TV Recap: Castle 6-11 - Under Fire

That episode had me fighting back tears twice.  Yes, I knew how it would end, but the writing and acting were so good.  I’m sure it helps that they’ve cast Kevin Ryan’s real life wife as his character’s wife on the show.  The emotions between the two of them was just so real last night.

The episode last night involved a body found at the scene of a fire.  But no, the fire wasn’t the cause of death – the man was shot in the head before the fire was set.  There’s no ID on the body or anything like that, so his identity is a mystery until his partner on the fire department makes the ID.  He was an arson investigator, and he was constantly working on a serial arsonist.  His partner recognized some of the trademarks of the arsonist and called him.  When he didn’t answer, that’s when she suspected what had happened.

While all this is going on, Jenny is about to go into labor and is calling every so often as a test in case she really does go into labor.

Ryan and Esposito go to the investigator’s place.  They figure his papers might give them a clue on who he thought this arsonist might be.  They find a list of potential addresses the arsonist will hit, and they go to check one of them out.  They realize it is the arsonist’s headquarters.  And he’s bobby trapped it.  They don’t have time to get out before it explodes, and the place goes up in flames almost immediately.

Commercial break

Meanwhile, Castle and Beckett have learned, thanks to the tech lady, that several fires the arsonist has set are on a website for arson enthusiasts.  They track down the owner of the site, but he’s no help to them.  All he is able to give up later (being interrogated by Gates) is that this person sets fire to buildings that he feels should be put out of their misery.

While talking to this guy, Castle and Beckett learn about the fire and head over there.  As they learn that it is pretty much hopeless than anyone could have survived, Beckett gets a call from Jenny.  She’s been trying to reach Ryan to test their system, and she’s not getting him.  (And yes, this was the opening scene as well.)

Commercial break

Yes, they made us wait that long to learn that Ryan and Esposito were alive.  They fell through a shaft in the weak floor and are in a sub basement.  The first order of business is to free Ryan, who is trapped under some rubble.  Then they start working on how to get out.  But there are no windows and no doors.  Esposito’s phone is smashed and Ryan isn’t getting signal.  So they start banging on pipes hoping someone will hear.

Meanwhile, on the outside, the fire crew has given up on this building and is trying to save the neighbors.  Laney and Jenny have shown up to wait as well, and Jenny goes into labor.  Laney takes her to an ambulance and watches over her as they wait.

Meanwhile, Ryan has figured out some of the wiring down there is for the phone system in the building, and he calls Beckett.  They’ve got the plans right there thanks to Ryan and Esposito’s earlier stop at the victim’s apartment.  But the sub basement isn’t on the plans.  They figure this is all by design of the arsonist so he could use it to fake his death and escape if he was caught.  But how to get out?

Meanwhile, Ryan asks to talk to Jenny, and they have a very tearful goodbye scene where Ryan suggest names for the baby to Jenny.  Then they are cut off, and the air begins to run out in the sub basement.  I’m fighting back tears.

But Beckett is able to take the info from the owner of the pyro site and make a connection.  Sure enough, all the burned out buildings were inspected by the same guy.  There’s a building inspector who is also an arsonist.  And he just happens to be on the scene in his official capacity.  Beckett is able to cow him into giving up the location of the way into that sub basement, and Ryan and Esposito are rescued just in time.

Once again, I’m fighting back tears as Ryan and Esposito are reunited with everyone.  The big reunions are Laney and Espo and, of course, Ryan and Jenny, who introduces Ryan to his daughter.

I tell you, that kid is bad news.  Ryan was almost in over his head when Jenny found out she was pregnant last season.

I’m a bit surprised that Jenny didn’t give birth during February sweeps, but that’s a minor issue.  I was expecting something like this drama wise, and I just knew that Ryan and Esposito would survive.  Imagine how I would have reacted if one of them hadn’t.  Still, even though I knew how it would end, I was still tearing up twice.  As I said at the outset, great acting and writing.

Some sites I looked at made a big deal about the discussion early on about a date for the wedding.  But it was just a teasing scene as Beckett and Castle gave each other a hard time on needing to find a date for the wedding.  Castle made reference to already having one (as in a female date – Beckett) while Beckett shot back she would be busy that day.  Honestly, the sites were making too much of it, but it was a very fun scene.

So, what did you think?  Were you drawn in even though you knew how it would turn out?