‘Castle’ 5.22 Episode Recap and Review: Still

Good Morning Castle fans! How about a cup of coffee and the morning paper to get your day started off right? All delivered to you bedside by Rick Castle, now that would be a pretty great way to start any day! Beckett seems to agree. She had long night working a case. In fact, it is the one on the front page of the newspaper. A bombing of a downtown apartment. Castle is intrigued and a tiny bit miffed that she didn’t call him in on this one, it looks interesting. But he had a chapter due last night and Beckett was trying to let him work, being ever so considerate. Of course, Castle would have rather been working the case. Beckett explains that they are waiting on traffic camera footage to help identify a suspect seen fleeing the scene in a silver hatchback. She needs to get going because that footage should be in by now. But Castle has other ideas, why not let Esposito look into the footage while they spend some quality time together. Beckett gives him a smile and climbs into his lap. She really does need to go, but she is powerless to resist Castle’s charms. At least that is what Castle says. In his mind, she has never been able to resist him, right from the beginning. Really? She is about to expand on why he is so very wrong about that when her phone rings.

Traffic camera footage of the area surrounding the apartment has turned up the car and they have matched it to a man named Archibald Fosse. He blew up his bookie six years ago and his conviction was recently overturned. So, he is a free man. But it seems freedom isn’t good enough for Fosse and he may have returned to his old ways .As the team approaches the apartment building they meet Mr. Diego Jimenez, a baseball card collector who had an appointment with Fosse this morning. So, if Fosse is expecting company, then he should be home.

The NYPD isn’t taking any chances on Fosse not wanting to answer the door, they take it down with a battering ram. They quickly clear the apartment, but Beckett sees Fosse fleeing the scene out a window and calls Ryan and Espo to grab him. They catch him, but not before he activates something using a remote device he had in hand. About that time Beckett steps on something in the apartment. Something that feels a lot like the pressure plate of a bomb. Everyone clears the room, everyone except Castle. He is staying with Beckett. He is sure this is nothing, who puts a live bomb in their own apartment?? Well, it seems Fosse does. The bomb squad is in the apartment below and Captain Mahoney comes up to give them an update. Beckett is definitely standing on a bomb, but it appears to be the only one in the room. He assures them that they will get it deactivated, they just need a little time. He does try to get Castle to leave but Rick isn’t having it. Beckett needs a bomb buddy to distract her from the boredom and inevitable fatigue the coming hours will bring. So, he is staying, did anyone expect less?

Back at the station Espo, Ryan, and Gates are trying to get to the bottom of why Fosse would boobytrap his own apartment. The victim of last night’s bombing had testified against Fosse at his trial, so this looks like it could be a revenge killing. Is it possible that the bomb was there just in case the cops dropped by for a visit? Could he be looking for revenge on the NYPD?

Okay, here is where I am going to deviate from my usual recap method. Most of this episode is made up of a great montage of clips from the previous 5 years. These are great scenes, but I am not going to spend a lot of time trying to describe them. So, here are the basics, Castle is trying to distract Beckett by returning to their earlier discussion of first attraction. This leads to a great back and forth, rehashing lots of great moments in their growing relationship. While this is going on Espo and Ryan are still trying to work the case but their efforts are hampered at first by Fosse’s ridiculous demand for amnesty from prosecution and then by Fosse’s untimely death.

As it becomes apparent to Kate that she may not make it out of this alive (there is a timer on the bomb and we are down to 30 minutes) she tries to get Castle to leave, but he isn’t having it. She does manage to get a promise from him that when the time comes he will do something for her that she will not be able to do for herself. Castle isn’t giving up hope though, he is still looking for answers, trying to understand Fosse’s story so he can unravel the plan. It has to tie back to Diego somehow. The baseball cards are laying there on the kitchen counter, along with a receipt that shows Fosse purchased them just last week. So this meeting was a set up, a way to get Diego into his apartment, but why?

We are down to 10 minutes and it is time for Castle to go. He resists, but Beckett reminds him of his promise. This is the thing he must do for her, he must leave. This is a touching scene full of I love you’s (FINALLY!!). Once Rick is gone Beckett calls her Dad and leaves a message on his voicemail, a final I love you and goodbye. Just as she seems to be at peace with her fate she hears a familiar voice. Castle is back. It seems she wasn’t specific enough with that promise. He promised to leave, but not to stay gone.

Rick is not giving up. What’s he supposed to do, walk out the door while she is standing all the way over there by herself?? And then it hits him, why is she way over there in the middle of the room, next to the kitchen island? If Fosse was looking to kill cops, why isn’t the bomb by the door? Because the bomb was never meant for cops, it was meant for Diego. There is a laptop right there on the table within Beckett’s reach. Castle takes a look at the browser history and discovers that Fosse was looking for someone. But who?

His old girlfriend, that’s who. She is the one person tied to his case that has been scrubbed from the official record. When he was released from prison she went into hiding with their son. This is who Fosse is looking for and his kid and he was planning to force Diego into helping him. Diego has access to state school records in his work and Fosse wanted to use them to find his son. His son’s name, that has to be the code to deactivate the bomb. And they have it, his name is William. Shorten that to Billy and you have it! The bomb is deactivated and all is well. As Castle and Beckett exit the building Beckett turns to him and thanks him for staying with her, to which he responds, “always”. Just as she leans in to kiss him the team pulls up, including Captain Gates. This seems to be a close call, did she see the aborted kiss??

I LOVE this scene. Last week I was wondering about Gates. Well, it seems she is not as clueless as our team might have thought. She sees the look exchanged between Rick and Kate and tells Kate to “Kiss the man!”. She has known for a while (she has eyes, after all) but needed to maintain some plausible deniability. And she can continue to do that, as long as our couple can keep it professional in the workplace. They can do that, as long as Beckett can keep her hands to herself (this is Castle, of course). And we close with a kiss.

As usual, a great episode. I especially like the way the writers wrapped up the Gates question for me. Good work writers!! 🙂

I can’t wait for next week to see what happens next! See you then!

Responses

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  1. I loved the Gates scene too. I didn’t give her enough credit. After all she made Captain, so she must be a savvy detective.
    Overall a great episode which could be used as a farewell when the time comes….a few seasons from now. Like Beckett said They’re just getting started.
    Thanks for the recap!

  2. loved the episode, i too loved the scene with Gates at the end. loved the flashbacks of their relationship seeing them become who they are now. they are such a great couple 🙂

  3. Thanks for the recap. So Gates knew! I thought she would confront them when she was sure. Also enjoyed seeing the progression of the relationship over the years, so nice to see a stable and happy couple on TV. And finally the I love you words….just getting started, indeed.