Castle: Castle, P.I. (7x11)

Okay! Back from hiatus. Let's just jump right in to this adorable episode.

The case of the week is this: a woman who worked for a high-end private pre-school ends up murdered. After multiple false leads, eventually we discover that she was looking into a murder that happened fifteen years ago, when her college boyfriend died falling out of a window. She believes that he was killed, and in the process of looking into it, she gets herself killed.

The other main tension in this episode is that Castle, no longer able to work alongside Beckett at the NYPD, gets his PI license and starts his own "parallel" investigation. Beckett, Ryan, and Espo are constantly confounded by Castle's ability to find clues and beat them to the punch at several key moments of the case, given that he has access to far less resources than them. In a pivotal scene, both Castle and Beckett try to ply each other with wine to get answers about the other's investigation. They agree to help each other out, just this once, which leads to their information fitting together to figure out a big piece of the case. Beckett and Castle both greatly miss working together, but obviously it's against the rules.

In the end, Castle helps to save the day and solve the case, but he is still banned from working with the NYPD. Beckett tells Castle that she's proud of him for his innovation and creativity, and Castle decides that he wants to keep being a PI. Even though he originally did all this for a chance to work with Beckett, he still likes it in his own right, and wants to keep going. Beckett buys him a deerstalker cap and a magnifying glass, to show her support.

That's basically all I'll say about the plot. I don't really have complaints, per say... I do think it's a little weird that we don't get a full answer about the case. I mean, maybe I missed it, but we never do quite understand what happened to the kid who died falling out a window. Who pushed him? Or was it all really just to protect that guy who was innocent but happened to be in the room? And who was the murderer working for? They say they want to track the person down, but they never do.

Honestly, though, I don't watch this show because of the cases. I watch it because of the characters, and on that score, this episode delivers.

First of all, I loved Ryan in this episode. At one point Espo describes him as "baby Castle," because he keeps on jumping to outlandish explanations and pushing conspiracy theories. He's trying to fill the gap, and it's almost like honoring Castle now that he can't be part of the team. Even though these were primarily comedic moments, I was also pretty touched by how much the whole team misses Castle.

Captain Gates got some great material in here, as she gets more and more angry at Castle's meddling. When Castle brings a dog into the interrogation room, I swear I saw steam rising from her ears. Hilarious.

Martha and Alexis both got little moments, as they both want to help support Castle with this new change in his life. I'm looking forward to seeing more of them soon, though.

Of course, the highlights of the episode all come in the interactions between Castle and Beckett. While they both work on the case, they're also lamenting that they can't work together. Each time they bend the rules and help each other out, it's played like some sort of illicit love affair. It leads to some great comedic moments, like Castle's horror to find out that Beckett had been texting Ryan and Espo about the case while she was in bed with Castle.

I love how even in this spirit of competition between Castle and Beckett, all they really want is to spend time together. They just have a genuine, loving relationship. They love being around one another. Their mental compatibility is a real turn-on for both of them, which I think is just lovely. They are a couple that has managed to keep their spark through seven seasons, lots of angst, and even now that they're married, they're still adorable and so, so in love.

I think that's all I have to say! Very cute episode. I can't wait to see more later in the season about the A-plot, but for now I'm happy.

8/10