Ep 3. Chuck Versus the Breakup

Chuck Versus the Breakup is the third episode of the second season of the American action-comedy television series Chuck. The episode was directed by Robert Duncan McNeill and written by Ali Adler. This episode begins with Chuck and Sarah's relationship troubles as Sarah ends things between them to keep her professional life separate. Meanwhile, Casey and Sarah’s team solve a mission involving finding out the identity of Fulcrum agents’ buyers in Shanghai.

The episode opens with Chuck and Sarah making out on Chuck's couch. They seem to be enjoying some good old-fashioned romance, but quickly things change as Sarah reveals that she has to break up with Chuck. She does not want the mission to be impacted by their relationship. Chuck, heartbroken, tries to convince Sarah that their love is strong enough to survive the mission, but Sarah is resolute in her decision. She says that it is not worth risking her job and the safety of her country for their relationship.

On the other hand, Casey, Sarah’s partner, is on a mission with their fellow agent searching for Fulcrum agents' buyers in Shanghai. They come across a tech expert who they think is connected to the Fulcrum agency due to certain clues they’ve gathered from the database, but the team finds out it's not easy to extract information from him. His wit and talent are vast, and he puts up a big fight to avoid giving away any information. However, soon they run into an unexpected ally in their mission, Harry Tang, an old acquaintance of Casey’s from his undercover days. Together, Casey and Tang come up with a way to defeat their target and extract crucial information.

Back in Burbank, Chuck spends his time moping around his apartment trying to figure out how to get Sarah back. His sister, Ellie, and her husband, Devon, try to cheer him up, but Chuck is not in the mood to be consoled. Dejected and lost, he turns to his best friend and co-worker, Morgan. Morgan's advice is to make Sarah jealous by dating someone else to make Sarah realize what she's missing out on. This particular advice springs an idea in Chuck’s mind, which leads him to take Morgan on a fake double date with him and Sarah.

Sarah, who is out on a mission, is unable to escape from her jealous side and decides to come back to Chuck's apartment to see who he is dating. Her investigation leads her to the Double Date with Morgan to find out Chuck is just trying to make her jealous. In an extremely awkward moment shared between them, Sarah realizes that she has true feelings for Chuck and wants to be with him but the very thought of bringing harm to him haunts her. She doesn’t want to obey her orders and continue pretending not to have any emotional attachment to Chuck. She admits it to Casey, who tells her that he doesn't care about her love life and that she should decide what she wants.

As the episode progresses, the two stories, Chuck and Sarah's love life and Casey's mission, start to connect. During the mission in Shanghai, Casey and his team come across the buyer for the Fulcrum agents, but he manages to escape their grasp. Casey knows that the only way to catch him is by using the Fulcrum agent that they captured earlier. He figures that they could catch the buyer by using the captured agent as a decoy. Now this newfound practicality resonates with Sarah and now she has seen a way to finally reunite with Chuck.

The episode wraps up with Sarah making a surprise visit to Chuck, who is still trying to move on by calling an escort to come over. But she reveals to him that she has broken the rules and indeed loves him, finally giving Chuck the closure and security he has been longing for all along. Meanwhile, the team in Shanghai carries out their plan successfully and Casey captures the buyer, helping the CIA cripple the Fulcrum agency's operations.

Overall Chuck Versus the Breakup is a solidly entertaining episode that proves that Chuck's second season is off to a great start. The episode features several standout moments, such as Casey's badass fighting sequence and Chuck's humorous attempts at making Sarah jealous. The episode's ending sets the stage for Chuck and Sarah's reconciliation but also leaves the viewers with a cliffhanger in the form of Fulcrum being on alert after CIA's team broke down their operations. Everything is set up perfectly for the next episode to come.