Castle

Tonight marks the beginning of Castle’s annual two-part event with Season 4, Episode 15 “Pandora,” and boy, is it a doozy!

It all starts high up in the air, as we watch a poor man fall to a sudden death from a sky-high apartment building onto the hood of a car, before we catch a glimpse of the man who pushed him.

Cut to Castle’s apartment, where Martha informs Castle Alexis won’t be home for dinner because she’s at an internship — at 9 p.m. That's weird, right?

As always, Castle’s pre-dinner chat is interrupted by a call from Beckett. Or, as Martha calls her, “Castle’s better half.”

At the crime scene, Caskett discovers their victim not only fell from grace, he was also shot, stabbed, choked and has a pencil in his neck. “Gives new meaning to the word overkill,” Castle jokes.

As Castle and Beckett walk away from the vic, Castle passes Alexis, in uniform. “Hi Alexis,” he says nonchalantly before realizing who he just greeted. He acts like he’s not upset she’s there, but he definitely feels violated.

And to make matters worse, everybody knew but Castle. Still, we think it’s great Alexis is working so close to the cases. Lord knows it’s her brilliance that’s usually responsible for helping Castle solve the case.

Back at the office, the team watches the security camera set up outside the vic’s apartment building, which shows a suspicious man force a innocent bystander into a taxi. When the team busts down the door at the suspect’s house, he seems unfazed.

During interrogation, the suspect — who has a fake ID for ‘Thomas Gage’ and unidentifiable prints — barely flinches even though his fingerprints are all over the crime ... literally. “It’s like he knows something we don’t,” Castle says.

When Caskett questions the suspect’s taxi hostage, she says she helped the suspect bandage a wound he said he got while killing someone else. Who, you ask? “He just said the guy doesn’t exist,” she says. Um, OK then?

And she’s not lying. Lanie tells Castle and Beckett she can’t identify the victim, and when they go to take a look, they realize the body is gone. Poof. Vamoose. “Guy really doesn’t exist,” Castle says.

And the vic isn’t the only one capable of pulling a Houdini: When Caskett return to question their suspect — who is still supposed to be in holding — he’s gone, too.

But where did they go? And more importantly, why? And most importantly, can someone please teach us how to do it?

After the commercial break, Castle and Alexis convene over Castle’s typewriter. (For once he’s actually typing up notes about the case. Whodathunk?)

Alexis feels horrible because she was watching the body at the morgue when it disappeared. Back at the precinct, the team discovers "Gage" stole a uniform when he escaped. Needless to say, Captain Gates is not pleased.

(And can we just say we actually kind of missed her badassness? ‘Cause we did, although we didn’t realize it until now.)

Castle and Beckett come to question taxi hostage Tracy McGrath again at her home. When they arrive, she’s lifeless on the carpet. Or so we think. Who knows in this crazy episode!

So, why did Gage want her? We don’t know, but we have a feeling we need to find out. As Beckett stakes out the rest of McGrath’s pad, she pulls out her gun. Then, she sees Castle with a pillowcase over his head — and suddenly there’s another gun at her neck and a black case on her head, too.

WTF did these two just get themselves into?!

Luckily, Lanie and Alexis are en route. But when they enter the house, the body is gone — and so are Castle and Beckett!

Cut to Beckett and Castle in an elevator. When they step off, accompanied by a silent guard, they’re met with one simple introduction that says it all: “Hello, Rick. Welcome to the CIA,” says a hot brunette agent, Sophia Turner.

Back at the ‘cinct, our fave sidekicks speak with McGrath’s boss who says the blonde vic didn’t have enemies, but did suddenly leave the office yesterday, which was highly out of character for the PhD.

And at the CIA headquarters, Beckett uses her sharpened interrogation skills on Castle to try to figure out how exactly he knows this smart (and most importanty, sexy) operative.

Before he can answer, Sophia walks in and does it for him: They met 11 years ago when Castle was doing research for his first Derrick Storm novel, and he based a character on her. Hm. Where have we heard that story before?

Anyway, Sophia tells Castle and Beckett Thomas Gage was a very adept CIA agent who went rogue. And the man Gage pushed out the window was also in the CIA. Still, nobody knows why Gage went after McGrath.

And speaking of people going after people, there’s some serious palpable tension between Beckett and Sophia. It seems like Beckett can hardly contain her jealousy. Not that we blame her. There’s not enough room in this episode for two badass bitches ... or is there?

That’s when Espso calls in with news about McGrath. She had an appointment in her day planner right before she killed titled “Pandora” — a code name for Gage’s secret mission.

And with that, Sophia hands the case over to Beckett and adds super cool buttons on their phones that connect them to her direct line. “You’ve done impressive work,” she says.

Hm. Maybe there’s hope for these two after all. But secret buttons? Let us reiterate: WTF have these two gotten themselves into?!

On the way home, Beckett and Castle broach the awkward subject of the “first muse.” Earlier, Castle was worried Alexis being around would throw off the “unit cohesion” — but what about Sophia?

“Well, I’m willing to let that slide in the matter of national security,” Castle says. Guess you can’t argue with that.

Then Beckett admits she’s unnerved he’s researched with someone else. “It’s nothing like what we have,” Castle assures her.

OMG. Can these two just admit they love each other, please? Like, now? This is so a relationship talk!

The team heads back to McGrath’s apartment to sniff out more clues. They discover McGrath took off work to go to a parking garage in New Jersey. When they get there, we also discover something else: Beckett knows her muscle cars.

Call us crazy, but we’re pretty sure we can literally see Castle falling more in love with her.

Anyway, back to the case: Castle and Beckett find a GTO with a briefcase in the trunk full of spy equipment. And just when they think they’ve got it all figured out, an ominous voice behind them instructs them to drop their weapons.

It’s Gage! Beckett gets tough and orders him to drop his weapon, but he snatches her gun in record time. “I’m afraid you’re not going to like what happens next,” he says. Dun dun dun.

Castle and Beckett wake up inside a trunk. Dare we say that we both love and hate that they’re stuck together in a deadly situation again? But this time there is some good news, as Castle points out, “at least we’re not handcuffed.”

Castle wants to push the panic CIA button, but Beckett wants nothing of it. “I’m not going to be rescued by your girlfriend,” she says. Burn!

And with that, the twosome finangle their way out with a crowbar — and like magic, the same CIA guy from the elevator is there with the black pillowcases.

Then, using “all the coolest tools,” the CIA pinpoints McGrath’s final phonecall and finds survelliance footage from outside the garage, which shows an allegedly dead operative, Dr. Nelson Blakely on a payphone reciting chess moves.

Back in the elevator, Castle and Beckett bicker over Castle’s flirtation with Sophia, and when Castle gets home, Mama Martha somehow knows all about it. That whole “unit cohesion” thing? Yeah. We get it now.

But Mama M also has some other valuable advice which helps Castle realize Blakely’s chess moves weren’t chess moves at all, but something else entirely: code for a meeting location.

Castle and Beckett set up their own chess game at said location, and once again, Beckett brings up Sophia.

We’re kind of annoyed at her pushing the issue, but Castle offers to answer any questions about her/their relationship. Beckett asks how they close they were, but before he can answer, Blakely shows up in his field of vision. How convenient.

They drive Blakely to Pier 32 after he promises to tell them everything. Turns out, “Pandora” was a paper he wrote about weak links in U.S. security, and he gave a think tank — that turned out not to exist — a blueprint for bringing about the end of the U.S. in economic crisis with a linchpin.

Before Blakely can tell Caskett what the linchpin is, he notices a flock of pigeons ... who only fly in flocks when fleeing a predator!

And then, the biggest jaw-dropper of the episode: “They’re here,” Blakely says before jumping out of the car and getting shot from the window of a a black SUV.

Then, the SUV takes off and pushes against Beckett’s car, catuplating her and Castle — in the car — into the ocean. Once again, Caskett are about to be stuck in a life threatening situation.

You’d think all that life or death drama would totally make them admit their feelings, but we assume it will probably be hard to talk with a mouth full of salt water.

To be continued ...