TV Review: CASTLE – Season 5 – “Probable Cause”

By ANNE LOUISE BANNON / Contributing Writer

Posted: November 1st, 2012 / 10:23 AM

Michael Mosley and Stana Katic in CASTLE - Season 5 - "Probably Cause" | ©2012 ABC/Richard Cartwright

Stars: Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic, Susan Sullivan, Molly Quinn, Tamala Jones, Seamus Deaver, Jon Huertas, Penny Johnson Jerald
Writer: Andrew W. Marlowe
Director: John Terlesky
Network: ABC, Monday nights, 10 p.m.
Original Telecast: October 29, 2012

After watching last week’s tease, I was seriously afraid I was going to have to slap the CASTLE producers for “Probable Cause,” this week’s episode. After how many years of jerking us around with the relationship between Rick Castle (Nathan Fillion) and Det. Kate Beckett, I was so sure that when Castle got arrested for murder, they were going to have Beckett and him breaking up or something. Nope! Beckett had her doubts, but love conquered all and she never gave up on him. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Though not specifically not a Halloween episode, writer Marlowe is clearly going after the creepy factor with this one. The stiff is hung from the ceiling of her apartment with barbed wire, no less, which is, like, really gross. Plus she has a symbol carved into her forehead. It’s pretty standard operating procedure for the first act, until they find Castle’s fingerprints on the door – collected before he and Beckett got to the scene.

The evidence just piles up after that – and they do have to follow it. Only Det. Ryan (Seamus Deaver), who found out about Beckett and Castle last week, finally has to let Esposito (Jon Huertas) in on what’s going on, because they’re looking at Castle’s phone records and you know who’s going to show up.

More to the point, however, is that even Lt. Gates (Penny Johnson Jerald) is finding it hard to believe that Castle is behind the murder, and we all know how much she doesn’t love Castle. But when they search Castle’s place and find the barbed wire and other tools from the crime in his bag, plus his hard drive has been wiped clean, except for a couple chapters dealing with the exact same crime, they have to arrest him.

Oh, and then there are the emails between Castle and the victim – Esposito tells Beckett he thinks Castle was having an affair with her. Of course, Beckett’s upset and the next thing we know, she’s at home crying on Lanie’s (Tamala Jones) shoulder. The emails mean Castle had motive, but Beckett is having a hard time buying it, even though she is not immune to his faults. Immature, self-absorbed, pain-in-the-backside, sure. Psycho serial killer – really not his style. But, as Lanie points out, she doesn’t know that for sure.

We will in the next scene as Castle is brooding in the holding cell, he gets a visit from psycho serial killer Jerry Tyson (Michael Mosley, late of the gone and lamented PanAm – always a treat to see him working), good ‘ol 3XK. Did I not note in last year’s review of the “Kick the Ballistics” episode that it had set up more mayhem from Tyson? I know I did. I just looked it up while trying to find the original episode, 3XK, which aired in season 3, episode 6.

See, Tyson is pretty torqued that Castle and Beckett have made it pretty much impossible for him to do his serial killer thing, being onto him and looking for him and all. And his plan for Castle is pretty evil, indeed, with him being set up to be killed while being held for trial at The Tombs, leaving Beckett to wonder what really happened.

However, Beckett finds a way to talk to Castle before the transfer. Castle’s story sounds like a desperation plea – just as Tyson noted it would, but when Castle asks Beckett if she believes him, she answers, “I always did.” SCORE! Good answer. You got it right.

The problem now is proving it, but even Gates is fighting in Castle’s corner with ADA Toni Gonzalez (Romi Dias). They don’t really touch on it, but I’ve got a bad feeling about Gonzalez. She insists on booking Castle and holding him at The Tombs, never mind the threat to his life – which seems a little odd. Okay, they can’t prove there was a threat yet, but cops don’t fool around when there’s a threat made. Then there are those creepy follow shots as she stalks out of the squad room.

But the patrol cops show up to take Castle away and Beckett goes to hand cuff him. He references the first time she did that at the New York Public Library and reassures her that whatever happens, it’s going to be okay. So when the other cops show up to make the transfer and they’re obviously the real ones and Castle never arrived at Central Booking, there’s a heart attack in the making. Okay, we know he’s going to survive – I mean, there’s no show if he doesn’t.

Fortunately, we’re not teased, either. Beckett figures out what he meant by referencing the library (like we didn’t already), and she goes after him. Problem is, every cop in the city and then some are after him because the ADA is calling this an escape. Well, it is, but he’s saving his life.

Things move along pretty quickly after that. They find the look-alike that played Castle buying the incriminating jewelry, which leads them to the abandoned warehouse where all the planning materials are, and it’s pretty obvious that Castle was set up, so he’s off the hook. The find came too easily, which Castle is noting to Beckett as they sit in her car waiting for the drawbridge to close.

Perfect time for Tyson to slam his SUV into Beckett’s car and start firing, which they just barely escape. Beckett is really angry now, and that’s never a good thing, and she unloads into Tyson, only he’s wearing a bullet-proof vest and captures her, scattering her gun. He goes after Castle, not realizing that Castle has escaped the car. Castle pops up, unloading the gun again (not sure where all the ammo has come from – I think most automatics only fire 7 or 8 shots per clip), but this time knocking Tyson off the bridge.

Surprise, surprise, they can’t find the body – which isn’t all that odd. Beckett is convinced he’s dead, but Castle knows that Tyson is alive. He set up his own very public death so that he can start killing again.

It’s a dark, rather scary episode, but it was good for relationship-building. Plus, it’s slowly coming out about Beckett and Castle and it hasn’t blown up yet, which is going to be fun. But hang on. It’s time for the November ratings sweeps, so you know there are going to be more intense episodes. And with Tyson still out there and the killing of Beckett’s mother mostly resolved, we are now once again set up with an extended story arc that should yield all kinds of fun mayhem.