From the moment Vulcan Simmons appeared in this episode, I just knew things were going to get real messy. I just didn’t realize to what degree. Kate had been following this guy Jason Marks since about March. Well, that’s what the close up of her journal indicated. Jason, who Kate and Rick had been investigating in regards to her mother’s murder turned up dead and Vulcan Simmons who Kate saw driving Jason turned up dead as well.

As if things weren’t already intense, it got much worse when Lanie delivered the news to Kate that the one bullet that was found in Simmons came from a pistol registered to Kate. Simmons was killed with Kate’s backup piece that was in her safe at home. I was shaking just like Lanie was when she was giving the news to Kate. I just couldn’t believe it. There was no way Kate killed Simmons. I know Kate, she would never do such a thing. There was only one person that could have set all this up.

Later on, Castle came up with the theory that maybe our old dead friend Mr. Smith wasn’t actually dead at all. Could that possibly be? Well, Smith called Castle’s burner phone, and I’m pretty sure dead people cannot make telephone calls. Did anyone else get the shivers when Castle and Kate met with Smith in the parking garage? Smith told the two that he was close to bringing Jason into the fold but that someone found out and had him killed. First Jason, then Simmons. What was going on?

Intense doesn’t even begin to explain this episode. It was just one thing after another. There were so many heart pumping, intense moments but the swing sets moment definitely warmed my heart. A hooded Kate meeting Rick. Aw, just so awww. Anytime this show brings out the swings you know it’s going to be a great moment. Another great moment was when Espo and Ryan told Gates everything about Kate’s mother’s murder. I thought it was about time Gates knew what was going on. If Gates was going to do anything she could to protect Beckett, she needed to know the truth.

It was only a matter of time before Bracken found Kate and he made his move once Castle left the hotel room to get a car. I loved how Kate told Bracken to kill her if he had the balls to do so. Which we all know he doesn’t. He always makes other people do his dirty work. His two thugs made Kate swallow a pill that would relax her and then proceeded to feeding her booze. They were obviously making it look like some kind of suicide, but not so fast! Kate didn’t swallow the pill and took down both men. Did they really think Kate was going to go down without a fight? Kate did get smashed in the head but Castle showed up just in time and they took off.

I can’t even choose a favourite moment from this episode since the entire episode was incredible but I got some serious chills when Kate had a flashback to meeting Captain Montgomery for the first time. Kate was looking for her mother’s file and Kate didn’t realize it but back then, Montgomery was giving her a clue as to where the recording of Bracken confessing was. It turns out Montgomery gave Johanna the recording! Can you believe it? I was in shock.

Kate and Rick were able to get into Kate’s apartment to look through her mom’s stuff thanks to Ryan and Espo but Capt. Marcus Donovan came busting in before they could get out. The following sequence of events were absolutely brilliant. One of the best moments of the entire series. Kate was going through everything in her head and it donned on her. The famous elephants on Kate’s desk were her mom’s. Johanna used to have them on her desk and she used to say they were a family just like Kate, her mom, and her dad. “D ME w/ family” didn’t mean dinner with family, it actually meant Detective Montgomery, evidence w/ family. The tape was in one of the elephants!!!! Seeing Kate trying to crack open one of the elephants then the tape falling to the ground was so amazing. Even more amazing? Hearing Bracken confessing to everything on that tape.

It was so incredibly satisfying seeing Kate walk through those doors and seeing the complete shock on Bracken’s face. Kate had the honour of arresting Bracken for conspiracy, fraud and murder of her mother Johanna Beckett and all in front of the media. Bracken was going down and it was Beckett who got to deliver the final blow. What a moment for Beckett. Finally! That part of her life can be put to rest.

“I never could have done this without you.” – Beckett

A perfect ending to an amazing episode. I just can’t believe the whole thing. The recording was in the elephant the entire time! I am in shock. Mind blown. The Castle team has done it once again. I must add “Veritas” to the list of all time favourite Castle episodes. Let’s be honest, that list is really crowded, but this one will definitely go down as one of the Castle greats.

I’m just so glad we got to hear LT say a couple lines of dialogue. Go LT!

I’m going to definitely savour this episode a lot more before I think about next week’s finale. I can’t believe the season is almost over. It has been an incredible season, and I’m confident Milmar have an epic finale planned for us.

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From the moment I saw the promo for this episode I was ecstatic that Salli Richardson-Whitfield was guest starring as Gates’ sister Elizabeth. I’ve been a huge fan of Salli’s since she was on Eureka and these two incredible women were fantastic together. Polar vortex didn’t even begin to explain how Gates and Elizabeth were to each other at the beginning of the episode. You definitely sensed something big happened between these two.

We got some indication early on that something definitely went down between these two and that it was job related.

Gates: “I am not stuck anywhere. I will not apologize for doing my job to the letter of the law.”

We learned later on when Beckett was talking to Gates about Elizabeth, that Gates screwed up one of Elizabeth’s investigations. Back when Gates was the head of Internal Affairs, Elizabeth was trying to make her case and she begged Gates not to mess with her case. Gates chose her job because that’s who Gates is and we love her for it. Things haven’t been the same between the sisters since. I felt so bad for Gates because she seemed genuinely sad about the rift with her sister. Gates was only doing her job, but I could see where Elizabeth would have resentment towards her sister. They were the dynamic duo for goodness sake. Could you imagine the good they could have done together?

I just loved that Beckett and Gates scene so much. Such a beautiful bonding scene between them. Stana and Penny have such great chemistry together. This whole cast does. That’s what I love most about this show. All the actors have such amazing chemistry together and they really do love their jobs and it really translates on the screen.

The scene that really got to me was short but it packed quite a punch. When Gates was working late she opened up her desk drawer to reveal a picture of her and her sister. So much emotion in that moment. If you didn’t already love Gates, I’m sure after this scene you will. Yeah, she’s a hard ass sometimes, but she’s just trying to do her job. Even though she probably wasn’t talking to her sister, she was always thinking about her.

In the end, the team got their murderer and it was someone I didn’t even suspect. Turns out, our victim Peter Cordero took the 25 million from his boss and was going to run away. Stephanie, who was working with Elizabeth at the U.S. Attorney’s office listened to Cordero’s last recording and heard he was going to leave town. Stephanie couldn’t let Cordero do that and shot him. Such a shame. At least Peter donated a large portion of the money he took to rebuild his hometown that was destroyed by the earthquake that killed his parents.

I was so happy when Elizabeth thanked Gates for doing her job so well. The same thing that got between them in the first place. I was glad the sisters could put the past behind them. I really hope we get to see them work a case together again. I thought Penny and Salli really nailed it this week. I just loved how Elizabeth kept on calling her Victoria. Such a change from Captain Gates, or Sir.

Other than the case, we got to enjoy more wedding planning. We learned that Kate will not get married up in space, on a slide or on a ride. I’ll admit, getting married on the Cyclone at Coney Island would be pretty awesome. I kid I kid. Castle and his crazy ideas always make me laugh.

They already have a song, and now they needed to make their list. The amount of people just kept on growing, but to be fair, Castle is world famous-ish. I absolutely loved Aunt Theresa getting mentioned and Castle commenting about what she wrote on Facebook. Hilarious throwback Castle writers. I love when they do that.

How many names did Castle and Beckett have? Like 500? Well, Martha had her own list! Things were getting a little out of hand but Castle and Beckett being who they are and this amazing communication thing they’ve got going on decided to figure this out once and for all. Kate asked, “Why are we having this wedding?” They are having the wedding for them, not for anyone else. I thought it was brilliant to write down everyone they wanted to be there in a minute. After about 2 seconds they stopped to reveal they both wrote “YOU” on their piece of paper.

Okay, everyone on the count of 3 say, AWWWWW. How adorable was that? I can’t even count how many incredibly sweet moments we’ve got between the two of them. Of course after this they started to actually make their list together. I’m not going to make any predictions about this wedding. I’m just going to sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.

Soundbites from “The Greater Good”

Castle: “Hairy is my middle name. That sounded better in my head.”

Castle: “Castle, you’ve done it again.”

Gates: “Find the truth.”

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From the beginning, I didn’t know what to make of “The Human Factor.” I asked myself, “what is going on?” at least 5 times and it wasn’t even 10:30 yet. I love when Castle has cases like that. I love not knowing what is going on. It keeps me intrigued. Just when you thought Dale Tanner might have been murdered because of what he was exposing, it ends up being your typical human factor. Dale’s son was the one who killed his father. He wanted to make Dale pay for all the heartbreak he caused. I can’t say I blamed the kid, Dale might have been exposing nasty things, but he really wasn’t there for his family. Murder is really no way of solving anything though.

I liked the case of the week, but I’m really happy we got some lighthearted funny moments to balance everything out. I loved Castle playing with his remote control tank with the camera on it and spying on Beckett while she was getting dressed. Anytime we get a Castle and Beckett scene in bed, it just puts a smile on my face. Beckett faking a rise of the machines scenario to mess with Castle was hilarious. I could not stop laughing, it was too cute. I also could not stop laughing when Castle and Beckett went into that bookstore and saw that Storm Season was on the clearance table. It’s moments like these that really makes an episode for me. Without these, you just have your typical boring procedural show without any heart.

We also got bad ass Beckett this episode, which is always a good thing. Stack was right, Beckett is a force to be reckoned with. When I heard him say that, I immediately flashed back to Beckett smashing Senator Bracken in the face. That moment was one of my favourite bad ass Beckett moments ever. Even though I stayed spoiler free for this episode, I just knew something was coming up. The moment Stack asked to speak to Beckett I got a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. Here was the moment I did not want to happen. Stack asked the preverbal question, “Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?” Stack sees bigger things for Beckett and truth be told I do too. But in D.C.? Working with the Attorney General? Could Beckett really go for this job interview? If you haven’t seen the promo for next weeks season finale, do not read the next sentence. According to the promo, Beckett went to the job interview and is on the short list.

To be perfectly honest, it really bothered me that Beckett didn’t tell Castle what Stack said to her regarding the job. Beckett said it’s nothing but I seriously doubt it’s nothing, especially to Beckett. Castle and Beckett are in this together. They’re in love, they’re partners. I realize that “The Squab and the Quail” was supposed to air before “The Human Factor” and there’s maybe still some unresolved issues between Castle and Beckett. Maybe this is a sign that Kate is still unsure where she stands with Rick in regards to their future together. I know the show probably wants to build suspense, but Kate not saying anything to Castle is really telling. I wouldn’t blame Beckett one bit if she wanted to move on from the 12th. I believe she’s meant for much bigger things. I just hope Castle factors into her plans. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but for the first time in quite a while, I’m scared for Castle and Beckett’s future. I know last season we got a super happy ending with Castle and Beckett finally getting together. Are we going to be lucky and get another happy ending?

As if the end scene didn’t hurt my heart enough, we got this speech from Castle that was quite parallel on what was going on.

“‘Cause with people, all decisions are personal and where one person might see roses, another may see a chance to move on from an old life and on to a new one.”

I already see the finale being the death of me. I honestly hope everything works out and we’re not left with this super cliffhanger involving Castle and Beckett’s relationship. It will in fact be the longest summer ever.

So, does anyone have any theories about the finale? Are we going to get heartbreak or a happy ending? In Marlowe we trust…right?

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