'Castle' Recap Episode 5.01 "After The Storm"

The new fall shows are upon us, and with that we get the new season of ‘Castle’.

Rick Castle is a mystery writer who, after using his connections with the mayor, follows around Detective Kate Beckett and her group to gain inspiration for his new book series.

If you’re only starting this season, then here’s the major things you need to know. Beckett’s mother was murdered when she was young and ever since becoming a detective, Kate Beckett has made it her mission to solve the case. Recently, she has become obsessed with the case after finding new leads which lead to her being shot at the end of third season. Rick Castle, the novelist, has always been in love with Beckett but has had problems with telling her until she was slipping in and out of conscious after the shooting. After Beckett was shot, she was even more obsessed about her mothers case, but Castle keeps trying to convince her not to search for the murderer as her life hangs in the balance. On last seasons finale, Beckett showed up at Castle’s apartment where they proceeded to share their emotions and have sex.

Beckett/Castle Drama:

The morning after their proclamations of love, they wake up in Castle’s bed and discuss how happy they are that this finally happened. Suddenly, Castle’s mum is coming into the apartment and Beckett is forced to hide in his closet. She ends up sneaking out as Castle deals with his mother and daughter, but later on gets mad at him for hiding her. When he goes to her place later and Esposito is shows up, Castle refuses to hide in Beckett’s closet which leads Esposito to wonder what is going on with them. Later, when Esposito finds them locked in a room together he overhears part of a conversation that makes him wonder even more. Clearly the hiding of their relationship is going poorly.

 

The Case:

Although Beckett and Esposito resigned at the end of fourth season, they are still investigating the case. Kevin Ryan, the only detective in their group still working for the NYPD, finds the photograph they had been looking for which would tell them who had the files saving Beckett’s life. Castle and Beckett link it back to Michael Smith who is being tortured by Maddox (the man hired to find the files and kill Beckett) but they find him after Maddox has left. When they figure out the clue Smith left for them at his semi-demolited apartment building, they are ambushed by Maddox and locked in a room together. Luckily, Esposito finds them and they search for Maddox and the files in the building. They find him as he is opening the safe, but when he pulls out the files it trips a bomb which kills him and tears the files into shreds.

Later, Ryan shows up at Beckett’s apartment with a bag that has as many of the file pieces as he could gather at the crime scene. Although Esposito is hurt by Ryan’s “lack of loyalty” the four of them all band together to find information that will help them find the head of this investigation. They discover an account number that shows someone was paid off so they wouldn’t talk about the ransoms and murders, and it leads to a politician being groomed for Presidency. Clearly, these detectives are out of their league. Not according to Beckett of course. She goes off to confront the man at a donor event, and they make a tentative deal: she won’t reveal his involvement (and she’ll stop obsessing over her mothers murder case), and he will stop trying to have her and her friends killed.

More Thoughts:

I’m so excited that Castle and Beckett are finally together and, although I know there will be hiccups in the relationship, I really hope they have a lasting, happy thing on this show. The fans have wanted this too much for so long that they couldn’t destroy it anytime soon, could they? I mean no other love interests have ever really come into play with either of these characters, so fans haven’t been able to gain much connection with any pairing other than this one.

I’m concerned about this deal Beckett made with the politician. He’s a politician so he probably can’t be trusted, especially with that weird twinkle in his eye as he agrees to the deal. As long as Beckett follows with her agreement then perhaps he will stop. I have to admit that the mother drama had been getting a bit intense lately, so now with this deal we’ll be able to get back to the normal murder cases. Such fun!

This is one of my favourite shows, I’ve become invested in all the characters and their back stories. I always find the connection between all of them so real, like they’re really friends, and the Beckett/Castle chemistry is powerful. The cases they work are always so intriguing and they are so different and out there because a mystery writer on the team seems to bring an added bit of weird into each episode that I really enjoy.

What did you think of the episode?