“Castle” is known for having cases that feed Richard Castle’s very active imagination. The murders and suspects in “Time Will Tell” did just that but with one key difference from earlier episodes that venture into the realm of supernatural or science fiction. Instead of ending the episode with all of Castle’s outlandish theories debunked, this episode ends with Beckett almost believing the suspects were telling the truth.
The mystery begins when the homicide detectives, plus Castle, are called in to investigate the torture and murder of a young parole officer, Shauna. An interview with Shauna’s stepbrother reveals that she was being stalked. She had reported it to the police and the stalker was taken in for a psych evaluation. He was released the morning of the murder but Esposito is able to find tapes from his interviews. The stalker insists that he needs to get out to save Shauna.
They get a call at the precinct that the stalker has broken back into Shauna’s apartment. When they arrive, he tries to escape and claims that billions of lives are at stake. When he admits that he is from the future, Castle giddily proclaims that this is his favorite case ever. Beckett rolls her eyes and brings the stalker in for questioning.
In his interview, the stalker, Simon Doyle, explains the what is happening in 2035 and why he was sent back in time. He doesn’t know the details but he knows that Shauna’s death triggers something catastrophic in the future. Castle eats it up but Beckett doesn’t believe a word.
Lanie’s autopsy reveals that Doyle is innocent since he was still being held at the police station at the time of death. They also find evidence that Shauna was with a woman the night she died. They bring the woman in for questioning, and she claims that she was ordered to go home with Shauna to steal her apartment keys.
They are able to find out that the man who wanted the keys was named Garrett Ward but don’t get much other information from his file. They only know that Ward was just released after serving six years in prison for bringing a bomb into an energy conference, and there is no apparent connection to Doyle or Shauna.
While looking through Ward’s file, Beckett and Castle discover that Shauna’s step brother, Malcolm Wickfield was a speaker at the conference that Ward attempted to blow up. They race to his house but are too late. Wickfield’s wife explains that Ward showed up at the door and beat her husband to death while yelling what sounded like “Where is the child?”.
Through the president of Ward’s former activist group, Castle and Beckett are able to track Ward down to his hideout at an abandoned power plant. Ward sneaks up on them and knocks them both out. Doyle appears on the scene after he disappeared from his holding cell earlier in the episode.. Ward takes off running as soon as he sees Doyle and the odd device he has in his hand.
They find a letter in Ward’s files that turns out to be from Paul Deschile. It appears that’s who he was looking for when he attacked Wickfield. Doyle perks up when he realizes who they are talking about. He claims that Deschile is a key scientist in the future and his innovations save billions of lives. Beckett has Doyle taken back to his holding cell while they hurry to the planetarium to protect Deschile.
Ward is apprehended just before he gets to Deschile but he doesn’t say a word in his interrogation. Deschile explains that he turned Ward in at the conference six years ago before he had a chance to detonate his bomb. It can all be explained as a quest for revenge. No time travel necessary.
But then, Castle tries to catch Doyle on his way out and finds that Doyle has disappeared around a corner. The real “X-Files” moment of the episode comes when Beckett spills her coffee on Deschile’s note as she is cleaning up. The stain on the note now perfectly matches the photo that Ward had in his files. We are left to wonder how she could possibly explain the coincidence away.
Other episode highlights:
Much to Castle’s horror, Alexis is moving in with her boyfriend, Pi, who has been living on Castle’s couch since the beginning of the season.
According to Doyle, in the future Castle and Senator Beckett are married with three children.
So, what did you think? Did you like that they left the time travel question open for debate? Are you stockpiling wood for the upcoming energy wars? Would you vote for Beckett? Let us know your answers in the comments below.
