Castle (TV Series)

The Human Factor (2013)

Stana Katic: Kate Beckett

Photos 

Quotes 

• [while playing war with a remote-control tank that has a camera, it goes by the open bedroom door where a scantily clad Beckett is deciding on clothes to wear] 

  Richard Castle : [to himself]  Whoa, that is not the Suez Canal. Ooh.

  [to Beckett] 

  Richard Castle : If you're trying to decide what to wear, just keep wearing what you're wearing now. Or... less.

  [spotting the camera Beckett laughs and throws her shirts over it] 

  Kate Beckett : Pervert!

  Richard Castle : That is Field Marshall Pervert to you.

• [Castle is awoken by a toy tank moving on his bed and gets up] 

  Richard Castle : [whispers]  Beckett?

  [looks around and grabs a baseball bat] 

  Richard Castle : No tank is gonna get me.

  [strikes toy tank with bat, then toy helicopter flies at his head] 

  Richard Castle : Beckett! Beckett, get up. We gotta go.

  Kate Beckett : [laughing]  You totally fell for it. You acted like it was rise of the machines.

  Richard Castle : No I didn't. I didn't think it was rise of the...

  Kate Beckett : [still laughing]  If that was actually a killer tank? You *bailed*.!

  Richard Castle : I went to get the bat to protect you, to eliminate the threat!

  Kate Beckett : Really? There's a camera here Castle. I saw the look on your face!

• Simon Warburg : It began two years ago. With this.

  [shows them a photo] 

  Kate Beckett : I don't understand what a car driving through the desert has to do with Dale Tanner.

  Simon Warburg : Intelligence reports said there were three high-ranking Afghan militants in this car. It was the right make and model, traveling at a high rate of speed. So the drone pilot was given the green light to strike. But then, he saw those red dots on the trunk and he had a feeling so he aborted the mission. There were no militants in that car. The red dots were roses. Because the young couple driving down that desert road had just gotten married... That's when I knew I could no longer be a part of the drone program.

  Richard Castle : I don't understand why. The pilot didn't fire.

  Simon Warburg : Because the next generation of drones won't have pilots. The new AI software will give drones decision-making capability. *They'll* assess the data and take lethal action all on their own.

  Richard Castle : Really will be rise of the machines.

  Simon Warburg : Those new drones would turn that car to ash without hesitation. That's why, when lives are at stake... we need a man who sees roses. We need the human... factor.

• [upon entering an antique bookstore] 

  Richard Castle : Ohh... that aroma. Old leather and moldering paper. It's official. I love this place.

  Kate Beckett : Castle, look, it's "Storm Season".

  Richard Castle : Mmm.

  Kate Beckett : Oh, on the clearance table.

  Richard Castle : And the love fades.

• Richard Castle : Warburg. Sounds like a Bond villain, right? Petting his cat while formulating a plan for world domination. And what is that plan, you ask?

  Kate Beckett : Actually I didn't ask.

  Richard Castle : Talking about the boys.

  [to Ryan and Esposito] 

  Richard Castle : To create a drone army. A drone army that can think. That possesses awareness. And who better than the programming *genius* who designed their software to give them that spark of life?

  Kate Beckett : Castle, you don't actually believe that. And keep in mind, if you say "yes," I will find you less attractive.

• [after shooting down a drone] 

  Richard Castle : Wow!... I can't believe you missed with every shot.

  Kate Beckett : *Really*? Do you think that you shot down that drone? With your marksmanship?

  Richard Castle : I rose to the occasion. Wow. This time I really did protect you.

  Kate Beckett : Yeah. Along with yourself.

  Richard Castle : You know, this makes up for what may be considered a momentary lack of manliness. No, I have earned my redemption. Nothing can take that away from me.

  Kate Beckett : [picking up a shell casing]  These aren't real bullets, these are blanks.

  Richard Castle : Blanks? Well, I didn't know that, so that doesn't... That doesn't diminish the act of heroism.

• Richard Castle : What is going on here? Do you really think the military took him out?

  Kate Beckett : I don't see how they could.

  Richard Castle : Because they wouldn't cross that line?

  Kate Beckett : Because in my experience, huge bureaucracies don't act with that kind of efficiency.

  Richard Castle : Well, that's comforting.

• Kate Beckett : How many drones were in the area this morning?

  Colonel Fortis : That information is classified.

  Kate Beckett : Colonel Fortis, was there a drone flying over New York City at 8:15 a.m.?

  Colonel Fortis : That's classified.

  Richard Castle : Okay, how about this? Did anyone else have access to the drones? Any federal agencies? Corporations?

  Colonel Fortis , Richard Castle : That's classified.

  Kate Beckett : Okay, then I'd like to take a look at your flight logs...

  Colonel Fortis : This meeting is over.

  Ronald Hooper : Keep in mind, the waivers that you signed prohibit you from discussing what was said here.

  Richard Castle : Nothing was said here.

  Ronald Hooper : Well, then we shouldn't have a problem.

  Richard Castle : Touché.

• Jared Stack : Well played, Detective Beckett. So... what do you want to know?

  Kate Beckett : Why don't we start with who are you?

  Jared Stack : Jared Stack. Special Investigator for the Attorney General's office.

  Richard Castle : I've never heard of it.

  Jared Stack : [whispers]  You're not supposed to.

  Kate Beckett : And what's your connection to Dale Tanner?

  Jared Stack : Tanner was under scrutiny by the FBI, DHS, and the Pentagon, not to mention the NYPD Counter-Terrorism Unit. Somebody objective needed to look into his death... so they picked me.

  Kate Beckett : When did you realize that he was killed by a drone and not a car bomb?

  Jared Stack : Once our people examined the wreckage.

  Richard Castle : Why the fake ID?

  Jared Stack : I didn't know where this was headed. The AG needs deniability.

  Richard Castle : [to Beckett]  "The secretary will disavow all knowledge of your actions." It's "Mission: Impossible".

  Jared Stack : Pretty much. I'm even wearing a mask.

  Richard Castle : Really?

  Jared Stack : No.

• Kate Beckett : You claim that you have no idea where this is headed, but it seems pretty clear to me. The military launched an attack against Tanner.

  Jared Stack : I went over the logs at Fort Drummond. It didn't come from there.

  Richard Castle : Where did it come from?

  Jared Stack : That's what I'm trying to find out. Fact is, we've lost a number of drones, some of 'em have fallen into enemy hands.

  Kate Beckett : So one of our enemies killed Tanner? With a drone?

  Richard Castle : That theory... is highly improbable. And coming from me, that's saying something.

• Kate Beckett : What's your name?

  Jared Stack : Does it matter? It's not like we're gonna get to know each other.

  Kate Beckett : Who had Dale Tanner killed?

  [no answer] 

  Kate Beckett : Were you a part of it? Or was your job just to clean up the mess?

  Jared Stack : You're tenacious. I respect that.

  Kate Beckett : Was Omar Dixon part of the mess?

  Jared Stack : He went into hiding. By the way, how did you manage to draw him out?

  Kate Beckett : I'll be asking the questions.

  Jared Stack : You just won't be getting the answers.

  Kate Beckett : Well, we'll see. I can keep you for twenty-four hours and I fully intend to do so.

  Jared Stack : You have me for five more seconds. Use them well.

  [Beckett doesn't respond; five seconds later, there is a knock on the door] 

  Kevin Ryan : Beckett? You've got a phone call.

  Jared Stack : Time's up.

• Richard Castle : Yeah, I just had a deeply disturbing thought.

  Kate Beckett : Much like most of your thoughts?

• Kate Beckett : Well, we don't have a body, we don't have a crime scene, we don't have any witnesses, but...

  Richard Castle : At least we have each other.

  Kate Beckett : We still have a homicide to solve.

  Richard Castle : And that.

• [Beckett sees a man from the crime scene at Fort Drummond] 

  Kate Beckett : [to Colonel Fortis]  That man over there, he was at the crime scene. Who is he? Does he work for you?

  Richard Castle : Don't bother. It's classified.

  Kate Beckett : [starts to leave then stops]  You know, I don't know what the hell you guys are up to, but I *promise* you I will find out.

• [Castle and Beckett driving back from a Fort Drummond meeting gets a call from Esposito that the feds have seized all of the case evidence] 

  Kate Beckett : [on speaker-phone to Esposito]  We've been played. They just met with us to find out where everything was and what we knew. And then they grabbed all the evidence.

  Javier Esposito : [on speaker-phone]  Yeah, and now we have no proof that a drone strike ever happened.

  Richard Castle : And we're no closer to figuring out why it happened... or who did it.

  Kevin Ryan : [approaching Esposito]  Maybe Tanner's partner can tell us.

  Kate Beckett : Do you know who it is?

  Kevin Ryan : Turns out Tanner taught law classes at East Borough College to make ends meet and his colleagues said they remember seeing a former student named Omar Dixon hanging around. I talked to Omar's girlfriend. She said that he did work for Tanner but it was all hush-hush what he did.

  Kate Beckett : And where's Omar now?

  Kevin Ryan : The girlfriend said she has no idea. But Sean Tanner might. He attends East Borough, too. He used to drop by and see his dad. Maybe he knows Omar.

  Richard Castle : Oh, I think he does. Remember what he did when you asked if he knew his dad's partner?

  Kate Beckett : He changed the subject.

  Richard Castle : Boom.

• Jared Stack : Think of it this way, let's say our government wanted Tanner dead, why not just gun him down in the streets? Why use a drone? Why get rid of him in a way that could bounce back on them?

  Kate Beckett : Same reason most killers do. Because they think they're gonna get away with it.

• Kevin Ryan : Why is it so hard to believe? People hack into banks all the time. The Pentagon, NASA.

  Javier Esposito : Yeah, but a drone? Maybe the pilot was just *pretending* that he wasn't flying.

  Kate Beckett : No, no. You can't fake that kind of panic.

  Richard Castle : I agree. He was having a pants-soiling moment. But there is one possibility we are neglecting... The drone itself. It's rise of the machines. Not unlike SkyNet in "The Terminator". The machines have achieved consciousness

  [whispers] 

  Richard Castle : and they are pissed.

• Jared Stack : Let me ask you something... Where do you see yourself five years from now?

  Kate Beckett : I haven't really given it much thought.

  Jared Stack : As a lieutenant?... Captain? At One Police Plaza, climbing the ladder?

  Kate Beckett : That's not really where my heart is.

  Jared Stack : Where is your heart? In that room? You wanna be in that room, five years from now, busting some killer's balls?

  Kate Beckett : I don't know you... Certainly not well enough to have this conversation.

  [turns to leave] 

  Jared Stack : Yeah, I used to work Homicide, too.

  Kate Beckett : [turning back]  Really?

  Jared Stack : Yeah.

  Kate Beckett : Hmm.

  Jared Stack : Chicago. 'Till some guy tapped me on the shoulder. Today, I'm that guy... What I'm saying is this... I think you're exceptional. You're smart, you're strong, you're an asymmetrical thinker. I see bigger things for you.

  Kate Beckett : Who says I want bigger things?

  Jared Stack : Practically everything about you screams it... There's a job opening in DC.

  Kate Beckett : What job?

  Jared Stack : With the Attorney General. We report directly to him, we work with total autonomy on the biggest, most challenging cases. Cases like this, where the stakes are high and the outcome can affect history. Not everybody has what it takes for the job. I think you do.

  [hands her a card] 

  Jared Stack : Call that number to schedule an interview... Think about it.

  Kate Beckett : I will.

  Jared Stack : I'll be talking to you, Detective Beckett.

• [last lines] 

  Richard Castle : And this human needs a shower. Care to join me?

  Kate Beckett : I'll be there in a minute.

  Richard Castle : [off-screen]  You never did tell me what Stack wanted to talk to you about.

  Kate Beckett : Nothing.

  [softly to herself] 

  Kate Beckett : It was nothing.