photo: cbs
Countdown
Original Air Date: Feb 28, 2011
Alexis P – Sr. Reviewer
Alexis@thetwocentscorp.com
Last week’s cliffhanger ending of Castle left our two crime fighting heroes locked in a freezer with a dead body while a van bearing a dirty bomb drove off heading for Manhattan.
In the thrilling conclusion of the two-parter event Castle and Beckett must overcome their differences with Agent Fallon and find that bomb before it is too late, but first they have to make it out of the freezer alive.
As the episode opens we join Beckett and Castle in the freezer with poor Jamal’s dead body. They figure they can’t last more than a couple hours dressed as they are. With no cell reception, no alternate way out and with no one knowing they are even there things don’t look good. They pace around getting colder by the minute. Come on you two; start snuggling to share some body heat!
Alexis and Martha arrive at the apartment and notice that Castle isn’t there and he’s left the projector on which is unusual, but they call it a night and go to bed. Or so we think. Back at the precinct Fallon wants them to look for the target if they can’t find the bomb and Ryan gets a call from a worried Alexis. Neither Castle nor Beckett are anywhere to be found and aren’t answering their cells. The Captain brushes it off.
Time is running out for Castle and Beckett who are now holding each other in an attempt to stay warm. They can barely speak with their teeth chattering. Beckett admits she never thought she would freeze to death and wishes she was in one of Castle’s books so he could rewrite the ending. Castle apologizes, “Sorry for being me.” He urged them to go rouge and they ended up in quite a fix. Beckett tells him he was right and they found the bomb. She turns to him and thanks him for being there. “Always.” He replies. She falls unconscious and he tells her to stay with him until he also falls silent.
I thought it dramatic that the opening titles were blue and silver and silent. This was effective and didn’t take us out of that tense moment where all seems lost. But Castle stirs and hears banging, someone has found them. He awakes in an ambulance with Doctor Josh hovering over him. Turns out Esposito and Ryan thought the two of them would continue on the case even when kicked off it. “Glad my stupidity is predictable.” Castle says. He goes to see Beckett who is happy to be alive and very happy Josh isn’t in Haiti. She says they have a chance now. Poor Castle. Even Fallon says he thought Castle and Beckett were together when he first met them. Nope, just friends. Not for lack of trying though.
They get down to business as the countdown continues. They look at Kevin McCann again. After some digging it is discovered that McCann, the real one, is dead and someone has assumed his identity. McCann was a soldier who served 6 tours in Iraq. Castle says maybe whomever took his identity knew him. They visit McCann’s sister who recognizes the fake McCann as Radford Hayes, McCann’s army buddy and best friend who served in the same unit. She has a cell phone number for him.
They apprehend McCann/Hayes and take him to interrogation. Esposito says they won’t be able to break him; he was army special ops and trained to withstand this. Fallon and Beckett try anyway. Fallon pulls his gun on Hayes and cocks it after knocking him to the floor. Beckett pulls her own gun and aims at Fallon who is shouting at the suspect. “I’m prepared to die for my country, are you?”
Beckett is shaken and says Fallon violated Hayes rights. Fallon says he had no bullets in his gun and it is his job to stop bad things from happening. The captain tells Beckett and Castle that Fallon’s wife died in 9/11 rode the second tower down while on the phone with Fallon the whole time. I can’t imagine what that would do to a person, and it explains a lot about Fallon’s character.
From what Hayes said they need someone to pin the bombing on, that’s why they held onto Jamal’s body, to have him be found with the bomb. So now they need to use someone else. They go to visit Mrs. Alhabi again and find their surveillance agent dead and the wife and baby are missing. She has been kidnapped and told that if she drives the van to a location and walks away she can have her baby back.
The team can’t find Mrs. Alhabi’s location or the bomb. Castle calls in a favor from the Syrian Consulate and manages to get an address. The cops charge in guns blazing and take out the bad guys. But Mrs. Alhabi is already taking the van to its final destination. Castle and Beckett are in pursuit and manage to cut off the van. They tell her that her baby is fine. But now they are standing in the middle of the street with the bomb with one minute on the clock. They try to call Fallon who needs to see the bomb to tell them how to disarm it. The timer counts down, heart pounding seconds at a time. Is it all over? Fallon says he is sorry. Castle and Beckett turn to each other, standing there on the brink of death once again. Castle reaches for a bundle of wires and rips them all out just as the clock turns to zero. And stops! Castle and Beckett jump and holler with joy and relief.
Back at the station everyone is happy the bomb is secured and they are all safe. Castle walks up to Beckett. “Maybe I should…go home.” He tells her as Josh comes up behind her. Castle rides the elevator alone as he watches Josh and Beckett share an embrace.
This episode two parter was pretty good in my opinion. I enjoyed the second part much more than the first. The Castle two-parters are always very good episodes my favorite being last year’s with guest star Dana Delaney. What did you think of this two night event?
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