Who’s Dying for Castle Season 3?

Captain Roy Montgomery: When it stinks to be the favorite

Don’t forget to check your guesses at our Castle Season 3 finale recap

Okay, so “The Dead Pool” was really this season’s episode 21, but we’re having another version right here today.  The Season 3 finale of ABC’s Castle airs tonight—we’ll also be posting a recap and reaction later—however, as you may know, the network’s already leaked that a character who’s been on the show from the beginning will die. 

At TVSquad, voting’s favoring NYPD Captain Roy Montgomery, played by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, as the dead man walking.  Partly because he’s been murmuring about retiring from the force, and there’s nothing writers enjoy like splattering blood on a farewell banner or showing the shattered crystal of a retirement watch.  “Damn and double damn!  He almost made it out of the job!”

Beckett and Castle: Risking Only Emotional Scarring?
Nathan Fillion as Richard Castle and Stana Katic as Detective Kate Beckett have to be safe, I think, because. . .well, duh.  However, I don’t rule out short comas, bleeding head wounds, or other things worth brooding about at hospital bedsides.  Perhaps one will require the arm-sling or single-crutch of sympathy, but that’s the worst I can imagine.

Lanie Parish with Beckett and Castle: Should she look confident or concerned?
If they dare kill off Dr. Alexx Woods Medical Examiner Lanie Parish (Tamala Jones), I’m gonna suspect there’s a cross-network serial killer targeting cute, black, female, doctors of the dead, and request that the Criminal Minds’ BAU get on profiling that fiend!

I don’t assume Detectives Kevin Ryan and Javier Esposito (Seamus Dever and Jon Huertas, respectively) are necessarily safe, though seeing either one gacked would make me incredibly sad, since they’ve got such a nice Mutt and Jeff comedic vibe going now. 

(L to R) Ryan, Esposito, Castle, and.Capt.Montgomery, looking very croppable here.

As for terminating Castle’s daughter Alexis (Molly Quinn) or mother Martha (Susan Sullivan)?  I can’t take that option seriously, nor can I believe Richard Castle bounces back into ebullient joie de vivre after that. 

One of the reasons, I think, we can tolerate the ongoing story of Beckett’s mother’s murder is because it’s distant enough in time, not that it doesn’t sober the mood when it’s the focus.   It’s given opportunities, too, for Castle and Beckett to get closer, but a killshot through the heart of the current family, whether the one in Castle’s swanky apartment or the NYPD squadroom, can’t be about intimacy or closure. A horror like that can only be about watching the characters struggle under terrible, immediate grief.  If there is a change to come in the dynamic between Beckett and Castle, I’m not sure that her trying to stop him from drinking himself to death or his helping to hunt her when she becomes a pitiless death-machine is precisely the direction of evolution I’d hoped.

So if someone has to expire tonight, I guess I’d rather it be Captain Montgomery.  But just as a change of pace, I’d rather have him die unexpectedly, but quietly, in his office chair after a delicious, large sandwich.  (While I’m wishing, I hope his wife has an enormous, supportive family, an active social network, and several years of niggling precognitions that resign her to his fate more easily.)

Besides, a micro-managing, mean-minded, Beckett and/or Castle-hating new boss could add tons of new tension at the station, and how can that be anything but enjoyable?

Your votes?

Comments

  1. Allison Brennan

    I suspect you’re right and it’s Capt. Montgomery, because the best way to increase conflict in Season 4 is to have a new leader (one who isn’t so willing to give Castle such mind-blowing access/leeway on his perpetual ride-along.) Or a female captain who is a true rival to Kate. I really like the dynamic of Ryan and Esposito, but I’m wondering if Jon Huertas might have some other opportunities. I saw him in a guest spot somewhere … can’t remember where. I just remember he was good. Also saw Dever in a guest spot … Maybe they’ll blow both of them up and we’ll get two new sidekicks. Not ideal (because I like them) but after three seasons I think there’s a real fear of being typecast. It’s not going to be Alexis. Odds against mom, too, but I wouldn’t rule it out. Castle’s ex-wife? The publisher? She was in the first episode and has been in a few others–so technically from the very beginning. Hmm, probably not.

  2. Clare 2e

    Allison- interesting point about the ex-wife!

    That’s what I think, too, about Castle’s free-range access and the unbounded faith Montgomery has in Beckett. Very little challenge from the brass. Perhaps a female boss as you say–an attractive, fascinating one. I’d like to see Beckett feeling unsettled and unsure of Castle actually. I don’t know if she can pine the way Fillion does, but I’d enjoy a little subtle suffering, I think : )

    Defintely, if Ryan or Esposito go out, they should go out together, full Thelma & Louise.

  3. Terrie Farley Moran

    NOOOO! I hadn’t heard the “someone will die” leak.

    I like the entire cast and would like to have them together for another season or two. Half the time this stuff happens not for creative reasons but because someone wants another 20k an episode, or the producers want the show to increase profits and decide to cut a salary line.

    I hope that this turns out to be similar to the episode of “Ironsides” in which the “regular” who died turned out to be the van. Perhaps Castle’s poker table could explode.

    Barring that, I can live with Allison’s suggestion: the ex-wife.

  4. Terrie Farley Moran

    I hated the entire premise of this episode.
    I hated the ending. And I blame a money dispute. We’ll see what September brings.

  5. kushka53

    without giving away the last few second of the finale, let’s just say that i hated it. the captain was a given, but this ending was too much…

  6. Clare 2e

    No spoilers in this comment, however, I guess we’re at 50%.

    People seem to be awash in adoration for this episode or they despised it. I found the storyline more satisfying than I expected actually, because I’ve seen some fizzled finales this season. I don’t believe the coup de gras anyway, if you know what I mean. Not for a second, so I probably didn’t need it, but it was a way to elicit the final lines, I suppose.

  7. Terrie Farley Moran

    [quote]Clare said:
    I don’t believe the coup de gras anyway, if you know what I mean. Not for a second, so I probably didn’t need it, but it was a way to elicit the final lines, I suppose.

    I agree. I just dislike tv producers treating us like morons. And it is usually about contracts/money, which annoys me even more.

    [/quote]

  8. Mary Saputo

    Remember when David Caruso died in the season closer of CSI Miami? They brought him back even though I was hoping he really did kick the bucket. I’m going to mention her name now since it’s now Tuesday and we all saw the closer last night. I can’t imagine Kate actually being dead. It’s probably just another way for them to catch the “big guy.” The show certainly wouldn’t be the same without Kate. Kate and Castle have a wonderful connection.

  9. Elyse Dinh-McCrillis

    Can someone just explain to me why Montgomery, knowing he’s about to go into a gunfight, didn’t put on a Kevlar vest? He’d still be alive since he didn’t get shot in the head.

  10. Clare 2e

    Terrie- The creator has next season basically planned, and is giving interviews about some of the complications that will occur with Beckett’s boyfriend, search forMr. Big killer, etc., so we know she’s okay in some way, but not how.

    Both actors are already signed and sealed for next season, I believe,
    so this is all about the storyline, which they seem to be having fun playing around with. Alas, Montgomery’s gone for good, but the creator says he does plan on introducing more squadroom tension and complications, which people suspected.

    @bitsy08 We don’t know what happened, but Beckett will survive. There’s a future for this show and cast, but we won’t know how it works until Sept.

    @popculturenerd I assume if he had Kevlar, he would’ve been shot in the head by one of the 4 guys. Messy for network : ) so no Kevlar.

  11. ScottDParker

    bitsy08 – I’m so happy that someone else remembers the same type of thing (maybe?) from CSI: Miami.

    Pop Culture Nerd – I think Montgomery didn’t wear the vest in order to end things permanently. If he dies, his family is safe. That’s what he thought, I’m sure, as he went to the meeting. However, he got some extra gravy in that he was able to take out Lockwood. I was so happy there was no last gasp dialog from the captain. When Beckett got to him, he was gone.

    kushka53 and Terry – While I knew something big was on the horizon, I had no idea of the scope. What I liked most about the ending was how satisfying it was. It ended a stellar season with a gasp. True, we all know Beckett’s going to return, but for the shock value alone, it was worth. I read the comments on “Castle’s” Facebook page and was actually surprised to read many, many people thinking that Beckett’s dead. Of course not. But it’s nice to make you think.

    I’m curious: what about the ending did y’all not like?

  12. Nancy Covino

    I think definately the Capt. I’m sorry but we need all the other characters where they are especially Castle’s family.

Comments are closed.