The First Knives Club.
OnceCastleestablished its four-sided series chemistry, the show became one never-ending double date, dozens of murders included.
Now fans are dealing with the concurrent breakdown of both of the shows tentpole duos.
Credit: Richard Cartwright/ABC
The murder in The Last Seduction is one of the more violentCastleslayings.
The biggest one, natch.
Lanie counts nine entry wounds in young Scott McCoy, out of work actor and frequent bar brawler.
And a crime of passion is what Ryan and Espositos NYPD-assigned therapist thinks they may be heading for.
The guys arent making any headway in their sessions.
Previously onCastle:Esposito passed the sergeants exam and Ryan didnt.
(Tell that to the hole in my ass…the one that he put there.)
Perhaps a buffer would relieve the tension.
Luckily Esposito and Ryan know just the attention hog to distract them from their issues.
Tomorrow is their first anniversary, and hes hellbent on celebrating it, whether theyre physically together or not.
Anton was Scotts friend and a pick-up partner.
Or at least his dreams for the night.
Anton remembers a few of Scotts marks and agrees to describe them for a sketch artist.
Meanwhile, Castle is staging Operation Boo-yah, a Chuck E. Cheese-ing of Becketts office.
Its a time out of the time out, they reason, terribly.
Suspension of disbelief: activated.
Anyway, Vikram does have information relevant to this case.
The buffer method is simpler in theory than in practice.
Esposito and Ryan are bickering so much that their buffer needs a buffer from them.
Castle suggests a tactic he and his second wife Gina found helpful.
Ryan takes to this strategy immediately, annoying Esposito even further by furiously writing notes.
(You know he was choreographing the musical number in his head.)
Plus, one of the women recognizes her as a cop immediately, thanks to her world-famous writer husband.
(Im not sure quite how this is relevant.)
He was hired by her husband to seduce her, Clare alleges.
Her friends had the same experience.
She sneaks off to watch the meeting herself, face falling when it turns uncomfortably real.
(Mind your business, Lindsey.)
At least oneCastleteam is still in tact.
Not so, the smug man says.
And his story checks out: hes renewing his vows with wife No.
3 and has the $2 million ring to prove his commitment.
But Keller is too smarmy to be clean.
(George hired Scott to honeypot his own mother.)
(It was time, and it was lovely.)
The only other person besides George who had as much to lose from Scotts attack of conscience was Lindsey.
They split up in the firms office, still barely speaking to each other.
Esposito follows Lindsey to her office to arrest her, not noticing the revolver in her desk.
She pulls it out on him.
Ryan steps into the doorway just as Lindsey pulls the trigger and dives in front of his partner.
She takes off down the hallway, and Ryan is unresponsive for one terrible minute.
(Isnt that why you put it there?)
Sometimes, its the combative relationships that challenge you and secure your life.
A near-death experience ought to put an end to Ryan and Espos trouble in paradise.
Bickering is their strong suit, but they needed a swift kick and a major reminder of their bond.
Castle and Beckett reconnected too, and rediscovered at least one aspect of intimacy.
