Last night’s episode was, well, bizarre. And not in a good way.

The shaky-cam filming style combined with the characters over-acting and hamming it up for the cameras was downright horrible. This was definitely the worst episode of Castle to date. In fact, had this been the first episode I’d seen I would never tune in again. Of course, there were a few funny moments. Unfortunately, the bad outweighed the good this week.

But that’s my opinion. Let’s see what Melanie has to say about what we saw last night.

Melanie Atkins

Tonight’s episode, about the death of a legendary rock and roll singer, was told documentary style like The Office and Community—a first for Castle. Nathan and Stana said in interviews that looking into the camera was hard to do, because as actors, they usually spend so much time trying not to look at it. Their characters had other ideas, of course. Rick preened for the camera, while Kate did her best to avoid it. Ryan didn’t seem too thrilled about the attention either, but like Rick, Lanie craved the spotlight… as did Esposito, who turned out to be the biggest ham of all—and pretty good singer. I thought the episode would be funnier than it was, but I did enjoy parts of it.

I wanted more romance, of course. They gave us a few tidbits, such as Rick telling one of the cameramen when talking about Kate, “I just want you to see what I see,” meaning strong, independent, capable Detective Beckett. Or at least that’s what I got out of that line. And later, when Rick and Kate were talking privately and he hooked a lock of hair behind her ear, she smiled, leaned into his touch, and put her hand over his… before noticing the camera and jerking away. Uncomfortable, much?

Then near the end of the show, Captain Gates told the whole precinct she would review the entire tape for its appropriateness… and that sent Kate into a tailspin. She was afraid Gates would see the aforementioned scene between her and Rick—an understandable fear considering she believes her boss wouldn’t approve of their relationship, especially a PDA in the precinct.

Didn’t turn out that way, since she and Rick cornered the filmmaker and convinced him to “lose” that piece of tape, but it was a close call.

Otherwise, this was just a weird episode. I laughed in spots and enjoyed Esposito’s singing and hamming it up, but don’t really enjoy the documentary style as a rule so this one didn’t really grab me. The case bored me, and I simply could not fathom why in the world Lanie would check for antibodies for polio, measles, etc, in the victim’s blood. Too odd, even for TV. I mean, please!

I can understand the producers wanting to try something new with this documentary style, and I don’t fault them for it. I’ll just be glad to get back to regular Castle episodes. Next week’s show involves a murdered priest, and the promo for it had ominous overtones. Very scary. Then comes the Christmas show, titled Secret Santa — their first holiday show ever. I can’t wait for that one. A very Castle Christmas. Teehee!

Lee Lofland

As I said above, there wasn’t much to like about this episode. And, of course, Lanie did the show no favors. However, I have to come to the actor’s defense this week, because the writers truly stuck her with horrible material. I know, that’s the trouble each and every week, but this time was far worse than before. She’s an information dump for writers who are too lazy to write necessary information into the script. A fiction writer (books) would most likely be rejected by agents and editors if he/she tried this move. Believable make-believe, it’s not.

So let’s started, and there’s no better place than…

– The film crew was standing in the middle of a bloody crime scene, contaminating and destroying the evidence. Wouldn’t happen, not in a million years, no matter how many “official letters” they possessed.

– Lanie and her use of lividity to determine the time of death. Well, here’s some information about lividity, and what it is. After reading, you be the judge. Ask yourself, could Lanie pinpoint the time of death within two hours, long after lividity is fixed?

When the heart stops beating, gravity pulls blood to the lowest point in the body. Blood pooling in those low areas stain the surrounding tissue giving the appearance of bruising. This staining of tissue is called livor mortis, or lividity. For example, a victim lying flat on his back when he dies exhibits lividity on his back, buttocks, and the back of his legs. The same is true on the front of the body, if the victim is found lying face down.

The staining of tissue normally begins within the first two hours after death. The process reaches it’s full peak in eight to twelve hours. Once lividity becomes fixed it is basically no longer useful for determining a time of death, other than to say the death most likely occurred “over twelve hours ago.” Lividity alone cannot be used to pinpoint an exact time of death.

If the victim is moved during the first six hours after death the purplish discoloration can shift, causing the new, lowest portion of the body to exhibit lividity.

After a period of six to eight hours after death, lividity becomes totally fixed. Moving the body after eight hours will not change the patterns of discoloration. Therefore, investigators know a body found lying face down with lividity on the back, has been moved.

Rookie officers have often confused lividity with bruising caused by fighting.

Remember, ambient air temperature is always a factor in determining the TOD (time of death). A hot climate can accelerate lividity, while a colder air temperature can slow it down considerably.

– Esposito, speaking about a murder suspect, stated that a preliminary test indicated that the blood found on his clothes was indeed his and not the blood of the murder victim. Well, there is no preliminary blood test (presumptive test) to determine the origin of blood. There are tests, however, to determine whether or not blood is human (Sirchie Fingerprint Laboratories offers such testing material).

– Lanie, and how she stated this while maintaining a poker face is beyond me, said the victim had no polio vaccine antibodies in his system. And, she went on to say that there were no other immunization vaccines present in his system. This, to say the least, was RIDICULOUS! There’s no way she’d have tested for any of those things. Why would she, unless maybe the victim presented with signs and symptoms of polio. This was the absolute wackiest thing Lanie has said over the years. Again, the writers used her to get this information before the viewers, and that’s lazy writing on their part.

The show wasn’t all negative. When Esposito heard gunshots and screaming coming from inside a locked apartment, he kicked in the door. Police officers may enter without a warrant if they truly believe someone’s life is in jeopardy (exigent circumstances). The same is true if they honestly believe that evidence in a crime would be lost or destroyed if they didn’t act immediately to seize it.

– It was a pleasant surprise to see C. Thomas Howell make an appearance last night as the cult leader. For those of you who don’t know, Howell plays the part of Dewey on Southland, the most realistic police show on TV (TNT).

– One final thing that bugged me…the roadie supposedly taught Swan (the murder victim) how to play guitar. In fact, Swan had stated that the roadie (sorry, I don’t remember his name) was a far better guitarist than he could ever be. So, when it was discovered that the bass player was the killer, the band replaced him with the roadie. It’s not likely that a dynamite lead guitar player would ever replace a bass guitar player. They’re two different instruments that are each played differently. Sure, it’s possible, just not likely. That would be sort of like Team USA replacing a shot putter with a swimmer. They’re both on the same Olympic team, so why not?

What do you guys think? Was it a bad episode that’s far beneath what this show is capable of producing? Or, did you love it in spite of the obvious flaws?

*ABC photo

 

I was floored last night…stunned, actually, when I heard Lanie say some things that made sense. And then she said more. I turned to my wife in disbelief. Could this actually be happening? Had the writers finally trash-canned the crystal ball and Ouija Board? Well, as fate would have it, I wouldn’t see much more of the show because my service was interrupted numerous times during the hour. So much so, that I really never knew what was going on.

Since this was a rarity (Lanie speaking in a language that’s normally foreign to her, as a medical examiner), I was desperate to see more. So I hit the pause button and called technical support, where I was on hold for over 30 minutes before connecting with a very polite young man in Montana who claimed he’d have my issue corrected in a flash. Forty-five minutes later, though, he’d somehow managed to fix it so that I was unable to see anything at all, totally deleted my history and recorded shows, and he’d wiped clean my favorite channels list.

Now, I’m a man with the patience of a…well, let’s be honest, I have no patience, especially when it comes to my TV. I was livid. Therefore, taking matters into my own hands, I finally managed to return the service back to its original state of disrepair, but it was too late. The show was over and all I had to watch were bits and pieces of what looked like a pretty decent episode. So, I’ll give you my take on what little I did see, after Melanie has her say. So here goes…

Melanie Atkins

Wow! This episode wasn’t nearly as light and fun as the others so far this season. No, it contained much more angst. I was totally intrigued by the storyline, however, even if parts were hard to watch. I thought it was tightly written and well done… at least until the end, when the search for Tyson, better known as 3XK, a villain we first met in season three, was tied up just a little too quickly — except, of course, for the one major loose end of his missing body. If this had been a two hour episode, I’m sure they could have drawn it out more, but they didn’t have but about forty minutes to work with so I think they did a fabulous job.

The show starts with a little light banter between Kate and Rick, but soon morphs into a terrifying mystery that baffles Kate. Someone is framing Rick for murder… or are they? Is he really guilty? All of the evidence points to him, and at one point even she seems to doubt him. I think she was more frightened than anything, and she had to wonder how well she really knows him. Thank goodness she stood by him. But wait… I’m getting ahead of myself.

Tyson did an incredible job of framing Rick. For a while, I didn’t see how he’d get out of it — and I don’t think Kate did either, even though she so wanted to believe it. Those emails Rick supposedly exchanged with the dead woman threw her for a moment, and I ached for her. The scene between her and Lanie, when Kate cried, broke my heart. Then it hit me: Kate told Lanie about her and Rick, and Ryan told Esposito. So the only ones in the dark about their relationship now are Gates — if she truly doesn’t know, and I’m not convinced she doesn’t — and Kate’s dad, unless she’s told him off camera, of course. I’m so glad that secret keeping theme is over. Yay!

Back to the case. I found Tyson’s visit with Rick in jail to be so chilling, the hairs stood up on my arms. Such a creepy, creepy villain. He left Rick and Kate in quite a quandary. I was heartened when Kate believed Rick when he told her about Tyson’s visit, and I loved the way she fought for him, even against that hardnosed ADA. Stana did a great job portraying Kate’s fear, and I think Nathan’s dismay and fear were palpable as well.

Rick’s clever escape was classic Castle. I loved it! The scene with Kate and Rick in the library was so sweet, and so them. Kate didn’t want to lose what they had together, and she let him know she was in his corner… always.

I don’t believe Tyson is dead. No, the writers let him slip away so they can bring him back later to terrorize our dynamic duo again in the future. Just so he doesn’t succeed in killing either one of them or someone they love, that’s okay with me. He’s a worthy adversary.

Rick and Kate have something special between them. The fact that Rick’s alleged guilt couldn’t break them apart attests to that. Now that the boys and Lanie all know the truth, I think the show will get even better. Can’t wait for next week’s episode at the sci-fi convention. That should be another fun one. Bring it on!

Lee Lofland

Thanks to the poor TV reception, I began watching this episode when the murder victim was attached to the ceiling. For starters, I ask you to think about this scene for a moment. Okay, let’s say the woman weighed 110 pounds, and she’s dead. We all know that dead people are of no help whatsoever when it comes to moving them from place to place. Simply put, they’re dead weight…like a sack full of heavy, firm, Jello.

Well, the weight of this dead woman—this sack of uncooperative Jello—was equal to the weight of twenty-two very limp 5 lb. bags of sugar. Can you now imagine holding 22 bags of sugar over your head, with one hand, while using a coil of barbed wire and nails or staples to firmly attach them to the ceiling? Oh yeah, all of this must be accomplished using only your free hand to unwind the coil of wire, cut the wire, hammer/staple etc. Believable? Certainly not.

– Enter Lanie – She states that lividity and pooling (lividity is the postmortem gravity-induced pooling of blood in the lowest portions of the body) indicated the body was hung from the ceiling after she’d been killed. Well, aside from the fact that using both terms, lividity and pooling, was a bit redundant, she was absolutely correct. Had the victim been wired to the ceiling before lividity became fixed (permanently staining the flesh a purplish blue-black color at the lowest points of the body), the full front of the body would have presented with lividity. Lividity was not present, so good call, Lanie.

However, the whole bit about Lanie discovering the killer had worn gloves was totally wacky. Lanie said she’d discovered talcum powder on the victim’s body, the same kind of talc found on surgical gloves, or the gloves worn by CSI’s. Remember, everyone, medical examiners are not laboratory scientists/chemists who spend hours peering into microscopes comparing compounds and chemical compositions of dust and powder. That’s a job for the folks in the lab, not the medical examiner. Besides, discovering minute traces of glove powder on a body is a huge stretch of the imagination. And then to be able to determine the brand of glove from there…yeah, right.

– Gates made a pretty nice statement last night when she said, “…we’ll follow the evidence, no matter where it leads.” That’s how it’s done in real life. You take the evidence you have before you, and you follow it to its source. If that source just happens to be your favorite brother-in-law, so be it.

– I don’t think I need to say this, but I will just in case…no police officer would allow a murder suspect to investigate his own case. No exceptions.

– Unfortunately, I missed most of the Tyson/Castle part of the show, including Tyson’s jail visit with Castle, and Castle’s jail escape. But I did get a chance to see Beckett lose her gun to the bad guy, as usual. You know, I think Gates needs to start holding a pre-shift meeting each morning where she can safety-pin Beckett’s gun to her chest. You know, like when mothers pin mittens to their kids’ jackets so they won’t lose them. Honestly, this gun-losing schtick had grown old two seasons ago. At least Beckett and Castle weren’t kidnapped in this episode.

So, what did you think about Mr. Supernatural/Tyson taking 10-15 rounds to the torso and still manage to get away? Sure, they’re going to say he wore a vest. Still…

I almost forgot…I’m quite pleased now that the romance secret is out. I worried they’d jab that in our eye each week, like they did with the “I love you, do you love me,” thing that went on forever. After all, Beckett’s consistent gun-losing nonsense alone is enough to make cops all over the world say…”AARRRGGHHHHH!!!.

*ABC photo

 

Let’s just say this episode was a little weird. Odd, even. But the Beckett/Castle relationship is going well, and that’s the main thing, right? So before I dig into the police procedure and equally bizarre forensics, let’s see what Melanie thought of this “eye” opening show. Melanie, are you there?

Melanie Atkins

This episode seemed kind of odd and convoluted, but most of it was about “stuff”. Alexis’ stuff, Kate’s stuff (hers had a whole different meaning to Rick, if you know what I mean), and the stuff inside the storage unit he bought. Even Gates got into the act by liking those creepy little dolls. And apparently, people with stuff have secrets. Rick and Kate have a secret, too. Their relationship. So far, no one else knows… or so they think.

When the show opens, Alexis is boxing up everything she owns in preparation for moving into her dorm room at Columbia University. Who takes all that stuff to college? No one I know, but then again, this is TV. While Martha and Rick are helping Alexis pack, Martha lets Rick know she knows about him and Kate, and she urges him to tell Alexis. How did Martha find out? She says, “A mother always knows”, but my guess is that she saw Kate in the closet that day when she came home unexpectedly. Rick does tell Alexis, and she is less than pleased. Or is she?

Rick truly believes his daughter doesn’t like Kate — that Alexis believes Kate might replace her  in her father’s heart– and he tells Kate. She offers to talk to Alexis, but he says no. Turns out that was a good idea, because later in the show we learn Alexis wasn’t upset about their relationship after all. No, she was more worried about leaving home, because her dad wouldn’t be there if she needed him. I can see that happening, I guess, but when I went to college I couldn’t wait to move into the dorm. Alexis’ father is Rick Castle, however. He’s not only been her dad, but also her playmate and her best friend. They’ve played laser tag, built forts, and practiced fencing together since she was little. So now, she’s having trouble dealing. She even got him to look under her bed to check for monsters one last time, and I thought that was sweet.

Back to the stuff. Rick finds a funny little stick man in Kate’s desk, and she doesn’t want to talk about it — even when he surmises that it’s the victim of a murder at a stickman convention. That made me laugh out loud! Later, though, Kate tells him how she got the stick man… a very sweet story involving her dad and a trip to Coney Island after her mother’s funeral. In my opinion, her sharing this story with him was another milestone in their relationship. Kate is opening up more and more.

Then they shake hands. A very sensual handshake in lieu of kissing in the precinct. A handshake that in my opinion should have drawn more attention than any kiss. Wow. Talk about sparks… That was nice, but I wanted another actual kiss like we got last week — not all of the almost kisses we got because they were always together at the precinct and never at home. They’re still together, though, and appear to be going strong. So I’m happy.

The promo for next week’s episode made me smile as well. Rick and Kate go to the Hamptons for a romantic weekend that, of course, is cut short thanks to a murder — but maybe we’ll at least get a few kisses.

Lee Lofland

Okay, before I start I want to remind everyone why I do the review of the police procedure and forensics. So please read this disclaimer before sending the scores of hate mail I normally receive after these reviews are posted. Of course, I do find many of them as entertaining as the show, such as this charmer from last week, “You’re an idiot and don’t know what you’re talking about. Instead of relying on guesses and information you’re surely reaching to outer space for, you really should buy a book on police procedure and READ IT before writing another one of your misinformed reviews.”

Really? Did you really and truly go there? Read a book on police procedure? Me? Why, I think that’s a great idea. In fact, I’ll just reach right over to my bookshelf and…hmm…let’s see…which book should I pick? Yes, here’s one on police procedure. Who’s the author? Oh yeah…ME!

Anyway, I like the show and I think the characters are fun, for the most part, especially the core four—Beckett, Castle, Ryan, and Espo. But I write the reviews on police procedure because a group of mystery writers (also fans of the show) asked me to point out the incorrect police procedure and forensics so they wouldn’t make the same mistakes in their work. So that’s how and why this review came to be. I know the show is fiction, and to the Lanie worshipers who write me regularly, yes, I know Lanie does not practice voodoo in real life (and you do realize Lanie is a fictional character, right?).

Okay, enough of that. On with this episode…

Lanie – “Victim died from a single gunshot wound to the chest.” Well, there’s no way to determine that until autopsy. Although, it would be a great guess given the bullet wound and amount of blood at the scene, but still impossible to determine for sure at that point. And, it’s darn near impossible to determine the caliber of the round at that point.

– Lanie holds up an evidence bag containing an intact round, casing and bullet. Now, I don’t mean to be picky, but normally (ALWAYS) a bullet separates from the brass when the round is fired. The bullet travels away from the weapon, leaving the brass behind. So, unless the killer manually inserted this bullet into the body of his/her victim…Well, you get the idea. Besides, where did Lanie get the bullet? Did she dig into the victim’s chest to retrieve it on scene? Silly. Just plain silly.

– Bloodstain patterns/spatter on the victim’s face and neck were not consistent with the gunshot wound. Well, unless she’d been standing on her head when the bullet struck the flesh, that is.

– Lanie is a one-stop-shop for all things forensic. I realize the writers use her as an information dump to dish out clues, but why don’t they do it in a way that’s believable? Make her a scientist or a lab rat, or any other character who’d have the skills and knowledge to determine and report findings such as fingerprints and DNA. M.E.’s are NOT fingerprint examiners. Nor do they conduct DNA testing. Sure, they’ll collect samples, but those samples are sent to labs for testing—labs with scientists who are trained to run the appropriate tests.

For Lanie to say she found a partial print on a shell casing is ridiculous. The casing would have been collected at the scene by CSI’s or detectives and then sent to a fingerprint expert at the lab. Then, the expert would submit results/findings back to the investigator. What would work just fine for this show, though, would be to have Lanie simply say something like, “Billy Bob in the lab says he found a print on the casing, and it’s not a match to anything they have on file.”

– Just for fun… Why did Castle need to break open the doll to retrieve the contents from inside? How’d the bad guy get those things in there in the first place? The doll wasn’t broken then, I wouldn’t think? Just a thought.

Okay, the glass eye thing was just plain stupid. Didn’t make sense. Didn’t fit the story. And, well, think about it… A man is driving along and rear-ends the car in front, killing the two occupants. He gets out to see what he’s done, when suddenly his glass eye pops out and rolls away. So he leaves the scene of the crime, with one eye open and the other closed. Then, years later, out of nowhere, someone breaks into the house where the hit-and-running, one-eyed-guy works as a butler. And what does the thief steal? Yep, the butler’s spare eye. So the butler a-s-s-u-m-e-s the theft is related to the accident and then kills everyone related to the past crime, hoping to retrieve the evidence (the lost eyeball) linking him to the deaths.

And, of course, super-voodoo Lanie has found DNA on the original glass eye (the one lost at the accident scene) and matched it to the butler’s DNA. Well, where did she get the butler’s DNA to use for comparison to the DNA she (which is ridiculous for a M.E. to do to start with) says she found on the lost, but now found, glass eye? And, what about…

Okay, that’s enough. I quit. No more. This one gave me a headache.

*By the way, there was a bonus in this episode for Writers’ Police Academy attendees, and that was a funny line delivered by Beckett when she and her team found one of their “red-herring” suspects in the back of a van, using a grinder to open a stolen safe.

Beckett – “Take your hand off your tool, Marco.”

WPA recruits will get it…right, guys?

Well, IT finally happened. And, from the looks of things in last night’s episode, we could be in store for a few good laughs due to the newly-added twist (hiding Castle and Beckett’s steamy-hot relationship).

The season opener also delivered closure (sort of) to the never-ending “who killed my mother” saga, another storyline that had been beaten to death by the writers.

This season, though, has the potential to be fresh and exciting, and I hope the writers take full advantage of the situation they’ve created. And, speaking of excitement… I sensed Melanie’s squeals of delight as each scene played out last night. Now, there’s no holding her back after five full days joy (four at the Writers’ Police Academy and Castle on Monday night). So let the season of our good cop/bad cop reviews begin. Melanie, the floor is all yours…

Melanie Atkins

This has been a l-o-o-o-n-g summer for me. A long, hot summer with no new Castle episodes after that delicious scene near the end of Always, last season’s bittersweet finale. I lost count of how many times I watched Kate and Rick kiss against that door. Not only did I almost wear out my Tivo, but I also read many wonderful post-Always fan-fiction stories. The Castle fandom has a plethora of excellent writers, and I think all of them wrote at least one.

Finally, however, the first day of season five arrived, and I was not disappointed in the new episode. Andrew Marlowe treated us to the morning after that riveting scene from last year… complete with proof that Beckett and Castle spending the night together was not a dream. They did indeed sleep together in Rick’s bed, and they made love. Not just once, but… how many times? And can you say “hair porn”? Kate’s hair looked darn good after she showed up so wet the night before at Rick’s door. I had to grin at that.

Kate is confidant, yet tentative about their new relationship, and Rick is cautious but ecstatic. Yes, they’re a couple now, but during that first scene they abruptly decide to keep their union under wraps — for a while, at least — a difficult task, even though it’s fun for viewers. I cracked up as Kate tried to sneak out of the loft without Alexis or Martha catching her. Too funny. Keeping the secret from Ryan and Esposito will be even more difficult, I fear. Difficult, but fun.

I enjoyed this fast moving episode — the morning after scene, the race to find the file, Ryan’s desperation, Esposito’s anger, and Kate’s kickass moment with the senator — but I also wanted Rick and Kate to kiss. I mean, seriously. We were treated to lots of heated looks and small, intimate moments between them, including a sweet hug when Rick offers to take Kate away somewhere to keep her safe and Rick waking up alone in her bed the morning she goes after the senator, but we didn’t see them share a single kiss. Bah, humbug.

At least kickass Kate came up with a solution of sorts to neutralize the threat against her — a jerk senator who wields power like a club to get what he wants. I call it “a deal with the devil”, but hopefully it’ll work… and will allow Kate and Rick to concentrate on each other instead of the case.

Kate also made a deal with Gates to allow Kate to return to the precinct after she finishes serving her suspension. We knew, of course, she’d eventually go back to the 12th.  I mean, after all, the show is about a writer shadowing a detective… and Kate has such drive and derives so much pleasure from giving victims closure, I can’t see her doing anything else. Although I’m sure Rick would be happy even if she sold magazine subscriptions, because they’re together now.

I’m reeling with happiness, too. Finally, after years and years of being disappointed, a show is giving me what I want. A true romance. The previews of next week include a kiss, too. Wahoo!

Is it Monday yet?

Lee Lofland

Sure, the lovey-dovey, mushy-gushy stuff was great. And it worked well, I thought, for the show. After all, those two have been in a “I love you, do you love me, check yes or no” junior high relationship for so long… Well, long enough that I’d begun to pray for Lanie to make an appearance on screen just to give me a different pain in my…um…side to worry about. And you all know how I feel about the Voodoo M.E.

Anyway, on with the show, as they say.

– Beckett resigned, therefore she was no longer a police officer. So…when she kicked in the door of a private apartment she had committed breaking and entering, a felony. Next, I’m assuming it was Beckett or Castle who called EMS to attend to the badly beaten Mr. Smith. But where were the cops? EMS would have immediately called them to the scene, fearing for their own safety—door kicked in with patient badly beaten and tied to a chair…

The good thing about the scene was that someone had taken the time to be sure the doorjamb broke in all the right places when Beckett kicked it.

– Beckett and Castle paw through Mr. Smith’s files. I guess they weren’t concerned about leaving fingerprints in the apartment of a badly beaten man. You know, since they were there when EMS arrived, which would probably be a red flag to the first responders…like maybe those two were the people who inflicted the wounds on their patient.

– Some things never change. Beckett got kidnapped again, losing her gun to the same guy she lost it to last season. At what point does she become a liability to the department? Losing your gun ten times in a few weeks? Getting kidnapped the same number of times? Placing a civilian in the same dangerous situations? Of course, it’s the civilian (Castle) who usually gets her out of the tight spots.

– One thing has already changed this season. Someone, Espo I think, used the term BOLO in lieu APB, as they’ve said for the past four seasons. BOLO is the acronym for Be On the Lookout, the term that is most often used by today’s law enforcement officers. APB = All Point Bulletin. I haven’t heard that one used in many, many years, well, except on Castle.

– So Mr. Smith, in pain and agony and on the verge of slipping into either death or coma, utters an address to Castle. And we all know what happened when the dynamic duo arrived there. Yep, Maddox, after taking Beckett’s gun, triggered a bomb hidden in the floor, a bomb I’m guessing that Mr. Smith had placed there. So why, then, did Mr. Smith send Castle and Beckett there? Did he want them to blown to bits like the file?

– The file. Blown into a thousands of pieces. Scattered everywhere, among tons of debris that included body parts. And what about the huge fireball that came with the explosion? Yet, in spite of all of the above, Beckett and crew were able to piece together just the parts of the file they needed to nail the Senator, the guy who killed Beckett’s mother. Puhleeze….

– How and where did Beckett get all the stuff one the whiteboard she so conveniently had at home. Remember? Montgomery’s photo, photos of the other players, etc.

– How did Beckett get by the police guard stationed at the hospital. Don’t you think the officers might have at least asked for her name and/or ID?

– Why were the bad guys (the Senator and his evil sidekicks) only after Beckett? After all, Castle and crew also knew everything Beckett knew.

Still, the show was okay. And I’m truly glad that Beckett and Castle finally got together for a little “quality time.” Maybe, just maybe, we’ll see the show get back to its roots, with the funny and quick banter. After all, that’s what this show does best.

We’ll see…

 

Zombies on the move in New York City can only mean one thing…fun, and lots of it. Yep, for the first time in a long time, Castle fans and viewers have been treated to two, yes, count ’em, two fun episodes in a row (you know things aren’t going well when an episode featuring zombies—the walking dead—is lighter than what’s normally served to the weekly viewing audience).

Last night, our crime-fighting duo (in this case, Zombie-fighting duo) were on the hunt for the “zombie” who killed David Lock, a rising Wall-Streeter. Of course, the writers delivered the usual number of red herring/suspects, and, of course, Beckett raked them over the coals for the standard 30 seconds before releasing them, as usual. Still, the case was lots of fun, and it was quirky, like the Castle cases from the days of old. Again, a fun and solid 40 minutes (+/-) of TV watching.

Before I get into the police and forensics aspects of this episode, let’s see what Melanie has to say. Hopefully, the zombies didn’t grab her during the night…

Melanie Atkins

Okay, I’m having trouble concentrating on writing this blog after seeing the previews of next week’s season finale. I mean… the title for it is Always. Rick and Kate’s catch word. Need I say more? Squee!

But I digress… back to this week’s episode. Zombies, the “undead”, and murder… oh, my! A classic Castle episode, with laughs, drama, and moments that made me smile. I enjoyed this one, especially for the touching moments between Rick and Kate and Rick and Alexis.

The episode opens with Alexis breaking Rick’s heart by telling him their laser tag days are over. He looked so sad. His little girl has grown up and will soon leave for college. Still smarting from her rejection, Rick talks to Martha but doesn’t get much sympathy. She pretty much reams him out for treating Kate the way he has lately — and I don’t blame her. (Go Martha!)

Still hurt and acting like a kid who’s had his candy stolen, Rick decides to work one last case with Beckett, then say goodbye for good. Please note that he stopped calling her “Kate” a while back. All of that familiarity ended when he overheard her tell the kid in interrogation during the bombing case that she remembers everything from her shooting — and then he failed to confront her or question her or say anything at all about it. Instead, he turned passive aggressive and did his best to hurt her back by bringing a flight attendant to a crime scene, teaming up with a rogue gang task force detective, and just generally being an ass. Way to go, Castle.

Rick and Kate have always said more through subtext than any other way, and their interaction tonight was no different. While discussing a suspect, they hit on Kate’s shooting… and what she does or doesn’t remember about that day. “When a life altering moment occurs, people remember,” Rick says. And Kate comes back with, “Well, maybe it’s too big to deal with. Maybe he can’t face it just yet.” “Do you think he ever will be?” Rick asks, and Kate looks at him. “Hopefully. If he feels safe.” Yes, folks, they’re talking about much more than zombies.

The end of the episode brings this full circle, when again they speak via subtext and Rick learns Kate has been seeing a therapist in an effort to get better after her shooting, to help her deal with everything she does remember — including his desperate I love you. She also tells him the wall around her heart is coming down. “Well, I’d like to be there when it does,” he says, hope finally returning to his eyes. “Without the zombie makeup.”

So… Rick hasn’t worked his last case after all. Did we really think he had? No, of course not. And we have the awesomeness that is Always to look forward to next week. And Alexis hasn’t given up laser tag. After all, it’s a Castle family tradition. She also plans to go to school at Columbia rather than Stanford or Oxford… and she even makes Rick promise not to drop in on her. Yeah, right. Like he’s going to be able to stay away. So… times they are a-changing in Castleland, and I for one am thrilled.

Lee Lofland

This week we were once again treated to a medical examiner we could believe…M.E. Perlmutter. This guy plays the part well, and he delivers his opinions and findings in such a way that makes even the “not-quite-right” seems plausible. His lines last night weren’t loaded with unnecessary and unrealistic babble like what we normally see on this show.

The writers assigned Perlmutter just enough dialog to get a point across, and that’s all that’s needed. For example, when Perlmutter said to Castle and Beckett, “I’ll have answers after I cut him open.” See how easy that was. No crystal ball. No Ouija board. And no pin-stuck dolls.

The Perlmutter actor plays a great part. I wish we’d see more of him and a whole lot less of “the other one.” The M.E. from the last episode played the part quite well, too. Somebody should take the hint…

Again, like the other fun episodes, the criminal case took a back seat last night. However, there are a couple of  things I’d like to point out for the writers out there who read this blog.

– Besides the fact that these people never get search warrants, kicking in a door is not as easy as these guys make it seem. I’ve witnessed officers, really big officers, who’ve planted their size 13’s on doors that absolutely refused to budge. Sometimes, in fact, it can even be difficult to breach a door with a steel battering ram. And, you know, I’ve never worn heels, but I sort of imagine the task of kicking in a heavy wooden door is even more difficult while wearing the shoes Beckett had on last night (image below).

– Finding and identifying a chemical on the bottom a victim’s shoe was pretty remarkable, especially in the short amount of time that we saw last night. But to narrow that chemical down to only three locations in NYC was borderline absurd. Oh, and the right warehouse was one that had been abandoned for a long, long time… Hey, who wrote that stuff…Lanie?

– Beckett worries that this case could be what every cop dreads…the perfect murder. Well, there is no such thing as a perfect murder. In fact, do you remember the old tag line from this blog… “There are no perfect murders, merely imperfect investigations.” The clues and evidence are always there. It’s up to the investigators to find them. However, that’s not always an easy task. And that difficulty (lack of manpower, lack of training, lack of funding, lack of equipment, poorly-equipped or non-existent labs, etc.) makes some cases seem unsolvable. But that’s never the case.

I suppose I should address Scopolamine since its use on the killer was the reason Beckett gave for setting the murderer free without charges (I really don’t see that happening in real life, but stranger things have happened…OJ, Casey Anthony, and PeeWee Herman is back on TV).

Anyway, Scopolamine is a real drug that’s used to treat motion sickness, among other things. The drug is derived from the nightshade family of plants (jimson weed and Angel’s Trumpets (Datura or Brugmansia), and corkwood (Duboisia). If you live in the south you’ve probably seen jimson weed growing wild on the side of the road. And I recall seeing Angel’s Trumpet everywhere in California.

I’ve seen prison inmates who ingested jimson weed seeds to get high, and the results were never pretty. For example, one young man in a youthful offender center was found sitting on a toilet making motorcycle sounds (with his mouth, not as a result of the horrible prison food). He was hallucinating…vividly, thinking he was riding a Harley out on the open road. Then, well, who knows what he encountered during the hallucination because he went absolutely berserk, thrashing about, screaming, crying, and attempting to get away from an invisible demon while violently slamming his own very-real head into the concrete walls.

Scopolamine is made from that same family of hallucination-inducing plants. And people have been known to use the powder form as a date-rape type drug. It’s also been used to render unsuspecting victims to the point of being “out of it” for the purpose of robbing them.

The drug in raw form is a highly toxic poison and its use often results in death.

There are many rumors associated with Scopolamine, including the horror story of the people passing out Scopolamine (burundanga)-laced business cards. The tale, which, by the way, is currently making its way around the internet, describes the victims being rendered unconscious after touching the cards, at which time the crooks steal, rape, and rob to their heart’s content. This story is FALSE. I repeat, it is FALSE.

But that’s enough about the police stuff. The show was Castle 101 and the only thing missing was Michael Connelly and gang at the poker table.

Here are some of the great lines from last night.

– Perlmutter after seeing Castle cringe regarding autopsy details – “We’re all meat, Castle. Get over it.”

– Ryan and Espo discussing zombies:

Ryan – “He does look like a zombie.”

Espo – “A real zombie? I’m embarrassed for you, bro.”

And the best line of the show…

– Castle while dialing 911 after the “dead” zombie bolted from the morgue – “Is there a police code for ‘zombie on the loose?'”

Well, there’s only one episode left this season, and after seeing the previews I fear we’re in store for another dark and heavy, “save-the-world-from-total-destruction type show. I hope not, because that sort of thing is simply not what makes this show work. We’ll see.

Hmm… I wonder if there’s a police code for total world destruction…

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