CASTLE: Famous Last Words

Let’s get down to business!

Rock star Hayley Blue is found dead in an abandoned alley, her neck broken and hanging upside down Spider Man-style. One of her songs, “Here Kitty Kitty” is on repeat on her blue iPod nano (the same one as mine!) – clearly a sign or clue to her murderer and what happened leading up to her demise … or so we think.

Monday’s episode is the first time Castle’s incredibly mature teenage daughter Alexis plays a large role in the case. Hayley Blue, it turns out, is like “Castle’s” version of Paramore’s frontwoman Hailey Williams. Alexis skips her first class to find out more about what Beckett, Castle and the rest of the team saw at the crime scene, obviously knowing more about the singer than the adults at the precinct.

When Ryan does a search for the song, the music video pops up and it ends up being very similar to the setting in which Hayley was found; a similar alleyway, the same position she was found in. Alexis tells the team that the song was written about an obsessive fan who was following her. Instead of following physical evidence as they usually do, they follow Alexis’ lead, listening to the lyrics and finding out that the stalker is dangerous and that Hayley had filed a restraining order (“50 feet or less”). Frankie Markie’s name pops up in the database. Ryan and Esposito, relegated to their usual sidekick/backup status, follow their only lead and find Frankie Markie headed upstate on a charter bus. Prior to that, Beckett and Castle visit with Hayley’s record producer, Bree Busch, and her husband Ian, who took her in when Hayley got out of drug rehab three months earlier – and find out that she left the previous Monday with all her things, and that her sister Sky was a drug addict.

When Beckett and Castle interrogate Frankie after they detain him on the bus, he says that Hayley knew she was going to die that night and that it would be her last show. Creepy much? I thought Halloween was over. He plays them a video recording of Hayley’s newest song, one that she debuted at her last show, with key words like “death.” This leads the team to Hayley’s guitarist Zack Metzger. Beckett and Castle arrive at a warehouse to question him. It’s the typical band break-up drama that ensues, and of course drugs, jealousy and music play big parts.

A very drunk Sky makes a not-so-smart statement in the morgue: “I think I may of killed her.” But we all know what she means; she didn’t literally kill her own sister, at least not at that moment. Hayley’s sister says that she saw her give a wad of cash to Tony, her drug dealer – which meant that Hayley was possibly using again – but of course, in twist #16 of the episode, Hayley was 100% sober when the tox screen results come back. They question Tony, who says Hayley wanted to buy a gun. Castle and Alexis listen to Hayley’s last song again. Alexis says that “death” might have a symbolic meaning, not a literal one. She plays part of the song and all of a sudden, this new break leads the case in a new direction. “Death” in tarot means transformation/change. A text alert on the official Blue Pill website reveals that Sky Blue is taking over as lead singer. This spells trouble.

The road leads to Hayley’s old manager John McGinns, who apparently was the one who got Hayley into drugs in the first place. The team go through his phone records and see that he made a call to Zack the day before Hayley was killed. Coincidence? Perhaps not. Beckett and Castle visit Zack at the warehouse only to find him in a heated argument with Sky. Zack tells Beckett and Castle that McGinnis wanted him to give Sky drugs so that she would talk to Hayley to get the band name back. Without the band name, they would never be able to reform or reunite. Zack spills that he did see Hayley at a coffeehouse the night she was killed. Everything was fine until her phone started ringing. It was Death calling.

The partners re-interpret the lyrics. They come to the conclusion that Death was a woman who changed her life, and the only one was Hayley’s record producer. But why would Bree want to kill her? They find out that Bree had a lot riding on Hayley’s record and that if she didn’t finish the album, she could lose her label. In a fit of desperation, Bree offered Hayley drugs thinking she would take the bait (and not knowing she was clean). Castle pokes around the studio and finds a loose board. He takes it apart and notices a perfectly-cut rectangular cloth. Voila! A bullet hole – about the same diameter as the gun Hayley had bought earlier from Tony. Who is suspect #1 now? Mrs. Bree Busch.

Bree and her husband are in the interrogation room. While the rest of the precinct is set on her being the killer, Castle isn’t so sure. Back at home, Castle and Alexis are going over the day’s events .. and life. But as Castle prepares to head off to bed, he notices some of the lyrics from Hayley’s song. As he and Alexis listen more carefully to the lines, they realize they’ve got the wrong killer. “You’ve stepped across my threshold. How could you?” Who is Hayley referring to?

Beckett and Castle bring Bree and her husband in to the station to listen to the song. Someone forced himself on Hayley, they conclude. After a few moments of silence, Bree’s husband finally gives himself up.

In probably the most serious we’ve seen Castle, Beckett has grown to respect him not just as the goofy nuisance tagging along for each case, but as a man with a family he loves dearly. This was one of my favorite “Castle” episodes for the father-daughter relationship. This was the perfect case for Alexis to help out on; it would’ve been scary thinking the precinct could have (and were mightily close to) sending the wrong guy to prison. And while last week’s episode was epic for obvious reasons, this week’s might have been light on the wacky Castle hijinks. Instead we all got to see why Castle has such a great relationship with his daughter, and how much of a good father he is, underneath his 12-year-old self.

Just a note: It’s extremely difficult to recap “Castle” because for those of you who watch, there are about as many suspects as there are people living in New York City, but that’s what makes it exciting. After watching almost 20 episodes, each one is never dull and sometimes my predictions are completely off-target. But next week, I’m betting on the first person Beckett and Castle interrogate ..

Memorable Quotes

Beckett: So what are you going to tell Alexis?

Castle: What I always tell her – the truth.

Beckett: I always see you acting like a 12-year-old; it’s nice to see you acting like a father.

Castle: It makes you want me right?

Beckett: And there’s the 12-year-old again.

Beckett (to Zack Metzger): Hayley’s sister is on her way to the morgue to identify the body. Don’t leave town.

Castle: But feel free to bathe.

Castle: I’m gonna go with the butler.

Beckett: The butler?

Castle: That’s what we go to when we run out of ideas.

What were your thoughts on the episode? Did you like seeing Alexis exercising her detective chops?

Philiana works at an entertainment trade publication in Los Angeles.