Castle “Under Fire” 

I don’t even know how to start talking about this episode. It’s possible I was already emotional going in, but I cried. I’m not ashamed. It’s always nice when Kevin and/or Espo get a little more screen time than usual and they shined in “Under Fire.” Ryan is always so cute when it comes to dealing with his wife and seeing him deal with a pregnant, overdue Jenny is even funnier. Watching Espo deal with a distracted Kevin is always fun too.

So when that partnership is put in danger, I get tense. When that friendship is threatened I get upset. When their lives are put in danger like this, I get emotional. Of course I know that ultimately Seamus Dever and Jon Huertas are series regulars who aren’t leaving the show anytime soon, but that didn’t prevent me from becoming a mess over the possibility of their deaths. I mean, wow. That was a great episode.

With so many murder investigations under their belt, I can’t believe the team has never found a body at the scene of a fire before. What made this case that much more interesting to me was the victim (a fire chief with the FDNY) and arsonist (a building inspector) responsible for these fires. I have to admit that I loved the twisted way these arsonists talked about fire. Most people see fire as a destructive force, but these guys see beauty in it. With Kevin and Javi in mortal danger, it was hard to see this fire as anything other than tragedy waiting to happen.

When did the waterworks start? Jenny knows something’s wrong so she comes to the crime scene. She’s already in labor but if this is it, she can’t leave – even if there’s no way to talk to her husband. So when Kevin figures out a way to call Beckett, things start to look up. But not for long. The conversation between Kevin and Jenny was pretty touching. They hadn’t been able to decide on baby names so in this time of crisis it comes to him. If it’s a boy Kevin wants the baby to be named after his partner and friend. And I lost it. What a great gesture and, of course, Javi has to give him sh*t for it. It’s one of the many things that makes this partnership and friendship work so well for them.

When the firefighters can’t find a way to get to Ryan and Espo and it really does look like they’re going to die down there, there’s a break in the case – but not before we see the guys unconscious. They’re able – with the help of another fire investigator – to track down the arsonist, who happens to be on the scene. When Kate tells him that he’ll be dead too if he lets her friends die, I finally felt like we were in the clear. And I love it when Kate’s a badass like that.

Kevin meets his daughter and Espo and Lanie have a very nice moment. Even though I wasn’t prepared for harrowing I felt that episode was, I loved everyone in it. I think Captain Gates has grown on all of us since she took over for Montgomery and I especially loved her in this episode. Kate and Castle were a great team as always and the funny moments early in the episode were a really nice counterbalance to the emotional scenes later. And as I said before, Seamus Dever and Jon Huertas shined. I’m glad they’re ok. No more near-death experiences for a while, ok?

Castle airs Mondays at 10/9c on ABC.