After his behavior on last week’s “Castle,” Alexis is none too pleased with her father. (Remember the way he treated Pi?) However, in this episode she needs her dad to help her with an Innocence Review case that she is working on with her criminology professor.
Frank Henson (James Carpinello of “The Good Wife”), who is on death row in Pennsylvania and has 72 hours to live, was (Alexis believes) wrongly convicted of the brutal killing of his neighbor. Alexis is at a stalemate and needs new “eyes” to see something that was missed. Who better than her father … although, as we know, she is still very upset with him for the way he treated/treats Pi. Alexis, he’s just being a protective dad – wait until you have kids… although, I sort of side with her on this one. He was very rude to them in last week’s episode, wasn’t he?
Anyway, I thought this was a very well done episode. The characters were great, and the issue of an innocent man (or woman) on death row is still a great concern in our country. Just one mistaken conviction, in my view, is catastrophic to our system and morals (wow, I’m going deep).
With the help of Beckett and the team, they are able to uncover hidden secrets that may be the end of the Innocence Review for Frank. The funny thing is that Castle already knew about the case because he had Ryan and Espo keep him up to par with what she (Alexis) has been doing. I love him. He’s so funny.
What is so sweet about the episode, is the closeness between the two of them (even though Alexis is still angry with him). Castle even puts off Beckett (surprise) who wanted to hunt for wedding venues, so he could be there to help. He truly loves his daughter and would do anything for her and tries to tell her that it’s a long shot that Frank will be cleared. Ugh.
When Castle and Alexis arrive at the prison, they meet Frank and his fiancee (with whom he’d been high school sweethearts). Frank tells Castle that Alexis is “one in a million.” Castle knows. Frank re-hashes what happened that night. They also discuss Kim’s diary – she had a big crush on Frank. With all of the evidence, Castle is worried he won’t be able to help. He calls Beckett in a panic.
The victim had a rocky relationship with an ex-boyfriend (Gomez), but the police didn’t talk to him because they caught Frank at the crime scene with blood on his hands – literally. The cops aren’t any help (in fact, very stand-offish) and want Frank to be executed (nice).
Castle keeps digging … and figures out some key points. Then Alexis figures out a very important fact – the police didn’t find a trace (of anything) on the doorknob … but there would have been grease on it (since Frank was working on cars). This proves that someone else was at the house that night and wiped everything down. Very nice, Alexis! She works well with her dad, doesn’t she? Watch out, Kate!
Next they get Lanie involved (who was a little offended that Alexis didn’t just ask), and she retested the swabs from the crime. She found something that turns the case towards the ex-boyfriend. Beckett wants Castle to call the Pennsylvania police, but Castle refuses. She’s worried about the both of them.
They go to see Gomez – Alexis talks to him. They talk about Kim and the night of the murder. Gomez tells Alexis that Kim was seeing other guys, so someone else had to have killed her. They take the information back to Frank, and he says he’s tired of it all. He’s just worried about his fiance and wants her to come to grips/peace with the execution (how would that ever be possible?).
Alexis is clearly upset. She doesn’t want him to give up, as the tears roll down her face. I thought about what if that was my daughter – how hard it is for a parent not to be able to help make things right. Now I’m sad.
Alright, Castle and Alexis drive and talk about what the next step is. Back in the city, Beckett goes to Lanie and talks about why Alexis didn’t come to her – she went to everyone else. Poor Beckett, she wants to be included and wants Alexis to ask for her help and advice. Lanie gives her a nice speech about making her own “baggage” (she means history) with Castle and Alexis. Lanie is a good friend.
Okay, now for the bad news. Castle and Alexis find out that the “other guys” Kim dated were students she tutored in chemistry … there were two books found at the crime scene. Guess who was a student … Frank’s younger brother, John. Oh no! Yep, that’s right. The murderer is Frank’s younger brother, but the story gets sadder.
A year before the murder, Frank caused an accident that left his brother with some brain damage. Frank took the wrap for the murder. Frank says John has his life back together, doesn’t remember the night of the murder, and is married with two kids. He’s not going to take that away from John. Gosh, what a sad story. (The two brothers are really good-looking – just throwing that out there.)
Wait a minute! Back at the hotel, Castle see’s a photo of a solar (bionary) clock that proves John arrived at the crime scene after the murder – that’s when Frank had heard his screams. What the heck. Neither brother is the killer! Yay! But who did it? I’m confused. Castle is going to figure it out … I hope!
Alexis apologizes to Castle for the way she was behaving. Castle hugs her and they are good again … but still need to figure out who killed Kim.
I should have known, those bad cops. The young cop was a swimmer who needed tutoring (so he could cook drugs) and things got ugly. The young cop killed her. Ha! Gotcha! All because of the little dolphin charm that was moved after she was killed. I love it.
Back to the court room – Frank is innocent and released from prison! Thank goodness! The brothers embrace, and John realizes his big brother was protecting him. So nice.
Alexis goes to Kate at the station. We don’t know what was said, but they both smiled and hugged. The family is back in balance … now let’s start planning the wedding … for next year!
I really enjoyed this episode of “Castle.” It was well written and well done. What did you think? Please leave your comments below.
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