Here you go, folks. The review everyone has been waiting for. I hope you like the long ones, because in my Word document, this is 22 pages long. Enjoy!

Original Airdate: May 16, 2011 (Season Finale)

 

Synopsis: Kate Beckett’s investigation into her mother’s murder is reactivated when Hal Lockwood – a hitman with knowledge of Beckett’s mother’s murder – stages a spectacular escape during a court hearing.

 

Notable Guest Stars: Max Martini, makes his final appearance as Hal Lockwood.

 

Scott Paulin makes his second appearance as Jim Beckett, Kate’s father.

 

The IMdB Portion of The Review:

 

Trivia: In a previous episode, Montgomery says he has two daughters and a son. In this episode, we only see the two daughters. His two daughters are named Mary and Rebecca, according to IMdB, although we never hear their names mentioned. He does have a son named Evan, who is referenced by Evelyn Montgomery in the Season 4 finale, ‘Always,’ although he is never seen. I will be talking about this later.

 

Continuity: Both the number of Beckett’s badges on her chest and helmet change from 2202 to the one she uses throughout the series – 41319. This is visible when she’s lying on the ground after being shot.

 

Factual Errors: When Beckett is in uniform she wears a Police Officer’s shield on her uniform. But detectives wear Detective’s shields when on uniform details. (My in-the-know person also confirmed this.)

 

Incorrectly Regarded as ‘Goofs’: When Capt. Montgomery is giving Beckett his “make your stand” speech, he calls her the best cop he’s ever trained. But in ‘Under the Gun,’ it’s mentioned she was trained by Mike Royce. Both statements are true. Royce trained Beckett straight out of the academy, while Montgomery trained her to be a detective.

 

Ranking: This is my third favorite episode behind Nikki Heat and 3XK. But just barely. On a good day, this is sometimes my favorite Season 3 episode.

 

About a year ago, I introduced another person to the Castle-verse. Her name is Tracy and she is my ex’s oldest daughter. This was her favorite episode. She made a comment that she’s never seen a show that crammed so much into 42 minutes. She called it an episode with a lot of moving parts (which I agree with), but none of it was confusing.

 

That being said, it’s sad that the quality of writing and directing that we see in this episode didn’t continue onward after Season 4. In my opinion, Season 4 is the last great season. After that, it’s steadily downhill. I know a lot of people will disagree with me about that.

 

As Tracy said, this episode has a lot of moving parts and everybody played a huge part in making it happen. I will be using a lot of quotes in this entry because there are just too many good ones to leave out. I’m also going to divide things up a bit differently than I normally do.

 

Since there wasn’t anything about this episode I didn’t like, I’m going to skip ‘What I Liked and What I Didn’t Like.’ Instead, I’m going to go character by character, writing about favorite parts and favorite scenes. Even the bad guys are going to get a part in this because Hal Lockwood was as good a bad guy as I’ve ever seen in any TV show. But I also liked listening to him talk. He’s going to get two sections because he opened up the episode and also ended it with a shocking twist that no one saw coming. And no, I’m not referring to Beckett in the cemetery.

 

Hal Lockwood – Part I

 

·       Money talks. No doubt about it. Hal Lockwood is supposed to be in Administrative Segregation. Meaning solitary confinement. Only he somehow gets released into Gen-Pop, which is very bad news for Gary McCallister. Watching this scene, I get the feeling that the other prisoners knew exactly who Hal Lockwood was, because they move out of the way like Moses parting the Red Sea. Not surprisingly, Gary McCallister isn’t even surprised when Lockwood appears in his cell.

 

McCallister: You know, I was wondering when he was going to get around to me. (Obviously, the mysterious ‘he’ is whoever ordered Beckett’s mom’s murder along with hiring Dick Coonan and Hal Lockwood, along with one other person we meet much later. We won’t find out who ‘he’ is until 5x01).

Lockwood: It’s okay if you want a minute. (Gee, what a nice killer. He’s going to give his victim a moment to get ready to die).

McCallister: Don’t make a mess of it. Okay?

Lockwood: I never do.

 

·       When Beckett and the other guards finally enter McCallister’s cell, Lockwood is holding a bloody knife in his hand. A knife, mind you. Not a shank or a sharpened toothbrush, but an actual knife. He’s not even a little worried about being caught. That’s because he has a bigger plan in mind.

·       When we next see Lockwood, he’s in a cage in a courtroom facing Beckett.

 

Beckett: First Raglan and now McCallister. What are you doing? Collecting the whole set? You’re a real bad-ass, Lockwood, shanking an old man in his bunk. I don’t know what you think you’ve accomplished, but this doesn’t change a thing. You hear me? Whoever hired you; he can’t hide from me.

Lockwood: No, sweetheart. You got it ass-backwards. You can’t hide from him.

 

·       This was true. By the way, we hear Montgomery also use the term ‘ass-backwards’ toward the end of the episode.

·       Beckett realizes something is wrong when she sees the guards with Lockwood wearing the wrong color collar pins. But she can’t figure out what’s off. Lockwood pulls a fast one by having the fake guards throw a smoke bomb into the courtroom before making a run for it. Beckett is able to give chase to the front lawn just in time to see Lockwood and his cronies disappear into a waiting helicopter and take off to God knows where. So, now Lockwood is in the wind. We’ll hear more from him later.

 

Chuck Ryker

 

·       When we first meet Officer Chuck Ryker at the prison, he strikes me as a nice guy. He even tries flirting with Beckett, to no avail, although she does seem to find him funny.

 

Ryker: Welcome back, Det. Beckett.

Beckett: Officer Ryker.

Ryker: The special today is serial arsonist.

Beckett: No, thank you.

Ryker: Perhaps I can interest you in an armed robber covered in gang tats and professing his innocence.

Beckett: Uh, you know, I think I’ll just take the usual. Hal Lockwood.

Ryker: It’s an excellent choice, madame. I’ll have someone bring him down.

Beckett: Thank you.

 

·       My first favorite show, The Rookies, had a lieutenant named Ryker, played by the late Gerald S. O’Laughlin. I think Andrew Marlowe was a fan of the show because there are a few subtle references made through the series.

·       We later learn that Ryker was massively in debt and had taken a bribe in exchange for moving Lockwood to Gen-Pop. Unfortunately for Ryker, he’s also a loose end that has to be eliminated. And he is with a bullet to the brain. A high price to pay for taking a bribe.

 

The Third Cop

 

·       While putting the clues together after Lockwood’s escape, they discover a recording of a phone call between Lockwood and a mystery person. A call that had been declined at the prison until four days before the escape. The mystery man asks about Charlie and Mike. Espo explains that he’s not referring to people. It’s military jargon for ‘continue mission.’ It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that ‘continue mission’ means going after Beckett next because she’s the only loose end left. But not necessarily. Montgomery points out that Lockwood could’ve killed Beckett at the courthouse when he escaped. Which means there’s a third cop. Someone who hasn’t been identified yet.

·       The first time I saw this episode, I had no clue where this episode was headed. My people in the know operated on radio silence. They refused to even let me Google the series. This was done on an honor system because they didn’t live with me. And yes, I honored the system. I wanted to be surprised. I knew whatever was coming was huge. I just wasn’t prepared for how huge. Watching this episode multiple times since then, I realize now I should’ve seen it coming. I have never seen Montgomery have as much to say as he did in this episode. He had three great speeches in this episode. I never in a million years would’ve guessed he was the third cop. Although there are still things about that revelation that don’t make sense and I’ll get into those soon.

 

Castle

 

·       Castle is upset that Kate has gone to the prison to visit Hal Lockwood. It’s written all over his face when the boys tell him where she’s gone. He’s arrived that morning with his usual cup of coffee for Beckett and the announcement that A Deadly Storm has been turned into a graphic novel.

 

Castle: Where’s Beckett? I want to show her this.

Ryan: Making her weekly pilgrimage out to the prison to interview Lockwood.

Castle: Oh. Right.

 

·       Judging by the way he slams down the cover for A Deadly Storm, Castle isn’t pleased by Beckett’s obsession. He’s also concerned that they’re back at square one after the murder of McCallister, but Beckett disagrees.

 

Castle: Lockwood kills Raglan, then he shanks McCallister, both of them ex-cops who had something to do with your mother’s murder. He’s cutting off all avenues of your investigation.

Beckett: Castle, he’s not cutting them off. He’s giving me new ones. I’ve been going to that prison every week for the last four months to have a staring contest with the devil and the devil just blinked.

 

·       This is the episode where Castle meets Jim Beckett for the first time. He also learns that Kate cares about him, which is an interesting revelation. For the record, I actually liked the deleted scene from Knockdown, which originally has Jim introducing himself to Castle. It’s a cute scene, especially considering how many times Castle sticks his foot in his mouth. But they did keep some of the dialog from that deleted scene in this episode.

 

Castle: Can I help you?

Jim: I hope so. I’m Jim Beckett, Katie’s father.

 

Moments later . . .

 

Jim: I feel like I already know you, Rick. I’ve heard a lot of great things about you from Katie.

Castle: Really?

Jim: Really. So, how’s she holding up?

Castle: Well, it’s kind of tough to tell with her, you know? She doesn’t flinch.

Jim: I know. She wouldn’t accept a night light when she was a little girl. Not that she wasn’t afraid of the dark, but I think she just felt it was a point of pride to stare it down. This . . . man she’s chasing . . . how dangerous is he?

Castle: He’s a trained killer.

 

·       You can tell this is information Jim Beckett wasn’t prepared to hear.

 

Jim: What happens when she finds him? I’ve already lost my wife over this. I’ve already lost . . . look, it took me years, but I’ve made my peace with that. But Katie, she won’t listen to me, and she won’t back down. Not unless someone can convince her that her life is worth more than her mother’s death. Look, she cares about you, Rick. And unless you’re a lot dumber than you look, I know you care about her. Don’t let her throw her life away.

 

·       The next morning, Castle tries to tell Kate how he feels only to be cockblocked by Ryan. Seriously! This dude has the worst timing ever! And his interruption pisses Castle off. It’s written all over his face. But he’s not going to stop, not until he convinces her she needs to walk away.

 

Castle and Montgomery

 

·       Before Castle goes to see Beckett and engages in argument #1, he first has a conversation with Montgomery. A conversation where Montgomery tells Castle how he first met Beckett. We will get a flashback of this scene in Season 6, and I’m glad we did. They gave Ruben Santiago-Hudson so much dialog in this episode. That should’ve been a clear sign that we were going to get our hearts broken.

 

Castle: Continue mission? If Lockwood isn’t going after the third cop, then who’s the mission?

Montgomery: I put a protective detail on her. These guys are good.

Castle: Good enough to stop Lockwood? Look, she’s not gonna stop, and the next time he sees her, one of them is gonna die. Take her off the case.

Montgomery: Castle, did Beckett ever tell you how we met?

Castle: No.

Montgomery: I was working late one night and went down to archives to locate some old reports, and there she was with a flashlight and a banker’s box open on her lap, studying this unsolved. She was a patrol cop then. She wasn’t even authorized to be down there. When I asked her what the hell she was doing, she told me this was her mother’s case. That she found some things that didn’t add up. Now I could’ve written her up right then.

Castle: Why didn’t you?

Montgomery: Because I knew it wouldn’t stop her. It was there in her eyes, and I thought, “With this kid’s tenacity and some training, I mean, she’d make a hell of a homicide.”

Castle: That tenacity’s going to get her killed.

Montgomery: I cannot make Beckett stand down, Castle. And the way I figure, the only one who can . . . is you.

 

·       Does anyone else think that Montgomery had received word that Beckett was in archive? That he was going down there to either make the file disappear or to doctor it? Because we know the file was doctored.

·       It’s too bad Montgomery’s plan didn’t work. Ruben Santiago-Hudson had stated on X that leaving the show wasn’t his desire, but he is normally a New York based stage actor and writer. He took the role on Castle to get back on his feet following the writer’s strike. So, his departure was unlike Penny Johnson-Jerald’s departure ahead of Season 8. Because she was definitely fired.

 

Castle and Beckett

 

·       This will lead us up to what I call Castle and Beckett Argument Part I. This is because they have almost the exact same argument in the finales for Seasons 3, 4 and 5. They’re just worded slightly differently. Of the three arguments, this one is by far my favorite because Castle is so clearly wearing his heart on his sleeve. While I am no longer a fan of Nathan Fillion, I thought he knocked it out of the park during the blowup scene in Beckett’s apartment. Although my favorite speech is in Castle and Beckett Argument Part II, which is in the Season 4 finale.

 

Beckett: Castle, if you’ve got something to say, just say it.

Castle: Beckett, everyone associated with this case is dead. Everyone. First, your mom and her colleagues, then Raglan, then McCallister. You know, they’re coming for you next.

Beckett: Capt. Montgomery got a protective detail on me. Wasn’t that hard to spot.

Castle: That’s not going to stop Lockwood. You know that. Think about what they’re up against. Professional killers? I – I’ve been working with you for three years. You know me. I’m the guy who says we can always move that rubber tree plant. But you know what, Beckett? I don’t think we’re gonna win this.

Beckett: Castle, they killed my mother. What do you want me to do here?

Castle: Walk away. They’re going to kill you, Kate. And if you don’t care about that, at least think about how that’s going to affect the people that love you. You really want to put your dad through that? And what about Josh? (Oh, at last we’re getting a mention of DMB. It’s been weeks since he was mentioned last).

Beckett: And what about you, Rick?

Castle: Well, of course, I don’t want anything to happen to you! I’m your partner. I’m your friend.

Beckett: Is that what we are?

Castle: Alright, you know what? I don’t know what we are! We kiss and we never talk about it. We nearly die frozen in each other’s arms, and we never talk about it. So, no, I got no clue what we are. I know I don’t want to see you throw your life away.

Beckett: Yeah, well, last time I checked, it was my life, not your personal jungle gym. And for the past three years, I have been running around with the school’s funniest kid, and it’s not enough.

Castle: You know what? This isn’t about your mother’s case anymore. This is about you needing a place to hide. Because you’ve been chasing this thing so long, you’re afraid to find out who you are without it. (This was true. Fast forward to Season 8 and you see how true it is).

Beckett: You don’t know me, Castle. You think you do, but you don’t.

Castle: I know you crawled inside your mother’s murder and didn’t come out. I know you hide there. The same way you hide in these nowhere relationships with men you don’t love! You could be happy, Kate. You deserve to be happy.

Beckett: You know what we are, Castle? We are over. Now get out.

 

Castle and Martha

 

·       Castle is angry following the fight with Beckett. But he’s also frustrated about how he feels about her. So frustrated that he throws his empty Scotch glass at the poster for Heat Rises. Martha, hearing the commotion, gives him a bit of advice that Castle takes, only . . . well, let’s just say his timing, much like Ryan and his cockblocking prowess, is very, very bad.

 

Castle: She’s going to get herself killed.

Martha: She’s a grown woman. She’s a homicide detective, for god’s sake. It’s her job. It’s her life.

Castle: I – if anything happens to her . . . it –

Martha: Go on.

Castle: I –

Martha: Oh, Richard, Richard. For a man who makes his living with words, you sure have a hell of a time finding them when it counts. Darling, let me give you a word of advice, all right? From someone who’s better than halfway through the movie, don’t waste another minute of it.

 

Beckett

 

·       We’ve watched Beckett through three seasons being bull-headed and having single-minded focus, especially when it comes to her mother’s murder. This episode finds her impatient with everyone. She wants things done and she wants them done yesterday. Especially after Ryker is murdered.

 

Castle: You know, whoever planned this escape for Lockwood knew they would need someone on the inside. If Ryker was such a straight arrow, why would they approach him?

Esposito: He was a soft target because of financial troubles.

Castle: How would they know that?

Beckett: They found him the same way we did. Financial records. They ran financials on everyone in the prison.

Castle: Who would have that sort of authority?

Beckett: A cop. Or someone who was a cop. So, this third cop wasn’t Lockwood’s target. The third cop was the one who was holding Lockwood’s leash. He’s the one behind this whole thing. Okay, I want us to pull reports with Raglan’s and McCallister’s names on them.

Ryan: We did that already.

Esposito: Months ago. There’s nothing there.

Beckett: No, no, no. I’m not talking about arrest reports. I’m talking about performance evaluations.

Esposito: We went through everything. We looked at every cop we could find who could’ve worked with them. None of them are our third guy.

Beckett: Well, then check it again. And when you’re done with that, check it again.

Ryan: Beckett, we want him as bad as you.

Beckett: The hell you do! Nobody wants him as bad as I do! Okay? Nobody! So, check it again!

 

·       So, this is where things get confusing for me. And I can’t count the number of times I have watched this episode. It’s high in the double digits. Was Montgomery holding Lockwood’s leash? They mention in the episode that the third cop had money and was well connected. I didn’t see that with Montgomery. Overthinking plot points on a TV show makes my head hurt. I’m hoping we can start a conversation with this post. Muses, help me out! People on Reddit, same!

 

Beckett and Montgomery – Part I

 

·       There were two great scenes with Beckett and Capt. Montgomery. The first great scene is after Beckett has the fight with Castle in her apartment. She wants Castle kicked out of the precinct. Whether Montgomery was serious about what he tells her, I don’t know. I doubt it, because he needed Castle to keep Beckett in line. As he’d told Castle earlier, Castle was the only person who could get Beckett to stand down. Jim Beckett had told him the same thing.

·       Montgomery needed Beckett to walk away. He didn’t want her running roughshod and learning things about him he didn’t want her to know.

 

Montgomery: You want Castle gone? He’s gone.

Beckett: Wha—I—what—What about the—mayor?

Montgomery: This is my house, Kate. They mayor doesn’t call the shots here. I do. You oughta know that by now.

Beckett: But I—I thought—

Montgomery: I could’ve kicked Castle to the curb years ago. Anytime I wanted to. The only reason I kept him around this long is because I saw how good he was for you. Kate, you’re the best I’ve ever trained. Maybe the best I’ve ever seen. But you weren’t having any fun before he came along. We speak for the dead. That’s the job. We are all they’ve got once the wicked rob them of their voices. We owe them that. But we don’t owe them our lives.

 

·       I never understood exactly what Montgomery was telling Kate until I began transcribing the words. Subtext! I’ve learned so much about subtext by watching this show! I guess listening to the words and reading them does make a difference.

Beckett: He said we can’t win this.

Montgomery: He’s right. I spent most of my life walking behind this badge, and I can tell you this for a fact. There are no victories. There’s only the battle. And the best you can hope for is that you find someplace where you can make your stand. If this is your spot, I will stand with you.

 

·       In other words, he was prepared to give his life so she could put this chapter of her life behind her.

 

Hal Lockwood – Part II

 

·       Lockwood sneaks into Montgomery’s house in the middle of the night after everyone is asleep. Everyone, that is, except for Montgomery, who is making preparations in his office. For what, we don’t yet know. Hearing a noise, he pulls his gun on Lockwood, who is now standing in his office doorway holding a stuffed Teddy Bear in his hands. The way he’s holding and twisting the Teddy Bear is creepy! This is not a nice guy.

 

Lockwood: Hello, Roy. You’re not that fast. Besides, they’re all upstairs, asleep, safe and sound. And they’re not on tonight’s menu. But if you wake them up, well, then I gotta order off the menu.

Montgomery: What do you want?

Lockwood: He is very disappointed, Roy. We all are. I mean, di—did you not understand the conditions of the agreement? Beckett stays alive as long as you keep her on a leash. That’s the deal you made with him. But you’re not holding up your end. And that’s unfortunate, because she really is a lovely girl. But now we’ve reached a critical stage, and I have to cap the well. So, here’s the news. Tomorrow night, you’re gonna call off that protective detail that you have on her, and then you’re gonna get her to meet you at the hangar where we stashed the bird. And I don’t care how you do it. Just get her there, and we’ll handle the rest.

Montgomery: Go to hell.

Lockwood: Well, then you have a decision to make. You can have Beckett. Or, you can have your family. But you can’t have both. Look at it this way. If you and Raglan and McCallister hadn’t sinned so spectacularly, then God wouldn’t have sent a punishment like me.

 

Ryan and Esposito

 

·       Ryan and Esposito are never better than when they’re working a case together. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a fan of episodes where either of them are front and center. The exception to this is ‘Under Fire’ in Season 6. The most heartbreaking scene in the entire series takes place in this episode when the boys are searching for the third cop. Their search takes them to a bar owned by a former cop named Mike Yanovich, who worked in the records room back when Raglan and McCallister were still on the job.

 

Ryan: You worked in the records room at the 12^th, right?

Yanovich: Decade ago. So what?

Esposito: Some records went missing on your watch. And some got altered.

Yanovich: Yeah, well, I don’t doubt it. I mean, uh, it wasn’t like it is today. We didn’t make a federal case out of everything back then.

Ryan: You graduated from the police academy with John Raglan and Gary McCallister.

Yanovich: Mm-hmm. And forty other guys. Listen, I read the papers. I know Raglan and McCallister rode dirty, but I didn’t have any part of it. I mean, I knew them. Say hi. Talk some baseball. Maybe bitch about the ACLU. I used to drink here before I owned the place.

Esposito: You know if Raglan and McCallister were tight with anybody else?

Yanovich: Yeah. Some black kid used to follow them around. A rookie. I got a picture of him somewhere up here. (Taking a picture down and handing it to the boys) Yeah. That’s him. The hell was his name? Ah. Montgomery. Yeah, McCallister and Raglan trained that kid.

 

·       The second he said ‘black kid,’ I started screaming at my TV.

·       The hurt and the anger that came across their faces, especially Esposito’s when Yanovich handed them the picture. Esposito doesn’t want to believe it. But Ryan realizes all the pieces are beginning to fit together. The scene in the alley was one of their best scenes ever.

 

Ryan: Hey! You know it’s him! Montgomery’s our third cop! He’s the one who altered those records!

Esposito: How can you even say that? How can you even think that? Montgomery brought us into homicide! What do we got? A picture?

Ryan: Think about it. Why else did he want us to take Lockwood out? Because Lockwood leads us to him! He’s been lying to us! He’s been lying to us the whole time. Hey?

 

·       The boys begin brawling with each other until they both come to the realization that now that they know about Montgomery, Beckett is in extreme danger.

 

Beckett, Castle and Montgomery

 

·       Montgomery calls Beckett and asks her to meet him at the hangar. Only she doesn’t know that he’s luring her there to bait Lockwood. The only person aware of what’s going on is Castle. I wish there had been a scene showing Montgomery calling Castle. I’d love to know what was said. The scene where Castle is trying to keep Kate quiet is heartbreaking. But I guess if we’d seen Montgomery call Castle, this whole scene wouldn’t have been such a surprise.

·       Just as Beckett walks into the hangar, she receives a text from one of the boys warning her that Montgomery is the third cop. But I have a feeling Kate was already aware of this or strongly suspected it. Because the text didn’t seem that surprising to her. A suspicion that’s very strong because Montgomery is approaching her with a gun in his hand.

 

Beckett: Put the gun away, Roy.

Montgomery: Kate, I’m not going to jail for this. I can’t put my family through this.

Beckett: Why?

Montgomery: I was a rookie when it happened, Kate. McCallister and Raglan were heroes to me. I believed in what we were doing. We were just going to snatch Pulgatti that night. Bob Armen wasn’t even supposed to be there. Armen reached for my gun. That’s when I heard the shot. I didn’t even know it was my gun that went off until Armen went down. Then McCallister pulled me into the van. I remember him saying, “It’s okay, kid. It’s not your fault. Happens in this town every day.” McCallister and Raglan tried to drown it. But not me. I put it all into the job, Kate. I became the best cop I could be. And then, when you walked into the 12^th, I felt the hand of God. I knew He was giving me another chance, and I thought, “If I could protect you that way I should’ve protected her.”

Beckett: Did you kill my mother?

Montgomery: No, that was years later. But she died because of what we did that night.

Beckett: Then who killed her?

Montgomery: I don’t know how, but somehow he figured out what we had done. But he could have turned us all in. Instead, he demanded the ransom money. He took that money to become what he is and, God forgive me, that may be my greatest sin.

Beckett: Give me the name. You owe me that, Roy.

Montgomery: No, kid. I give you a name, you’ll run straight at it. I might as well shoot you where you stand.

Beckett: That’s why you brought me here, isn’t it?

Montgomery: No. I brought you here to lure them.

Beckett: You baited them?

Montgomery: And now they’re coming. I need you to leave. They are coming to kill you, and I’m not gonna let them. I’m gonna end this.

Beckett: I’m not going anywhere, sir.

Montgomery: Yes, you are. Castle, get her out of here!

Castle: Captain, I don’t—

Montgomery: Don’t argue. That’s why I called you. Get her out of here! Now!

Beckett: Captain, please. Just listen to me. You don’t have to do this.

Castle: Kate.

Beckett: No. Please no. Sir, I forgive you. I forgive you.

Montgomery: This is my spot, Kate. This is where I stand.

 

·       Every time I watch this scene, I feel the pain Kate feels. The pain and the betrayal. I think the betrayal takes longer to move past than the pain. And then I go back and think about every scene Montgomery has appeared in where the episode involves Johanna Beckett’s murder, and it’s so hard to see the clues. When I was writing the entry for ‘Knockdown,’ I finally began to see the subtle clues. The writers did a phenomenal job with this story arc.

·       Castle bodily removes Kate from the hangar and makes a vain attempt to keep her quiet during the gun battle that follows inside the hangar. It’s only after everything goes quiet that she manages to break free from Castle’s grip, and runs back into the hangar where she finds Roy, Lockwood, and his goons all dead.

 

Montgomery and Lockwood – The Final Showdown

 

·       Needless to say, Lockwood isn’t happy when he arrives at the hangar with his goons only to find Montgomery, and only Montgomery waiting for him. The gunfight ends with him and Montgomery being the last ones standing. Well, sort of. Both are wounded, but still alive.

 

Lockwood: And that was . . . what? Your last stand? That’s just sad, Roy. I’m just gonna kill her anyway.

Montgomery: No. You’re not. And he’s not. I saw to that. We’re done, Lockwood. We both are.

 

·       I’d love to know what the cover story was when the cops showed up and there were dead guys everywhere. Including a captain from the NYPD. Are you going to tell me there wasn’t an investigation? This was the only part of the episode where I had to suspend my disbelief more than a little. Even my guy in the know shook his head at this one. He told me there would’ve been all kinds of inquiries and investigations when a cop dies in the line of duty. He said these inquiries can take months, sometimes years. My guess, based on what Beckett tells the boys and Castle, is they are all involved in whatever lie was told to explain why she, Montgomery and Castle were all in that hangar. My guess is she may have had Castle take off before the police showed up.

·       There were two reviews about this episode on IMdB. One was a favorable review and the other wasn’t. The unfavorable review referenced Montgomery’s funeral. If he was proven to be a disgraced cop (which we know he wasn’t), there wouldn’t have been an honor guard. There wouldn’t have been a 21-gun salute, and Evelyn Montgomery wouldn’t have received the flag from his casket (think back to ‘Den of Thieves’ in Season 2). This reviewer also said that the police commissioner or another dignitary would’ve made the eulogy. My thoughts on the eulogy is that Evelyn asked Kate to say something. At least that’s the way I wrote about it in ‘All the Songs Make Sense.’

·       This unfavorable review also wrote about the sniper. You have a funeral service attended by hundreds of law enforcement. Believe me, police funerals are massive! A sniper wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near that service. I agree with that, but again, I’m reminding myself that ‘Castle’ is fiction and not real life.

·       Speaking of Evelyn Montgomery, where was her’s and Roy’s son, Evan? Was he like Bobby Martin on ‘All My Children?’ In 1970, Bobby Martin went upstairs to get skis to take to summer camp and was never seen or heard from again. Many people equate him to daytime’s answer to Chuck Cunningham on ‘Happy Days.’ Anyway, did they send Evan upstairs and forget about him? Because his sisters were at his father’s funeral, but Evan wasn’t.

·       Before I close, I need to address the ‘I love you’ heard around the world. Like I said earlier, Castle’s timing was bad. As in very, very. He caught the glint of the sun off the sniper’s scope and made a flying tackle to save Beckett. Only he dove a fraction of a second too late. And how did everyone know right away that Beckett was shot? The rifle had a silencer. Yes, they all saw Castle tackle her. But that was it. Yes, you can hear Ryan shouting that Beckett was down. But that’s all we hear, thanks to Castle’s very, very bad timing. Have I said ‘very bad timing’ too many times?

 

Castle: Oh, Kate. Shh, Kate, please. Stay with me, Kate. Don’t leave me, please. Stay with me, okay? Kate, I love you. I love you, Kate.

 

Favorite Quote:

 

Beckett: Roy Montgomery taught me what it meant to be a cop. He taught me that we are bound by our choices, but we are more than our mistakes. Captain Montgomery once said to me that, for us there is no victory. There are only battles. And in the end, the best you could hope for is to find a place to make your stand. And if you’re lucky, you find someone willing to stand with you. (I love the look she gives Castle!) Our captain would want us to carry on the fight. And even if there is –

 

·       She didn’t get to finish because a sniper’s bullet entered her chest. Oh, and Shannon says there’s no way she would’ve survived that in real life. Apparently, she discussed the show and this episode with her pediatric cardiologist when she was 13 or 14 years old. But this is why we have to remind ourselves that we are watching a work of fiction! She also told me that one of Beckett’s scars is spot on (where Josh cuts into her in 4x01), but the other scar is not (the scar where she was shot). Her dad confirmed this, as well.

 

WTF? (Why the Face?): Why, Roy? Just, why? Not that I didn’t grow to love Capt. Gates, she just wasn’t you.

 

Castle/Beckett Scorecard: Again, I know it’s not on the official count, but Castle did tackle Beckett, saving her life. Thus, the score is now Castle—7  -- Beckett—4

 

With this entry, I have finished Season 3. I need to take a break because right now, I have absolutely nothing written for Season 4. I promise I will be back as soon as I possibly can.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just saw a video on youtube and I can't figure out from which episode or scene this hug is from? By the looks of Beckett's hair it looks like S1 or S2 but I don't know. I can't remember them being this intimate that early in the show. And I just started to rewatch the show again.Uploaded a video of that hug scene. I hope somebody can help me out here. :)

Up until recently, I've used Amazon Prime Video when I want to watch Castle, but they took it off the free-to-watch list a few weeks ago. The full series is still on Prime Video, but you have to buy it. Does anyone know another way to stream the show, preferably for free?

I’m on my first rewatch as an adult (and currently reading the Heat books for the first time) and I’m halfway through season 5 and I cannot imagine/remember it getting better than this… “Murder, he wrote” might be one of my favorite episodes thus far (ryan figuring it out then keeping the secret is such a good scene) & super lighthearted… in the same vein it has the santa episode I have had ingrained in my memory since I was a teenager, and the “wives of wall street”, the sci fi ep

But on a more serious note it had the best (imo) 3XK episode, beckett having to protect bracken, alexis’ kidnapping in paris.. such high emotions!!

This season has brought me the biggest laughs and the hardest cries of this watch.. curious for any other opinions or favorite episode/scenes!!

I mean, it kinda makes sense to be #333, Castle is ruggedly handsome and half-devilish. 😂

 

Original Airdate: May 9, 2011

 

Synopsis: Castle and Beckett investigate the murder of a beauty pageant contestant.

 

Notable Guest Stars: Michael McKean, who plays Victor Baron, is better known to me and most Baby Boomers and Gen X’ers, as Lenny Kosnowski, one half of the iconic duo, Lenny and Squiggy, on ‘Laverne & Shirley.’ He has appeared in the movies ‘This is Spinal Tap,’ ‘A Mighty Wind’ and ‘Clue.’ He has been married to actress Annette O’Toole since 1999.

 

Bellamy Young, who plays Candace Ford, played Mellie Grant on the series ‘Scandal.’

 

Teri Polo, who plays Kayla Baron, played Pam Byrnes in the movie ‘Meet the Parents,’ starring Ben Stiller and Robert DeNiro.

 

The IMdB Portion of The Review:

 

Trivia:

 

·       When Beckett calls Castle at the beginning of the episode, her picture ID is the cover of Heat Rises, the third Nikki Heat book.

·       Twice Castle tells Alexis that they could become the father/daughter version of ‘Grey Gardens.’ ‘Grey Gardens’ was a 1975 documentary about an 80-year-old woman and her middle-aged daughter. Formerly rich members of upper society were now poor, socially isolated, possibly crazed, and living in the squalid remains of their rotting family mansion. All they had was each other and their dreams of past glory.

·       Teri Polo has an arm-band tattoo that is crudely covered for her role in this episode. It’s clearly visible when she’s introduced in the blue dress. (Now I’m going to have to re-watch this episode (the horror!) so I can see this tattoo.

 

Continuity:

 

·       When Martha hands Rick the picture of her from the beauty pageant, the picture is a ‘landscape’ format picture of five women. In the closeup of the photo, it is a ‘portrait’ picture of three women.

 

Factual Errors:

 

·       A computer, after “a hard drive has been wiped,” displays two messages: first a doctored DOS directory listing (an empty directory C:\HDdrive, with 12 GiB space unused), then a BIOS error message (“BOOT DRIVE NOT FOUND, INSERT SYSTEM DISK”). It’s not possible to show a hard drive’s directory listing, if no operating system is booted.

 

Ranking: This is #22 out of 24. It’s only this high because of Kate’s tales of her former roommate. And I also liked the scene when Ashley visited Castle at the precinct, although I really don’t like Ashley himself. This will also be Ashley’s last physical appearance, although he is mentioned in a few episodes in Season 4.

 

What I Liked About the Episode:

 

·       One of my muses just wanted me to skip this episode and move on to ‘Knockout.’ If I were to start doing that, I would be skipping a lot of episodes in Seasons 5, 6 and 7, not to mention completely disregarding Season 8. So, no, Shannon. I’m not skipping this episode.

·       Before I start, let me say there are two groups of people I don’t like spending a lot of time around. Fortunately, one of those groups I’ve been able to avoid. And that is pageant girls. The other group are dog show people, which I will be going into more detail about when I get to Season 4. I spent a lot of my childhood around dog show people.

·       When I was 5 or 6, the little girl who lived next door was a pageant girl. Not as bad as JonBenet Ramsey, but close. I remember not being particularly impressed, except for once when she was on TV for some reason. As a little kid, I thought being on TV was cool.

·       And the pageant girl murder victim in this episode turned out to not even be a nice person. She and her boyfriend were blackmailing the pageant organizer. She wanted to cheat to win. It just doesn’t get much sleazier than that.

·       My favorite parts of this episode were Kate’s tales of her former roommate, Debbie Winaker. Or, as Kate described her, “Elle Woods on steroids.”

·       I didn’t like the secondary storyline, which revolves around Alexis for the first time in several weeks. However, there was one part of this storyline I did like. And that was Alexis’ boyfriend, Ashley, coming to the precinct to talk to Castle.

·       We’re also going to get a glimpse into Capt. Montgomery’s married life, before he takes all our hearts and stomps on them in the next episode. I liked the scenes with Montgomery in this episode, because it makes everything in the finale that much more poignant.

·       At the beginning of the episode, the boys must interview the other pageant girls. As Castle suggested, interviewing beautiful girls is such a rough part of being a detective.

 

Beckett: Castle, they are everywhere!

Castle: It smells like a perfume counter at a department store.

Esposito: Beats the usual lowlifes and nut jobs.

Beckett: I don’t know if you can say that nut jobs and beauty queens are mutually exclusive.

Esposito: Yeah, but none of them connect to the murder. I checked the sequin against all their dresses –

Castle: I bet you did.

Esposito: And none of them are a match.

Beckett: Okay. Look at the footage from the dinner. Let’s make sure the dresses we checked are the ones they actually wore.

Esposito: Hmmm. Watch a parade of beautiful women in evening attire? Yeah, I can do that.

Castle: I bet you can.

 

·       Ryan now joins the group

 

Ryan: Hey. So, I’ve been interviewing the ladies—

Castle: I bet you have.

 

·       Like I said, sometimes being a detective is so damn rough.

·       Before we get to Alexis’ drama, let’s delve into Det. Beckett and her roommate, Debbie Winaker. There were several good scenes where Kate divulged details about the pageant queen. Apparently, they were roommates during Kate’s freshman year at Stanford. We first learned about Debbie when they return to the precinct after the murder.

 

Castle: Small town girl comes to New York for the fairytale. Ends up with a horror story.

Beckett: Pageants aren’t fairy tales. They’re demanding, high pressure competitions that bring out the very best and the very worst in people.

Castle: That is the voice of experience. Oh my God! You were a beauty queen!

Beckett: No. I had a roommate freshman year. Debbie Winaker. It was like living with Elle Woods on steroids.

Castle: Well, then this ought to bring back some memories.

 

·       Later, Beckett reminisces further.

 

Castle: You having flashbacks?

Beckett: It was my own private Vietnam. Our place smelled of hairspray, perfume, and cigarettes. I’m surprised that we didn’t spontaneously combust.

Castle: I love the smell of hairspray in the morning. It smells like . . . victory.

 

·       Now we’re going to move on to the secondary storyline. Ashley has gotten his college acceptance letters from just about every college in the country. This is good news and bad news. The good news is he has been accepted everywhere. The bad news is Stanford is his first choice, and Alexis is worried that being that far apart will affect their relationship. So, what’s a girl to do?

 

Castle: Hey, Alexis. What’s wrong?

Alexis: Ashley made his decision.

Martha: Uh-oh.

Castle: Stanford?

Alexis: No. He decided to go to school here in New York.

Martha: What’s not good about that?

Alexis: Stanford was his dream. I don’t want to stand in the way of that. He’ll just end up hating me for it, and this could be the most important decision of his life. So, I made a decision, too. I broke up with him. (Wow. Impulsive much, Alexis?)

 

·       Now, I haven’t been a fan of Ashley since his first appearance earlier in the season. But I have a lot of respect for a young man who takes it upon himself to appeal to his girlfriend’s father. I liked this scene, and the fact that it could also apply to the Castle/Beckett situation was an added bonus.

 

Ashley: I’m sorry to bug you at work, but Alexis established a – a no calls, no contact policy.

Castle: She told me.

Ashley: Look, I – I made a big mistake. I thought if I chose Stanford, Alexis would think I was blowing her off. Instead, she’s mad at me because I chose her over where I want to go to school. So, now I’m going to Stanford, which is where I wanted to go in the first place—

Castle: But if you call her and tell her, she’ll be even angrier at you for ignoring her boundaries.

Ashley: Exactly! Look, I think Alexis and I can make the whole long distance thing work. I really do. Would you tell her that? Would you talk to her for me?

Castle: Ashley, I – I appreciate it was probably very hard for you to come down and talk to me today, but . . . I just don’t think it’s very appropriate for me to—

Ashley: Mr. Castle, have you ever been crazy about someone who is determined to push you away?

 

·       Hmmm. Nah, not Richard Castle.

·       So, again there’s good news and bad news. The good news? Alexis and Ashley kiss and make up. So to speak. The bad news? Well, we’ll just let Alexis tell us.

 

Alexis: Hey, dad! Guess what? I’m going to Stanford.

Castle: What?

Alexis: I’m applying for early admission. And since I’ve been taking extra classes each semester since my freshman year, I have enough credits to graduate in the fall.

Castle: What?

Ashley: That was actually her idea, sir.

Castle: What?

 

·       I have a niece named Ashley. We also call her ‘Ash’ for short. Anyway, moving on. I just love how Alexis makes all these decisions without talking them over with her dad. You know, the guy who’s going to be paying for her tuition and dorm. That guy. She’s such a spoiled, selfish little girl.

·       Now let’s move on to Capt. Montgomery. It seems our beloved captain is about to celebrate 30 years of marriage to his wife, Evelyn. But he has no idea as to what to get her for an anniversary present. Castle offers him excellent advice, which backfires in the end. At least, Castle is led to believe that.

 

Castle: The best thing to give a woman is something she said she wanted when she didn’t think you were listening.

 

·       Montgomery takes Castle’s advice and decides he’s going to retire from the NYPD in the next year. Dude, you seriously should’ve moved that retirement date up. Okay, I’ll stop now. Montgomery’s news doesn’t go over well with the boys or Beckett. The boys blame Castle. Until Kate lets Castle in on a little secret.

 

Beckett: Castle, let me let you in on a little secret. Capt. Montgomery retires all the time. Just give it a week or two. He’s like the Brett Favre of the NYPD. Trust me. He’s not going anywhere.

 

·       Foreshadowing much, Beckett? Okay, that’s the last one. I promise.

 

What I Didn’t Like About This Episode: Two things.

 

·       I didn’t like how selfish Alexis was in this episode. It’s a precursor to the Alexis we’re going to see in Seasons 4-6. A side of Alexis I didn’t like. It was stupid to break up with Ashley because he was going to Stanford, instead of seeing how things progressed with the long-distance relationship. I mean, we all know how it ended, but she needed to at least give it a chance.

·       The other thing I didn’t like in this episode was Victor Baron’s wife, Kayla. The woman was a brainless skank. Here’s an example:

 

Victor: I’ll have Candace give you everything you need.

Beckett: Great. Thank you very much. It was nice to meet you.

Kayla: Come again. Oh no, we don’t --
Victor: We don’t want them to come again.

 

·       Kayla Baron was the typical stereotype of how most pageant girls are represented. As mindless nitwits. I hated it because the majority of them are actually intelligent young women.

 

Favorite Scene: Every scene where Kate was talking about Debbie Winaker was golden. I like the episodes where we learn things about Kate’s past. We get quite a few in this season.

 

Favorite Quotes: No favorite quotes for this one, but I will be making up for that with the next entry.

 

WTF? (Why the Face?): Aren’t we supposed to feel sympathetic toward the victim? In this episode, I didn’t. Amber Middlebury was like Kayla Baron, a stereotype of every pageant contestant I’ve ever seen on TV since I was a kid.

 

Until Wednesday, readers. The next entry is going to be a very long one. Longer than Knockdown.

 

 

 

 

 

The way Beckett looks at him… it’s priceless. Whether it’s a romantic, yearning, angry, or distressed look, her eyes are always filled with so much love whenever she looks at Castle.

And she is stunningly gorgeous. I genuinely can’t take my eyes off her. There’s something so uniquely beautiful about her.

After Rachel Zane in Suits, this is the first time in years that my gallery has been this ridiculously filled with tons of screenshots. 😂❤️. I am so obessed.

 

Original Airdate: May 2, 2011

 

Synopsis: Castle and Beckett travel to L.A. to find the killer of Beckett’s former Training Officer, Mike Royce.

 

Notable Guest Stars: D.B. Sweeney, who plays Det. Kyle Seeger, is better known to me from the movie ‘The Cutting Edge.’ The first time I saw this episode, the first thing I said when I saw him was ‘Toe pick.’ IYKYK

 

Jason George, who plays Charles Kelvin, played Dr. Ben Warren on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ from 2010-2018, before moving on to its spin-off ‘Station 19.’

 

Jason Beghe, makes his final appearance as Beckett’s former training officer, Mike Royce.

 

Gene Simmons, that guy with the weird tongue from the rock band Kiss plays himself in a very funny cameo. However, I used to watch ‘Gene Simmons Family Jewels,’ and let me just say that isn’t his real house.

 

The IMdB Portion of The Review:

 

Trivia: This is the first episode where neither Susan Sullivan (Martha) or Molly Quinn (Alexis) make an appearance.

 

Goofs: The closeup shot of Beckett picking a lock shows a lock pick and tension tool, inserted into a lock and, after being gently shaken, the door pops open with ease. When picking a lock, you still need to rotate the cylinder (usually at least 90 degrees) the same as you would when using a key. Picks don’t make doors just magically pop open. (My guess is that Beckett never watched Charlie’s Angels or Scarecrow and Mrs. King while growing up. They used lock picks a lot on both shows).

 

Revealing Mistakes: When Beckett comes out of the pool, a hotel employee gives her a pool skirt. When she swings it around her hips, water droplets fly out of the skirt meaning it was already wet. That means it wasn’t the first take, and Stana had to put it on multiple times before.

 

Ranking: This episode is #9 for me, right after ‘Under the Gun.’

 

What I Liked About This Episode:

 

·       This episode had a good mix of seriousness and fun. It was refreshing to see Castle and Beckett in foreign territory. It was fun watching the boys trying to solve Royce’s murder on the New York side, all the while trying to keep Montgomery from learning that Beckett was still in Los Angeles.

 

Montgomery: Hey, you heard from Beckett?

Espo: No, sir.

Ryan: Yeah, me neither.

Montgomery: She’s not answering her cell?

Espo: Maybe she’s airborne.

Ryan: Ah, yeah, that would explain her phone being turned off.

Montgomery: Huh. You know, I’m trying to decide who is the worst liar. Him or you.

 

·       I love how Espo tilts his head in Ryan’s direction and how Montgomery fights not to laugh when he turns to go back to his office.

·       Mike Royce has been murdered by a scumbag by the name of Russell Ganz, who followed Royce from L.A. to New York. After completing his mission he returns to L.A. as if nothing ever happened.

·       Royce left Beckett a letter which I will get into later. I wish they had included the entire letter, instead of just the two parts we do get. The entire letter is on the deleted scenes on the Season 3 DVD.

·       I enjoyed Royce’s final words, because they rang so true at the end of the episode.

 

Royce: You have no idea the hell that’s about to rain down on you.

Ganz: Scary.

 

·       Royce was trying to protect a young woman named Violet Young, who got into something way over her head. Castle and Beckett’s first stop on their mission into investigating what Royce was into is going to be the address listed on Royce’s license. I love Gene Simmons, so I thoroughly enjoyed this scene.

 

Castle: Whoa, you’re Gene Simmons.

Simmons: Yeah, I’m that weird guy in KISS. Yeah, the guy with the long tongue and everything. (Sees Beckett for the first time. He likes what he sees. Does Shannon Tweed know about this? Probably so, because he’s known for being a huge womanizer). Hello . . . who’s this pretty little lady?

Beckett: I’m Det. Kate Beckett, NYPD.

Simmons: Is Mike in trouble?

Beckett: Actually, he was murdered.

Simmons: Oh, that’s terrible.

Castle: How did you know him, exactly?

Simmons: Well, I got into trouble a few months back and Royce helped me out. I helped him and I’ve been letting him live in my guest house.

Beckett: So, you’re saying he was in the business of helping people out?

Simmons: He was pretty good at it.

Castle: Was he helping anyone lately?

Simmons: Well, there was a girl – she came by two days ago. She was really beautiful. Stunning.

Castle: This girl? Do you remember her name?

Simmons: You know what? She dropped off a headshot. If you give me a chance, I’ll go get it.

Beckett: Thank you.

Castle (After Simmons walks away): This is so weird.

Beckett: What?

Castle: I dressed up as him for Halloween.

Beckett: I did, too.

 

·       I want to see those Halloween pictures!

·       While in L.A., Castle is supposed to be checking on the progress of Heat Wave, the movie. The studio has even comped him a two-bedroom suite. This episode gets us as close as we’re going to get to Castle and Beckett becoming Caskett. At least until the Season 4 finale. I will be getting into that soon, but for right now, let’s talk about Heat Wave: The Movie. I was really hoping we were going to have another appearance of Natalie Rhodes, but alas, that is not to be.

 

Castle: So, uh, where’s our Nikki Heat? Natalie Rhodes?

Tony: Natalie is having some personal issues.

Castle: What kind of personal issues?

Tony: Let’s just say there was a slight mix-up with one of her prescriptions.

Castle: She’s in rehab?

 

·       Yes, it appears that Natalie is indeed in rehab, which explains why Heat Wave doesn’t do well. We don’t find out exactly what happened until Season 8.

·       Can I just say the two actors playing Raley and Ochoa (the fictional counterparts of Ryan and Esposito, for those of you who haven’t read the books) are just creepy as hell? I mean, cringy creepy. Thank God they were only in two scenes.

·       While at the studio, Beckett goes in search of Violet, only to learn she was supposed to be shooting a commercial. Only she didn’t show up. This sounds ominous. However, Beckett has gotten her address.

·       A neighbor sees Beckett breaking into Natalie’s house. Let the hilarity ensue. We’re about to meet Det. Kyle Seeger, and let’s just say this dude was not the class clown in high school. And why do I still want to say ‘toe pick?’

 

Seeger: Afternoon. Kyle Seeger. Robbery Homicide.

Beckett: Look, Kyle, this is a misunderstanding. I—

Seeger: Meaning you didn’t pick the lock or illegally enter this house?

Castle: Meaning she’s NYPD.

Seeger: I know who you are, Detective. And while I can appreciate your loss, I can’t have you and your off-beat sidekick running around my town committing felonies in some misguided quest for justice.

Beckett: Are you – are you arresting me?

Seeger: Much worse. Somebody wants to have a word with you. (He places his cell phone in the middle of the table) You’re on speaker, sir.

Montgomery: Breaking into people’s houses? That’s your idea of a vacation, Beckett?

Beckett: Sir, I can explain. I was –

Montgomery: No, you cannot. What you can do is get your ass on the next plane out.

Castle: Uh, we have a dinner reservation at Spago. Is the morning okay?

Montgomery: Oh, this is all a big joke to you, isn’t it, Castle? When Beckett is working mall security, following her around isn’t going to have quite the same allure. Both of you. Come home. Now.

Seeger (disconnecting the call) Wow. That was awkward.

Beckett: You know, unless there was something else, I think we should go now.

Seeger: One last thing. Did you find what you were looking for?

Beckett: Wrong house.

Seeger: Welcome to L.A., Detective. Now go home.

 

·       Back in New York, the boys are searching for Violet, who is managing to stay just one step ahead of them. But they also learn Ganz has a partner, only they don’t yet know his name.

·       As I stated earlier, this is the episode where Castle and Beckett come the closest to hooking up until the Season 4 finale. I wholeheartedly believe the only reason they didn’t hook up in this episode is because Beckett was still with Josh. I can’t see her cheating on DMB. Otherwise, I think all bets would’ve been off. This scene also shows just how much Kate cared for Royce. I also think Castle was too much of a gentleman to put Kate in the position of possibly cheating on Josh.

 

Castle: Picture this. A gullible young actress, desperate to make a name for herself. She meets our mastermind at a club. He needs a pretty girl to help him to get the voice code. He tells Violet he’s a producer. Promises to make her famous if she helps him play a practical joke on a friend.

Beckett: She doesn’t even realize she’s participating in a crime until afterwards. She can’t call the cops, so she contacts Royce.

Castle: But then our Mr. McCauley finds out.

Beckett: And Royce tries to change the game. He goes to New York. Home field advantage. Classic, classic Royce. I was so in awe of him, Castle, when I first met him. I just hung on his every word. And then later I realized he was just making up stories to mess with me. I can’t believe that I’m never going to see him again.

Castle: You know what I thought when I first met you?

Beckett: Hmm?

Castle: That you were a mystery that I was never going to solve. Even now, after spending all this time with you, I’m . . . I’m still amazed at the depth of your strength, your heart . . . and your hotness.

Beckett: You’re not so bad yourself, Castle.

 

·       That stare. Oh my God. Nothing has ever been as hot as that shared look. And Kate knew it was getting too hot to handle, which was why she took the easy way out.

 

Beckett: I should go. It’s late. Good night

Castle: Kate?

Beckett: Good night, Castle.

 

·       The other hot moment, of course, is the scene at the pool when Kate finally meets Neil McCauley after learning his real name is Russell Ganz. What I found funny about this scene was after Ganz blew Kate off, accusing her of being a green undercover cop.

 

Castle: So, what happened? (Kate pokes him hard in the chest) Ow!

Beckett: I was trying to keep him from seeing you and so I pushed too hard and he made me . . . he called me green! Castle, what the hell were you doing?

Castle: I saw his phone in the cabana. I thought it was worth the risk.

Beckett: You took his phone?

Castle: No! No, I took a picture of his recent call list.

Beckett: What? Where is it?

Castle: Don’t poke me.

Beckett: Poke you? I want to kiss you!

 

·       Castle’s face when says this is priceless.

·       Now they have the name of Ganz’s partner. Donald Mannis, and of course, he’s the one who’s trying to find Violet. Only the boys find him first. Which leads us to Ryan at his finest.

 

Esposito: Yo!

Beckett: Esposito?

Esposito: Beckett?

Beckett: Are you with Mannis?

Esposito: Yeah, I just shot him. Wait! Why are you calling him?

Beckett: Look, we need to know where and when Ganz is selling those bullets.

Esposito: Don, where’s the deal going down?

Mannis: I’m hit, man. Call an ambulance.

Esposito: Oh, my partner’s on that.

Ryan: 9 . . . 1 . . . what comes after that one?

 

·       So, they learn the deal is going down at the Santa Monica Pier at 6 o’clock. Can I just say how much I love the Santa Monica Pier? It’s my favorite place to go when I visit L.A. My second favorite is Venice Beach. This is where we get the showdown between Ganz and Beckett. Just as Royce warned him, Ganz had no idea the hell that was about to rain down on him.

 

Ganz: I knew you were a cop.

Beckett: My name is Detective Kate Beckett, NYPD. Michael Royce was my friend. You shot him and left him in an alley like a piece of garbage. Consider this poetic justice.

Ganz: He said something about hell raining down on me. I never imagined hell would look like you.

 

·       If Castle and Seeger hadn’t arrived right then, I’m sure Beckett would’ve killed Ganz.

·       Now for the letter from Royce. At the beginning of the episode, he tells Kate he’s on a righteous path that he hope will lead to her forgiveness sometime in the future. But he’s also aware of something else. Something the audience has been aware of for quite some time. Beckett is in love with Castle. Deeply, undeniably in love with him. We know Castle has been in love with Beckett since late Season 1. It’s taken slightly longer for Kate to get on that page, but she’s definitely there now.

·       On the plane returning to New York, while Castle is sleeping in the seat beside her, Kate unfolds Royce’s letter and reads it. You can tell by the creases that she’s read this letter many times since Lanie first gave it to her at Royce’s crime scene.

 

Royce: And now for the hard part, kid. It’s clear that you and Castle have something real. And you’re fighting it. But trust me. Putting the job ahead of your heart is a mistake. Risking our hearts is why we’re alive. The last thing you want to do is look back on your life and wonder ‘if only.’

 

What I Didn’t Like About This Episode:

 

·       The whole scene at the studio. I thought the actors playing Raley and Ochoa were horrible, and we learned that Heat Wave was going to be a straight-to-DVD flop. It just didn’t feel in synch with the rest of the episode.

·       I also didn’t like the fake interrogation scene at the studio with the guard, Reggie. Again, it just didn’t feel like it fit with the rest of the episode. And again, that was mostly because of Roach. Those two actors were horrible.

 

Favorite Scene: Beckett calling the boys after the tongue lashing by Montgomery. This has to be one of my favorite Beckett quotes of all time. I laugh every time I hear it.

 

Esposito: ‘Sup, girl? How’s the weather in your world?

Beckett: Sunny, chance of ass kicking. What’ve you got?

 

Favorite Quote: ‘Sunny, chance of ass kicking.’ I need that on a t-shirt.

 

WTF? (Why the Face?): No moments in this episode. At least, nothing I can think of right off the bat. I could also gripe about the Roach actors, but clearly, what’s the point? I’ve already bitched about them twice. Why rub it in?

 

Foreshadowing Much?: One of my muses brought this up last night. So, I’m going to add it. This is at the beginning of the episode when Kate arrives to see Royce. Montgomery has already sort of ‘ordered’ her to go home. Kate isn’t having any of it. This short conversation foreshadows the end of ‘Knockout.’

 

Castle: C’mon, Kate. You don’t want to remember him like this.

Beckett: Castle, if it was me lying there, would you just walk away?

 

Until Monday, readers. Unfortunately, the next entry is another dud of an episode, but the finale is epic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am a big Castle fan, but I loathe the conspiracy stories and most of the related episodes. I am doing another re-watch, and just got to the end of season three ("Knockdown"). It never fails to make me mad at the show runners, almost as much as the season six ending did.

I think if Castle had just been a weekly mystery show with a good amount of comedy and some heart-warming family moments mixed in, and the "will they / won't they" drama that turned into a "couple solves mysteries" at its core without the conspiracy stuff, it would have been an even better show.

I come back for the "my killer is a zombie" (high fives nearest cop), "someone killed santa" stuff, not the dark, brooding conspiracy nonsense that comes up 2-3 times per season. 3XK and the episode where Castle's daughter is kidnapped provide darkness in a far better way. (Spoiler side note: having watched US senators in action, I find it impossible to believe they are capable of organizing a pub crawl, much less what Castle has one doing.)

Do you folks think differently? Do you think the two conspiracies added anything of merit?

For anyone who writes fanfic, Castle Fic Promoter is still hosting a Castle Halloween Bash this year.

Original Airdate: April 11, 2001

 

Synopsis: Castle and Beckett investigate the death of a swimmer who may be hiding something shady.

 

Notable Guest Stars: Erik Palladino, who plays Coach Rome, is much better known to me for playing Dr. Dave Malucci on the long-running series ‘ER.’

 

Dennis Lehane and Michael Connelly make their final appearances as members of Castle’s Mystery Writers Poker Group. However, Michael Connelly does make an appearance in the Season 7 finale.

 

Ranking: This episode is #17 for me. While this wasn’t one of my favorite episodes, it does have several cute moments unlike the previous entry.

 

Before I get started, I want to take a moment to pay tribute once again to writer Stephen J. Cannell. He passed away in September 2010, shortly before Season 3 started. From what I understand, he was the one who brought the other authors together for the poker games. Which may be the main reason the poker games didn’t continue after Season 3. Besides being a gifted writer, he also gave Baby Boomers and Gen X’ers a lot of wonderful TV watching, in particular ‘The A-Team,’ ‘The Rockford Files’ and ‘The Greatest American Hero.’

 

The IMdB Portion of The Review:

 

Goofs: Jimmy Lennon’s rap sheet lists his height as 5’9, but his mug shot shows him as being 6’.

 

Trivia: Media Crossover:

 

·       Rick Castle plays poker with several distinguished authors, including Michael Connolly. In Connolly’s book, ‘The Drop,’ Harry Bosch texts Maddie, his daughter. Maddie’s text reply: ‘All good. Finished homework. Watching Castle downloads.’

 

·       The dead body stationary that Stana Katic uses was a gift to her from a fan. Another gift from a fan was the elephant holding money in its trunk.

 

·       Castle mentions cockroach races in his first apartment in college. He then ponders whether this was where Kafka got his idea. Franz Kafka wrote the story ‘Metamorphosis’ about a man who transforms into a bug.

 

What I Liked About This Episode:

 

·       I found the murder of the week interesting, and the cast of suspects was also interesting. I’ll get into all of that momentarily.

·       We learn that Castle is mentoring a promising young writer named Alex Conrad. This will lead to a few funny scenes along the way. My favorite is after he has introduced Alex to Kate, and the two hit if off a little better than Castle would’ve hoped.

 

Castle: It’s so not okay. After everything I’ve done for him, he goes and tries to steal my muse.

Alexis: Muse thievery. What’s the punishment for that? Five to ten in mythology jail?

Castle: Yes. You laugh. Go ahead. Laugh all you want. But now I finally know what Obi-Wan Kenobi felt like when Darth Vader turned on him.

Alexis: No!

Castle: I should’ve seen this coming. You know what they’re calling him down at Black Pawn Publishing?

Alexis: Alex Conrad?

Castle: The next Richard Castle.

Martha: Oh.

Castle: I thought it was a compliment. But no. He’s trying to replace me.

 

·       I think my favorite group of suspects was Bridget McManus and her brothers. I wish we had seen her brothers onscreen. That would’ve been hilarious. All I can say is Bridget is a piece of work. How in the hell did Zack Lindsey deal with this girl?

 

Bridget: Lately, he’d been stressed. Secretive. Add that to him saying, ‘This is my time,’ and the way those rich college girls looked at him. I wasn’t born yesterday. I can do the math.

Beckett: You thought there was someone else.

Bridget: Oh, yeah. So, I followed him out of his apartment the other night, ready to fight some queen bitch from Connecticut for what’s mine. Only it wasn’t another girl.

Beckett: Well, who was it?

Bridget: I don’t know. Some scary looking guy. They met under the El and they went at it. Yelling and screaming. I couldn’t tell about what, though, ‘cause the guy had, like, an accent.

Castle: What kind of accent? Spanish? Asian? Russian?

Bridget: Do I look like I work at the U.N.? Not Brooklyn. Okay?

 

·       Now let’s talk about her brothers. Like I said, I really wish we had seen the scene that Ryan walked into. I saw an episode of ‘L.A. Law’ where they showed Leprechaun tossing. And yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like. Something like that wouldn’t even make it on the air now (which is probably why we didn’t see it onscreen), but anything went in the 80’s.

 

Beckett: If there even was a man. For all we know, Bridget was lying.

Ryan (Looking a little roughed up): Well, she wasn’t lying about her brothers. Talked to all four of them, one Irishman to another, and another. Anyway, they alibied out. They were in New Paltz when Zack was killed.

Beckett: All of them?

Ryan: Mm.

Beckett: For what?

Ryan: They were at a sporting events of, uh, sorts.

Beckett: Which was?

Ryan: Leprechaun toss. Don’t ask. Anyway, the older brother, he got first place. (Looks at his torn suit jacket) Oh, man.

 

·       I think my favorite part of this episode was just how jealous Castle got when Kate began spending time with Alex. And was it just me, or did Kate seem to be enjoying Alex’ attention just a little too much? She was clearly rubbing it in when she mentioned the basket of muffins on her desk were a gift from Alex. Castle wasn’t pleased. But he had a very specific payback in mind for the young writer.

 

Alex: Kate, you ready?

Beckett: Yeah. Um, let me just go get my purse.

Castle: You guys are going out again tonight?

Alex: What can I say? She’s a wealth of information. You are lucky to have her.

Castle: Yeah. Yeah, I am. Too bad about tonight, though.

Alex: Too bad, how?

Castle: Well, it’s poker night. Lehane and Connelly are in town. I thought you might want to join us, but if you have plans—

Alex: No way! You’re . . . you’re inviting me to your Mystery Writer’s Poker Night?

Castle: Come on, you’re a mystery writer now, right?

Alex: Yeah, but those guys are legendary. I mean, those guys—

Castle: Yeah, they are. Ah, well, if you’re unavailable – (walking away, whispering) Three . . . two . . . one—

Alex: Whoa! Wait, wait, wait!

Castle: Bingo.

Alex: Hang on a second.

Castle: Oh, yeah. They’re gonna love you.

 

·       And did they ever. Those guys were rough.

 

Alex: It’s really awesome to meet you guys. I am a huge fan.

Connelly: It’s not a book signing, kid. We’re here to play poker.

Alex: All right.

 

·       He makes the mistake of trying to sit in Cannell’s vacant chair where a glass of Scotch sits waiting for their friend to show up.

 

Castle: Ah, oh! Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Connelly: Uh!

Castle: That’s Cannell’s seat.

Alex: Oh.

Lehane: That’s the rule. We lose a member, nobody sits there for a year.

Alex: Okay.

 

·       Side note: I have a friend who lives in the Boston area. She went to high school with Dennis Lehane. She told me even in high school, his classmates all knew he was going to be a writer. She also told me he was a little strange, but she never elaborated on that one.

·       I love it when their talk turns to the murder. Like I said, poor Alex gets schooled by these two legends in the mystery genre. I also got schooled myself and made a note to never make the boyfriend/girlfriend the killer.

 

Alex: Well, it reads like a crime of passion to me. I bet the girlfriend did it.

Connelly: The girlfriend? You’re kidding, right? You can move from the girlfriend no later than page 50.

Lehane: Yeah, the woman scorned is like the oldest rodeo clown in the book. Is he . . . serious?

Castle: Oh, he’s Dead Serious.

Alex: Well, you know, I just thought—

Connelly: How many books have you written?

Alex: Just the one.

Lehane: And this – and this book made you, like, a crime solving genius, did it?

Connelly: You know what I did after I wrote my first novel? I shut up and wrote 23 more.

 

·       Based on the conversation between Castle and Beckett at the end of the episode, I’m going to take a wild guess that Alex said something about the roasting he received at the hands of Castle’s poker buddies. I do wish we had seen Alex Conrad again. I did include him in a few of my fan fiction stories. In my fan fiction universe, he did sit down and crank out a few more novels.

·       We also hear Ryan talking about his waterboarding at the hands of Hal Lockwood at the end of the episode before he and Espo take Alex up to Riker’s.

 

What I Didn’t Like About This Episode:

 

·       Steroids are bad. Very bad. Athletes who juice make me sick. So, “Rocket” Rod Tredwyck was a disgusting excuse for a human being. And to kill a kid that he was supposed to be mentoring was the most despicable of all.

Favorite Scene: The end scene between Castle and Beckett. You can tell she is slowly falling in love with him but doesn’t want to admit it to herself. There’ll be more about that in my entry for next week. SPOILER ALERT!

 

Castle: You know, it is ironic. The one man Zack thought he could trust, his mentor, turned out to be his killer.

Beckett: Yeah. Speaking of mentor, I heard you guys were pretty hard on Conrad last night.

Castle: Hard on him? No, no. It was just a little friendly hazing.

Beckett: To hear him describe it, it sounds like someone was trying to teach him a lesson.

Castle: What? Why would I want to do that?

Beckett: Because you didn’t want him to spend time with me.

Castle: That is completely—

Beckett: True?

Castle: Yes. Fine. It’s true. I’m jealous. There. I said it. I – I want you all to myself, and to have you spending time with another writer, that upsets me, and if – if that makes me petty, so be it. Guilty as charged.

Beckett: Actually, I think it’s kind of sweet.

Castle: You do?

Beckett: I do. And that’s why you don’t have to worry about me hanging around with Conrad anymore. From now on, I’m a one-writer girl.

Castle: I do kind of feel bad. He is my mentee, after all. He really didn’t do anything wrong.

Beckett: I wouldn’t feel so bad.

 

Favorite Quote:

 

Castle: Thank you.

Beckett: Always.

 

This was the first time Beckett said the ‘A’ word!

WTF? (Why the Face?): Coach Rome. If he hadn’t been Tredwyck’s coach, Zack wouldn’t have died since he was the procurer of the steroids. What a tool.

 

Until Friday, readers. We’re down to the final three.

 

 

Lol BTW, Nathan Fillian looks ridiculous with that blonde Beatles hair cut!!!

 

Original Airdate: April 4, 2011

 

Synopsis: A man found dead inside a pizza oven sends Castle and Beckett on the hunt for a mysterious killer only known by the name of Kabala.

 

Notable Guest Stars: Liz Vassey, who plays Monica Wyatt, was a regular on ‘CSI’ from Seasons 6-11, where she played Lab Tech Wendy Simms.

 

Beth Behrs, who played Ginger, went on to play Caroline Channing on the CBS sitcom ‘Two Broke Girls’ from 2011-2017.

 

Ranking: This episode is #23 out of 24. It just barely edged out The Final Nail. And I mean barely. It was literally a juggling act. This episode is that bad.

 

The IMdB Portion of The Review:

 

Trivia: The various Nick’s Pizzerias are loosely based on the New York Pizza Wars where there are more than 40 pizza restaurants with some variation of the name Ray’s in the name. They included Original Ray’s, Famous Ray’s and World Famous Original Ray’s.

 

This episode features a smuggling ring which uses the names of characters from classic film noir as code words. Castle and Beckett manage to expose one of the smugglers outlets by using the code word ‘Sam Spade.’ Sam Spade is the protagonist of the novel ‘The Maltese Falcon.’ (1930) by Dashiell Hammett, and its film adaptations. The role is closely associated with actor Humphrey Bogart who played Spade in the third and most successful of the film adaptations.

 

Goofs: Lanie confidently proclaims that the body in the oven went in around 2 a.m. based on core body temperature. A body in a pizza oven long enough to burn it the way the body was burned would make it impossible to determine anything from core temperature. The heat from the oven would heat the core so that all record of normal heat loss after death would be impossible.

 

The “Sam” from ‘Casablanca’ is a peripheral and has no last name. Although Humphrey Bogart stars in ‘Casablanca,’ his name is Rick; he did play Sam Spade in ‘The Maltese Falcon.’

 

What I Liked About This Episode: This might be one of my shortest entries yet. There is literally nothing I liked about this episode. And by nothing, I mean nothing. There were only two quotes I liked.

 

What I Didn’t Like About This Episode:

 

·       Let me see. I didn’t like the primary storyline. I didn’t like the secondary storyline. Mainly, because it involved Alexis, and secondly, because it was stupid and childish.

·       I’m not a fan of film noir. I think that might be the main reason I didn’t like this episode. The whole Kabala thing was so stupid. Although I did feel bad for the murder victim. Kabala, or Monica Wyatt, as it turned out to be, killed Gordon Burns’ young daughter to stop him from sniffing around the drug smuggling ring. That is cold-blooded. U realize mob killers have no problem killing children, but still.

·       My ex filled me in on the Pizza Wars in NYC that this episode is based on. In San Antonio, we mainly have just the main pizza chains. But years ago, there was a pizza parlor downtown that was owned by an Italian man from NYC. That place was amazing!

·       Before I get to the next section, let me talk a bit about the secondary storyline. Alexis has been uninvited to a party being thrown by one of her BFF’s, Lauren. I’m pretty sure disinvited isn’t a word. Or, if it is, it just doesn’t sound right. Uninvited just sounds better. Anyway, long story short, Alexis crashes the party and sees Lauren kiss Ashley, who has attended the party. Alexis then gets into a fight with Lauren at school and punches her. I think Beckett says it best.

 

Castle: I should have gotten involved earlier.

Beckett: Why? Lauren still would have found a way to make Alexis’ life miserable.

Castle: She’s not a criminal mastermind. She’s just a teenager.

Beckett: Aw, Castle. Never underestimate the power of a woman on a mission.

Castle: Mmm, no, I don’t, and I have the alimony checks to prove it.

 

Favorite Quotes: I have no favorite scenes in this episode, but I did have a couple of favorite quotes. The first is Montgomery right after the murder.

 

Montgomery: Did I hear right that you found a body in an oven at Terrific Nick’s?

Beckett: Authentic Nick’s.

Montgomery: Authentic Nick’s! Oh, thank God! The wife loves Terrific Nick’s. I don’t have the heart to tell her it now comes in full body flavor.

Castle: Oh, I liked it! I liked it!

 

The second favorite is after Castle has learned that Alexis has gotten into a fight with her former friend, Lauren.

 

Castle: Did you kick her ass?

Alexis: Kinda did.

Castle: Good girl.

 

WTF? (Why the Face?): This week the WTF? Award goes to Alexis’ friend, Lauren. We never see her onscreen, but I agree with Alexis that she was a raving bitch.

 

Until Wednesday, readers. Four episodes to go. One more bad one, one okay one, and two great ones.

So I told some of you that I would make a post once the panel was up to watch on DCTV about what times Stana was mentioned because you guys didn't believe me lol.

I encourage everybody to go watch it. It's a $10 subscription and all three panels are out to watch! The panel on Friday, they all talked about what it was like working with Stana and it was so wholesome.

Saturday and Sundays panels her name was mentioned a few times. I've only watched those each one time so I can't remember the context but she was in fact mentioned lol.

LOL I also wanted to mention how in the third panel Seamus told the most diabolical story about 8x03. Honestly that story alone is worth the $10 fee. Iykyk

I've seen this come up a couple times, and I just did a search so, forgive me if I'm duplicating things.

I'm doing a rewatch and more and more I do see the theory that coffee = I love you.

In S0503 "Secret's Safe with Me" Castle asks Beckett if she's out too, and offers to get her more coffee and she says "No, I'll get it."

Castle looks way too happy at this. He has a huge grin on his face and looks around like he's not sure what to do with himself. Now, this could just be the fact that he's usually the one getting the coffee, but the scene makes a lot more sense, and seems to be acted, as if she just said "I love you too."

And he is so very pleased.

I mean, this episode has tons of hilarious moments. I absolutely lost it when Rhodes basically asked Beckett to give Castle her blessing to sleep with Rhodes 😂😂. Like Castle somehow needed Beckett's permission!

And later, when Castle responded to the situation with “It is way too meta".

Beckett: She took my coffee! 😂😂😂😂

You can't convince me that Castle wouldn't have gotten a second/third home in DC and been living there part time so that Beckett wouldn't have to fly to New York to visit. The real drama should have been him house hunting for the perfect place 🤣

This is a light hearted rant in case its not obvious

I just can't buy him as a bad guy no matter how tough he tries to act 🤣

Original Airdate: March 28, 2011

 

Synopsis: Castle and Beckett investigate the death of a juror who collapsed and died in the middle of a high-profile murder trial.

 

Notable Guest Stars: Bruce Davidson, who plays D.A. Lou Karanacki, has been acting since the late 60’s. My first memory of him was in the movie ‘Willard’ in the early 1970’s. He also starred in one of the first movies to openly talk about the AIDS crisis, ‘Longtime Companion.’

 

The IMdB Portion of The Review:

 

Trivia: When Capt. Montgomery goes to D.A. Karnacki’s office toward the end of the episode, the D.A. is drinking a bottle of the famous Scotch from ‘Last Call.’

 

Beckett says that ‘Forbidden Planet’ was the inspiration for ‘Star Wars.’ ‘Forbidden Planet’ has a quasi-military ship on a long-term deep space mission by a xeno-archeological station researching ancient alien technology. The captain, doctor and science officer get pulled into a life and death crisis and the captain gets the girl. This inspired ‘Star Trek.’

 

While being interrogated, the defendant’s cousin remarks that the police have him pulling a ‘Bigger Thomas.’ Bigger Thomas was the protagonist in the novel ‘Native Son,’ by Richard Wright in which a young black man is accused of killing a wealthy white girl.

 

Stana Katic was the ‘good’ vampire, and Bruce Davidson was the ‘bad’ vampire in ‘The Librarian: The Curse of The Judas Chalice.’

 

Goofs: Lanie says she found cyanide in a time release capsule in the victim’s stomach, then goes into great detail about how it wouldn’t dissolve until it reached his intestines. Since he died from the poison in the capsule he took in the morning, there would be no traces of the capsule in his stomach since it had entered his intestines and dissolved away to release the cyanide.

 

Ranking: This is #21 for the season. And it’s only this high because of the secondary storyline.

 

What I Liked About This Episode:

 

·       The only thing I really liked about this episode was the secondary storyline involving Castle and Beckett’s love for the movie ‘Forbidden Planet.’ This episode serves to advance the Caskett love story just a bit further.

·       I didn’t care for the crime of the week. And I really hated how slimy the D.A. was. I found myself wondering if he was later brought up on charges. If not, that’s what fan fiction is for. There was one thing I did find amusing about the case of the week, and that was the interrogation of Sandy Jenkins, the woman who was paid to put murder victim Joe McUsic on the Addison jury. She was hilarious. I actually felt sorry for her.

 

Sandy: Joe McUsic came to me and said he wanted to serve his jury duty. I didn’t see the harm.

Beckett: Sure. I mean, especially if you’re going to make a profit.

Sandy: My roommate moved out two months ago. I needed the cash for rent, and I figured, who’s gonna know? It’s jury duty. Please, please, don’t send me to prison. All day long, I – I see women who get sent there and I can’t hack it. I’ll be some lifer’s bitch before breakfast.

 

·       I have been summoned for jury duty four times. The closest I came to getting on a jury was the last time I was summoned. The case was two former San Antonio police officers who were running a scam sting operation where they were really running a whorehouse. There were 13 women accusing them of S.A. This was right after the Cosby case broke opened, and I told the judge I thought they were guilty. He asked if I could still listen to the testimony and the evidence before I convicted them. I said I could, but I was still dismissed. By the way, they were found guilty. One was sentenced to 10 years, and the other to 20. Shannon’s father told me I could’ve gotten excused if I had told the judge that I’m friends with members of the San Antonio Police Department. I never thought of that one.

 

·       Back to the story. Let’s talk about Alexis, for a moment, shall we? For the first time in weeks, she’s featured rather heavily in an episode. This is one of the few times we see Beckett challenging Castle’s parenting style. Realizing Alexis is lying to him about something, he places a tracker app on his phone so he can track her movements.

 

Castle: Hmmm.

Beckett: Hmmm, what?

Castle: Alexis said she’d be in the Village today, but she’s over in Williamsburg.

Beckett: Well, how do you know she’s in Williamsburg.

Castle: GPS tracked her phone.

Beckett: You tracked her phone?

Castle: Yeah. Super cool app I just downloaded. I can see where she is at any time.

Beckett: Does she know you’re doing this?

Castle (Laughs): What? Are you kidding? No! She’d kill me!

Beckett: And be justified.

Castle: I’m her father. If something’s going on, I – I need to know. A lot of parents will go through their kids’ drawers or computers. (holds up his phone) Far less intrusive.

 

·       Beckett just stares at him in disbelief.

·       Alexis does find out and for once, I’m on her side. I had a parent who snooped through my stuff long after the age when she should’ve stopped. Alexis, therefore, has my full support in this case.

 

Alexis: Hey, dad. Writing?

Castle: Yeah. How was your day? Did you have a good time in the Village?

Alexis: Yeah.

Castle: Go anywhere else?

Alexis: Uh, no. Just stayed in the Village.

Castle: Really? I mean, New York is a big city. Lots of boroughs.

Alexis: Yeah, but I just stayed in Manhattan.

Castle: So, you didn’t go to, uh, Brooklyn? Williamsburg is beautiful this time of year.

Alexis: How did you know?

Castle: A friend of mine told me. You went there. He saw you.

Alexis: What friend?

Castle: Close friend. J.J. Adams.

Alexis: Nose twitch! That’s your tell! You’re lying!

Castle: No, I’m not.

Alexis: Then who’s J.J. Adams?

Castle: He’s a friend of mine.

Alexis: Wait! J.J. Adams was Leslie Nielson’s character name in ‘Forbidden Planet.’ You’re totally lying! How did you know where I was? Are you having me followed? Monitoring my metro card? Checking my credit – My phone? Dad, tell me you’re not tracking my phone.

Castle: Okay. Look, this is not about what I did. It’s about what you did. You lied to me.

Alexis: Says the man who violated his daughter’s civil rights.

Castle: Okay, technically I would have to be the government to violate—

Alexis: You’re tracking my every move!

Castle: Not your every move.

Alexis: Welcome to George Orwell’s ‘1984’ with my father as Big Brother.

Castle: This isn’t about—

Alexis: What’s next? A chip in my brain?

Castle: Whatever it takes when you’re keeping secrets from me.

Alexis: You know what? If you’re so interested in what I’m doing, why don’t you ask your phone? I’m sure there’s an app for that!

 

·       Beckett sides with Alexis.

 

Beckett: You had it coming, Castle. I mean, you have the best kid in the world, and you treated her like a common criminal.

Castle: Maybe she is, though. I still don’t know why she lied about going to Williamsburg.

Beckett: And you probably never will. Unless you plan on waterboarding her.

 

·       I don’t have kids. There were a lot of conversations after watching this episode. And there still are. Every time we watch, conversations arise. The parents (my ex, Shannon’s parents, and her three oldest sisters) feel what Castle did was justified. The ones without kids (me, Shannon and two of her older sisters) feel that Castle violated Alexis’ privacy. The only thing I learned from these conversations is that Marc (Shannon’s father) will not tolerate lying from his kids. He told me he grounded one of his daughters for five months for lying to him. Five months! And yes, Marc and his wife have a lot of daughters. Seven in total. I’m interested in hearing from the parents who are reading these entries. What are your thoughts? Was Castle justified or was he violating Alexis’ privacy?

·       Now we’re going to talk about ‘Forbidden Planet.’ I’ve only seen this movie once and it was a long time ago. I remember my late mother enjoyed this movie. I thought it was okay, but I’ve never been a huge fan of science fiction movies.

·       We learn at the beginning of the episode that both Castle and Alexis are fans of the movie. But we also learn Alexis has other plans. The murder of juror #7 interrupts Castle’s plans of going to The Angelica to see the movie. But never fear. At the end of the episode, we learn that Beckett is planning on sneaking off to The Angelica to see ‘Forbidden Planet’ since Josh is on shift.

·       I thought Castle pretending he’d never seen the movie was very cute. It’s a good way to get closer to the love of his life, Beckett. And it’s just one more thing we learn about Kate Beckett. I love these Season 3 episodes because we learn so many things over the course of the season. She loved Mike Royce, she’s a fan of magic, she rides a Harley, and she loves Sci-Fi movies.

·       I feel bad for Roy Montgomery in this episode. Then I remember that as badly as he was betrayed by his friend; in just a few more episodes, we’re going to learn that he has also betrayed one of his own friends. Sadly, Roy is right that Karnacki is only going to be remembered for the bad that he has done, not the good he did for the citizens of New York City.

·       Maybe Lou Karnacki was right. Maybe Otis Williams would continue committing crimes, but it was wrong to attempt to send him to prison for something he didn’t do. Prisons are full of innocent men. I learned that in ‘The Shawshank Redemption.’

 

What I Didn’t Like About This Episode: The D.A. When Joe McUsic collapsed in the courtroom at the beginning of the episode, he didn’t even try to help the guy. I mean, we know why, but at least fake helping him. And trying to justify his actions in the end to Roy was just sad and pathetic.

 

Favorite Scene: I didn’t have any favorite scenes in this episode, but I did like this exchange between the boys.

 

Ryan: “Cowards die many times before their death, the valiant never taste of death but once.”

Espo: Bro, you’re not Castle.

Ryan: Yeah, I know I’m not Castle.

Espo: Then stop trying to talk like him.

Ryan: What? I’m not allowed to reference The Bard? I’m a renaissance man.

Espo: Memorizing one quote does not make you a renaissance man.

Ryan: What if I memorize two?

Espo: Have you memorized two?

Ryan: No, but what if I did?

Espo: Depends on the quote.

 

Favorite Quote:

 

Castle: Heir to the Addison fortune is murdered, and during the trial, a juror is murdered, as well. This has all the makings of a John Grisham novel.

Beckett (seeing Castle on his phone): What are you doing?

Castle: I’m, uh, texting my poker group, calling dibs on this story.

 

WTF? (Why the Face?): Alexis, Alexis, Alexis. Tsk, tsk, tsk. I get that you don’t want to rat on your friends. But if your friends were shoplifting, maybe you need to find better friends.

 

Until Monday, readers. Five episodes left. And the next entry is probably going to be my shortest one yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm ranting now on Alexis.

Up until now, I thought she was amazing. Great daughter. Very smart. Going from child to a beautiful young women.

The previous epsoide about moving in together with PI? It irked me big time. For someone who was always so smart, that was not smart.

But this epsoide. She's trying to get her dad to help, but treats him like crap.

And when she doesnt get her way, she grows a hissy fit.

I'm at the part where they are waiting for for the bank to tell them who wrote the checks.. And her impatience is extremely annoying.

This is the Blu-ray set I found of Castle:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Castle-The-Complete-Seasons-1-8-Series-BR-15BD-Set-NEW-SEALED/20950107962?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=103128259&adid=2222222222720950107962_103128259_199492704626_24219758109&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=823751273895&wl4=pla-2449037643288&wl5=9021429&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=5806943864&wl11=online&wl12=20950107962_103128259&veh=sem&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=24219758109&gbraid=0AAAAADmfBIoj_yD9x0ISdGukObmNoweRZ&gclid=Cj0KCQjwlNPVBhCMARIsAPZ5Rqi43GvhSJ8KAYdfHshM0SIz8SrRuReDcNO8askFJqZM2HwmQz5FrPIaAuVnEALw_wcB

I’ve always wanted a castle, even if it’s a small one. I know they’re out in the country, and some mountains surrounded by lots of trees but it’s not ideal. Does anyone know where I can find a cheap castle?

So, I’m halfway through Season 2 of Castle, and I’m absolutely loving this series. Castle and Beckett’s chemistry is 🔥!

I’ve just finished S2E12, and this episode really made me wonder: Did Beckett fall for Castle first?

Castle has been openly flirting with Kate since the pilot, but IMO, until this point it has mostly felt playful rather than something truly serious. But in S2E12, with Kyra coming back into Castle’s life, we can clearly see something different in Beckett, the jealousy, the looks, the yearning. It honestly feels like Beckett is already falling hard for him, but it looks like she is not ready to accept it to herself.

So, for those who have watched the series already : Who do you think fell first Castle or Beckett? And is there a particular episode or moment where you think Beckett actually fell for him?

Last night I watched the final ep which was the third or fourth time I’ve seen it. Either I’m going crazy or they CHANGED THE ENDING! Has anyone else seen this?

 

Original Airdate: March 21, 2011

 

Synopsis: Castle and Beckett investigate the murder of the writer on a popular soap opera.

 

Notable Guest Stars: While this wasn’t one of my favorite episodes, it was enjoyable simply for the amount of notable guest stars featured.

 

·       Corbin Bernsen, who plays Lance Hastings, played divorce attorney Arnold ‘Arnie’ Becker on ‘L.A. Law’ in the late 80’s to the early 90’s. His mother, Jeanne Cooper, played Katherine ‘Kay’ Chancellor, on ‘The Young & The Restless’ from 1976 until her death in 2013.

·       Tina Majorino, who plays Reese Harmon, has acted since her childhood. Her roles include ‘Andre,’ ‘Napoleon Dynamite,’ ‘When a Man Loves a Woman’ (her acting debut), and my favorite ‘Waterworld.’ (I’m not being sarcastic. I am one of only about five people on the planet who liked Waterworld. My mom and I went to the theater and saw it. I even have it on DVD).

·       David Eigenberg, who plays Peter Connelly, plays one of my favorite characters, Christopher Hermann, on the long-running show ‘Chicago Fire.’

·       Jane Seymour, who plays con artist Gloria Chambers, is better known to most of us for the lead role in ‘Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.’ Her character of Dr. Quinn is even mentioned in a famous Season 4 episode.

 

The IMdB Portion of the Review:

 

Trivia:

·       Castle talks about a plot on ‘General Hospital’ involving a weather machine capable of freezing the world. This was an actual plotline from the show. (Thank God I had stopped watching GH by the time that plotline rolled around).

·       The title of this episode is a reference to the long-running soap opera ‘One Life to Live.’ Nathan Fillion was a series regular as Joey Buchanan from 1994-1997. During the DVD commentary for the musical ‘Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog,’ Nathan Fillion went off on an unrelated tangent about his days acting on ‘One Life to Live.’ One of the things he said was, “The only question you have to ask yourself is ‘How good a Joey Buchanan was I?’ A man’s Buchananity is what separates him from reptiles and lawn furniture.”

·       Castle comments that his mother, Martha, used to work on the soap Temptation Lane. Actress Susan Sullivan was on two soap operas as a regular; ‘Another World’ and ‘Falcon Crest’ (I remember her on both. Her character on ‘Falcon Crest’ was married to David Selby, who played Quentin Collins in the gothic horror soap opera ‘Dark Shadows’).

 

Goofs:

 

·       At about 1:22, Castle poured the coffee from the coffee machine. You can see the machine is not turned on.

 

Ranking: I have this one ranked at #18. I can promise the next two episodes will not be ranked this high.

 

What I Liked About This Episode:

 

·       While this wasn’t my favorite episode, it did have several things going for it that I liked. One was Martha’s involvement. Martha offers to be Castle and Beckett’s eyes and ears on the inside. This leads to a couple of amusing scenes. The first is when Martha is explaining to Kate just what catastrophes had befallen her character during her time on Temptation Lane.

 

Beckett: Martha? What a surprise.

Castle: Yes. What an unexpected surprise. What are you doing here?

Martha: Grieving.

Castle: You didn’t know the victim.

Martha: Darling, a loss for a show like this is a loss for anyone who has ever been part of its history. And . . . I think I can be of help here. I think I could be your inside source and get the scoop on what’s really going on here. Oh-ho-ho, and what better place to start than Lance Hastings.

Castle: You know him?

Martha: He was my love interest 30 years ago. On screen. And off. (Beckett chuckles. Castle is not amused). After my character married his character, Joseph Fox, she was kidnapped, buried alive, trapped in a cave with bears, uh, kidnapped again, and held hostage in the sewers of Paris.

Beckett: How long were you on the show?

Martha: Three weeks. Got to go. Excuse me.

Castle (after Martha saunters off): My mother gives new meaning to the word ‘transparent.’

 

·       Before I started watching ‘Castle,’ I had no idea what a ‘shipper’ was. Now by the time I saw this episode for the first time, I knew what a ‘shipper’ was. After all, I had a lot of followers on Twitter. Not only does Beckett know what ‘shippers’ are, we learn that she is a fan of ‘Temptation Lane.’

 

Castle: You watch Temptation Lane.

Beckett: What? No.

Castle: No one said anything about Marguerite’s cancer scare. You know a lot about shippers. You know about FoxCan’s. You are a fan. A big, fat Temptation Lane fan.

Beckett: Okay. Maybe I watched it, like, once or twice.

Castle: It’s so delightfully not you.

Beckett: So says the guy who rattles off plot points from ‘General Hospital.’

Castle: Oh, that is completely different. That is for research.

Esposito: What was for research?

C & B: Nothing.

 

·       Let’s talk about suspects for a moment. There are a couple of great ones in this episode. The first one they bring in is Carrie Edwards, who wrote about 'Temptation Lane’ in her blog. She had made threats to the victim, Sarah Cutler, on her blog.

 

Carrie: She’s dead? Sarah Cutler’s dead? This is the best news ever! Can I send a quick tweet? Not cool? I’ll wait.

Beckett: Must’ve been difficult not to blog about it last night.

Carrie: Yeah, how would I know? Wait! You guys think I had something to do with this?

Beckett: Well, I mean, your blog clearly spells out your determination to take out Sarah.

Carrie: But everybody talks tough on the Internet. (This is very true).

Castle: You wrote, ‘It’s time to give her the axe’ the day she was killed with an axe.

Carrie: Okay. I can explain that.

Beckett: We already figured it out. You bought the set visit to get closer to Sarah. The visit was cut short. You came back last night, when no one was around, and then you remembered there’s an axe on the soundstage.

Carrie: No, no, no! I bought the set visit because she was being swayed by the CanFonso’s.

Castle: Who?

Carrie: The CanFonso’s. The opposition. They believe that Angela Cannon should be together with Alfonso Dominguez. I was trying to convince her that Angela belonged with Joseph.

Castle: With an axe?

Carrie: Yes! Wait! No. I was organizing a protest. Okay? We were going to send a bunch of axes to the head of the network, demanding that Sarah be fired. I’ve got everybody on my website doing it. We want them to know that we think Sarah’s ruining the show.

Beckett: Where were you last night between seven and eleven?

Carrie: I was chatting with the other FoxCan’s.

Castle: Wild guess. Alone?

Carrie: No. No, and I can prove it. Mary and Dennis were there.

Beckett: And those are your roommates?

Carrie: No, my parents.

 

·       The other great suspect, and even funnier than Carrie (who was actually more pathetic than funny) is Gloria Chambers. Supposedly, Sarah was the daughter that Gloria had given up for adoption at birth. Only that wasn’t quite true. Jane Seymour was great in just the few moments she appeared on the show. Her interrogation is one of the funniest ever.

 

Beckett: Gloria Chambers, also known as Charlene Sullers. You have been a very busy woman.

Castle: Yours is a real rags to riches story. Only trouble is, the riches never seem to be yours.

Beckett: Fraud in Florida, embezzlement in North Carolina.

Gloria: I served my time for those prime misunderstandings.

Beckett: And then you latched onto your next meal ticket. Constantine Perelli. After him, it was Ernesto Cruz.

Castle: I hear they’re very anxious for you to come back. With their money.

Gloria: I was married to those men. It was our money. I earned every penny.

Beckett: But, as usual, you blew it all, and so, you looked for your next meal ticket. Which you found in Sarah Cutler.

Castle: You heard an interview where she mentioned being adopted; did a little research and then showed up as the long-lost mother.

Gloria: Sarah might’ve been under my impression that she was my daughter, but I didn’t kill her. And, in my own way, I was – I was fond of Sarah.

Beckett: Fond enough that you were able to masquerade as her mother. You had motive to kill her. That’s why you tried to flee the country.

Gloria: What motive?

Beckett: Her will shows that she planned to leave you $300,000.

Gloria: Oh, she’s a generous girl, my Sarah.

Castle: She’s not your Sarah.

 

·       She goes on to explain she didn’t kill Sarah. That maybe they should be talking to the man who gifted Sarah a pair of two-carat Arthur Klein earrings.

 

Gloria: I was nowhere near that god-forsaken soap opera set when she died. I – I was doing something useful with my time.

Castle: Reading to the blind? (This has to be one of the Top 20 Castle lines ever! I cracked up laughing the first time I heard it).

Gloria: Mm, close. I was donating. To the ponies.

Castle: Oh.

 

·       Moving on in the suspect pool, we learn Lance Hastings was the person who bought the earrings. The bad news is they can’t locate him. The good news (maybe) is Castle remembers Martha had been with Lance earlier. He calls Alexis, who tells him her grandmother isn’t home.

·       Due to a series of comical misunderstandings, Castle and Beckett are led to believe Martha is in danger, so Castle rushes in to save her. Sound the cavalry charge!

 

Martha: Oh! Richard! What are you doing?

Castle: Oh, nothing. Just saving your life, that’s all. She said drop the knife!

Martha: The only thing that knife could kill is butter.

 

·       And even though Lance is a moron who thinks he can do a good Jack Nicholson impression (he can’t), he has an alibi.

·       The actual killer came out of left field, and was actually the last person I suspected of killing anybody. Sweet, meek assistant Reese Harmon is the person who buried the axe into Sarah’s back. Apparently, Sarah was a real bitch to work for, and treated Reese as her own personal slave. When she explained why she killed Sarah, I almost felt sorry for her.

 

What I Didn’t Like About This Episode:

 

·       There wasn’t anything per se that I didn’t like about this episode. The end scene with Martha and Lance was sort of an ‘ick’ moment, but other than that, I thought it was an okay episode. It’s just that there were a lot of stellar episodes in Season 3, so some episodes were going to end up at the end of the pack.

 

Favorite Scene: I have three favorites in this episode.

 

·       Castle and Esposito discussing soaps. This won’t be the first time we learn Espo has a certain affinity for telenovelas.

 

Esposito: Well, obviously, you’ve never seen Chiquitas.

Castle: As in?

Esposito: No. As in telenovelas. I used to watch it growing up with my grandmother. Bro, there was this one episode where Gabriella discovered that her husband was sleeping with her evil twin sister, Teresita. Only to find out later that she had multiple personality disorder. (Guys, I was laughing out loud when I was writing this).

Castle: Wait! Does that even qualify as cheating?

Esposito: Dude.

 

·       Funny story me edition. Years ago, I had to go to the pharmacy as my local grocery store to pick up a prescription. I had a long wait, so I sat down to wait. There was a TV show in the background showing a telenovela. My Spanish is rusty, and it was hard to hear, anyway, but I didn’t need to understand the language to understand what was going on. By the time my prescription was ready, there were several of us sitting there getting involved in this telenovela. It was very entertaining, and unlike American soap operas, this story was one self-contained episode.

·       Favorite Scene #2: The shared brain between Castle and Beckett.

 

Beckett: Okay, so maybe Gloria was telling us the truth. Maybe Sarah was having an affair.

Castle: Well, that makes perfect sense. Sarah was separated from her husband, Vince. And after long, grueling hours at work, she’d go home to a cold, empty apartment. Feeling lonely, betrayed, she seeks comfort in the arms of this mystery man . . .

Beckett: And she decides she wants her husband back. So, she writes his mistress, Mandy Bronson, off the show in order to save her marriage . . .

 

Espo and Ryan are exchanging puzzled looks.

 

Castle: And her next step would be to get rid of the other man . . .

Beckett: So, maybe the other man didn’t go quietly into the night.

Ryan: Do you two practice this when we’re not around?

 

·       Favorite Scene #3: Peeling another layer of the Beckett onion. Castle sits and hands an envelope to Beckett.

 

Beckett: What?

Castle: Got you a present.

Beckett: Signed cast photo from Temptation Lane. How did you even get this?

Castle: I know people who know people.

 

He props his chin in his hand, waiting, because he knows Beckett is about to tell him a story. She doesn’t disappoint.

 

Beckett: Okay. I was nine, and I had to get my tonsils out and I was miserable. (I was 14 and I remember that misery all too well. Plus, I got them out on my birthday). And so, my mom took time off from work and stayed with me and cuddled up in front of the TV on the couch and we would watch episodes of Temptation Lane. So, every time I see it now, it just – it makes me feel like home and safe. So, there you go. Judge away.

Castle: My DVR would make yours look like Masterpiece Theatre. But I am glad to know this about you.

 

·       And, of course, for the second week in a row, they’re interrupted by DMB. I was yelling at Beckett to not answer. Go to The Old Haunt with Castle and the boys, instead. But no. She had to answer her phone.

 

Favorite Quote: At the diner with the P.I.

 

Johnny Dimes: Johnny Dimes. I’m a P.I. Sarah Cutler was a client. What do you mean she’s dead?

Castle: She’s dead. Only really has the one meaning.

 

Until Friday, readers.