'Castle' Review/Recap: "Resurrection Part 1"

Devika Syal ‘18 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

Monday night’s episode of Castle took the show back to a familiar place and storyline. For the past few weeks, Castle (Nathan Fillion) has been working as a P.I. while Beckett (Stana Katic), Esposito (Jon Huertas) and Ryan (Seamus Dever) continue their job at the 12th Precinct. However, a special circumstance allowed Castle to be welcomed back for a short while, but it also included the return of someone Castle fans have simultaneously dreaded and waited eagerly for since he was last seen in Season Five: 3XK.
And it was great.
For anyone who needs a reminder of who 3XK is…first of all, do you watch the show? Second, he’s a serial killer—actually named Jerry Tyson (Michael Mosley)—who the NYPD has been dealing with for four seasons. Originally identified by his tendency to kill three blonde women in the span of a week, lay low for a while, then do it again, his involvement with the 12th Precinct turned into one of revenge. Each of the episodes Tyson has been in have involved him messing with a main member of the precinct: he stole Ryan’s gun, framed Castle for murder, and created plastic surgery clones of Lanie and Esposito with the help of suspicious surgeon Dr. Kelly Neiman to sneak into police buildings. The episode actually does a very good job of quickly recapping Tyson’s involvement on the show through a quick speech by Castle before the investigation begins.

What made the episode an excellent part one to a two part storyline is that it contained a lot of waiting and a lot of suspense. The first third of the episode is action-packed as a seemingly random murder leads to Dr. Neiman and eventually Jerry Tyson, who they arrest even though he claims to be a man named Michael Boudreaux who simply had some surgery to alter his appearance.
It seems that Tyson and/or Boudreaux made himself very easy to find and catch. This could have been intentional. Tyson may be a murderer, but he also has a self-destructive side to himself. Other possible explanations for this are that his sadistic side wanted to make the precinct sweat, or that he wanted to clear his alibi. For all the audience knows, the man in the precinct was Michael Boudreaux, who had been altered to look like Tyson. Meanwhile, the actual Tyson could be out there committing murders or harming Beckett, however no one would suspect him because they all strongly believe that he’s the man they arrested.
The suspense comes in when they must try to prove that he’s really Tyson, which leads Castle and Beckett to Tyson’s mother’s house, which plays a big part. Castle suspects that Tyson preys on blonde women because his mother once looked the same and he hates her, however she insists that nothing she did could have made Tyson the way he is now.

There’s a strong possibility that more of Tyson’s childhood will be unveiled next week. An interesting storyline would be that he kills her in the next episode. No other 3XK episode has been in two parts, and this may be the show’s way of saying that he’s finally going to be finished. What better way for 3XK to exit with a bang than killing the woman who inspired all his murders and essentially made him the way he is?
Viewers suspect that Dr. Neiman created a Beckett look-a-like and will use her against Castle and the rest of the precinct in some way during the span of the next episode. This seems valid, seeing as Dr. Neiman always makes a point to comment on how much she’d like to work with Beckett’s facial structure. Also, as mentioned earlier, Tyson has targeted every member of the precinct except Beckett at this point. It’s her turn!
Fans also think that Alexis had been mysteriously replaced by a look-a-like at the beginning of the episode. Why, you ask? Because she showed affection to Kate by giving her a goodbye kiss before going to the library to study. Fans have received so little in regards to the relationship between Beckett and Alexis that they think the only way it could happen is if Alexis was an inexperienced imposter. How sad is that? Come on, Castle writers! Alexis has always been an intelligent, kind, understanding character. All we ask for is a developing relationship between her and her new step mom. However, that probably isn’t what most people will be waiting for next episode. (It’s still important though).
As many speculations as there are, the only way to truly know what will happen to Beckett and 3XK is to watch the new episode next Monday. Until then, all anyone can do is wait.
Overall Episode Grade: A+