Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind

Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind
Season 3, Episode 9
Air date	November 15, 2010
Written by	Shalisha Francis
Directed by	Bethany Rooney
Episode guide
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Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind is the ninth episode of the third season of Castle.

Summary

When a prominent astrophysicist is found dead in her car of explosive decompression, Castle is led to theorize her death was the result of an alien abduction, particularly when a government agent tries to stop the investigation.

Promo

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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 R. Jones as Dr. Lanie Parish
• Ruben Santiago-Hudson as Captain Roy Montgomery
• Molly C. Quinn as Alexis Castle
• Susan Sullivan as Martha Rodgers

Guest Stars

• Lance Henriksen as Benny Stryker
• Neil Hopkins as Ted Carter
• Jeanette Brox as Ayyana Holder
• Nicole Bilderback as Joy Harrison
• Lyle Lovett as Agent Westfield
• Karl T. Wright as Dr. Chuck Vaughn
• James Ellis Lane as Agent Eastman
• J. David Krassner as Bob Linden
• Jeremy Forte as Security Guard
• Will Leong as Ung Kyu

Quotes

Esposito: Abducted by government agents, huh? C’mon. What were you two really doing?

Beckett: It’s not a hickey, Esposito.

Esposito: You both have one.

Castle: I wish it was a hickey. It’s from the injectors.

Esposito: Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

Ryan: Those hickeys?

Esposito: Yes.

Beckett: No.

Castle: I wish.

Castle: So what’d he tell you?

Beckett: Ah, he told me something in confidence.

Castle: What?

Beckett: Well, I wish I could tell you, Castle, but … it was classified.

Trivia

• While Beckett shows off her knowledge of economics, she gets the theory wrong. Deficit spending to boost the economy is part of Keynesian economics; however, Keynes's theory specifically posits that how the money is spent doesn't make a difference. Subsequent economists have argued that what the money is spent on does make a difference, but the spending priorities Beckett identifies are not supported by their research. Economists who are not part of the Keynesian school do not believe that deficit spending stimulates the economy at all.
• The EMP device that knocked out Castle and Beckett's car and cell phones would have permanently disabled their electronics. (It would have disabled the bugs in their car as well, though it's also possible that Agent Westfield simply had them replaced while he was interrogating Castle and Beckett).
• Nathan once again harks back to his halcyon days aboard Serenity, when Rick observes than his knowledge of Chinese as a language comes from "a TV show I used to love.", i.e. Firefly.
• Castle was whistling the distinctive theme song from the former TV series, The X-Files. The plot of the episode drew from many of the themes from that show.
• Beckett said she got a Lego stuck up her nose when she was six.
• Even though Castle was wrong about the aliens, he still won the bet that the case would have something to do with "secret agents and massive government conspiracies".
• We never find out what Agent Westfield told Beckett at the end of the episode, and it is never mentioned again.

References

• Castle-Fans.org - Season 3 Plot Summaries