Castle 4.02 “Heroes & Villains” Review

Well, that was quite the polar opposite of last week’s premiere, wasn’t it? Not that it was bad. Not at all. In fact, I think ‘Heroes & Villains’can be safely considered what people would call classic Castle. It had a rather unusual case, great one-liners, a funny storyline, enough suspects to confuse the audience and great character development.

Last night’s episode wasn’t quite as epic as ‘Rise’, but considering everything that went down during the premiere last week, it was good to have a breather of an episode. After all, we can only take so much emotional angst, right? ‘Heroes & Villains’was highly anticipated as the superhero episode had been teased about by the producers and cast since they were at Comic-Con in July. For me, it was not the best episode ever by a long shot, but it a really fun hour of television. That could also be attributed to the fact that I am not a comic books and/or superhero kind of girl, but I found that I knew a lot more about the major superheroes than I expected.

Of course the superhero theme was just a way to touchdown on a few aspects about the characters. First, it was interesting to see how their sense of justice and what is right and wrong seemed to differ. That was mostly evidenced in the scenes with Ryan and Esposito and how they were of completely opposite opinions about the supposed superhero that sliced the victim in half. By the way, friendly advice, do not watch that scene while having dinner. It wasn’t pleasant, trust me.

Second and most prominently was the obvious allusion to Kate Beckett and how she is kind of a superhero herself. Even her choice of who she would choose to be if she could be a superhero — Elektra — is very telling. Castle picked up on it immediately and called her out on it — a ruthless assassin who hides from her emotions. Obviously, she is not a ruthless assassin, but the hiding from her emotions thing was spot on. Add Kate’s description to that (she has kickass ninja skills) and you kind of have Detective Kate Beckett down to a T.

Then when they caught Officer Hastings and her story was ridiculously similar to Kate’s, it just sealed the deal. Even though ‘Heroes & Villains’was a fun, quirky episode, in my opinion, it was also a way to study the character of Kate Beckett a little deeper and get a glimpse on how she is dealing with her emotions after everything that has happened. The scene where she is interrogating Officer Hastings was probably one of the very best moments of the episode because it hit so close to home for her. She could see that this was how she could have ended up, had she decided to take matters into her own hands when she joined the Academy all those years ago. In fact, I really hope this is not the last we will see of Officer Hastings. They have so much in common and it would be great to see Kate act as a sort of mentor to her, much like Captain Montgomery was to her when they met. And it would also be a great way to get some insight on what’s going on in Kate Beckett’s mind as it was evidenced in the scene where she releases the girl.

Speaking of that scene, Beckett should really take her own advice and I really hope she realizes that. Stana Katic commented in a recent interview that she wanted to show how Kate is really in love with Castle, even if he can’t see it. That scene where they watch the police officer and the reporter step into the elevator together was a testament to that and I am really glad we are getting to see that side of her. When Castle comments ‘a writer and his muse fighting crime, just like us’, the look on her face as she watched them kiss and Castle feeling all awkward was actually kind of adorable and so very telling about how far she has come in three years. Had it been a year ago, she would have just brushed him off, annoyed. Now she smiles and agrees. This is what character development is all about, guys.

Now, completely changing the subject, let’s talk about Alexis for a minute. I am still not sure how I feel about her suddenly acting out. Maybe it’s because we have always seen her as the perfect daughter, who is not your typical teenager, that seeing her suddenly defying her dad is a little unsettling. Even though I doubt she will actually go to Stanford right now, the only reason I keep coming back to for her to be acting like this is that she just wants her daddy’s attention. She is now well aware that Castle will do anything for Kate; she even knows that there are people after the detective and that her father is risking his life trying to protect her.

I think she has finally realized she is not the only woman in his life anymore and she doesn’t like it. So she decides that she is going to the same university her boyfriend goes to — all the way across the country, I might add —and she successfully has his attention again. The sad thing is, she is doing it for all the wrong reasons, as it was shown when she said she would be taking all of Ashley’s classes with him, even though it’s about a subject she doesn’t want to study about. Then when she finally seems to have come to her senses and decides to do her own thing, she drops another bomb on Castle, saying she is moving in with her boyfriend. If that is not a desperate cry for attention, I don’t know what is.

Bottom line is, ‘Heroes & Villains’was a solid episode and a nice way to relax after last week’s intense emotional rollercoaster.

Other things worth mentioning:

• That banter between Castle and Beckett we love so much? It’s back with full force. Loved the scene at the comic book store;
• Ryan channeling Castle when he tried to spin a theory was adorably hilarious;
• I am still not completely sold on Captain Gates. Just as Castle needs to win her over, she still hasn’t been successful in doing the same for me;
• The whole parallel of a writer and his muse fighting crime was probably the highlight of the episode and I am sure the shippers were ecstatic about that scene;
• Castle showing up unannounced at Beckett’s apartment and how they recreated the Elektra look for Kate;
• The fake Lone Vengeance aka The Red Maroon was hilarious.
• “No, it’s the onions!”

Anything I forgot to mention that you guys liked/disliked? Hit me up in the comments below.