Fan and critic favorite Castle returns for the fall season of investigatory drama and playful romantic pigtail pulling that has flourished into…?

****Spoilers- Don’t read below if you haven’t watched the premiere or if you don’t want to know any of the happenings of this episode.****

Did she say yes or didn’t she? Is this a new bigger closer beginning for the Castle couple? Does Beckett know how a proposal works??? When those questions were sorted out in the opening in the first minute or so, it is now official we have an engaged “Mr. & Mrs. Caskett-to-be.”

I for one am glad. In my opinion and experience based on real couples I know, this next new step allows for exploration and fun even beyond what we’ve seen thus far in Castle. I was worried the creator Andrew W. Marlowe and crew might not be able to navigate a premiere that would handle all the cliff-hanger/”What do we do now?” questions left at the end of last season’s finale. But from start to finish I was very happy. All of the family of characters (sans Tamala Jones/Dr. Lanie Parish… except for the episode montage opening review) were smoothly worked into the episode just where they were needed.

Following the swing-set proposal- “two months” later- we see Beckett chasing a perp down the streets of D.C. into an alley, thanks to a gadget from the D.O.J. she manages to bag the suspect… but gets shot by the faux-hostage in the process. Lucky for her and us it was a training exercise.

I really enjoyed that after Beckett has been the “heavy” or expert of the NYC team when on the case, she now has new ropes to learn and mentors to work with for a nice changeup. Lisa Edlestein (House, Scandal, House of Lies) plays Beckett’s new federal investigator partner. Lisa and the new cast of characters made the D.C. office and escapades have weight and gravitas for me. You skirt the rules on these cases you don’t get suspended, you go to jail.

As for Castle, he and his cardboard cut out make their entrance after a West Coast book tour. Martha (Castle’s mother) brings us up to speed on Alexis, Pi (enough said of him) and herself. Pining for his girl, it isn’t long before Castle shows up in D.C. behind Becket the night after her long day. Castle uses his “Castle-judgment” and manages to use a bit of dropped evidence from Beckett’s classified case file to go on the hunt for the solution to his fiance’s latest case. Fortunately for him, Lisa’s character is forgiving, not reporting them and getting them into serious trouble… this time.

From that point I loved how Castle honestly tried to stay out of the case but got pulled in. Pulled in at gun point by a mystery gunman into a car, where he drops dead and crashes.  We get some of the best Castle-squirming-after-getting-caught and a moment for Beckett to say “sorry” to Castle’s image on the close-circuit tv when her senior lets Castle stew in the interrogation room.

The episode came to its close by Castle finding out he has been second-hand poison gassed from the car crash with only 24 hours to find the antidote/live. Duh duh… da! This episode was a nice way to open the season, and the structure of the TBC (To Be Continued) premiere created a variation of peaks and valleys compared to a stand alone episode premiere (as long as Castle survives and the show doesn’t turn into “BECKETT: DC FEDERAL AGENT”). My feeling is the DC plot won’t last forever, but it will heighten the flavor of the show and show us how Castle and Beckett as a newly engaged couple work in a different environment than NYC.

This premiere was the second highest of all the six seasons at 11.48 million (second only to the 3rd season opener at 13.28 million that found Nathan Fillion’s character standing over a dead body with a gun in his hand). I’m looking forward to the next episode and this season’s work and play of “Mr. & Mrs. Caskett-to-be.”

You can watch the latest episode of Castle by going to ABC’s website.

What did you think of the premiere? Let me know in the comments.

ABC/Bob D’Amico/Getty Images/Anne Strickland