Cheeseburgers! Recap: Castle - "Number One Fan"

[warning]WARNING: Spoilers ahead for those who have not seen this episode.[/warning]

Season 6, Episode 4
Airdate: Monday, October 14th, 2013 at 10/9c on ABC
Rating: ★★★★★

“Listen, I’m kinda looking forward to spending the rest of my life with you, so don’t do anything stupid in there, ‘kay?” – Kate Beckett

Castle agrees to Emma’s terms and meets her in the dentist’s office.

Tonight’s episode of Castle steers away from the norm and creatively blossoms during our favorite hour-long ABC drama. I particularly love the new directions creator Andrew W. Marlowe and company are taking this season and hope to see many more surprises down the road! Only good and happy ones though, AWM…don’t go breaking up Castle (Nathan Fillion) and Beckett (Stana Katic) or I might have to murder someone myself! There are just so many things to fall in love with during tonight’s episode, “Number One Fan.” Among them happen to be: plenty of mushy-gushy Caskett (Castle & Beckett) scenes, a spattering of humor among all characters, and one delightful guest star!

“Number One Fan” places all of it’s attention on guest star Alicia Lagano, who plays Emma Riggs, the seemingly crazy main – and only – murder suspect who takes a dentist’s office hostage. After waking up on the morning of her birthday, Emma finds her boyfriend Angelo Vazquez murdered, prompting her to flee from the police ending with her taking five hostages. This is where things get interesting. Instead of making monetary or transportation demands, Emma asks for only one thing, well, one person—the one and only Richard Castle, her favorite author.

It’s a beautiful – and I mean downright glorious – morning at the Castle loft. The sun is streaming through the windows and my favorite TV couple ever is cuddling in bed together. In line with my predictions, Beckett is starting to freak out about being unemployed. Since the NYPD cannot hire her back due to a hiring freeze set by the Police Commissioner, she believes her only choice is to become a mall cop; a very sexy one in Castle’s opinion (mine too). This whole realm of blissful alone time is cruelly interrupted, however, by none other than Pi (Myko Olivier), Alexis’ (Molly Quinn) boyfriend, looking to borrow a razor. Who does this guy think he is?!

Alicia Lagano killin’ it as Emma Riggs.

The call from Gates arrives shortly after and Castle finds out he is the only one who can possibly talk down the murder suspect, Emma, and save the hostages. Willingly – and probably enthusiastically – Castle agrees to meet Emma face to face, but not before the hostage negotiator plans out his safeword. Beckett steps up to the plate and shows how much she actually knows Castle by confirming that his favorite food is a “good cheeseburger.”

As Castle soon finds out, Emma adamantly denies killing Angelo, she might be a little crazy, she likes to drink, her Juvie records are sealed, and she grew up at St. Helena’s Home for Children. Not necessarily in that order. To her, it’s Castle’s job – with help from Beckett (who is allowed to work this investigation), Ryan (Seamus Dever), Esposito (Jon Huertas), and Sully (Joshua Bitton) – to prove she is being set up.

Let’s quickly go through the facts: at the crime scene, where Lanie (Tamala Jones) makes an appearance, the team finds a coded note in Angelo’s pocket which is later linked to St. Helena’s, the orphanage where Emma was given up for adoption. It turns out that Angelo’s birthday present to his girlfriend was the gift of knowing who her birth parents are, but since the files were sealed, he needed to break into the orphanage, hence the burglary tools Sully discovered in Angelo’s car.

In the middle of all that jazz, Castle gets into more trouble. Go figure! One of the hostages, Mickey Gerhardt (Billy Miller), takes it upon himself to be a freaking hero and tries to disarm Emma. Well, things go awry and Emma accidentally shoots Castle in the chest. Thank goodness he had his “WRITER” bullet-proof vest on!

“She dotted the ‘I’!” – Richard Castle

Billy Miller as Mickey Gerhardt

After the shooting, we find out that Emma’s records were illegally unsealed once before. Enter Mr. Vance (Patrick Heusinger), a lawyer with many high profile clients to his name. It seems Mr. Douchebag Lawyer paid a nice little sum to have those files unsealed for a client and Castle believes that said client might be one of Emma’s birth parents. And it is! But believe me; it’s not as simple as it sounds.

It seems Emma’s birth father, Aaron Stokes (Tom Amandes), a real estate developer running for public office, makes two wishes come true. First, he decides to meet Emma and welcome her into his family. Second, he gets Beckett her job back! It’s as easy as calling his friend the Police Commissioner and kindly requesting more money be found in the budget for a top-notch detective.

It’s a celebration all around the precinct’s bullpen as everyone welcomes back Beckett and Castle, as her consultant. I’ll leave you with four parting words: PUBLIC MAKEOUT SESH TIME!

Hits

The number 47 made another appearance tonight.
Ryan’s adorable playing bad cop.
Alicia Lagano — holy crap, this girl knows how to turn on the waterworks! Bravo!
Javi’s looking might fine in a charcoal button-up and hunter green blazer!

Misses

How many times are we going to find a written clue in a victim’s pocket?
I’m sure by now you can guess my other complaint… it rhymes with WHY! I did, however, enjoy him calling Beckett “Mrs. C to be.”

Tune in to Castle, Mondays at 10/9c only on ABC.

For more on the show, go to http://abc.go.com/shows/castle
Follow on Twitter @Castle_ABC, https://twitter.com/Castle_ABC
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Photos: Credit with copyright. ©2013 ABC Studios. All Rights Reserved.

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Emily Reynolds

Hi, you've reached Emily, your TV Goddess. She has an addiction to TV shows, especially crime dramedies and is always available to fangirl with you! She also loves coffee, sleeping, and tweeting. Read her random but awesome musings on Twitter: @tvgoddess47!!!