Chuck escorts Lester and Jeff to do an install on a private boat owned by philanthropist Lon Kirk (Michael Wiseman) to keep the two out of trouble.

Regardless, the situation between them remains strained and is only made worse when, at the charity event that night, Chuck grows increasingly jealous while Sarah flirts with Kirk as part of the operation.

He loses $100,000 at a roulette wheel as a result of trying to show up the philanthropist, but also flashes on an attache to the Taiwanese ambassador, whom he sees Kirk arguing with.

The next morning Chuck watches Casey washing his prized 1985 Crown Vic, and asks what Beckman meant by Sarah using any means necessary to get close to Kirk as part of her investigation.

Sarah somberly asks Casey if he's ever wanted to have a normal life, to which he responds that sacrificing that to protect the nation and its people was the right choice.

Chuck returns to work where Morgan sends him a picture of himself taking a cruise with Anna and her parents, and catches a glimpse of one of Kirk's crates.

Chuck realizes Kirk put the counterfeit plates on the boat belonging to the attache whom Anna's parents work for, but Casey refuses to act since Beckman has benched the team.

Chuck insists anyway, and after explaining and telling her Morgan and Anna are on the boat, she unhesitatingly jumps to help (against standing orders from Beckman and Graham).

Morgan joins Anna and her family for a cruise aboard the Taiwanese attache's boat, unaware that Kirk has stowed the crates containing counterfeit plates and plans to destroy it.

Given events of later seasons of the series, this episode also helps establish the depth of Sarah's connection to Chuck, even at an early stage.

While TV Squad found the "will they won't they" tension between Chuck and Sarah stale and repetitive, IGN reacted more favorably, particularly citing the acting of Levi and Strahovski.

[4] Reviews responded positively to the Buy More holiday party and particularly the scene of Casey washing his titular Crown Vic.