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).

Chuck vs. the Pink Slip

Suddenly, Chuck is back and he’s on a mission. But he’s suave and composed and, when he flashes, he kicks some bad-guy booty. But then, the escape falls flat because Chuck, we learn, can make himself flash. It only happens by accident. And then, it turns out this wasn't a real mission, but an elaborate training exercise.

So began the first episode of the third season of NBC’s “Chuck”.