| Deep in Death | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Season 2, Episode 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Air date | September 21, 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Written by | Andrew W. Marlowe | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Directed by | Rob Bowman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Episode guide | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Deep in Death is the first episode of the second season of Castle.
Summary[]
Beckett is still plenty peeved at Castle for looking into her mother's murder against her wishes, yet Captain Montgomery forces her to chat with a reporter who is jazzed to write about her crime-solving partnership with Castle. But when a murder victim is found hanging in a tree, Beckett reluctantly teams with Castle once again. Their investigation takes a strange turn when armed men kidnap the body on their way to the coroner, leaving Castle and Beckett to find out about the Russian mob, high stakes poker in Chinatown, and more.
Recap[]
It's glamour day at the 12th Precinct, as two gorgeous and provocatively dressed "policewomen" wrap themselves around Castle for a photo shoot. Meanwhile, Beckett's patience is nearly exhausted as she endures a celebrity interview with a journalist from Cosmopolitan. The reporter is doing a puff piece to promote Castle's new book, Heat Wave. Beckett is not happy when she finds out that the reporter likes Castle. She is even more upset when she finds out that Castle helped them solve cases. Beckett pleads with Montgomery to get the press out, but he points out that Castle was helping them solve cases. And more to the point, the NYPD never gets this much press from a mainstream media outlet. The reporter -- and Castle -- stay. Or, rather, come with them, because there's been a murder, and the reporter wants to see Castle in action.
Before they leave, the real reason for Beckett's hostility emerges. Castle did the one thing she asked him not to do, investigate her mother's murder. He tries to explain that he found the first real break in the case, but she is furious that Castle didn't respect her wishes.
A man is found dead on the branches of a tree. The man, John Allen, was suffocated. Medical examiner Parish's preliminary exam indicates that the victim was dead before being tossed off the roof. Beckett suggests that Castle (and the reporter) go with Lanie to the morgue while she, Ryan. and Esposito do "boring cop stuff".
As they drive with the body, Castle now faces Lanie's hostility. At first she supports Beckett completely, until she realizes that Beckett hads't told her the whole story. Castle had also found three other murders, but had written them off as "random gang violence". Each of the women had been close to Johanna Beckett, and each had been stabbed to death, but no one knew who the murderers were. Once he knew, Castle had no choice but to tell Beckett. Lanie is shocked and asks what Beckett did when she found out. Castle replies simply that she told him that they were through.
Suddenly, the ambulance screeches to a halt, and the doors fly open. Men wearing ski masks and wielding submachine guns burst in, grabbed the corpse, and make their escape. No one is injured, but the question remains: who stole the body, and why? Castle is eager to pursue the case, but Beckett will only let him if he agrees to go away, forever, once it's over. Castle says he will make her change her mind, but agrees to her terms. As they leave, Ryan pays Esposito; he'd bet that Beckett wouldn't forgive Castle.
At Allen's home, Sandy Allen tells Detective Kate Beckett and Richard Castle that her husband was a dedicated professional and a good provider, and is outraged at the thought that he'd be involved in anything illegal. He had been working late hours and recently returned from a business trip to Albuquerque. But there was a former co-worker Max Haverstock, who used to call at night and complain about having been laid off by John.
Castle returns home to find Martha and Alexis had been worried sick. Martha asks about Beckett, and Castle tells her that she's let him on this one case, and that he plans on winning her back with his charm. Martha hopes he has a Plan B. Alexis, meanwhile, wants to cancel seeing Fame with her dad, so she can go with her boyfriend Owen. Castle agrees.
When they bring Haverstock in for questioning, he is indeed furious about the layoff. He and John both were; they had both been laid off together, months before. A review of John's financials shows that this is the truth. John Allen had been lying to his family. He was unemployed, and had applied (unsuccessfully) for hundreds of jobs during the time his wife thought he was at work. Unbeknownst to her, they were deep in debt and behind on their payments. He'd even allowed his life insurance to lapse; so he was worth nothing to anyone, alive or dead.
Allen’s body is finally found (again), having been crudely operated on with box cutters and kitchen knives. Lanie finds traces of cocaine in his colon and concludes after the autopsy that was probably working as a drug mule. Passport records supported this, showing that his trip to "Albuquerque" was actually to Mexico. His throat had a strange bruise pattern, which suggests that a man with a missing or artificial finger strangled him.
Castle expresses disbelief. Not that Allen wouldn't be desperate enough to get a job as a drug mule, but where would he get the job? CSU doesn't find any fingerprints because the body snatchers wore gloves, but Beckett suggests that Lanie dust inside the surgical gloves they found. This leads to the drug gang. When the gang had gone to meet with Allen to collect the drugs, they found his dead body instead, surrounded by cops. Desperate for their drugs, they'd ambushed the ambulance and cut the drugs out of his body. Intense interrogation and a deal with their defense attorney finally reveals the name of the man who had vouched for Allen, Ron Bigby.
Bigby tells them that Allen played in underground poker games in Chinatown. When he lost his job, poker had become his only source of income, until his luck turned south and his bets escalated. John Allen was deeply in debt to a tattooed Russian. Bigby, trying to help, got him the job with the drug gang. They now know how and why Allen was murdered, but not who did it.
Castle realizes that if they can find the poker game, they'll find their killer. Playing poker with his poker buddies, he points out that several of them had scenes in their books at games like this. Can they hook him up? They try to talk Castle out of the idea, but they can not make him do it. When they tell this to the other writers, they realize that Castle is trying to impress Beckett. But Castle is adamant, and finally Stephen J. Cannell agrees to share the information.
The plan is that Castle will wear a wire, and play a bored playboy looking for action while he scouts out the poker game. Beckett, Esposito, and Ryan will be watching and listening from nearby in a van. At the den, Castle sees a bunch of tattooed Russians at the no limit table and goes over there to play. Explaining that he's a writer looking to do research, the others mutter a joke in Russian and let him in. Beckett, in the van, is fluent in Russian, and realizes that they're about to take him for everything he has. Castle narrates the story of his new book about a Russian mobster and poker player. He gambles his victims deep into debt and then uses his side business as a loan shark to bankrupt them completely. He's trying to smoke out the killer into revealing something, and to distract the other players. Beckett, watching through the camera on Castle's wire, notices that one of the players has a prosthetic finger.
Realizing that Castle's life is in danger, Beckett changes clothes and heads in to save him. Without her pants, her conservative suit coat makes for a very revealing dress. Too much makeup, some changes to her hair, and a Russian accent transforms her into a Russian party girl. Meanwhile, Castle has once again proven to be a fantastic poker player. Instead of being hustled, he's taken them for everything. The Russian mobster, angry at being beaten and scared that he's been identified, holds Castle at gunpoint in a side room when Beckett comes in. She gets the drop on the killer and apprehends him just in time to save Castle from a bullet to the head.
Back at the station, Castle asks for her to reopen her mother's case and says that they can solve it together, that this time will be different. Beckett replies that Castle is doing this for himself, not her, that he's hurt her terribly, and that he's too selfish to even see it. She holds him to his deal, and tells him to leave. Castle does.
Castle returns home to find that Alexis has had a loss of her own. Owen stood her up and didn't even apologize for missing their date. Alexis is heartbroken, especially because Owen didn't even apologize. She wonders, "Why don't men ever admit that they're wrong? Realizing that this applies to his situation with Beckett, Castle goes back to the station. He admits to Beckett that he was wrong, that she was right, and that he's sorry for hurting her. He agreed to never see her again, but he wanted her to know that before he was gone.
As he leaves, Beckett calls out to him, "Castle? I'll see you tomorrow."
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Nathan Fillion as Richard Castle
- Stana Katic as Detective Kate Beckett
- Jon Huertas as Detective Javier Esposito
- Seamus Dever as Detective Kevin Ryan
- Tamala Jones as Dr. Lanie Parish
- Ruben Santiago-Hudson as Captain Roy Montgomery
- Molly Quinn as Alexis Castle
- Susan Sullivan as Martha Rodgers
Special Guest Stars[]
- Stephen J. Cannell as Himself
- Michael Connelly as Himself
Guest Starring[]
- Elizabeth Ho as Amy Saunders
- Laurel Holloman as Sandy Allen
- David Bowe as Max Haverstock
- Robert Gant as Ron Bigby
- David Meunier as Sasha
Co-Starring[]
- Jonathan T. Floyd as Luther
- Luis Moncada as Jesus
- Bill Tangradi as Hank
- Adam Smith as Tom Moroni
- Peter Randolph as Photographer
- Dmitri Boudrine as Ilya
- Michael Petrone as Ivan
- Stefan Ionesco as Serge
Quotes[]
- Beckett: Not only does he have the bachelor party cop twins out there using him as a stripper pole while I make nicy nice with the press, but you know what he said?
- Captain Roy Montgomery: No.
- Beckett: He said he has been instrumental in helping us solve crimes.
- Captain Roy Montgomery: Well hasn't he?
- Beckett: That's not the point.
- Castle: Hey! Can we talk about this, please?
- Beckett: There's nothing to talk about.
- Castle: Well, at least let me know what I can do to make it up to you.
- Beckett: You can leave me alone.
- Castle: Yes, I tried that and it didn't work. Hey! I can buy you a pony!
- Beckett: How's it going up there?
- Lanie: I got tree branches poking my boobs and spotlights shining up my booty.
- Esposito: Could be worse. You could be wearing a skirt.
- Lanie: When I come down, I'm gonna smack you.
- Esposito: I'll be looking forward to that.
- Lanie: (examining Castle after the car crash) He'll live.
- Ryan: What no brain damage?
- Lanie: If he has some, it happened way before tonight and was probably self inflicted.
- Castle: Ahh, good times.
- Martha: So, has she forgiven you?
- Castle: Ah, not exactly, mother, but I'm working on it. She has agreed to let me help on the case.
- Martha: Well, that's a start, I suppose.
- Castle: It is more than a start. It is an opportunity. She may have built a wall between us, but I am going to build a door in that wall, or put up a ladder, or dig a hole.
- Martha: You have a strategy.
- Castle: Be my usual charming self.
- Martha: Aha. What about plan B?
- Alexis: So was it awful? Were you scared?
- Castle: Me? Scared? No way, come on. Now excuse while I change my shorts.
- (Lanie is dusting for fingerprints)
- Castle: You want me to put on some music? Whenever they do this sorta thing on CSI, they always do it to music in poorly lit rooms...kinda reminds me of porn.
- Beckett: Zip it, Castle.
- Beckett: (in accent) Sometime when I am bored I go to Glechik Cafe in Little Odessa and pretend to be Muscovite.
- Esposito: That's kinda hot.
- Esposito: What are you doing?
- Beckett: I'm gonna go in there. And if I'm not out in 10 minutes, you guys call for backup. Can I have my purse, please?
- Esposito: What're you gonna do? Lip gloss them to death?
- Beckett: Something like that.
- Castle: Thanks for saving my life.
- Beckett: Ah, I was just trying to avoid paperwork.
- Castle: We make a pretty good team, you know. Like Starsky and Hutch, Tango and Cash... Turner and Hooch.
- Beckett: You know, now that you mention it, you do remind me a little of Hooch.
Featured Music[]
- "Can I Get Get Get" - Junior Senior
- "Highschool Hoodlums" - The Datsuns
- "River To Your Soul" - DJ Dimi
- "50-96" - Charles Fearing
- "My Fault, Your Mistake" - Lex Land
Trivia[]
Storyline[]
- While Beckett is resentful about having to submit to an interview for Cosmo, it is referenced numerous times in later episodes. For example, Special Agent Shaw mentions that she's seen it in "Tick, Tick, Tick…".
- Watch for: Beckett's face when Castle offers to buy her a pony, just before she scowls at the idea.
- Captain Roy Montgomery asks, "How is Lois Lane?" about the reporter that had been involved in the car accident. This is a reference to the fictional female reporter from Superman.
- During the discussion of the absence of originality in Hollywood, Castle jokingly tells his mother that they just obtained the rights to Asteroids, the video game. He continues to say that Ryan Reynolds is going to play the shooting triangle. Nathan Fillion co-starred with Ryan Reynolds in seasons two through four of Two Guys, A Girl and A Pizza Place.
- In season one, both Beckett and Castle wear protective coverings when entering the medical examiner's room. From this episode on, they go into the room in their plain clothes.
- Her deft work cutting open the fingertips of the gloves leads Castle to suggest that Lanie becomes a mohel. A mohel is a Jewish religious figure responsible for performing circumcisions.
- The Hispanic gang member being questioned by Esposito has a "WS (West Side) Aztlan" tattoo around his neck. Luis Moncada, who plays Jesus, is a former gang member turned actor.[1]
- Aztlan is a gang in Southern California.
- The victim is referred to as "the new Willy Loman", the main character from the play Death of a Salesman.
- Castle tells a suspect that he has written unproduced plays.
- Before he goes into the poker game, Castle assures Beckett that Cannell has never steered him wrong. Stephen J. Cannell had been a mentor for Castle series creator Andrew Marlowe.
- When Castle lays down $20,000 in cash at the Russian poker table, Ryan comments that Castle laid down "half my yearly salary like it's pocket change." Based on this, it can be surmised that the detectives make approximately $40,000 a year.
- Beckett spent a semester in Kiev, Ukraine between her junior and senior years of college.
- Watch for: Right after Beckett takes down the killer, she tells Castle to get back up. Watch where Castle's eyes go as he does a double-take before complying.
- Castle learned from Owen's mistake, but Owen didn't: Alexis breaks up with him in this episode.
Gaffes[]
- Continuity glitch: When Castle and Beckett are at their photo shoot at the beginning of the case, the view from the windows indicates that it is day outside. The police head straight to the crime scene, but it is night when they arrive. Later, the victim's wife reports that he'd left his apartment at around 6:00.
Promo[]
References[]
External Links[]
- The Castle page at ABC.go.com