This week’s Castle toys with our emotions and gives us another save the date card for a wedding–where will you be in a month?
I don’t think I was expecting the show to delve back into Castle’s mysterious disappearance so soon. In terms of this “replacing” the Johanna Beckett story, it seemed like we’d get bits and pieces and then every few episodes would be a story dedicated to it–which may well be the case now that we’ve gotten a few more answers (and questions)–but I wasn’t expecting it to go hand-in-hand with a typical procedural episode. In this episode what we learn about Castle’s disappearance is more important than the case of the week, so I’m going to focus more on that.
A rowing team finds a body in the East River just as Castle sits through what is likely the most awkward interview he’s ever done. The interviewer pretends to be interested in Raging Heat (which I read and is great) and Wild Storm, but really wants to know what everyone’s curious about: what happened to Castle for all those months? Castle certainly wasn’t prepared for the interview to become as combative as it did, as the host insinuates a publicity stunt and pre-wedding jitters are the reasons for Castle’s disappearance. Castle barely holds in his outrage that people would think he could do that to his family. Tired of the host dominating the conversation, he takes over and offers $250k to whoever knows where he was during the summer. Kate immediately points out it’s foolish and will just get them a bunch of crazies, but Castle remains ever hopeful.
Upon arrival at the crime scene, Castle discovers that the HMS Esplainie is once again out to sea. Lanie and Espo are once again flirting at crime scenes, putting any subtle Caskett shipping to shame. Our victim is Wallace Williger, toymaker extraordinary, creator of Sunshine Sarah, an ersatz Raggedy Ann. He was missing for four days and his wife kept holding on to hope that he would return. Castle notes that it must have been awful for Kate, but she brushes it off–he’s home now. However, as they pursue the case, Kate confides in Lanie that they’re both acting normal but neither feel that way. Part of Castle’s journey in this episode is making rash decisions in order to find out the truth–kissing Gates, putting evidence in the hands of the public and burdening the police department with it, all things done out of desperation to have the answers as soon as possible.
Castle digs through his haystack of theories and is saddened when a potential lead calls him at home (sounds suspiciously like Jerry Tyson in my personal opinion) and meets with him in public (with all the CIA flair of Jackson Hunt) and pulls Castle into a story about ships and escape… until he says it’s the mothership. Castle, as down for wild alien theories as he usually is, plays along but is heartbroken when his strongest lead is a bust. In the meantime, Rysposito find a burner phone in Williger’s office–leading to Natalie Mendoza, make-up artist extraordinaire. Williger was dressing as an old man, hanging out in Brooklyn.
Alexis brings a couple to the precinct, with photographic evidence that Castle was in Montreal six weeks ago. Field trip time! Beckett doesn’t want Castle to go without her, but he can’t wait for her to wrap her case. Alexis volunteers; “Ok fine. But only because I know you’re not going to do anything stupid if she’s with you. Don’t let him do anything stupid.” “Promise.” In Montreal, Castle gets into the bank he was seen outside of by the couple and accesses the safe deposit box with the key (one of our clues from last week) found sewn into his pants. Inside? Memory cards addressed to Alexis, Martha, and Kate.
Case note: the fact that Wally was Undercover Boss-ing his employees was really interesting to me as I’ve felt like I was being Undercover Boss’d at work before. Still no confirmation on that, but it’s my real life wild Castle theory.
Castle immediately shows Kate the card’s contents: a heartbreaking goodbye video, quick and rife with sentiments of “Always.” It’s clear Castle didn’t have a lot of time to make those videos. Kate’s apprehension is really well-played as Castle queues up the video, unsure of what to expect. You can see her breathlessness as she watches Castle on screen versus knowing he is alive right next to her. This video could have been his last words to her, found 2 months after his disappearance. Anyone would be shaken from seeing the tragedy their life could have been. Castle, one to always know the answers and the truth, begins to feel as though he might not like what he finds.
Kate gets Tory to look through the video to see where it was filmed–when a street in Montreal comes up, Castle hoofs it back to Canada. Alone. In a shady, abandoned apartment building, Fake Jenkins from last week arrives with a gun on Castle–is whoever’s involved watching him? How did they know he was there? Fake Jenkins claims it’s too dangerous for Castle to look for the truth–and Castle himself requested that he forget what happened. What Castle have possibly done or experienced to warrant such an extreme reaction? How far into his mental vacation was it before he consciously (and not by force) refused to contact Beckett? (I’m gonna whisper about the specificity of his amnesia to be exactly from the day he was kidnapped to begin his mysterious mission.) In order to get Castle to believe him, Fake Jenkins alludes to 11-year-old Rick and what he saw in Hollander’s Woods… “The real reason you became a mystery writer.” (Rather than the weak tale he spins for Kate in Castle is spooked; he’s never told a single person about it. Not Kate, not Martha, no one. “Some mysteries aren’t meant to be solved.” Castle has never believed in that. Either what he experienced was too painful or it was the out he needed to get back home and he took it, knowing he’d search for the answers regardless. “It’s over now.” Jenkins seems convinced that whatever they experienced is finished, but there’s no way that’s the case.
The last scene was a really wonderful scene between Castle and Beckett. Such an intimate scene, with Castle wondering about his past and trying to solidify his future. He wants to get married to Beckett right away, tomorrow, but Beckett knows that it’s just him trying to figure things out and it isn’t because they’re ready to. She says in a month and he agrees. Ever since I heard the title and the plot of episode 6 (“Time of Our Lives” written by creator Andrew Marlowe’s wife Terri Edda Miller), I thought it might be the episode where they finally get married and this solidifies that theory. We’ll see if they can push it off longer than that, but I doubt it this time. Now that they’ve pushed it this far, any further would anger the fandom (and is conveniently timed for November sweeps!). So with a plan to get settled in their new dynamic and assurances that they are still all in, Castle and Beckett settle in to bed, trying to figure to how to move on from the hole that has been dug in their lives.
Bonus thoughts:
- Castle in the toy shop was fantastic. A great moment for Rick is lighten up and be the big kid he always is–important in an episode and an arc that will focus on Castle’s darker side.
- Also, Ryan playing that floor piano was a great moment as well.
- I’m SO glad we got a Lanie/Beckett scene. Of course, usually Castle is who Kate confides in, but sometimes Beckett just needs some girl talk.
- Martha picking up a man at grief counseling and trying to keep up the ruse. Oh Mama Martha. “Mother, you realize I was on television this morning.” “Luckily, Robert is a cultured man. He does not watch television.”
- The bank manager was clearly lying when he said he’d never seen Castle before. What’s the story there?
- That nice couple got the $250k reward, right? They seem nice.
- Is 38 the new arc number, rather than 47?
Clues up til now:
- Remember: “three people.” Castle was seen alone for the rest of the episode, but two people dragged him out of that car. Could Henry Jenkins have been one of those people?
- The money Castle took out for the wedding got used for the dumpster drop to trash the car. Who knew about the money? Was that the first thing they did when they grabbed Castle? Made him get the money–where was he holding it that it wasn’t being watched by the cops or the feds?
- Beckett tries Paris, no dice.
- Lanie’s check-in:
The 38 key sewn into the lining of his pants.Dengue fever, tropical climate. Grazed rib wound. - Montreal, the Bank, the suspicious bank manager.
- Fake Henry Jenkins again– the willing amnesia, or so “Fenkins” (as Terri Edda Miller put it on Twitter) says.
- Where did Castle get those memory cards, camera? Was he doing something else with them before making the videos? Why were the videos so quickly done, who was he expecting to interrupt?
- Hollander’s Woods. February. 11-year-old Castle. What happened and why is it coming back to haunt him 30 years later?
Let’s keep amassing theories and clues. What do you think Castle was up to?
[Photo via ABC]
