Castle 4.05 “Eye Of The Beholder” Review

Castle 4.05 “Eye Of The Beholder” ReviewLast night’s episode, ‘Eye of the Beholder’turned out to be a very light and fun hour of television. I admit I was slightly apprehensive about this episode and, while I thought it was very entertaining for the most part, there were a few things that stood out and bothered me a little.

‘Eye of the Beholder’was very reminiscent of last season’s ‘Nikki Heat’. It had the same tone, the same jealous Beckett plot and the same over the top blonde who wanted to get her hands on Castle. It is no secret that ‘Nikki Heat’is one of my all time favorite episodes — and this is coming from someone who prefers the more dramatic ones — and although last night’s episode was very much like ‘Nikki Heat’, it wasn’t exactly as brilliant. Last season, Natalie Rhodes had me laughing out loud at her extremely thorough method acting; last night, Serena Kaye just pissed me off. Sure it was great to see Beckett’s jealousy rear its ugly head, but this time I just felt bad for her. Last night wasn’t about a woman trying to get into her head and imitate her; no, last night things got personal. It was about some other woman trying to take away the man she is in love with. For if there is one thing ‘Eye of the Beholder’established is that Kate Beckett is one hundred percent in love with Castle.

Castle 4.05 “Eye Of The Beholder” ReviewWhat bothered me, however — besides Serena Kaye — was the fact that Castle was suddenly so willing to chase after another woman. I get that the guy is only human and even if he loves Kate, he can’t just become celibate all of a sudden because she is not ready for a relationship yet. But the change was so sudden that it almost gave a whiplash. This is the guy that until last week was head over heels in love with Kate Beckett and suddenly he is all smitten with a leggy blonde? Of course, there was Martha’s advice, which I think Castle kind of took it the wrong way. When she said he needed to get out there, part of me understood that he either had to do something about his non-relationship with Beckett or move on, but it was mostly to urge him to move things forward with her. If it wasn’t, then I don’t understand what they tried to do with her character there because I thought she supported his relationship with Kate. So I am a little lost here.

Even though Serena Kaye just annoyed the hell out of me, she at least served the purpose of getting Kate’s possessive side out. She was all but branding Castle and growling out ‘mine’ whenever Serena so much as looked at him. When she caught them kissing outside her hotel room, she looked positively livid. If looks could kill, the insurance investigator would have died several times over last night.

Castle 4.05 “Eye Of The Beholder” ReviewWhat I absolutely loved about ‘Eye of the Beholder’, however, was the scene that Kate is talking to her therapist. I know I have complained over and over that they should have just given that role of Kate’s sounding board to Lanie or some other friend, but now I can definitely see the wisdom of their decision of bringing a shrink in. Even though we assume Lanie is one of her best friends, I doubt Kate would be so candid and honest with her about her feelings. A therapist gives her the chance of talking things out with someone who is completely neutral about everything. He doesn’t judge, he doesn’t know Castle and he is not rooting for them to get together already. He is just there for her to vent and help her figure things out in her own time and I am so glad we are finally getting to see just what is going on in her head.

When he asked her what she was afraid of, I think he hit the nail right on the head and deep down I believe she is afraid of both possibilities: that Castle loves her enough to wait however long it takes her to be ready or that he does love her, but he won’t wait around forever. By the end of the episode, it felt like a role reversal of the end of season 2, when Castle decided to step down so she could be with Demming. This time, Kate was the one who decided to bow out so he could be with Serena if that was what he wanted. And this is the crux of the matter for me, really. Because if we keep on the role reversal mind track, Castle is the one who is now sending completely mixed signals her way. One day he is all in love and then suddenly he is all taken with another woman. Knowing Kate like we all do by now, that will just make her push him away. So what are we (and Kate) supposed to take from that?

In short, ‘Eye of the Beholder’had its moments and was mostly entertaining, but it left me with a feeling that it lacked something. Maybe I just need to watch it again, but for now it gets a B-.

What did you think? Sound off in the comments below.

 

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