Castle Cliff Notes: Law & Boarder

This week we rolled our way into the world of extreme sports.  It wasn’t all kickflips and grinding though as Beckett and company worked their way through a murder of a professional skateboarder.  There was also some friendly competition at the precinct as Castle and Beckett continue to plan their wedding and wedding party.  While the episode wasn’t the most intense we have ever seen, it appears to be a calm lead in to the rest of the season!  So get your helmet on and lets go! 

5. Maid of Honor

At the crime scene, Beckett excuses herself to talk to Lanie, but not about the case.  She asks if Lanie was able to go to her dress fitting and Lanie confirms she did and that the dress Beckett picked out was the perfect mix of “elegant and saucy.”  We then see Beckett and Lanie share an exciting, squealing moment and we learn that Lanie is her maid of honor.  While it wasn’t all too surprising that Lanie was chosen as her maid of honor, the excitement Kate showed over the wedding was adorable.  It’s not like her to set business mode aside at a crime scene, so to see her express excitement over a personal event was a nice change of pace.  Also, I can’t wait to see Lanie’s dress!  I’m sure it’s going to be gorgeous! Have any colors or styles in mind?

4. Dethroning the King

Castle is sitting in the loft trying to figure out how he could possibly beat Beckett at Scrabble from the night before.  Alexis hears them talking and says “oh my gosh did you really beat dad at Scrabble?” Castle tries to play it off as if that isn’t true while Martha tells Kate how big of an accomplishment it is to win.  Martha says “ah how the mighty have fallen” and Castle says “Richard Castle one word short. I cannot allow this to be my epitaph.”  Beckett and Alexis then share a fist bump which does not go unnoticed by Castle.  You may be asking why would you put this moment in the countdown this week? Simple.  I love that we get to see Beckett and Alexis celebrating a victory over Castle together.  We have missed out on a lot of potential Kate/Alexis moments recently and I’m happy to see they are getting along well. This scene also let us see the whole Castle/Rogers clan being domestic together before everyone heads their separate ways for the day and how Beckett is seamlessly fitting into their home life.   I would love to see Alexis and Beckett plotting against Castle in the future as well as whole family interactions!

3. Extreme!

Walking around the street sports festival, Beckett makes a comment about the trick being performed by one of the riders.  Surprised, Castle asks if she has any extreme sports in her history that he doesn’t know about.  Beckett tells him that she thinks “catching killers is pretty extreme.”  She also says “and then there’s marrying you.”  Castle says “ah yes.  I admit I am extreme… extremely handsome.”  Beckett responds with “Yep. With a high degree of difficulty.”  I’m a sucker for moments like this after years of Caskett keeping their feelings to themselves.  I still love Castle’s big but somehow cute ego and never get sick of it.  Fun little scene to put in this week’s countdown!

2.  Brotherly Competition

Another fun element of this episode was Esposito and Ryan’s friendly competition to try to be Castle’s best man.  The whole thing got started after they found out Lanie was Beckett’s maid of honor and the boys decided Castle would probably pick one of them since he has spent the past few years at the precinct. Espo starts the competition off, by giving Castle his favorite pen because they are “best bros.”  Seeing what Espo is doing, Ryan decides to make a move of his own. He gives Castle Jenny’s grandma’s secret family recipe for the shepherd’s pie he loved because he thinks of Castle as “family.”  Ryan then tells him he is “always looking out for him. Always.”  They continue their bantering throughout the episode trying to justify to each other why they are the better choice.  The sucking up to Castle also doesn’t stop and the boys lay it on pretty thick.  Their whole plan backfires though when Castle thinks they are being nice since he lost to Beckett again at Scrabble.  Espo and Ryan think this means he still can’t decide between them and even go to Lanie asking her to pick who should win.  In the end, they decide they could be co-best men but Castle lets them down gently saying “guys I’m flattered and honored… but I already decided. Guys I asked Alexis to be my best man.  Aside from Beckett, she’s the most important person in my life.”  Bummer guys!  Bright side though you get to be his groomsmen right?  Espo and Ryan aren’t really seeing this silver lining though and Espo says “I can’t believe we just got beat by a girl.”  At least he didn’t pick one over the other right?  And how about Castle’s statement about Beckett and Alexis being the most important people in his life?  Something we already knew but great to hear!  I always love a friendly competition, especially when Ryan and Esposito pull out all the stops.  It definitely made the episode more fun!

1. So Much Better Than Scrabble

Back at the loft, Castle is ready to re-rematch Beckett in Scrabble.  Beckett comes out asking where Martha and Alexis are, and it turns out they are out for the night.  Castle asks why she wanted to know and Beckett responds “good, I’m ready for a rematch” and tosses the scrabble board and pieces aside.  Beckett suggests a new game, poker, and Castle confused askes “you want to play poker against me?”  Beckett clarifies stating she wants to play strip poker and Castle quickly says “I’ll deal.”  Sometime later, we see a pile of clothes and Beckett in her bra and Castle wearing his shirt.  Beckett states she is all in which Castle matches but says “all I have left to bet with is this shirt.”  Beckett, sexily replies “I’ll take that bet” and asks Castle what he’s got.  Castle quickly says “who cares” tossing his cards and Caskett shares a kiss while Beckett unbuttons Castle’s shirt collecting her winnings. I love how Beckett is able to use Castle’s competitive nature to get what she wants (a little intimate alone time) instead of another game of Scrabble that would most likely end in Castle’s ego taking another blow.  I’m all in for a rematch of strip poker any day!

What do you think of the best man and maid of honor choices?  Are you getting as excited for this wedding as I am? Join the discussion in the comments section below, tweet me @DenialLove or tweet us at @TwelfthPrecinct!  Follow me, I’ll follow you and we’ll have Castle fun! J

Xo Always ~DenialLove

Screencaps vis Castle-fans.org