ABC's "Castle" returned Monday night with episode 20 of the season, titled "Sleeper," which gave viewers a few answers as to where Castle was for his two-month disappearance early in the season.

Editor's note: Haven't watched yet? Be aware that there are spoilers in the copy below.

The only case this week surrounds Castle's two-month disappearance and trying to solve it. When he starts having the same reoccurring dream about the missing time, Beckett (Stana Katic) suggests that he talk to her therapist, Dr. Burke, who helps Castle (Nathan Fillion) make some sense of the dreams.

Castle's dreams are kind of wild, and sound more like a movie script than reality. He dreams about a high school debate trophy, being shot at in a combat area and a Chuck Norris look-a-like saving him. With the help of Beckett and the boys (Esposito and Ryan), the team is able to track down the look-a-like, but he was murdered by a Russian assassin.

Again, the reality of Castle's dreams are crazy, so here's how it's all explained.

Bilal Khan, a foreign exchange student Castle went to high school with needed his help. Khan had a rough time after his prep days in New York, he was actually a part of Al-Qaeda. When he was ready to leave the terrorist group, he needed the United States to get him out in exchange for details about the group's next attack on America, which was going to happen soon.

The exchange was supposed to take place in Thailand but the former terrorist's contact was killed. He needed a prominent figure who is too important to be eliminated but also someone he could trust -- Castle.

So, think of Castle's disappearance like this -- he missed his wedding and went missing for two months to help stop a terror attack. Basically, Castle helped save the world, as Beckett said.

Overall, "Sleeper" was a lot to process. Perhaps the episode should have been a two-parter. Thoughts?

Lagniappe:

  • There are still plenty of holes left in the disappearance story, such as: where and why was Castle shot and why was he gone for two months?

What did you think of "Sleeper?" Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

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Julie Boudwin can be reached at jboudwin@nola.com.