TV Recap: Castle 6-21 - Law and Boarder

What a fun episode last night.  The comedy sub-plots were outstanding, and the mystery was pretty good.  It helped that an actress from my favorite TV show of all time had a brief part in the episode (that should have been much longer).

The episode starts out with a motorcycle rider chasing a skate boarder down and shooting him.  As the detectives arrive on the scene, we learn that the victim, Logan, was a professional skateboarder in town for an extreme sports competition.  And since he'd been taped fighting with another professional, they have their first suspect.

Of course, that person points out that Logan broke into the event organizer's office.  The event organizer knew nothing about who had done it, but yes, someone broke in, trashed it, and took his gun.

We also learn that Logan had ties to the area, including a friend from LA.  He'd sent a package of some kind to the friend in LA, but she had no idea what was in it.  He also crashed a few nights with a trust fund kid who was a friend from his time growing up.

Delving more into his past, they learn about his connection to an Albanian who had been arrested (based on Logan's testimony) for drug possession.  He'd just gotten out of jail and was calling Logan.  But the man says they just met to he could apologize to Logan since the drug possession also got Logan's mom in jail.  Logan wanted $3000 to meet him, too.

Tracing his movements on the night he died, they learn that Logan returned briefly to the place he was staying with the trust fund kid and left with a duffle bag - the same bag that he had shipped to his friend.  He also went to his gym for just a few minutes, and a random key they found on him matches the gym's lockers.

Sure enough, the duffle bag was in the locker, and it contains all kinds of climbing equipment as well as stuff for breaking and entering.  Meanwhile, Logan didn't actually stow the bag in the locker - another competitor did, and one with a criminal past.

That competitor finally reveals that he was hired by Logan for $3000 to help him break into an office on the 15th floor of a building.  But what was stolen, his person doesn't know.  All he does know is that Logan was talking about avenging a death.

Turns out, the office belongs to a law firm, but they won't talk to Castle and Beckett at all.

And so they go visit Susan Ivanova, I mean Logan's mother (as played by actress Claudia Christian) in jail.  She reveals that a childhood friend of Logan's was killed, and the murder is still unsolved.

Through a little more digging, our team makes the connection to the organizer of the extreme sports competition.  His lawyer?  The firm that was robbed.  And with a little pressure, he confesses.

He was filming Logan, the friend who died, and another friend doing skateboarding tricks.  The one friend started taunting the other one, until that friend lost his temper and beat the first one to death.  Logan and the organizer agreed to keep it quiet for $5 million.  That tape was in the lawyer's office, and is what Logan stole, although only a tiny fragment was recovered, the rest being stolen by the killer.  The guilty party didn't have access to pay that money to destroy the tape (which is why the lawyer had it) it until he got his trust fund for his 21st birthday.

Which brings us back to the trust fund friend who Logan was staying with.  He's the killer both back then and now.

So, the sub-plots?  Well, there is the one where Beckett kept beating Castle at Scrabble, something that never happens.  We're talking never, ever, ever.  It happens twice over the course of the episode, and Castle's reactions to it were very funny.

Meanwhile, Ryan and Esposito are arguing over who should be the best man at the wedding (Laney is maid of honor).  They spend the entire episode trying to butter Castle up to get the job, including a family recipe and a dirty floaty pen.  At the end, however, we learn that Castle has asked Alexis to be his best man, but he does want Ryan and Esposito to be groomsmen.  "We just got beat by a girl.  Let us never speak of this again."

All told, it was a very funny and fun episode.  Next week looks to be serious and intense and the week after?  I'm expecting something to interrupt the wedding, but who knows?  Maybe next week will be the intense one and we'll actually have a fun wedding episode.

Thoughts on this week?  Did you enjoy it as much as I did?

And if you aren't familiar with Claudia Christian, she played Susan Ivanova on the first four seasons of Babylon 5.  Go back and watch that show.  Here's my review of the complete series to find out why.