NBC's 'Chuck': new players -- and new enemies

After a few weeks of episodes feeling cut straight out of the show's signature mold, NBC's "chuck" did a bold thing on Monday night and presented us with some entirely new twists from what we've come to know and love from the series.

First, we had a murder mystery! After bringing in several candidates for new intersects into Castle, chuck -- who was appointed leader of the task by General Beckman -- quickly saw them all starting to suffer. His first choice for a candidate was killed in the hallway, and then one of the others nearly died in the explosion. The character were all relatively interesting in their own way -- from a man with a British accent who was only across the pond for four months to a disgruntled CIA worker who was constantly being shipped out to the desert due to his appearance. The way the mystery unfolded was satisfying, and it reached a conclusion that was a surprise at the end of the day.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of all, though, was seeing Awesome and Ellie actualy band together and lie to chuck about wiping the hard drive off of the now-infamous "intersect computer." Why would Awesome do this? As much as he wants to keep his wife out of trouble, he's seeing that this computer has given her a sense of happiness and peace while taking care of the baby. They may regret this, but this was one of the few times we've seen the show's most long-standing couple do something that is a little off the moral barometer.