Before we kick this off, I just wanted to mention this is a spoiler-free review. Enjoy!

I was fortunate enough to attend the NBC Fall Preview Party last night in Beverly Hills, CA at the Paley Center for Media. Chuck was the opening act for the party, and no better way to raise the stakes for what a Fall TV show should be.

The Q&A session before the premieres involved Chris Fedak, Zachary Levi, Josh Gomez, Adam Baldwin, and the executives for Life and Lipstick Jungle. Most of the questions were directed in Chuck’s way and it was only beneficial for me (or us?).

It was relatively brief and stuff we’ve read in interviews, but they did talk about the Back-9 and the fact that they’re already shooting episode 10. I wanted to ask how deep the story would go this season, and how many seasons it would stretch, but I never got around to it. The Q&A wrapped, and my First Date began.

The scene opens with a Christopher Nolan-style of storytelling flashing back between present and past before kicking off a new opening credit montage (Awesome, Big Mike, and the Herders have been added).

I stated this on the forum but I’ll state it here too.Do creators Josh Schwarz and Chris Fedak own the love story right out of the gate? Absolutely. And it’s a fantastic way to start the new season. The date is a very romantic one, but like everything in Chuck’s plans, not all goes to plan.

The other key aspect to the story of our season-opener is the device to Chuck’s freedom: the cipher. It’s the ‘brain’ of the new intersect and Team Bartowski’s job is to recover the stolen device and send it to Washington, resulting in Chuck’s freedom… or so we think.

Back at the Buy More, Chuck is  assigned to hire the new Assistant Manager, but ultimately leaves Morgan to decide his own scheme to decide who the new AM should be.

Chuck is back and better than ever. It wasn’t because it had been off the air for what felt like years, but because the 8-9 month break didn’t phase the creative stride that the writer’s had started in the 2nd half of the first season. It was funnier, it was very romantic, and ultimately a relief to see my (our?) favorite show back.

September 29th couldn’t come soon enough and I promise you won’t be disappointed.It was sad that Yvonne wasn’t there, but the episode did her justice all the same. She (like always) did a phenomenal job, and it’s good to finally see her back!