Castle - Episode 5.08 - After Hours - Review

Seems like I finished this just in time. Hope you guys like it.

We begin the episode with the pastor getting shot and quickly switch to the Castle loft where Castle, Kate, Martha and Jim are having dinner together. I’m not sure when it happens, but the conversation goes south when it becomes clear that Martha and Jim don’t have that much in common. They’re saved by the beep of Kate’s phone and she tells them that they have to go because there’s been a murder. When they walk to the crime scene they discuss what happened at dinner, which ends in Kate saying that Martha should have been more sensitive. This is not going to end well. Esposito notices that Kate’s dressed up and they tell him that they had dinner with the parents. When he asks how it went, all he gets is silence. They then arrive at the crime scene. Beckett says that it looks like the work of a pro, leading Castle to come up with the theory that it’s the Da Vinci Code. When Ryan arrives, who is apparently religious, he tells them that the bartender from a tavern knows about the murder but only wants to speak to a detective. Beckett says she and Castle will interview him, and that Ryan and Esposito should interview the nun, which Ryan is not excited about.

Castle and Beckett find out from the bartender that there was a witness to the murder, a guy named Leo. Back at the precinct, Ryan tells Esposito that Catholic school is like combat, which leads to Esposito saying that he has been to combat and that it’s way worse than ‘some old lady’. We’ll see about that. Sister Mary, played by Bonita Friedericy who also played NSA Director Diane Beckman on Chuck, tells them that Michael Dolan, the mobster, is the one who killed the pastor. She also tells them that the pastor and Dolan grew up together and that he always believed that he could set Dolan on a better path. They had had a fight 2 days earlier and right before the pastor was killed, he had gotten a phone call about Dolan.

In the Bronx, Castle and Beckett are about the pick up the witness. Castle says they should’ve taken the subway because it’s too dangerous to park there, but Beckett says it’ll be fine. Is she even allowed to park right in front of an alley? The conversation shifts back to dinner and they get into an argument about who’s parent was to blame. Just when they knock on Leo’s door, armed men show up and they’re forced to drop her gun, and their phones and wallets (why the wallet, what’s she going to do, whack someone with it). They quickly figure out that the men are working for Dolan and when the witness opens the door, Beckett temporarily disarms them and the get inside. After barricading the door and realizing there’s nowhere to go, they make their escape through the window. But when they get to where they parked the car, it’s gone. I guess Castle was right. The witness tells them that it was stupid to park there and Beckett tells Castle “Don’t” since he was clearly about to say “Told ya”. But there’s not much time to gloat when the mobsters come after them and they have to run. Back at the precinct Ryan shows Gates the footage of Dolan and the pastor’s fight, though stating that he’d never doubt a nun. Esposito then comes in to tell them that apparently there’s something big going on inside the O’Reilly family. Gates then tells them to send Dolan’s mug shot to Beckett to see if the witness can ID him.

In the meantime, Castle and Beckett are still hiding from the mobsters. When the witness starts to freak (who wouldn’t) Beckett tells him they’re all going to be okay. Castle then gets an idea. At the precinct Esposito and Ryan tell Gates that they can’t reach Beckett or Castle and that the car tracker says the car is on its way to Jersey. Gates tells Ryan to get troopers to intercept the car, and tells Esposito to go to the witness’ address. Turns out that Castle’s brilliant idea was to ring every doorbell on an apartment block until someone wakes up. Unfortunately this only results to one of the residents to threaten to kill them. Castle and Beckett then start to argue again, this time over the car and Castle not listening to her. The witness says that he’s picking up some tension (who didn’t) and that it has less to do with the mobsters but more with the two of them. Beckett than smashes (and very adorably jumps away from) the window of a car to get to a cellphone, which is password protected. Unfortunately the very annoying car alarm brought back the very mean mobsters. In the meantime Esposito arrives at the witness’ apartment and sees the wreckage. He then calls Ryan.

Castle, Beckett and the witness have found a place to hide out in, a playhouse on a playground. The witness then offers to try and talk to the mobsters. Like that will work. Castle says he’ll try to figure out the password and Beckett wants to flee through the subway (“now she wants to take the subway”). They then start to argue about whether or not the subway has a schedule. They then make a deal that if Castle can’t figure out the code, they’ll make a run for the subway, which makes the witness say “I’m so gonna die”. After Esposito fills Gates in, Gates is visited by a concerned Martha and Jim. Gates tries to reassure them but they both refuse to leave until they know their children are safe. After they head for the break room,  Ryan tells Gates that they were able to locate one of Dolan’s guys. Gates tells him to bring him in. In the meantime, Castle is still busy trying to find the password, until at one point he says “I got it”. He then starts to give a very long explanation about how he got it resulting to Beckett figuring out that he does not if fact have the password, but just that he knows it’s the name of the cat in the background picture. Just then the phone starts to play a weird version of ‘Call Me Maybe’, and when Castle answers it they find out it’s the owner of the phone. She’s not happy that they broke into her car and before Castle can explain what’s going on, she hangs up. But in her rant, the owner revealed the name of the cat, Lola. Unfortunately the owner managed to disable her phone from a distance. They then see a cab drive by but the driver refuses to take them back to the city since they have no money to give him. As if on cue, the mobsters show up and it’s time to run again. This time they manage to hide in some kind of basement, but the witness has injured his ankle and can no longer walk on it.

Back at the precinct Gates is interrogating Colin Clarke with no luck. Ryan does manage to figure out that there’s not O’Reilly family feud, but that whatever is going on is about Dolan. Beckett finds a menu from a 24 hour Chinese restaurant 2 blocks from where there hiding and says that all they need to do is wait for the mobsters to leave so that they can go there to call for help. Castle then says he found a box of tools and a broken CB radio and says that he can get it to work. Beckett on the other hand is not so sure. When the witness asks what the problem is Castle starts to explain only to be interrupted by Beckett when he appears to shift the blame to her dad. The witness then says that he’s picked up some things from his psychiatrist and that this fight is not about their parents, but about them. At the precinct Martha and Jim seem to get along better than before, as they talk about what happened at dinner. Martha then says that she doesn’t know how Jim handles the worrying and that she thought at one point it would just go away. He tells her that Kate says she always feels safest when Castle is watching her back, and Martha says that Castle always said the same thing. Castle and Beckett discuss what Leo said. Beckett says that earlier Castle had said that their parents are from different worlds and that had made her think about them. Because they are also from different worlds. She says that sometimes she wonders if they are just kidding themselves. He starts to say that they’re not like their parents when suddenly the radio starts to make a weird noise. But Castle is unable to make contact because all the guys at the radio station hear is static. The witness then tells them that the mobsters are gone. Castle offers to run to the Chinese restaurant and even though Beckett starts to argue, he insists. He tells her not to worry and kisses her (which did not last long enough if you ask me). Castle then tries to be inconspicuous (which is not easy for him) as he starts to walk to the restaurant. Back at the precinct Ryan and Esposito show Gates the surveillance tape of what happened after the argument between Dolan and the pastor. It appears that the pastor was talking to the FBI about Dolan. Castle is still walking inconspicuously through the Bronx. But he never makes it to the restaurant as he’s intercepted by Dolan. In the basement Beckett is trying to send SOS signals through the radio. The witness says it’s okay to be worried about Castle. He then reveals that he heard their conversation but Beckett does not want to discuss this with him. Dolan wants to know from Castle where Leo is. Castle refuses to tell him but it seems that Dolan is somewhat of a mind reader. He manages to figure out where Beckett and the witness are just by looking at Castle’s facial expression (now I wanna be able to do that). At the precinct Gates is trying to figure out where Dolan is by questioning an FBI agent. But that agent says he has no idea where Dolan is. He then tells them that the pastor wasn’t the informant but that Dolan was or at least almost. It turns out that Dolan was in protective custody when the pastor was murdered, so he’s not the killer. In the basement Beckett manages to knock out the guy who was sent to get them. But it turns out that the witness is actually the killer. Oops.

In the car with Dolan Castle asks him not to kill Beckett, but Dolan says that was never the plan. Castle then finds out that Dolan’s not the killer and that he only wants to talk to the ‘witness’ to find out who did kill the pastor. Leo then forces Beckett to call Dolan and arrange a meeting, but Beckett refuses to agree to anything until she knows that Castle is okay. When Dolan hands Castle the phone, Castle tells her that he believes Dolan only wants to talk. Beckett tells Castle that when all this is over maybe they can go to a baseball game with their parents. Dolan then takes the phone back and they agree to meet under the Castello bridge. While walking to the bridge, Leo tells Beckett he did in fact have a shrink but he diagnosed him as a sociopath with homicidal tendencies and says that he had to kill him. When they get to the car, Leo starts firing at it. Beckett immediately checks if Castle is alive, but turns out that he was never in there. Then Dolan, Castle and a goon walk up and Dolan says he knows Leo has no more bullets left. When Leo asks him how he knew, Dolan says it was Castle who figured it out. Castle then explains that he knew something was wrong since it was still way too early to start joking about the meet the parents dinner. Dolan then wants to kill Leo but Castle manages to convince them not to, since that’s not what Joey would want. The cops then show up (who the hell called them) and arrest everybody (well not Castle and Beckett). Kate then jumps into Castle’s arms and says that she thought she’d lost him, but he tells her that will never happen. In the background we once again hear I Just Want You by Robert Duncan (once again, a different version). He then unties her hands and gives her her gun, phone and wallet and tells them they should get out of there. She agrees and gives him a smile that we haven’t seen in a while. When they asks one of the cops to get a ride, he tells them to get a cab. He then whistles and one just shows up. Why didn’t they think of that.

Back at the precinct Esposito and Ryan fill them in on the rest of the case. Gates then tells them it’s good to have them back and that they can pick up their parents from the break room. Castle then tells Kate that it doesn’t matter if their parents don’t get along. But they soon find out that that is no longer the case when they see Martha and Jim together (I swear people are already shipping them). Kate then joins them while Castle keeps standing there all confused.

Next up, the Christmas episode. I promise not to wait as long as I did for this one. Or at least I promise to try.