(S3E09) The lies and lies have finally reached critical mass for some of the people in Chuck's life. Last week, Hannah vamoosed because of Chuck's duplicity. Awesome has been completely off his game. And this episode, the beard had had enough. If you wonder who the beard is, you probably don't watch much. However, if you do and want to know how Iwo Jima was homaged in Burbank, keep reading after the jump.

The team was forced to face the fact that the Intersect has problems. That means Chuck, and he's as unreliable as a Toyota accelerator pedal these days. The fact that Casey, Sarah and Shaw would go on a mission without someone more reliable than faulty Agent Carmichael was a major hole in the plot, but why quibble? It created the perfect situation for some significant story line development.

You might have suspected that when faced with real danger, Morgan would crumble. Not so. He was actually like a commercial for the Marines, ready to die for the Buy More ... and America. It was good to see Chuck in a situation where no earpiece with instructions from the CIA could bail him out, as if they would know what to say to get through to Morgan anyway.

When Morgan finally learned the truth, his reaction was perfect. He was proud of his best friend. He even rehired him as his best friend. Morgan was able to see through all of Chuck's defensiveness about Sarah and help him connect to his emotions. Once Chuck was able to accept that Sarah owns his heart, Chuck's Intersect rebooted. A little obvious, you know A + B = C, but something had to give so that Chuck could move forward as a spy and a potential love interest for Sarah. Although Shaw is still in the way.

The Buy More story actually was connected to the spy story in a real way. Since Shaw was identified in a previous episode -- at the museum -- the Ring was able to infiltrate Castle by finding the way through Buy More. The Buymoria nation was moved to fight, because even if Jeff and Lester and Big Mike hate their jobs, it's all they got. Jeffster's song was the sound of liberty for sure. A little out of left field, but so what.

Now what? Shaw was right about putting Morgan in Witness Protection. Morgan's not the type to put it in the vault and throw away the key. Heck, even Awesome has struggled to keep Chuck's secret. So, is Chuck safe or has he put himself in an even more dangerous situation? The latter, most likely, because that's what the show is all about.

Other points of interest

-- Has Devon really lost it? Doctors Without Borders? Chuck will never see them again.

-- The Ring cell phone is still a piece of crap. Even 'Star Trek' communicators circa 1966 were better looking.

-- What hallucinogenic was Jeff stashing in his locker to take the edge off?

-- It's hard to fear Diedrich Bader, although the straight razor was a good weapon. I still think of him from 'The Drew Carey Show.'

-- Is it prudent that the CIA has a self-destruct mechanism to destroy Castle, but not a secret way to bypass all the regular entries so they can make an emergency break in?

-- Morgan to Chuck after seeing him in action: "That was incredible. You were like Bruce Lee, Van Dam, Seagal all rolled into one."

Chuck to Casey when he was left behind at the store: "You're only as good as your last flash."

[Watch 'Chuck' at SlashControl.]