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).

If you are a fan of the series “Chuck” but didn’t see this episode, don’t read this review.  About all I can say that doesn’t spoil anything is to tell you that Big Mike ordered too many crock-pots.

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.

Now that he’s a “real spy” Chuck has to start acting like one.  He’s assigned to take befriend a nerdy computer genius (but I repeat myself) who appears to have reverse engineered a copy of the intersect.  This is a problem for Chuck because he—unlike Casey—genuinely likes people and doesn’t like faking friendship.  Once he gets to know the young man, the friendship isn’t faked, but …

[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.

This episode makes for a second out-of-the-park homerun in as many weeks for NBC’s show “Chuck”. [Note: as everyone who follows me on Facebook knows, my interest in football ended Sunday afternoon and I am now in baseball mode.]

Last week’s episode of “Chuck” left us with the impression that Captain Awesome had been killed. An impression that lasted about 120 seconds because the preview for this week’s ep showed him alive and walking around (the only weakness in last week’s episode as the cliffhanger ending could have been better served by previews that didn’t take the surprise away).

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).