It was Castle’s turn to be the case-breaker this week. The body of a young singer is discovered posed in a way almost identical to a stalker’s home-made video in her honor, and Castle—and Alexis—are helpful in putting Beckett and the Two Stooges on the right track to her identity and the ins and outs of her life faster than they would have managed on their own. Everybody is a suspect, from her angry soon-to-be-ex bandmates to her ex-manager to her drugged out sister to the husband-wife producer team who were working on her next record with her. The only problem is that all of them are saying the same thing: for the last week she had been scared of something, scared enough to attempt to speak to a detective, scared enough to buy a gun…and now she’s dead.
I enjoyed this episode, even though it was perhaps less realistic than some (more on that in a sec). I liked Alexis getting to play a starring role in breaking the case, and I liked Beckett getting the chance to see Castle be a responsible father the way we get to see it on a regular basis when they’re at home. I thought the moment when she says that, and then he turns right back into “the twelve-year-old” was cute—and I think it showed in a subtle way Castle’s discomfort with the idea of emotional intimacy with someone. He cannot take a compliment from Beckett, not when it’s sincere. I wonder if it will be a deal-breaker for him to find out she’s such a huge fan of his writing?
As far as the investigation goes, I thought the answer being in the lyrics was interesting, but there were some massive leaps of logic for me. Maybe that’s why I write prose and not poetry, but it was a damn big jump from “death she draws near” to “my producer saved my life,” you know? Even given that the girl had a well-known obsession with tarot, and even given that the death card means change and not literal death….The “you crossed my threshold / how could you?” line was less of a stretch—I mean, a woman only has so many thresholds that she might say that sort of thing about, so that was at least a clear hint about rape. But still. I did find my eyebrow raised.
But then I shoved it back down and sat back to enjoy the rest of the show, since goodness knows I’ve forgiven crazier leaps on CSI. It was cool that Castle got to be the one who had the big epiphany this week. Most of the time I like that it’s Beckett, or the two of them having the same realization at the same time, but it’s fun to see Castle prove his worth sometimes. In this case it was simply by being a concerned parent who took the time to listen to what his kid was listening to, but that’s how lucky clues turn up sometimes. Plus it did make sense for him to totally writer up and read like 50 lines deeper into her lyrics than anyone besides a serious fan of her work would have.
Oh, and how funny was it that he copped Beckett’s line? “Everybody looks like a murderer to me. It’s part of the job description.” Ha! And the scene where Beckett totally manhandles the obsessed stalker fan? Hilarious. It’s good to see her as a physically trained detective as well as just being sharp sometimes. Keeps us grounded in her very practical training and experience.
The ending with the sister getting clean and going on tour in the victim’s memory was a little bit cheesy, but at least someone got a happy ending out of this murder. And I don’t mean in the sense of a big payday, but in the sense of getting her life straightened out before it was too late. Personally I’d have preferred them to skip the last scene showing her with her life back on track and just left it at the scene with Beckett and Castle telling her what happened to her sister, but that’s just me. I tend to roll my eyes at obvious emotional tugs.
Anyway. In all it was a solid episode—enjoyable and interesting if not tops.
