Castle: A Dance With Death (S4.18), 47 Seconds (S4.19)

March 27, 2012

Nice of ABC to put on two new Castles in April outside of Sweeps. They were both very good episodes too as a whole, even if their individual parts were a little weak.

I liked last week’s mystery of the stripper who stole the dead woman’s identity not for any criminal intent, but simply to start her life over and live out her dream as a dancer. The fact that the real woman turned out to be both a crook and a murderer was a little too close to the new TV series Ringer but I could let that one go. I also appreciated the fact that the money/manager murderer killed her not so much to cover up his crime, but the fact that he was incensed that this woman was “insulting” the memory of his loved one. That was actually totally plausible and very true to how twisted a man’s thinking is sometimes.

The bits with Esposito and Ryan were also great, especially the part where after thinking his wedding ring is a woman repellant, Ryan puts a ring on Esposito and finds out it’s a chick MAGNET. It’s actually him that’s the problem! :D That was great and of course it was sweet that the real reasoning was that Ryan gives off the happily engaged to be married vibe which is why women stay away from him.

Last night’s episode with the riff on the Occupy movement was also really well done. The mystery was cool and they way they went about recreating everything in order to solve it was extremely well done and I liked how they tied it thematically to the characters, like a crime version of a Grey’s Anatomy (I really used to love that show…) episode.

There were a ton of great personal moments. The scene with Martha telling Castle to man up with Beckett but be prepared to move on if she’s a no-go was great. Alexis’ “breakup or Dancing With the Stars elimination” pancakes. Castle talking to Beckett about missed opportunities right before they’re interrupted. Castle listening on the other side of the glass without Beckett realizing it and the followup he has with Martha afterwards believing that Beckett must not have the same feelings for him.

I must admit, this was a pretty clever and completely plausible way of extending the “will they or won’t they” thread by setting up Castle’s willingness to “move on”. Preview for next episode looks to play up on this by giving Castle a new rival for Beckett’s affections.