Castle - Tick, Tick, Tick, S02E17

If you have not yet seen an episode of Castle, stop reading this and go do that instead. If you have not seen this episode of Castle, stop reading this and go do that instead. Oh My God!

This episode started off as hilarious. Yes, a serial killer targeting Beckett (Stana Katic) in relation to the Nikki Heat novels was the premise, so some seriousness was required, but for the most part, I was in stitches. An FBI profiler showed up to help catch this guy, and Castle (Nathan Fillion) was totally enamored with her and with all her cool gadgets. At first, she only considered Castle as an odd attachment to the team, but he quickly proved his usefulness - he tasered an escaping suspect, he figured out some of the clues very quickly, and he was Castle, charming as ever.

Even more to my taste were the comments about the potential sexual relationship not actually going on between Beckett and Castle. He spent the night at her house, on her couch, because he wanted to protect her from the killer. He felt responsible because the killer's obsession with the character he created, Nikki Heat, put Beckett in danger. And it didn't matter that she told him that artists cannot be responsible for the crazy people taking their work and using it as an excuse to do evil.

The next morning, when a body was found on her doorstep, questions were asked. Castle was, after all, making her pancakes. What was going on between them? And naturally, Castle, with Fillion's brilliance to make him so charismatic, had the perfect facial expressions to contradict them, but to indicate he might wish it was all true.

But despite all that wonderfulness, the only thing I have left in my head at the end of the episode is the explosion that took out Kate's apartment while, in all appearances, she was in it. I had expected the FBI profiler to get caught in an explosion when she and her team went into an apartment to arrest the suspect, having ordered Beckett and Castle to remain by the cars. Instead, it looks as though Beckett has exploded.

Now, of course, they can't have killed Beckett. That would just be ridiculous, considering the nature of the show. But I can't see how she escaped. I can't wait until next week to see what has happened to her, if she is severely injured or what is going on! How can they leave us with such a cliff hanger!!! Argh!