Plot Summary
The episode opens with Chuck and Sarah meeting with Chuck's father. Stephen catches up on his and Ellie's life, and Chuck confronts him about coming to Ellie's wedding. Stephen is reluctant, but finally agrees to return home. Chuck brings him back to the apartment, but the reunion with Ellie doesn't go as planned. She retreats to her room after being overwhelmed by seeing their father again, but Chuck convinces her to forgive him for leaving. The reunion becomes more awkward when Stephen rants about many things he claims to have invented that were stolen by Ted Roark (Chevy Chase). Among his father's possessions is an advertisement for a major tech show where Roark's latest computer operating system is to be released, which Chuck flashes on.
At Castle, Beckman briefs the team. Chatter has led them to believe a virus is being released in the operating system, and she orders them to investigate. A job interview is arranged for Chuck, under his own identity, which Sarah encourages him he's more than qualified on his own for, even though it's just for the mission. The next morning Chuck arrives at Roark Industries and performs well at the interview. He is immediately hired and introduced to Roark, whom Chuck had dreamed of working for since Stanford. As he's leaving, he's spotted by Jeff and Lester, who will be attending the launch. They tell Morgan they just saw him leaving Roark's headquarters as a new employee. That night at dinner, Morgan lets slip about Chuck's new "job," which upsets Stephen as he believes Roark destroyed his life.
At the launch the next day, Casey and Sarah attempt to break in to stop it, but are unable to bypass security. The situation becomes more serious when Chuck flashes on a Fulcrum agent on stage with Roark. With no other options, Chuck bursts on stage in an effort to warn Roark that his operating system is believed to contain a virus, but he doesn't believe him. Chuck grabs the controls that will initiate the launch and attempts to escape, but fails. Stephen and Ellie were watching the conference on Stephen's laptop when Chuck attempts to disrupt the launch, and Ellie is angered because she believes Chuck threw his dream job away for his father, even though Stephen denies putting him up to it.
Upset with the way the Intersect has ruined his life, Chuck goes through the documents left to him by Orion to piece together what he was supposed to do to free himself of the Intersect. Stephen interrupts to tell him he didn't want Chuck to ruin his own career just for him, and if he wants to work for Roark it's ok with him. As he leaves, Chuck notices that the layout of Roark's offices matches the diagram in Orion's documents. He realizes that Roark is building a full-scale Intersect system for Fulcrum, but Casey and Sarah don't believe him without solid proof. He takes it upon himself to infiltrate the office to investigate himself after tranquilizing Casey when he tries to stop him.
Chuck breaks into Roark's campus, but before he can get far, he has to take cover when his father barges in demanding to speak to Roark and set things right for his son. Roark tells the Fulcrum agent Chuck flashed on earlier that he'll deal with Stephen personally. After the agent punches Stephen in the gut Chuck bursts from cover and starts shooting with his tranquilizer guns. He runs out of ammunition, with Roark's security staring at him for a moment before they all collapse. Chuck tries to get his father to leave when they encounter Vincent, (Arnold Vosloo) who tells them it's good to see them both again. Stephen then takes control of the security door with a wrist-mounted computer and uses it to incapacitate Vincent before revealing the truth to Chuck that he was Orion all along, and left Chuck and Ellie to protect them once he realized what the government wanted the Intersect for, and that there were others who wanted it just as badly.
He leads Chuck deep into the heart of Roark's complex, and teaches Chuck that he can flash intentionally to open a door locked with a cipher. There they find the nearly complete Fulcrum Intersect. Stephen prepares to use it to remove the data from Chuck's brain but they are interrupted by Roark and Vincent. Roark is about to have Chuck killed when Stephen steps in on his behalf, telling Roark that Chuck is his son, and promises to help as long as he's allowed to walk away. Roark agrees and lets Chuck leave while Stephen is taken to a helicopter. Just before the door shuts between them Casey and Sarah arrive, and Stephen tells him he was wrong when he told him not to trust his handlers. Back at Castle, Beckman makes clear the consequences of Roark escaping both with the Intersect and Orion, but tells them that she will put the government's best team on it. Chuck stands up to Beckman and tells her that Operation Bartowski is her best team, and demands to be part of the effort to rescue his father. Beckman relents when Casey sides with Chuck, but warns him not to allow his personal feelings to get in the way.
Back at home, Ellie is heartbroken thinking that their father has left them again, but Chuck tells her not to give up on him.
Read more about this topic: Chuck Versus The Dream Job
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