After a week off, ABC's Castle returned last night with an intense and progressive hour. "Fidelis Ad Mortem" was miles better than last week's LokSat cleanup job, and featured Chad Gomez Creasey's strongest script yet, with the rock solid Rob Bowman doing an excellent job directing.
This episode amazed me by how deeply it sucked me in as it progressed. The hour's opening scene featured Rick and Kate chatting over their morning coffee when Martha burst in unannounced to show her son an advance copy of the book she was in the process of publishing.
The hilarious yet entirely true dedication was just about the last time I laughed in the episode as the moments that followed showed Kate escaping from sight. From then on the episode pulled me deeper into the fast paced and intense case of the week, which was one of the series' best examples in its eight seasons on the air.
The episode promo and press release clearly hinted that what was to come was a blue on blue incident. A promising police recruit at the NYPD Academy, Daniel Bardot, was gunned down, and thanks to the firearm used being registered to the academy, the pool of suspects was narrowed dramatically to seven recruits.
The academy was Kate's old haunt, and the trophy cabinet carried her name with prominence to this day. Commissioner Malone reintroduced Kate to her old instructor, Sergeant Ortiz, who would serve as her liaison. Wasting no time, it wasn't long until Kate was face to face with the recruits and sharing some of her insight from her time in the academy and then as a serving officer.
The most prominent of the recruits was Rachel Decker. She introduced herself early when she found Ryan and Esposito scouring Bardot's room for clues. It was clear then and there that she would be closely tied to the case, but the creative team handled her close resemblance to Kate when she was younger was very well done. Right through the hour it was clear that Decker looked up to Kate and was gunning for a similar reputation but the creative team stopped short of creating a cliché mirror image of a junior Kate. It allowed the mentoring moments seen later on seem so much more real and genuine. It's one of the best examples of intelligent, thoughtful writing seen on the show this season.
Having been absent in the last episode, Stana Katic was excellent last night. She gave her character a refreshed sense of authority and aura as Kate acted decisively and methodically in her search for the killer. What added to this was Rick taking no part in the case at all, which allowed Kate to get on with the job without comic relief. The heavier score by Rob Duncan along with the progressively darkened sets and low camera angles when Kate featured added to the mood of the hour exponentially.
It's the cocky ones that are the easiest.
Driving the actions of both the victim and the shooter was a man who goes by the name of 'Lucky Jack', a long time crook who had been defying the attempts of the NYPD for two decades. While the guy evaded capture for the time being, the possibility of locking him up was what drove Kate and Decker to press forward with the case. It turned out Lucky Jack was Decker's father, and the common thinking among those investigating the case was that Lucky Jack had moles within the NYPD feeding him information. In the end Commissioner Malone was the triggerman, but that wasn't revealed until after Sergeant Ortiz pulled a gun on his former student, Kate.
How did we end up here again?
After the previous episode's patch-up job on the LokSat conspiracy, the interactions between Rick and Kate - humor aside - concerned what was next on the cards. Hayley's only use in this episode was convincing Rick to come clean to Kate about his involvement with LokSat, which he did - finally. I let out a massive sigh of relief there. Fortunately Kate didn't concern herself with the details there, and Rick didn't have to beg - she was more keen to pursue the next stage of the investigation, which needed to involve her husband. Cue another massive sigh of relief because the elephant (or more like herd of elephants) in the room has been addressed. I'm feeling much more positive about a decent conclusion to the LokSat storyline than I was a fortnight ago.
That wraps up what was one of the season's strongest episodes, with a case of the week which rates among the series' best in my opinion. Stana Katic was at the top of her game, and had some top notch help from the directing and writers room.
Thanks as always for reading! The next episode of Castle airs in a fortnight - April 4 to be precise, and the promo looks mischievously interesting - check it out here. In the meantime, don't forget to share your own thoughts and theories on this episode of Castle in the comments below!
