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The Blue Butterfly

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The Blue Butterfly
Season 4, Episode 14
Castle-TheBlueButterfly
Air date February 6, 2012
Written by Terence Paul Winter
Directed by Chuck Bowman
Episode guide
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Season 3   Season 5

The Blue Butterfly is the fourteenth episode of the fourth season of Castle, filmed partly in the style of film noir flashbacks.

Summary[]

A treasure hunter is found dead, who was looking for a necklace called the Blue Butterfly that went missing in the 1940s. When Castle gets a hold of a diary the victim was using to find the treasure, he combs through the story of Joe Flynn and Vera Mulqueen in the hopes of finding clues to solving the modern day murder. Every time Castle reads it he flashes back to the '40s, with the principal cast playing characters in the diary.

Recap[]

In the flashbacks to the 1940s, the main characters play the parts of the people in the time period. There is Castle as Joe, Kate as Vera, Alexis as Sally, Lanie as a bar singer, Martha as Joe's old secretary, and Ryan and Eposito as Dempsey's henchmen.

The two visit Jerry and his wife, Viola. In the background, "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" by Louie Armstrong plays. Jerry explains that Dempsey had a previous moll that was in fact Sally's mother, Priscilla. However, when Dempsey dumped her, Priscilla killed herself. And during Dempsey's funeral, Sally approached Jerry and told him she was free. It looked like Sally was tracking Vera to get revenge for what happened to her mother and she succeeded.

However, looking at the photo, they notice the female corpse is wearing a t-strap. Vera would've been wearing heels that night, so the corpse must be Sally. That meant the bartender was lying. But why? That's when Castle remembers that during their interview with Jerry he was playing Louie Armstrong, and Joe mentioned in his diary that he's favorite performer was Satchmo, aka Louie Armstrong.

The answer was obvious: Jerry and Viola Maddox were Joe and Vera all along.

The couple confirms the guesses. They were in fact Joe and Vera and had faked their deaths. Stan had figured out the couple's identity and demanded the location of the Blue Butterfly. They gave it to him, but they say they didn't kill him. When Castle points out the original gun from the "murder" was used, Joe realized there was only one other person who had access to it: the Maddox's caregiver, Frankie.

Beckett stops Frankie from shooting and he confesses to everything as he's being cuffed. He was in fact the son of the secretary that sold Joe's diary to Stan, and was looking for the Blue Butterfly as well. He only became the couple's caregiver to get the location of the necklace from them, but when Stan get the info first, Frankie decided to go and take the necklace for himself.

The Blue Butterfly is finally recovered, but according to Kate, it's in fact a fake. That just left with one final mystery: what really happened to Joe and Vera that fateful night.

They visit the married couple again, who explain what happened. After Vera managed to slip under Dempsey's nose, she met with Joe in the alley, only to be confronted at gunpoint by Sally and her husband Lennie. A struggle occurred, and both Sally and Lennie winded up dead. With two bodies on hand, Joe dumped them in his car and set it on fire, burning them beyond recognition. Joe and Vera vanished after that, leading to authorities mistaking Sally and Lennie's bodies for Joe and Vera's.

Vera asks if this meant the couple was going to be arrested, but Kate tells them no. Castle just had one last question though: what happened to the Blue Butterfly? Joe explains after he set the car on fire, Vera wanted to burn the necklace, but Joe had a better idea. He hid the necklace in the wall of the bar, and so it stood under Dempsey's nose this entire time. The couple never went back for it because they got a beautiful family instead.

As Beckett and Castle return home, Beckett wonders if they should've told Joe and Vera about the fake Blue Butterfly. Castle says they shouldn't ruin it for them: after all, it was a good story.

The final scene is back in 1947. Joe and Vera share one last kiss as they leave for their new lives together, before it transits into a classic noir style ending title card, the Blue Butterfly shown on a background of flames.

Promo[]

Castle_4x14_"The_Blue_Butterfly"_Promo_(3)







Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

Quotes[]

Esposito: Do you know of anyone who's been threatening Stan lately?
Manager: I'm the manager here, not the den mother.
Ryan: Okay then. When was the last time you saw him?
Manager: Uh, this morning. Stan was all smiles. Gave notice that he was moving out ‘cause his ship was coming in.
Ryan: What ship?
Manager: Oh, I don't know. The Titanic, from the looks of things.
Esposito: Well, if you remember anything else, can you please give me a call?
Manager: Don't hold your breath, hotshot.
Ryan: I think she likes you.
Vera: Are you hurt?
Joe: What, this? It's nothing. You should see what my face did to the other guy's fist.
Vera: So what's your name, tough guy?
Joe: Does it matter doll?
Castle: The Blue Butterfly! It's a necklace. That's why Stan Banks was killed. Why am I narrating?
Castle: By the way, Ryan, say "boy-o".
Ryan: Boy-o.
Castle: Boy-o.
Ryan: Boy-o.
Castle: Boy-o.
Ryan: Boy-o.
Castle: Boy-o.
Ryan: Boy-o.
Castle: Anyway.
Castle: Boy-o.
Ryan: Boy-o.
Castle: Boy-o.
Ryan: Boy-o.
Castle: Like a leprechaun.
Ryan: Castle!
Castle: Sorry.
Castle: It happened backstage, right upstairs. They were stealing a moment together which was dangerous because she was Dempsey’s girl. As they stared into each other’s eyes, Kate’s heart quickened...
Beckett: Did you just say "Kate"? Are you picturing the PI as you and me as a gangster’s moll?
Castle: What?! No! And I didn't say "Kate", I said "fate". Fate’s heart quickened. I was being poetic. God. Anyway, as I was saying, they were just about to kiss when...
Betsy: You better wise up, Vera. Dempsey will have you butchered if he finds out. I mean, he's a hell of a smoocher and all but, damn it, girl, is this yum-yum really worth it?
Vera: He's the cream in my coffee.
Betsy: You two are a walking fairy tale, good Lord.

Featured Music[]

  • "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" - Louis Armstrong
  • "Comes Love - Unreleased"[2] - Tamala Jones (sing as Besty Sinclair) - Arranged by Robert Duncan

Trivia[]

  • This marks the first time that actress Tamala Jones (Lanie Parish) has sung in public.
  • The title evokes such classic PI tales as "The Maltese Falcon".
  • Beckett's 1940s alter ego is named Vera. "Vera" was the name of Jayne Cobb's (Adam Baldwin) favorite gun on Firefly, Nathan Fillion's old show.
  • At this point, according to Castle, "I have twenty-seven novels you can choose from", although how many of those are Derrick Storm or Nikki Heat or his earlier novels is not clear.
  • Jon Huertas and Seamus Dever's favorite part of shooting this episode was the scene in which they, as Tom Dempsey's goons, got to beat up Nathan Fillion.[3]

References[]

  1. ↑ Credited at the end of episode as Frankie but near the end of episodes he also was referred by his full name Francis Benjamin Huntsacker
  2. ↑ Castle's Tamala Jones singing Comes Love video at YouTube
  3. ↑ "A Few of Our Favorite Things" featurette, Castle: The Complete Sixth Season DVD set)

Related links[]

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