Understanding Kate Beckett - A fan’s analysis on why Kate Beckett wants some distance from husband, Richard Castle

A/N: Originally published in three parts at Voice Of TV. Edited for clarity and correctness (called being a bit OC :) ).

Castle’s eighth season opened up with one half of our married, crime-solving duo, newly minted captain of the 12^th Precinct Kate Beckett and famous mystery novelist Richard Castle, missing. It started out as Rick looking for and worrying where his wife was. Turns out that Kate was being chased by several mercenaries connected to Bracken and some project (or someone) called LOCKSAT. It led to her decision to leave the loft and the happy life she’s living with her husband. It broke the hearts of millions of Caskett fans around the globe.

The outcome of the second episode, the second part of the season opener, and story arc, is now much-debated in various platforms across the web. Others are calling it quits just because they only watched for the couple. Others are blaming the writers and new showrunners, Terence Paul Winter and Alexi Hawley, not really knowing the characters. Others see reason. Others are just riding the wave. So where am I here?

I’m part of the fandom who can see reason why Kate did what she had done. Yes, I was upset at first. They’re the best drama/comedy OTP (one true pairing) in recent times and it seemed like, after they got married, nothing will happen to them. After watching the second episode, I thought Beckett was a selfish bitch because what if they have kids. Would she have done this? Then I went to Tumblr to get out of my misery and that’s when several Tumblr friends enlightened me. She would have gone to nowhere just to protect her family. That is who she is and she admits to it. That is how she’s built. People have seen this as a break-up but I see this as getting some distance. People see this as a quest but is it really?

Kate Beckett is a woman who seeks justice for every family she encounters. Unfortunately, for years, she hadn’t had justice for the murder of her mother. Cops who investigated Johanna Beckett’s death wrote it off as random gang violence but she knew it wasn’t. She fell down the rabbit hole and had to undergo a year of therapy for it. Until Castle opened it again, without behest from her, and used his resources. She wasn’t up to it first, fearing that she’d go down that path again. But the case willingly presented itself to her again (213 Sucker Punch) and this time, she wanted to do it with Castle. And solve it they did but at what cost? Beckett got shot and nearly died (324 Knockout). Another character came into play and asked Castle to tell her to stop investigating to keep her safe (401 Rise). Beckett lied to Castle and he learned it the hard way (419 47 Seconds). And Beckett learned that Castle lied to her, too (423 Always). I think that’s what Beckett is now preventing: the cost of involving the love of her life, the only person she fiercely loves, in the case in turn get hurt in the process. The tables have now turned.

DISTANCE, NOT A BREAK-UP

Alexis told her father in the premiere episode that he doesn’t have the training to go and get the bad guys, so to speak, and Beckett has. It is true but that doesn’t seem to move the fandom. Yes, Castle had done dangerous things before and he’s up to it but to Beckett, it’s going to hurt him and she doesn’t want that. This man who is her saviour in more ways than one means something to her and that she needs to protect him at all costs. The only way to do that, for her, is to distance herself from him. She already thinks that Rachel McCord and the rest of her old AG team’s blood is on her hands even if Rita said that it’s not her fault; she doesn’t want Castle’s, too, if he gets involved.

We all know that Castle, whether or not she wants to, will get involved in the case in one way or another. Staying in the loft, solving this case in front of him, will only get him involved and that’s not what she wants. Instead, she leaves the loft. She’s solving this case away from Castle’s prying eyes and the prying eyes of others. I don’t even think that Esposito and Ryan know about this. Lanie may know but only the lesser evils of it. 

I call this a distance because if they really broke up, then both of them will not even wear their wedding rings and will probably be serving divorce papers. They aren’t getting a divorce. It was just explained wrongly to the fandom. In the third episode, we see Kate looking at her wedding ring and having second thoughts. But she looks at it and knows that she has to fight so she can get her happy ending. She’d be at peace with everything if she can say that there is no one behind her who will shoot her.

TRUST

It is a big question now if Kate trusts her husband because if she does, she wouldn’t have left. My answer to it: yes she trusts him completely and she even told him. His disappearance was brought up, too. When Castle went missing last year, it wasn’t really her trust that wavered but it was her belief in him. She trusts him with all of her life. And she trusts him now. What she doesn’t trust are his actions if she had told him about this case. We know that he will insinuate himself and get hurt in the process. It’s what she is preventing, why she heartbreakingly distanced herself from him.

Remember that she told him that when her mother died, she had built walls inside her, that it changed her? (401 Rise) She built those walls to protect herself from getting hurt again by the people she loves. It’s a given that her mother “left” her. Her father left her for the bottle whilst she was still mourning. Royce left her when she started to rise in ranks. Will left her for a job in Boston. Every time someone leaves her, another brick or two were added that when she was with Josh, she had one foot out the door just in case (316 Setup). Castle left her too, right? With Gina, his second ex-wife and publisher no less. (224 A Deadly Game) But why Castle? He came back. In her experience, no one comes back after they left her (her father is excluded at this point). That’s why she trusts him so much. She is keeping him in the dark for his own sake. She had told him that she loves him and she always will. That in itself is already a pact that if she doesn’t make it out alive, she needs him to know that whatever happens, she loves him.

RECKLESS

If Beckett had told Castle about her mother’s case being involved, however indirectly, to LOCKSAT, Castle would have joined her and we all know that he could be reckless. It was this behaviour that helped them solve their cases and we know that he already said that he would do anything for the people he loves (515 Target). Beckett doesn’t want that, seeing him as a father and a son. Kate knows that when Castle gets hurt, she’s not going to be the only one who will get hurt. There’s also Martha and Alexis. She had already seen this several times and she was with them when he went missing without a trace last year (701 Driven).

But both of them are reckless. Beckett doing this with just Vikram and no backup is reckless. If she hadn’t called Rita, she wouldn’t have left the loft and probably would have involved Castle as she decides to solve the case and they’d be reckless together. They already had, taking down Bracken. But this case is much bigger and in the end, would probably end up with both of them dead. We don’t want that to happen. So it’s Beckett who has to make a decision. 

We might remember that Castle signed a waiver for the NYPD during the freshman season (102 Nanny McDead). He is Beckett’s responsibility and up to now, he still is whenever they’re out there doing field work. This LOCKSAT case is field work. Beckett’s decision to work on it is not his call. Personally, I think it can be his call as she’s his wife and he can have a say on things but I’m looking at this professionally. She’s a cop and a cop or a soldier is ready to give up his life to save a person. For Beckett, it applies to he husband, whether professionally or personally. 

Castle had already put himself in danger for her several times most notable was when she got shot. He didn’t think of his own safety when he jumped in front of her, wanting to take the bullet. Alexis got mad at him for it. She couldn’t bear to lose her father, not when her mother is basically absent from their lives. It’s Beckett’s turn now to jump in front of him.

LET IT GO

These are three words that Kate had been told regarding the case but she can’t. So, as a Tumblr friend reminded me when I did this on the social media platform, only I can extend a metaphor (304 Punked). Let’s get Frozen. Original post here.

In the movie, Elsa let go of everything but she also was alone. No one to turn to. Do you think she’s really happy? She misses Anna so much (remember that she never opened the door to Anna even if she knocked incessantly in fear that she’s going to hurt her again but in the ice palace, the door opened when Anna knocked - love is an open door). When little sister came to her, she tried letting go but hurt Anna in the process. So she thinks she has to control it when in reality she’s just repressing her magic. And you know what happens when she’s trying to repress her powers? She hurts people. When Anna became ice (shut up! The movie was two years ago…you should know by now that Anna technically died), she realised what she did - with letting go and yet repressing her powers instead of trying to learn how to control it - led to her little sister being frozen. She realises that her emotions are tied to her powers so when she remembered how to love, she managed to thaw a frozen heart.

Okay it may be off tangent because Elsa is magical but…when you let go of some things, sometimes it gets back to haunt you whether you like it or not, especially in Kate’s job and what with Bracken and their history. She can’t repress it and pretend to be happy either because it will take a toll on her and Castle so what does she do? She sacrifices her happiness, distance herself from him because she loves him so much and she cannot let these things happen. Remember she said that she’s saving their marriage. Because she knows what will happen if she just let go (or if Castle will join her in whatever this case is about). Her love for Castle comes first so if something or someone will prevent her from doing it and hurt him, she’ll break into a million pieces and will probably and possibly be inconsolable. [Our emotions are tied to our actions thing.] She lost a loved one once, she won’t let it happen again. It’s not being selfish because she gains nothing aside from being free to be happy and not think that something is always pointed at her back.

ALWAYS

I’ve seen posts and whatnots about this scene in Always:

BECKETT
He got away and I didn’t care. I almost died, and all I could think about was you. I just want you.

They say that this “break up” defies the purpose of the scene but it doesn’t.

We must remember that Kate didn’t actually have a purpose in her life when she was solving Johanna’s murder. She only wanted to know, and eventually apprehend, her mother’s murderer. There was nothing else. If she had died, she wouldn’t care as long as she knew who killed her mother and why. When she said “He got away and I didn’t care”, she was saying that because she realised what it would be like if she didn’t throw caution to the wind and be with Castle and in turn, giving him a chance to be with her. It was Castle she was thinking about when she was hanging on the roof. So, for the first time ever probably, she chased the man she knew would be the love of her life, her always, and they just went at it, not minding what consequences it would bring them.

This time around Beckett has a purpose and it’s Castle. It’s the same reason why she intended to survive the torture Vulcan Simmons made her endure in 617 In the Belly of the Beast. It’s the same as that last scene when she chose to go with Castle instead of wallowing on Bracken after the day she’d been through. Giving herself distance from Castle doesn’t defy the purpose of that scene because she’s doing it for him. If she dies doing this, she knows it will hurt him but it will have served its purpose because he’s safe and he can move on.

EMOTIONS

I recently watched Inside Out again and I remember my conclusion that Sadness is rooted in Joy. So you need to be sad before you get to be happy. Every single time. The memory, whether core or not, will be a combination of each thus making it balanced. Quoting same Tumblr friend: “The correlation to needing a certain level of sadness (and anger, and fear, and disgust, etc) in life to experience and appreciate the fullness of joy is the BEST lesson of a Disney/Pixar movie. Pushing all the emotional buttons gets you a fuller experience and a deeper memory. That’s true in life, and especially in the telling of a good story.”

Joy experienced all the emotions: sadness, disgust, fear, anger. She only masked it with her giddiness and what happened? She became selfish. When she learned the hard truth, from Sadness no less, she gives the blue core memory to Sadness to work it all out and they’re now working in harmony.

Joy only wanted Riley to be happy but instead it led to her not feeling anything. It would and could have happened to Kate if she let it go and be the happy wife that everyone expects her to be. She will become some Stepford wife, all smiles, no emotions. She’ll be void of any emotion at all if she doesn’t do this LOCKSAT case. Yes, she is happy to be Castle’s wife and she’s proud of it but that’s not all there is to her. Or to anyone. It’s that simple. To get to joy and happiness, you have to experience all of these emotions, all the challenges, all the setbacks. When you do, you get your happily ever after.

THE ROAD TO HAPPY EVER AFTER

Coffee is a symbol for their love. In 804 What Lies Beneath, Kate tried to make the coffee Castle does for her but couldn’t. At the end of the episode, he told her that he adds a secret ingredient and when probed further, he said that if he told her, she might not need him anymore. She abandoned the topic by saying telling him not to tell her. It’s a sign that she still needs him. And they still work together, with Castle finding ways to work on the case Beckett’s working on and Kate needing his assistance.

People also said that Castle is not enough for her that she chose this “crusade” instead. As Mia said (805 The Nose), Beckett loves him with a passion. That passion, that burning love of hers is what drives her to do this. It’s her turn to protect him that way he did, even if unbeknownst to her, after the events of Knockout. She may have a passion for this thing of hers but it’s not enough that she will actually choose it over her husband. If she did, then they really are over. But they aren’t. To prove it, she left her NYPD t-shirt, the same one she was wearing when she was alone and experiencing PTSD (409 Kill Shot), in their bed for Castle to find. It is a promise that she will come back. If they are truly over, she wouldn’t have left anything behind.

Beckett may keep repeating her mistakes. Her inner demons are always there, as with all of us. She even told Castle once that solving this case is an addiction and like a drug addict, she will keep falling back into it. She won’t stop until everything is done. The thing is she already wanted to tell Castle because it’s difficult for her not to be with him. She’s struggling with herself. She’s probably berating herself for not involving her husband. She had told Vikram that the worst thing she thought she’s going to face is working without her husband (802 XX).

I answered a Facebook comment recently and it led to discussing this story arc. It was a great discussion and even I was surprised by my own answers. A user commented that Castle will never forgive himself if something would happen to Beckett whilst solving this case to which I answered that it’s not his call. Because I’d rather see them working and living separately than to see Beckett hurt and blaming herself for what would happen to Castle if he gets involved in the case (or if he dies). She will fall down that rabbit hole again and never get back up. She answered back that it might destroy their relationship. I told her that it may not. Their love for each other is immense, tremendous. Whilst their actions may not be forgotten, they know how to forgive. Forgiveness is such a powerful thing.

THEORIES ON WHAT TO COME

I am building a theory now as to what the upcoming fall finale, Mr & Mrs Castle, will be. This episode is an homage to Mr & Mrs Smith, and where the next shift in the story happens. There is a possibility that Castle is already investigating this LOCKSAT, having an inkling about it ever since the agent killed herself. But he doesn’t tell Beckett. He already knows about it, already knows Bracken is involved somehow and is now dead. They promised each other no more secrets but if you see the way Castle looked when he was hugging Beckett (802 XX), it’s as if he was hiding something. Aside from being mad at her. The “I’m going to win my wife back” is a tactic to let the audience know that they are still very much together and that he actually knows something. It’s a ruse for us to ignore the grander story.

If you watched the movie (get the Brad/Angelina one if you haven’t, since, if I’m not mistaken, it’s the version they based that episode on), they find out that they are each other’s target and after they do, they exchanged bullets that led to their furnishings at home being destroyed but in the end, it’s their love for each other that won. They even teamed up to get the bad guys.

I also have a theory that Castle’s disappearance is connected to this case. If it is, they do need to get to work together and Beckett will be back at the loft. They may still not see eye-to-eye on this case but at least they’ll be together.

So is this a quest? Maybe, maybe not. A quest, for me, is searching for something and solving it for your own benefit and for others. Kate solving this case doesn’t directly benefit her but will benefit Castle and his family, him being safe. It will only benefit her if she comes out of this alive, stops looking behind her, and she gets her happy ever after.

NO ONE TO BLAME

There is no one to blame for how this season is going. Both Nathan and Stana are producers and know the flow of the story. You cannot say that the new showrunners do not know the characters. Terence and Alexi have been both involved in the show since the sophomore season, with Alexi departing in Season 5 to co-run another show in another network. Terence has written memorable stories like 414 The Blue Butterfly and the honeymoon episode, 707 Once Upon A Time in the West. Alexi also wrote memorable episodes like 303 Under the Gun, 322 To Love and Die in LA, and 409 Kill Shot. So please do not say that they do not know who these characters are. Besides, in a marriage, it’s not wine and roses everyday. If Castle and Beckett remain happy with no obstacles at all, their story will be stagnant. It’s just that, them being happy and in a haze of being in love. Like the previous season. Even in FRIENDS, Monica and Chandler had problems; Phoebe and Mike had problems. An obstacle, whatever the size of it, is needed to move along the stories of the characters, to let them develop more.

"What's a great love story without obstacles to overcome? Every fairy tale has them. Terrible trials that only the worthy can transcend. But you can't give up. That's the deal. We want the happy ending, we can't give up."

Leading to this decision, it is not a regression on Beckett’s character. It is not even a step back. It is a baby step in developing her character. She is not only doing this distancing thing for herself, as she did before in Rise, but she is doing it to protect the people she loves – Castle and his family, the family who accepted her whoever she was, even before they got together. If you come to think of it, she’s still broken, on the mend, still emerging from that rabbit hole then this LOCKSAT came up. To further it, she still doesn’t know what happened to Castle in six of the eight weeks he went missing.

I take this story as Sibyll Trelawney’s only true prophecy:

“…the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives...”

TIME TRAVELLER

One of the things we should remember is that there are episodes in throughout the series that were put there for a reason. One of these episodes is 605 Time Will Tell. In that episode, our time traveller Simon Doyle was captured by Beckett and Castle. Whilst Beckett was on the phone, he told Castle that he couldn’t believe that he married her and that they have three kids and Beckett is a senator. He was on the verge of telling something about their future selves, that some crazy event happened:

DOYLE
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It was kind of hard to believe myself, given all the crazy stuff that goes on between you two.

CASTLE
Crazy stuff? What stuff?

DOYLE
Are you kidding me? She –

He stopped there, not wanting to say more. Everybody, even I, thought that it was about Bracken and the events of 622 Veritas but it wasn’t. Nothing big happened to Beckett aside from being framed. She didn’t even kill Bracken. It was Castle who disappeared in that season’s finale and not Kate. But Doyle said “she” already implying it was Kate. Maybe it is about what is happening now.

I cannot fully dismiss this episode at all. The fact that it was also written by Terri Edda Miller and the show’s creator Andrew Marlowe, that episode was made for a reason.

There will be those who will scoff and point out things about how lame and poor the execution of the story arc is. I will watch Castle to find out what happens. I will remain a fan. I trust in the writers and the showrunners that there is a resolve coming soon. It is their story to tell and not ours. We’re spectators of that story.

I am excited for what will happen especially now that the seventh episode of the season’s stills were released where they will find a way to celebrate their first anniversary. Especially what the TVLine article is implying, but I’m not going to jump to conclusions because my guess may be wrong, too. And from the BTS pictures of upcoming episodes that some of the actors are tweeting, they’re still very much married.

This is my opinion and I may be biased in more ways than one. It’s up to you if you’re with me or against me. I welcome criticism but I will defend Kate Beckett and her decision. With a passion.