Castle Recap and Review: The Missing Time

Well, we are back to Castle's "missing time" and I, for one, wish I could erase my memory of this storyline and anything to do with LokSat. But let's talk about last night's show.

We start out with a murder in a cemetery. The guy's throat was cut and he's holding his own heart. Ew. Why do people go to cemeteries at night? Especially people who should know better.

Cut to Castle with Hayley and Alexis in a swank hotel. They're in L.A. to see if Castle can remember anything else about when he was there during his "missing time." While he's deciding what to do first, he gets a card from the GDS or Greatest Detectives Society that there's been a murder and they need his help.  Of course Castle and Hayley head down to the murder scene and Hayley sweet talks the detective into letting them have a look-see. The detective tells them the victim had just flown in from New York, so Castle offers Espo and Ryan's services in New York for interviewing the next of kin.

Ryan claims Castle, calls him "good people" and they agree to interview the victim's sister. She says her brother was on the hunt for a serial killer that he called the Phantom and had a break in the case. (Which is exactly why the guy shouldn't have gone to a CEMETERY at NIGHT! It's just asking for the serial killer to well, kill you.)  The team figures out the victim was right and they are looking at a bi-coastal serial killer. They start looking at the victims who all have distinctive knife wounds. Lainey also asks Ryan to do a background check on her new boyfriend and not to tell Espo. Of course Ryan is a terrible liar and can't keep the secret, so Espo and Ryan think it would be funny to mess with Lainey and tell her the guy has a fetish with clowns and is a bedwetter. She confronts the new boyfriend and ends up breaking up with him, but turns the fire extinguisher on Ryan and Espo for being jerks about it. Meh. I felt sorry for Lainey that she couldn't trust Ryan to do that for her and be a grown up about it, but that's just me.

Castle does go to the restaurant he saw in his memory flash from last week and the owner recognizes him. Says Castle couldn't pay for his meal so he traded a watch and the guy still has it! Castle buys it back and as they're leaving, a strange man appears out of nowhere with another card from the GDS. Castle is being summoned to their lair. Which is actually a dark old house with some expensive furniture. And Gerald McRaney. (Who I really wish would have had a bigger role in the episode somehow!) They tell Castle that the victim was part of their society and his death creates an opening. But he'll have to compete for it with some blonde chick named Kendall. He is totally up for the challenge. (And I didn't know who Summer Glau was, but a lot of people were excited for her to be in this ep.)

The boys tell him that the victim was working undercover at Zenith Films, the same company that tanked the Nikki Heat films. Castle meets with Trevor the executive that provided "notes" on the script and he tells them the victim was investigating this film director named Austin. Hayley and Castle go over to his set, but Kendall is already there. Hayley distracts her and wrangles an invitation to Austin's home that evening with Kendall. The plan is for Castle to use the time to sneak in and search Austin's house. (He's terrible at sneaking. This isn't going to turn out well.) Kendall says she has the plans to the guy's house and there's a secret room which she points out to Castle. She's lying and takes the first chance she has to find the real secret room herself. Castle catches her and he finds the knife used as the murder weapon, right before Austin catches them all and kicks them out. Apparently that knife is one of five from a horror movie show. Back to square one.

While Hayley and her father are out investigating, Alexis is gleaning a lead from the watch and the tracker that was in it. She traces it to a Special Forces guy, but Hayley tells her to just forget about it. Alexis can't do that, though, and heads to the guy's mother's house in Pasadena. The lady is showing her pictures of her son and she comes across a picture of the guy with Hayley. Uh oh. Alexis leaves and Hayley is sitting creepily in the back seat and I really thought she was going to do something to Alexis. But no, she's genuine in her friendship for Castle and Alexis and finally comes clean. (Too bad. That would have been awesome if she worked for LokSat and was evil. Oh well.) Hayley has worked with Castle's father and a year and half ago got a message from him to keep an eye on Castle. She used the tracker, but he still got away from her and when she caught up, Castle had been shot and wanted his memory erased. Castle believes her and initially decides to let his "missing time" go. For the love can we all let it go! (Are you singing that song now? I am.)

Meanwhile, Lainey has figured out that two victims were killed at the same time on different coasts so they're really dealing with two killers. Now they just have to figure out where the last two prop knives went. The GDS aren't happy with how things are going after the Austin incident, and, in order to win, Castle throws Kendall off the scent with a fake address of who he thinks has the knife. She takes the bait hook, line, and sinker and is out of his hair while he brings in the killer.  The boys track down Jordan the screenwriter and he flips out saying they'll never catch his partner. He takes a hostage and the boys are forced to kill him. Now to find the partner. Hayley tracks down Jordan's screenplay called Gemini Killers and it has notes on it that remind Castle of the guy who left notes on his Nikki Heat script. It's the executive guy, Trevor. Castle and Hayley go to him and he is babbling the whole time about finding someone who could pull this bi-coastal killing thing off. He admits everything and is taken into custody. I totally called that one.

Castle is offered the spot in GDS but he gives it to Kendall since he already works with the greatest detective. Who sadly, did not make an appearance in this episode. It's just not Castle without Beckett. Sigh. But as they're packing, Castle tells Hayley he can't let the missing time go and so she shows him a video he made before he erased his memory. Apparently, after his Thai adventure and being lost at sea, etc. etc., Castle also had time to track Bracken's partner and get involved in the LokSat mess deeply enough to get shot for his trouble. Of course, if he didn't erase his memory then Beckett would find out and be killed. Castle is stunned and takes the blame for the FBI team that was killed. Seriously? How would it be his fault that highly trained government agents were killed? Okay. But that's the end of the ep this week.

So, the murder mystery was good with lots of twists and turns, but missing a crucial element with no Beckett and no signature Caskett banter. It's just not as good when they're not together.  Castle's missing time and being involved in the LokSat mess isn't making a lot of sense and I think the episodes that feature this storyline just go too far down the rabbit hole. For me, it would have been so interesting to have Hayley be a LokSat operative watching Castle than just a spy for Castle's dad, but I guess it does give her more of a connection to the show to be a friend to Castle's dad. I don't know. It wasn't my favorite episode, but it wasn't horrible either.

Best line of the night was when Castle said he already works with the best detective. Awww. Love how he loves Beckett.  Best moment was Lainey turning the fire extinguisher on the boys. Go Lainey!

Did you watch last night? What did you think?