Castle: Clear and Present Danger (7x03)

So much fun. A weird case with interesting twists, Castle and Beckett working together, having their "mind meld" moments, a silly subplot with Ryan and Espo... this felt like it could have been an episode from the first season or something, albeit with a Castle and Beckett who are in love, instead of a Castle and Beckett who are in denial. Last week, I said I hoped they didn't drop the A-plot and just give us case-of-the-week stuff to fill the time, but now I'm sort of eating my words. Because this is just a case-of-the-week. But it's done in such a way that it feels like we're really getting back our footing after a few episodes of crazy uncertainty.

I won't go into too much detail about the plot, since it gets a bit confusing and it's not all that important to talk about all the plot twists. The basic idea is that this guy named Will Fairwick is found dead inside his home, stabbed through with a pool stick. Footage of the door to his apartment reveals that the door opens and closes on its own. They discover that Will was a pool shark, and after they talk to some people about him, a very weird story becomes clear. Apparently he was extremely gifted at his trickery, and he used to say that he had made a deal with the devil for his skills.

Eventually, after Castle and Beckett get attacked by an invisible assailant, they put together more of the story. Will was working for a secret government agency that was working on cloaking technology - i.e., a suit that can turn you invisible (or nearly so) to the naked eye. They discover the culprit - Will's girlfriend, who is angry that Will stepped out on her twice. She used the invisibility suit to kill Will, and she uses it again in a tense climactic scene with Castle and Beckett, as they try to apprehend their invisible foe.

They get her in the end. They also get some alone time, which is what they've been after all episode. Turns out, the two of them haven't had sex since Castle's reappearance, each thinking that the other person wasn't ready. They're constantly interrupted, and then when they finally get the chance to have some time in bed, they become paranoid that someone is invisibly watching them. In the end, though, Castle gets some infrared glasses to confirm that they're truly alone, and Beckett changes into her "invisible" clothing for Castle to enjoy.

A brief subplot deals with Ryan, who has been distracted at work. Espo catches him with body glitter on his clothes, and thinks he might be cheating on Jenny. However, Ryan reveals the truth - he's picked up an extra job to make some more money, at a male strip club. Espo gives him a hard time about it, buying him a pair of panties to wear as a uniform.

So. Complaints?

As much as I liked the idea of the Ryan and Esposito subplot, it was really just a distraction from the more interesting things going on. Maybe if it had been given a bit more meat to it, like if Esposito spent longer trying to figure out Ryan's secret? I don't know. It was fine as it was, but I wanted a bit more.

Other than that, everything was pretty awesome. Castle and Beckett are finally back, for real, as a team and everything. Castle had his crazy supernatural theories, Beckett was the skeptic, then Castle was sure he was right and Beckett began to doubt, and then the truth was revealed. It might seem boring to repeat this sort of formula, but it felt fresh, and oddly comfortable, after the hectic uncertainty of the past two weeks.

The case itself was pretty interesting. There were lots of twists and turns, with the victim's girlfriend, and his genius hacker neighbor, and the people he had duped playing pool. I couldn't tell where it was going, but everything fit together logically in the end. Always a plus with this type of show.

The climax in the lab, where Beckett and Castle have to fight off an invisible person, was really suspenseful, yet still a lot of fun. They had to work together and be really innovative in order to catch the murderer. Silly antics, creative solutions, this is the stuff that Castle is made of!

I'll leave it there. I had a lot of fun with this episode. It might have been just a case-of-the-week type of thing, but it dealt with Castle and Beckett's relationship too, which was really nice, and I think important for us to have at this point.

8.5/10