Zachary Levi—the title star and stirring straw of “Chuck”—made his directorial debut with this episode.  How did he do?  Read more to find out (but beware of spoilers).

Chuck gets sent on a mission … with Hannah?

In one of the best orchestrated scenes of the series (and they’ve had some good ones!) Chuck is left hanging upside down in the vault trying to grab the mask while Sarah is fighting for her life above the vault. Meanwhile, Hannah--just doing her Nerdy job--is trying to open the vault doors with the computer. Casey, however, is trying to override Hannah and keep the doors closed. Chuck gets the mask, Sarah clobbers the bad-guy, Hannah gets the door open just in time and Shaw manages to evade the detection of the bad guys while Casey remains safely undetected. All would be hunky-dory if not for the fact that Hannah thinks Chuck still has feelings for Sarah and is just playing her.

[Warning: I write this review while sitting slope-side in Colorado, so I can't guarantee my ability to stay focused.]

Chuck got his first solo mission this past Monday night, much to the objection of Sarah and Casey.  But Shaw was determined to send Chuck on this mission and see if he had the makings of a "real" agent.

or "Chuck vs. the Angel of Death"

Moving back to its regular day and timeslot, “Chuck”’s pseudo-premiere (or, second premiere in as many days) was the best new “Chuck” of the season.

We start off with a fairly gratuitous scene of Awesome and Ellie’s first encounter, then flash to the present where Ellie is lamenting that, since getting married, they’ve become a boring couple. On top of that, her brother—who was supposed to come hook up their new TV—didn’t show (and has been missing a lot of family get-togethers lately, it seems).