Time: Mondays, 10:00-11:00pm
Cast: Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic, Jon Huertas, Seamus Dever, Susan Sullivan, Molly C. Quinn
Summary: Encoded evidence sparks Castle's imagination during the investigation into a bail bondsman's murder, but Beckett dismisses his wild theories. Meanwhile, Beckett's reunion with her ex-partner turns romantic, much to Castle's chagrin.
Warning: This review contains spoilers for the episode. Please don't read if you don't want to know.
Review: How have I not been watching Castle since the beginning? Seriously, why did it take me two seasons to discover how wonderful this show is?
The brilliance of Castle comes across in a few ways. The first is the writing. It's witty, it's silly and sometimes it's serious, and it always works. I can't think of a moment when one of the characters said something that made me wince because it was too goofy or too cheesy. There's a wonderful give and take between all the actors that makes the writing come to life, and it flows so easily that I can't help but wish people really spoke like that.
Even the best script can be ruined by bad acting though. Fortunately, Castle doesn't have that problem. No, they won't all win Emmys, but they're a solid group of actors, and, most importantly, they're all believable in their parts. The concept behind Castle is farfetched to begin with (face it, the NYPD would never let a writer tag along, no matter how famous he was), but it's easy to buy the premise when the acting and writing creates a world where it all makes sense. Even cliched lines seem funnier than normal (like Nathan Fillion's spectacularly delivered, "Beckett, you were a girl once," that elicited a very loud and inappropriate laugh).
But there's more that creates great moments than meets the eye, things we don't necessarily notice but affect our subconscious. This is the first episode where I really noticed how the show is directed, but, upon reflection, it's not the first time the direction has made a good (or sometimes mediocre) moment that much better. Knowing when to focus on the character who's speaking and when to turn to the reacting character is more of an art than most people realize, and Castle does it better than most, especially since both Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic are such expressive actors. In particular, I'm thinking of the scene where Beckett was on the phone with Royce after he betrayed her, and they cut to the shocked and horrified expression on Castle's face. A picture really does say a thousand words.
The only flaw I can find is that the cases are always predictable, sometimes to the point of detracting from the episode. I know it's hard to have a twist when every character you introduced winds up playing a part in the crime, but it was obvious from the start that they were all involved. It actually made me kind of angry when Royce betrayed Beckett. This isn't just something that happens in Castle (in fact, NCIS is the worst culprit), but why is it that when a character who has some kind of history with one of the stars shows up, they always wind up being a bad guy? For once, couldn't he have just been a guy? It creates unnecessary drama in a show that doesn't need to be too dramatic.
On the other hand, it did give Stana Katic an opportunity for a beautifully done monologue.
If you don't watch Castle already (and are, for some reason, reading this review), go find the old episodes and catch up. It's only two seasons deep, and it's definitely worth the watch. New episodes air on Monday nights at 10pm on ABC.
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My Rating:
[5] Excellent
[4] Good
[3] Average
[2] OK
[1] Bad
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