Season 7, Episode 21
Air Date: Monday, April 27, 2015 at 10/9c on ABC
Rating:
***WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD***
“There’s a snake on the mother-flying plane.” – Castle
Alexis and Castle video chat with Beckett about the case of the murdered Air Marshal.
“In Plane Sight” is a great episode to clear our minds after a somewhat dismal showing in last week’s “Sleeper” where we were supposed to learn about Castle’s (Nathan Fillion) mysterious disappearance. This week, Castle and Alexis (Molly C. Quinn) take a mini father/daughter vacation to London but encounter more than turbulence during their flight. When Air Marshal Kyle Ford (Brian Perry) is found dead in the cargo hold, Oceanic Air flight 57’s captain (Lisa Kaminir) asks Castle to step in to help solve the mystery.
Ok, let’s just clear the air, so to speak. Oceanic Air is the name of the airline Castle and Alexis are on. Lost much? At any rate, Castle and Alexis don’t anticipate having to solve a murder while flying first class to England but that’s exactly what happens. Castle lacks confidence at the beginning of this high flying case despite his track record of helping the NYPD solve numerous crimes. It’s not until Castle speaks with Beckett (Stana Katic), who gives him a pep talk, that he finds his usual flair for helping to solve difficult cases. Castle, along with the help of lead flight attendant Debbie (Paula Newsome), and two other attendants, Farrah (Inbar Lavi) and Jim (Josh Dean), narrows down the suspect pool by surreptitiously observing the passengers. It’s a little more than convenient that a newlywed couple are taking tons of selfies and videos of their wedded bliss.
Ryan, Beckett, and Esposito run down leads on the ground to help Castle solve a ‘mile high’ murder.
Using some of the video taken by the newlywed couple, and with Beckett, Ryan (Seamus Dever), and Esposito (Jon Huertas) on the ground helping any way they can, Castle tries to create a timeline of Ford’s last movements on board the flight. Meanwhile, Alexis calls upon Lanie (Tamala Jones) to help with figuring out the cause of death via video chat. Lanie tells Alexis to get closer to the body to determine how Ford died. Is it me or does the way Ford is positioned look odd? How did someone get him in the trunk that way? It has to be someone strong, right? Once Alexis pulls Ford out of the trunk a little, both she and Lanie clearly see a large gash on the back of his head. Cause of death—blunt force trauma.
The Suspects
The suspect pool runneth over with contenders, but Ford’s girlfriend Marilyn Singer (Kincaid Walker) takes the prize in the Miss Obvious contest. The wig and big sunglasses aren’t a dead giveaway at all. Marilyn also happens to be a disgruntled former Oceanic Air employee, but it doesn’t mean she killed her boyfriend. Besides, she doesn’t look strong enough to have put Ford in the trunk.
Next person on the list is the nervous guy, Aiman Haddad (Nick Greene). It’s plain to see he’s got something to hide but what? Castle, with the help of crafty flight attendant Farrah, gets Aiman’s fingerprint by crushing up the lead in his mechanical pencil and dusting the plastic wine cup Aiman drinks from. I don’t know how it all works or if it’s just television magic, but Castle takes a photo and sends it to Beckett. The fingerprint gets a match and they discover Aiman is on the no-fly list and flying with a stolen passport. He may also have ties with the Islamic terrorist organization ISIS. But looks can be deceiving. Castle detains Aiman and begins to interrogate him. Aiman tells Castle he’s flying to Syria to visit his ailing mother, and it’s his cousin who has ties to ISIS, not him.
L-R: Flight Attendant Farrah, Alexis, Aaron, and Castle – Castle realizes the so-called $13 million dollar watch is fake.
Gathering the evidence, Castle and the team discover Ford wasn’t scheduled to be at work that day but requested to be on the flight. It turns out Ford is being compensated nearly $10K to help guard a $13 million dollar watch being auctioned off in London. Wealthy industrialist Victor Dietrich (Roy Werner) paid auction house apprentice Aaron (Ben D. Goldberg) to wear the watch to get through customs without any issues.
But after putting all the pieces together, Castle realizes the murder is an inside job. Someone on the flight crew is the killer. Dun, dun, dun, dun… A gun in her hand, Debbie explains to Castle about Oceanic Air’s new policy of restructuring and eliminating employee pensions, which almost makes me wish she would have gotten away with it. Debbie gave “thirty years of loyal service” to the airline, and to be told she isn’t getting a pension is a huge slap in the face. The real treat in “In Plane Sight” is Alexis stepping up to talk Debbie down, so to speak. Way to go, Alexis!
Overall
“In Plane Sight” is a fun, whodunit episode of Castle. The way the camera pans through the small enclosed space makes it feel like they are on an actual plane, providing a sense of realism to the episode. I also enjoyed seeing Quinn in a more immersive role. I’ve missed her character being more involved on the show. I’ve always adored the father/daughter relationship she and Castle have. It is so cute how she changes her plans in order to spend time with Castle and be “joined at the hip.” And seeing Beckett breathe a sigh of relief knowing Castle and Alexis’ flight lands safely at Heathrow is an ‘awww’ moment to be sure.
What did you think of “In Plane Sight?” Who did you suspect first? Leave me a comment below and/or tweet me @judybopp.
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Photos ©2015 American Broadcasting Company. All Rights Reserved.
Judy Manning
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2 comments
very enjoyable and more mainstream case which Castle needs more of. Alexis was so smart and calm in the wake of danger. Reunion scene would have been my only change.
Author
Yeah this was a really intense case and I loved Alexis being in this episode working along side her dad. Thanks again for reading and supporting!!