Castle, Beckett and Leverage’s Hardison

“And you call your ex-wife a deep-fried Twinkie?” – Beckett to Castle

I noticed a couple of interesting things as I watched Castle last night. First things first — I still enjoyed it, even though I was actually much too tired to be watching TV. Does that say something about a show, or not? Should I have been able to follow the murder mystery while halfway to slumbersville? I tend to champion mindless yet smart TV, so I’m going with a hooray for Castle on this point.

I do have a couple of questions, though, about the flip-flopping of episodes and the way Aldis Hodge was used as a guest star in this installment of Castle.

Let’s start from the start. “Nanny McDead,” which was shown as the second episode, was originally slated to be the third. Wish I remembered which episode was to originally air as the second, because now I’m wondering if they didn’t show it at all, which leads to the obvious question: why? Fast-forward to “Always Buy Retail,” shown last night as the sixth episode, though originally slated to be the seventh. What will happen to “Home is Where the Heart Stops,” the originally intended sixth episode? Maybe they’ll show it next week; the previews could have been for that episode. It still begs the question, why the flip-flop? It makes me feel a little nervous, to tell you the truth, like they don’t quite have their feet on the ground with this series yet; like they aren’t sure where they want to go.

I felt that way about the introduction of Alexis’s mom as a character last night. I’m not sure why we needed her, although it was funny to meet her. Knowing Castle and Alexis as we do, it really was against all odds that Alexis turned out so solid, don’t you think? Did we need her, though? To what purpose did her character further the story arc and deepen our knowledge of the other characters? It really didn’t for me.

That brings me to Castle‘s questionable use of talented guest stars. You may or may not know that I am a creepy fan of Leverage, TNT’s dramedy that had a nearly perfect season this winter. One of the stars of that series, Aldis Hodge, played Azi in last night’s Castle. So, if this were The Mentalist, we would have automatically assumed he was the guilty one, right? Well, not so in Castle. Hodge played a Nigerian brilliantly, right down to the accent — so brilliantly that I almost didn’t recognize him; I knew he could do accents from his undercover work on Leverage, but had I not been sitting next to Keith, who was vehemently professing it was Hardison, I would not have looked it up on epguides and believed him. But such a small role is not befitting of a great talent, so I’m torn here.

This and that:

• I love the way Castle always knows someone who can help with the case — Michelle of the voo-doo was great.
• Beckett to Castle: “You don’t need a vest.”
  Castle to Beckett: “If you shoot me do I not bleed?”
• Said vest was emblazoned with “WRITER.”
• Glad they laid into Castle about not getting the plate or description of the SUV that got away. He may be clever, but observant he’s not.

What do you think? Still enjoying Castle? Wondering where they are going with it (like I think the writers are)? Notice any other faux pas last night?

Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Apr 14, 2009 @ 14:00 EST5EDT