Castle: In the Belly of the Beast (6x17)

Wow. Uh... wow. This was a big one. Stana Katic... wow. Okay, let's just... do the plot thing, shall we?

Beckett has a rare day off, and she's enjoying it with Castle, when all of a sudden she gets a call from work. When she goes into the office, she is asked to go undercover to help bring down a drug ring. She specifically is suited for the task because she matches the approximate physical description of someone who has been in contact with the higher ups, and she speaks fluent Russian. Beckett goes under cover, but instead of just going to a meeting as was planned, she is kidnapped. Quickly, it becomes clear that Elena, the girl she's impersonating, is not just a low-level package mover. Instead, she is an assassin. In order to stay under cover, she has to play the part.

Castle, Espo, Ryan, and Gates are all obviously very worried about Beckett, and doing everything they can to find her. Beckett manages to make fleeting contact a few times, but it doesn't help them much. Eventually, Beckett has to pretend to assassinate someone. She fakes the death with the guy, who then is able to run to the police once Beckett is gone. 

Beckett is brought to the leader, Lazarus. Who, it turns out, is the same man she has already confronted about killing her mother. Since he recognizes her, her cover is blown. She is brought out into the woods to be killed, but Elena, the assassin she was impersonating, shows up and kills Beckett's would-be killer. Back safe and sound in the precinct, Beckett says that she thinks Lazarus is someone else entirely. Eventually, they tie back the money laundering scheme and drug money to Senator William Bracken, who is making a bid for President of the United States.

Honestly, there was nothing about this episode that wasn't amazing. I suppose the lack of Alexis and the very fleeting presence of Martha could be called flaws, but in the context of the story they were trying to tell, it makes sense to focus mostly on Beckett, and do away with some of the other characters for the time being. I'll go through some of my favorite parts:

- Captain Gates. She's never stood out to me as much of a character before, but here, I really loved her concern for Beckett. Very sweet. She can be tough when she has to be, but she's a very caring person underneath it all.

- Stana Katic's acting. She was amazing. One of the more impressive performances I've ever seen in my life. Her fear, her professionalism, her love for Castle, her anger at the situation, her grief for her mother... all of it was excellently portrayed. She also got to show off her Russian language skills, which I thought was pretty cool.

- Governor Bracken! Woah, hello there, A-plot. It's been a while since we've heard from you. One of the problems with Castle over all is that we don't spend a lot of time on over-arching plot threads. The cases of the week can be fun, and the character stuff is great, but I'd love to see a sharper focus on bigger plots for the last stretch of the season. Wouldn't that be exciting?

Yay, I kept this review to a decent length! I'm so proud of me.

9/10