Moment of Goodness: The Caskett Moment in the bank vault, Castle “Cops and Robbers” 

This show loves to travel right up to the edge of the Caskett cliff over and over again. But instead of giving us what we want, something always spoils it. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the moment, however. What I’m talking about is the “Cops and Robbers” episode when Martha and Castle were among those held hostage at a bank. By the way, how great were the TV doctor names of the four robbers? They went by Doctors Howser (as in Doogie), Quinn (as in Medicine Woman), Huxtable (as in Heathcliff) and Trapper John. They referenced Trapper John circa MASH but I prefer to think they were talking about the Pernell Roberts version from the TV show of the same doctor name. But that’s just me.

Anyway, the entire episode, Castle was on it. He was a source of comfort for his fellow hostages. He also was able to do a bit of investigative work under challenging circumstances. He was clever, resourceful and heroic even as Beckett was outside trying to do her part from there. At one point, she acted as the paramedic and was able to infiltrate the bank to see for herself how things were going. The looks of concern and worry for Castle already started. Loved how Castle was able to slip her a note about the C4 the robbers had on them.

Later, the C4 unexpectedly blew up killing the four doctor/robbers. But for a while there, Beckett didn’t know if the bomb blew up everyone inside the bank. Things got all slo-mo and dramatic and Kate looked so scared. She entered the bank and proceeded to shout out for Castle. And he answered her. He and the other hostages were alive and well and in the vault. Kate quickly went up to Rick and this brief, intense moment unfolded. She freed Castle and asked how he was doing and I was all caught up in their smiles of relief and the way they were looking at each other like they were having this unspoken conversation. And then Martha had to ruin everything by reminding Kate he’s not the only one that needed to be freed. I love Castle’s mom to death but couldn’t she let her son have a little more time with the woman he loves? She was no longer in danger. I needed this Moment of Goodness to last much longer than it did. But at least it happened. You could see the love Beckett has for Castle. She couldn’t contain it. It was a pretty magnificent thing to witness.

“Cops and Robbers” was an excellent episode. I think it was great how Martha got to be a bigger part of the action for an entire episode and not just her usual few minutes here or there. The bank robbery that turned into much, much more was intriguing and well done. I loved the twist of the annoying epileptic whiner staging this whole thing to get the address of his wife and kid. He was an abuser of the highest order and he rigged the C4 to kill his cohorts in crime. And don’t get me started on how wonderful the end was when Kate came over for dinner at Casa Castle. Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic were excellent as usual. “Cops and Robbers” is one of my favorite episodes of the season and comes on the heels of another fabulous episode that aired recently, “Demons.” Castle Season 4 is shaping up to be a great one.

Castle airs Mondays at 10/9c on ABC.