Castle Recap: #SvetlanaStone 4Ever

This week on ABC’s Castle, Rick and Kate craftily kept their recoupling under wraps as they investigated the death of an ex-con turned a cappella star. Cue the introduction of Russian underwear model Svetlana and the dashing Dr. Livingstone!

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The midseason premiere opens with Martha rehearsing her latest show when the cue for “snow” results in a few flakes from the rafters above… followed by a downpour of blood. Cut to the loft, where Rick and Kate have wrapped up a third round of covert copulation. Alas, Kate’s touch-base with Gates at 1PP precludes a fourth go-round. After she leaves, Rick gets a call from Martha about her rehearsal’s grim intermission.

The vic, Robyn, was an ex-con who by some accounts (including Martha’s) was turning her life around, while others suggest she had fallen back in with her old “crew,” led by the tough-talking drug dealer Momma. But Momma maintains that Robyn had found a “new family” and had a “big thing” lined up for the imminent future.

Following some leads (namely, a message hidden in a string of emojis), Rick takes Alexis to scout out an abandoned mall in Spanish Harlem. There, in the ominous cavern, they uncover… an underground a cappella sing-off. (Scaredy cat Rick had already texted “911” to RySpo, though, so the super-entertaining shindig gets busted up by the cops.) Coming out of their convo with Robyn’s group — the Aca-Cons, who are sponsored by a husband/wife duo out to help ex-cons get back on their feet — Suspect No. 2 is Agnes, a bad egg and recently ousted member.

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Before checking into Agnes, Ryan and Esposito lean on Castle to come clean about the nature of his and Beckett’s estrangement. Cornered on the topic of possibly cheating, Rick “admits” that he met someone — “Svetlana,” a Russian underwear model. That “confession” puts him in the doghouse with the boys for the rest of the hour, as they freeze out the man who would betray their Beckett. Later, when offered sympathy for Castle’s infidelity, Beckett tells the boys that she in turn found someone else, a “Dr. Livingstone.” After, Kate chides Rick for his choice in his new girlfriend’s name, before confirming that Svetlana is a “really, really hot” model. In public, though, she must vocally chew him out and let slip with the occasional slap.

Agnes cops to taking a meeting with Robyn, but says that the fellow con had sought her out for protection, from someone involved in the a cappella competition. The head judge is next to fall under suspicion, especially after scoffing that Robyn and her “kind” should not be involved in the competition. Rick and Espo meanwhile confront one of the rival groups, but they decline to pause their warm-ups to answer Qs. That sets the stage for Espo to “sing” (and quite well at that) his questions to the guys, until the one played by Corbin Bleu runs scared, only to get awesomely clotheslined by Kate.

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We are then led to believe that the head judge offed Robyn, after she learned that he took a bribe from Corbin Bleu. Instead, it turns out, Robyn had happened upon a video that revealed who had “rescued” her from the months-ago car crash that landed her in jail — as evidenced by a distinct, expensive scarf that had been used as a makeshift tourniquet. The item belonged to Linda, the woman who helped found the Aca-Cons and was actually responsible for the car crash but covered it up. But Linda didn’t kill Robyn either. Rather, after Robyn confronted Linda about her role in the crash, her husband Scott “accidentally” did the deed, fearing that “the truth would ruin everything the girls had worked for.” Martha for one makes sure the killer doesn’t remain misguided in his justification, smacking him good before leaving to cheer on the forlorn Aca-Cons.

What did you think of “Tone Death”? Does pretend adultery between fictional TV characters leave a bad taste in your mouth? Or do enjoy the fun web of lies Kate and Rick are spinning, knowing all will be revealed in a matter of weeks?

And remember, new episodes this Sunday as well as next Monday.

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