This review may contain spoilers.

Towards the end of the shows lackluster third season, co-executive producer promised that season four would be about family. With Linda Hamilton as the mysterious Bartowski matriarch and spy extraordinaire and the announcement of Ellies pregnancy, it would certainly seem that way, wouldnt it?

The episode split Team Bartowski into pairs -- Chuck (Zachary Levi) with Morgan (Joshua Gomez) and Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) with Casey (Adam Baldwin) -- and kept them separate for the majority of it. As expected, the bromance pair provided a number of laughs at their dorkiness and complete lack of spy finesse. On the actual spy front, Sarah and Casey faced off against Dolph Lundgren, who let them know, of course, that he must break them. The episode itself was nothing phenomenal though, as it temporarily continued last seasons trend of Chuck and Sarahs being strained by secrets and lies, but all was solved, just in time for the two to celebrate their anniversary.

What was new was the Buy More. Sure, it still looks the same, but now its a full-fledged NSA/CIA cover operation (farewell, Orange Orange?), with General Beckman (Bonita Friedericy) as the new manager and Special Guest Star Olivia Munn as an agent that Morgan managed to fall in love with in five seconds flat.

Theres no telling if this season of Chuck will regain the spark it once had, particularly in its sophomore season, or if it will continue down the same tumultuous path as the previous one. Hopefully, its the former, but probably, its the latter.

What Worked

Is there any chance of Morgan going on another mission (its important to use the term loosely when referring to Morgan) as Charles Carmichaels brother, Michael Carmichael?

What Didn't Work

Going back to this season being all about family, its kind of hard to believe a claim like that when Chuck didnt even interact with Ellie until the last five minutes of the episode. For a while, it seemed like she wasnt even going to be in the episode. Lucky for Sarah Lancaster, she was in the episode. The same cant be said for Captain Awesome (Ryan McPartlin) or the original Buy More crew (whose purpose is a bit iffy if the Buy More is now a completely government-run operation), though.

And again, theres no telling what direction this season will go in. This wasnt the shows strongest premiere, so well see.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

"Chuck Versus the Anniversary" was written Chris Fedak and directed by Robert Duncan McNeil. Chuck stars Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, Joshua Gomez, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Scott Krinsky, Vik Sahay, Bonita Friedericy, Ryan McPartlin, Sarah Lancaster, Adam Baldwin.

Chuck airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.