The penultimate episode of “Castle” Season 7 ended on a celebratory note, with the original characters of the show, except Alexis, toasting Martha’s second act on Broadway. They were probably celebrating the milestone 150th episode of the series. Except Martha’s “Is he dead?” on a repeat mode and Carly Rae Jepsen’s singing her new song, “I Really Like You,” the rest of the elements of the episode were lacklustre. Here is what happened in “Dead From New York":

Recap “Castle” Season 7, Episode 22:

For the first time, Kate Beckett witnesses Martha getting into her character -- by repeating the dialogue “Is he dead?” again and again -- which according to Rick Castle is his mother’s ritual while preparing to open in a play. Castle calls the ritual 48-hour first line because for two days prior to the opening night, Martha will say nothing but her character’s first line. Beckett points out that the opening night is still a month away and Castle finds it odd that his mother is doing her ritual for the preview night. Before, he could figure out the reason, there is call on Beckett’s phone. A real dead body is waiting for them.

Sid Ross, the creator of “Saturday Night Tonight,” a long-running sketch comedy show, is dead. Lanie tells Beckett and Castle that Ross was strangled from his own tie and then thrown down the elevator shaft from the SNT studio on the seventh floor. Castle suspects that one of his employees may have killed him.

Ross’ wife is the first one to be called in at the precinct. She tells Esposito and Ryan that when her husband called the night before, he sounded anxious and told her that someone was out to get him and he needed to handle that. The wife assumed that it may have something to do with his big business deal. She tells the duo that the head of Ross’ production company, Gene Vogel, may have an idea about the business.

Castle and Beckett find Vogel telling Saturday Night Today team that the network has asked them to go on with Saturday’s episode as a tribute. Danny Valentine is introduced as the guest-host. Vogel and SNT’s head-writer show Beckett and Castle a rehearsal clip featuring Mickey Franks, one of the cast members. The volatile Mickey is seen going berserk, destroying the props with his sword. He can also be heard saying that he is going to kill Moss.

Mickey is the first suspect of the episode. However, it is at the precinct, he finds out that Moss is dead. He tells Beckett and Castle that he was just acting crazy, as he wanted Moss to cut him loose. He was unable to sign on lucrative projects because of his SNT contract. Mickey tells Caskett that he might know who did it. He had heard Moss yelling at someone on the phone. Mickey has no idea why he was doing that but he remembers that it was about a deal that was going to take place around midnight.

Esposito finds out that the call was made from an unidentified burner phone. He tells Caskett that if anyone knows about that deal that must be Valentine, as he had called Moss after the call from the unidentified number. The husband-wife investigating team go to the studio to have a word with Valentine. The latter flirts with Beckett, which makes Castle uncomfortable.

Valentine says that he was supposed to go out for drinks with Moss and his ex-wife, but Moss suddenly cancelled the plan, without an explanation. The guest-host soon adds that he saw Moss exit the building from the private entrance and he went to the subway at the corner, which he found strange.

At the precinct, Ryan is able to dig out information that Moss went to Brooklyn. He also got a traffic video footage that shows Moss fleeing a shady alley while a masked man, with a gun, is seen chasing him. There were gunshots fired too.

Ryan finds out that an SUV rented by a con-man Kurt Van Zant was seen leaving the alley. He was recently released after spending 35 years in prison for drug trafficking. He claims that he financed the pilot of SNT but Moss screwed him of all the money. Castle and Beckett find out that studio page Chad called in a guest pass for Van Zant, as he was told by Valentine.

Castle and Beckett find the two men in a dangerous scuffle. It looks like Van Zant was trying to push Valentine out of the window. Beckett pulls out her gun and puts an end to the fight. Van Zant had left a note at Valentine’s hotel, telling him that he had information about Moss’ murder, and because of that the latter had said okay to the guest pass.

Van Zant tells Beckett that he did not kill Moss and they had sorted out their differences, as Moss had agreed to pay him. The deal was ready but Moss wanted Van Zant to bring him an unregistered gun in exchange for his signing on the paper. After he gave him the gun, Van Zant stayed around to see what Moss was up to.

He saw a masked man show up and open a dumpster and pull out a duffle bag. At that time, Moss jumped out, with the gun, and asked the masked man about a woman. Van Zant also said that he saw Moss and the masked man fighting to get hold of the gun. He also heard the gunshots going off.

Soon the investigating team figure out that Moss’ ex-wife has gone missing and the case is likely about a ransom gone wrong. Esposito and team find Evelyn gagged up and tied to chain. She has no clue about the identity of her kidnapper. However, her statement suggests that it was an inside job, which makes Beckett and Castle head to the SNT studio again.

There, they take a couple of minutes of break from their investigation and dance while Jepsen is singing “I Really Like You.” After this impromptu act, Beckett arrests Chad, as there is overwhelming evidence against him. Castle and Beckett realise that Chad may have been framed, as the evidence were there for them to easily find.

And the real killer turns out to be the head of the production house Vogel. As the partial sale of Moss’ company was being considered, a review of the company’s book would have taken place. This would have exposed Vogel. He had embezzled $4 Million dollars. And in order to reimburse the money he stole, he kidnapped Evelyn and demanded a ransom. When Moss figured out the masked man’s identity, Vogel killed him.

The case is not over yet, as Vogel runs to avoid getting arrested. Beckett ends up taking him down in front of SNT’s live audience. Beckett and Castle, holding hands, take a bow in front of the cheering audience.

Martha’s performance story: Castle finds that Martha has gone silent, no longer repeating her character’s first line. Martha tell him that she is thinking of quitting the play, as she fears bad reviews and scathing remarks on social media. Castle peps her up by reminding her that she is a fighter and that she has earned her second act.

The episode ends with Martha arriving at the precinct with a bottle of champagne after her preview performance. Castle reads aloud the glowing comments posted on Twitter, all praising Martha’s performance. The comments call her a “revelation” and “amaze-balls.”

The champagne is poured in the paper-cups. Castle makes a toast to his mother, saying “... to my amaze-balls mother, the best second-act on Broadway.”

For your comments/feedback, you may email the writer at a.shrivastava@IBTimes.com.au.

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