Castle (TV Series)

Secret Santa (2012)

Stana Katic: Kate Beckett

Photos 

Quotes 

• Richard Castle : I am not overreacting. It's, it's one night out of the year. Is it too much to ask to stick to the program?

  Kate Beckett : Well, maybe your program should evolve a little.

  Richard Castle : It is evolving. I invited you, didn't I? You are still coming, right?

  Kate Beckett : Ah, yeah. I mean, if I don't have to work. But look, okay, no presents. Remember, we promised. It's just, a little too stressful this first year.

  Richard Castle : No presents. I'm flexible. There are certain aspects to this that are time-honored. Th-The heart, the beating heart behind the Christmas holidays.

  [sees victim and is outraged] 

  Richard Castle : *And now Santa is dead*? *When will it end*?

  Kate Beckett : Hate to break it to you Castle, but there is no Santa.

  Richard Castle : Well, not any more.

• Captain Victoria Gates : [her phone chirps]  Oh! Speaking of people having their homes stolen.

  Kate Beckett : Is that your mother-in-law again, sir?

  Captain Victoria Gates : Detective, if you happen to receive a report of a homicide tonight at my address, do me a favor. Ignore it.

  Kate Beckett : [laughs]  Yes, sir.

• Richard Castle : $30 thousand. That's a little more than the Cabots needed for their lawsuit. Maybe our Santa is Robin Hood, stealing from the rich to give to the poor?

  Kate Beckett : Yeah, but why would he use a helicopter to steal *this*? I mean, he could've just stuffed it in his sack and ho-ho-ho'd out of there. It *has* to be about more than just the clock.

  Richard Castle : Well, there were a couple more clocks on his workbench. Maybe this one's significant somehow.

  Kate Beckett : Okay. What's your theory?

  Richard Castle : Uh... Treasure map inside. No... No. The clock was commissioned by a secret society to count down the end of days. A secret society of Santas who are the guardians of time.

  [laughs] 

  Richard Castle : Oh, that's good.

• Richard Castle : [sitting down for Christmas dinner]  Mother, the glogg is excellent. And...

  Martha Rodgers : Thank you.

  Richard Castle : ...everything looks excellent. Just like always.

  Martha Rodgers : Oh, Richard. Richard, darling, you don't have to look so miserable.

  Richard Castle : Oh, no...

  Alexis Castle : She's right, Dad. We know how much this tradition means to you, so we both decided to cancel our plans... We're here all night, like always.

  Richard Castle : [after a pause]  I love you both so much that you would do that for me. But I was wrong about tonight... There's someplace I need to be.

  Alexis Castle : Dad, I...

  Martha Rodgers : Go... Go, go, go

  [Castle stands to up leave; opening the front door, he is surprised to see Beckett] 

  Richard Castle : I... Uh, I was just coming to see you.

  Kate Beckett : I-I was coming to see you.

  Richard Castle : What about your shift?

  Kate Beckett : I got Karpowski to cover. What about your family tradition?

  Richard Castle : Um... I was just thinking it's time for a new tradition.

  Kate Beckett : Me, too.

  Martha Rodgers : Oh, for god sakes, Richard. Invite the girl in.

• Lanie Parish : Remember how you asked if that fall is what killed him? Well, it wasn't. I pulled this out of his back.

  [Lanie holds up a bullet] 

  Kate Beckett : And that is a .38. Do you still think he fell off his sleigh, Castle?

  Richard Castle : No. Clearly, he was shot out of it. Talk about a war on Christmas.

  Kate Beckett : Or he was just shot in an aircraft and pushed out.

• Richard Castle : You volunteered to take Eldin's shift. Don't pretend. If you aren't ready, why not just tell me?

  Kate Beckett : I'm sorry, Castle. I didn't mean to...

  Richard Castle : You didn't mean to what?

  Kate Beckett : Christmas means something different to me than it does to you.

  Richard Castle : It's Christmas. I mean, how can it be different?

  Kate Beckett : [sighs]  Castle, every winter, as soon as that chill rolls in, I'm right back there in that alley. January 9th, and we still hadn't taken our Christmas decorations down. And by the time my dad and I did, it was like we were putting Christmas away forever... We haven't opened those boxes since.

  Richard Castle : I didn't know.

  Kate Beckett : That's why every year my dad goes up to his cabin... And ever since I became a rookie, I have taken the Christmas shift. Because I know that there are families out there that are celebrating together in their homes and I am keeping watch, and that is my tradition. And that is important to me. It's as important as your tradition is to you. And I'm sorry, Castle... I thought I could let that go, but I...

  Richard Castle : I understand.

• Kate Beckett : Well, Castle, looks like you might've been right. Maybe there is a Santa Claus, after all.

  Richard Castle : Whether there's a Santa Claus or not, that's not why I love Christmas. When I was kid, no matter how bad things got, my mother always managed to make Christmas Eve magical. Every year, she would put on the "Nutcracker Suite". I thought if she can do that in our tiny apartment when money was tight and we were alone, it gave me hope that things could get better... I love that feeling, that sense of hope. It's crazy, you know, on the shortest, darkest days of the year, people of all faiths celebrate the light.

• Dave Dunne : I already told you where I was, and it wasn't in any helicopter.

  Richard Castle : Yeah, about that. We checked the photos from the Harlem Youth Club. The Santa that was there was not you.

  Kate Beckett : Where were you that night, really? Let me help you. I just got off of the phone with Chuck Ames, the guy that owns that helicopter, and he said that you've rented it from him before.

  Dave Dunne : So, I know the guy. So what? You got no proof that I was in that helicopter that night.

  Kate Beckett : That's because you wiped it down when you brought it back. But you took something with you, didn't you?

  [Beckett opens the door, and L.T. brings in the Thomas Tilledge clock] 

  Kate Beckett : We found this in your apartment.

  Richard Castle : Care to revise your statement?

  Kate Beckett : Let me help you, again. Edmund figured out a way to make a quick score for you both. He worked the party and you were the getaway flier. And then when he got back into the chopper, you decided you wanted it all for yourself.

  Dave Dunne : All what? All he had was a damn clock!

  Richard Castle : Not just any clock. A Thomas Tilledge worth $30,000.

  Dave Dunne : [surprised]  That crap is worth thirty grand?

• Captain Victoria Gates : Remember that class-action suit against SunCove Funding?

  Kate Beckett : Yeah.

  Captain Victoria Gates : My contact at the SEC dug these up. SunCove's original Articles of Incorporation, showing the name of the account signatory. Look familiar?

  Kate Beckett : [reading]  "James Edmund Smith." The victim.

  Richard Castle : *Santa* is the shark who bilked those people out of their homes?

  Captain Victoria Gates : He has more blood on his hands than that. Tim Cabot's father died in a car crash. Fell asleep at the wheel working *three* jobs to pay his inflated mortgage, courtesy of Edmund Smith. That was Christmas Eve five years ago.

  Kevin Ryan : The Christmas that Edmund walked out on his life.

  Richard Castle : So... it was a tale of redemption. Edmund moves next door to the family whose lives he destroyed, dedicating his life to repairing theirs. Never telling them who he really is.

  Javier Esposito : But what if Tim found out?

  Richard Castle : Then it's a very different tale.

• Lanie Parish : You gotta admit, with that beard and that belly? He looks like the real deal.

  Kate Beckett : If by the real deal, you mean an overweight man in a red suit, who was hopefully carrying ID?

  Lanie Parish : Yep. Along with lots of candy cane wrappers, though I don't think that ID of his is gonna do you much good.

  [hands Beckett a wallet] 

  Kate Beckett : "Kris Kringle. Address, North Pole"? That's cute.

  Richard Castle : Maybe he's the real Santa. Like in "Miracle on 34th Street".

  Lanie Parish : Yeah, but with no happy ending. This Santa fell out the sky around 9:30.

  Kate Beckett : From an aircraft?

  Lanie Parish : Maybe, but it wasn't a commercial plane, I can tell you that. With a fall from high altitude, we'd see severe frostbite on his eyes and his face.

• Kevin Ryan : [sighing]  Hey, so I just talked with the family. They didn't see or hear any planes overhead.

  Kate Beckett : That doesn't make any sense. He had to have fallen from somewhere.

  Richard Castle : I'm sorry.

  [chuckles] 

  Richard Castle : Are we overlooking the obvious here? He hit some turbulence, slipped out of his sleigh and fell to his doom.

  Kevin Ryan : Santa, lying there dead. You gotta ask yourself something. What kind of world do we live in?

  Kate Beckett : A world in which there is no Santa and people don't fall out of nowhere. Can you check with Air Traffic Control and find out what flights were in the area?

  Kevin Ryan : Sure. Bah, humbug.

  [turns and leaves] 

• Kevin Ryan : Hey, so I heard from Air Traffic Control, but you're not gonna like the news. They have no record of anyone flying over the park during the time our guy hit the ground.

  Kate Beckett : How is that even possible?

  Richard Castle : Santa had his sleigh in stealth mode.

• Kate Beckett : So, we have anything else?

  Lanie Parish : Just this, embedded in his suit. A chip of paint or some kind of enamel. Cherry-red.

  Richard Castle : From a sleigh?

  Lanie Parish : I don't know yet. I'm sending it down to the lab for analysis.

  Richard Castle : Probably from a sleigh.

• Richard Castle : Hi.

  Receptionist : Merry Christmas!

  Kate Beckett : We're looking for David Dunne.

  Receptionist : Oh, Dave's in the big room. Teaching a class.

  Richard Castle : Uh, what is it you do here, exactly?

  Receptionist : We make magic.

  [she leads them into another room, where a group of Santas are being taught] 

  Group of Santas : Ho-Ho-Ho!

  Dave Dunne : Again!

  Group of Santas : Ho-Ho-Ho!

  Dave Dunne : Again!

  Group of Santas : Ho-Ho-Ho!

  Dave Dunne : Once again, from the diaphragm!

  Group of Santas : Ho-Ho-Ho!

  Dave Dunne : Outstanding!

  Kate Beckett : Santa school?

  Richard Castle : And I bet you one Santa is missing.

• [walking into David Dunne's place of employment] 

  Kate Beckett : Wow, someone takes Christmas *seriously*.

  Richard Castle : Oh, you should see our place. Our tree is a fifteen-foot noble fir. We have our garlands shipped in from some lake I can't pronounce, by the Canadian border. And wait 'till you see my train set.

  Kate Beckett : [half-heartedly]  Yeah. Can't wait.

• Kate Beckett : Now, where were you at 9:30 last night?

  Dave Dunne : I was at the Harlem Youth Center handing out gifts to kids. I wasn't anywhere near Edmund.

  Richard Castle : But you did engage in some un-Santalike behavior at his apartment.

  Dave Dunne : That was this is about? That was nothing.

  Kate Beckett : You threatened to kill him and now he's dead. I wouldn't call that nothing.

• Kate Beckett : Did you find out what Santa job Edmund was doing?

  Kevin Ryan : His agency said he wasn't booked on any gigs last night.

  Kate Beckett : So why was he wearing a Santa suit? And how'd he end up dead?

  Richard Castle : Well, if this was a *story*, it would all come back to Edmund's character. Why he became a Santa in the first place.

  Javier Esposito : [approaching]  Turns out, it's a mystery all by itself. I've been looking into this guy and check it.

  [adds picture to murder board] 

  Javier Esposito : *That* is Santa five years ago. Meet James Edmund Smith. He was a private equity manager at some big firm.

  Kate Beckett : That's the same guy?

  Javier Esposito : Yeah.

  Kate Beckett : What happened?

  Richard Castle : Dedication to his craft

  Javier Esposito : Like De Niro in "Raging Bull".

• [discussing the victim's dramatic transformation from private equity manager to professional Santa] 

  Javier Esposito : It's pretty extreme, I know. And I'll tell you this much, he didn't go all Santa for the money. Back in the day, he used to pull down a half a mil a year. As Santa, he made a tenth of that...

  Kevin Ryan : You can make that much as a Santa? Maybe I should switch jobs, huh?

  Javier Esposito : What? Gain two hundred pounds and have a bunch of rugrats sitting on your lap with dirty diapers?

  Kevin Ryan : [in disgust]  Yeah, thanks for that visual.

  Javier Esposito : Oh, here's another thing. I pulled Edmund's financials. On the night he was killed, he withdrew two grand from his ATM.

  Richard Castle : He didn't have that money on him when we found him. His wallet was empty.

  Kate Beckett : All right, take a look at the ATM footage and see if anyone was with him. He might have been robbed.

  Richard Castle : Uh, robbed and then launched into space?

  Kate Beckett : And how is that less plausible than your sleigh?

  Richard Castle : I think you mean less "clausible."

• Kate Beckett : How does a guy on a motorcycle connect to Edmund landing in the park?

  Richard Castle : Nothing connects. Why does a man watch a Christmas movie, then walk out on everything to become a Santa?... Unless the key to Edmund's story *is* "It's a Wonderful Life". You remember, in the movie, George Bailey tried to commit suicide on Christmas Eve and was saved by an angel.

  Kate Beckett : Which, in our story, is David Dunne.

  Richard Castle : Weird casting choice, I know. *But*, what if Edmund was trying to jump off a metaphoric bridge, you know, to start over?

  Kate Beckett : As a Santa?

  Richard Castle : Yes!... Yeah, that's where it falls apart.

• Richard Castle : Speaking of "It's a Wonderful Life", I was thinking tomorrow night perhaps we should have a Christmas movie marathon, or... some other kind of marathon that makes life wonderful.

  Kate Beckett : Um...

  Richard Castle : What?

  Kate Beckett : Castle, look, I know how much the holidays mean to you, and I know that you love Christmas, but I can't make it tomorrow.

  Richard Castle : What?

  Kate Beckett : The precinct is short-staffed. So, I'm gonna have to work.

  Richard Castle : [stammering]  How, to, what, don't, I don't... Don't you have seniority? Don't, how, how can this happen?