CASTLE: “Pandora” recap

Pandora’s box has been opened, and it’s Castle’s dream come true. Finally, a CIA conspiracy! But don’t panic… I think our heroes will scrape through in the end. Of course, the end won’t happen for another week.

Castle and Beckett are hunting down a cold-blooded killer that uses them to gather information on one of his victims. He’s surprisingly open about his crimes, and nonchalant would be understating his demeanor. He commits his first murder by shooting, stabbing, choking, and oddly enough, shoving a pencil into the victim’s neck. (cue obligatory Castle joke about ‘overkill’) He leaves the scene injured, but is seen pushing a passerby into a cab on a street cam – which leads to his seemingly simple arrest.

Apparently that was his plan all along, as he uses the opportunity to get information from the precinct’s database, then strolls out with the help of a spare uniform. It’s interesting to watch Captain Gates, who is pushed over her precarious ledge of anger – first by the escaping detainee, then when she gets left out of the loop by the CIA.

When the team figure out what information he gathered from their computers, Kate and Rick follow the lead to the second victim’s house. They find her already dispatched – a bullet to the back of the head. They have some preliminary discussions, and Kate decides to leave Castle and look through the house. By the time she realizes they’re not alone, Castle already has a black hood on, and she soon does as well. They are taken to a secure (presumably) underground CIA facility for a debriefing.

Since Castle has connections everywhere, the agent assigned to their case is a former ‘muse’ of his – CIA Agent Sophia Conrad (played by guest-star Jennifer Beals). He shadowed her to gather background information for the heroine in his Derek Storm series. We see that Kate is shocked to find out that she isn’t his one and only muse. The green-eyed monster comes out in full force, asking Castle for details so she can compare their current relationship to his former one. Rick is open, for the most part, although we can tell that he’s uncomfortable with filling her in on the full details of his time with Sophia.

Back at the precinct with Gates, who is fairly trembling with rage, Javier and Kevin are still doing legwork – even though they can’t be let in on the details of the case. The team continues to solve the case, but Castle and Beckett are now reporting to Sophia directly. They’re even given access to a special smartphone app that dials the CIA directly in case of an emergency. I was a little puzzled when I saw them following another lead back to the victim’s house – and then to a garage in New Jersey. Did they call the info in to Sophia first? If they did, then why were they concerned after being captured and put into the trunk of a pretty badass GTO.

Regardless, Castle manages to press his ‘panic’ button, but since Kate doesn’t want to be rescued by his ‘girlfriend’ (her words), she uses the conveniently handy lugwrench to pop the trunk open. They’re greeted by the same CIA agent that abducted them the first time around, offering them the same black hoods. This time around, they’re treated to a show of impressive technology when Sophia’s hackers track down a cell phone transmission, which, in turn points to a man who was previously presumed dead. That’s when they are finally released from their obligation – because the case has gone beyond the boundaries of the NYPD and their writer-mascot.

Kate refuses to give up on the murders, determined to track down the initial suspect. The CIA is more concerned about the National Security implications, which will most likely take Kate off their radar. She and Rick aren’t exactly of the same mind, so Rick takes the next day off to ponder the last clue they were allowed to see at the CIA base. It involves three chess pieces on specific spots on a chess board. Since Kate isn’t around to theory-storm, Martha steps in and allows him to take a leap closer to discovering what’s behind both mysteries.

He takes the information back to Kate at the 12th, declaring that he wants to share it with his partner – in other words, not Sophia, but Kate.

They end up tracking down the supposed dead guy at a park in Brooklyn, who arranged to meet his contact there under the guise of meeting to play a game of chess. Kate informs him that his contact is dead, and he demands to be taken to safety by the pair. He directs them to pier 32, where he’ll tell them whatever they want to know. When they arrive, he notices a flock of pigeons fleeing, and knowing this means they’ve been scared away by something, he escapes the car only to be shot dead feet away.

Before they realize the danger around them, Kate’s cruiser is pushed into the Hudson by a black SUV, where we’re left wondering how they’ll escape in next week’s follow-up.

There was a very short side-story following Alexis as she took an internship with Lanie. It led to a few cute moments between Rick, Alexis, Kate, Martha, and Lanie. Poor Castle… always getting ganged up on. *snicker*

Castle returns next week, Monday February 20th with the follow-up to “[easyazon-link asin=”B0078ZT38U”]Pandora[/easyazon-link]” entitled “Linchpin”.