I told you this week’s Castle would be a fun one! There were so many moments of laugh out loud scenes. It was Castle doing some of it’s campy best! With Monday being such a heavy day, I for one, was glad to have an hour of something that made me smile. Also, as we are now only four episodes away from the Castle season five finale, what goes on in each episode is extra important! Let’s take a look at the case shenanigans and the characters’ story.
First, a brief recap. We start seeing a woman dumped out of a car in front of a hospital. She looks pretty bad – like she was attacked by an animal. She doesn’t survive. Meanwhile, Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) is trying to solve the mystery of who’s been stealing food from the house. His mother Martha (Susan Sullivan) and daughter Alexis (Molly Quinn) deny it, leaving Castle determined to figure out the missing food mystery. When he gets to the crime scene, Detective/partner/girlfriend Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) doesn’t get why he’s upset, but she’s willing to listen.
The dumped woman’s name is Ann Cardinal, no family and native American. She’s also was a doctoral candidate in something called evolutionary biology – which by the way is a real discipline, but is not made up of scientists trying to find Bigfoot and has more to do with genetic mutations and the process of discovering how a living organism came to its present state of being. It would be a useful skill if one ever found a Bigfoot so if you’re into that sort of thing, it’s a good degree to have. Because of the PhD she’d been pursuing Ann had been working at a home for trained primates retired from show-business.(I love Castle!)
Beckett and Castle head there to interview the head of the facility Dr. Paul Devlin (Albie Selznick). Well, Beckett interviews, Castle wanders off to go look at the monkeys and gets threatened by a giant gorilla named Moonshine, who seemingly seems to be telling Castle that he’s going to break Castle’s neck! It’s a classic Castle/Nathan Fillion moment, and quite amusing. Rather than go through all the twists and turns of the case, let’s start with the outcome. Once again, the killer was the first person they talked to, Dr. Devlin.
Along the way of figuring this out, they haul in recently released criminal Eddie Maslon (James Madio) with a pit-bull named “badass.” Eddie’s the one who found Ann in an alley and took her to the hospital. Did anyone else flash back to Beckett’s mom’s murder? I can’t help but wonder if a little of the normal Beckett put on interrogation anger was a bit real this time. I wouldn’t believe in good Samaritans either if my mother had been found dead in an alleyway. Turns out the owner of Badass was telling the truth. There’s blood at the crime scene, along with giant footprints that leads Castle to conclude that Ann was killed by Bigfoot. Nathan Fillion almost gets the line of the night with, “Yes, let’s go to a crime scene and ignore the evidence” – which in this case are the giant footprints.
Back at the 12th precinct, detective Kevin Ryan (Seamus Dever) informs everyone on the case that the victim’s last call was to a Darrel Meek (Raphael Sbarge), whom Ryan and Castle know immediately is a ‘famous’ cryptozoologist and the world’s foremost authority on Bigfoot. Just for the record, cryptozoology, although the term and the meaning are real, is not considered a real science and you can’t get a degree in it. So if Darrel Meeks is a PhD, it has to be in something else like zoology or Ann’s evolutionary biology. With medical examiner Dr. Perlmutter (Arye Gross) calling with more news about the victim, Beckett sends Ryan and Detective Javier Esposito (Jon Huertas) off to check in with him, while she and Castle head to talk to Meeks.
You know, for all the time I’ve watched this show I never got the joke in the name “Perlmutter.” Pearl Mutter, as in mutters pearls of wisdom. The man does come out with accurate zingers every time we see him, Not the least of which is that of the now forever dubbed ‘B team’ of Ryan and Esposito. Perlmutter discovered the victim had some glass from a camera embedded in her head and had swallowed a unique pendant. Esposito figures she didn’t want whoever killed her to have it.
Darrel Meeks turns out to be a bit weird and creepy. (Then again, he hunts Bigfoot – not a surprise.) Once again, while Beckett is interviewing him, Castle is off wandering around touching stuff. Beckett has one eye on Castle and one on Meeks while trying to hide her annoyance, and at times, trying not to just burst out laughing. (Love watching Stana Katic in scenes like this, it’s a real opportunity for her to show off how many looks she can have cross her face in 30 seconds.) When his wife comes in, she seems pretty fed up with her husband’s Bigfoot stuff. Castle glances at Beckett and voices sympathy to Darrel about being married to a non-believer. Still, they’re married – so I’d say there’s hope for long-term Caskett.
The visit with Meeks ends up giving Beckett two other possible subjects. The first is Bigfoot hunter Chase Digger (Matthew Holmes) he swears a Bigfoot tore off his hand and now has a prosthetic hook in its place. He’s seeking revenge, by planning on hunting down and killing Bigfoot. (Poor Beckett looks like she’s getting a headache from dealing with all of the insanity. Aside from the fact that there is no Bigfoot, even Peter Pan’s Captain Hook had enough sense to run AWAY from the crocodile. ) All he’s guilty of is freaking out the “B-team” a bit. His only connection to Ann was trying to persuade her to tell him where Bigfoot was, and following her two nights prior – where he caught Ann faking Bigfoot prints! Chase figured she was trying to throw people off the ‘real’ Bigfoot’s trail. So much for Castle’s giant foot prints clue!
In terms of Meeks, as strange as he appears, the only thing he ends up being guilty of is running around said reserve in a huge Bigfoot costume hoping to entice Bigfoot to come out and play – and digging a Bigfoot trap out in 10 mile nature preserve, which our A-team duo of Castle and Beckett end up falling into. Why are Beckett and Castle out on the nature reserve? It’s because they’ve been able to determine that a two-mile area of it is the crime scene.
By the time Beckett and Castle got out there it had already been a long day for Beckett, and she’d been good. The closest she’d come to losing it with Castle was telling him to stop banging on trees with sticks and making ‘Wookie’ sounds – because she was afraid she’d end up killing him and having to deal with two crime scenes. Beckett’s never said she was afraid she’d have to kill Castle before. Her threats have always straight-forward. Either he cut out what was annoying or she’d shoot him. Ah, how times have changed! However, after they’ve fallen into the trap and Castle begins to hypothesize that the trap was built by Bigfoot, Beckett gets to my line of the night, “You think Bigfoot came out here with a shovel?!” Realizing Beckett did still have her gun, Castle quickly revises his thoughts on that one.
Meanwhile Ryan and Esposito had been tracking down Meek’s second lead – Ann’s former roommate’s ex-boyfriend. The roommate, Justine Bolton, had been killed a year ago and her boyfriend, Kurt Wilson (Aaron Hill), had disappeared after she’d been murdered. They find Kurt and bring him in for questioning. At the time of Justine’s murder everyone had assumed Kurt was guilty – and a violent boyfriend she was trying to get away from. Of course he wasn’t. He and Justine had been in love. He’s been hiding out on the nature reserve for the last year. He’d approached Ann and convinced her that he was innocent, and she’d started looking into the case. What was his evidence of innocence to the team? Both he and Justine had planned on transferring to a new school together. The week prior to her death to go look at a possibility together.
Why was A student Justine, and the star football player, transferring schools? Justine was terrified by someone on campus. That someone turned out to be our guy at the beginning from the monkey zoo. Turns out he had a history of being accused of stalking (and worse) women that took his classes. When Justine planned on telling the dean that he’d been stalking her, he killed her. He killed Ann because she’d found proof that Professor had done it. Justine’s pendant, which had been missing when her body was found, had been in his possession.
As for the missing food case – it turned out to be Alexis. She lied to her dad because she’d given away all of her allowance to help fund a friend’s environmental initiative to “plant Bamboo on the tops of Skyscrapers” to help clean the New York City air. She didn’t tell her father because she was afraid he’d judge her. Apparently, she’s grown up he whole life being told to be careful to not let people take advantage of her because of her money. (Good Dad!) I thought this move was very appropriate for Alexis after her abduction ordeal. Taking more risks and doing what she believes in is one of the healthier ways survivors deal with what’s occurred in their lives. Funny how such a seemingly little thing can hold so much meaning.
Okay, now for a look at the non-procedural part of the episode. What the heck was this all about? To really get it, you need to remember that Castle is in the countdown to its season finale, which means this is the season’s third act arc. Last year’s finale arc sent us to “Always,” and was really a step by step breaking and healing of the secret stalemate that was going on for most of the season. The third act starts after the two-parter. Because this year Castle has 24 episodes the season split neatly into thirds, so it’s an eight episode arc that begins with “Scared to Death”. It’s the first episode where Marlowe starts showing more of Castle and Beckett’s physicality – which some fans had been clamoring for. However, more than it being what the fans have asked for, I think the timing has to do with the story arc of the season. I’ll come back to this, because I want to take a moment for Ryan and Esposito.
In Scared to Death, we got to see a lot of Ryan and Esposito as Castle and Beckett’s ‘kids’ or mirrors. It’s a series theme that seems to get stronger each season, but is really being hammered in throughout this arc. “The Fast and the Furriest” is the heaviest I’ve seen them make the point. They take it to the point that Beckett and Esposito are speaking in sync, as are Castle and Ryan. Because Marlowe does nothing by accident, I found myself wondering why this emphasis. The only thing that’s occurred to me is last season, Ryan emotionally filled in for Castle and ended up saving Beckett’s life, which gave Beckett the chance to go after Castle. So maybe we should be on the lookout for Castle to lose it a bit and Esposito will be the one to ‘save’ Castle – and fix whatever glitch comes up. Because we know there will be a glitch, but it will be only that, a glitch.
In terms of “The Fast and the Furriest” the episode is at the arc’s halfway point. It’s a good place to stop and take a look at where Marlowe seems to be heading. One thing I’ve noticed in this arc is a focus on the child-like, gullible part of Castle, the guy who believes in ghosts, Bigfoot, and that a murder of dramatic portion could be occurring outside of his rear window. We know, and have seen a lot of, the serious side of Castle this season, and we know the ways he’s changed. This arc seems to making sure that we know he’s still Castle, and while he still can exasperate Beckett and make her roll her eyes, she totally gets, loves, and adores him. It happens all through this episode, even more so than the episode about ghosts. It’s really a great episode for both Fillion and Katic to do things they do best: Fillion gets to play the clown, and Katic gets to react.
Watching Stana Katic play Beckett in love with Castle is a real joy. No, it’s not about making out all over the place, it’s in her indulgence. It’s her not commenting when he suggests a “super rat” is eating his food, and then patiently listening to him explain how Bigfoot could be getting around the city. There are eye-rolls, tongue-in-cheek trying not to smile, moments of amusement , annoyance, indifference…the list is endless. The biggest thing, the thing that’s always there now, is her acceptance of him. Beckett accepts Castle as he is, and in between all those other looks is the one with her shiny eyes and soft smile, the one that says, “I love this man.”
Along with showing how comfortable Beckett is with Castle, the other theme that’s been going on is revealing more of the “inner Castle. Castle has been opening up and revealing his inner thoughts and fears to Beckett when she asks, as opposed to just brushing them off. The revelations always tie into showing more and more of Castle and Beckett’s sexual & domestic bliss. Note that every episode has featured at least a kiss, and the two of alone in private space away from the precinct. Plus, as many fans have commented, those scenes have more light. Is this because of all the tweets sent to the writers with requests for more kisses in the light? I’m sure they didn’t hurt, but in terms of the season’s arc, it makes sense that once the issues in the relationship have been ‘brought to the light’ and resolved that they’re be more light in the scenes and more openness of their physical expressions of affection.
Just in case anyone had missed the point that these two have moved past dating and become really solid as a couple, in this episode Marlowe makes sure it’s clear that these two are spending a few nights a week together. The two arrive at the crime scene separately where Castle ends up accusing Beckett of taking his food – because he knows she hates grocery shopping. She shoots back that she hasn’t been to his place since Tuesday. Two sentences and we know Castle knows Beckett’s shopping habits and that she’s at his place on a regular enough basis to warrant the idea that she could be the one eating his food! Note the little pause Beckett takes before giving him the last time she was at his place. Basically, she’s counting back to last time she slept with Castle!
Which brings us to that issue of their physical relationship. I noted that with Beckett’s little realization of not having been at Tuesday, she goes home with him that night. Judging by what she was doing before Alexis interrupted, I don’t think she was planning on just sleeping. Yet, it’s far more mellow than talk of ice-cubes, or the season’s early Hampton’s episode seduction. That night we get to see Beckett get into bed with her hair in a messy ponytail and wearing a giant pink football jersey style sleep-shirt, while Castle’s already in bed, reading a book on Bigfoot. Talk about domestic! After dealing with his Bigfoot theories all day, Beckett poses the question, “is there anything you don’t believe in?” What’s amusing about this is Beckett knows what he’s going to say, you can see it on her face. She’s planning on teasing him a bit, and hopefully get him to put that book down! Only Castle turns around and asks her if there’s anything she does believe in. Beckett doesn’t even hesitate in answering him, and her answer gets him to open up more about why he believes. It’s a great scene to watch – even though it does get interrupted.
I’m pretty sure Beckett had something else in mind when she started talking about Coltrane, but when Castle started talking about why he believes, she’s entranced. It’s that shiny-eyes, soft smile thing. Yes, they are completely different, but she believes in them, their magic. Then she takes the direct approach towards what she wants and takes the book out of his hands! I think this is what the original meaning of “domestic bliss” was!
So, at halfway through the race to the finale, it seems that Marlowe wants the audience to be clear that all the issues that these two have had are resolved and they’ve really settled into a serious relationship – especially on Beckett’s side. Any doubts she may have had, any thoughts about what Meredith said mid-season about Castle not opening up, it’s all been put to rest. Beckett is clearly all in, and – per Castle’s earlier admittance in “The Wild Rover” – this is likely the first time he hasn’t had to try to be someone he’s not.
There’s just one thing that could be considered a missing piece by some, and I suspect all these last four episodes have built the sundae, which is now just waiting for the cherry on top. Personally, I think they should get Beckett (Stana) to sing Billy Joel’s “I Love You Just the Way You Are” to Castle, just because it’s so appropriate – and Stana’s smokey voice would sound awesome! Yeah, I know, probably not going to happen. However, if someone wants to make a fan video with that theme, please do, and I’ll post my favorites right here next Tuesday!
That’s all I’ve got on the episode Castle fans. However, as a side note, I’ve included a short video of a John Coltrane song, in case you’re not familiar with his music. Coltrane’s jazz saxophone is sexy and classic. It’s that 1940 sultry vibe, (that whole era is a Castle theme for the entire series as far as I’m concerned.) If you are familiar with Coltrane, you might want to want to just take a minute to just groove a bit. Otherwise, see you next week!
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