Tonight during a very special episode of Castle, we lose a Castle family member to a deranged killer (see body-bag pic above). Meanwhile, not yet knowing the death of their friend, Castle and Beckett start planning a possible Middle Earth honeymoon (Hobbits and romance do go together, no matter what Beckett says).

****SPOILERS BELOW****

Like I was saying… Tonight during a very special episode of Castle, we lose a (person that looks like a) Castle family member to a deranged killer. This episode opens on a shipyard with a security guard making his rounds. He finds a body dangling from a beam over a dock hung by high test fishing line (heavy weight line). When the police and the M.E. (Medical Examiner) examine the body, it’s none other than a look-a-like to Dr. Lanie Parish  (Tamala Jones). Dr. Lanie, examining her own doppelgänger. …creepy.

Turns out to be a former street walker from Tampa, Florida named Pam Hodges. Beckett mentions that the manner of killing “Put her body on display to create a tableau…” was “confident, brazen…” “Yeah like he’d done it before,” Castle finishes her sentence.

Later, we find a dead Esposito doppelgänger. (Wait, is this a parallel universe episode and is this Fringe? Where’s Walter and Walter-nate?) The gang start asking themselves… is the killer targeting detectives of the 12th Precinct in a taunting way with these murders?  Annie Wersching (24) guest stars as Dr. Kelly Nieman, an exclusive Manhattan cosmetic surgeon who draws Castle and Beckett’s interest because of her connection to the victims. Both victims had work done by the self promoting and calmly ice-cold surgeon, but Beckett and Castle can’t pin the murders on her as her alibis check out. This episode really drew me in and got me wondering if the whole gang was going to find their own doubles one after another.

Each scene, it seems the 12th precinct gang are playing catch up in a familiar way to a past killer. That familiar way leading to the realization that the 3XK serial killer (episodes 03.06, 04.04 and 05.05), Jeremy Tyson, seems to be back and his goal is to wipe himself from the books of the police and any agency that has data on him. That’s what the unwitting doppelgängers were used for: faux-Esposito was used to get the files from the paper archives, faux-Dr. Lanie to get the forensic evidence from the medical archives and we find out later all the electronic files on the 3XK killer have been purged.

The pace of the show was spot on all the way to the end, with Caskett circling back to the surgeon. But when they arrive to arrest her and question her again… they find an empty office. Later, at Castle’s apartment, he and Beckett find a USB in the pen left in her office by the killer. When they plug it in, it plays an eerie 1939 song, “We’ll Meet Again” by Vera Lynn. They each stare at each other with a shutter at the implications of the message.

I felt the beginning of the season was really strong and then it took a moment’s breather, followed by this powerfully driving episode and apparent renewed arc. The 3XK killer was the one guy Castle, Becket and even the whole NYPD couldn’t seem to best. I’m looking forward to see where this goes and how this plays on Caskett, now as a couple.

“We’ll meet again, Don’t know where, don’t know when, But I know we’ll meet, some sunny day.
Keep smiling through, Just like you always do, Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds,
far away…”

And BTW, a New-Zealand-Honeymoon-Hobbit tour… would be awesome. (Castle would possibly have to go alone though, unless his salesmanship comes through!)

Best Lines of the Episode:

“I love when you get angry (to Beckett), …I mean at other people, besides me.” -Castle

“Seems only like yesterday this was a thriving medical practice…ut,… it was yesterday.” -Castle

Next week: We get a bleeding man who stumbles into a church, but just before dying, he hands a mysterious bundle to the priest. When the bundle turns out to be a smiling baby boy, Castle and Beckett find themselves accidental nannies to the newborn.

To catch this episode and/or the earlier episodes for this season, click here at the ABC’s website or app:

http://abc.go.com/shows/castle

What did you think of the this episode? Did you think it was going another way? What did you like most? Let us know in the comments section below.