| Time Will Tell | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Season 6, Episode 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Air date | October 21, 2013 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Written by | Terri Edda Miller and Andrew W. Marlowe | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Directed by | Rob Bowman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Episode guide | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Time Will Tell[1] is the fifth episode of the sixth season of Castle.
Summary
A grisly murder investigation leads Castle and Beckett to a suspect (Joshua Gomez, “Chuck,” guest stars as Simon Doyle) who claims he's traveled back in time to stop terrible events from unfolding, events that will change the course of human history. Is he simply a deluded killer, or is it possible that he's telling the truth?
Recap
Promo
Cast
Main Cast
- Nathan Fillion as Richard Castle
- Stana Katic as Detective Kate Beckett
- Jon Huertas as Detective Javier Esposito
- Seamus Dever as Detective Kevin Ryan
- Tamala Jones as Dr. Lanie Parish
- Penny Johnson Jerald as Captain Victoria Gates (credit only)
- Molly C. Quinn as Alexis Castle
- Susan Sullivan as Martha Rodgers (credit only)
Guest Cast
- Joshua Gomez as Simon Doyle
- Vanessa Bell Calloway as Beryl Wickfield
- Tim Russ as Dr. Malcolm Wickfield
- Sam Daly as Jack Hastings
- Rod Rowland as Mick Linden
- Yvonne Zima as Veronica
- Jess Allen as Garrett Ward
- Anna Campbell as Maddie
- John R. Colley as Paul Deschile
- Fred Cross as Dr. Haver
- Myko Olivier as Pi
- Jeris Lee Poindexter as Older Man
- Michael Raynor as Dr. Silverman
- Christopher Wolfe as Officer
- John J. York as Interviewer
Quotes
- Castle: He has to go.
- Alexis: You’re absolutely right. He’s been here way too long. It’s not right and it’s not fair to you.
- Castle: Thank you.
- Alexis: You’re welcome. And the best news is I think we found a place.
- Castle: Honey, that is so great. Did you say we found a place?
- Castle: In what universe does that make sense? I’ll tell you what universe. The one where she’s blinded by emotion and not thinking straight. It’s like watching a car accident in slow motion.
- Beckett: You know, Castle, my Dad wanted to kill the first guy that I moved in with. He did everything he could to try and talk me out of it and all that did was make me wanna do it even more.
- Castle: I wish her future self could come back and talk to her present self and let her know what a mistake she’s making.
- Beckett: What happened?
- Lanie: Lot of weirdos out there with too much imagination is what happened. And yes, I'm looking at you, Castle.
- Castle: Yeah, except I only commit my murders on paper. Don't actually do them. A lot more lucrative, a lot less prison.
- Castle: Then why torture her? What could the killer want?
- Ryan: What, Castle, no crazy theories?
- Beckett: Oh, he's got bigger issues. His daughter's moving in with a boy.
- Ryan: And you're letting her?
- Castle: Well, apparently the only way to stop her is locking her up, but according to Miss By-the-Book here, that's unlawful imprisonment.
- Simon Doyle: A real charmer, that one. I can't believe you marry her.
- Castle: How did you know I marry her?
- Doyle: One of your book jackets. You know, "Richard Castle lives in New York with his wife, Senator Beckett, and their three children."
- Castle: Senator?
- Beckett: Three kids?
- Castle: I write serious literature? Beckett, you hear that?
- Beckett: Yeah I heard. And I'm the president of fantasy land.
- Beckett: You're trying to drive me crazy, aren't you?
- Castle: Well, apparently, I already do if we end up with three kids.
- Doyle: Would you like to know their names?
- Castle: Yes.
- Beckett: No!
Featured Music
Trivia
- Simon Doyle make several claims about future events, both regarding humanity and Castle and Beckett.
- Castle and Beckett will be married with 3 children (Doyle does not specify if these are three children they have together, or two plus Alexis).
- Indeed, in the series finale, Crossfire, it is revealed that Castle and Beckett have three additional children between 2016 and 2023 - a daughter and two twin sons.
- Beckett will become a senator.
- In Hollander’s Woods Beckett is, in fact, offered the chance to run for Senate but has yet to decide on whether to run or not.
- It is revealed in XY that Beckett turned down the offer to run for Senate to become Captain.
- Castle gives up writing pulp mysteries is now writing "serious literature".
- There will be a massive energy war in 2031, with a neo-fascist coalition opposing the "good guys". By 2035, the war is over. Wartime research and attempts to create an alternate energy source result in time travel as a spin-off technology.
- Paul Deschiles, nearly murdered in this episode, supposedly becomes a physicist and invents an energy shield which wins the war.
- Castle and Beckett will be married with 3 children (Doyle does not specify if these are three children they have together, or two plus Alexis).
- For the first time, the killer in an episode has no dialogue.
- In virtually every case on Castle, the killer admits to their crime after being confronted with the truth. This is meant to provide the audience with closure and confirmation that Castle and Beckett's theory is correct. This is one of the very rare cases where the killer, even confronted with the evidence, remains silent.
- This is the first episode with a major supernatural element where a mundane explanation isn't provided.
- The key here is the spilled coffee. Ward's photo of the letter includes a coffee stain which Beckett herself leaves at the end of the case. The pattern of the stain on the letter is an exact match to the photo. Given the manner in which Beckett is shown, on camera, spilling the liquid, without any way, let alone attempt, to control it, or even realization of the significance of the moment until after the fact, the photo is inexplicable without Doyle's story being true.
- Other elements of the case could support either Doyle's story or Beckett's belief that he is insane.
- In most "supernatural" episodes, Castle takes on the role of believer and Beckett clings to the rational, non-supernatural explanation. However, in this case, Castle repeatedly expresses doubts about Doyle's story, and Beckett comes to doubt her own beliefs by the end. This could symbolize the progress in their relationship.
- Shortly after the case's resolution, Doyle completely disappears without explanation, and is never seen again for the remainder of the series. This method is similar to Bruce Willis's character disappearing from the present-day segments in 12 Monkeys.
- Alexis moves out from Castle's loft for the second time, this time to live with Pi.
- There are many shout-outs to science fiction, both obvious and subtle.
- Ryan describe Doyle's story as a bad mix of Terminator and 12 Monkeys. As in both these movies, characters attempting to change the future ended up creating history as had already happened.
- Esposito mentions the BBC time travel show Doctor Who. This episode aired a few weeks before Doctor Who marked its 50th anniversary. While the reference timing may have been coincidental, several American series airing around this time did make references to Doctor Who in honor of the anniversary, such as Marvel's Agents of SHIELD.
- The doctor who conducts Simon Doyle's psych evaluation was Dr. Silverman; the same name as the cynical and exploitive doctor in the Terminator movies.
- Dr. Wickfield was played by Tim Russ, who played the Vulcan Tuvok in Star Trek: Voyager, a series in a franchise that both feature numerous time travel episodes.
- Simon Doyle is played by Josh Gomez, from the office comedy/spy techno-thriller Chuck.
- Castle mentions the "Butterfly Effect", both the title of a movie and a principle in chaos theory. Doyle counters by saying that time is convergent, that is, slight changes don't impact the overall course of history.
- He explains that as a temporal anthropologist, he is very careful not to change history. On the other hand, he readily admits to being a time traveler to two major historical figures, a revelation likely to change history.
- Doyle mentions that time travel is kept secret and tightly controlled by the government in his future, but reacts with frustration when dealing with people in the past who don't know about its existence. If his claims are true, then even a person in the future wouldn't believe him unless he was privy to the secret.
- Paul Deschiles's letter raises an interesting problem. He was still in high school when he wrote the letter, but then was a post-doctoral fellow at the time of the episode. This gave him six years to finish his undergraduate education, get his doctorate (itself usually a five to six year process for physicists), and then take a new job at Hudson University. The most likely explanation is that the writers confused "post-doctoral fellow" with "doctoral student", someone who is still working on his Ph.D.
- In Jack Hastings's presentation, he talked about non-renewable energy, claiming that energy supplies are dwindling. However, in addition to fossil fuels, one of the resources he claimed was running out was uranium (the fuel for nuclear fission). Although difficult to refine, supplies of this element are plentiful worldwide and will be for the foreseeable future.