Air Date: Monday, October 6, 2014 at 10/9c on ABC
Rating:
“It’s Canada, how risky could it be?” – Castle
[warning] SPOILERS AHEAD [/warning]
Now that Castle (Nathan Fillion) has been found, the only thing left to do is find out what happened to him during the more than two months he was missing. “Montreal” starts off with Castle getting raked over the coals by a female talk show host (Tava Smiley) about his “amnesia.” She accuses him of staging his disappearance to help boost sales for his last book, which hasn’t been doing well in sales. Ouch! But Castle uses this opportunity to do something crazy; he offers up a $250K reward to anyone with verifiable proof of where he was during those two months.
Needless to say, Captain Gates (Penny Johnson) is livid because Castle gives the precinct’s phone number for the tipsters to call instead of his own. The shocking kiss he plants on Gates when she shows him a stack of messages is totally out of left field. The look on Gates’ face is priceless. She asks Beckett (Stana Katic), who is just as shocked, “What just happened here?”
One good thing emerges from all this; a young newlywed couple brings photos from their honeymoon to the precinct that show Castle on the stairs of a bank in Montreal talking to the mysterious guy from “Driven” who was posing as Richard Jenkins. His real name is Henry Enkins (guest star Matt Letscher). What was Castle doing in Montreal and how does he know this Henry guy?
Castle, someone’s been murdered, put the toys down.
Before we dive into the ‘Where was Richard Castle’ mystery, let’s get into the murder of the week. What’s a good Castle episode without a great murder mystery to solve and in “Montreal,” we get a good one. Not that murder is good but this is a juicy case and not just because they find the body of Wally Williger (actor unknown) in the water. Wally was the CEO of a toy company and the investigation leads Beckett and Castle to his office to make inquiries. Toys and Castle equal SQUIRREL! Yeah, while Beckett is doing her job asking questions, Castle is playing with all the toys.
Our favorite crime-solving duo find out Williger suspected something shady was going on in his Brooklyn factory. So he went undercover to investigate —skipping work and enlisting the help of a makeup artist named Natalie (Jennifer Marsala) to help him transform into an elderly man. The scene when Castle and Beckett show up at Natalie’s house is the kind of stuff I adore about Castle. The door is unlocked so they walk in, find a knife and blood stains on the floor, and as they walk into the bedroom, they see Natalie lying lifeless on her bed. But, oh no, she isn’t dead. She’s just practicing her new look – a bloody realistic slit throat! Insert giggles.
I think Beckett loves that Castle is still a kid at heart…sometimes.
Let’s get into the crux of the matter. The key Lanie (Tamala Jones) found sewn into Castle’s jeans in “Driven” is a safe deposit box key. And where is that safe deposit box located? You guessed it, Montreal. Of course, everyone, including Beckett, Castle’s daughter Alexis (Molly Quinn), and mother Martha (Susan Sullivan) are concerned – are concerned about him going anywhere too far away. With Beckett working the Williger case, Alexis joins her father in Canada. Of course, with Castle having no recollection of procuring safe deposit box “38,” his plan is to rent a new box in order to gain access to the viewing room.
The bank manager (J.P. Gillain) is lying when he says he doesn’t recognize Castle. What is this guy hiding? Does he know why Castle was in Montreal?
The contents of the safe deposit box provide very little clues about where Castle was or what he was doing; however, the heartfelt messages on those memory cards made me smile. I hope Beckett can put her doubts to rest and trust that Castle wasn’t a runaway groom. But something terrible happened during his absence, so much so he asked Henry to make him forget it. To prove Castle truly wanted to forget, Henry mentions “Hollander’s woods,” a place from Castle’s childhood. He tells Castle details from that “February day when you were 11…the real reason you became a mystery writer…” Since Castle hasn’t even told Beckett this piece of his past, it has to be true, right? What happened to Castle in those woods? Now that’s a mystery I’m looking forward to being unraveled.
Interesting /Funny Moments
***
Javier’s (Jon Huertas) ringtone – “Hey sexy.” You have to hear it to get why it’s so funny.
***
“Are you ready to hear the truth?” Castle gets a call from an anonymous person (Stephen Snedden) claiming to know what really happened to him. This guy knows about the ship but it’s not a ship that floats on water. This guy thinks he and Castle were abducted by aliens.
This season of Castle is off to a roaring good start and I cannot wait to see how everything unfolds. “Montreal” gives us that Castle vibe we all love and a tantalizing new mystery, two in fact, for our main character to solve. I’m ready to take a trip down memory lane or rather Hollander’s woods, aren’t you?
What you think of “Montreal.” I’d love to hear from you. Leave me a comment and/or tweet me @judybopp.
Tune in to Castle, Mondays at 10/9c only on ABC.
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Photos: ©2014 American Broadcasting Company. All Rights Reserved.
Judy Manning
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