ABC’s ‘Castle’ season 6, episode 17 review: Why is Vulcan Simmons back?

“Castle” unleashed quite a shocker on us Monday night with “In the Belly of the Beast,” mostly because it did something with the story that was both predictable and unpredictable at the same time. While we knew that there was probably some sort of notable villain at the center of the case.

That’s right: Vulcan Simmons re-entered the picture almost out of nowhere in this episode, and not only was he involved in the murder of Beckett’s mother as Lazarus, but he came pretty close to causing her own death in the process.

But of course, it didn’t really stop here in the slightest. Simmons may have just been a pawn in the larger story, since at the tail end of this story, we started to learn that Senator Bracken may have been the one really pulling the strings at the center of everything. The plan that he had, after all, was really pretty ingenious. He was going to be able to figure out a way to funnel money into a potential Presidential campaign using the drug connections set up by Simmons, and do so without buying into any special interests groups. As for why Beckett was left alive in the woods at the end, that was more of a last-ditch favor made to her by the Senator after she did something for him last season. So in the end, there is actually something there that could be interpreted for respect … on the smallest level possible.

We really did not have that much of the rest of the cast tonight, since we were instead watching Stana Katic dominate most of her scenes as she was tortured and really put through the wringer the moment that her cover was blown. We know that this isn’t the end of this story, but we are very glad to be given this episode to start us off on this journey. Grade: A-.

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Photo: ABC