Well, the Castle Season 8 premiere has finally aired, but the mystery about the upcoming season is still intact. Some of that is the nature of a two-part episode. There’s a lot to be positive about in this refashioning of ABC’s Castle – and there are a few things that are the equivalent of nails scraped across a blackboard. Are you ready to talk about the good, the bad, and the “remains to be seen”? Then dive into this Castle “XY” recap and review!
SPOILER WARNING: This Castle Season 8 premiere recap and review has SPOILERS for Castle “XY.”
In my Castle Season 8 premiere teaser article I mentioned that the first 10 minutes were hard to swallow. So in this recap and review, just note that we’ve got to get through that first 10 minutes before we get to the good stuff. I promise, there is definitely some good stuff!
The Castle Season 8 Premiere Setup
The opening setup for Castle “XY” is one of a dark drama. A sophisticated bar/club scene, men in suits and women in cocktail dresses. Our first murder victim (Tim Fields) – yes, I said first – has noticed that an attractive woman (Daisy Betts) has been following him all day. She comes over, sits on his lap, kisses him…and stabs him to death. It’s the coldest murder the show has ever staged. There have been brutal murders before, but they don’t show the actual killing – especially in the way this episode shows the victim dying. They choose to draw it out and focus on his shock and hurt. He knows he’s dying and we see that he doesn’t understand why she’s done this – taken his life. The eerie club music in the back adds to the chilling mood of the scene, which overall feels more like a scene from ABC’s Scandal than from Castle. These are the killer’s last words:
“Just look into these pretty brown eyes and drift…away.”
I like Scandal…but I’m not sure how I feel about this kind of scene in Castle. It has the flavor of what I’ve heard referred to as snuff porn, because there’s no real point of having it staged so…atmospherically. Even on Scandal the graphicness of murder scenes have a way of revealing things about the major characters. This is more like Criminal Minds…a shock value scene. Later on I will come to question this scene even more, because the man killed isn’t just some John off the street but some kind of agent. Isn’t the whole beautiful woman following you then tries to seduce you thing class 101 lesson in signs of an enemy-combatant?
After this night turns to day and the scene goes from the brown-eyed beauty leaving the scene to the beautiful Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) looking in a mirror at her own eyes which in this shot turn up as brown. I doubt it’s a coincident that we go from the assassin to Kate. These women look similar. They are beautiful, sexy, and both can be lethal. Beckett has used her looks to get over on a criminal before more than once, and we know she’s killed people before. Yet, as mirror images, these women are polar opposites. Beckett has killed, but she’s not a killer. She fights for justice. More on this later.
It’s time for a Caskett moment!
What’s inside the cupcake is a beautiful silver-toned bracelet with diamonds that has the word “Always” inscribed inside. I loved the idea of writer Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) going through the trouble of making the special cupcake and having that bracelet made. That felt right and completely in character. The bracelet also reminded me of a fancy silver handcuff, which, well, handcuffs are a thing with them.
However, the bracelet is all I liked about the scene, which is disappointing. This is a moment that I was hoping to be thrilled with. I’m not because it’s filled with editorializing that I don’t agree with. No, Castle did not spend the the last six seasons “fetching” Beckett coffee, and I reset the implication. They’re partnership has been much more than that. Castle wasn’t always sitting by Beckett’s desk waiting for her to catch a case. More often than not he was home, presumably to do his writing work (or goof off with his daughter). He would then get a call and be brought in to help solve the mystery. Beckett being Captain shouldn’t have to change much of this at all – certainly not for him to become a P.I. In fact, this episode proves the point that bringing Castle in on cases shouldn’t have to change at all – but we aren’t there yet.
Adding insult to injury, Castle appears to have a underlying vibe of resentment in his delivery of those lines about fetching coffee and things needing to change. It’s in his eyes mostly. Whether that’s as directed or an actor’s choice, it definitely jumped out at me. The bottom line is that suggesting that Castle and Beckett being separated as partners is a necessary change and having Castle say, “this is a good change for us” doesn’t make those things true. From a strict story structure the change is not necessary. Whether or not it’s a good change anyway remains to be seen.
Once Beckett gets the bracelet Beckett gets a phone call from a telemarketer a fact she finds annoying Castle points out that if she hadn’t turned down the run for state senate she could be writing laws to deal with such problems. It’s a good way to handle the fact that she’d gotten that offer in the season finale. It also leaves the door open as it being something Beckett might in a far, far, far, distant future (like end of the series future) consider again because it gives a reason why being a state senator would have any appeal at all. In the meantime though, Beckett is happy to take a swipe of frosting on her finger and head off, “to a meeting at 1PP.”
The Boys Are Back!
Next up are detectives Kevin Ryan (Seamus Dever) and Javier Esposito (Jon Huertas). There’s at the 12th precinct – fighting over who gets Beckett’s desk! It’s great to see this familiar bromance dynamic. Esposito wins the “knife, gun,kevlar” game for it, but the ever serious Kevin makes us realize that for him it’s not just about a better desk. Beckett was able to replace the former Captain Victoria Gates (Penny Johnson Jerald) because she has moved on to become the new deputy chief. (Yes! We may get to see Penny Johnson Jerald again in a guest spot role!) He feels like everyone is moving up the ranks but him and Esposito.
More importantly, he’s continuing to worry about money because he and his wife Jenny (Jul Dever) are expecting a second child. Javier reminds Kevin that he needs to celebrate the good news without “stressing out” over money. Now there’s some brotherly love and advice. It goes in one ear and out the other though because Kevin gets a call that there’s been a homicide. He’s thrilled because they’re a chance for overtime pay!
Esposito: “Bro, there’s something wrong with you.”
Nancy Drew Returns
More than the opening murder, or the editorial commentary, what happens after the fun and sweet interlude featuring Ryan and Esposito was enough for me to literally turn off my computer. Nancy Drew, aka Alexis Castle (Molly Quinn) is back, and it’s more annoying than ever!
First of all, there’s the way we find this out. Castle comes to his P.I. office (which some of us were hoping to never see again). The door’s open…out pops a guy named Franco Mancini (Brad Lee Wind). He’s happy to “finally” meet Castle.
Franco: “My wife’s sleeping with my brother – not my personal chef. What a relief.”
Castle has no idea what this about, but of course, he wants to know why this guy is happy about the news. Mancini tells Castle that while he has four other brothers his chef is “one in a million.” The implication is that he’d rather kill his brother than his chef. Ha. Ha.
The joke is cute enough, but the next thing Mancini does is thank Castle and his “associate” for solving the case for him. Castle’s expression lets us know he doesn’t have an associate – so he walks into the inner office.
Ugh! There is so much that is just wrong here! First of all, the attitude Alexis has here is terrible. Gee, dad, I didn’t tell you I’ve been going behind your back, digging into your affairs and investigating the mafia? It reminds me so much of the situation with Alexis in season 6.
In Castle season 6 Alexis brought home a boyfriend named Pi – who was clearly supposed to be a big joke. The character was really a caricature of a nightmare boyfriend. He is: goofy with big hair, a “fruitarian,” keeps calling Castle “Mr. C,” keeps crossing Castle’s personal boundaries, and he doesn’t have a job. Every scene with this guy had a punch line to it.
At the same time, the audience was asked to take the situation with this new boyfriend seriously. Alexis brings him home without warning and gets upset that her father isn’t overly warm and welcoming. She’s acts like a brat, but we were expected to take her side and see her as the responsible one. This despite the fact that in the real world most parents would have been concerned. There’s also the fact that most college aged young women whose parents pay for everything – including their tuition – would think twice about bringing home a boyfriend for an extended stay without having a discussion with the parent first. It didn’t take long for this joke to become not funny – even though it kept being played for laughs.
We have a similar situation with Alexis now. It’s not funny that somehow Alexis thinks it’s okay to be running around playing Nancy Drew with her dad instead of moving on with her own life. Furthermore Castle being okay with this makes him seem like an irresponsible parent. Many fans had the same reaction to last season’s “In Plane Sight” episode. There Castle is perfectly fine letting his daughter talk down a killer holding a gun – and we’re supposed to go with the idea that she has the skills to do this. The scene goes beyond Alexis being super brave and super smart – and even if it was, this show is not the adventures of supergirl.
That’s another thing. Later on in the episode Castle is talking to Alexis about his relationship with Beckett (again, not the most appropriate thing). Alexis chastises her father about running around in dangerous situations that could get himself killed – while defending Beckett. Castle is mad because he feels Beckett is shutting him out and running off doing things “like he needs protecting.” Alexis points out why Beckett is doing this. Let me get the exact wording…
Alexis: “You’re a writer, Dad. And you and Beckett are magic together, but you don’t have her training, or her skill set.”
Alexis is all big tearful eyes as she says this. Sure, she’s absolutely right here and it’s touching that she’s so worried about her father’s safety – but seriously? How is she upset with Castle given what she’s doing? She doesn’t have that skill set either! Yet, when told to “think about what Beckett would do – she’s able to figure it out and make a huge break in the case. She’s also solved four cases, which Castle says “is more than he has” – even though he’s been solving cases with Beckett for years and she’s never even done a bogus 100 hour online P.I. course. It’s bad enough we have to deal with Castle as a P.I. This “Alexis P.I.” is ridiculous, insane, and most of all, unbelievable. Dear writers, please, make it stop!
Look, I get that the writers want to give Quinn something to do that uses her talents and puts her in a more adult light, but sneaking behind her father’s back and being a wiseass about profit-sharing does not give her a maturing air at all. They should try things that makes sense and aren’t convenient plot points. Perhaps they could send her to law school, or to study forensic science – something that would be a logical move for a young woman who the valevetornian of her class, was sensible, ambitious, and has a crime novelist for a father and a police detective turned police captain as a stepmom. Then she would have material in her studies that would be useful to Castle and Beckett – but she’d have her own life and sphere. Isn’t that ultimately what good parents want for their kids? Let Castle be the good dad that he was in seasons 1-5. The dad who wanted the best for his daughter, not the dad who’s happy to have her glued to his hip and treats her like a second spouse.
The Case – and The Good Stuff
I did promise that there are things I like about this premiere, and once getting past the opening things definitely improve. Castle meets Ryan and Esposito at a crime scene – a theatre that’s being remodeled – that he rightfully says, “looks like a Tarantino film came to life.” We’ve got three more dead bodies laid out, and our favorite medical examiner Lanie Parish (Tamala Jones) is on hand to let everyone know that the men with the identical 40 caliber guns did not kill each other but were shot by someone in the balcony. While scouting out the balcony, Castle, who is once again the only one not wearing gloves (why they let him near an undusted crime scene….) steps on a tarp that makes a squishy sound. Lanie lifts the tarp and they find a pool of blood. The shooter obviously got shot. It’s Castle that notices something shiny in the blood. Using a pencil, (at least he didn’t pick it up!) he fishes out a bracelet. Yep, it’s the one he gave Beckett that morning. Suddenly what’s going on now also involves Beckett!
Back at the 12th the news isn’t good. The blood that was in that pool matches Beckett’s, but the I.D.’s of the men are all fake and the prints “aren’t in the system. These dead bodies really tell no tales that can help. Worse we learn that Beckett lied to Castle about having a meeting at 1PP. (I can hear people up in arms already, but I’ll address Beckett’s actions once we get the full picture.) There’s not much time for Castle to consider this because Ryan gets a hit on one of the phony credit cards as being used to rent a short-term apartment. Ryan and Esposito – with Castle in tow – head out.
At the apartment things don’t seem much better. Esposito breaks down the door, but the place has been trashed. He and Ryan begin clearing the space and tell Castle to stay put. Of course he doesn’t. A peek behind a curtain reveals the woman we’ll soon come to know as Hayley Shipton (Toks Olagundoye). Castle makes a valiant attempt at strangling her while asking about Beckett’s whereabouts, but a knee to the Castle jewels ends that. Luckily, Esposito is there to keep her from going anywhere.
Hayley: a pro or a con?
Hayley is brought in for interrogation and if her attitude at the apartment wasn’t a clue, she’s a fresh and sassy lady. She has a lot of Beckett’s early season knack for one-line innuendos and like Beckett obviously has walls and defense mechanisms galore. She also can clearly handle herself in a fight…like Beckett. If you can’t tell I find it’s annoying to have another Beckett-like character around. However, the one difference between the characters is that Hayley doesn’t have any sexual chemistry with anyone. To be that dynamic and flirtatious, and yet neutral, isn’t easy. I give major props to Olagundoye for being able to make that clear.
Hayley’s background is a London kid from wrong side of the tracks. The neighborhood equivalent in the U.S. would be what we think of when someone mentions Compton in L.A. or the Bronx in New York – low-income with high crime and dangerous gangs. Despite her upbringing Hayley speaks with an upper-class British accent – maybe to distance herself from the past, or from her mother who’s still in prison. (Like I said, walls and issues – and with her mother no less.) She was kicked off the London police force for “cutting corners” on the legal side of things. For instance, hanging a drug dealer out of a window to get a confession.
Hayley: “Did I hang him out the window? Or did I save him from falling out of said window? It’s hard to tell. It’s even harder to prove.”
This seems to be more along the lines of rouge cop Ethan Slaughter (Adam Baldwin) from season 5. Remember how he locked a handcuffed suspect in the trunk of a car and drove around in circles until he was ready to talk. This was a scene played for laughs, but just recently Freddie Gray of Baltimore died from injuries sustained from being put in the back of a police van while wearing handcuffs and no seatbelt ( www.huffingtonpost.com). We’re at a point right now where jokes about police brutality are not really funny. At least in Hayley’s case she was booted off the force for it.
Anyway, Hayley uses the same blase tones to explain being in that apartment: she was lost and looking for a Starbuck’s! When the guys lay out the facts of Captain Beckett missing and three dead bodies she claims to know nothing about it. She’s just “a freelance security specialist” working for an insurance company. Her case involves a hacker stealing social security numbers from their system.
The first thing to come to mind? Why hire someone from London to track down American social security numbers? Obviously there’s more to this story. The question viewers are going to have to ask themselves about Hayley, and not just in this episode: is she really a pro, as in a security specialist, or is she a con – as in a con artist pulling the wool over people’s eyes while being involved in something bigger? In a scene between her and Castle she tells him that in order to be a P.I. not only will have to be willing to lie and steal – from friends as well as enemies – but he needs to be willing at times to screw his friends over. She sounds like a mercenary, but only time will tell….
In the meantime, she’s able to give the guys a lead. She gives them five names – four men and a woman – that were stolen names that she was tracking. Three of the names match the fake names of the dead men at the theatre. We can assume that the woman, “Susan” is our killer from the top at the hour – which means there’s still one guy at large – Ty. Beyond this the guys have to let Hayley go because her credentials and alibi pan out.
What’s Going On?
Rather than go through all the twists and turns of this case I’m going to give you the layout. Beckett’s phone call that morning wasn’t a telemarketer. It was a “low-level analyst” from the attorney general’s investigative team in D.C. Beckett didn’t know him, but he must have given her the news that we find out: Beckett’s entire team from that time, including her partner, special agent Rachel McCord (Lisa Edelstein) have been killed. Three in a car accident, and the other was the man we saw murdered at the top of the episode. It can’t be a coincidence that all the people Beckett worked with have been killed and now they’re going after her.
Castle and the guys don’t find this out until near the end of the episode. Most of the episode is them tracking Beckett. Castle teams up with Hayley for a while, which leads them to finding out she’s with this analyst, Vikram Singh (Sunkrish Bala). In terms of some of Beckett’s badass moves, we learn that she stitched herself up at a dry cleaner’s place and briefly hijacks an ambulance in order to steal insulin for the diabetic analyst. Alexis figures out that the man with Beckett is diabetic – and in a way that’s actually believable. Less so is the way she finds Beckett.
Being that I’ve already ranted about Alexis I’m not going to say much about this. Hayley that tells Alexis to think like Beckett and Alexis uses Hayley’s “advice” on being a P.I. to investigate the ambulance. In terms of the Alexis-Hayley dynamic, Hayley teaching Alexis to lie and flirt to get what she wants isn’t exactly the kind of relationship that one would consider to be a healthy one. I know some of the interviews given by showrunners Alexi Hawley and Terence Paul Winter described Hayley as some kind of role model for Alexis, but I don’t see it. Hayley with Alexis is like finding out your daughter is hanging out with the older girl who smokes, drinks and skips class.
It’s All about Beckett
It’s interesting that we’ve now got three women – Beckett, the female assassin, and Hayley – all who are breaking laws left and right. However, only Beckett has “legitimate” reasons for her actions. She is clearly the heroine, the one fighting for truth and justice. This is who Beckett is, who she’s always been. When we learn that she went to see Senator William Bracken (Jack Coleman) it’s a bit of a red herring because we think that he’ll be the one behind all of this. Castle’s visit to Bracken turns out to be far more enlightening.
The scene between Castle and Bracken is one of best in the episode. Bracken doesn’t want to talk but Castle threatens to put a hit out on Bracken in prison. Bracken knows Castle has the money to do it, and is crazy enough to find a way, so he talks with Castle.
Bracken: “You come in hear all on fire about your wife. You don’t even know who she is. 16 years Kate Beckett’s been obsessed with solving her mother’s murder. You really think she can just turn off that kind of obsession?”
Castle: “Are you saying this is her fault?”
Bracken: “I’m saying she’s never going to be happy just being Mrs. Castle. She needs to tilt at windmills. It’s in her DNA. Like a moth to the flame. We all know what happens to the moth in the end.”
Bracken makes it sound like Beckett likes chasing trouble. What it is really? Beckett will always seek justice for those she cares about, and the life that she’s led – spending 16 years chasing Bracken and bad guys has made her damn good at it. It’s not that she can’t be happy being Mrs. Castle. It’s that in reality the trajectory of Beckett’s life is much bigger than simply being Castle’s wife. Beckett’s entire team from D.C. has been killed. Had Beckett ignored the phone call she’d gotten that morning we can be assured she’d never have made it to the precinct alive. As bad as things look, they could have been much worse. (Of course, then there’d be no show!)
We learn even more about what Beckett is up against when Castle is kidnapped. The last of the stolen id guys let’s call them Ty and and our female killer – lets call them Ty and Susan take him right after Castle meets with Bracken. They think Castle knows where Beckett is. Susan wants to start cutting off fingers, but Ty decides to use…spiders.
I have to say that I found the spider/torture scene plain silly. Like, really, this hard-core assassin is going to be walking around with a box of spiders? It’s a useless venture, one designed to kill time and be weird and creepy for Fillion to play around with. Once again, it’s one of those, “we want you take this seriously, even though it’s obviously not” moments. Also, I’m supposed to believe that Susan, the hard-core trained killer and torture expert, handcuffed Castle so that he can use the handcuffs to cut through the zipties. Okay, whatever, but ever that doesn’t explain how Castle opened the actual handcuffs.
All of this leads to Castle being chased by Susan and Ty and nearly getting killed – but Beckett comes to his rescue, managing to wound Susan. To me, this was a real Caskett moment. The two are intensely connected here, even as Castle is asking her why she hasn’t called. We see that Beckett can’t come up with an answer, then she kisses him, says she loves him, and takes off. Ryan and Esposito show up with a squad, but Beckett’s already gone. (I’m betting she’s hiding in the building. We’ll find out next week.)
As I said earlier. It’s Alexis who talks sense to Castle (and the audience) about why Beckett has lied to Castle. It’s for his own safety. Furthermore, Alexis tells Castle that if he loves Beckett he has to trust her. The same can be said about the viewer. This isn’t Beckett lying because she can’t face Castle’s emotions, nor is she shutting him out because she wants to do this on her own. Whatever is going on is clearly a much deadlier game than even her tracking down of Bracken. That storage locker of high-tech guns which seemed random at first appear to be for a scary purpose. The interrogation of Susan reveals that there’s hasn’t been just the one assignation team after Beckett!
The Real Story is Caskett
Castle has always been about the relationship between Castle and Beckett. In this episode it’s Castle’s love for Beckett, his wife, that is the underlying engine. He needs to find out what’s happened to her and what’s going on. One of the more loved and well-known lines of Richard Castle is that Beckett was a mystery he was never going to solve. At first that mystery was Beckett’s past and what she was hiding from. He wanted to get behind her emotional walls. Well, he’s done that.
However, Kate Beckett was never just a wounded woman waiting to be healed. Her past has made her a powerful force for justice, and has given her a life that’s never going to be completely ordinary. You can’t be a powerful person who’s stopped major bad guys without those bad guys finding a way to go after you. That’s the way being a hero/heroine (at least in all the great stories) goes.
This new scenario offers amazing possibilities of more passionate Caskett – both in work – and hopefully in play. I don’t think I’ve seen Castle show such raw emotions about Beckett for a long time. I loved the short scene between them where she rescues him. In the scenes where he’s telling Hayley why it’s so important she help him, or while interrogating Susan, his intense love is so blatant that even Hayley even shows some wishfulness in reaction to his words. Obviously, she’s never been loved like than. When Beckett’s life is intense, Castle’s character comes to life. After all, she’s his muse, his inspiration.
Once this two-parter ends the stories are supposed to go back to being more “normal.” We’ve already seen that Castle can be called in on cases. Hopefully that will continue and the P.I. stuff will just be a convenient set for Castle to be on. I’ve no interest in watching Castle trying to solve cases on his like he did last season nor did I enjoy the splitting of a case between Castle as P.I. and the 12th precinct that was attempted.
Ideally, I’m also hoping that Castle and Beckett will be out with the guys on cases – because that’s what works. Even though this episode worked, it worked because the entire episode was basically all about Beckett. Despite seeing very little of her, Beckett’s emotional presence and the connection she and Castle share were front and center. It also helped to know that this is a two-parter. If I thought the entire season was going to be like this I’d have a different point of view. As it stands I’m willing to see where this goes – although, dear god, they’ve got to do something about Alexis!
That’s my review guys! Now I want to know what you thought of the Castle Season 8 premiere – part 1. Did it all work for you, or did you too have a couple of issues here and there? Let’s here your point of view in the comments!
To keep up with the latest on Castle Season 8 and other cool TV news you can follow me on Twitter.
[Photos via ABC]
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Why are you even reviewing this show if you don’t like it and all you’re gonna do is trash it? It’s obvious you are not a true fan and it’s completely insulting to everyone else that you would try to convince us you even in the slightest understand the show or characters. It’s also totally misleading that the title of this article suggests it’s a review of a popular shows premiere when you are doing nothing but criticizing every aspect of not only the episode and the writers and producers who created it but also the talented actors who put their all into making this an enjoyable premiere. Switch to a different show to review because it’s obvious you don’t understand Castle and no one wants to read a crap review from someone who obviously has no problem insulting the show runners, actors and the fans.
Obviously you didn’t read the entire review.
Why are you even pretending to have read this review and complaining about the reviewer when it’s obviously you haven’t read it or you have reading comprehension issues?
It’s only a TV show. Noticed that most fans here are female, only watching to see Beckett and Castle together, no doubt. Castle the show is massively inconsistent. Bland murder of the week stuff, with the occasional great episode (when it breaks from the norm), the only reason I watched so long was the characters, but I can’t waste any more time on mediocrity.
Such condescending statements from a ‘true’ fan. Take the time to read a truly objective review for once.
I liked Alexis after a while actually. The first few scenes of Alexis, I easily tolerated because of Nathan actually, he was quite good in all the office excitement and all. Later I liked how Alexis defends Beckett in the end, even though it’s fair why Castle would be a bit offended after 7 years after all, because Beckett directly lied to him. As for Hayley, I don’t know how I feel about her honestly until Beckett comes full time too, though I do understand why they can’t make Hayley-Alexis thing as Beckett-Alexis thing, Beckett can’t give the advise to keep following on the lead and all. I also loved how Castle showed how much he loves Beckett, the scene with Bracken was awesome, later how he defends how Beckett has gotten most of Susan’s team.
You seen the next episode’s promo though? Castle doubting Beckett, and probably for good reason too, Beckett meeting Bracken again, having been shot and all. The thing that would probably really make Beckett right again would be the fact she is actually protecting Castle, I mean literally. After all, the woman with a connection to Castle is yet to come in the second episode, I think, so this all might be about that.
It seems obvious to me that Beckett is protecting Castle and Alexis. I mean, there are multiple teams trying to kill her. Would you put your family in the line of fire like that? On that phone call she had split seconds to decide what to do. Someone killed off four members of her team and they’re coming after her and anyone around is collateral damage. Does she tell Castle, bring him along and possible make Alexis an orphan? She doesn’t even have the full set of info yet.
I might have missed it though, wasn’t that focused but did Castle knew about the team she had, of which the 4 members were killed of?
He knew McCord but not the others. Names weren’t given.
Thanks for another honest review. I too had things in the episode that I did not like but there was much more that I did. I will also need to watch this a couple of more times before next week’s episode. I always need to re-watch a couple of times. I think that without seeing part two, that there are some things that don’t make sense and I am hopeful that once we know the whole story they will. The intense darkness,especially the first murder, was shocking to see. We just aren’t used to seeing this on Castle. Also I am not sure how I feel about the whole Alexis thing. Is she still in college? I do feel that the connection that Castle and Beckett have with each other was present and at the forefront throughout the whole episode. Even though we didn’t see Beckett, she was a part of Castle every step of the way and I am sure we will see the same in her episode next week. To me this shows the growth in these two as true partners in all things. I look forward to next week’s episode and am putting my trust in Terrence and Alexi to continue their story.
Overall i liked the episode and am looking forward to the next one. Which in my book makes it a successful outing. Until next week’s episode we can only pick around the edges, but there are some things to pick on.
Alexis didn’t really get anything good from the writers until near the end. If they want to do something with her she has to make some mistakes and really piss Castle off. Nancy Drew is pretty spot on.
Haley as a plot device is unnecessary and as a character useless. Pi for the investigative side of the show. Dump her.
Loved the hit woman who was creeped out by the spiders. She was super. Should have kept her.
With Castle missing for 2 months last season he seems more than a little selfish about being in the dark over Beckett’s current situation. I know it’s supposed to be all about him, but this makes him distinctly unlikable. Really don’t need one of your main characters to be unlikable.
Explicit violence was more than expected from Castle, but not outrageous by current standards.
Look into these brown eyes and die. Two scenes nicely put together.
Good TV. Had fun. Not boring. Looking forward to next episode. Can’t ask for more from TV.
Yes, the hit woman was really good. I was sad she was out as well.
Castle didn’t remember anything, he was abducted, in case you forgot. Beckett is doing all she is doing with her own free will, she directly lied to Castle while Castle never did that. I don’t really understand why it would be unlikable about a husband not liking his wife secrets and lies. Beckett going back to secrets is really something to dislike, I mean after all this time she still wants to go all alone. The only reason to dislike him would be that you already dislike him.
He means that Castle should understand that sometimes circumstances arise that you can’t control. I don’t understand why the idea that Beckett would protect Castle from a hit squad is so difficult to comprehend.
I agree with Beckstle……Kate is lying to protect Castle, maybe these mercenaries threatened to kill him, too, but with all her FBI squad dead, lying to protect the man she loves is acceptable in my opinion!
That’s the thing, the man almost got killed if not for the fact that he ran. Espo, Ryan, didn’t even know. She’s the captain, she could have just given some orders.
Not if they’re tapping her phone at work. She’s in a situation where she doesn’t know what or who is safe. Again, a call like that could have tipped off the people after her.
Though it is interesting to see how she knew they took castle
She may not have. It’s more likely she’d tracked the guy to the hiding place in her own work and then the woman brought Castle in.
Just a small side note about Beckett’s lying. Assuming you’re correct and she is doing it for his own good, I have noticed that Kate has an ability,and a tendency, to lie with little or no apparent regret. S4E1 She tells Rick she has no recollection of what happened at her shooting. S5E24 She tells Rick her phone must have been turned off. S6E22 after agreeing to work together on her mother’s case, she leaves RC in bed while she goes after Vulcan Simmons alone. Then S8E1 she lies through her teeth when he asks about her plans for the day. I’m really a big fan of the KB character, but her tendency to lie to RC, of all people, on a regular and significant level is beginning to bug me.
Because she has gone fully alone. No espo, no ryan, no asking for help, obviously Castle was still in trouble and almost got killed. Castle was abducted, as I said, lol. Situation didn’t arise with his own will and she didn’t almost get killed because of it.
Dude, she couldn’t ask for help. That’s the whole point. If she could have she would have.
She couldn’t? That really hasn’t been decided yet, because there is a pretty good chance she just didn’t to get Castle and others out of danger or something, and that would mean going it all alone. That is something for the next week episode, you can’t just say she couldn’t right now.
The Alexis PI premise will hurt viewership if it lasts too long. IMO. The new Alexis/Hayley connection was just too rushed, but it does suggest that Toks was added to the cast to develop the Alexis character and not so much to work with Castle. Castle PI would be more tolerable if he was doing insurance investigation work rather than the seedy work suggested by the cheating wife with the brother scenario. I sure hope those kind of cases are not what the writers plan for the entire season especially with Alexis working as an intern. The best scene was the shootout at the precinct else it was just a rerun of ‘Driven’ with Castle the one now looking for answers. It was odd that none of the other officers in the precinct drew their guns except Espo and Ryan during the shootout. At first, the DC connection with the four federal agents killed suggested something related to classified information, but it presents more from the 8×2 promo with Beckett talking to Bracken in prison that there is a random connection to the gun running uncovered in ‘Need to Know’. She reacted too quickly to the phone call at the loft to not still be connected to the feds. In ‘Need to Know’, the gun runners were all foreign, but the bad guys did not look foreign in this episode. The writers wanted to push the fact that Beckett lied to Castle and he was troubled by it. However, it made no sense and it was just foolish for her to not call the precinct for help and just go rogue without at least contacting Espo or Ryan to let them know that she was working against some dangerous people (e.g. precinct shootout). The Caskett scene in the warehouse with Beckett finding Castle hurt was not what I expected. She was not open with him about what was in progress even though you could tell he was troubled by it. She asked him if he was OK, but then started to walk away without any explanation until Castle pushed her for some comfort. She continues showing loyalty to her job over Castle except the viewers are expected to think she is doing everything to protect him, but the torture scene shows that the bad guys can easily kill him regardless of her intentions. It looks like the writers plan some kind of relationship angst to last for at least a few episodes. I wonder if the feds come to rescue her at the warehouse seen in the 8×2 promo. Two teams of killers sent to kill a woman police captain suggests some kind of long standing cabal connection to a rogue federal agency. I will hang in there and watch until episode 5 to see what happens, but I am not interested in watching another version of season 4 with secrets, lies and ongoing high tension between them for an entire season.
Great to see you here Vince! Welcome to TVoverMind. I agree that the writers are trying to push some kind of angst, but I think it goes back to trust. In season four Castle lied to Beckett for her own protection and when she called him on it he replied she should trust him because of what they’ve been through together. At this point I think Castle needs to trust that if she’s not telling him something there’s a a damn good reason for it because that’s been the case every time it’s happened.
The other piece is that Castle actually knows in his gut that she’s doing it because she’s protecting him – but he doesn’t like it. His very attitude suggests that if she’d told Castle he’d have insisted on going with her – and as Alexis said, he doesn’t have the training. I don’t think she’s not telling him stuff because of her job. I do agree they’d better not drag this out long though. I’m hoping for a big discussion in “XX” – and it looks like there will be. I think the promo clip is a point in that argument but that it will come to a resolution. I say this because a replay of season four secrets and Caskett at odds will kill the show by Christmas.
As for what’s going on with these killers after Beckett, I think we need to go back to episode 6×2 “Dream World” and Defense Secretary Reid. The guy was shady and Beckett’s team had to let him walk. If there’s more to that story that would explain needing to take the entire team out. The Secretary is a bigger fish that Bracken. I’m thinking there’s a kind of “Iran-Contra” situation with the gun-running – which would go into Need “To Know” – and that Bracken knew about it, maybe was even involved at one point – but it’s not his operation. Beckett is now invested in solving this case because they killed McCord and her team – and the Secretary is invested in killing her. How long will it take to reveal the issues and all the players – because obviously it wouldn’t be just Reid – hopefully most of the season. If they focus on Castle and Beckett working together to unravel this – with Lanie, Espo and Ryan as the team backing them up – that would be great. Of course, they need to drop all the Alexis/Castle P.I. nonsense.
As for Hayley – I think she’s a bad guy who’s got Alexis fooled. I’m hoping they reveal Hayley as a true mercenary who is working for the bad guys. I could see Hayley as the opposite of Beckett – the ultimate nemesis for her. That’s the only thing that would make sense.
I
Witness described the guy with Beckett as light headed and shaky. Alexis asked if they found any candy wrappers or juice boxes and deduced he was having a complication due to diabetes and he needed insulin. WHAT?!?! If this man was diabetic and is eating candy and drinking juice, he is suffering from low blood sugar. The last thing he would need is insulin… unless you want the guy to go into a diabetic coma and die without any medical assistance. If the guys is drinking juice and eating candy, he is trying to raise his blood sugar and he needs glucose if he is dangerously low, NOT insulin. I’m surprised no one on the writing team caught that mistake.
My opinion is still pending how they play through Beckett’s version of the story. It could go either way. I agree that Alexis is confusing, was disappointed Martha and Laney didn’t get more air time, wondered why Espo and Kevin didn’t rearrange the office to put their desks together face-to-face and thought NY takes losing a brand new Police Captain a bit too calmly.
How can you write so much about a TV show? It’s a TV show! I came here for a quick recap having given up in series 8, and got a massive diatribe.
LOL! I love TV and I love writing.