“You’ve lived here a while, but you’re still living out of boxes. Maybe you moved around a lot as a kid. A tumultuous childhood. A hard time forming relationships. I may not be the gumshoe you are, but I’ve got some skills.” -Sam Weiss
The return of the Yoda-Bowling man! He is the reason for the way the title is worded, sort of, because at one point, he brings Clue over to Olivia’s apartment to play.
Here’s the breakdown.
Characters
Olivia is not sleeping because she is keeping Walter’s secret. She is also acting weird around Peter for the same reason. Peter notices and thinks it’s because she and him almost kissed. Walter keeps worrying that Olivia will tell Peter, thus ruining the good relationship the two of them currently have.
Story
A man is meeting with the people who, like Olivia, were subjects for the Cortexiphan tests that William Bell and Walter did. He touches them, and within minutes, they die of cancerous growths on their skin. Like two previous cases of people with abilities (Nick Lane and Nancy Lewis), this seems to have been a failed “activation” attempt.
There are more hints about Broyles and Nina having some former connection. And I have to say that I’m liking Walter’s decision to tell Peter the truth. It will really hurt the relationship, but I think it will work out better in the end.
“It was the first hole, the first breach, the first crack in the pattern of cracks in the places between the worlds, and it’s my fault.” -Walter Bishop
Whoa. That intro sequence was trippy. Anyway, Olivia learned in the last episode something that all of us viewers knew from the Season 1 finale: Peter is from the other side. We did not know the exact reasons or circumstances behind it, however, and that’s what this episode is all about.
Here’s the breakdown.
Characters
This is a flashback episode, as Walter explains to Olivia why Peter is in this universe when he’s from the other side. We also meet Peter’s mom for the first time. Those two make up the main cast for this episode. Others are Walter’s lab assistant, much like the 80′s version of Astrid, and Nina.
Story
So we discover in the beginning of the episode that Peter is dying of a genetic disease for which there is no cure. Walter is using a window to the other side, which is about 30 years ahead of our side in technology (as evidenced by the RAZR phone that Walter shows the Army), to watch the other side in hopes that Walternate (Walter in the other side) will have better luck than he has in finding a cure. Then Peter on this side dies, right in front of Walter. He continues watching, hoping that Walternate will be able to cure alternate Peter so Walter can take comfort that Peter is living on somewhere, if not with himself. Then the Observer causes Walternate to miss the success of his compound, but Walter sees it. By the time Walternate turns back, the compound has failed, causing Walternate to totally disregard the compound that would cure his son. Walter, obsessed with saving Peter, any Peter, figures out the compound and crosses over to the other side – a first and what Walter says weakened the walls between the two worlds. When he crosses over, we find out what happened to Nina’s arm.
This episode answered a lot of questions about Walter and Peter’s past. Seeing how well they are getting along now, it will be sad to see it all destroyed when Peter learns the truth.
“I’m gonna go splash some water on my face and… throw up a little.” -Castle
In this episode, a man has found the Mayan equivalent of king Tut. Maya-Tut comes with a curse, just like the Egyptian king. The curse is applied to anyone who looks at the mummy, which Castle does before hearing about it.
Here’s the breakdown.
Characters
Ryan and Esposito have a hay day knowing that Castle is cursed, even though he doesn’t believe in curses. Castle really starts getting freaked out when weird things start happening to him. After Kate reveals that she’s behind them, he continues having weird thing happen to him.
Story
Basically, after finding the mummy, everyone on the team that found him begins dying mysteriously. First a girl in the jungle, then someone else in a way I cannot remember, then the assistant curator by falling gargoyle (this is the first victim shown). When they discover that the mummy is less than 500 years old, instead of the millennia he was supposed to be, they realize something entirely different than what they thought is going on.
It’s a frakking hilarious episode, especially the part in the elevator. And the Indiana Castle scene at the beginning.
“Turn around and try not to look too guilty.” – Patrick Jane
At the beginning of the episode, I knew that the biker gang didn’t kill him. They weren’t good guys, but they weren’t stupid either. Why kill the lawyer that had gotten them off the hook for over 50 cases?
Here’s the breakdown.
Characters
In this episode, we learn that Rigsby hates bikers because his father was a biker. Lisbon seems to have gotten over being framed for murder and nearly losing her job in the previous episode.
Story
The lawyer of a local biker gang is found dead on the side of the road. Suspicions went first to the gang, then to the crazy lady that harasses the gang. Her beef with the gang is real and how Jane deals with that at the end is awesome, but neither are responsible for the lawyer’s death.
It’s a decent episode, but not the greatest by any means.
Kate Beckett: “Nice shot.”
Richard Castle: “I was aiming for his head.”
Something happens in this episode that has never happened in this show before: Beckett gives Castle a gun to watch her back! This episode is an awesome conclusion to the previous episode’s explosive cliffhanger.
Here’s the breakdown.
Characters
Beckett is a little banged up and homeless after the explosion. Castle, being the nice guy that he is, offers his place. Well, offers might be to nice a word. He tells her that she will stay at his place, and her boss agrees, taking the decision away from her. Right after they ID the killer, he kidnaps Agent Shaw, setting yet another trap for “Nikki.”
Story
The killer is extremely intelligent and this episode they explain why: he’s a serial killer who writes his killings into novels. There are manuscripts from his murders in other cities around his apartment. In the end, he did get his face off with Nikki Heat, who, as Agent Shaw points out, is a combination of Beckett and Castle, who is the pair that actually takes him down.
An excellent conclusion and apparently the highest rated episode for the show. Shortly after this episode played, ABC renewed Castle for a third season. Here’s to more great Castle episodes.
Richard Castle: “I’m here to protect you.”
Kate Beckett: “What, with your vast arsenal of rapier wit?”
It is the series’ first two-part episode and boy is it a good one. A deranged serial killer has targeted Detective Beckett as Nikki Heat. He sets a trap by killing certain people who are all linked, then handing over a dead suspect, letting them all think he’s dead and gone. The final scene makes it very clear that he is far from dead and far from gone.
Here’s the breakdown.
Characters
In addition to Castle and Beckett, we also have FBI Agent Jordan Shaw, famous for solving high profile cases across the country. Beckett gets jealous because suddenly Castle is starstruck by Shaw and helping her with the investigation instead of Beckett. Castle shows who he really cares for when he shows up at Beckett’s apartment and stays the night to protect her with, as Beckett puts it, his “vast arsenal of rapier wit?”
Story
So this killer is shooting people with special bullets. Each bullet has a letter on the back of it. Each victim has a word in them. When they get the entire message, it said “Nikki will burn.” And based on the title of the episode, I’m sure you can guess how he means for her to burn.
This is easily one of the best episodes of the season and, as I said earlier, it is the first two-part episode of Castle’s short life, so far. Here’s to hoping for many more of them. Especially if they are of this quality.
Hotchner: “What the hell was that?”
Reid: “He had a bomb.”
Morgan: “You didn’t think we needed to know that?”
Reid: “I told you to go downstairs.”
Morgan: “You didn’t say ‘bomb!’”
Here’s the second half to the first season finale. In this one,they figure out who is behind all the cryptic messages and who the “her” is in “Save Her.”
Here’s the breakdown.
Characters
I think they all had some good character growth in this one. Reid reconnected with his mother. Gideon and Hotch deal with their decisions that landed Elle in the hospital. Elle deals with her daddy issues. Though, through it all I would say that Reid was the one that carried the team through this one.
Story
It’s amazing how once they start treating the UNSUB as a normal UNSUB and not letting him lead them around, they are able to find him rather quickly.
It is a great conclusion to the previous episode and a good season opener. It set up a new arc for Elle having to deal with being shot, opens the possibility of Reid’s mother coming back in future episodes and begins an emotional journey for Gideon that comes to a conclusion at the end of the season.
