Chuck Episode 4.19 Chuck Versus the Muuurder

Ellie sits before the Orion computer, mesmerized by her father's work. Devon finds her in the zone. Ellie is so focused on her father's research that she doesn't even realize that Baby Clara is beside her in her bassinet. Devon thinks maybe it's not such a good idea for Ellie to be digging around in her father's computer, because it could be dangerous. Ellie dismisses the concern, goes back to work.

At Castle, we see that Director Bentley is somehow able to monitor Ellie's work! Just then, she gets a text from Chuck that General Beckman wants them in the conference room. She joins Casey, Sarah, Morgan and Chuck as General Beckman instructs them from the monitor. General Beckman relays the agency's new agenda: to find Intersect candidates as similar to Chuck as possible. She tasks Chuck with finding more "Chucks," and makes him the team leader. Chuck savors being in charge, a moment four years in the making. Bitter, Director Bentley tells Chuck that she hopes he enjoys this, because she'll be back in charge as soon as Chuck and his "stupid pocket protector" screw it up. With that, Bentley strides out. Chuck turns to the rest of the team and pulls out four dossiers of candidates who will be arriving in an hour.

Later, the team watches from the Nerd Herd Desk as the four candidates enter Buy More. They are: (1) Lewis, a tech ops specialist who was a star hacker at 14 and has the added bonus of a British accent; (2) Josie, a psy ops genius whose sense of intuition makes her great in an interrogation room; (3) Damian, a former Navy Seal who looks like a stereotypical terrorist, and who has been embedded in various terrorist cells over the past 10 years for that reason; and (4) Brody, who is nerdy, emotional, into his family and friends... basically a carbon copy of Chuck. The team runs the candidates through various tests. Casey handles physical testing, Sarah does the psychological evaluations, and Morgan is in charge of evaluating the candidates' cultural knowledge.

After a week of training, it's time for Chuck to pick which candidate will be the new Intersect. Chuck equivocates, even asks Bentley for her opinion, which is that Chuck is going to screw this up. Chuck does not like being her nemesis. Casey tells Chuck to stop trying to befriend Bentley and watch his back. Chuck finally makes his decision and texts his choice, Brody, that he's his guy. Brody gets the message as he's walking down the hallway, then catches someone in gloved hands making a bomb! And the bombmaker is not pleased to have been caught. The bombmaker takes a knife and plunges it into Brody's chest. He falls to the ground, dead. There's been a MUUURDER!!!

Morgan finds Big Mike dressed in a giant cube costume with a "BM" on it. Morgan wonders why Big Mike is wearing the Big BM, as he thought they retired it. Big Mike says it's for a special sale, and reports that Large Mart is having the same exact promotion. Morgan is frustrated - that's five promotions Large Mart has copied from Buy More! Big Mike says they have to do something special if they hope to beat Large Mart. Morgan tells Big Mike that he doesn't have to wear the Big BM, but Big Mike assures Morgan that it gives him job satisfaction. Big Mike reminds Morgan that he sets the tone, and Buy More is a special place - it can be fun there. Big Mike steps outside and is immediately abducted by a group of ski-mask-clad men in a Large Mart van.

As Chuck checks various areas of Castle for Brody, he gets a call from Devon. Devon tells Chuck that he's got some bad news. Ellie has been working on their dad's computer. Chuck wonders how Ellie got it back. Devon explains that a woman who claimed that the Buy More tech guys gave it to her by mistake brought it over. Chuck realizes who must've returned the computer to Ellie. Chuck instructs Devon to stop Ellie's work immediately, especially because she seems to be making progress. Devon knows Chuck is right, but Ellie is so happy and he thinks it's making her feel close to their dad again. Chuck suggests that Devon replace the hard drive with a blank one when Ellie's not looking and she'll just think the computer broke again.

Chuck confronts Bentley about giving the Orion computer to Ellie. Bentley first denies it, but then admits that she did. Chuck explains that he feels very strongly about keeping Ellie away from the CIA and he hopes Bentley will respect that. Bentley bluntly tells Chuck that the problem is she doesn't respect HIM, and walks out. Chuck charges down the hallway after her. Suddenly, he slips and hits the floor, hard. He slipped on a large puddle of blood. They follow the trail to Brody's dead body. Lewis passes by and sees the body.

At Castle, Sarah suggests that the killer has to be one of the recruits or Bentley, since they're the only ones who've been in Castle for a week besides them. Casey disarms the recruits and Bentley. Chuck freaks out that Brody was killed on his watch, his first time in charge, no less. Sarah advises him to stay calm and confident. Chuck announces that Castle is in lockdown. He pulls Casey and Sarah aside for a sidebar. The recruits question why they're above suspicion. Chuck responds that Casey has saved his life numerous times and Sarah is his fiance. Chuck announces that the killer must be one of the rest of them and everyone turns toward Damian, who takes offense at the profiling. He announces that he's leaving. Chuck tries to stop him, but Damian gets to an exit. Just as he opens the door, there's a BOOM - a bomb has exploded! Damian and Chuck are thrown to the ground.

In the aftermath of the bomb, everything is offline. Casey gets the emergency lights up and Josie tends to Damian's wounds. Damian just wants to leave. Chuck begins to panic. Sarah advises him that part of leadership is convincing everyone that you have everything under control. She encourages Chuck by reminding him that he disarmed a nuclear bomb with a juice box. Sarah tells Casey they've got to present a united front and support Chuck for the good of the mission.

Meanwhile, Devon is in the middle of switching out the hard drive on the Orion computer when Ellie bursts in to share that she's had a breakthrough. Ellie figured out that her father was working on a way to input knowledge into a person's brain without them having to learn it. She's convinced her father left the computer to her in order for her to figure this out. Devon guiltily slips the hard drive into his back pocket.

At Castle, Chuck and Sarah interrogate Bentley. Chuck accuses Bentley of having more motive than anyone, as she hates that Chuck is in charge and has made it clear that she wants Chuck's program to fail. Bentley insists she would never do anything like this. Chuck says Bentley is the only one who knew that Brody was his first choice. Bentley points out that everyone knew.

Next up is Josie, whom Sarah accuses of using her psy ops expertise to manipulate them with emotion. Sarah is sure Josie is hiding something. She is - but not that she's a murderer, it's the fact that she was dumped by her boyfriend last week for being... too emotional. Chuck puts Damian on the hot seat. Chuck accuses Damian of covering his things in sand to throw off their X-ray equipment. Damian insists that all of his things are covered in sand because HE'S always covered in sand and the CIA won't send him anywhere where there isn't sand. Next, Chuck pulls a boombox out of Damian's bag. Damian says it's all they had the cave and it doesn't even work - too much sand. Finally, they question Lewis. Lewis is an elite bomb specialist, and Chuck wonders what his motive is, competition? Sarah pulls a large knife out of Lewis' bag, which Lewis explains away.

With the interrogations concluded, Chuck and Sarah talk to Casey via walkie talkie. The murderer could still be any of the suspects. Chuck comments that all they know is that whoever the killer was, they sat in the interrogation chair. Suddenly, Chuck sees a blinking bomb underneath the chair, and it's about to go off! Chuck and Sarah dive into the hallway just as it explodes. Damian's caught another piece of shrapnel and is unconscious. Casey finds them and brings them to where he's gathered the others, everyone except Lewis. Sarah thinks Lewis set off the bomb so he could get away, which means Lewis is the killer.

Morgan questions Jeff and Lester about Kevin Bacon's whereabouts. Big Mike is in danger and they're hiding Kevin Bacon! Jeff and Lester won't talk.

Back at Castle, Damian remains unconscious as Casey, Sarah, Josie, Bentley and Chuck prepare to hunt for Lewis. Chuck muses about Lewis' motives and Bentley wonders if Chuck would rather sit around and talk some more rather than hunt Lewis. Chuck snaps to it, declaring he wants to take Lewis down. As they search for Lewis, Chuck apologizes to Bentley for accusing her of murder, saying that if she promises to stay away from Ellie, they can get past this, maybe even be friends. Bentley tells Chuck his problem is that he wants people to like him too much. A leader shouldn't care about that.

Chuck starts to argue with Bentley when suddenly, she shushes him. They hear a creaking sound coming from the ducts. Elsewhere, Sarah and Josie hear the same noise through the ceiling. Casey's right beneath what they think is Lewis. He opens the ceiling flap to find... Kevin Bacon.

In Morgan's office, Jeff and Lester finally confess - they set Kevin Bacon free in the ducts.

Chuck, Sarah and Casey discuss the killer still being out there, and it's either Bentley or Josie. Both Bentley and Josie deny being the killer. Josie accuses them, and she and Bentley point their guns at Chuck, Sarah and Casey - it's a full-on Mexican standoff! Chuck thinks back through the events of the week. He announces that he knows who the killer is. Chuck tells Josie he knows she's not a murderer because when he was looking through her things, he found the pregnancy stick and knows she's expecting. That brings Chuck to the person his suspicions have been pointing to all along. He circles Bentley as though accusing her, then whispers to the group that he knows it's not Bentley, he just wanted to get them all over to one side of the room so that he could tell them that Damian is the killer, and Chuck thinks he's armed.

The group, including Bentley (whose respect Chuck has earned), is making a plan to capture Damian when he steps forward. He threatens to blow up a bomb in his boombox if they don't let him go. Chuck has figured Damian out and he goes over all Damian's moves in his various attempts to escape. But they still don't know Damian's motives or who he's working for. Damian confesses that he came for Chuck. Chuck tells Damian they're not going to let him leave. As Damian holds up the detonator, Bentley shoots him in the arm. But it's too late - Damian hit the button and the bomb is ticking down! Chuck examines the bomb, realizes he can't defuse it in time because there are too many security measures. Bentley tells Chuck to keep everyone as far from the Intersect room as possible, then races out with the bomb.

Chuck follows Bentley. Bentley explains that the Intersect room is the only place in Castle that can contain the blast, and with the power out, she'll have to close the door with a manual release - from the inside. Chuck thinks there must be another way. But Bentley pulls a gun on Chuck and declares that this is what a leader does. Bentley shuts herself inside. Sarah races up, finds Chuck on the other side of the door. Inside the Intersect room, Bentley waits for the bomb to go off. But then Chuck slides the door open. He hotwired the pocket protector that Bentley had made fun of. He grabs her and they sprint out. The bomb goes off and everyone runs for cover - including Kevin Bacon, who falls out of the duct and into Chuck's arms.

Later that night, General Beckman addresses Chuck, Sarah, Casey and Bentley. She congratulates Chuck for being a true leader, announcing that they're sticking with his team. For now, Chuck will remain the only Intersect because it's too dangerous to put it into a new recruit. Director Bentley will be reassigned in Washington. Chuck credits his team, and also adds a word of praise for Bentley. After Beckman signs off, Bentley apologizes to Chuck for underestimating him. Chuck thanks her, says it's good not to have a nemesis anymore. Bentley also advises him that Ellie's incredibly smart and if anyone can figure out the Intersect, it's her. So Chuck might want to reconsider keeping her from her path.

Meanwhile, Morgan has the Buy Morons lined up again, strategizing over how to get Big Mike back. Jeff turns and sees Big Mike approaching. He escaped! They hear a noise and turn to the front of the store - the Large Mart employees have set the giant BM on fire. Big Mike shrugs it off, they can always make another BM. Just then, Chuck walks in carrying Kevin Bacon. All in a day's work.

Chuck, Sarah and Casey arrive home. Chuck spots Devon outside, tells Sarah he'll be right in. Devon assures Chuck that he's made the hard drive switch. But... when Devon returns inside, we see that Ellie is still working on the functioning Orion computer - Devon never switched the hard drives. Devon confirms to Ellie that they're not going to tell Chuck about this. Ellie says no, they don't want him to worry.

At Chuck and Sarah's, Chuck thanks Sarah and Casey for all their help and support. He acknowledges that the Intersect is the three of them working together, that's why it works. Beckman interrupts the moment with the news that Damian wasn't going after the Intersect, he simply wanted to bomb Castle. Damian was hired by Vivian Volkoff to go after the man who took down her father. They'll have to remain on high alert for now, and Chuck accepts that he's someone's nemesis for real this time.