(S03E10) The mission tonight was all about decisions. Decisions, decisions. Turned out there were choices made in the past, present and future that had a major effect on Chuck, Sarah and Casey, especially the latter. For more on that, and Robert Patrick's bad breath, read on after the jump.

Previous episodes revealed that Casey had an alias. When you realized why Lt. Alexander Coburn took the Tic Tac from James Keller, Robert Patrick's character, how the military had just dashed his dreams, it all made sense. Casey wanted to be more than one of the few, the proud, the Marines. Keller was the devil and Casey succumbed.

Chuck never believed that Casey was bad, even after getting Casey's gun barrel pressed to his chest. And Sarah believed in him, too. The two were willing to risk their careers for Casey. Beckman, on the other hand, was as cold as ice. Apparently you're only as valuable as your last mission. Even after everything was over, she still drummed Casey out of government service. Goodbye, Colonel. Hello, Mr. Casey.

By the way, what was the upshot of the pill, the Laudanol? After taking it, Chuck was Super Chuck. Maybe more like the Incredible Hulk, only not green. He couldn't be stopped and he was really happy being violent and hard, until Sarah brought him back to himself. But if that was the only sample of the drug, isn't it gone now? That would make the mission a bust, wouldn't it?

The way Chuck went after the attack team at Kathleen's was too much like Casey going after Keller. The choking and lifting off the ground bit? We'd just seen it. Speaking of repeats, wasn't the 'Charlie's Angel' infiltration of the security location -- the flipping and gymnastics -- pretty much what Chuck does every time he flashes? They need to give him some different bells and whistles when he flashes.

So it all came down to choice. Casey chose to accept being drummed out of the CIA, and chose not to pursue Kathleen, even though she had had his child. He wasn't able to change the decision he had made years before, meaning that he wasn't going to acknowledge his own daughter, Alex. At least not this week, but it would be unrealistic if they don't return to this story line. Casey now has a back story, and a future story.

Meanwhile, Sarah chose to explore a future with Shaw in D.C. at the same time Casey was advising Chuck to make a move on Sarah. A real move. A declaration of love.

But the real choices and declaration of loves were reserved for Ellie and Devon. Ellie confided to Chuck that being with Devon was the best choice she ever made, so she was ready to give up her dream for him. Like the 'Gift of the Magi,' when she gave up what she wanted -- the USC fellowship -- for Devon, he'd already decided to stay in L.A. and not do Doctors Without Borders so Ellie could have what she wanted.

Other points of interest

-- The 'Mork and Mindy' marathon?

-- The original 'Planet of the Apes' wasn't Morgan's fave because the upper lips didn't move on the apes. Of course, that's how Chuck knew Morgan was doing Casey's bidding.

-- Morgan and Devon's face off was like the Three Stooges, only with two of them. "You go first. No, you go first."

-- I liked Stanley Fitzroy, "It means son of the king." He was sort of a nerdy spy-proofer, someone Chuck could befriend.

[Watch 'Chuck' at SlashControl.]