Castle: The Limey – A Good Cop/Bad Cop Review And Recap
Once again (as if I had any doubt), this show opened and headed straight for the land of all-too-familiar. The same-old same-old. The tired and old story we see week in and week out.
We get it, Marlowe. You’re milking your fans for every last drop of “I wanna watch” juice. The problem is, even the characters are beginning to look tired. Yes, even Castle seems to have lost some energy. I mean, how many times does it take to repeat the same thing over and over again before everyone loses interest?
My opinion of this episode is far less than favorable. Even the guest star annoyed me with that horrible mangled accent. In fact, I could only understand something like every third mumbled line. Anyway, let’s see what always-happy-about-the-show Melanie has to say. Maybe she found a bright spot somewhere is this mess.
Welcome to the big black moment. Yes, that’s right. We’ve reached the darkest days for our two wanna-be lovebirds. The moment in any good romance when all is lost and the reader — or in this case, the viewer — decides the couple in question will never get together. Yet we shouldn’t lose hope. You know the saying: It’s always darkest before the dawn.
When The Limey begins, Kate is still reeling from Rick’s cold shoulder — the change of heart that resulted from her inadvertently revealing she remembers everything about her shooting, including his desperate I love you — and yet she has no idea he knows that she knows (does that make sense?). Or maybe she just doesn’t want to know.
Lanie finally talked some sense into Kate during a girl’s night in and convinced her to tell Rick how she feels. I really loved one of her lines: “How long can you circle before the fuel runs out?” Perfection. Still, even that sage advice did absolutely no good at all, because Rick picked up right where he left off last week — only this time, he showed up with a shapely blonde flight attendant in tow. A blonde he allowed to drive his red Ferrari. They went on date after date, and that hurt Kate. To top it off, she and Rick are out of sync at the precinct, too… no fun theory building or playful eye sex this week. Just pained looks and hurt expressions.
Kate even went undercover with the handsome, sexy Colin Hunt from Scotland Yard, turning Rick’s head when she appeared wearing a gorgeous black strapless dress, yet that still wasn’t enough to keep his attention. He’s hurting, and he’s showing out. To say he’s acting like a passive-aggressive middle schooler is putting it mildly. Come on, Rick. Grow up!
He’s not the only one at fault, however. Kate had the perfect opportunity at the end of the show to tell Rick how she really feels, but does she? Of course not. She clams up again and lets him walk away. Aarrgghh!
This is getting very, very old — and in the next episode, three weeks from now, Rick abandons Kate to work with Detective Ethan Slaughter. I do believe, though, that we have indeed reached the big black moment in their relationship. Stana Katic herself has said that happiness is just around the corner for our dynamic duo, and that Caskett shippers will be smiling by the end of the season. I certainly hope so. Because right now, I’m drowning in angst!
The case this week was a disaster. Seriously, think about it…a woman’s boyfriend, the only man she ever loved, was flying around in a helicopter that was shot down by a smuggled missile. So, like any normal girlfriend in the good old U.S. of A., she decides to take it upon herself to find the missile smugglers. Now that’s always an easy task, right? You know…work eight hours, eat dinner, do a little laundry, watch a little TV, and, oh, yeah, run out and catch me a couple of international smugglers who’re selling stinger missiles by the dozens. Doesn’t everyone do that sort of thing? Puleeze…
Lanie was the only bright spot in this episode. Yeah, you heard me right. That’s how bad it was for me. Yep, I was actually hoping to see and hear more of Lanie. Of course, she didn’t disappoint, starting with her comment, “She was strangled, but she didn’t go down without a fight.” How did she know the woman fought back? According to Lanie, the bruise near the eye was an indication that she’d defended herself. What’d she do, hit her attacker with her face? Now, that’s going down fighting, for sure.
And the fingerprint thing… So now Lanie is not only NYC’s chief medical examiner, firearms expert, toxicologist, and trace evidence expert, she’s also a certified fingerprint examiner. Just so you know, M.E.’s do not compare and match fingerprints.
– Beckett and crew heads to bad accent guy’s hotel room where a hotel employee uses his key to let them inside. Well, they’d need a warrant to make that entry. Hotel employees cannot allow access to someone’s room. When you stay at a hotel you’ve rented that place for the night. You’re basically a tenant, and landlords cannot give permission for a search of their renter’s property. On the other hand, if the police had a warrant the employee could open the door to prevent damage, and to make the entry safer for the police (he could also give them the key, if they have the warrant).
– Beckett steals the bad guy’s card case from his pocket while they’re dancing. And that’s exactly what she did, she stole it. Not legal. However, had he tossed the item in the trash, well, then it’s fair game.
– Castle’s family was missing from this episode. Good or bad? Actually, I was pleased that we weren’t subjected to Alexis’ morgue nonsense. And to miss Mama Castle’s out of place actor-type scenes was also quite pleasing. However, I like the mother and daughter/granddaughter in the show when they’re adding something useful to help the story along.
There really isn’t a lot to discuss about the criminal case, because it was weak…really weak. As usual, suspect number one was a wash. And, the choice of using the “cop-as-a-suspect” recurring theme is also getting really old. Hey Marlowe, it’s okay to use a new idea once in a while. I promise we won’t mind.
Watching this show is like listening to a metronome’s never-ending tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick…
I have a great idea! Since this show used to be about a mystery writer, why don’t we invite Mr. Marlowe and the entire cast to the Writers’ Police Academy for a chat session with some of the the top mystery writers in the country? Then the Castle folks could get an idea of what it’s like to write mysteries, learn about real cops, real procedures, and forensics, and maybe even get a few new ideas. What do you think?
Oh, one last thought. The Biggie Slim guy…another disappointing killer. Please come to the WPA, guys. We can help. Really, we can.
There were a couple of note-worthy lines in this episode:
“People change when you’re not looking.” ~Beckett
“How long can you circle before the fuel runs out?” ~Lanie
*Remember, folks, I write the sections about the police stuff at the requests of writers who want to know if the procedure used on this show is realistic. Yes, I do realize the show is fiction and I do realize this isn’t a cop show. But please do keep those hate-mail cards and letters coming. It’s so nice to hear from you.
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Two words for this episode, and for the show itself: Bored Now.
I loved this show when it first aired, for the witty banter and the character development. But I agree with all the comments that have been made thus far about this episode and really, this season. Too little wit, too much angst, crappy police procedure, and lackadaisical writing at best. For all the ‘it must be darkest before the dawn’ comments I’ve read online about the mains’ relationship, I have ceased to care. I’m so bored and annoyed with the lack-of-character-development that I’m probably going to stop watching.
Question for Lee: I haven’t really known many police officers, but I’ve always assumed that they need to be decisive people to be in the line of work that they’re in. I realize that we’re all human, everyone has their issues, etc. etc. etc. But something that has annoyed me about Kate’s character since the start is how indecisive she is about her personal life and her relationship with Rick. In your personal experience, do you think that being that personally indecisive would be an unusual trait for a cop? Or is it a mistake for me to assume that kind of broad generalization? I mean, she’s a *cop*. If Hollywood is to be believed (and from what I have observed about the work that cops do), they seem to be tougher, stronger people than the rest of us. And God bless ’em–I certainly wouldn’t have the strength to deal with what they must face every day.
As a woman, too, I’m annoyed with Kate’s wishy-washiness. I want to yell at her, “oh, just bang him once and get it over with! If you both like it, bang him again for fun, but don’t assume it means wedding bells!” I mean, honestly–with that kind of fence-sitting, I just can’t relate to this character any more. Or Castle either. Which, for me, equals…bored.
OK, two high points in this episode:
1. The hand over the eyes — I know it was wrong, but just too hilarious!
2. Beckett “Are you thinking what I’m thinking”. Castle “Yes:” and then proceeding to tell his fantasy of model-filled parties!
Here was the lightness and fun of the early episodes. Unfortunately, the rest was as you all say. 🙁 Really, can Kate act any worse? Castle is supposedly just protecting himself, thinking that he’s been making a fool of himself for that last months, with Kate just not wanting to hurt him by saying she doesn’t care. But Kate just shrugs it off, and hooks up with the latest guy. Argh!
S – The 4th amendment protects us against illegal/unreasonable search and seizure even while in places such as hotel rooms, apartments, and campsites.
Police officers must first have probable cause. Then they need to present that probable cause to a judge or magistrate who’ll sign the search warrant. Only then are they legally able to enter the property. However, the tenant could grant permission, but that would involve the police having to knock on the door, or tent flap, and ask.
Beckett is a detective. Why doesn’t she “detect” what has happened to her relationship with Castle? In my mind that would make a fascinating couple of episodes, in part because Beckett would have to come face to face with why she is holding Castle at arms length. Instead she’s floundering in a sea of “golly, what happened?” and I’ve got to echo Lanie is asking just what are Beckett and Castle to each other? I think they are intimate friends, unlike Lanie’s dismissal, but they are also in a holding pattern when it comes to making the friendship a romance. I can see how Beckett doesn’t want to lose the friendship, should the romance turn sour,and she has plenty of evidence that Castle is not known for long-haul romances. But here’s something else she can investigate: Are the broken marriages and one-night-stands really a symptom of Castle’s shortcomings? Even when he’s boinking an actress, it could be said that he’s in it for more than the sex, while she’s in it for a part. Is it Castle’s fault that women use him?
As to police proceedure: This is not a proceedural drama, the main storyline has always been the WTWT dance, but it would be enhanced by realism. Make the situations they act in as accurate as the makers can, and the relationships of the characters is enhanced, not detracted from, simply because we get to see how the characters deal with the proceedures. They don’t have to be detailed, but they should be accurate.
On tonight’s CSI, they did a room to room search of a hotel within a casino and when challenged by a guest gave the justification that the room was hotel property, so they could search it whether the guest wanted them to or not. From what you’re saying about a similar hotel room entry on Monday’s Castle, it sounds like they’re also wrong. Is there any situation in which a hotel could legally allow that?
The “Castkett” relationship is the worst constructed relationship I think I’ve seen in YEARS on network television. I can’t remember the last time I was actually rooting for a couple NOT to get together. I would be perfectly happy watching for the mysteries but unfortunately, those suck, too.
Melanie, not to harsh on your hopes, but it’s really dark an hour after sunset, too. Or in the middle of the arctic winter.
Would shippers (I’ve gone from ‘don’t care’ to actively rooting against this is so middle school) be satisfied with estranged -> screw once -> estranged again by Castle’s secret revealed the next morning? That’s really not building a relationship, falling in love, etc.
Hylean – Sorry, I just don’t agree. And Lanie’s comment in this episode (“Bring me a print of a suspect and I can tell you if it’s a match”) is just one of many, many examples. Cops don’t deliver prints to the morgue. M.E.’s do not do fingerprint comparisons.
The only good part was Castle’s plan with the Romanian gymnast. That had all the features Maryann Mercer misses.
To rant about the naked scene: If this guy is a desperate murderer, wouldn’t he tie his towel loosely, let it fall, and then use their distraction at his nudity to charge them, disarm Kate (which we know is easy this season), and shoot them both? Then he can get dressed and run. And they HELP him by covering their eyes?
Also, the naked guy says he was tossing the crime scene and victim’s apartment because of being a rugged Scotland Yard guy. It’s good he cleared that up, as Kate has never met a crooked cop, nor heard of a cop who killed his girlfriend. No need to bring him in for questioning when he has a great reason to toss those and run ahead of the cops.
What everyone else said…if something doesn’t happen to bring the spark back to the show and soon, I’ll be tempted to give up and turn the TV off at 9PM on Mondays. I feel I’m being spoonfed incorrect police procedure and tidbits of “a possible romance” as though I’m five years old. What happened to the snappy banter, the nuttiness of Espo and Ryan, the general feeling that the bad guys didn’t stand a chance, and Rick’s insight that sometimes went off the beaten track but usually sparked (there’s that word again)a direction to take or a clue to follow? I get his ‘regression’ into Playboy Rick…fragile ego, three failed marriages and being lied to are all there. But Kate needs to step up, even if she doesn’t know he knows, and let him know what her feelings are. Then he can tell her what he overheard. Of course TV love has no common sense :o) And to tell you how bad this all was, even Gates came out better than our darling duo this time around. I was surprised at how logical she seemed. :o)
Lee:
Ahhh, my mistake then. I apologise.
Personally, Lanie seems to be the voice of the lab more often than not. I think they’re just trying to give the actress something to do.
Nora:
I’ve just rewatched seasons one and two, and there are very much “filler” episodes. They just didn’t matter as much because Caskett wasn’t as series until the end of the second season, and so we didn’t notice them like we do now.
In the first season, and actually in the second as well, there were not any filler-type episodes. The relationship, not only between Castle and Beckett, but between the entire cast flowed so well. The first season, especially, because it was so short. I think dragging out a show for 24 episodes is a bit much when you don’t have the proper creative team to pull it off. Everything about this season has been sloppy. Sloppy characterizations, sloppy police work (I don’t understand why they can’t do some simple research)…I used to watch the show for the Castle/Beckett relationship but the mysteries were often almost as interesting as the dynamic between the leads. Now, the mysteries are boring and being written around the “romance” which is itself pretty poorly written. What on earth happened to this show? New writers, maybe? But Marlowe is still at the helm so I just can’t figure out how he went from Seasons 1/2 to this mess.
Enjoyed the review as always, Lee. More fun than watching an episode these days. I wish more people had this sort of critical eye because I’m still reading a lot of “that was awesome” “Marlowe is a genius!” circling around the web. Really? Were we watching the same show?
Yes, Julian. All that sort of thing and more.
When you say “disgusted with the whole thing” are you referring to Kate changing gun hands twice, and turning a door handle with the same hand that’s holding her gun? Because holy crap, I was disgusted by that.
Yep, I did mention the bag. I also said that the lab would’ve kept the evidence. Lanie would not have it, after testing, simply hanging around in a dish. It would be kept in evidence, in a sealed package.
When I point out something Lanie “does,” it’s because she says something that lets us know she has or is going to do.
Believe me, I’m quick to applaud her when she says “the lab results came back as…” because that’s the way it would happen in real life. Well, she wouldn’t get all the results from the lab, just those pertaining to cause of death. Other things, like fingerprints, etc., would go to the police.
I love your reviews. Interesting info.
I will point out, in response to some of your Lanie complaints, that she often appears as a voice for the lab, saying “the lab did this test, etc. and found…”
Last week you commented on her bit on the canvas bag, and she specifically mentions the lab id’ing it as blue canvas. Now, I’m not defending all of Lanie’s comments, as she makes some doozies, but yeah. She does often comment that it’s the lab that’s done the testing, even if she is the one giving us the details.
I rarely watch Castle, yet I love coming here and reading the recap. I have a feeling the show is not nearly as funny as the two of you.
Okay, the only reason I soldiered thru watching this episode last night is I wanted to read Lee’s comments today. Aargh. For all the reasons you all mentioned and more. The thing that had me saying, “OMG, Lee’s breaking a pencil writing this down,” was when they identified the fingerprint of the diplomat, they IMMEDIATELY had a full dossier on the guy. As if they have full dossiers on everybody right here, right now. At least on Hawaii Five-Oh they make a pretense of checking information on guys they identify–they don’t just whip out a file folder.
Just for the record, Kate has driven Rick’s Ferrari, in the episode last season when they went undercover at the dance club to take down the drug dealer. The name of it escapes me right now.
The only reason this show is still alive is the cast, and that’s it. If it wasn’t for the cast Castle would be nothing more than a really really bad soap opera.
Most boring episode ever. I was watching the clock more than the TV. If Rick’s in love with Kate why doesn’t he simply ask her out on a date? Or she can ask him out for coffee? No, they’d rather just glare at each other and then whine about their relationship. Lanie breaks up with her boyfriend but somehow she’s still an expert on dating advice. And apparently Rick’s not that crazy about Kate because he’s running around with a blonde stewardess (he’s never let Kate drive his car!). I’m surprised Lee didn’t yell about Rick discussing the case with the stewardess–but since she cracked the code, it’s okay! The regular cast was so clueless (pun intended) this week that a walk-on character with no lines solves the case. What about the Aussie-accent guy opening sealed diplomatic pouches? Or Kate busting into his hotel room without announcing herself at the door? The season finale better be a humdinger or I’ll find something else to watch at 9 p.m. Mondays.
Actually TWO WEEKS from now, ABC scheduled “Headhunters” to air on April 16th, then another repeat and then 4×22 on April 30th and 4×23 on May 7th. And yes, Brett Tucker is an Aussie, I liked him very much in one of the most famous Australian TV series – “McLeod’s Daughters” 🙂
No spark in this episode. No spark in the last few actually… I’m just less and less enthusiastic every Monday. I do think this was one of the worst episodes ever, and, in my opinion, Scotland Yard had nothing really interesting to say aside from this line at the airport: “I’ll make sure your boss knows you’re working harder than a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest!”
The accent was incredibly annoying and all over the place-whatever the guy was going for-he missed. Badly. I was kind of insulted really.
The off accent was indicative of what was, to me, a patronizingly dumbed down episode. The “crime” portion was as dopey as the dreaded (and appropriately savaged) CIA episode.
As for the romance, I agree with Melanie that it represented the dark moment, but man they did it poorly. Assuming arguendo that Kate and Castle are destined soulmates, AND assuming arguendo that their previous failure to launch really made some kind of sense, would Kate really decide that a “love the one your with” approach be a good idea? Would Castle, upon learning Kate remembered the “I love you,” not give it one last try before hopping on the bimbo express?
At times, I thought this was going to be a dream episode, accounting for all the BS, and Kate would wake up and run to tell Castle she loved him-or vice versa. I feel bad for Lee having to carry on here. It used to be such a fun show and the errors needed to be pointed out, which is helpful. Arrrrrgh.
I noticed the Aussie accent, too, but I was so irked by their floundering relationship that I didn’t even comment on it. I did like looking at the guy sans clothes, though. I mean, seriously. lol
Still, I did not like this episode. Come on, Marlowe, get the show on the road and stop letting us down!
Yeah, the eye-covering scene is my sensitive point too. AFAIK Castle isn’t the parody of itself and that guy was (at that moment) their sure suspect for murder.
You’re right, Pat. It was that bad. I had intended to mention it (opening photo), but I was simply so disgusted with the whole thing I guess I gave up.
Yes, Maka, it is a slightly dangerous thing to do.
Oh, Lee, when I saw Castle cover Beckett’s eyes while she had a gun on the ‘suspect,’ my first thought was, “Lee, is gonna love this.” and you never even mentioned it. lol I guess it was that bad.
I thought this episode was funny and entertaining, but that was about it. Not happy with where the relationship in headed, not happy with the characters, missed Castle’s family, and spotted the bad guy right away. I guess it’s a good think I like a good laugh.
Gotta watch it again because I missed the Bauer reference.
Why would you cover a police officer’s eyes when they have trained a gun on somebody?
Isn’t that kinda freakin dangerous?
Sheila, the “Brit” sounded Aussie to me, too! Glad I wasn’t the only one…
I had to watch this episode this morning because my TV’s broken… and I was laughing a lot through it, so my 3-year-old kept telling me to stop laughing at her… I think it was a good episode for humor, but I do have to agree: the premise was a little out there. Even though I never watched “24”, I caught the Bauer reference.
Honestly, if you’re looking at the POV for the episode, it seems like most of the episodes I’ve seen have a healthy balance of being from both Kate & Rick’s POV. But this one was squarely from Kate’s. Castle only rarely jumped in. For a show that’s supposed to be more about Castle, this episode was very Kate-centric.
Oh well… I haven’t seen any previews for the next episode, but I’m looking forward to it since one of Fillion’s “Firefly” castmates (Alan Baldwin aka Jayne) will be on. Sounds like it’ll be a definite change in direction.
Don’t really have much to add to this episode and review. There wasn’t much to this episode except disappointment. It was amusing how the Aussie-sounding British guy poorly faked a Homeland Security agent from the south.
To leave it with this episode, and then nothing until two weeks from now is like leaving an open sore untreated and filthy.
That accent was pretty painful to listen to and the episode is taking a beating on Facebook/Twitter. I feel bad for the actors, they’re still trying but the direction of the show is just a mess, as is the writing. And less annoying British guy and more Nathan Fillion would have been nice as well.
Aside from the fact that the M.E. wouldn’t be the one to compare the fingerprint, Lanie said the partial print from the body wasn’t enough to run through the system, but she could match it to a suspect if they brought her a set of prints. Is that right? It seems like a partial print would either be usable or not. Would a certified fingerprint examiner bother with such a partial print? And if it’s not enough to run through the computer how likely is it they could determine anything that would hold up as evidence in a trial?
The so-called Limey sounded more like an Aussie to me. Couldn’t they at least have gotten a real British actor (being a Brit myself, even though I no longer sound like it either, it’s a sore point).
I rarely watch Castle, though I always read your reviews, and having watched this episode, I remember why.
Oh please Lee invite them to the WPA because they are so incompetent its just downright wrong! Andrew Marlowe needs a crash course in realism because it is so bad that when they do something I immediately just assume its not what cops do in real life. Their facts are so wrong to me it feels like a disservice to the actual policemen and women who are out there doing the real job.
Another great thing, Castle drove his Ferrari to the crime scene at the beginning and parked it next to Beckett. Funny part was that Beckett had already crossed under the yellow tape into the closed off areaa. So Castle essentially drove his Ferrari into a close off murder investigation area and the best part is he isn’t even a cop! Not to mention he brought a civilian who was not cleared to be there onto the scene!
I liked how Castle got a bit of his manhood back instead of running around and just playing the faithful puppy to Beckett. I thought it was going to be good for the DD and Beckett was going to be on the recieving end of the walk out for once. Then Andrew Marlowe destroyed all possiblity of a ending people would have been happy with by having her call the British Detective at the end. Awesome move for a girl who was ready to tell him how she feels.
Facebook, Twitter, Message Boards are all in an uproar over this episode. Looks like Castle struck out hard last night.