Moscow Mules and Mama Bears: Killer Frost on the Season Premiere of Chuck

And that's how you kick off a brand new season.

Last night brought the fourth season premiere of NBC's action-comedy Chuck ("Chuck Versus the Anniversary") and I hope that the episode delivered all of the espionage-tinged goodness that I promised in my advance review of the season opener last week.

I had also teased readers via Twitter about the premiere ("Chuck premiere: sexting, skydiving, Seinfeld references, (Harry Dean) Stanton? Sensational. Very fun opener.") and the episode held up extremely well under a second viewing in the time between now and then.

For me, anyway, "Chuck Versus the Anniversary" was perhaps the perfect way to begin a new chapter in the life of Chuck Bartowski, a character who has slowly evolved over the course of three seasons from reluctant hero to tragic hero to, well, just plain hero. His decision to take hold of his own destiny, to set out with Morgan on a personal quest to track down his mother may have not lead him to the answers he sought but it did bring him back together with his old team and put him in position to rescue Sarah and Casey for a change.

As we all know that secrets between lovers is never, ever a good thing, the writers were wise to have Sarah find out about Chuck's globe-spanning secret mission before the episode was out... and to have her offer her help and support to tracking down Mama Bartowski.

But, this is Chuck, after all, so it's only fitting that Mary Elizabeth Bartowski--a.k.a. The Frost Queen--isn't some abducted housewife but rather a bad-ass spy herself, a dangerous woman with the ability to take down a man about four times her size without breaking a nail. While Chuck might think he's doing a good thing to find his mother--who now he knows didn't just walk out on them when they were children--he might be opening the door to even more danger in his life. After all, these are some powerful men who have Mary in their custody and, should she be able to make her escape after all this time, they're likely to be only too willing to track her down and take her in again. But Mary's made it clear that her motivations have less to do with escape and more to do with keeping her family safe. Especially Chuck.

So just who is Volkoff? That remains an intriguing mystery to be solved down the line, but suffice it to say that he's likely to be the big bad for the season. Does his involvement in international espionage and terrorism predate The Ring and Fulcrum? Certainly seems that way, which means that Volkoff must be quite dangerous indeed to have stayed off of the CIA and NSA's radar all this time.

But while the Mama Bartowski storyline cast a nicely dangerous shadow over the proceedings, the majority of the episode was pretty light and, well, light-hearted, a nice change of pace from the doom and gloom of Season Three. I absolutely loved the map of Chuck and Morgan traveling around the world in a random fashion, the sexting between Chuck and Sarah (and its very nice payoff at the end), Harry Dean Stanton's turn as a repo man after Morgan's car, the shout-out to Vandalay Industries from Seinfeld, Chuck's doom-ridden job interviews, General Beckman's new job at the Buy More, and the focus on the bromance between Chuck and Morgan.

And kudos too for not splitting up Chuck and Sarah but instead deepening their bond and having them come out the other side of a long-distance relationship all the more strong. I loved that Chuck defended his elision as not a lie but rather the fact that he was keeping a secret, leading the two to promise not to do either anymore. Some shows have serious difficulties keeping things interesting once the romantic leads give into temptation but so far Chuck has done a superb job keeping their relationship compelling and interesting.

The same holds true for the workplace element of the series. The Buy More has long been a source for comic relief amid the high-flying spy action and the romance and Chris Fedak and Josh Schwartz have upped the ante further by pushing the CIA/NSA deeper into the Buy More infrastructure, revealing a new twist to the workplace setting that combines the disparate aspects of the series into a single location. The Buy More becomes both Chuck's cover story and his true identity, a real sense of danger and intrigue amid the X-Boxes and flat-screen televisions.

I love that Beckman is now in charge of the Buy More and that it's staffed with crack agents from the joint intelligence divisions. But I'm curious just how Big Mike, Jeff, and Lester--all three absent from the season opener but still series regulars--will fit into the new world order at the store. Is there a place for Nerd Herders amid a store that can transform into a fully functional war room with the flick of a switch? Especially when two of them happen to be under investigation for arson? Hmmm...

All in all, a fantastic installment that offered the very best of Chuck's winning combination of genre-busting elements and which offered a very exciting direction for the season to come.

What did you think of the season opener? Did it live up to your expectations? Head to the comments section to discuss, debate, and analyze.

Next week on Chuck ("Chuck Versus the Suitcase"), Chuck and Sarah infiltrate the catwalks of the Milan fashion world in order to uncover a deadly weapons plot; Morgan discovers a fatal flaw that compromises the new Buy More.