Castle: The Time of Our Lives (7x06)

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. My goodness. This was just so... sweet. And simple. And lovely. And exactly what Castle and Beckett deserve after all these years. This show has never been #1 on my list, by any means. It's one of those shows that I probably wouldn't miss too much if it got cancelled, but I still love watching it. Honestly, though, this episode was so adorable. I loved it so much.

So, essentially, here's what happens: Castle is working on a case with Beckett, and he touches a strange ancient artifact, just before being knocked out. He awakens in a parallel universe where he and Beckett have never met.

In this universe, much is different. Beckett is a captain, Martha is actually a successful actress, Alexis and her father drifted apart and Alexis moved away to work for a nonprofit organization. Castle never wrote any of his Nikki Heat books, and as a result has become washed up as a writer. Ryan never married Jenny, because Beckett's promotion to captain increased everyone's workload and he stopped having time for her. Javi and Lanie are not together, and Lanie is pregnant with someone else's kid.

Of course, Beckett and the guys have no idea who Castle is, and they are very suspicious of him because he seems to know a lot about the case they are working on. Castle lies, saying that he's just a writer who is very inspired by Kate Beckett. He asks if he can stay on and watch the case unfold, because he is eager to find the artifact so he can be sent back into his own world.

The case gets solved, but the artifact is not found. Beckett tells Castle that it's over, but Castle tells her that the Kate Beckett he knew would never give up like this. The words seem to hit home for Beckett, because when Castle goes after the artifact, she shows up to help him. However, someone shoots at Beckett, and Castle jumps in the way, resulting in him dying of bullet wounds to the chest. Luckily, he was holding the artifact when he "died."

As Castle wakes up to his own universe, having been hit on his head during the case, he realizes that there's no reason to wait any longer. He asks Beckett to marry him - right now. Beckett and Castle are married at a private ceremony, with just Alexis, Martha, and Beckett's dad in attendance.

I don't think I have complaints. I mean... maybe a few times, the "changes" between the two universes were kind of silly. Like, at one point Ryan has a line where he says that Kate being the captain is the reason for his relationship with Jenny failing. I don't know if it would really be as cut-and-dry as that. I don't think Ryan would necessarily make this connection. Also, there was no real reason for Lanie and Espo not to be together. How exactly did Castle influence that one?

But those things are just minor nitpicks. Completely insignificant in the face of how adorable this whole episode was.

First of all, I loved how the alternate versions of the characters were mostly exactly the same. The world doesn't end if Castle and Beckett don't meet. It's just... a bit altered. For example, Alexis might have dark hair and not be as close with her dad, but she's still a charitable hard worker, and through the course of the episode, her relationship with her father improves. Castle is still a writer, and he still had success with his Derrick Storm novels, but without Kate, he doesn't have a muse to continue writing hit novels. Ryan is still mostly the optimistic, friendly guy we all know and love; Espo is a bit acerbic and suspicious of Castle, which rings true to his amazing work ethic. The best is that Kate is not suddenly reverted back into her Season One self, who never gave Castle the time of day. Even if Beckett had never met Castle, she still would have matured over the years to become a better, more understanding person and a more open police officer. Castle didn't make her who she is, he just made her happy, which helped to influence her in other ways as well.

There were quite a few funny moments in this episode. My favorite might be: "I would never sing 'Let It Go' as a duet!" That cracked me up quite a bit. Others included Ryan's fan-boy-ish attitude towards Martha, and of course the terrible first line of Castle's novel. Great joke about crappy writing.

The humor was all well and good, but this episode really shone the strongest on the adorable-ness factor. Obviously, there's that wedding at the end. It was just so perfect, and sweet, and exactly what I always wanted for these two idiots. I love them so much. A part of me wanted to be irked that Ryan and Espo weren't there, but I think the strict family-only thing worked really nicely for this.

The other really sweet moment was between Castle and Alexis in the parallel universe. I think this scene was ultimately very important because it shows us that the father-daughter bond they share is not contingent on Castle's relationship with Beckett. What they have is something special, and it won't go away, no matter what's going on with Beckett. Very touching.

Castle and his mother actually got a sweet moment, too, when Castle encourages Martha to go for the audition. All of these years, Martha was maybe holding back a little bit because she knew that her son could support her if her dream failed. But that doesn't mean that she doesn't have the ability to succeed!

I think I'll leave it there. Very sweet episode. Lots of adorable Castle/Beckett stuff, and finally finally we got the wedding. It wasn't at all what I would have guessed it would be, but I loved it so much.

9/10