Welcome back, fair Castleites!

Castle bounced back from last week’s fluffy episode with a meaty story that brought one of our favorite characters – Esposito – front and center.

We started off with a murdered ex-robber, but it turned out to be anything but the typical Castle-esque investigation.  It introduced us to Demming, Beckett’s attractive sparring partner-slash-robbery detective, who requested to help out on the case.  My first question was—why do they always show people boxing/sparring in dimly lit basements with rusty old equipment? Is that what police stations really look like? I’m always surprised they don’t work out in the brightly-lit 24-hour fitness that no doubt is across the street. And did we all think that Beckett was the boxing type? She always seems so well put together, it’s hard to imagine her getting so messy. I always picture her in her apartment running on her treadmill or something. And speaking of apartments – did they ever address where she is living now? So many unanswered questions, but I’m getting off track.

So Demming is working with the team, and the primary suspect is Esposito’s former partner – who is supposed to have died 3 years ago. His partner, Ike, and the dead man, Finch, are linked to crime boss Racine, who Esposito believes killed Ike. I liked the personal connection to Esposito, and that we got to explore his past a little more. Upon discovering his old partner is alive and possibly working for Racine, Esposito has to fill in the missing puzzle pieces. Where has Ike been all this time, and had he really gone to the dark side to work for Racine? On top of that, a jerky Internal Affairs cop accuses Esposito of knowing about Ike’s activities, so he also has to clear his own name. What a crappy day to be Esposito.

Read the rest of this entry »

Castle fans, I want to apologize to you for skipping out on reviewing last week’s Mayan Mummy episode, which I really liked by the way. I know it was wrong of me, but seeing as how I do this out of the kindness of my own heart, I’m giving myself a free pass on this one. :-)

So, a lot went on in this episode. Castle was a guest on late-night talk show with host Bobby Mann (Tom Bergeron), where he was as usual, his charming playboy self. The gang all watched—Beckett, Ryan and Esposito from the station and Martha and Alexis from the comfort of a single oversized chair in Castle’s apartment. Not only did Castle pick up a date on the show—an actress named Ellie Monroe—but also a scared confession from Bobby Mann himself – that someone wanted to kill him.

Sure enough, the next day Bobby is found dead of a supposed heart attack on the streets of New York at 4 a.m. But Castle knows something’s up … Bobby Mann pretty much predicted his own death. Castle gets Beckett to have Lanie examine Bobby’s corpse. Her response that she takes payment in the forms of spa certificates, jewelry and cash was so like her, and knowing Castle, he probably went out immediately afterward and picked her up a gift card for a massage and a pair of earrings.  It turned out that Bobby was indeed killed, since the contents in his stomach would have had a bad reaction with his medication and essentially caused a heart attack. Is there really such a thing? If so, I wonder how many “heart attacks” out there are really the result of a bad mixture of food and medication.  And even more interesting, if Bobby had never said anything to Castle, his death would have never been found suspicious and the killer would have totally committed the perfect crime.

As Beckett and Castle investigated Bobby’s death, the writers ventured not only into Conan-Jay territory suspecting the guy that was on after Bobby’s show moving into his timeslot, but also into the David Letterman “scandal” when they discovered Bobby was being blackmailed when someone learned he was having an affair with an intern. Oh, Castle, you didn’t. Yes, yes you did.

Now, I’m not opposed to using true events to inspire a storyline, but this one felt a little too lazy and a little too obvious.  Did anyone else think Castle’s clash of the late-night-TV hosts was just a teeny bit wrong?

But moving on…

I was excited to see the long list of guest stars on the bill for the episode – Nicholle Tom, Beth Broderick, and Dan Cortese—but was extremely disappointed in the capacity (or lack thereof) they were used in. Cramming such a large number of well-known guests into a single episode, including the always wonderful Fred Willard as Bobby’s “sidekick”, some of them are bound to get bit parts, but I hate when such good people are so underutilized. Sigh.

While the investigation is going on, Alexis is out of town for a 5-day college tour or something. And while she is gone, Castle embarks on a quick affair with none other than the actress from his Bobby Mann appearance, Ellie Monroe. Wonder if her character was a nod to Marilyn Monroe? She did have a similar hairdo and overall look. I mention this also because just this morning I saw on the Today Show some guys were auctioning off really strange MM related items, like a chest X-ray and the couch from the shrink’s office she used to visit. Sorry for the tangent, I just thought it was kind of a strange tie-in.

So while the cat was away, the mouse did play, until he realized Ms. Monroe was only interested in the role of Nikki in the Heat Wave movie. Beckett was telling him all along that she was just an actress playing a part, but it wasn’t until they interviewed Bobby’s network exec who said he was with Ellie the night of the murder that Castle finally believed it. But being the man that he is, he still recommended her for the part. He might be a bit of a playboy, but he’s got a heart of gold.  Castle’s like a puppy that just ate your favorite pair of shoes—just one look at that pathetic face and you can’t help but forgive him.

After all the possible suspects have been exhausted –the network exec who threatened Bobby’s life but had an alibi, the young intern that was in love with Bobby after only 3 weeks, the two ex-wives who still actually seemed to care about him, and the late-night timeslot stealer, there was only one person left that had both motive and opportunity: the sidekick who was getting replaced in order for Bobby to keep his precious show rather than bowing out gracefully to the tune of $80 million. Was that any reason to kill the poor guy? Absolutely not. But I could understand his frustration with being the best friend to someone more famous than you, only to be tossed aside at the first opportunity for more fame. What would we have done if Conan had given into NBC and Jay Leno and compromised himself for the sake of the network? We’d have a Conan who was completely unappreciated and overshadowed by stingy television people, rather than the promise of a new Conan on a cable home that will hopefully treat him right and give him the creative freedom he deserves.  Cause that’s what matters, right?

All in all, I found the story a little trite on plot and too light on everything else we love about this show. I also thought it was a little too soon for Castle just to give into his manly whims with Ellie Monroe, especially after Beckett warned him of her true intentions. I did, however, smile at the end when Castle said he had a date, and Beckett automatically assumed it was with Ellie, even though it was really with Alexis.

So, loyal Castleites, what say you about last night’s episode? Did you love seeing Fred Willard as a guest? How did you feel about the whole late night talk show premise? Sound off in the comments, and ye shall be rewarded!

So, I watched Castle pretty late last night, so forgive me if this review is more of a brain dump than a cohesive thought process.

Did anyone not predict that Beckett would jump into her conveniently iron bathtub? My boyfriend did, as did many others online. I liked the scene with naked Beckett and Castle and the conundrum of what she should wear. I was yelling at Castle to give her his coat even before she asked for it. Even during the investigation, Beckett didn’t seem very broken up about her apartment. Is she that good ad hiding it, or did she really not feel that much sadness over the loss of her home? But what a relief to find out most of her clothes were saved, although they smelled like smoke, no? Although, wouldn’t you have enjoyed a scene with Beckett wearing some random clothes and taking Castle on an impromptu shopping spree?

And the promos were really misleading since Beckett was in 99.9% of the episode. I don’t know if I liked it that way, or if she should have been off the case and completely reliant on her boys to work with Shaw to catch the bad guy. I would have really loved to see her trying to control Castle from a hospital bed, and him having to figure things even more out on his own.

I totally figured out that the guy was leading them to Ben Conrad as a decoy, although I didn’t guess that he was hiding out in his apartment the entire time.  Shaw was able to piece together quite a lot about the guy just from his probable character profile. Turns out he’s a lot like Castle, except he actually carries out the murders that he writes about.

So the Magic Board leads everyone to the guy’s apartment, or at least the one that belongs to the dead guy whose identity he stole. The manuscripts and pictures of Beckett in his apartment were rather creepy—wasn’t that painting/collage from another episode a few weeks back?—and how weird was it that his writing was probably spot on with Castle’s style? Maybe he was really obsessed with Castle, which led him to Nikki. Shaw pointed out that Nikki was, indeed, half Beckett and half Castle. Nikki is their love child!

Beckett and Castle are waiting in the FBI’s Magic Van, as the rest of the FBI stakes out the apartment till the killer gets back. But he’s about to get away, so she chases him down to the subway where she loses him on a train, but at least she gets a good look at him and they’re able to I.D. him.  Shaw throws Beckett off the case, and the captain backs her up, even when Beckett protests. I loved the scene between them, and how he stood up to her. The woman who’s usually in control finally had to let go. Although it was kind of sad when he told her to go home, and she said she didn’t have a home. Then, when Castle interjected that she had a guest room in a secure building with people that cared about her—I about teared up.

Back at the station, Agent Shaw is shown walking in an empty parking garage on the phone with her daughter.  She was off her guard, and we already knew the killer was waiting for her. Such a predictable set up, Castle writers! But why would he kidnap Shaw when Beckett is the one he’s after? Was it just opportunity, to draw Beckett out?

I didn’t like all the high-techiness of the Magic Board that pinpointed the guy’s location. It was so perfect it was bogus. Things like that only work on NCIS: LA and Bones, where we buy in from the very beginning that their fake technology is really magic, and it can do anything they want it to. It doesn’t work on Castle, and thankfully, after tonight the FBI will be well on its way back to Washington or wherever they came from and taking their electronics with them.

They go down to the place where the bridge crosses the train tracks or whatever, and Beckett and Castle are back in the Magic Van. The big bad FBI guys go after Shaw, they go to the wrong building—which is rigged with explosives—and it’s Beckett and Castle who step in to save the day. Castle figures out where the killer is because “that’s the way he would write it” and they go in to save Shaw without any backup. Couldn’t they have at least radioed the FBI guys to tell them to get out of the building?

Beckett lured the killer away from Shaw while Castle untied her, then he went after Beckett and the killer. I knew that once he had Beckett pinned that Castle would shoot him—even if it was only shooting the gun out of his hand. Beckett: “Nice shot.” Castle: “I was aiming for his head.” So our co-heroes save the day once more, Shaw leaves, and all is right with the world again.

Other things of note:

• Not nearly enough Esposito and Ryan in this episode. We didn’t even get to see them checking out area coffee shops while Beckett and Castle went to the bars. That could have been amusing. Ryan would order a venti nonfat caramel latte and Esposito would make fun of him. OK, imaginary scene over.
• Martha coming in while Beckett is making breakfast. I’m surprised that Beckett can cook since she admitted to ordering out all the time and having no food in her refrigerator. Also enjoyed Beckett reminiscing about her mother while Castle teased his.
• Martha’s “living situation” which requires her to stay at Castle’s a few nights a week AND do her laundry there. And Castle’s response that the theater seating he’s putting in her room is comfy to sleep in.
• Castle finding and fixing Beckett’s dad’s watch. Tear.
• Beckett and Shaw’s mutual respect for one another at the end, and Beckett confiding that her partnership with Castle, although lucrative, is also complicated.

What did you think, Castle watchers? Was the resolution to the 2-part event satisfying? What do you think Beckett meant by her “complicated” relationship with Castle?  Do you think the rescue of Agent Shaw was a little too perfect? (I mean, I would have at least liked to have seen the building explode!) Sound off in the comments!

Last night’s Castle started with a bang and ended with a boom. And a lot happened in between.

I really, really liked this episode. Soooooo juicy!

First, let’s talk about Beckett and her many issues. As soon as it’s clear the team is dealing with a serial killer … and that Beckett (who he refers to as Nikki) is his target/muse, we see Beckett start to break down little by little. First, it’s the idea that someone (even a psycho) would see her and Nikki Heat as one in the same. Next, it’s her fear of failure, a sore spot that the killer exploits when she doesn’t catch him by a predetermined time—he wants her to feel responsible for the person he kills. And finally, it’s her fear of being obsolete when the case is hijacked by Federal Agent Jordan Shaw of the FBI (Dana Delaney). All of these small events threaten Beckett’s identity and purpose— and she feels like she has no control over who she is.

Beckett is clearly jealous when Castle is immediately taken with Agent Shaw (is it a just coincidence that both Castle and Chuck have an Agent Shaw that takes over their operations?)—both her reputation and her fancy FBI toys, like the fingerprint machine, the smart board, and of course, the taser, which Castle cleverly finds a use for.  I’m always wary when new people invade my little TV families, but somehow, this Shaw doesn’t bother me—even though every move she makes Beckett feel less and less capable of doing her job. I quite liked the character and I thought Dana Delaney did a fantastic job in the role. Can’t wait to see more of her!

Even though Castle is smitten with the idea of Agent Shaw, Beckett is still his numero uno.  It was awesome when Shaw—a professional profiler—asks them how long they’ve been sleeping together, since it’s so obvious to everyone but them. (OK, maybe to everyone but Beckett.)  And even though Castle knows Beckett is perfectly capable of handling herself in most situations, he still shows up at her apartment—bottle of wine in hand, no less—to offer his own form of protection.  And in a strange twist of fate, she allows him to stay! (On the couch, of course). This reveals a lot of things about Beckett: not only that she trusts Castle more than her own security detail, but that she really is scared. And it’s rare that we see her scared. Whether it’s because of Shaw, the case, or both, it’s the first time we’ve really seen Kate defeated by something.

Although this is a pretty intense episode, Castle always manages to be a little lighthearted. So after Beckett and Castle find a dead body outside her apartment and the team rushes in to investigate, Ryan and Esposito don’t waste any time in interrogating them about their night together rather than the dead body at the front door. Ryan asks, “What kind of breakfast did he make?” Clearly, a vital piece of information. Tee hee!

So, back to the case. It’s Beckett and her trusty white board (and team) that figure out the connection between the killer and his victims…and it’s all about a cute little puppy. So they track him down, only to watch him kill himself in the window of his apartment.

But a case of a serial killer targeting one of their own would never end so neatly, would it? So when Castle finds a missing piece of the puzzle, so to speak, he calls Beckett, who’s occupied in the shower. (They just wanted a reason to show Stana Katic partially nude, didn’t they?) When Castle arrives at her apartment, it goes Ka-Boom! … Is it too late for our heroine?!?  Well, of course not, but they were clever enough not to show her in any scenes in the teaser for next week’s episode.

A few other things to note…

• All the killings started right around the time Castle found out Heat Wave would be turned into a movie. He suggested Angelina Jolie or Kate Beckinsale as the lead. What do you think?
• At home, Martha is moving out to live with Chet. This is a major turning point in the lives of Castle and Alexis. Does this mean Martha will be missing from future episodes? Will Castle be more determined than ever to find a new mother figure for Alexis?
• It’s also interesting that the writers haven’t really spent much time discussing Martha and Chet’s relationship, and we haven’t met him, yet he’s a plot device all the same. Will the mysterious Chet factor in to the show somehow at a later date?
• Beckett’s reaction when learning that Shaw is a mother. Did this revelation give her hope that she didn’t have to sacrifice her own career for a personal life? Or does it solidify the argument that a woman in this biz really can’t have it all, since obviously Shaw is spending so much time away from her kid?

What are your thoughts on this meaty episode? Did you like all the little twists? How do you think Beckett survives the explosion?  Comments!

Oh Castle, how I’ve missed you. I know it’s only been a few weeks since I last saw you on the air, but it feels like months. But you’re back now, and that’s all that matters, even if your lead in was Jason and Molly’s farce of a wedding.

It might have been off the air for a few weeks, but Castle didn’t miss a beat. It opens with the team getting called to investigate a dead woman who was nearly stripped, hung from a set of monkey bars, and covered in caramel. We’re quickly led to a world where dominatrixes (dominatrices? Is it like matrix? It’s not exactly in my AP Stylebook.) are well … dominant.  And Beckett seems to know a lot more about the lifestyle than any of us would have thought … like that the victim’s handcuffs are custom made, and where to get them. Is it really just part of her knowledge as a detective, or is there something about her private life that the writers are cluing us into? Hmmm … Castle is confused, and so am I; this isn’t the sweet Beckett I know. But she’s probably just playing with Castle’s mind … which is the Beckett I know.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s a little early in the year, but we’ve got a baseball-themed episode, complete with a dead player. It’s a welcome segue from all the football I’ve been surrounded by the last few months. I do baseball much better than football, and it seems Beckett does too.

This week’s episode is focused more on the case than on Beckett and Castle’s back-and-forth dance, although there is a moment when Beckett says she would rather be lying on a beach in a bikini. It’s so cute how she acts like she despises the idea of Castle rubbing lotion on her, when we all know she secretly wishes he were.  I mean, who wouldn’t?

So, it turns out the case of the dead player is much more than that: it’s about Cuban politics, human smuggling and a mysterious girl named Lara. Hmm, it just got interesting.  My boyfriend guesses she’s his daughter, not some Cuban floozy he’s having an affair with.  And because this show is so predictable, he’s right. The killer wasn’t as obvious, but in the end, it was fitting that it was at the hands of the devil (Reaper’s Ray Wise).

Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to my first ever Castle Blog! Let’s get started, shall we?

After last week’s heavily emotional and character-driven episode, Castle returns to its lighthearted nature. It comes as no surprise that Castle is named one of New York’s most eligible bachelors, even though he fell from #7 to #9. Oh well, it doesn’t do much to humble his ego any. What does, however, is the nasty article about his rumored romantic relationship with Beckett on the same page.  So when she calls, he does what any sane man would do. He prays that it’s a dead body, and not her wrath.

I love that Esposito and Ryan (am I the only one that constantly forgets his name?) torment Castle about the article and threaten to show it to Beckett. Anytime they taunt Castle, I’m all for it. More screen time for the comic duo please!

The way Beckett finds out about the article is classic Castle—how perfect that a swooning woman in the interrogation room brings it up. And boy does it flare Beckett’s temper; it’s kind of ironic that she both hates being thought of as Castle’s girlfriend, but is secretly insanely jealous of any woman within a 10-mile radius of him. And fact that she asks Lanie to set her up really shows that Castle’s attraction to other women (or is it their attraction to him?) is really  getting under her skin.

But Beckett and the eligible bachelorettes of New York aren’t the only ones fawning over Castle.  Apparently, so are Alexis’ vice principal and her German teacher, to name a few.  Am I the only one that wants more Alexis?  ABC, take note and give this girl her own show. I’m thinking spinoff: Alexis Castle: Moral Co-Ed. She goes to college and studies criminal justice a la Veronica Mars.  There will be hot young actors and lots of guest appearances by Nathan Fillion.  OK, so it’s really just a ploy to have more Nathan Fillion on TV, but can you blame me?

Oh, yes, right, back to the real world and not the fantasy world where I’m the Master of Television. (But wouldn’t that be a sweet job if it weren’t entirely made up?)

The team visits the last apartment one of our squatters visited and Castle is like a kid in a candy store. (I guess it is more than just women he likes to play with.) Did we know about Castle’s appreciation for architecture and antiques? Or that he was so full of useless (or maybe useful) information—like the history of the icebox?  But even though Castle is a cultured, intelligent man, he still screams like a little girl at the sight of a dead body.  It’s the fact that he doesn’t take himself too seriously that makes him all the more charming.

Finally, it’s date night for Beckett and Castle, although this “rumored” couple is not out with each other. It was set up pretty obviously earlier in the episode that Beckett and Castle would end up at the same restaurant for their respective dates—Castle with one of the eligible bachelorettes and Beckett with her blind date Brad: FDNY fireman, Mr. July, and Saver of the Puppies.

If this trite plotline gave us anything,  it was a peek at the giddy schoolgirl inside Beckett; knowing that she’s just as lame as the rest of us when it comes to guys makes her all the more relatable. It also spurned one of the best exchanges of the episode.

[Beckett’s on the phone with Brad]
Castle: “Did she just flip her hair?” (Really, it was a twirl. Semantics.)
Esposito: “I’m tellin’ you, bro. Puppies. Gets ‘em every time”
Ryan: “Puppies.”

But if we know anything about Castle and Beckett, it’s that they would rather solve their case than make small talk with pretty people, so in the end, they catch their culprit and end up back where they were before: alone but together, as it should be.

What were your feelings about this week’s episode? Do you prefer lighthearted Castle over serious Castle?  Do you think Beckett Hair Watch 2010 is off to a good start? Have you forgiven her for the Mullet Debacle of ’09? And were you just as appalled as I was by her curly up-do on her date? Sound off in the comments!