Castle: XX

Remember last week how I was worried that the “Beckett on the run” story line, just like last year’s “Castle is missing plot,” would be tied up way too soon in a nice little bow? Well that did not happen. Oh no. Instead, the writers just took everything we know and love about our beloved Castle, and flipped it on its head. Nay, threw it violently on its head. Beckett is gone! Castle is alone! What is happening?!?! Did the events of “XX” really just change Castle forever??

As the titles of the eighth season premiere episodes suggest, in “XX” we get the story of what the hell is going on from Beckett’s point of view (get it? Chromosomes). But before we get to know why she’s there, the episode picks up right where the first half of the story left off: with Beckett in a shifty looking apartment about to be attacked by a bunch of bad guys with guns. She’s reliving her last interaction with Castle, tearing up knowing that she had to leave her love behind. Her partner, Vikram (the analyst from the AG’s office), is more concerned about how safe their current hiding spot is. The building was seized by the NYPD in a drug bust, and while they should be safe there, they’re obviously not. It’s not long before the bad guys bust into the apartment in a hail of bullets. Beckett and Vikram manage to escape through a hatch in the floor, but they’re immediately held up by even more guys with guns. Suddenly, a smoke bomb goes off and the bad guys are put down by a mysterious an older woman in an awesome leather jacket who is one hell of a shot.

The mystery lady leads the pair to safety, but Kate demands answers before they go any further with her. The woman’s name is Rita; she’s Castle’s stepmother. She explains that she has been married to Castle’s father for 10 years, but other than that, she doesn’t tell Beckett much. All of the answers the detective is looking for are classified. Reluctantly, Beckett allows the tables of questioning to be turned and explains to Rita everything that has led them to that point.

The story begins with her opening the bracelet from Castle, before being interrupted by Vikram’s call. He delivers a coded FBI distress call, and tells her to meet him at the theatre. Once the two of them meet, Vikram explains that everyone she used to work with in D.C. is dead, and since she’s at the center of all of this mystery she’s the only one he can trust. Before he can explain any further, the bad guys enter the theatre ad the shoot out that lead to Ryan and Esposito’s crime scene plays out.

Beckett and Vikram escape the theatre, but she’s badly hurt and he’s on the borderline of a diabetic attack. She gets them to the dry cleaners, where, using a needle, thread, and a bottle of vodka, she starts to patch herself up. While Beckett is stitching, Vikram makes with the explaining. A pending inter-agency search just yielded its first result since it was initiated two years prior by an Agent Kate Beckett. The result that came through was a heavily redacted memo that detailed a meeting between a senior government official and William Bracken. Apparently, when she first started with the agency, Beckett put that search into motion but never got a hit. Now that something has been found, five people are dead and she might be next.

The entire document had basically been redacted, save for one word written in the margin: “lockset.” Beckett decides the best way to get answers on what that word means is to go speak to the Bracken himself. Their meeting at the prison doesn’t really go as planned, in that is in anything but helpful. As soon as Beckett utters the word “lockset,” Bracken freaks right out. He says that she has put them both in danger by merely uttering the word; he’s amazed she’s managed to stay alive this long but he doesn’t imagine she’ll stay that way much longer.

Back in present day, Castle and the boys are watching the meeting between Bracken and Beckett on security footage from the prison. They’re just as confused as Beckett was by the word “lockset,” and they set out to the prison to see if Bracken will help them. Meanwhile, Hayley has joined back up with team Castle, and has figured out after they left the prison, Vikram and Beckett went to a fancy hotel bar. No, not to get drunk, but to scam on some Wi-Fi and get themselves a copy of the document. Using security footage, a mirror, and ridiculously fancy imaging software, Alexis is able to enhance the screen on Vikram’s computer and get them a copy of the memo as well.

Now that Beckett’s story has caught up to present day, Rita says that the only way for her and Vikram to ever be safe is to run and hide. She doesn’t know much about lockset, but she does know that the person behind all of it is a dirty, well-connected CIA analyst who lives pretty high up the food chain. She has tried multiple times to bring them down, but her lead always disappears. But what is “lockset” exactly? It’s the political protection that allowed William Bracken and Vulcan Simmons to bring drugs into the country so easily for so many years. If any of this were to get out, it would be a political nightmare, which is why the people involved are so willing to kill to keep it a secret. Case and point: before Ryan and Esposito could talk to William Bracken, he was killed. While in SOLITARY. These people mean business.

Allison Hyde, the assistant attorney general, has arrived in New York to help the NYPD make sense of everything that has happened, and to find Detective Beckett. Hyde believes that Castle is their most important asset, but isn’t sure she can trust him. And you know what, she’s right, because Castle doesn’t share the information he found on the memo with her or the NYPD. Instead, he works with Alexis and Hayley and uncovers more un-redacted text from the memo. Now, the writing in the margin reads “lockset 2011BD” and through a crazy train of thought, he figures out it’s the tail number from an airplane.

Because Beckett and Castle are soulmates (obviously), she also comes to the conclusion regarding the tail number, and her and Vikram trace it to an airplane hanger. They approach the dude standing beside the plane and while he plays coy about lockset at first, with some gentle probing by Beckett (aka a loaded gun to his face), he caves and says he’ll tell them everything. But before he can talk, Vikram raises his gun and it looks like he’s trying to shoot Beckett! Luckily, Castle shows up just in time and tackles Vikram to the ground right as his finger pulls the trigger.

The pilot is dead, and Vikram insists he was his target all along – the dude had his gun cocked and was going to shoot Beckett. Castle explains to his wife that the AG’s office discovered that Vikram’s credentials are all a lie, and he’s actually the mole involved with lockset. After everything they’ve been through together though, Beckett doesn’t buy it. She believes that someone is trying to set him up and tear the two of them apart.

Ryan and Espo are finally brought up to speed about why Kate and Vikram are being hunted down by a bunch of bad guys with guns are who are being controlled by the big bad deep in the CIA, but are confused when they say they don’t want any help. Beckett explains that they’ll have to work outside of the system if they want to make sure no one else gets hurt. But Castle has an even crazier idea. The people involved in lockset rely on secrecy; what if they took that secrecy away? If all of them are publicly attached to uncovering the lockset conspiracy, they could never be killed without blowing the lockset organization wide open.

Using his “I’m a famous writer” connections, he and Beckett are booked for an exclusive interview to discuss what they’ve found so far on national television. Before they even make it to the station to film, the pair is attacked in Castle’s P.I. office by one of the crazy assassin dudes. Lucky for them, Ryan and Espo were waiting in the secret back room and taze the dude before anyone gets hurt. He wasn’t alone though; another crazy assassin man caught Hayley on her way to the airport, and has her, and the rest of the gang, at gunpoint. Castle, being the crazy kid that he is, hits his desk and a secret compartment opens up, sending a gun flying into his hand and allowing him to shoot the bad guy. Everyone is safe, and they’ve got two baddies in custody.

AG Hyde takes the two men into federal custody and is taking them back to D.C. with her. It seems like everything is wrapping up nicely for the team, and Beckett can finally start her first day as the captain of the 12th Precinct. Right after she finishes her “I’m so proud to be your captain” speech, Vikram comes in with some bad news. He cracked the decryption on one of the bad guys’ phones, and he only received orders from one person: Allison Hyde. And she has already left the building.

The team tracks Hyde down to a hotel, but they’re too late. She’s already dead, and it looks like it was suicide to protect her family. If she was the one in charge of lockset, and she’s dead, is this all really over?

As she walks down the street that night, Beckett is approached by Rita. Neither of them buys Allison’s involvement in lockset; they both believe she was a patsy designed to take the fall and make Beckett’s investigation disappear. Rita tries to convince Beckett that she needs to let it go so no one else gets hurt, but if she can’t, if she insist on jumping down this rabbit hole and feeding her obsession, she has to be careful with who she takes with her. Because anyone who dies because of lockset now, they’re blood will be on Kate Beckett’s hands.

Back at home, while Castle prepares them dinner, Kate comes in to say goodbye. She tries to explain that she needs to get her head right and figure things out so they can have their happily ever after. Castle doesn’t get why she’s giving up their marriage if, in the end, she just wants to be happy. If he trusts her, he needs to let her go. She needs to do this on her own so no one else gets hurt, and when it’s done, she hopes that he has room in his heart to take her back. As she leaves the apartment, Castle remembers that Bracken told him that Beckett would never be happy just being his wife. It turns out he was right.

I can’t believe the writers actually pulled this off. They broke up Castle and Beckett and I’m not even mad! For the first time since Bracken’s arrest, you can see the hunger in Beckett’s eyes that used to drive her in the earlier seasons of the show. I feel like this season of Castle is going to go to some dark places as Beckett attempts to finally, once and for all, find the people responsible for killing her mother. If Bracken was just a puppet and he was a senator, you have to wonder how high up this thing goes?? I love a good conspiracy, and I think the best procedural dramas are the ones that keep an overarching story going throughout the season, and it looks like this season Castle is going to have both.

Photo Courtesy of ABC