‘Castle’
: A Familiar Scent
By
Lisa Caputo
2015-10-20
Castle
and Beckett struggle with their emotions while solving their latest case
together
For ages, some of the greatest
stories ever old have been those that evoked a rollercoaster of emotions for
their audience. Shakespeare’s tragedies often resonated more than his comedies,
with Romeo and Juliet being one of the most widely known love stories of
all time despite the immense heartbreak and stunningly tragic ending. Movies
like Titanic still bring tears to the eyes of the audience even after
all of these years because of the depth of feelings it stirs up each and every
time. There is something to be said for stories that truly pull at our
heartstrings and pull emotions from deep within us and expose both the greatest
of heartache and the epitome of hope when all is said and done. While Castle
has certainly taken us through a rollercoaster of emotions over the years,
with wonderful highs and crushing lows, there should perhaps never be too much
of a stillness within a story like this, not until the story is done being
told. So despite the immense risk taken this season to challenge Castle and
Beckett with a situation that has separated them in spite of the deep love they
have for one another, there seems to be a wonderful and familiar sense of hope
mixed in with the riveting heartbreak of this current storyline.
Written by Castle story
editor turned writer, Nancy Kiu, and directed by accomplished TV director Steve
Robin, Monday’s “The Nose” brought Castle and Beckett together again over their
latest case while a witness to the murder continued to give Castle hope for a
future reunion with his wife. Meanwhile, Ryan and Esposito seemed at odds when
only Esposito passed their recent sergeant exam and Hayley returned to the 12th
precinct to assist Beckett with the case. It was an interesting episode with a
number of different and extremely compelling storylines, something that
certainly put the case itself on the backburner for much of the episode and
kept the focus on the characters themselves and their own personal
relationships.
Much discussion this season has been
focused on Castle and Beckett, and understandably so given their seemingly
fractured marriage and the emotional impact that this storyline has had on the
audience. But Jon Huertas and Seamus Dever should be very much applauded for
their work this season as well, often adding both some much-needed comic relief
and also an extremely interesting storyline of their own to the mix. With Ryan
and Jenny expecting another child soon and Ryan worrying about how to make more
money to support his family, as well as Esposito watching Beckett rising
through the ranks and lamenting that he has sat back for so long without
pushing to do the same, the stage was set for the partners to take their
sergeant’s exam together with high hopes. Of course, when the results came back
that only Esposito had passed and Ryan would seemingly be left behind, a
tension seemed to build between the two. Not only did this add some of the
episode’s most hilarious scenes, including Ryan mistakenly (yet also rather
suspiciously) shooting Esposito in the rear end and then begging Esposito to do
the same to even the score later on, but it also provided some compelling and
more poignant moments between them and both Huertas and Dever knocked these
moments out of the park.
Meanwhile, there was another rather
heartwarming story revolving around Castle and Beckett’s witness, Mia, whom
Castle took under his wing after seeing that she was a recluse who was
certainly not living life to the fullest. While he originally pursued her to
ask for help in figuring out what Beckett’s feelings were after finding out
that Mia had the gift of a heightened sense of smell that revealed a great deal
about anyone she came in contact with, he ended up realizing how unhappy she
seemed to be living the life of a recluse as she felt her gift was a curse
instead. Over the course of the episode, Mia began to open up more and reveled
in her ability to help the police, and Castle himself, and it was truly
wonderful to watch her transformation throughout the hour, just as it was
heartwarming to see Castle reaching out to her to help her find a sense of
happiness in her life. Guest star Stephnie Weir turned in a memorable
performance in the episode, combining her well-known comedic chops with a truly
grounded sense of emotion as well.
Speaking of pairs who worked well
together, Toks Olagundoye returned as Hayley, her character offering her
services to Captain Beckett and her team to help solve their case while also solving
her own in the process. It was certainly an interesting dynamic to have Beckett
and Hayley working together, something they did quite well with, and it seemed
to present an open door for this duo to team up again in the future, something
that would be very intriguing to watch as both have such similarities yet also
some very striking differences in their approach. Perhaps Captain Beckett will
turn to Hayley for help when an investigation forces her to do things that
would not be quite so by-the-book, something that would have been an easy thing
for Detective Beckett to do but would certainly put Captain Beckett in the line
of fire with her superiors.
Of course, the core story of the
episode was that of Castle and Beckett’s fractured relationship, something that
once again was perfectly balanced between the heartbreak and the hope involved
in this storyline. Castle seemed a little more reigned in with his overt
gestures to try to win Beckett back, this time working more covertly to try to
uncover her true feelings as she has made it known time and time again that she
loves him as much as she ever has yet her actions of pushing him away and
separating herself from him have rightfully left him a tad confused. Meanwhile,
Beckett protested a great deal less about Castle being involved in the case, at
times even showing her own inability to keep him at arm’s length, especially
when faced with the knowledge that he was put in grave danger later on in the
episode. Monday’s episode began with them in a tense situation, with Beckett
painfully asking to stop by the loft later on to pick up the rest of her
belongings. It was certainly an emotional moment for both of them and both
Stana Katic and Nathan Fillion brought that through brilliantly with their
subtle yet telling body language even more so than the pained tones in their voices.
In particular, the way that Beckett avoided Castle’s eyes at all costs, knowing
that she could not bear to see the pain in them and that she could not risk
letting him see the pain in hers as well, that was a moment that evoked such
powerful emotions.
Other moments between these two
throughout the episode were infused with hope, though, from the way they worked
the case together so wonderfully, relishing the way they were building theory
together again and enjoying every second of their time together as if they had
forgotten for just a moment about the troubles they were going through, to the
moments after Castle was held at gunpoint when a relieved Beckett threw her
arms around him and lost herself in her emotions rather than pushing those
feelings away to keep him at arm’s length instead. These hopeful moments
provided the balance to those heartbreaking moments, reminiscent again of the
various times these two have struggled with their feelings in the past and we
were treated to that push and pull as they fought to push each other away while
wanting nothing more than to be together.
In the end, Beckett returned to pick
up her belongings at the loft while Castle was bidding a fond farewell to Mia,
the two never crossing paths yet displaying all of the love and despair they
have each been feeling throughout this separation. Immediately as she entered
the loft once again, this time alone and free to let herself feel the pain of
her decision, Beckett seemed conflicted, as if considering the possibility,
even just for a brief moment of weakness, of forgoing her mission and just
returning to her home, to her husband, and to her family for good. But once
reality kicked in again, she continued through the loft to pack up her clothes
and walk away for the time being. Yet as she turned to leave, she found one of
Castle’s infamous suit jackets laying on their chair and that sense of despair
and of longing once again washed over her like a crushing wave of the ocean.
Delicately picking it up and holding it close, Beckett then pressed her nose
against it and breathed in that familiar scent of the man she loves, the tears
forming in her eyes as she broke down, the pain of her decision obvious in her
eyes as she did her best to swallow it down to forge ahead with the mission she
feels she needs to complete, despite the heartache and despite the possibility
that she could lose the only person to ever make her feel like she could have a
life beyond that of finding justice for those who lost their lives.
Meanwhile, Mia gave Castle the sense
of confirmation and hope that he had been looking for all along, telling him
that she could tell beyond just her sense of smell that what Castle and Beckett
have is absolute true love and that there was no doubt that Beckett felt that
as much as he did. Her words of wisdom flowed as a voiceover during Beckett’s
time back at the loft, combining with a beautiful yet gut-wrenching song to
truly evoke the most powerful emotion possible through those final moments as
we felt the pain and longing that these characters were feeling now more than
ever. As the song took over, Castle returned home to the loft himself and
walked into their bedroom, realizing that Beckett had already left but not
before leaving him one last sign of hope to hold on to. She left behind one of
her own favourite shirts, leaving him to repeat her earlier actions and breathe
in the familiar scent of the woman he loves, taking comfort in this sign that
she left to let him know that she would return home to him soon.
Thus, despite the two not sharing the
final scene of the episode together, that scene in and of itself was the
epitome of what this storyline is truly all about; evoking those deep and
powerful emotions within the audience and making us feel something. After all,
stories are told to make us experience the emotions of the characters and take
us through their journey, as well as to challenge us just as they challenge the
characters along the way. But more than anything, they are told to make us feel
something so deeply and powerfully that they stay with us forever. Those are
the stories worth telling, the stories we will always remember, and Castle
is truly one of them.
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