“We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when, but I know we’ll meet again…”
This week gave us the much awaited return, the case that keeps on giving, the triple killer’s “Resurrection.” It’s the case that came in Castle’s and the Team at the 12th’s radar a while back, in season 3, with the murder of Linda Rousseau. Ever since then, there’s been a 3XK related episode in every season, and every season, it’s an incredible hour of TV, but somehow, in its seventh season, “Castle” managed to make the 3XK episode even more than that. “Resurrection,” and everything about it, truly was, phenomenal.
Almost everyone on the team has their own, personal reason, bar from locking away a violent psychopath, to want the 3XK killer behind bars. “Resurrection” made a great job of recapping the triple killer’s journey over the seasons, with flashbacks, conversations and sentiments of déja vue. In the fourth season, a murder was committed, using Detective Ryan’s stolen gun. In the fifth season, Castle was framed and wrongfully accused of the murder of Tessa Horton. In the sixth season, Lanie and Esposito had to find their lookalikes, hung, with wire, after their usefulness had expired. It only seemed fitting that in its seventh season, Beckett would be the target of the psychopathic duo.
It bums me out that we have to wait a whole week for the next episode, but I secretly love that it was made so. This way, we get to speculate and guess, for a whole week on what will happen next.
Since we last saw them, the game has changed; the villains have evolved, making them creepier than ever. From the looks of it, Kelly Neiman is running a factory of Young Gretchen Cutler lookalikes, creating them for Jerry Tyson’s perverted self, and that’s just plain sick. But let's start from the beginning.
“Resurrection” started with a glimpse into the Castles family life, with a short, effective, appearance from the youngest Castle and an unexpected display of affection from Alexis to Kate, a simple goodbye kiss, which Kate downplayed to casual. Their relationship has evolved so much over the years it’s crazy, going from respect, to wariness, to, dare I say, mutual affection. I’ve said it and will continue to say it, Alexis has been way underused these past seasons. The episodes would benefit from seeing more of her, whether it be her relationship with her father, or her relationship with Kate, any relationship giving Pi doesn’t return, really. As of lately, I find myself almost giddy every episode she’s in. Maybe absence does make the heart grow fonder.
The display of affection led to the fandom-anticipated baby talk, or almost talk, a conversation that will evidently have to wait because, well you know... Beckett’s missing and all. In any other episode, the fact that they even evoked the subject would have created frenzy for the shippers here, there and everywhere, but given the strength of everything else in “Resurrection,” the almost-conversation somehow drowns in a sea of awesomeness, and I'm not complaining.
It’s in the sixth season that creepy Kelly Neiman was introduced, after bodies were discovered, altered to look like Lanie and Esposito, in a plan that had the two lookalikes steal all the police files and DNA samples of one Jerry Tyson, aka 3XK. It’s also during this episode that the plastic surgeon developed a disturbing obsession with Kate’s perfect features. The end of “Disciple” had the doctor flee the country, as Castle and Beckett got hot on her trail, for the two murders. Now, she’s back, and she’s creepier than ever. Thumbs up to Annie Wersching, she's phenomenal.
Though the Triple Killer, like the name indicates, usually kills in threes, “Resurrection” only had one murder victim, Susan Watts. Reminiscent of Pam Hodges, the Lanie lookalike, she was a woman with past troubles with the law, now reformed, and with a job leaving no paper trail but allowing her a fancy lifestyle. While watching the episode, I was so focused on the Tyson of it all, I didn’t realise they still haven’t explained what she was doing in that neighborhood, in her jammies, and honestly, I’m all out of theories. Anyone care to be my Castle here?
Mr. Castle has a way of slithering back to the precinct, surprising Kelly Neiman in the interrogation room with his presence. Because of his knowledge on the Neiman case, Beckett convinces Gates to let him back in, just for this case. Their conversation, and Gate’s initial refusal to let Castle back in, reminded me of the first episode of the second season, where Castle convinced a reluctant Beckett to let him help, just for this one case, and ended up staying 5 more years. My guess is, the same is about to happen here, Castle will be coming back to working with Beckett after this one.
Following an almost exact copy of their victim, leads the team straight to Jerry Tyson, the man Castle had shot off of the bridge in the fifth’s season “Probable Cause,” the man whose body was never found and who everyone assumed to be dead, except for Castle. “Resurrection” proved Tyson’s official return, only he tried to convince everyone else it wasn’t his return, that he was't Tyson. And what a mindf*ck that was.
At first, I was inclined to believe Tyson, to believe that he was, in fact, Michael Boudreau. Why not build an army of Tyson decoys, making catching the real one, that much harder? I couldn’t bring myself to let anything past them; they’re pretty close to being criminal masterminds. It was the wink at the end of the episode that completely had me. It was him, no doubt, it was Tyson. How about you, guys? When were you sure? Are you even sure?
Thanks to the fake Lanie and fake Esposito, the precinct had no way of proving the man they had in holding was Jerry Tyson, or was not Michael Boudreau, and Michael Mosley did a great job of playing with the character. Every scene in the interrogation room was incredible, adding only the perfect amount of doubt to the situation and showing the just right amount cockiness. He most certainly nailed it, and for once, the villains seemed to be the stars of the episode.
There were no DNA samples to compare, and the prints came back a match, to Michael Boudreau. Castle is certain they’ve hit the jackpot, and it seems like they have, when they track down Tyson’s mother, and even though she isn’t his biological mother, she gives them a baby tooth, one with Tyson’s DNA, one they can compare. But the DNA turned out to not be a match, and there is no explanation, except the obvious, Neiman and Tyson still were one step ahead of them, they had predicted someone would make the connection, and had switched out the tooth beforehand. Because my nonexistent medical background tells me it’s impossible to alter someone’s DNA, or maybe it’s not. Can someone alter their DNA, with a bone marrow transplant? Did someone hack into the database and change everything? I don’t know, I guess we’ll see next week. It will probably be something even cooler.
“Nothing I ever did could have made him what he was.” –Gretchen
This quote stayed with me, because they repeated too many times for me to believe there isn’t something more to it. The thought was said twice by Gretchen and once by Castle, but thus far, I’ve come up with nothing, except the feeling it could mean more than what it seems to. Could Tyson’s, mother-not mother, be hiding something? Because she looks nice at first sight, and was compliant and sweet, but there’s more to her story, Tyson clearly has a deep dark obsession with the woman who took him in when he was just a boy. Will she prove be the key to finding Beckett in the next episode?
The second Gretchen lookalike, Amy Barrett, poses as Michael Boudreau’s girlfriend, but she can’t really be it, can she? She sees her boyfriend, with someone that looks exactly like her, and doesn’t question it, other than he’s cheating. She doesn’t want to believe Beckett when she tells him he’s Tyson, that he’s dangerous, doesn’t even take the time to think about it. She has to be in on it, or think she’s in on it. The phone call to Beckett had to have been planned, timed so Beckett would disappear when Neiman and Tyson were in the precinct, where they knew no one could argue with their alibi. Will next episode start with Amy Barrett’s corpse? My gut says yes.
Tyson and Neiman continue to be just a step ahead of Castle, Beckett, Ryan, Esposito and Gates, at all times. Next episode promises to be a race against the watch to find Beckett, and if it’s anything like “Resurrection,” it will be great.
I can’t wait to know what the psychopathic duo have in store for Beckett, and I can’t wait to see if Neiman can get anymore creepy than she already is. Killing is only a small part of what Tyson does, what 3XK enjoys is the game, the thrill of the chase. What twisted games do they have planned? They didn’t kill her right then and there, so they have other plans for her. Will these pans have anything to do with Dr. Neiman and her creepy obsession with Kate’s face? We'll get to see in 7 days.
I know, there was a lot of rambling about here.
Do you guys have any theories, insight, explanations? Or like me, incoherent thoughts?
