That was excellent, and might even be Emmy material for someone depending on how the competition shakes out. I've always thought that Dever has some of the best real acting chops in this cast, and I think this episode bears that out.
I nearly fell out of my chair laughing when Ryan called Castle out as part of his "crew" and Castle just kind of went "uh, me?" I guess Kate didn't loan him her extra piece this time!* However, it was a VERY flattering gesture on Ryan's part.
I liked the Jordan story, and though I also guessed it was about a person, I *did* at least get it right that it had to do with an unsettling dream about a childhood incident. What's that worth, a quarter of a point?
I chuckled at Kate saying she would just ask him in his sleep; that actually does work on some people.
(*Speaking of Kate's personal gun, I had wondered why she loaned it to Castle last time (in
Scared to Death), and then I realized -- the Castle Doctrine, of course! In NJ would have been a defensible shooting if Castle used it to defend the homeowner's life against an intruder while they were both inside the residence. It was a special circumstance. Of course, I also wonder now whether Marlowe did that on purpose or if it was just dumb luck that it was written that way.
)
Oh, and one last funny item from our house: we own Mr. Whiskers! He is the oddest-looking white-rat hand puppet -- one of my sisters gave him to my DD as kind of a joke, but DD thinks he's adorable. He's named Silky Rat in our house, btw.