Castle - Episode 5.18 - The Wild Rover - Recap/Review

Tonight’s episode of Castle is a sweet treat as a baker was murdered.

Starting with Castle (Nathan Fillion), he’s craving some Beckett (Stana Katic) time. She tells him that he talks in his sleep and said the name Jordan 14 times last night. “Most of what I say is meaningless, why would it be any different when I’m asleep.” At the crime scene, Beckett threatens to interrogate him in his sleep if he doesn’t tell her who Jordan is.

The victim was killed by a shot in the back. The time of death was around 11:30 and 12 based on what the assistant said; he was on a delivery at the time of the murder. The victim had gotten all nervous before he sent the kid out because of a car. It was there when he left, by not when he came back. There was a briefcase of money found in a safe in the office which, twice a week, the dead baker would take to Staten Island.

Ryan’s wife, Jenny, (Juliana Dever) is trying to prep him for going to a fertility clinic and he’s having his doubts as to whether it’s his problem or hers.

The purchase orders for the kitchen are off; there are orders for items they don’t even have in the shop. The briefcase leads to an Irish mob boss. No one knows how to pronounce Siobhan, it wasn’t just a problem I had last year with Ringer, good to know. So they go talk to her. She doesn’t want to cooperate but opens up when Kate tells her the baker was killed. Her cooperation only lasts so long though because soon she’s asking for her lawyer.

Siobhan (Cara Buono) slaps and then punches Ryan after kissing him when she finds out that he’s both married and a cop. Ryan walks into the bullpen after apologizes to his wife and immediately recognizes the prime suspect. Apparently, they used to run in the same crew back when Ryan was undercover opposed to in homicide. He goes down to the holding cell to tell her that his real name is Kevin Ryan. It has been seven years since they talked. He had left her with a note on the dresser. He pleads with her give him info a sadly, fruitless effort.

Agent Walker of the FBI walks on the crew saying that the baker was going to help them get the bible. Siobhan is also a snitch for him. Getting the bible for them was going to be her golden ticket to witness protection. Walker (Benito Martinez) wants to send her back under. Ryan says that they’re hanging Siobhan out to dry. Walker tries to convince her that she should just act normally. Ryan volunteers to get the bible as Fenton O’Connell. Ryan sees this as an "everybody wins" scenario. Walker needs confirmation and Siobhan thinks it’s a terrible idea.

There’s a new hierarchy since Ryan stopped being Fenton seven years ago and he has to re-learn it all fast. Esposito does not like this idea. Espo quizzes his partner before letting him out of the cab. Ryan says he’s got it.

Ryan walks back into the bar and acts disappointed that no one missed him. Another woman punches him in the face after Siobhan greets him. The woman (Christina Cox) who punched him, her husband is not in charge but she sure acts like he is.

Espo is bothered by how much Ryan has hanged while at the same time worried he hasn’t changed enough. Beckett says that the way they can help Ryan is to solve the case.

Ryan’s phone is taken and then he’s scanned by a bug device before he’s allowed to go see Bobby (Michael Rodrick). Bobby is not happy to see his old friend Fenton. He gives him a brief interrogation during which Ryan says that he didn’t want to come back until he had something. His in is a group out of Chicago. The other guy (Brian Letscher) still isn’t impressed. One of his men goes to put a bullet in Ryan and he takes the gun and gives it to Bobby telling him to do it himself if he’s sure. “Fenton’s back. Welcome home.”

At the bar, Ryan orders a dark beer and Bobby proposes a toast in the form of a biblical verse. Liam, the new bodyguard doesn’t get the toast and is suspicious of Ryan. He says he’ll kill him if he has the chance.

Beckett has found the alibi for the mobster and also where it might fall apart. Castle asks how Ryan’s doing. She doesn’t know and that bothers her. Jordan is not a woman but that doesn’t mean Kate’s interest stops there. Bobby was filing his tax return for a massive win with the ponies at the time he supposedly killed the baker. Someone stole his car and is setting him up.

When Espo goes to tell him about this development, Ryan suggests that maybe bobby ordered the hit. Too much evidence was planted for it to be him. Siobhan doesn’t want Ryan to go to the poker game that night where he was planning on stealing the bible. Siobhan asks if any of what he did when he was with her was real. He tells her that what he felt was real.

The cops have finally discovered that Liam is setting up Bobby. They call him to tell him about his but his phone’s in the office of a loud bar. Bobby asks during the pool game how soon Ryan can get some drugs down from Chicago. Liam gets a phone call telling him he has a rat in the house. Ryan plays on oblivious. He goes to the room with the safe and punches in the numbers. There’s stacks upon stacks of money inside but Ryan’s only interested in the bible. Bobby goes to the room and takes out some money. He notices the stacks are askew but adjusts them and leaves. When Ryan leaves the room, he’s ambushed by Liam who tells him that they’re going for a ride.

Ryan’s wife comes down to the station to asks what’s going on and Kate tells her what they know. Kate doesn’t believe he’s in any immediate danger. Jenny thinks that maybe it’s because of their pregnancy problems before saying she just wants him to come home. Espo calls Kate out to talk to her about something.

Liam tells Ryan to drive to the docks. Ryan says that there are only two things to do at the docks, either kill someone or go fishing and it’s too late to go fishing. Liam finds it suspicious that everybody vouched for Ryan and has him followed. Another car pulls up with Siobhan. They know that Siobhan had been pulled over by the police and when they went thru her phone they found numerous calls to the FBI. To prove Ryan knew nothing about it, he has to kill her. Ryan takes the gun. Siobhan tells him it’s okay and to just do it. He points it at her and says he can’t do it. He re trains to gun on Bobby and finds out the gun is empty. He tells the group that he’s Kevin Ryan and a cop. Oh and the three of them are under arrest. Ryan had called Espo and left the line open. He yells “Yo, Javie where you at?” before he appears. He names the other members of the usual line up before a squad car appears. Bobby says he has the best lawyer in all of New York.

“A snazzy three-piece suit can only mean one thing - Ryan is back.” Ryan apologizes for his comments to Javie before the mission and Liam is not the killer, his wife is.

Kate and Castle describe the case. Castle finally tells her that the Jordan is the Jordan Car Company. It goes back to his boarding school experience. He had paid someone to write the paper which got him his first 'A'. It changed the way he saw himself that he wrote and wrote trying to earn the applause his paper received and that in a way he still is. Kate says that makes her like him a little bit more.

Siobhan gets her restart and Ryan wants to make sure she takes her cat. She says she wishes she met ‘Kevin Ryan’ a little sooner. Ryan goes home to Jenny and apologizes to her. He swears that the undercover part is over and that she can depend on him. They took all those tests for nothing, she’s already pregnant.

Next: 100th episode! “I think I just saw a murder.”

Like:
♥ I like that they finally showcased Ryan after so many seasons.
♥ I like that they added depth to Castle and didn’t ignore the relationship between Caskett

Dislike:
≠That Beckett teased Castle so much before he told her what the name meant. In was obviously deeply personal and the episode would have worked fine without it.