Castle, S5 Ep18 – The Wild Rover

After last week’s disappointingly bland “scary” episode, this week’s Ryan-centric story helps me remember why I’m still a fan of this show. Thank you, Seamus Dever & company. Especially thank you, Seamus Dever, for being really, REALLY pretty as Ryan/Fenton in this ep. Ahem.

You thought Ryan was hot usually? Hoo boy.

So, when a baker is found dead in a vat of chocolate at his bakery (in an opening that reminded me heartbreakingly of Pushing Daisies), it seems that Bobby S., the leader of the Staten Island Irish mob, might be the killer. This brings Detective Ryan back to his heretofore unmentioned days undercover in that gang seven years ago – as does the fact that the current informant is someone he used to know rather well. She’s a pretty redheaded bar owner named Siobhan. (Thankfully, if she has a secret twin sister named Bridget, it doesn’t come up in the episode.) She’s also in danger of being exposed and killed. In order to save her life, Ryan tells the FBI that he’s willing to go back undercover and retrieve the gang’s “bible,” which details all their business dealings, partners, etc.

And back undercover he goes: as Fenton O’Connell, the sexy Irish bad boy and former close friend of Bobby S. This risk makes his wife nervous, as well as Esposito. But because he is awesome, Ryan/Fenton ducks the suspicions of Bobby’s new second-in-command Liam long enough to recover the bible, save the girl, and bring down Bobby and his crew (with some help from Beckett, Espo, and Castle). All while appearing mostly unperturbed, and extremely hot. Oh, and I should mention that Christina Cox ends up being the actual murderer. Mais bien sur, since she’s the (sort of) big name guest star. I do enjoy whenever she pops up on a show I’m watching, though.

Unsurprisingly, during this whole time, Ryan’s wife Jenny is a little nervous and a little angry that Ryan never told her about those years of his life. But by the end of the ep, when he can promise her that his undercover days are over, she’s ready to share the good news: she’s pregnant! Betcha saw that one coming. Their joy is still pretty darn adorable, though.

What can I say? I’m a sucker for “We’re going to have a baby!” reaction moments. SO CUTE.

The Castle/Beckett storyline of the ep also involves a woman who is angry at her man for holding out on her. For these two, it’s because Castle was caught saying “Jordan” several times in his sleep, and he doesn’t want to tell her about “Jordan.” But in the end, he tells Beckett the convoluted truth. It’s something to do with a car company (named Jordan) and a paper he plagiarized in boarding school that netted him a lot of undeserved praise for his writing. Now he’s always striving to live up to that praise. I guess that’s part of his motivation to be a writer? Okay. I’ll accept that, I suppose. Beckett is very much okay with that, too; in fact, she finds it endearing, based on the kissing that follows his confession. But no more plagiarizing, okay, Castle?

So what did you think? As good as or better than the previous Ryan-centric ep? Did you see the real murderer coming?