Castle: "Need To Know"

By Michael Seese

Nope. Not a sign of the Fonz or water skis.

"Need To Know" felt a lot like your "typical" Castle. Intriguing plot twists, lots and lots of lines and looks, a suspect who is written off and then is revealed to be the killer, and not one--but two--surprises at the end.

I loved the opening scene. Castle and Beckett, lying there, enjoying pillow talk. Then the camera pulls back, and we learn that they're (literally) miles apart, conversing via smart phone. Nice!

Which leads us to a great line / look.

Beckett: "Do you know what my favorite position is?"
Castle raises his head expectantly.
Her answer, of course, was "In person."

I also liked the side story which revealed that Ryan was a closet fan of the 80s teen show, "2 Cool 4 School." It reminded me of Captain Gates, and her obsession with the Gemini Dolls. As I said in that post, it's nice when they fill out the characters, and give them real quirks, those like the rest of us have. (So says the Rick Springfield fan.)

And, that particular schtick gave rise to most of the great lines.

Castle: "A former child star getting the book. Hoisted on his own petard. Hung out to dry."

Ryan: "That was a very nuanced performance."

Ryan: "You know what I don't get?"
Esposito: "You're wearing that hat. There's a lot you don't get."

Castle: "It's like Romeo and Juliet. With a nerdy Romeo."
Esposito: "And a smoking hot Juliet."

And a few one-offs...

Castle: "I don't know if I'm smelling a compost bin, or my daughter's rotting ambition."

Perlmutter: "Mister Castle, you're back. But not by popular demand."

Beckett: "Castle, you're not going to Castle me on this."

Castle: "This place could be teeming with bloodthirsty Cossacks."

IF YOU DON'T WANT THE ULTIMATE SPOILER, STOP READING NOW.

The last scene totally caught me off guard. I didn't see it coming. But once Castle turned serious and told Beckett he wanted to talk about "them," I knew he was going to say he was moving to DC. "I can write from anywhere." Where have I heard that before? Oh yeah...MY BLOG.

Then...

I guess the government shutdown has impacted the AG Office, as they've obviously let their HR department go. That's my snide way of saying my only gripe was that McCord would not have been the one to fire Beckett. But I'll forgive them.

Feel free to share your thoughts on "Need To Know."