TV Recap: Castle 7-14 - Resurrection

There are things to be thankful for when your ultimate Frisbee team loses 0-15.  In this case, it meant the game was over quickly and I was home in time to watch Castle.  Okay, so I was still a bit later getting started than I would have liked, but it worked out.

And what an episode!  Since I knew the premise, I wouldn’t say I was blown away or surprised too much (even by the cliffhanger), but it was still great.

So, shall we get to the first part of this year’s February two parter?

We start with a woman in a nightgown running through New York.  She runs into an ally but stops when she sees a shadowy figure standing in front of her.  (And really, how long did it take them to get that shot of the gown flowing up behind her when she stopped.  I had to laugh because it looked so fake.)

In our pre-Beckett gets the phone call scene, we see Martha going off for a fitting for a new play she’s in and Alexis going out to study in the library.  As Alexis leaves, she kisses Beckett as well as Castle.  We also learn that Beckett is thinking about starting a family.  And we never go close to going back to any of this during the episode.  Pay off next week?  I’d bet on it.

Instead, Beckett heads to the scene of the crime.  The victim is identified as Susan, but she has no job or address.  Her last address was a place she moved out of six months ago.  The only possible clue is a job placement agency she had used, so Beckett heads out to look into it.

Meanwhile, Lanie finally figures out why the corpse looks so familiar to her.  It looks like the work of Dr. Kelly Nieman, the plastic surgeon we’d encountered in the past with connections to serial killer 3XK, aka Jerry Tyson.  Lanie calls Beckett to let her know just as Beckett spots pictures of the doctor at the employment center.

Unfortunately, Dr. Nieman is just a donor to the center, but she is back in town practicing again at a local hospital.  Beckett goes down to confront her and walks away with nothing because she doesn’t have a court order.  However, when they look at surveillance around the hospital, they spot the victim.

Problem – the video of the “victim” is from after Susan had died.  Bigger Problem – that means there is another potential victim out there.  Dr. Nieman confirms that this new woman’s name is Amy.  Biggest problem – Amy is seen getting into a truck with Jerry Tyson behind the wheel.  Which means Castle’s theory that 3XK is still alive is true.

By this point, Beckett has convinced Gates to convince the DA to let Castle back on the case because of his expertise on the killer.  But it’s a “this case only” kind of thing.  My guess is Castle will save the day someone and be let back into the precinct on a regular basis after this, but we’ll find out.

Anyway, they are able to find the truck in another street camera later, get a plate, and run it down to the owner, a man named Mike.  They head to his apartment and find Jerry trying to climb out the window.  They’ve got him!  Of course, there are such things as the evidence from past crimes being destroyed and no way to connect him to Dr. Nieman, but they can work on that.  However, they find Amy’s phone in the apartment but no Amy.  She’s still in danger.

Oh, and Jerry claims that he is really Mike.  He let Dr. Nieman do plastic surgery on him, and this was the results.

So now they have to prove that Jerry is Jerry as well as save Amy.  One way they try to do that is to track this Mike’s credit cards.  It pings in a restaurant, and Beckett heads out there only to find Amy walking away.  She’d been given Mike’s card to use.  Even though Beckett pleads with her that she is in danger, Amy walks away, but not before taking Beckett’s card.

Beckett and Castle also head out to Jerry’s mom’s place to hopefully get something they can use to prove their case.  Yes, they ran finger prints, but Mike’s ID is the one that came back.  They are hoping for a DNA sample, but it turns out that his mom is not his biological mom, only someone who tried to raise him for a few years before she gave up and turned him over to social services.  Jerry had come back to collect most of the keepsakes his “mom” had, but she had saved a few things, including a tooth.  Hopefully, this will be enough to prove he is who Castle and Beckett say he is.

While they wait for the DNA results to come back, Beckett gets a phone call from Amy, and she heads out to meet her.  When she arrives, she is momentarily spooked by some firecrackers going off.

Meanwhile, the DNA results come back.  The man they are holding isn’t a match to Jerry Tyson.  With his lawyer screaming for his release, Gates has no choice but to let Jerry/Mike go.  Dr. Nieman has been waiting for him, and the two head off to the elevator hand in hand.

As our heroes (minus Beckett) watch them get on the elevator, Dr. Nieman receives a phone call.  We cut to Beckett, who is suddenly stabbed in the neck by a needle and collapses into a wheelchair before being pushed away.  Back to the doctor.  The voice on the other end says, “It’s done.”  It almost sounds like a woman but with a digital disguiser so we can’t quite tell.  Our last shot is of Tyson winking at Castle as the elevator doors close.

To Be Continued….

To be honest, I had guessed early on that our cliffhanger would be Beckett kidnapped by Tyson.  I flirted with the idea of it being Alexis or Martha, but my gut said Beckett.  Looks like I was right.

So, is Amy in on all of this?  Now that she’s outlived her role, will she be killed?  What are their plans for Beckett?  And can Castle find her in time?  In order, I would guess, yes, yes, death, of course.  I mean, really, we don’t have a show without Castle and Beckett.  But how he will find her remains a mystery.

And I must say the acting was incredible.  Annie Wersching and Michael Mosley are amazing and the two villains, and any scene they were in just radiated tension.  No, this isn’t the fun, light hearted Castle we usually get, and I wouldn’t want a steady diet of it every week, but they serve it so well when they do go here.

And I like how they worked in what we needed to know from flashbacks to previous episodes.  I’m not sure how it would have worked to a new person, but I appreciate it because it reminded me of what I needed to know without a data dump at the beginning of the episode.

So, now begins the count down until next week’s conclusion.  I’m certainly looking forward to seeing how it all plays out and if we catch Jerry once and for all.

Your thoughts on the episode?  Predictions for next week?  Let me know in the comments.