Tonight on ABC Castle starring Nathan Fillion continues with an all new Monday March 23, season 7 episode 18 called “At Close Range” and we have your weekly recap below. On tonight’s episode, a security-detail assignment goes badly for Ryan [Seamus Dever] when shots are fired at a politician during a charity event. A determined Ryan then sets out to catch the shooter, and Castle [Nathan Fillion] and Beckett [Stana Katic] assist him as he retraces what happened.
On the last episode, after a man was mysteriously murdered in a park, Castle and Beckett teamed up with a competitive, high-powered female detective from Hong Kong, who had information about the victim. But as Beckett dug deeper into the case, she realized neither her Hong Kong colleague nor the victim were quite who they seemed. Did you watch the last episode? If you missed it, we have a full and detailed recap right here for you.
On tonight’s episode as per ABC’s synopsis, “Detective Kevin Ryan is on the security detail of a charismatic congressman attending a charity event when shots suddenly ring out. Driven to apprehend the killer, Ryan must revisit the events that led up to the shooting, with the help of Castle and Beckett.”
Tonight’s episode is going to be great so be sure to tune in to CASTLE on ABC at 10PM EST. We’ll be blogging all the action, be sure to hit up the comments and tell us what you think of this new season. While you wait for the recap, check out a sneak peek of tonight’s episode below!
Tonight’s episode begins now – Refresh Page often to get the most current updates!
On #Castle, Ryan is bloody and pacing in a bathroom. He punches a mirror. Six hours earlier, he gets off the elevator with Castle, Kate and Ryan. Castle rants about them tricking him into a boring training session. They head out for drinks but Ryan says he has a new security gig but can’t tell them who it is. Castle asks if it’s someone in One Direction then asks if they’re in town but Javi says they’re in Hong Kong.
Ryan is on the security gig with his brother in law Frank and says he can have a permanent spot with him if he wants. He says the threat level is low but some protestors will want to annoy Congressman Lopez. He introduces Ryan to the Congressman and says Megan is his chief of staff and his wife is Mia. He says his main job is to protect his reputation from unseemly photos more than physical threats.
Megan goes over the schedule and Kevin listens to them talk about donors. Lopez says he hopes these guys are ready to donate to Carolyn’s clean water initiative. They pull up and Ryan escorts them in past the press. He checks press passes and then watches everyone with suspicion. Lopex says Carolyn Decker is doing good work there. Ryan sees a guy from the threat list.
He moves to intercept. The guy pulls something but Ryan stops him. He had a bottle of blood he was going to throw on Lopez. Ryan has him ejected and Carolyn says it was good work and he may have a job protecting the first Latino president of the United States. Inside, Lopez works the room and Ryan stays on his toes. Mr Shelton shows up to talk to Lopez. He tells Lopez he’ll see to it that he’s enver president. Aryana, a performer, is there and asks Lopez to say hi after the show.
Lopez asks to talk to Carolyn alone. Ryan sees a guy moving a stack of chairs then they hear gunshots. Carolyn and Lopez were both hit. Ryan says to call 911 and then there’s another shot. Ryan goes chasing a guy and pursues him down a hall and into the stairwell. He runs downstairs and almost had the guy but NYPD runs in and pulls a gun on him because he has blood on his shirt and a gun in his hand. Ryan smashes the mirror. He leaves the bathroom.
He finds Frank who says Lopez survived but Carolyn is still in surgery. Frank says they’ll find the shooter and says the only description they have is his. Frank says to walk through what happened. Ryan agrees. He says three shots rang out, he dove, Lopez pulled Carolyn down and he only saw the back of the shooter. Ryan says he had a pale blue ID card from his neck – a press pass. Ryan gets a call from Kate who asks if he’s okay. She says it’s a homicide and says she’s at the hospital.
She says Carolyn Decker died in surgery. He says he never saw the shooter’s face but Lopez may have since the shooter would have been in his line of sight. Ryan heads to the room where they were shot and thinks about Carolyn lying there. It’s Carolyn’s dad and he says she only wanted to help people and asks why her. Frank says there were extra passes and the shooter got hold of one of those. Castle asks Kate how Ryan is doing and she says he’s feeling terrible.
Jim Boyce from the state democratic party is there and says he’s glad Kate is working the case. He says she has a good reputation. Lopez talks to Megan about setting up a fund in Carolyn’s name. Lopez says Carolyn was an innocent bystander. Kate asks if he noticed anyone suspicious but he says he didn’t. Kate asks if he noticed anyone off stage. He says he saw one guy in a gray suit. Kate asks if he saw his face. He says he most definitely can. It’s Eric Chambers – a blogger and extremist.
Javi says they pulled his print off the wall so they know he was there. He blogged about Lopez that he should get what he deserved. Kate says to take Ryan along when Javi picks up Chambers. They show up but tactical isn’t there yet so they have to wait. They see him come out of his hotel. He notices them in the car and then bolts. They go chasing him. He goes down an alley and then hits a fence. Ryan pulls his gun and tells him to give him a reason to shoot. They arrest him.
Kate has Chambers in interrogation and tells him he’s facing murder charges. He says he won’t confess and she says he can tell his side of the story. He says he’s innocent. Kate shows him the stolen press pass and the floor plan of the facility. He says their government has a long and bloody history of persecuting people like him. Castle asks shouldn’t he be proud of taking down Lopez and Kate speculates that he wants his day in court.
Javi says they found a gun in a storm drain near the hotel. Since there were metal detectors, someone may have snuck it in. Kate says Lopez may still be a target. Javi goes to the hospital to beef up security. Ryan works with Tori using the book of suspects from the security job. They compare it to photos from the photo. Tori says she found Chambers in 14 photos and puts up the locations. She says there’s a gap where he’s unaccounted for. He was near a storage area.
Tori says the door wasn’t locked and they see an employee coming out of the door. They head to talk to Julian Bailey the guy coming out of the storage room. They show him the photo and he says he snuck in there for a girl. He says that guy came in that room and was with another dude and they were talking intensely. He says he didn’t say anything because he was afraid he’d get fired. He ID’s the other guy as Shelton. Turns out Shelton co-owns the hotel so access would be no issue.
Kate says they need to link Shelton to Chambers. Shelton’s lawyer says he doesn’t know Chambers and Kate says they have a witness putting them together. Castle says this isn’t about government over reach but killing a politician he didn’t like. Kate says she’ll prove he put Chambers up to this and he wishes her luck. Ryan stares at the crime board and Javi asks what he’s doing. He says he’s thinking. Ryan asks about Shelton and Javi says Chambers may roll on Shelton.
Ryan asks why Shelton would risk being seen with Chambers and says something isn’t sitting right. Javi says he just needs a good night’s sleep. Kate’s phone wakes her and he sees Castle isn’t there. He’s at the hotel with Ryan. Castle says Ryan had a theory and texted him. Kate asks why he didn’t text her and he says when you have a crazy theory, you don’t call the voice of reason. They have lasers and cardboard cut outs set up looking at bullet trajectories.
They next go to Gates and explain that Chambers didn’t do it. Chambers was by the far wall but the shots hit them in specific locations. Castle says Chambers had a side angle view and couldn’t have shot Carolyn in the back. The shots came from the grassy knoll. Kate says she’s getting ballistics to reevaluate the crime scene. Ryan says he Chambers was set up and Castle says Shelton likely set him up. Ryan says he wants to take another run at Chambers.
Ryan goes to see Chambers in lock up. He tells him to just listen. Ryan says they know he’s not the shooter. Chambers says they orchestrated it and that’s why they know. Ryan says he’s not the focus of a governmental conspiracy and says the only one interested in him is the person that set him up. Ryan says someone went to a lot of trouble to frame him. He says now you know too much and are a loose end. Ryan says he doesn’t see a bright future for him.
Chambers asks why he should believe him and Ryan says it’s his life. Ryan says he can keep him safe if he tells him how he got backstage. Ryan says don’t think too long and walks out but them Chambers calls him back. Ryan tells Kate that Chambers snuck backstage to confront Lopez on camera during his speech. Ryan says Shelton also may not be involved. He says Shelton tried to talk Chambers out of making his scene.
He says Chambers told him that some anonymous supporter left him the press pass in his mailbox along with info on how to get backstage. Castle says there’s finally a real conspiracy. Javi comes in with ballistics and says the shots came from behind the lights. They then theorize that Carolyn was the real target, not Lopez. Tori comes in and says they need to see this. She has security footage from Chambers’ building. A guy was leaving something in his mailbox.
Ryan says oh my God then says it’s Frank his brother in law. Ryan tells them that he’s sure it’s Frank Kelly. Kate asks where Frank was during the shots. He says he was on the other side of the curtain but didn’t see him out there. Gates asks how soon he arrived after the shots. Ryan says maybe 10 seconds. It was long enough to get from the shooter spot to the scene of the shooting. Gates says they have to bring him in. Ryan says there must be an explanation.
Javi says they tried to pick up Frank but he took off when he saw them coming. Gates says to issue an APB and try to figure out why Frank did this. Ryan says he’ll go find Frank and tells Javi to let him go alone. Ryan goes to his sister Gwen’s and says he needs to talk to Frank. He asks why Frank would run and what he’s into. She says nothing but Ryan says that’s her sneak a cigarette look. He asks again what he’s into. Gwen says things were tight last year and then some money started coming in.
She says Frank told her it was extra work but not through the company – cash, and close to 50k. She says Frank would never hurt anyone and he says to tell him where Frank is. Kate tells Castle that Frank is like a brother to Ryan and Castle says maybe Frank isn’t as deep in this as they think. Kate is looking through Carolyn’s bag and says she was a workaholic and her daily alarm is set for 4 am and she was busy all day long working for Clear Water.
She says she has a hand written thank you letter from a boy in Africa. She finds another phone. Kate says there’s motive for murder on it. Ryan goes looking for Frank in a shady area. Frank shows up to meet him looking around nervously. Ryan says he knows Frank gave Chambers the press pass and says he hired Ryan for the job to get him to steer the investigation. Frank says no one was supposed to get hurt. He tells Ryan he got himself into something he can’t get out of.
Ryan asks if he killed Carolyn. Frank says he didn’t kill anybody. Ryan asks where he got the cash from. Frank says the security business isn’t going as well as it should. He says he sold access backstage at concerts and things to fringe journalists. He says he didn’t know the pass was going to Chambers. Ryan asks who paid him for the pass but Frank says that’s all he knows. Frank says they both know what happens to cops in prison so he’s not turning himself in.
Ryan pulls his gun on him. Sirens chime. Ryan brings his brother in law in and says Frank isn’t the shooter but got $5k to drop off the press pass. Ryan says no luck tracing the money so far and they only got a partial print on the envelope. Castle says they found some texts on Carolyn’s phone that should narrow it down. Mia gives a speech about Carolyn’s death and her husband’s recovery. Kate shows up and they show her the envelope that was used to pay the shooter.
They ask where she was during the shooting and says they know she tried to kill Carolyn because she knew they were having an affair. Mia says she knew about the affair and knew the deal when she married him. She says she was with someone else – she says she and Alex have an agreement. She says she was in room 717 with a woman and says she can give her name. Mia says the envelope is from her husband’s office. Castle asks who else had access to the envelopes.
They tell Lopez that they found the cash came out of his campaign travel account. It was Megan who took out the money. Megan says she has no reason to and wouldn’t do that. Turns out Carolyn had doubts about Megan being on the campaign. Kate says they found the coat with gunshot residue on it. Lopez is appalled and asks how she could kill Carolyn. Megan asks how he could and says she invested her entire life in him. Ryan arrests her for murder.
Kate says backstabbing, murder and betrayal and says that’s why she hates politics. Castle says the government could do with more people like her. He sees that she’s been studying for the captains exam and says it’s great. Ryan takes Frank home but he tells him his wife is going to hate him for lying. Ryan says his sister is strong. Frank says he’s scared to go inside. Gwen opens the door and hugs him. He tells her he’s sorry. She says they’ll get through it and figure it out.
THE END!
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