It felt like the wait would never end, but Chuck finally returned last night with back-to-back episodes that quickly made up for lost time. Naysayers concerned about the show’s new direction need only look to the first two episodes, which proved that Chuck is still Chuck—even though he can now totally kick your ass. Maybe. Here’s what we learned in “Chuck vs. The Pink Slip” and “Chuck vs. The Three Words.”

The Intersect 2.0 gave Chuck assorted superpowers, but it’s glitchy.
In addition to knocking out bad guys with one punch, Chuck displayed skill in acrobatics, daring escape, and, yes, guitar. But as with the first Intersect, Chuck doesn’t know exactly what's been downloaded to his brain: These spy tricks popped up without warning as Chuck “flashed” on them (a smart move on the part of Chuck’s creative team, who must have realized we don’t want a standard superhero). It’s nice to know that Chuck can screw up a bit before his new powers kick in.

Chuck and Sarah are still not together.
And they may not be for some time. In a flashback, we saw that Sarah asked Chuck to leave the training facility in Prague and run away with her. Chuck—and I can’t believe I’m typing this—chose spying. The revelation was tough for me to accept. At the end of last season, we saw Sarah willing to give it all up when she helped Chuck against orders, so this wasn’t entirely out of the blue. But Chuck has always been all about Sarah. The second episode cleared things up a bit with Chuck’s confession that he continued his spy training because Sarah taught him about the greater good: “I chose to be a spy, because Sarah, I love you.” More believable, I’ll admit, but it didn’t make my heart hurt any less.

The Buy More remains the place to be.
Although they quit their jobs at the Buy More last season,Chuck and Morgan were back in its employ by the end of “Chuck vs. The Pink Slip.” Having government connections helped—as did Emmett’s murder at the hand of a Ring assassin. I wasn’t too sad to see Emmett go, but I will miss seeing Tony Hale on my TV every week. To tell the truth, I was more upset to learn that Anna broke up with Morgan while they were in Hawaii. And it looks like she’s gone for good, as Julia Ling was conspicuously absent from the opening credits.