Castle: Head Case – A Good-Cop-Bad-Cop Review

Well, so far, this season has me longing to be in the position I’m in right now, looking at the business end of those three gun barrels. Yes, please shoot me now to end this pain and suffering. Another week and another disappointing episode. And I guessed the killer at the beginning of the episode. I hate that! How about you, Melanie? Are with me again this week?

I enjoyed this episode much more than the one last week, even though it was just as far-fetched. Cryogenics? Frozen Heads? Murder for love? They at least gave us some laughs, and Ryan and Esposito helped make things fun, too. I love that.

Spoiler alert! The victim’s wife—who also turned out to be the killer—summed up the theme early on when describing her husband: “One lifetime together wasn’t enough. He wanted more.” Extra years with the woman he loved. Of course, Kate and Rick glanced at each other when they heard those words. And then… nothing. They simply played off each other like always, with Kate also acting as a sounding board for Rick when Alexis didn’t get into Stanford.

Yes, folks, we’ve got slow movement in the relationship department. Turtle slow. Although the love theme did continue throughout the episode.

“Would you believe this to be a crime of passion?” Rick asked near the end.

Kate smiled. “I would consider this to be a crime of love.”

“Nice. Although that would depend on whether Cynthia Hamilton was in love, or insane.”

“Well, sometimes there’s a fine line between the two.” Kate smiled.

And so did I. (Hey, I’ll take what I can get.)

The end of the episode brought the crime full circle when the victim’s wife committed suicide because she didn’t want to live without her husband, the love of her life.

And in a touching scene — after Kate told the cryogenics guy he could have the woman’s body without an autopsy… and the chick died in police custody (I know, right? Puh-leeze!), Rick said, “Wouldn’t it be something if they reunited a hundred — even a thousand — years from now?”

“Well, anything’s possible,” Kate said with that sly smile.

“Do you really believe that?”

“It’s what the great love stories are about, right? Beating the odds?”

See? The love theme continues. Great love stories… Both Castle and Beckett said they hope the couple is reunited someday. And the look they shared… nice.

Not a great episode, but tolerable. Next week’s looks as if it will be really intense. The return of 3XK, anyone? Poor Ryan is still missing the gun the serial killer stole from him last season. Hmm…

Melanie, Melanie, Melanie. You’re such a sucker for the mushy stuff. But I really didn’t see much of that this week. I think the writers have pulled back, milking all they can get out of the weak glances and eyebrow-raising.

Hey, you know who my hero is this week? Lanie the “Voodoo M.E.” You know why? Because she was the least goofy and least offensive of all. Actually, she’s been a lot better this season.

You’re right, I’d better look up and watch out for the lightning bolt that’s about to strike me. But I’m serious. I think, in the middle of one of the dumbest opening crime scenes yet, Lanie was actually running a field test to see if the blood on the pavement was indeed human. At least that’s what it looked like, so I’m going with it.

Okay, here we go. Castle fans, you’d better tighten up your belts and hang on, because I hated this episode.

– A tire track in the blood. Okay, it’s possible to identify a tire brand using an impression. And it’s possible to know which manufacturers place those tires on their new vehicles (people often change brands when as they replace the old rubber). But the impression must be a good impression, not a squishy one like you’d find in wet blood on pavement. Still, it is possible, so we’ll let this one slide.

But a stitching pattern from a briefcase left in blood on lumpy, cracky-crevacey asphalt. No freakin’ way. And to narrow it down to a particular brand only sold in two stores in all of NYC. Well, that deserves a capital NO FREAKIN’ WAY.

– Lanie narrowed the suspect field down by determining the blood in the alley was that of a male. Yes, this is correct. And if you attended the DNA presentation Denene and I gave at the WPA, you know how she arrived at that conclusion.

– So someone stole the murder victim’s body, right? How many of you believe that the team kicking in a warehouse door where the potential killer(s) were hiding would be a team of three goofy cops (one in heels) and an unarmed writer? And what did the female detectives at the WPA say about wearing heels? That’s right…NO!

– Beckett and crew are searching a building full of human Popsicles, knowing the place is a little spooky, and she knows the place is tied to the murder she’s investigating…yet, she stops to make a phone call before clearing the rest of the building. And, whadda you know, there were workers in the back who were making even more human Popsicles. Clear the building first, guys, before ordering pizza.

– The cryogenics company took murder victim’s body without calling the police. Then they call dibs on it saying the police can’t have it because it’s now on private property, and Beckett caves. Okay, folks, from now on, all psychos and serial killers have a free pass. All they have to do is drag their victims onto private property, use their big toes to draw a line in the sand, and the police can’t come inside to get them or the evidence. Just think, all this time I’d been doing it wrong. See, I thought murder was a serious crime.

– If we DID believe that Beckett couldn’t regain control of the body (the guys took the body from the crime scene), remember, THEY BROKE THE LAW. Arrest them, Beckett! That’s one sure way of getting what you want. Lock up those fools and they’ll soon see it your way.

– Red herring number 2 or 3, Beau Randolph, shot a pigeon with a .45, from a NYC rooftop, and Ryan finds the bird (out of all the dead birds in the city) and retrieves the bullet from inside the fallen feathered victim. AAAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!

– Any campus police officers out there? If so, how many of you took offense to Ryan’s statement to Espo…”I know what we’ll do when we’re fried and don’t care anymore.” His comments referred to campus police officers, insinuating that they aren’t really cops. Well, let me be the first to set the Castle writers straight. Campus police officers attend the same training and certification programs as cops on the street. Their duties and powers are the same. And they face the same dangers, just in a smaller area. In fact, just this week, it was a campus police officer who single-handedly arrested Ernesto Manuel Gonzalez, a member of the Vagos motorcycle gang, a rival gang of Hells Angels. Gonzales was wanted for the murder of the leader of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang in San Jose, Ca. So, please Castle writers, if you’re going to attempt to write cops, don’t belittle them.

– Beckett tells the “head” guy from the cryogenics company that the police department is dropping all charges against him. Police officers cannot drop charges. Only prosecutors can work those deals.

You know, I really liked this show the first couple of seasons, but it’s moving away from everything I enjoyed about it. In fact, I think Lanie’s words sum up my feelings best. When she saw what was going on in the Popsicle room, she said, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

And those are the words my inner voice says to me each week when I switch the channel over to Castle. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Sorry Melanie, I didn’t like this one either.

*Remember, everyone, I was asked by a group of writers if we’d point out the errors in the police procedure in this show so they’d know what was realistic and wasn’t. They wanted to know so they wouldn’t make the mistake of using something that’s not quite right in their stories. This review is meant to be fun. And, yes, I know the show is fiction. Yes, I know they’re actors, not real cops. And yes, I know the show is not meant to be realistic. But please do keep those hate-mail cards and letters coming anyway!