The latest Castle was all about who had the greatest "Need to Know" and who got left out in the cold. And the final results were not nearly what I expected. 

Rick and Kate looked incredibly cozy laying in bed... hundreds of miles apart. How can these two still look so darn adorable even when they're not sharing the same space?!? Even their virtual kiss, which in lesser hands would have been nothing but cheesy, made me smile.

Unfortunately, Pi was still hanging around the loft. If he has such a talent for making smoothies, perhaps he should get a job. I loved Castle's disgust with his house guest, as he lamented to Martha in this Castle quote…

Half the time I don't know if I'm smelling our new compost bin or my daughter's rotting ambition. | permalink

Alexis does appear to be losing IQ points the longer Pi sticks around. But for the most part I agree with Martha. The more they fight it, the more Alexis will cling to her new boy toy like any other rebellious teenager. Eventually her better sense should kick in and send her freeloading boyfriend packing. 

I just hope that moment is sooner rather than later. I'm not sure how much more Pi I can take.

A crowded loft and a cool murder (the hook through the body was pretty awesome) drove Castle back to the 12th. And can I say, thank God! It's only been two episodes but I've really missed the precinct and Esposito and Ryan. It was great to have them back in the mix. 

Ryan's love of Too Cool For School just added to the fun as he did his best to defend the cheesy sitcom and Esposito was right there to mock him, as any good partner should under such circumstances. 

Although I didn't mind the addition of Detective Sullivan, it was kind of painful to see what he'd done to Beckett's desk. Her cute little elephants would have been lost in a sea of trash and fast food. But it was nice that he knew of the famous Detective Beckett and respected her work and that she was willing to step aside and admit the desk was no longer hers. My guess is that magnanimous gesture may come back to haunt her in the near future.

Speaking of Beckett, she looked honestly uncomfortable being on the Fed side of things and taking over the case. She always hated it when that happened to her in the past. Now she was the bad guy in the eyes of her team.  

Everyone got territorial and even who could share in a cup of coffee came into question…

Esposito: We are not serving them coffee. You bought this espresso machine for the NYPD. This is NYPD coffee only. | permalink

The case had some unique twists and turns as the death of an actor turned out to be the murder of an undercover informant trying to take down a Russian gangster for the CIA. One of my favorite moments was when Beckett and Esposito compared notes on how they all ended up at the warehouse…

Beckett: How'd you guys get there?
Esposito: Chicken poop.
Beckett: Oh, whatever works. | permalink

I couldn't get over how proud Javier looked when he told her chicken poop. I also loved when Castle balked at pushing his boundaries with his now fiance Agent Beckett...

Ryan: Castle, your whole relationship is built on the foundation of your boundary pushing.
Castle: Good point. | permalink

How true. Basically the entire premise of the show has been Castle pushing his limits.

And did I hear that correctly? Did Heat Wave the movie go straight to DVD?!? That's so wrong? But I suppose that's a way of explaining why we never saw an episode highlighting the movie premiere. Overall it feels like quite the lost opportunity for a great show.

Back to the case, and Agent Beckett. Throughout, it was easy to see Kate's doubts over her new job. She took the job believing she could do more. That if she were solving cases on such a large stage that the results would be even more satisfying. On the surface that made sense. Handling issues of national security could mean saving hundreds if not thousands of lives.

Unfortunately, she was finding out that solving cases on such a grand scale sometimes meant overlooking certain details…like one victim, or one murderer. For a woman who always put getting justice for the victims and their families as her top priority, that was a reality that was hard to swallow. 

As Capt. Gates told McCord about murder victim Charlie Reynolds…

Capt. Gates: He may not have had a grieving mother or a wife waiting for him but his killer should not go unpunished. | permalink

And that injustice led Beckett to break the rules, more than once. She snuck information to the boys so that they could find the killer and then leaked Svetlana's name to the press so the CIA couldn't use her. Even I was a little shocked that Beckett would break the rules of her job so blatantly, despite her personal beliefs.

Back at the loft I was thrilled that we got another cozy Caskett moment. There can't be enough of those to keep me happy. 

The moment Castle turned serious and began to talk about how their long distance relationship wasn't working you could see the fear cloud Kate's face. It looked like she was afraid he was about to break off their engagement. Her expression clearly said she feared the worst.

As did her complete joy and relief when Rick offered her that key to their new place in D.C. where they could live together. I'm surprised it took him so long to reach that decision. Have we ever seen Kate Beckett look happier? And then we got the surprise twist. 

I honestly thought Beckett would reach the conclusion that this job wasn't for her. That if she had to bend the rules to feel justice was done that being Agent Beckett was the wrong decision. 

Instead McCord showed up to tell her she'd been fired. 

As much as I would have liked Kate to have made the decision herself, this might be even better. I doubt Kate Beckett has ever been fired from anything. This could really send her reeling which might be fun to watch…at least for a while. 

Will Gates make her grovel to get her job back? Will the boys haze her for leaving in the first place? Will the overcrowded conditions at Castle's loft drive everyone over the edge if Kate now moves in? And when the heck will we see Lanie this season?  

All of the above has me counting the days until the next Castle.

C. Orlando was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.