TV Review: CASTLE – Season 4 – “47 Seconds”

By ANNE LOUISE BANNON / Contributing Writer

Posted: March 28th, 2012 / 08:11 AM

Tim Guinee in CASTLE - Season 4 - "47 Seconds" | ©2012 ABC/Karen Neal

Stars: Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic, Susan Sullivan, Molly Quinn, Tamala Jones, Seamus Deaver, Jon Huertas, Penny Johnson Jerald
Writer: Shalisha Francis
Director: Paul Holahan
Network: ABC, Monday nights, 10 p.m.
Original Telecast: March 26, 2012

ABC has been teasing the whole “I remember getting shot,” thing since last week’s episode, so you kind of go into “47 Seconds” expecting a more intense episode of CASTLE, which you sort of have. Just as a quick recap, the memory thing comes from last season’s cliffhanger finale, in which Det. Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) got shot, and Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) held her and finally declared his love for her. Fast forward to this season’s premiere, drat that Beckett, she told Castle she didn’t remember any of the shooting, except that she told her shrink that she remembered every detail.

So, while most of us rooting for getting the Beckett/Castle coupling going were seriously disappointed by the premiere, it has been kind of cool to watch the friendship between Beckett and Castle blossom. Except now, the producers have decided to wring even more angst out of the will they/won’t they, and it’s really getting annoying.

The 47 seconds refers to the time right before a bomb goes off at a protest rally (think Occupy, even if they’re calling it something else). We see a young TV reporter talking into the camera and then, boom. And there’s a certain sense of somberness as Beckett and Castle arrive on the scene – no banter, just some mild philosophical musing, because let’s be real, a bomb that kills five people is not going to leave them looking too pretty. Actually, the true horror of a bomb scene is body parts all over, but CASTLE is not going to go that far because it would be so counter to the styled of the series. And one of Castle’s philosophical musings is that he doesn’t want to put things off any longer.

Maybe it’s because Alexis is having a tough day at her internship with medical examiner Lanie Parish (Tamala Jones). Maybe it’s because Martha (Susan Sullivan) confronts Castle about Beckett. Anyway, Castle starts to talk to Beckett and you what happens. They get interrupted. The FBI has arrested the wrong guy, then Beckett and company pull in another person on the scene.

And this is where it happens. Castle is watching Beckett lean on pickpocket Bobby Lopez (Walter Perez), who claims he can’t remember what happened right before the bombing because of trauma. “You want trauma?” Beckett hollers at him. “I was shot last year and I remember every second of it!”

Oops. Now, Beckett doesn’t know that Castle overheard her. But Castle, naturally, jumps to the worst conclusion – that Beckett doesn’t feel the same for him, which is why she lied, instead of the real reason, namely that she didn’t know how to handle his love on top of being shot and all.

The good news, what there is of it, is that Castle is not going to stop working with the police. As Alexis confesses to him earlier in the episode, what they’re doing is important. It matters, and that’s exactly what Castle says to Martha when they go to see the bombing memorial. Except that when they finally figure out that the bomb was set up to not hurt anybody, just attract attention, by one of the guys who organized the rally and later got killed by it, the guys beg off getting a drink with Beckett – and so does Castle. Drat him.

Now, we’ve got a tease with Beckett talking to Lanie about telling Castle how she feels. I swear, if they don’t take this relationship to the next level soon, I am going to scream. Loudly.

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