ABC’s ‘Castle’ season 5, episode 18 review: Ryan dives in

All week long, we have been hearing about how Monday night’s new “Castle” season 5 episode was going to be a showcase for Seamus Dever’s Ryan. It’s a character who has been a component of the show since the beginning, but also someone that we unfortunately have not had an opportunity to really know much about when it comes to his past.

Thankfully, that changed a little bit this week, as we saw Ryan return a little bit to his roots this week as an undercover cop, as he tried to infiltrate an Irish gang with ties to a woman his cover was once close to named Siobhan. Suffice it to say, Ryan’s wife Jenny was not exactly pleased about this at all. Not only did she have to watch Siobhan kiss her husband in front of her, but Ryan was basically going in without a bug on this case; and ultimately, one mistake would cost him his life. (Esposito was also equally displeased.)

We won’t spend too much time here talking about Ryan’s case since it doesn’t really have much to do with the long-term story, but it was a pretty intense one. He was luckily able to both capture the conniving Bobby and save Siobhan, though he did have to admit he was a cop in the process.

Meanwhile, there were a pair of other admissions made this week of very high importance:

1. After trying with Ryan for much of the season, Jenny is pregnant!

2. Beckett was concerned about a name that Castle kept repeating to himself in his sleep, but as it turns out, “Jordan” was not a girl he had dated. Instead, it was the name of a car company he pretended to write a paper on in school, but paid someone else to do it instead. This still apparently haunts him to this day, and while it can’t be his proudest memory, we have a feeling that Beckett appreciates getting to know a little bit more about her boyfriend, especially considering how closed-off he can be. (It’s also something Meredith warned her about.)

While there were no huge stunners for Castle or Beckett this week, Monday’s episode was a fun little detour that gave us more backstory on a couple of characters, and showed us that the vast majority of everyone on the force has a few missteps here and there in their lives.

Overall, what did you think about this episode? Be sure to share some more of your thoughts below, and you can click here to take a look at the show’s 100th episode a little bit early.

Photo: ABC