Read our Castle season 6, episode 17 recap and discuss what you think about Kate’s undercover gig.
The episode opens with Kate and Rick having a quiet day at home. Kate is excited that she is still in her pajamas at two in the afternoon. Just as she and Rick are headed to the bedroom so she can convince Rick to pick a font, the phone rings. Gates calls Kate and tells her to come to the precinct, alone.
When Kate arrives, Ryan and Esposito tell her the brass has been walking through the precinct all day. Gates calls Kate in to the conference room where she is introduced to Detective Fowler. He begins filling Kate in on a case regarding a drug ring. He wants Kate to go in place of a girl who has been working with the drug ring. She is set for a promotion, and this would be the first time the higher ups would be meeting her.
Kate reluctantly takes the job even though Gates tells her she can refuse. Kate heads to the hotel and enters the elevator to go to the eleventh floor, where she is meeting the dealers. While in the elevator, the bellman turns a gun on Kate and tells her not to speak. An undercover detective is waiting on the eleventh floor for Kate, but she is gone. The bellman takes her to the loading dock and tosses her into a truck and then drives off.
Kate begins to talk into her mic, but no one can hear her. Fowler and Gates begin to talk about the situation Kate is in. Fowler is reluctant to send out any information about Kate over the police wire. Gates is not happy with the situation. Rick is waiting for Kate to get home with dinner ready. He can’t get a hold of her or Ryan and Esposito, so he knows something isn’t right.
It cuts back to Kate, who is inside a mansion waiting to meet the people in charge. Her captor checked her for a wire and she seemingly passed the first test. He asks her why she is so special and seems to think she is putting on an act. Kate enters a room and is circled by a man. He then begins to speak Russian to her. The man introduces himself as Mr. Jones and the man who took Kate as Mr. Hart. They offer her a full-time position and $50,000 a week.
Kate makes a bold move and asks to meet Lazarus before she will start working with them. The two men step outside the room and Kate quickly calls the precinct. Mr. Hart tells Mr. Jones that he has a bad feeling about her. Mr. Jones tells him if he is right, he can kill her. Kate tells Esposito she doesn’t know where she is and that Elena Markov’s story was a lie.
The precinct can’t trace Kate’s call. Gates asks Fowler why he didn’t tell them everything. He insists that he did, but they didn’t have time to dig deep into her story. Ryan and Esposito, along with Fowler, go to see Elena at the hospital. As they are leaving, Rick arrives looking for Kate. Gates speaks with Rick about Kate’s assignment and tells him there are reasons for hope.
When Ryan and Esposito arrive at the hospital, they find Elena is missing and the officer guarding her has been injured. The scene cuts to Kate writing Rick a letter and leaving a blood trail for CSU to find. Kate’s letter is very emotional and is essentially a goodbye to Rick.
Mr. Hart returns and tells Kate that Mr. Jones would like to speak with her. Lazarus has agreed to meet with Kate as long as she completes an assignment. The assignment is for Kate to assassinate someone and make it clean. It seems Elena is an assassin by trade.
Kate heads out with Mr. Hart, who is still questioning who she is. He demands that Kate kill the man but doesn’t give her any information. He doesn’t like Kate asking questions, and he threatens her. Kate sneaks in the back door and appears to kill the man. Hart demands to see the body. Kate made the scene appear like murder.
Fowler comes to the precinct to tell the others that Elena is a contract killer. Rick yells at Fowler and is upset he can’t help Kate. The man that Kate supposedly killed calls the precinct and tells them about Kate. The man is a lawyer who works in trust law.
When Kate returns to the compound, she is told to clean herself up because Lazarus wants to see her. Kate is brought to a basement where women are shirtless and sorting money. As they approach a door, it sounds like someone is being tortured. Kate is told to wait a minute. When Kate meets Lazarus, he recognizes her. Kate had accused him of killing her mother.
Lazarus begins to torture Kate by holding her underwater in an ice bath. He threatens Kate and demands to know what the police know. He tells Kate that her mother played in a world she didn’t belong in and died because of it. He insists Kate will die as well. Lazarus tells them to bury Kate someplace she won’t be found.
Hart takes Kate out to the woods to kill her. As she is talking to him, Elena arrives and kills Hart, leaving Kate alone. Elena tells Kate that ‘he’ sent her because he owed her one and wanted her to live. When Kate asks who, Elena says Lazarus.
Tactical teams raided the compound, but it was empty. Wilkson was picked up, but has managed an alibi and it will be hard to make the charges stick. Kate gives them the Future Foward account she saw in the basement.
The Future Forward account is connected to a super pact in D.C. The person it was connected to died of a heart attack. In the end, everything connects to Senator Bracken, who is running for president on drug money. Unfortunately, there is no way to connect him to the scheme.