Title In the Belly of the Beast

Two-Sentence Summary Beckett is tasked with going undercover to infiltrate a drug ring, but things take a turn for the worse when the woman she’s pretending to be is revealed to be a contract killer. The situation grows even bleaker when an old foe is revealed to be the head of the operation that holds Beckett’s life in its hands.

Favorite Line “Dear Rick, I don’t know how much time I have even to write this letter. What I do know now is that I’m in this and the only way I’m gonna make it out alive is to see this through. I’m sure everyone is looking for me, and if they figure out I was here, CSU is gonna search this house. They’re gonna look for blood, and they will find it. Which will lead them to this letter. Babe, it’s your letter, and I hope you never have to read this and I can tell you all of these things in person. But if something happens and I don’t make it, I need you to know that our partnership, our relationship, is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. You’re an amazing man, and I love you with all of my heart. Always.” (Beckett’s letter to Castle)

My Thoughts It’s been a while since Beckett’s life was in immediate danger on Castle, so I’d almost forgotten just how horribly tense and emotionally gripping those kinds of episodes could be. This season has seen Castle in more life-or-death situations, and, while I liked the role reversals at the time, there’s nothing like a good “Beckett in danger” plot to remind me why the more dramatic Castle episodes are so often my favorites. I think it’s because these episodes allow Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic to shine. Fillion’s ability to portray the quiet desperation that comes from protectiveness and love is matched perfectly by Katic’s skills at showing controlled terror and fierce resolve.

The more dramatic episodes of Castle are often responsible for pushing the show’s mythology forward in major ways as well, which was certainly the case with “In the Belly of the Beast.” This episode rewarded you for paying attention—not just during the hour but during the last six seasons. It used the show’s history to make each plot twist resonate and to land each emotional blow with stunning force.

I liked that this episode began with a moment of domestic bliss because it helped build the tension while still setting up an important theme for this episode: Beckett is different than who she was when she first went back down the rabbit hole of her mother’s case. She’s happy. She has a man in her life who loves her, who has built a life with her. Yes, the “font” discussion was playfully sexy in a way we don’t see nearly enough with these two (but if I had my way, entire episodes would be spent watching them talk about fonts in heated whispers and no crimes would get solved ever). However, the scene did more than just give us that hilarious Fillion reaction to being abandoned just when he was starting to get hot and bothered. It reminded us that Beckett has something to lose now, but she also has something to draw strength from.

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Title Room 147

Two-Sentence Summary When three people confess to the same murder, all signs to point to a mysterious organization that claims to help people better themselves but actually seems much more like a cult, complete with drug-induced mind alterations and a disturbingly charismatic leader. Beckett also has some mind-altering of her own to do, as she tries to convince Alexis to stop punishing herself for her decision to move in with Pi.

Favorite Lines
Castle: You should know you’re engaged to a genius.
Beckett: Yes, a genius at annoying me.
Castle: So I’m Justin, and you’re one of the several people who shot me.
Beckett: I’m starting to feel the urge.

My Thoughts This was another episode that could have just been midseason filler—albeit very entertaining midseason filler—but it was elevated by a scene that led to great progress in a relationship that has often struggled to find its own footing. “Room 147” featured an interesting case, classic Castle/Beckett banter, and plenty of fantastic reaction shots from both Stana Katic and Nathan Fillion. But it was the development in Beckett and Alexis’s relationship in this episode that made it something special.

This week’s case allowed for a lot of humor, and it brought Castle and Beckett back to their default positions in the precinct: the boy with the crazy theories pulling the pigtails of the serious girl who doesn’t believe him (but loves to have those pigtails pulled). One of my favorite moments in the episode was when Castle started theorizing about psychic connections, and Beckett couldn’t help but laugh at his enthusiasm for such a crazy idea. It was another little touch to show just how far these two have come—from exasperated looks to suppressed smiles hidden behind rolling eyes and finally to Beckett admitting that Castle is cute when he runs with an absurd theory. Castle’s enthusiasm has always made Beckett’s job more fun, and it’s nice to see that written all over her face.

Speaking of faces, boy oh boy were there some great ones in this episode. Fillion and Katic are masters of great nonverbal reactions, and they outdid themselves here. Fillion’s uncontained glee as the case got more and more twisted was perfect, as was Katic’s increasing frustration. It was so much fun to just sit back and watch their reactions in every scene. It reminded me of earlier seasons in the best possible way, and I don’t think I will ever get tired of seeing “gleeful kid Castle” and “annoyed Beckett.”

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Title Smells Like Teen Spirit

Two-Sentence Summary When the mysterious death of a prep school student is linked to a girl with supposed telekinetic powers, Castle and Beckett uncover a web of high-school bullying, high-stakes burglary, and murder. Meanwhile, Castle and Beckett reminisce about their high school experiences as they struggle to find a first-dance song for their wedding.

Favorite Line “Everything I’ve ever done, every choice I’ve ever made, every terrible and wonderful thing that has ever happened to me—it’s all led me to right here, this moment with you.” (Castle)

My Thoughts Castle always knows how to wrap up an episode. Sometimes it’s with a great moment between Castle and his daughter or his mother (or both). Sometimes it’s with a cliffhanger that leaves you breathless. Sometimes it’s with a scene that reinforces the familial feeling within the 12th precinct. And sometimes it’s with a beautiful new step in the journey Castle and Beckett have been on since their first final scene together in the show’s pilot episode.

What I’m trying to say is Castle knows how to end things on a high note. And the ending to “Smells Like Teen Spirit” may have been the highest note the show has hit in a season that is consistently nailing both the biggest and smallest moments on Castle and Beckett’s road to their wedding day. It was another bold, confident move in a season that has been defined by its confidence, and it was one of my favorite Castle/Beckett closing scenes since the Season-Four finale that inspired it.

But before we talk about those perfect final minutes of the episode, let’s talk about the rest of the episode that came before it. I found myself initially intrigued by the case and all of its Carrie references (with bonus X-Men references to make my nerdy heart happy). Any case that lends itself to outrageous Castle theories (and Beckett eye-rolls) is going to be a fun case for me to watch. However, I do think it became unnecessarily convoluted once the burglary plot began to unfold. I started doing eye-rolls of my own once German bonds became an important part of the plot.

The best part of the case was the fact that it took Castle back to his old high school. That allowed for plenty of humor (see Beckett’s reaction to Castle getting in trouble with his old principal), but it also allowed for yet another layer of the “Castle onion” to get peeled back. Remember when the show tried to make us believe that it would be hard for Beckett to see the things that make Castle who he is? Now, it’s just something that happens little by little in every episode. We’ve learned so much about Beckett’s past that Castle’s is now finally starting to see its own time in the spotlight, and it’s happening so naturally that it never feels like heaps of exposition. It’s just two engaged people sharing stories about who they were before they knew each other—and finding out along the way that they really are made for each other.

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Title Dressed to Kill

Two-Sentence Summary The death of a famous magazine editor’s assistant brings Beckett back into the world of high fashion after her brief period of time spent working as a model. A wedding dress modeling session and a discussion of venues and dates causes Beckett to come to terms with the fact that her mother won’t be present for her wedding day.

Favorite Lines
Beckett: Do you know what else I wish she could have experienced? You.
Castle: Really?
Beckett: She would have loved you.

My Thoughts Sometimes life gives you moments of reflection, moments to stop and think about how much you’ve grown and how far you’ve come. “Dressed to Kill” gave Kate Beckett one of those moments—a moment to literally look in the mirror and see who she has become in the last six years—and, in doing so, it gave us as fans a chance to reflect on this character’s journey and the way it has changed from a story of loss to a story of love.

To be honest, I thought the majority of this episode was standard, midseason Castle fare. It featured a great guest star (Frances Fisher, whose presence gave me a case of some serious Titanic nostalgia), a pop-culture inspired plot (in this case, The Devil Wears Prada), and a series of elaborate twists and turns before cycling back to name a character introduced near the beginning as the murderer (who I totally called as the killer as soon as I saw him—not to brag or anything).

I didn’t feel much emotional attachment to anyone related to the case, which was strange considering how much time the episode spent trying to get me to feel invested in the relationship between Beckett and Matilda. I understand that Beckett modeled for her for a brief time, but I had difficulty believing Matilda would care enough about her to give her a wedding dress and make “daughter” comments about her. I wish we could have seen those wedding dress scenes with Martha instead, because that’s a relationship between Beckett and a mother figure that I actually care about. I know the show wanted to make the most of Fisher’s appearance, but her scenes with Beckett felt forced to me rather than familial.

I suppose my larger problem with Beckett and Matilda’s scenes might boil down to one basic fact: I really don’t like the wedding dress, and I like it even less when I think of it as Kate Beckett’s wedding dress. It actually took away some of the emotional power of seeing Beckett in a wedding dress for the first time—that’s how much I don’t like it. Part of my problem with it is that it was kind of forced on Beckett; she didn’t get to choose her wedding dress, which seems wrong to me. My other issue is that it just doesn’t feel at all like something Kate Beckett would wear.

I have been feverishly following Beckett’s fashion choices for quite some time, and what I’ve always loved about her style is that it’s so simple and so effortlessly elegant. I always expected her wedding dress to be a simple white or cream sheath—not that mess of tulle and print. The bodice might have worked without the tulle, but it still would have felt too opulent for the no-nonsense woman we know Beckett to be. I never thought there would be a dress Stana Katic couldn’t pull off, but I think they actually found one. My only hope is that the dress is a big red herring, and Beckett ultimately wears something more suited to her character.

Let this be a lesson to all future TV creators and costume designers: If you give audiences a character with as a well-defined a sense of style as Kate Beckett, don’t be surprised if they don’t like it when the most important garment the character will ever wear doesn’t fit that style at all. It’s not just dialogue and actions that can be out-of-character; clothes can be, too.

I suppose I should stop playing “fashion police” and actually get to what the wedding dress represented for Beckett—because it was so much more than just a dress for both her and the audience. Perhaps that’s why I bristled at Matilda giving Beckett the dress; in an episode that focused on mothers (with Martha being ever-present in the wedding planning and Johanna being gone) the gesture seemed to overstep some boundaries. I wanted Beckett to politely send the dress back and do something like alter her mother’s wedding dress, invite Martha to go dress shopping, or even go by herself (or with Lanie) to pick out her own dress. But there’s still time for something like that to happen.

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