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Castle – Recap & Review – Linchpin

Castle
Linchpin

Original Air Date: Feb 20, 2012

Divina F – TwoCents Reviewer
divina@thetwocentscorp.com

Previously, on Tailor Tinker Soldier Spy – I mean, on Castle: Castle and Beckett have been recruited by the CIA to help them prevent a catastrophic event called Pandora. The man set to pull the linchpin is a former CIA agent and a wanted murderer in the eye of the 12th. There’s also a lot of Castle/Beckett tension because CIA operative Sophia Conrad (played beautifully by Jennifer Beals) is something like an ex-muse.

When we last saw our will they/won’t they? duo, they’d just witnessed the murder of Blakely, another former CIA agent who has the superpower to predict when a butterfly’s wing flaps will culminate into a tsunami. And then a huge black SUV slammed their car into the harbor.

The most annoying part of what follows is that while we get at least three obvious CGI shots of a sinking car, we have no idea how they get out of it. There is literally a swift cut from worst death ever to Beckett standing on the dock, wet and apologetic to Esposito, who is still annoyed with all of this “confidential” stuff.

And then Sophia Conrad’s throwing them off the case for letting Blakely die on their watch. And then she’s sneaking into Castle’s bedroom to give him a lead because she knows he’ll solve the case and she had to put on a show for her colleges. Classy.

The lead is a summary of several bank accounts Blakely had under different names. Some of them are international, which explains why the CIA can’t look into them. The information leads them Blakely’s apartment.

Wait.

Did I say apartment?

I meant Secret Lair of Linchpinosity.

I was seriously reminded of Sylar’s lair from Heroes. String everywhere, connecting important events, both actual and “possible: all leading to the horror of a third world war. And the linchpin? A ten year old girl.

And then, things get even crazier when Gage shows up and he is not a bad guy. In fact, as soon as his interrogation is over, he is killed. The murderer? Martin Danberg, played by the other vaguely famous guest star. Before the whole CIA plus Beckett can take him down, though, he takes a hostage and pulls a Houdini in the elevator.

And just when I thought I had it all figured out, Sophia turns out to be the one behind everything. (And she’s not American! The “This was never my country” line was so incredibly cheesy but I was too busy trying to decide whether or not I was annoyed by Marlowe being unable to make up his mind of if this was actually a good plot unraveling. Your mileage may vary.)

Castle and Beckett save the world by stopping Agent Jones from assassinating the girl, who is, in fact, the daughter of a very important Chinese official. Sophia is dead. Probably dead. (But not before she waves around a huge plot device just to keep things suspenseful: Castle’s father was involved with the CIA.)

Also, Beckett officially gets her sexy hair back. And her car. And Alexis needs to get another internship because she didn’t get to examine a single body and she found out that her father sleeps around. A lot.

Next Week: Once Upon a Crime