CASTLE Recap: “After the Storm” – or – Round Four

I’ve never truly believed in the infamous ‘Moonlighting Curse’, so last night’s Season 5 premiere of Castle found me vindicated.

That’s not to say that I’ve never been burned before. So many shows have fallen into the trap of “what do we do now that the ‘will they/won’t they’ dance is over’ deterioration that it’s hard not to have been. However, I think Castle’s showrunners did a fine job in the aftermath of what happened at the end of last season.

I must also admit that I have quite a few nits to pick about “After the Storm”, but nothing that caused me to be unhappy with the end results.

The episode started out strong – it gave the fans what we wanted – lots and lots of Casketty goodness. Nathan was adorable, and who wouldn’t want to see Stana wearing her man’s all-enveloping dress shirt (and nothing else).  The writers managed to establish the couple’s ground rules – which is nothing that hadn’t been speculated upon already. They want to keep their relationship to themselves… for now. Rick handled his brush with Martha with very little aplomb, and while Kate tried to turn the tables, they avoided a run-in with Ryan despite Castle’s barely concealed bumbling.

In the meaty main story, they’ve continued with Kate’s case. Since it’s literally the morning after her brush with death, they still haven’t caught the man pursuing her. Ryan is working solo, and turns to Beckett out of necessity. It’s the rabbit hole Kate wanted to avoid, but Rick reassures her that not only do they have to investigate for her safety, they should because nobody is better than her team.

Needless to say, that’s a difficult proposition since three-fourths of her team are no longer authorized to have any part in the investigation. But that almost never stops them, and it’s true in this case as well. This leads to a incident with zip-ties, a very ‘blowed up’ Maddox, and a run-in with Gates. Smith wakes up and Rick & Kate go to see him, but he tells her he has no loyalty to her now that everyone knows the truth. Cold, right?

After salvaging Smith’s backup files, they piece together a money order implicating a senator as Johanna Beckett’s murderer. Finally – we find out the name behind ‘The Dragon’. Rick stays behind to comfort Kate, and while he’s asleep, she sneaks out ninja-style and goes to confront the man responsible for her family’s pain.

The boys find out, and not knowing exactly how Kate is thinking, rush after her. After all, she’s in a weird place, and assassination isn’t off the table. She confronts the Senator, a battle of wills takes place, and it ends with Kate quickly pistol-whipping him and letting him know she’s not a pushover. She bluffs and tells him that she has the file, and that allows her to make a deal with him – the same deal he had with Smith. She doesn’t release the evidence against him, and she gets left alone.

That won’t last long, but for now, there’s a tense accord. Kate talks to Gates, and asks for her job back. She got it, but has to serve out the remainder of her suspension – which leaves a little free time for the lovebirds.

I really enjoyed this episode, and I thought the pacing was exceptionally good. I usually look at the clock and wonder how everything will come together in the last 5 minutes, but this one seemed pretty even. The writers did a good job balancing funny and serious – and let us have our ‘shipper’ moments. If they can balance on the tightrope throughout Season five, I think we may have it made.

Tune in to ABC next Monday night for season five’s second episode, entitled “Cloudy With a Chance of Murder”. Meanwhile, watch previous episodes of Castle on ABC’s official website! See you next week!