Castle 6×13 “Limelight” Recap

Sorry I’m a little late posting this, but I’m still recovering from the Sleepy Hollow finale. *faint*

I have to say that I wasn’t incredibly impressed with the case portion of this episode. I mean, it was okay, but definitely not one to write home about.

Mandy Sutton, who seemed to be a Miley Cyrus type of child-star cum train-wreck, was seemingly the victim of a brutal murder. It was – however – her double, Claire Samuels. She was used several times when Mandy needed a decoy in order to go under the radar. Once the team found out who the real victim was, they just had to narrow down who would want her dead.

The closer they got, they realized that Claire was the intended target all along. Although they were wrong about the murderer several times as they usually are. Y’know, thinking about it, this team isn’t quite as good as we give them credit for. They sure accuse a lot of people before they find the actual killer.

After the obligatory twists and turns, Mandy’s mother was the murderer. She set up a scenario where Claire would get caught as Mandy in some compromising photos to break up Mandy and her boyfriend – and Claire was going to out her. Mandy and Zach (her good-guy boyfriend) were going to stop the cash-cow express for mommy dearest and she just couldn’t have that.

The parallel side story was about Alexis and Pi, where the littlest Castle asked her father to write a letter of recommendation for Pi. Since Rick is trying to be a better person where the ever-irritating boyfriend is concerned, he works on writing the perfect letter throughout the episode.

Inadvertently, Alexis and Mandy exchange phones – and they have a bit of girl bonding. We learn that Alexis has rethought her relationship but feels trapped because of her lease, father, Pi, etc. I think the entire fandom could probably say “we told you so” at this point. It’s not explicitly stated or shown, but it’s implied that Alexis breaks up with Pi after the credits roll. At least he gets his rec letter though.

Now for the itty-bitty Casketty goodness. It was itty and bitty, but very cute. Kate finds a page six story about Rick getting back together with his ex-wife Gina. I guess we know that he stays on good terms with his exes even after he’s broken up with them twice, huh? There’s no angst there, she knows it’s not true – and it’s her idea to keep their relationship private.

There are two pretty funny comments about Castle’s “activities” to Kate from Rysposito during the episode, and then this story culminates in an engagement announcement placed in the paper by none other than Ms. Kate Beckett herself. The ever-silly Rick Castle wants to know if it mentions they’ll be getting married in space – so it’s good to know that they’re keeping him grounded absolutely nowhere.

So that’s pretty much it. Not even in my top five of this season, but not hate-able. I’m not even cackling with glee at the thought of losing Pi. Let’s just hope next week’s episode, “Dressed to Kill“, which airs on Monday January 27th, will be better.

P.S. Could there *be* more Castle/Community crossovers? Hello Doctor Perfect Rich!