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Do you know how Castle can make some big Nathan Fillion fans even happier than finally having his character get together with Stana Katic's on the show? Go meta and make gleeful references to his past fan favorite project, Firefly. And that is exactly what the show does (in fact, a fun drinking game for the episode may be to count the references) in "The Final Frontier."

We won't lie to you: just the other day we were having a conversation with another entertainment reporter about whether or not Firefly would be as beloved as it is now if it had actually gone on for five or six seasons. Could it have carried on the quality of the first, short, and now iconic season? Or are the few episodes we do have put on a pedestal simply because they are so limited? We were not making an argument either way; just offering a general observational inquiry, but we have to say, Castle kind of answers our wonderings simply with this episode.

Castle itself is a series that, if delivering sub-par episodes, would be seen has being dragged out, rather than producing a tight storyline that ends on a high note. Episodes like "The Final Frontier" this far into the series run, though, proves the writers and producers still have a deep passion not only for their own project, but also for their fans. By nodding to them, and to Fillion's past, they are not just being meta to mine new stories but to have some cheeky fun. Which is something Castle does best.

"The Final Frontier" starts, seemingly, inside another show, as a cast of uniformed characters guide their Nebula 9 space vessel home, only for the lights to click on at the end, and everyone to cheer. See, it's all a part of a fan experience put together for a show that only had one short season, a decade earlier (sound familiar?). Only when the fans disembark the ship to change back into their convention clothes, they find that one prop on the set is actually a dead body.

It doesn't take much to get Beckett and Castle on the scene. He is already at the convention, signing copies of his new graphic novel (which gets very nice product placement in the episode, we might add), while she...appears to be a closet Nebula 9 fan. Seriously, just wait for the flashback photo moment. Beckett was a LARPer, you guys, just check out the photo slideshow above for the best picture of her ever.

The investigation takes them deep into the level of fandom when it turns out the dead woman was not only the head of the Nebula 9 fan club but also responsible for producing new webisodes of the show after acquiring the rights-- and angering some purist fans. Things take an even twistier turn, though, when the M.E. reports that the cause of death was a high intensity laser at close range-- you know, the perfect science fiction weapon for a science fiction convention, which naturally has Castle even more excited.

Props can kill people, you know, especially when in poor hands.

Listening to Beckett and Castle banter about whether or not the fans of the show like something that isn't worthy of such devotion may be a little too meta, considering just how devoted some Castle fans actually are. For the most part, it's good-natured enough not to really ruffle any feathers, but we couldn't help but find ourselves cringing every time we heard the term "crazed" fans, compared to "mega" fans, or you know, "normal" people. A sequence where Ryan (Seamus Dever) and Esposito (Jon Huertas) interview convention-goers, while they are still in full get-ups, including some muffling masks, doesn't necessarily help the argument of sanity here, but it does make for a unique montage of what is otherwise just typical procedural fodder.

And any fun that may be poked at a fandom's expense or with them is all paid off in the end anyway, when Beckett delivers a moving monologue about why such fandom is so important. She is speaking personally, of course, but we can just picture the Tweets and Tumblrs that will scream "Testify!" at her come Monday. After all, her sentiment is one shared across the fandom-- across any person or group of people who find greater meaning and metaphor in even the simplest, silliest stories. You can substitute show and character names in for each other; it's the feelings of empowerment and community that are universal and matter the most.

"The Final Frontier" is so chock full of fun references and callbacks to other genre greats (as you would expect, considering Jonathan Frakes directed the episode) we're sure we didn't even catch them all. It also boasts an impressive list of genre guest stars to add to Castle's street cred: Armin Shimerman, Ed Quinn, Christina Moore, Erin Way, and Chris McKenna. Honestly, though, the best part of the episode is simply seeing a new, nerdy side to a couple of characters when the convention brings out an enthusiasm and knowledge you might never expect from them.

Slideshow pics at http://www.examiner.com/slideshow/the-final-frontier-castle-promotiona
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