TV Review: CASTLE – Season 4 – “Linchpin”

By ANNE LOUISE BANNON / Contributing Writer

Posted: February 21st, 2012 / 05:47 PM

Stars: Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic, Susan Sullivan, Molly Quinn, Tamala Jones, Seamus Deaver, Jon Huertas, Penny Johnson Jerald
Writer: Andrew W. Marlowe
Director: Rob Bowman
Network: ABC, Monday nights, 10 p.m.
Original Telecast: February 20, 2012

“Linchpin” is one of those odd episodes of CASTLE that feels satisfying in the moment, but when you think about it later, something feels off. Maybe it’s because it falls back on the ol’ “Who’s the Real Bad Guy” routine that’s more than a little clicheed. Or that even hoarier cliche of having to save the world.

So Castle (Nathan Fillion) and Becket (Stana Katic) just barely get out of the car that got pushed off the pier (how do you fire a gun underwater?). Like we didn’t know that was going to happen. Then Castle confesses to Beckett that he did sleep with CIA agent Sophia (Jennifer Beals) way back when. Only Sophia is obviously on the prowl and challenges Castle on his relationship with Beckett. Then she goes and tells Beckett that what the two had was the sexual tension and once that was, um, relieved, there was no relationship there.

Oh, goody. Another excuse for the writers to keep Castle and Beckett apart. I don’t get it – why do writers insist that the only interesting part of the relationship is the sexual tension? It’s the relationship itself that’s the most interesting part, but I guess you have to find a way to have people in conflict without hating each other and that takes a lot of work.

Anyway, Beckett and Castle are technically off the case, but like that’s going to stop them. Kevin (Seamus Deaver) and Javier (Jon Huertas) still have no clue what’s going on beyond the fact that they’ve got this really tough case, but Javier finally figures it out, sort of. And thanks to Kevin and Javier doing the footwork, Castle and Beckett find where our mysterious professor has hidden his work that discovered the linch pin – the one tiny element that if harmed, could start World War III.

Turns out that she’s a little Chinese girl whose father has a tremendous amount of power and, surprise, surprise, she’s in New York with her family. Oddly enough, bad guy Thomas Gage (David Chisum) may not be the bad guy we thought him to be. But if he isn’t, who is? By that point, I knew and wondered why Castle and Beckett didn’t.

Can’t say more, but we know how it all works out. Interestingly enough, CASTLE does end with a very nice, very real moment from Castle and the opening up of a secret from his past. Maybe.

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