Levi) is still being held by The Belgian aka Adelbert De Smet (Richard Chamberlain) in Chuck Versus Phase Three. Written by Kristin Newman it first aired on 22 November, 2010.

While Chuck is stuck in a variety of nightmares including ones that sees Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) leaving him over and over again, Sarah goes rogue on a mission to track him down. She travels the glove, ending up in Thailand, fighting for information.

Casey (Adam Baldwin) and Morgan (Joshua Gomez) get left behind, and throw together their own plan to find both Sarah and Chuck.

On the homefront, Awesome (Ryan McPartlin) and Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) try to figure out how to activate the computer that her father had hidden in the car they bought. Awesome even reaches out to Lester (Vik Sahay) and Jeff (Scott Krinsky) to help – with a couple of caveats.

As the hunt continues, the Belgian plans to introduce phase three in an attempt to claim the intersect… wipe out Chuck’s mind, basically lobotomising him, clearing him out of any emotion and personality.

The story moves quickly, and even as we delight in the ass-kicking that Sarah deals out to those in her way, we begin to worry about how things are playing out for Chuck. Is he going to be wiped out completely?

The answer is probably, but we also know that the computer in Ellie’s possession may be able to restore him. So it won’t be forever, but it’s definitely an ass kicker of an ending…

Chuck Versus the Leftovers has a reappearance of Chuck’s mom, codename Frost (Linda Hamilton – who gets to deliver an iconic Terminator line on her reveal) in this episode written by Henry Alonso Myers. It first aired on 29 November, 2010.

Unfortunately, she’s not alone, Volkoff (Timothy Dalton) arrives as well. Storming the BuyMore with his team, while Chuck, Sarah, and Casey interrogate Frost.

But Morgan is in the BuyMore, and he’s kitted out like McClane in the original Die Hard – barefooted and in the air vents. And as the conversations begin between Chuck and Volkoff, who believes that Frost has been captured, the team learns that Volkoff has fallen in love with her…

With Casey’s life in the balance, Volkoff blackmails his way into the Thanksgiving leftovers dinner at Awesome and Ellie’s, lying about his and Frost’s cover. Chuck gets Awesome to help with the plan, and gets them out of danger so that the team is free to confront Volkoff.

Will his mother betray them again, or will she find a way to save them from Volkoff and keep her family safe?

This is such a fun episode, I love the riff on Die Hard for Morgan, and bringing Hamilton and Dalton back is always a good thing. It’s a great episode, and though Chuck wasn’t as wiped as we thought he was, he still has to work hard to learn some of his old skills back (but don’t tell Casey how they do it).

But that laptop sure comes in useful at the end of the episode.

More spycraft, laughs and romance next week!