Castle - Resurrection

The murder of a young blonde woman in an alley raises red flags for Lanie (Tamala Jones) who quickly makes a connection to the victims of Dr. Kelly Nieman (Annie Wersching). Given his understanding of the case Captain Gates (Penny Johnson) is able to convince the D.A. to allow Castle (Nathan Fillion) to consult on the latest murder which not only turns up Nieman working at a practice in New York City but a man bearing a striking resemblance to Jerry Tyson (Michael Mosley) as well. With the physical evidence of Tyson's crimes missing or destroyed, and no physical evidence connecting either of them to the current murder investigation, Beckett (Stana Katic) is fighting the clock to prove that the man before them is Jerry Tyson and responsible for yet another murder.

The return of 3XK doesn't disappoint, even if takes most of the episode for Castle to get anything close to a confirmation of the identity of the man he knows to be Tyson. On the verge of victory it never occurs to either Beckett or Castle that the madman has be playing them both the entire time and the murder of the young woman, far from a mistake, is but the opening salvo in his latest attack. Their overconfidence, especially given Tyson's record of leading them around by the nose, bothered me throughout as Beckett has shown far more care with far less dangerous characters than Jerry Tyson. The trap is sprung in the final few minutes leaving the fate of a major character in doubt and revealing Tyson's true target.

The investigation does uncover a few facts which Castle correctly guessed back in "3XK" concerning the reasons for Tyson's killings. Although unproven, like Tyson's true identity, Castle also correctly surmises the truth of Nieman and Tyson's relationship involving the plastic surgeon creating the perfect victims for 3XK before leading them to slaughter. It's a small complaint but the episode is a little flashback heavy including several scenes from "3XK," "Disciple," "Probable Cause," and "Kick the Ballistics" when the show's writers could have had a bit more faith that Castle viewers would remember the gist of Tyson's twisted games.