What in the world is Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) up to? Last week “Castle” viewers were shocked when the new police captain got wrapped up in a deadly mystery during the Season 8 premiere, leaving Rick Castle (Nathan Fillion) in the dark about why assassins want her dead. However, episode 2 exposed Beckett’s side of the story … and things got even weirder.

The episode picks up where the premiere left off, with the deadly assassins heading into the building where Beckett is staying with a man named Vikram, a low-level analyst for the U.S. Attorney General’s office. The two narrowly manage to escape, but do so thanks to a mysterious woman … who is Castle’s stepmother, Rita (Ann Cusack).

So, why is Rita rescuing Beckett? And how did she know Beckett was there? “Castle” viewers don’t get that answer yet, but Beckett does explain exactly how she got wrapped up in this deadly game.

Fans will remember that Beckett used to work for the Attorney General’s office. Earlier that morning, Beckett received a call from Vikram who utilized an emergency alert that reveals there is a “life or death” situation. That’s when Beckett lied to Castle about her meeting and went to meet up with Vikram at the abandoned theater – the same theater the police found three bodies and Beckett’s blood.

Vikram starts telling Beckett about how everyone she used to work with at the Attorney General’s office – like her former partner Rachel McCord – is dead. Vikram continues that they tried to kill him as well – cue the entrance of the assassins.

As viewers already know, Beckett killed the three guys but got shot in the process. That took her and Vikram to a local dry cleaners where she locked a woman in the bathroom and sewed up her wound. And that’s where Vikram explains exactly why there is money on their heads.

Turns out that Beckett was using the database at the Attorney General’s office to do some digging into Senator Bracken (Jack Coleman). Although that was a couple of years ago, Vikram got a hit from her search. His decision to send it to McCord set off a series of events involving the assassination of his whole team and he and Beckett on the run.

Needing answers, Beckett goes to see Bracken in jail and mentions the term “LokSat,” something that was written on the side of the alert Vikram got. Unfortunately Bracken doesn’t give her any answers – but he does give her a warning. He basically tells her to give up now because the situation is so “over their heads” that they all have a target on their backs.

Meanwhile, Vikram is holed up at a hotel. Alexis (Molly C. Quinn) and Hayley (Toks Olagundoye) track him down and manage to use surveillance footage to take a photo of a memo he has. During all this time is when Castle was getting tortured with spiders in the premiere and Beckett saved the day.

Cut back to Vikram and Beckett with Rita – Rita explains that one of the bad guys hunting them down works within the CIA. They were partners with Bracken … but not anymore because Rita gets an alert that he was killed in prison.

The only thing left to do is search for clues about this mysterious person, which leads Vikram and Beckett to focus on the LokSat phrase. The pair comes to the conclusion that the numbers attached to the phrase is for an airplane. They head to a small hanger where they find a pilot who claims not to know anything … or does he? Castle arrives just in time to tackle Vikram, who looks like he’s about to shoot Beckett. But in reality he was shooting the pilot.

But why would Castle think that Vikram would betray Beckett? A little birdie by the name of Assistant Attorney General Hyde may have slipped Castle some information about Vikram. However, Beckett doesn’t trust Hyde – she trusts Vikram. Since Castle trusts his wife, he decides to trust Vikram as well.

But unfortunately there is no happy ending in episode 2 of “Castle.” Two of the assassins are waiting for them at Castle’s office. But Esposito (Jon Huertas) and Ryan (Seamus Dever) are able to save the day after hiding in Castle’s new secret room … until another assassin walks in with a gun to Hayley. That’s where Castle’s new hidden gun comes into play, allowing him to be the one to save the day.

How much more drama can happen in an hour program? Vikram manages to hack into one of the assassins phones and discovers that they’ve been working with Hyde this whole time.

Hyde is dead by the time they arrive to her apartment. However, that doesn’t mean that the case is over. Beckett can return to normal, but she doesn’t want to because the real killer is still out there. Rita warns her that if she does want to keep chasing this thing she has to leave her family out of it. Season 8, episode 2 ends with Beckett packing her bags and asking Castle to trust her.

RELATED STORIES