Note that
I’m Italian so there may be some grammatical mistakes in the article.
Season 4
left us with Rick Castle and Kate Beckett finally reunited, kissing and
spending their first night together. Plus, Esposito got suspended with Beckett
because of Ryan, whom he is still pissed.
In the
season 5 premiere, Castle asked Beckett “So
it wasn’t a dream?” when he saw Beckett coming to his room while holding
two cups of coffee. Definitely it wasn’t a dream. After four years, those two
finally moved forward to their relationship. Did they take the right decision?
Sure. Martha Rodgers was the first one who knew about their hookup. She knew
that Beckett was hiding in the closet when Martha came into Castle’s room and
found her son half naked with only a cover around him! In episode 3, she wasn’t
surprised when she told Castle about his relationship with Beckett, and she
wanted him to tell Alexis before she moved out for college.
The
season premiere also gave a closure for Johanna Beckett’s murder. Beckett found
out Senator Bracken was responsible for her mother’s death; she confronted him
but she didn’t kill him, even if she had the chance. Also, Esposito was still
mad at Ryan, but they managed to restore their rocky friendship. Captain Gates allowed
Beckett to return to her job, but after she completed her suspension. However,
for Beckett and Bracken wasn’t over. Detective Beckett will face again the
Senator in episode 13 “Recoil”. Finally she had the chance to take him down,
but the 12th Precinct discovered that Bracken had become the target
of an assassination and must do everything it can to save him.
The whole
season played on Caskett’s relationship, on what “being together as a couple”
means and how the others characters will deal with them. Castle and Beckett
tried to hide their secret affair from the people at the 12th
Precinct, but eventually in episode 4, while questioning a suspect, Ryan found
out that Castle was at the Hamptons with Beckett.
Castle
and Beckett’s relationship ran into some obstacles: in episode 5, he was
accused for having killed a woman, and she started
to wonder how much she knew the man she loves.
Castle learned there’s Jerry Tyson – better known as the Triple Killer (3KX)
behind this.
In the
Christmas episode, some traditions have been broken, some others have just started. At first Beckett didn’t want to
accept Castle’s invitation to share Christmas with him, because that holiday
reminded her of her mother. Then, she decided to break this ‘tradition’ and spend
her first Christmas with Castle (and his family). With Ryan married and willing
to start a family, Esposito spent the holiday with a mother and her son, who
had lost her husband.
The new
year brought Beckett temporally moving in with Castle while her home was being
fumigated... but she found herself uncomfortable when Castle’s ex-wife Meredith
moved in too because Alexis had fallen ill. Having his girlfriend and his
ex-wife together in his loft was not a good idea. Meredith didn’t want to have Rick
back, but gave Kate something to think about. Meredith told Beckett her
marriage with Castle didn’t work out because at some point he knew everything
about her. So that was the question: how much does Beckett know Castle?
The
two-part story arc covered episodes 15 and 16 of the season. In “Target”,
Castle and Beckett had to find and rescue the daughter of a powerful foreign
dignitary, but the plot took an unexpected turn when Alexis got kidnapped too.
In “Hunt”, Castle started finding Alexis on his own, but he realized that his
daughter is in Paris! After several obstacles, Castle was saved by a spy, who
revealed himself to be his own father! Anyway, Alexis’ kidnapping had
been orchestrated by a Russian named Volkov to force Castle’s father into
showing himself so that Volkov could kill him in revenge for the death of
Volkov's wife. Having tracked Alexis to Paris but knowing that he could not
stop Volkov alone, Hunt brings Castle in and together they confront Volkov to
barter for Alexis' life.
This season had some
brilliant storylines for both Ryan and Esposito. Episode 18 saw Kevin Ryan back
to his old undercover alias when evidence in the murder of a baker leaded the
12th Precinct back to the Irish mob. Esposito was single for all
over the season, even though in the Valentine’s episode, he and Lanie went out
for a date.
"The Lives of Others” marked two events: Castle’s birthday and the 100th episode of the
series. Castle was stuck at home because of an
injury, while Beckett and the team investigated on the death of an IRS agent.
In a Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” style, Rick spied his neighborhood and became
convinced he had witnessed a murder. Alexis helped his father into his
investigation straight to the killer’s house... however, it turned out that
Castle’s murder case was an elaborate surprise birthday present staged by Kate.
In the background we could see Esposito and Lanie kissing, which we could
presume they were back together.
The last episodes before the finale
were the most amazing and breathless. According to series creator Andrew
Marlowe, “My intent was for the last
couple of episodes to turn the focus back to the Castle-Beckett relationship
because that’s really what we’re exploring as we go out of the season”.
In the episode “The Squab and the
Quail”, Beckett was indeed put in an interesting position about her future with
Castle when she had to protect a charming billionaire, Erik Vaughn. Feeling
threatening by this man’s charm, Castle decided to win Beckett’s heart back by
solving the murder case all by himself. Things couldn’t get worse when even
Martha told his son that Beckett “Technically
she’s not really committed at all”, miming a bare ring finger. Anyway, he
didn’t have to be afraid since Beckett told Vaughn she had a serious
relationship with Castle. But the important question was asked at the end of
the episode by Beckett: “Castle, where
are we going?” which will be explored in the season finale.
“Still” took a close look at Castle
and Beckett’s relationship throughout the five seasons. Beckett accidentally
tripped the sensor on a bomb, leading her unable to move lest it detonated.
Ryan and Esposito searched for the bomber in order to disarm it, while Castle
stayed with Beckett to reassure her. They had a conversation in which they
asked each other: who fell first? In an amazing clip-episode, we could see the
most important moments from Caskett’s story. And when things seemed to get
worse and there were no chances to save her life, Beckett told Castle the three
words we’ve all been waiting for: “Rick, I love you.” Fortunately, the
bomb was detonated, and Castle could hug Beckett again. Also, captain Gates
knew about those two for too long! That’s why she wasn’t surprised when she saw
them kissing.
In episode 23, there was a case
involving the death of a whistleblower, killed in a precision military strike.
With her tenacity, she attracted the attention of a special investigator for
the Attorney General, who offered her a job in Washington D.C. Will she accept?
Can she leave her fellows and the love of her life in New York?
Season 5 finale, “Watershed”, airs this
Monday and will see Beckett considering her job offer in Washington D.C. She
will start questioning her career and her relationship with Castle, while the
12th Precinct investigate the death of an unlikely victim in an
unlikely crime scene. Don’t forget to tune on May 13rd to
watch Castle season finale, written by Andrew Marlowe and directed by John
Terlesky.
What are
your expectations for the season finale? Will Castle and Beckett still be together? Share your thoughts here, or
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