Castle – The worst impromptu-bachelor-party-while-on-a-case ever

I’m glad that Penny Johnson has joined the cast of Castle as Captain “Iron” Gates. I’m even more excited that she’s such an antagonist to the status quo that has been established regarding Rick Castle’s involvement with the NYPD in general, and Det. Beckett’s team specifically. Why? Because it gives me something to complain about in an otherwise nearly perfect season of Castle thus far. Gates and her antagonism are a determent to the show. Not because I believe everything should be smooth all the time for Castle, but because it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Castle, Beckett, Ryan and Esposito are extremely efficient and are great at closing cases. Plus, she’s got coverage from the trouble that Castle is apt to cause: she’s tried to fire him, and was forced to bring him back from higher ups. Why not just go with the flow, instead of being a cast-iron … well, you know?

She’s trying, pretty much unsuccessfully at this point, to drive a wedge between Castle and Beckett. As we saw last week, they’ve found a very comfortable place together. And like last week, this episode saw the two of them separated for most of the story. In  “Cops and Robbers,” though, it worked; they spent the episode trying to solve the same puzzle from different sides of the same (bank) door. This week, it did not. Maybe it was because Gates was pressuring Beckett about Castle the entire time, or maybe it was because they were so physically separated, it was almost like they were working different cases. Either way you look at it, this episode didn’t work because of it.

The :45 Minute Guess: All of the obvious candidates this week seem too … well, obvious. Charlie? Obvious. Nadine and/or Daniel? Obvious. Ralph? Obvious. I’d be OK with it being masseuse Amber, but that’s just because her eyes (they saw right through my soul!). No, though … When all of the candidates are too obvious, then it’s obviously the least obvious candidate – obviously. And since in the first 45 minutes of the show, we haven’t seen the victim’s wife but once, I’m going with her. There’s more to that piece of property than meets the eye.

The Answer: Who would have thought it? Me, right, a couple weeks in a row?!?

Notes & Quotes

• “You know you’re not doing yourself any favors by sitting around and reading Pride and Prejudice. That’s just going to make it worse. You might as well be listening to Adele.” – Castle
  “She totally gets it and so does Jane Austen.” – Alexis
• “If someone asked me to meet them at an abandoned warehouse in the dead of night? I’d pass. I’ve written that scene enough times to know how it ends.” – Castle
• Ryan really isn’t allowed to ask Eposito to be his best man? Shenanigans!
• Loved the cut between Alexis kicking everyone out, and Esposito and Ryan actually being kicked out.

Clacked by Ivey West
on Nov 07, 2011 @ 23:44 EST5EDT