A hot fiery episode of Castle to take the chill off of winter, complete with a heartwarming ending.
In this week’s Castle, Ryan and Esposito fall victim to the pyrophilic nature of a serial arsonist, who gets his kicks from watching a building succumb to the flames. But between Castle, Beckett, Captain Gates, and an arson investigator, our boys are saved just in time to meet the newest member of the 12th Precinct.
The episode was laced with suspense; the music and the editing left me on edge, even though I knew they wouldn’t write off one of TV’s best bromances. And a lot of the episode gives us different sides to our characters. Ryan and Esposito get to be the ones in mortal danger–in fact, the scene where Ryan sees Espo give in to the carbon monoxide and he collapses against him was very reminiscent of the scene in “Countdown” where Castle and Beckett fall asleep leaning against each other as they freeze to death. Meanwhile, Castle and Beckett get to be the ones to stand around and worry whether their partners will survive the night, coming up with the case-breaking clue that saves their lives. And completely in character, Kate’s outlook is very bleak–she blames herself for sending them in there, while Castle–ever the optimist–remains hopeful they will stay alive. Even Gates and Lanie get a little more screen time as Gates enters the interrogation room to get information and Lanie walks Jenny through labor (and frets over Esposito). The episode was very much a team effort for both cast/characters and crew.
Despite the heaviness of the episode, it wasn’t without it’s usual Castle charm. The call back to naming a child “Cosmo” (from the last episode, “The Good, The Bad, and the Baby”) was a lovely piece of continuity. The website name “pyrolicious.com” was fun, even if it didn’t lead to a real website. Castle’s line “for the proof that the internet has something for everyone” reminded me of Rule 36 of the Internet: “If you’ve thought of it, then there’s somebody out there with fetish for it.” (Closely related to Rule 34, which you can look up on your own here.) Even the scene where Ryan and Esposito first get the call out to Beckett made me giggle just a little bit, because of how MacGyver is was. And I loved Ryan wanting to name his son Javier if they both survived–even if I knew they would survive just for that decision–because of Esposito’s own reasoning, “You’re gonna name a white, Irish kid Javier?” It would have been fun to see Esposito tease Ryan mercilessly had it been a boy, knowing that he was named after him.
But instead of a little Javier Ryan, we get to meet Sarah Grace Ryan, just as her father escapes the fire. I truly applaud Jenny for being able to give birth in an ambulance (I assume without a high dosage of delivery-grade painkillers), while thinking her husband was dying. What a strong woman! And all of our couples get some hugs in–even Esplaine, who’ve been “off-again,” warmed up to each other. It’s currently 30° F where I live and even colder in other parts of the country, but that ending warmed me right up.
[Photo via Nicole Wilder /ABC]
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