This week’s episode starts in a chef with a Ramsey-esque chef yelling at his subordinates trying to get food out. One adjusts a plate before a waiter comes to take two of the exquisitely plated dishes to a table. Ioan Gruffudd is at the table when the plates are delivered. His three guests and he go about their business until one of them drops dead.
Across town, Castle (Nathan Fillion) plays video games while Beckett (Stana Katic)performs a striptease in the bedroom. Kate attempts to entice him away from his game and is surprised when he had trouble making the decision. Needless to say, she’s not happy when he wants her only after he loses his game.
“You’re not Gretzky 'cause Gretzky knew how to score."
The victim is a venture capitalist. He took one bite and dropped over dead. Most likely he was poisoned. Castle recognizes Eric Vaughn (Ioan Gruffudd). The man is part of Castle’s Last Supper List. Kate is striking out all over the place when Eric won’t give her attention either. He was arranging for his plane to bring home the victim’s family. Rick introduces himself to Vaughn who informs him his mother loved Rick’s novels. There was a kitchen door propped open so the murder could be anyone.
Castle catches Kate looking at Mr. Fantastic.
Ryan interviews the dishwasher (Michael Buonomo) who says someone brushed past him. He didn’t notice what the person looked like and no, that backdoor shouldn’t have been open. 200 people lost their jobs when the victim closed a factory a few months back. Nothing showed up on the chemical test. Lanie also has a crush on Vaughn. Castle admits that “while lesser men aspire to be me, he’s who people like me aspire to be.” The mushrooms never made it to their stomach. The quail was actually delivered to him opposed to the squab which he was supposed to receive. As for who ordered the quail —Eric Vaughn.
Eric is surprised to learn that the poison was meant for him and worries about what to tell his colleagues’ wife. He can’t think of anyone who would want to die but being high-profile, he thinks that lots of people could blame him for their problems. Kate tells him that he has every right to complain. Recently, Vaughn has no knowledge of threats to his life. “Whoever did this is still out there. It wouldn’t be crazy to assume that they could try again.”
Castle surprised Kate with coffee which she reads as him being jealous. Read correctly as it turns out. She tells him that Vaughn was voted one of the hundred most interesting people.
Capt. Gates (Penny Johnson Jerald) has gotten approval to send someone to watch Vaughn. The commissioner and Vaughn both want Beckett “and only Beckett.” Much like when Castle was first introduced, Kate is being forced to work with a handsome man against her will. Ryan (Seamus Dever) and Espo (Jon Huertas) both think that he has something to worry about. Rick thinks that the three of them need to solve the case to get Kate way from Vaughn. He assumes himself to be in charge. They order him to chill. Castle goes to sober up the witness
Kate tells Vaughn that the best way for her to keep him alive is for her to be looking for the man who tried to kill him. He quotes her stellar vital statistics before asking if she knows “how remarkable you are.” David Anderson, his attorney, tells Eric that they need to work with an energy company. The assistant gives Beckett a list of people who wanted Vaughn dead.
Lanie (Tamala Jones) calls with info on a saxitoxin. She then asks if she’s working with Eric — even she’s suggesting that Kate should at least try the philanthropist billionaire.
Vaughn’s assistant suggests that Cindy should be the one trying to kill him. Vaughn elaborates that the researcher was “misled” by her heart. Kate puts together that she has all the parts to be just the wrong kind of dangerous.
Ryan and Espo talk to her. She claims the falling out was “painful but I got over it.” Espo says it sounds like something out of a Carrie Underwood song. She claims that she would never try to kill Vaughn besides; she was at the opera watching Madame Butterfly. Castle bursts in saying that he has a lead of someone who worked for the restaurant. Lo and behold the bus boy from earlier.
Ryan and Espo go to his apartment to find fluffy feathers floating under the door. They burst in and find their suspect, Harrison, dead by a headshot.
At the crime scene, we learn that Ryan is allergic to goose down. The killer washed the victim’s hand with bleach. A bottle in Harrison’s apartment contained the poison used against Vaughn. Gates orders Kate to the hotel Vaughn has checked into; in the Presidential Suite. He insisted. Gates is determined to do whatever she can to save Vaughn’s life.
Castle is not happy at the prospect of Kate “shacking up” with him. Beckett says this means he doesn’t trust her. Unfortunately timed, as Vaughn then asks her to go to the hotel. Castle storms into the break room and demands that Ryan and Espo put down their coffee saying they can’t go home until the case is solved. Seriously? Who put this guy in charge?
Vaughn cancels some of his plans. Beckett asks about one of his former employees named Susman. Vaughn rules him out because after the guy messed up, he set his mother up in an assisted living area. There’s a knock in the door—Vaughn had ordered room service but the only thing Kate lets him keep is the champagne. She insists her people oversee his food preparation based on how the other guy died. In attempting to open the champagne, Vaughn accidentally hits himself in the eye with the cork,
Rick tells the chef that if he wants revenge for someone trying to kill Vaughn on his watch, he should help them solve the case. The chef has shown mercy one a late employee an usual trait because Harrison “looked like he had seen a ghost.”
Vaughn asks why Kate became a cop and she gives the basic answer. He tells her a similar story as to how he got his first patent (it was for an artificial heart after his sister died). Kate agrees to ¾ of a glass of champagne.
Espo tells Gates that the girlfriend said Harrison was fine when he left the apartment. Gates surmises that something must have happened between the apartment and the restaurant. Espo tells her that there was a break in his usual routine. Harrison was handed the bottle of poison on his way to work going out of his way to talk to a man even though he’d be late on the notoriously strict chef’s timetable.
Vaughn claims to not know the man in the red cap who handed Harrison the poison. Castle continues to be suspicious. He asks over sleepwear and questions her over the champagne. She says she would rather be with him and he offers to sty. She asks him to leave. “Only because you said please.”
Based on the official height of Harrison, the man in the red hat is 6’2”. The way he hands the poison over, he’s left handed. The bandaid could indicate a recent injury or tattoo. One of the school teacher’s at Harrison’s daughter’s school recognized the man so he might have threatened Harrison’s daughter.
Alexis (Molly C. Quinn) says that protecting Vaughn is no different than when Kate was protecting Bracken. Castle compares Vaughn to George Clooney. Martha walks in to add doubt not only over how handsome Vaughn is, very, but also that Kate can’t be too committed if she doesn’t have an engagement ring. Could Martha be fishing for a daughter in law?
Vaughn tells Kate that “I work with the best and you could run circles around them. I feel completely confident in your care.” He then goes on to say that he felt that way after two minutes. He asks over her relationship with Castle and she hesitates. They never talked about it which indicates to Vaughn that that makes Rick “a fool.” He says “there’s nothing complicated about meeting a woman like you and knowing what to do.” He goes in for a kiss. Beckett pulls away and they promptly get shot at.
Gates wants to move Vaughn which is understandable. Kate suggests somewhere without windows. Ryan takes her statement as to where she and Vaughn were standing. Castle asks how the shooter missed if he was in the way. He then puts forth that no one is that lucky. Kate says that it didn’t mean anything to her. Castle then understands that since she pushed Vaughn away, Vaughn gets to live to another day.
The neuroscientist Cindy is brought in and accused again this time with proof that the contract killer had contacted her. She says the killer told her he was from a rival lab. She agreed to the deal because she was mad at Eric. The money arrives via wire transfer. The person who authorized the whole thing is Eric Vaughn. Kate claims this isn’t making sense. “For the first time, this makes perfect sense.”
Rick thinks that Vaughn is running a scam corporation; in fact his whole operation is a scam. Kate wonders how she could be so betrayed by him.
“Of all the confessions over all the years, this one is going to hold a special place in my heart.”
Kate says that she’s going to do this one by herself. Vaughn is uncertain as to whether he should be more concerned over the assassination attempt or the fact she pushed him away. She shows him the photos of what MexiSolar has turned into and claims them to be fraudulent.
All signs point to the assistant, he claims he has no proof. In fact they do; an IP address from his computer. David claims he had no choice as he didn’t want to go to prison. Eric Vaughn was not the bad guy.
Kate says that he should be happy they caught everyone involved. “Take care, Eric.” He breathily replies with a “you too” before getting on the elevator and telling Castle he has an extraordinary woman.
Castle calls Kate off of the sofa and snips the cord to his video game (it’s symbolic). He remote control opens his bedroom and tells her it’s all about him giving her a full body massage. She asks where they’re going, Castle claims that he’s going to love what he’s going to do to her but she gets that far away look that says she has doubts as to where they are going.
Next week: Looks like a clip show. Oh, wait. It's going to be the bomb!
♥ Liked: I loved that they added doubt about the whole Caskett relationship but…
≠ Disliked: that sort of fell away into an obvious plot where the assistant was the one behind the attempts.
Overall: It was a great arc episode for the Rick/Kate relationship and the plot was a return to season one where the viewers were along for the ride more than where it ended up.
But what did you think?
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