Castle was back to its usual style this week, with a mystery centered around a stranger instead of a personal investment for one of the team, and one that allowed plenty of humor to be dispersed. It was a bit jarring, actually, to go right back to the usual lightheartedness of this show. I don’t know that I want them to harp on the feelings stirred up by Castle’s run-in with his old flame or Beckett with her mother’s killer, but…it seemed odd that nothing was even said about how Beckett was doing. It’s like the epilogue on that episode was all they’re planning to say about it, and that seems–well, it seems not quite enough. I hope the writers prove me wrong and bring it back up again in a few episodes. But for now, more about this episode.
The mystery this week involved the world’s most polite squatter, a dead body in an apartment where he’d been squatting, and another apartment with an old dumbwaiter shaft that connected to…an exotic pet store? With a bank on its other side? Was this the Darwin Awards equivalent of a bank heist gone wrong in that the criminals killed each other before they got the money, and not after? Or was something else going on? Complicating matters was the backdrop of Castle being named to New York’s 10 most eligible bachelor’s list but rumored to be ineligible for next year’s list due to an involvement with his detective-muse.
First, why was anyone surprised Castle was “romantically linked” (even if it was just rumored) to Beckett? He put a freakin’ sex scene between the characters who represent the two of them in his freakin’ book! Of course people would think that meant they were something in real life, too. Beckett can’t decide between hating the idea of Castle being linked to her and hating the idea of him being linked to anyone else. I suppose one is a professional objection and the other is personal…it will be interesting to see how they resolve that tension. For now, of course, we’ve been shown that neither Castle nor Beckett is interested in dating anyone else, even if they’re not quite ready to date each other. The restaurant scene was hilarious, with each of them completely ignoring their dates in favor of the case and each other due to their working the case together. It does make one wonder how much time they would ever spend romantically together even if they were to get involved. Would it be case-talk 24/7? Yeah, I give that relationship about a year. Something they’d have to find a way to balance, again, if they ever do get involved.
Second, how hilarious was Alexis with respect to her dad being a sex symbol in the city? Oh. My. God. Poor girl. I had an older brother who all of my friends drooled over, and that was awkward enough. I can’t even imagine how humiliating it would be to have it be your dad–and have women from the vice principal to a teacher who’d be a cougar even to a middle-aged man to her friend who “is legal in three months.” It was a little more of Alexis than we’ve seen in the last few episodes; I hope she gets to be a part of another episode soon, I miss her when she’s not around much.
Oh, one final point on this episode, which didn’t really give me too much to say about it…has anyone else noticed that Ryan’s outfits are getting more and more fruity? I think someone on that show reads my comments (what up?!) and has decided to start toying with me. I mean, really, a zippered turtleneck sweater? Maybe it’s just like such common knowledge around the precinct the writers don’t even need to talk about it?
Anyway. A humorous episode that moved Castle and Beckett a step or two down the romantic possibility road but was undercut by its contrast to the last pair of serious installments. Nothing new next week (tear) so hopefully in two weeks we’ll get something delightful.
Have to agree with you regarding the jarring nature of the Return to Normalcy. I very much appreciated the depth of the last two weeks and think the way the episodes were written and the actors’ performances showed how good a show Castle can be. Heck, even the epilogue last week was a bit jarring. As with CSI: Miami and the Natalia/hearing loss component, the emotional depth of the characters is something the writers shouldn’t be wary of and charge ahead. Alas, I suspect we’ll get good–often very good– but not compelling, TV from both on a regular basis.
I actually would disagree with you on the epilogue being jarring. I thought it was a serious moment of real emotional honesty between them, even if Beckett was trying to be light about it. I think what the show may be suffering from with these “bumps” (as my old rhetoric & comp mentor used to call them) is a case of Different Writers Writing Non-sequential Episodes. Since most of the episodes are meant to stand alone, the writer for any given plot may or may not be briefed on what happened the previous ep–they may not even be intended to go in a particular order. I think that’s why there are sometimes such ridiculous seeming omissions; this script was meant to be plugged into any slot between episode 10 and episode 17 kind of thing. My guess, anyway…