Stars: Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic, Susan Sullivan, Molly Quinn, Ruben Hudson-Santiago, Jon Huertas, Seamus Dever
Writer: Andrew W. Marlowe
Director: Bill Roe
Network: ABC, airs Monday nights
Original Telecast: February 28, 2011

Yikes! So last week on CASTLE, while on the hunt for a terrorist dirty bomb, we left Castle (Nathan Fillion) and Beckett (Stana Katic) locked in a freezer with the stiff of one of the suspects.

It was looking grim for our heroes, but, oh, come on. Didn’t this show get picked up for season 4 yet?

Never mind all the crap about dirty bombs in the first place. No, seriously. The technology has been around for years. The catch, which I have heard from more than one FBI agent, is that assuming whichever terrorist putting the dumb thing together could survive the radiation, is that anyone close enough to the bomb to be killed by the radiation would be killed by the blast. Yes, there would be deaths from radiation poisoning, like 30 years down the road. Not the quick time frame favored by terrorists. So the dirty bomb scenario is already stretching credibility.

But, hey, it’s great for creating suspense, and there’s plenty of that here in “Countdown Part 2”. Obviously, Castle and Beckett get rescued in short order, thanks to Castle’s daughter Alexis (Molly Quinn) and his mom Martha (Susan Sullivan) coming home early from their retreat and realizing that Castle is not only not at home, he’s out of touch. But not before things get pretty dicey in the freezer and Beckett and Castle share one of those cuddly, “we know we really love each other” moments.

With the bomb set to go off in only a few short hours, they now have to find the real bad guys, and it ain’t the Syrian immigrants. Nope, it’s some home-grown Army Special Forces guys out to prove that, yes, the Army is still necessary. Still, the big problem with someone in Special Forces – interrogating them in a timely fashion is not going to happen.

Keep in mind, we still have Agent Fallon (Adrian Pasdar, late of HEROES) trying to run the investigation in his happy abrasive way. The cool thing is that we do get to see him as somewhat human – one of the glories of this show. Oh, and Beckett’s doctor boyfriend Josh (Victor Webster) is off to Haiti one minute, and guess what, he decided not to go after all. Damn him.

Ah, but with seconds to go, Castle and Beckett find the bomb, but Fallon can’t see the pictures they send him well enough to defuse it and there’s another hand-holding “yes, we really do love each other” moment before Castle figures what the hell, and in a bold move totally defuses the bomb by yanking all the wires. It was going to go off anyway, so why not?

And back at the station, more warm fuzzies and congratulations, and in the corridor, Castle and Beckett look at each other, and it looks like he’s actually going to say something, like, I don’t know, “maybe they should get together.” Only Josh (damn him) shows up and Castle backs off.

I’m sure Victor Webster is a really nice guy who deserves whatever work he can get, but we have so got to get rid of Josh the doctor. I mean, how much longer can the writers of this show keep the whole Unresolved Sexual Tension thing going between Castle and Beckett before we all get fed up?

Other than that and the dirty bomb crap (seriously, if they were that effective dontcha think Al Quaeda would have used one or more by now?), it’s a good episode, filled with some nice twists and more importantly, those lovely human moments that make the rest of it work so well.

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