CASTLE is back and I am beyond excited to get stuck in with one of my favourite shows.
This season opens in a bar with a beautiful woman who you assume is the newest murder victim, after a man joins her at her table and asks why she has been following him all day; she straddles his lap and stabs him in the chest.
The scene switched to Kate Beckett getting ready and Richard Castle walking into the bedroom with sparklers behind his back, soon you discover he is holding a giant cupcake in congratulations for Beckett as her new status as Captain of the 9th precinct. In the season 7 finale, we were on the edge of our seats wondering whether or not Beckett would take the offer of running for State Senate, but obviously she decided to stick out her plan of completing the Captain’s exam. Castle then gets Beckett to dig through the cupcake to discover a diamond bracelet with ‘Always’ engraved on the inside. I am always swept up in their chemistry, Castle, played by Nathan Fillion and Beckett, played by Stana Katic, have had an amazing chemistry from season 1, I genuinely believe every episode that they are completely head over heels in love with one another. Beckett gets a phone call which she explains is just a telesales man she then leaves to go to a meeting.
Castle’s Private Investigator business looks as if it might be making a comeback in this season, he goes to see his newly refurbished office to find that Alexis’ has been solving his cases while he was not working there. Molly Quinn has transformed completely although playing her own age which is 22, Quinn has chopped off the character’s signature long locks for a curly shoulder length do making her look considerably older. This could be seen as part of the character development, to be seen as a young woman not just Castle’s little girl.
After Castle is asked to consultant on a case with Esposito and Ryan, they discover that three men have been shot and two others could be involved. After some investigating Castle finds Beckett’s bracelet that he had given her that morning covered in blood, back at the precinct Lanie confirms it is Beckett’s blood. Castle, Espositio and Ryan are baffled as to why Beckett was there and why she had lied to Castle. They catch a break when an address turns up for one of the victims when they go to investigate they discover a woman hiding in the apartment after she knocks down Castle, Esposito and Ryan pull their guns on her then they take to the precinct to interrogate her.
Her name is Hayley Shipton, played by Toks Olagundoye, she is a freelance security specialist who has been hired to find the person responsible for stealing Social Security numbers; she admits that there were five people involved in the operation, 4 men and 1 woman, now that 3 of them are dead it narrows Castle’s searching down. Although Hayley was not much more helpful, a stolen van with blood is reported at the dry cleaners when the team go to investigate they find Beckett’s bloody clothes as the dry cleaner confirms Beckett was there was East Indian man.
When Alexis’ calls Castle back to his PI office he discovers Hayley is there offering her help, telling Castle she has a lead. Meanwhile Alexis’ follows another lead regarding Beckett, knowing that Beckett is hurt she knows that she would need medical attention Alexis’ discovers a prank 911 call and finds the responding ambulance. Although I think this is very clever and throughout the series Alexis’ is portrayed as an intelligent woman I found this part a little hard to believe, for one she has access to logs regarding 911 calls but she also managers to find the ambulance in what seems like one hour in New York city.
Another reason I did not like this scene as much is I felt that Alexis obtaining the information from the paramedic by posing as an Auditor for the emergency services was all thanks to her looks and this has never been a strong point throughout Castle to use anything other than Alexis’ intellect. Molly Quinn is an incredibly beautiful actress however, I felt that this scene was not true to how her character has been portrayed throughout the series. Hayley’s tip leads to a storage unit full of weapons, she then gets into a fight with the female assassin seen in the beginning of the episode. I felt this was a nice addition as it shows two other strong female characters other than Beckett. After the fight the female assassin flees, Alexis calls Castle to tell him she had discovered Beckett had been to see Senator William Bracken, the man who killed her mother and she arrested in Season 7.
Castle visits Bracken for him to tell Castle that after everything Beckett has been through with him she will find a new obsession to chase, after Castle leaves the prison he is held hostage by the female assassin. Alexis heads back to the precinct where she tells Esposito and Ryan that he has gone missing. The female assassin leads Castle to an abandoned warehouse where he is tied to a chair and interrogated by a man wanting to know where Beckett is by putting tarantula’s on Castle’s face. The scene skips to Esposito and Ryan interrogating Hayley again to discover where Castle is which is then interrupted by Alexis’ begging Hayley to tell them anything she knows. As Castle’s interrogation continues, the man begins to become more aggravated, he empties a box of tarantulas in a bag and puts it over Castle’s head.
I became extremely squeamish in this scene, it is refreshing to scene how the writers are trying to make the audience aware that by helping the NYPD Castle is constantly in danger, and Castle makes a point earlier in the episode that Beckett probably hasn’t told him anything to keep him safe. This is a continued theme throughout the series of other characters telling Castle to stop ‘playing cop.’ I think it is extremely important to remind the audience that he has stepped into this line of work with no training or preparation. The writers want the audience to be constantly aware that he is in fact a writer. Castle breaks the ties and runs when he is cornered the assassins who then start to shoot in a different direction. As the female assassin is knocked out the male runs away and Beckett comes into view. Castle tries to get her to talk to him, but she tells him she loves him, kisses him and then leaves. After being checked over by the cops who instantly turn up on the scene, Esposito and Ryan think Castle has imagined Beckett being there. Back at the precinct the team discovers that the man Beckett is running with, Vikram Singh, who is an analyst in DC where Beckett worked, Castle then discovers that Beckett’s old team have all been murdered. As they take the female assassin into custody she attacks an officer and starts shooting Esposito and Ryan shoot back and kill her. The final scene shows Beckett in a rundown building with a team about to make their way to the building and attack her.
This first episode was intense, interesting and thrilling, although there wasn’t much room for comedy, which this show always has an abundance of, but I enjoyed the twist in events and the tension of not knowing what was happening or what will happen next. As always this show blows my mind and I cannot wait for the next episode.
