‘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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