Castle: Reckoning

by Michael Seese

I think I have to christen a new category of Castle. There are the straight-up murders. There are the Scooby mysteries. And now we have Castle rescuing someone he loves, which is just a whole new level. Like Hunt several years back, Reckoning was a great episode.

Let me launch the SPOILER ALERT by saying I SO CALLED IT!

This episode was less about lines and looks -- in fact, I wrote down one funny line -- and more about exchanges. 

It was great to see Captain Gates warming up to Castle when she spoke with him and told him what Beckett said she saw in him.

I loved the dialogue between Ryan and Castle. "I could have had him," Ryan lamented. 

Castle was great when he met with Tyson's former cellmate and convinced him to share information. A minor kudos to the writers here. When they showed Castle driving out by himself, I screamed, "Idiot!" But then we heard the cellmate say, "When he sees the cops coming..."

The conversation between Beckett and Dr. Nieman was so cool, and cold. Of course, the Dr. Nieman character oozes creepy coldness. And I will cite a line here: "Please do not scream. It's tedious and no one can hear you."

Quick aside: a bottle of Malbec on the table at Tyson's hideout. At least he has good choice in wine.

And finally, the standoff between Castle and Tyson was just breathtaking. Here, I will gloat...

SPOILER

... that the minute they started talking, I said something to the effect of, "Castle set this up." My thought was that he was carrying an unloaded gun (which he knew Tyson would take) and had a loaded gun hidden elsewhere.

Major kudos for what I thought was a very cool camera trick. Specifically, the part where Captain Gates is briefing the squad, and Castle looks to his side and whispers, "We're not going to find her. Not like this," ostensibly to himself. Later, the camera pans around, and we see he was talking to Ryan and Esposito. They we get the quick fill-in on the plan.

I do need to serve up a few nitpicks...

- I know Ryan ran up and checked Tyson. Still, he's escaped death before. So I would have liked cold, hard closure, as in someone saying, "He's dead." (Though the red spot in the middle of his chest would largely clinch it.)
- So if I understand it, Dr. Nieman's plan was to cut off Kate's face and then... surgically remove her own, and sew Kate's on?  And do this herself?
- I understand they wanted the "Hollywood ending." But Castle, Ryan, and Esposito were in the middle of nowhere. Unless Beckett was being held at the next farmhouse over, there had to be some other NYPD officer who could have gotten there first.

Still, these little gripes don't detract from the overall quality of the episode.

And let's close with the one funny line.

Castle: "I'm being un-banned?"

Next week looks like another Scooby episode. 

So what did you think of Reckoning?