Castle – Thai food is pleasing to the tongue

That line, which Castle used as the code to call in his “CIA guy”, is the perfect example of why “Fool Me Once” was such a great episode. Everything about the case was so random, and off the wall. But even those odd little throw away bits, like the call, were so funny. I had high expectations after seeing the previews last week, and the show lived up to all of them. Possibly even surpassed them. In addition, that great case tied in very nicely with the little drama between Castle and Alexis at home.

So, the case. Where do we start? It was all so confusing, and random. He’s a con man, or not. The father did it, or not. The teacher too? She’s in on it, or not.  The CIA? Agent Gray! Castle got conned. He’s not dead? The lazy Susan, or angry beaver. You needed a score card to keep track of all the twists and turns. And every time another popped up and we saw a reaction from Castle (Best. Case. Ever.) or Beckett (I hate this case!), I loved it just a little more.

If I had to pick a favorite bit from the con section, it’s a tossup. The revelation from Elise (Kathleen Rose Perkins) about Fletcher being in the CIA was the moment that really sold the craziness of the case. But Agent Gray (Chet Grissom) was just so unexpected and bizarre. And, bonus TV Trivia, Chet Grissom has done spy work before, appearing in Dollhouse as FBI Guy. Also, Agent Gray could totally be a recurring character.

I did manage to mark Sue (Jennifer Riker) as the accomplice as soon as I saw her. Not from any clues on screen, but because it reminded me of a similar situation from an old NCIS episode. Even considering that though, it all came together to make for my favorite case yet.

Elsewhere, both of the side stories were very good. And both had excellent finishes. Clearly the con was messing with Castle’s head, and had more than a little to do with his freakout over Alexis’s new violin teacher. That also paid off with a very sweet moment at the end. With Beckett, and Heat Wave, you had to know when she headed home early it was to read the book, right? And how great was it seeing Castle appear over the top of the bathroom stall? The perfect way to cap off the story.

At this point, Castle might be the biggest surprise of the season for me. I liked the show in season one, and was always planning on watching it in season two. But it’s quickly become my #1 Monday show, and one of the shows I most look forward to. Things are rolling along very nicely.

[Side note: Did you catch the obscure Firefly reference that Fillion mentioned on Twitter last night? No? See if you can figure it out in the image below. It’s definitely there. Hint: Check the image filename.]

Clacked by Brett Love
on Oct 13, 2009 @ 07:10 EST5EDT