Castle: At Close Range (7x18)

Damn. That was intense! I'm going to be brief in my plot summary; sorry.

Ryan is working security with his brother-in-law as a second job. They are protecting an important politician when suddenly the politician and his friend get shot. He lives, she dies. Ryan feels personally responsible, despite everybody assuring him that he couldn't have stopped it. As the investigation goes on, they slowly realize that the politician wasn't the true target. Their initial suspect is not guilty of the crime.

Instead, the social worker is the target. They think it might be the politician's wife, because the politician and social worker were having an affair, but she has an alibi. Then, they find out that Ryan's brother-in-law is somehow involved. When the guy runs off, things aren't looking good. Ryan tracks him down and brings him in. He wasn't the shooter, but he was involved after all. He got caught up with some bad people and he had no way out. Ryan agrees to help his brother-in-law to get out of this mess.

The real culprit turns out to be one of the politician's assistants. It turns out the social worker, who died, did not think this assistant was good enough to keep working with the politician moving forward. She was furious about potentially being ousted, so she took out the threat.

Meanwhile, Beckett continues to think about her future, and decides to start studying for the captain's exam.

I think my only complaint is that the truth about the crime came completely out of left field. I liked the plot twist about the woman being the real target all along, instead of just an unfortunate bystander. However, the assistant's motivation was flimsy at best, and they didn't go into it as much as they could have.

But hey. I asked for some more Ryan and/or Esposito-centric episodes, and I got that! Ryan was really the central piece of this episode, and it was so fantastic to see him take charge and try to come to terms with his own mistakes. He was devastated to find out that a member of his family might have had something to do with this murder, especially when he blamed himself for it. I think it's a testament to Ryan's skills as a cop that even though he had a personal conflict, he pushed through and got to the truth. It couldn't have been easy to arrest his own brother-in-law, but he did it in the name of the truth.

Not a lot of Ryan and Espo broments in here, but we did get a few little things. Esposito wanted to make sure Ryan knew he wasn't at fault, and he offered to go with him to find his brother-in-law. Very sweet.

Despite the darker tone of the episode, there were a few more comedic moments. I loved it when Castle freaked out about One Direction. That was classic. Then, as he asks if they're in town, Esposito tells him no, because he knew their tour schedule. Great joke.

We also have the continuation of Beckett's growing ambition. She's not sure if becoming a captain is the right move for her career, but she's considering taking that step forward. I like this uncertainty. She doesn't know what the future holds, but she knows she doesn't want to stand still. I admire that.

Finally, I liked the detail about the politician and his wife having an "arrangement." The wife's alibi is that at the time she was with her female lover.

Okay! That's all I've got. Great episode!

8.5/10