In the most unheard of thing in television Nathan Fillion is back in a staring show that has lasted to its third season!!  <Hold for Shock and Awe…Hold….Longer….ok>

The third season of the hit show Castle began last night pick up five months after its finale.  After solving a crime involving an affair wrapped up in a simulated spy game Castle leaves for the Hamptons to finish his book, but just as Beckett was about to accept the offer she initially turned down, requiring her to break up with her then boyfriend to be with Castle, she discovers that Castle is getting back together with his second ex wife, a move that was soul shattering for all of the diehard Castle-Beckett pairing fans….not that I am one…..<looks around nervously>

Beckett is lost and hurt that Castle has not returned.  She has not heard from him since he left but has not called either.  She stumbles into Castle after finding a friend of his murdered and thus begins the third season.

This episode has two major story lines, the first being the return of Castle and the emotion behind his departure, and the second the mystery.

The episodes mystery is the strongest part of the episode.  It involves the murders of three unrelated people, a chemist, a sculptor and a vending machine owner, one of which a close friend of Richard Castle.  The cops stumble across Castle with a gun in his hand and standing over a dead body.  The episode solution, which takes them to a burlesque house, is a shocking one that is written so you don’t see it coming.

The development of this episode is very weak.    Castle returns  to the NYPD to find himself treated like a poor ex.  Castle broke up not only with Beckett but with the entire division.  Everybody from Captain Roy Montgomery, to detectives Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan and even the beautiful Dr. Lanie Parish is treating Castle poorly.  To them he wronged not when he left, but when he didn’t return, when he didn’t get in contact with them, or even call.  Then with the aftermath of a childish bet Castle attempts to rejoin the team.

The art of making a solid premier is a very delicate art and sadly Castle strikes out in this episode.  This show suffers much like Futurama did in its return.  The writers pulled the Castle and Beckett apart in the finale and then must spend the season trying to put them back together.  Nobody learned from their mistakes, nobody grew from their error, nobody even apologised for their wrong doing.  Truth be told character development was none existent in the effort to return everybody to status quo, even the normally hilarious Castle quips and the Beckett comebacks were lame.

So in conclusion, a bad episode pulled from the fire by a good mystery.  I have high hopes for this season, and premiers normally do suck, so I am trying not to hold this episode against the season, but if I am forced to go an entire season with Castle and Beckett making no headway in their romantic dance then this show will quickly become stale.  This season needs to bring in some big developments.  Last year was a step in the right direction.  They added a solid crew of guest stars, hopefully reoccurring, and higher stakes in their cases, they just need to keep it up and Nathan will be able to check a fourth season off on his resume (first for everything)