The 3XK saga finally comes to a close, how will it end?  Will Beckett make it out alive?

***** SPOILERS BELOW *****

Last week’s episode ended with Beckett being taken by someone who snuck up on her and drugged her with a injection.  This week Castle and the guys go to “Boudreau/Tyson” aka 3XK’s apartment to confront him and ask him where Beckett is.  Of course, he denies any involvement and continues to claim he is Boudreau.  Esposito goes to talk to Nieman and she denies knowing anything, as well.

Castle gets a call from Beckett, but it ends up being one of Tyson’s tricks.  He took previously recorded audio clips of Beckett and spliced them together to make it seem like she was calling Castle for help.  In frustration, Castle goes by himself to confront 3XK and ends up roughing him up and pulling a gun on him.  Before he can shoot him, the police barge in and stop him; which ends up getting Castle slapped with assault charges.  Gates goes and talks to Castle in the cell area and they share a moment, where she tells him at first she didn’t see what Beckett saw in Castle.  Beckett told Gates that Castle can see the story and the bigger picture, and Gates tells him that’s what he needs to do now.

3XK calls Castle again and basically admits that he is Jerry Tyson, not Michael Boudreau. But, when they trace the call it was coming from Castle’s home.  They rush there and everyone is fine, but Castle sends Martha and Alexis out of country while all of this is going on for their safety.  The police get another lead and they show up at a warehouse where they think Beckett is.  When they bust through the doors it sets off a trap and guns go off, riddling the body of who they believe is Beckett.  Castle rushes over and is crying over the body, when he pulls off a wig and realizes it was a set up and it isn’t, in fact, Beckett.

Castle goes to talk to Tyson’s ex-cellmate and ask him where 3XK might have taken Beckett.  The cellmate gives Castle a location and he shows up at the house where he thinks they are holding Beckett.  Amy Bassett is there and finds Castle hovering around outside the house. Turns out she was in on the whole thing.  He manages to tie her up and stick her in the trunk of his car, then goes inside to look for Beckett.  Once inside, he sees a video feed of Beckett and realizes she isn’t there.  But, who is there?  3XK!  He has a gun on Castle, but Beckett is dealing with problems of her own, as she and Nieman are having a chat.  Nieman basically tells Beckett she wants to change her appearance and will use Beckett to do so.  It seems like she plans to surgically remove Beckett’s face and put it on hers.  Creepy!

3XK tells Castle he only let Castle find him because he wanted to, and this whole thing was about outsmarting one another.  Castle says he let 3XK think he outsmarted him, when in fact he was a step ahead. Tyson turns around to look outside and, Esposito, AKA master sniper, promptly places a bullet in his chest.  Good riddance!  Just as Nieman is about to start operating on her, Beckett has managed to free herself from her restraints and grabs Nieman’s wrist.  When Castle and crew show up, Beckett is standing over Nieman’s bloody, dead body with the scalpel.

Back at the precinct, everyone welcomes Beckett back and Gates tells Castle that she couldn’t get rid of the assault charges.  However, she worked out a deal with the DA to get him 1,000 hours community service, which he will work off by being Beckett’s consultant.  The Castle/Beckett partnership is back in action!  At home that night, Beckett tells Castle she can’t get her mind off what happened.  Castle says he can relate because of what he recently went through, but all he has to do is look at her and everything is ok.

What did you think of the episode?  Comment below!

Castle airs on Mondays at 10/9c on ABC. Watch full episodes on ABC.Go.com, On Demand (check with your local cable provider), Hulu and Amazon Instant Video.