Castle 5-22: Still

Ah, the clips show. It used to be a staple of every long running show. Heck, Friends managed to do it every season starting with season four. But it seems most shows are getting away from it these days. Castle returned to it last night for a light take on what could have been a serious episode, especially in light of recent events. The result was a fun filled yet suspenseful episode.

It starts with Beckett waking up in Castle’s bed. She’d gotten in late the night before because she caught the case of a bomb that had gone off killing someone. But they’ve got a license plate of someone they think is responsible, and sure enough, Beckett gets a call that they’ve tracked the guy down. He’s an ex-con who set some bombs 6 years ago and just got out on parole.

So they head to his apartment to arrest him, but he runs. Esposito corners him in an ally. He’s got some kind of remote with him, and he enters a code. They have no idea what it is for, but they are worried it armed a bomb somewhere. Esposito radios that info to Beckett, and she quickly gets everyone out of his apartment. She and Castle are the last to leave, and as she is going, she steps on something and hears a click.

At first, she and Castle both stand still since they aren’t sure where the bomb is and if there are any more. The bomb squad comes in and ex-rays the floor from the apartment below and determines there is only one bomb. But it is pressure sensitive, and if Beckett so much as moves too fast, it will set it off. They are going to do what they can to disarm the bomb from the apartment below.

Castle refuses to leave Beckett, and to distract her, he restarts the argument they’d been having at the beginning of the episode about who fell in love with whom first. And here’s where the flashbacks come into play as we get snippets of scenes. Most of them are out of context, but I did recognize quite a few thanks in part of the Castle marathon I had last year. I does make me realize that the quips haven’t been quite up to par this year, or maybe it was just the fact that these are the greatest hits. Either way, I was smiling at many of the lines and scenes. We’ve got evidence that Beckett was falling for Castle early, and vice versa. There are scenes of people telling Beckett about her feelings, Castle enjoying police work, and Castle wild and crazy theories.

But the plot really advances back at the precinct where Esposito and Ryan are trying to break the guy. The bomb squad has realized that the remote he used to arm the bomb could also disarm it, but they need the five digit code. And the bomber lawyers up.

Meanwhile, they have figured out that he has actually set off two bombs recently, both of them against people who had helped send me away six years ago. Could the police in general be a target? There was a man coming to potentially buy some baseball cards, but he doesn’t seem to be connected and doesn’t recognize any of the names connected with the case.

Then the bomb squad gets a look at the bomb via a camera through a small hole they’ve cut in the ceiling, and suddenly we learn it is on a timer. And they’ve got 30 minutes left.

Nothing like a timer to build pressure, right? So Esposito goes to “talk” to the suspect along and finds him dead. He’s committed suicide while in holding.

We’re down to 10 minutes, and Castle is finally forced to evacuate. As he is leaving, Beckett stops him and tells him, “I love you.” He replies, “I love you, too.” Beckett then calls her dad to tell him she loves him as well.

Only Castle comes back with just a couple of minutes to spare. Beckett is not happy to see him, but he refuses to give up hope. And that’s when they piece things together. The man coming to look at the baseball cards was the real target of the pressure bomb. The cards were a lure to get him there. His cousin was the bomber’s girlfriend when the bomber was arrested six years ago. She’s in hiding now, with her six year old son. The bomber has aggressive brain cancer; he’s got one month to live and just wants to see him once before he dies, but this was his best chance to track him down.

They make the leap that the son’s name must be the code to disarm the bomb. With seconds to spare, they learn his name is William, must be nicknamed Billy. With nothing to lose, they enter the code.

And the bomb is disarmed. Yeah, like Beckett would really die. Heck, we’ve already seen the next episode, after all.

What is interesting is the final scene. Esposito, Ryan, and Gates rush to the apartment to see that Beckett and Castle are okay. When they arrive, the two were about to kiss, but they quickly pull apart. Gates tells them to go ahead and kiss. Everyone is shocked, but she says she’s known for ages, but she hasn’t let on so she could claim plausible deniability if it ever came up. And she asks they keep it very discreet at the precinct so she can still claim that.

So everyone now knows. Frankly, this reveal puts the Valentine’s episode into a different light. Was Gates pulling Castle’s chain with the gift he slipped into her pocket instead of Beckett’s?

I wondered if there was some resolution to that this week because in the episode we saw last week, it sure did look like Gates knew when she, Beckett, and Castle were discussing Beckett guarding the Billionaire.

I certainly enjoyed this episode. A good if light plot filled in with a Castle best of. I might have expected it more for the 100th episode, but it worked well here, too.