Castle – Still

• Title: Castle – Still
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“Castle, I think I’m standing on a bomb.”

While investigating a suspect in a local bombing, Beckett (Stana Katic) accidentally steps on and activates a bomb in the man’s apartment leading to a flashback-heavy episode as Castle (Nathan Fillion) tries to keep his partner’s mind off her situation while buying time for the bomb unit to defuse the threat and Esposito (Jon Huertas) and Ryan (Seamus Dever) grill the bomber (Adam Rose) on how to disarm the device.

Castle‘s first clip-show is quite entertaining including the back-and-forth between the couple over more than 100 episodes and Beckett’s “dizzying array of hairstyles over the years” which help break the tension of an episode that has its two stars spending almost the entire episode standing alone in an empty room talking to each other. As to their argument, who fell for who first, I think it’s obvious these two were meant for each other since their first meeting.

After the bomber commits suicide inside the precinct, Esposito and Ryan turn their attention to the previous bombings and look for other possible bombings the man may have planned. The timetable is rushed once the head of the bomb squad (Allan Louis) discovers the bomb Beckett has been standing on also has a timer as well, giving the detective only another half-hour to live. Refusing to leave, Castle continues working the case (and driving Beckett crazy) and discovers that revenge wasn’t the bomber’s primary motivation. Working together the two find the code to defuse the bomb at the last possible instant.

Clip-shows are only as good as the episodes and moments they draw upon, and Castle has five strong years of great moments from dramatic (including a great sequences involving Ruben Santiago-Hudson) to terrifically funny (“The killer’s a zombie” might be my favorite line of the series). Fillion is great as always, and Katic proves more than up to the task for the dramatic weight of a woman seeing her world flash before her eyes which the episode relies on to succeed. “Still” also ends on a nice note as Captain Gates (Penny Johnson) admits she’s known about the pair for months and allows Beckett and Castle to take their relationship public.