Castle 6×15 “Smells Like Teen Spirit” Recap

It’s always nice to get a little background info on one of our main characters, and man… we got it in spades.

Our ‘case of the week’ centered around a murdered girl who attended Faircroft Prep, one of the many alma maters of our esteemed Richard Rogers. Madison, the dearly departed, was seen on a cell phone being thrown around her bedroom by some unseen force. When the team visits the crime scene, there’s blood on the rafters, which prompts Castle to theorize that she “angered the Hulk”. I had to giggle at that one.

Since they think the killer might have needed to be strong to fling her against the ceiling, they’re directed towards her ex-boyfriend, the football playing jock back at the academy. This is the BEST NEWS EVER – since it gets Castle and Beckett off to Faircroft. I didn’t think anything of it when I saw the promo photos, but what a treasure this is.

I love Sam Anderson whenever he guest stars on a show I watch. He’s been on everything, including an episode of Two Guys, a Girl, & a Pizza Place – one that featured Nathan as Johnny. His role as Bernard on Lost was just amazing. Anyway, he plays Principal Dunnan – he was there in the mid-80s, and he’s still there now, to Rick’s eternal horror. As he’s describing the “battle-ax” to Kate, the man in question walks up behind him, and Rick is actually cowed. I enjoyed seeing it. I also liked hearing about the prank that got him expelled in his senior year, getting a cow up onto the roof.

Anyhow, back to the case. They learn that another student demonstrated telekinetic powers one day after being bullied by some mean girls, one of them being the murder victim. That puts her immediately on the top of the suspect list. Poor Jordan. All she wanted to do was to make the girls leave her alone. And all Rick wanted to do was call Stephen King and tell him about their ‘real-life Carrie’.

After a lot of supernatural misdirection, a boy helping Jordan manipulate the bad girls, an unfortunate choice of jacket by Espo, an unexplainable video examined by Tori the IT girl, and some cerulean blue paint – it turns out there are some bearer bonds left in a copy of War and Peace in the library by none other than the victim.

The bonds lead to some neighborhood robberies perpetrated by the bad girls. One of them was very jealous that Madison decided to run point on their capers, and wanted her out of the way. She used the video staged by Lucas, the boy that was also helping Jordan with her “supernatural” powers to establish a fake time of death and a less than truthful setting. Not only were the two girls nabbed for the robberies, one of them was pinned for murder.

Principal Dunnan has apparently softened towards miscreants, he doesn’t expel Lucas for staging the incident in the cafeteria, he gets probation instead. He and Rick have a bit of a reconciliation, and Dunnan is curious as to where the cow originated. In true Castle fashion, he replies, “he knows a guy”. Awesome.

During the course of the episode, we learn that both Rick and Kate missed their proms. Rick was expelled before he could attend, and Kate was such a rebel that she elected to go to a poetry slam instead. After the case is solved and they’re tying things up at Faircroft, they’re standing down the hall from the school dance. Rick asks Kate to the dance – so romantic – and they see Jordan and Lucas coming together. Again, very romantic.

In the beginning of the episode, Rick and Kate were discussing wedding music. They couldn’t agree on what ‘their song’ is, and that’s a running theme through the episode. During the dance, “In My Veins” by Andrew Belle plays. A beautiful callback to the fourth season finale, “Always”. The perfect choice for their song.

I’m going to put my two cents in here – they’re slowly revealing wedding details that we’d normally get during the actual wedding. First the dress, now the song to which the couple would share their first dance. I think these are hints that the Castle couple won’t have a traditional wedding. They’re giving us these details in order to show us what it’d be like, and then something will happen so they have a romantic, intimate gathering – with family and friends. It will satisfy us, but it won’t be the big production they’re planning on the show.

Anyhow – there’s my recap and review – tune in next Monday February 24 for “Room 147”. See you then!