The fourth season of ABC’s hit show Castle has not even started yet and fans are already crying foul about recent spoilers. A couple of weeks ago a piece of information regarding episode 5 was released by the press and the Caskett shippers worldwide went berserk about it. A female art insurance investigator was being cast and she would have this instant spark with Castle. This new character – supposedly a recurring one, which is not certain yet – was immediately labeled as a new love interest for Rick Castle.
I admit my first reaction was what. the. hell. The last we’ve seen of Castle he was telling Kate desperately that he loved her and five episodes later he has a new love interest? Seriously, TPTB? Seriously? But then I started thinking about it – after getting over the initial shock – and you know what, this might actually be a good thing. No, really, don’t look at me like that. For all we know, this is going to be a one episode thing. EW’s Sandra Gonzalez reports that as of right now, Kristin Lehman is only set to appear in episode 5. Of course things can change, but from the looks of it, she is only going to be there for that one case.
So following that train of thought, if this investigator is only there for one episode, I honestly believe we don’t have a lot to worry about. Because if you look back on previous seasons of the show, in which other situations exactly like this one happened, you will see that in most cases the “love interest” served as a catalyst for our dynamic duo to grow closer. Still don’t believe me? Let’s take a look at the evidence.
Evidence #1: FBI Special Agent Jordan Shaw
Played by Dana Delaney, Jordan Shaw joined the team when a crazy psychopath fixed on Detective Beckett, ultimately blowing up her apartment in an attempt to kill her. Castle was incredibly excited about meeting a top FBI Special Agent like Shaw and Beckett was incredibly jealous, to the point that he called her out on it. In the end, when the case was solved, Shaw told Kate that she could see there was something there between her and Castle and that he cared a lot about her.
After that case, Kate stayed with Castle for a few days, while she looked for a new apartment.
Evidence #2: Detective Tom Demming
Beckett met him during an investigation in episode 2.21 “Den of Thieves”. He asked her out, she said yes. Castle was crawling up a wall in jealousy, to the point that he couldn’t stand to watch Kate be with another guy so he decided to go to the Hamptons for the summer. He even invited Kate along to spend Memorial Day with him there. It took Esposito spelling it all out to finally get through to her that Castle was not there for research anymore and that he cares about her, which was why he was leaving. She broke up with Demming and was ready to say yes to Castle, when he showed up with his ex-wife Gina in tow and they disappeared to the Hamptons for the summer before Kate could say anything.
It was heartbreaking, but hey, it was her own fault for not seeing what was clearly in front of her sooner. The fallout of this particular situation (and the positive side effects), we saw in the season 3 premiere, which just kind of meshed together with the side effects of the fact that both of them were in a relationship at the begining of season 3.
Evidence #3: Josh and Gina
The fact that both Castle and Beckett were in a relationship with other people seemed to make those vague boundaries between them all but evaporate. Since they were both tied to other people, it seemed like they were more comfortable, safer to get into each other’s personal space, flirt shamelessly and grow a lot closer as friends. Of course Castle came to his senses a lot sooner than Kate and dumped Gina to the curb as soon as he realized his muse was who really wanted.
We all expected Josh to follow in her footsteps as soon as possible, but it just didn’t happen and it was incredibly frustrating to watch. But there’s also the fact that Josh is never around so it feels like Kate thinks she can use him as a buffer between herself and Castle. The writer is always there for her and would do anything for her (he did try to take a bullet for her, for Pete’s sake!), but whenever things got too intense, she could hide behind her pseudo relationship with Dr. Motorcycle Boy.
The side effect of those love interests was that we got to watch as a beautiful friendship - with incredibly blurred lines – formed between Castle and Beckett and I think we can safely say that they both consider themselves best friends.
vidence #4: Natalie Rhodes aka Nikki Heat
That was by far the funniest episode of the season and it remains as one of my favorite episodes of the entire show. When the actress who is playing Nikki Heat in the big screen asked Beckett if she could follow her around for a couple of days for research, Kate didn’t think it would be a bad thing. It all changed when Natalie literally became her (brown wig and all) and set her eyes on Castle.
The detective was obviously green with jealousy, but it all changed when she found out that Castle had turned Natalie down. An episode later, she overheard him breaking up with Gina. An episode after that, they kissed. If it hadn’t meant anything, they wouldn’t have bottled it all up until it came to blows in the finale.
Bottom line, they grew even closer after that. We also saw the birth of their own form of saying they care for each other when Castle said “Always” to her for the first time.
Evidence #5: Alex Conrad
Castle’s protegé, Alex Conrad, came to the precinct to meet the writer and ended up meeting Detective Beckett as well and was immediately enamored with her. He asked her out for a cup of coffee so they could talk about her job and Castle was crazy with jealousy. He even got his poker buddies to give Conrad a hard time and Kate obviously found out and called him out on it. He admitted he was jealous and that he wanted her all to himself and that having another writer running around with her was just not cool. Kate told him she thought his jealousy was really sweet and that he had nothing to worry about because she was a one writer girl. This was also the first time she said “always” back.
“To Love and Die in LA” and “Knockout” followed that episode, so you guys can see where I’m going with this, right?
The point here is that whenever someone tries to come between them, instead of driving them apart, Castle and Beckett always find a way to get even closer. This episode with Kristin Lehman seems like it will be exactly that kind of situation. In fact, I am willing to bet it’s going to be a mix between the Jordan Shaw and Nikki Heat situation and the fact that this is the second episode we will see Kate’s therapist just makes things sound even better. I don’t know about you guys, but I am all for learning more about what Kate is thinking and what better catalyst to get her to open up than seeing Castle even slightly interested in another woman?
So take a deep breath, calm down. The season hasn’t even started yet. Let’s try to enjoy the ride first.
Castle
For Lovers Only
The Double
Truth About Kerry
Batman: Arkham City
Big Sur
Fletcher Drive
