Unlike the previous three seasons, the Beckett-Castle "relationship" has largely been ignored for the majority of Season 4. Not nearly as much flirting, no real serious talks between the two, no outside relationships to make each other jealous (except in the two-parter) and no acknowledgement of what happened in last year's finale.
But in Monday night's "47 Seconds", the Beckett-Castle relationship was in the forefront -- even if Beckett couldn't fully realize to what extent -- in a much-needed excellent and emotional episode of 'Castle'.
And not just emotional in the moments between our two main characters, but also the emotion of the actual case. Most often in TV procedurals, you don't care about the fake victims or the culprit -- but given the specific crime and emotion throughout this whole episode, it's a nice added bonus to be invested in the case as well.
But realistically, if you're reading this you care much more about Beckett and Castle than you do about an expected twist in the case, the wrong suspect halfway through and the fairly obvious fact (just two minutes into the episode I just knew) that the reporter was involved with the bomb.
Admittedly, I enjoy the episodes more when they incorporate the Beckett-Castle relationship in some way. I don't care all that much whether or not they actually get together, but it annoys me when they just ignore the situation for weeks at a time. The "I Love you" in last year's finale has been lingering for entirely too long and it was nice to see it addressed in a clever and surprising way.
I loved the way Castle found out that Beckett knew all along what he said to her after she was shot, and it was compelling to see how he handled the situation. He said to his mother that he could work side by side with her and ignore it, but we knew better. He was hurt and angry and he continually let his emotions get the best of him whenever around Beckett.
It will be interesting to see how he handles things around her next week. I think it would be fun and a good change-of-pace to see him cold, distant and angry with her for a while. Hey, something needed to change at the end of this season. You didn't actually think they would put them together, did you?
My one complaint of the episode? OF COURSE Detective Ryan interrupted Castle trying to tell Beckett once again how he felt about her at the last exact moment. It's annoying that he didn't get to have that nice emotional moment with Beckett, but what really grinds my gears is that it's the most cliched thing in TV history. At some point, there needs to be a show above that crap.
NOTABLE QUOTABLES:
--CASTLE: "It's like trying to find Waldo in a see of Waldo's." OK, it's a lame quote -- but it brought me back to the good-old-days.
--BECKETT: "To hell you don't remember. Do you wanna know trauma? I was shot in the chest and I remember every second of it."
--CASTLE: "All this time. You remembered."
--MARTHA: "Richard, love is not a switch, you can't just turn it off. You can't work side-by-side with her and not feel anything."
--CASTLE: "Watch me."
--ROBERT: "Amensesia sounded like the better plan."
--CASTLE: "Yeah."
--CASTLE: "Well that's what your friend Jesse would call 'sinning by silence.' It's not smart, it's not brave -- it's just cowardly."
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:
--A mug with his own name on it? I love Richard Castle.
--Really loved the music/score in this episode.
THE SCORE: 87 out of 100