Castle: Headhunters (S4.21)

April 17, 2012

Absolutely my favorite episode of the show so far. So well done on so many levels. Moved plot forward, moved characterization forward, a great new possibly recurring character and a decent and tragic mystery although the ending was a little too pat. Let’s look at all the great points:

·         Ethan Slaughter was a blast. Played perfectly by Adam, he was both a parody and an homage to all the stereotypical tough guy cops seen on TV and the movies and still managed to add something new. yet he had a great brain underneath. The practical jokes he pulled on Castle were great. When he coerces the confession out of the kid for all the wrong reasons, it added a very dark side to him like Vic from The Shield (another homage) and I was wondering if they would pull the trigger and make him a nemesis but I was actually glad he turned out to be a good cop in the end who does listen to reason and was in on the final interrogation. I really, really want to see him back on Castle.
·         Character wise, I love how he allows Castle to do everything Beckett won’t let him but then you slowly realize he’s actually just throwing Castle to the wolves and this is likely why his other three partners died.
·         The brown leather coat Castle offers Slaughter to allow him to ride along. They were both “Browncoats.” Not sure if that was intentional or not or how much of it flew over the heads of the audience. It was a lot more subtle that the episode where he tries on the Mal Reynolds Firefly costume for Halloween but just as funny if you picked it up.
·         Nathan’s physical comedy was great when he tried to stop the fleeing suspect in the bar while Slaughter looks on and snacks on popcorn. We know he can do fight choreography decently from watching Firefly and Serenity so it was fun to see him act out as the physical bumbler while still taking the suspect down
·         I love how Slaughter says all the obvious things that any other normal person would ask of Castle like “You’re tapping that, right?” when referring to Beckett. That would be what most people would normally think  as only on a TV show would people like these not end up together already
·         The bit where Slaughter asks Castle to testify on his behalf in front of the board in the car while using excessive force was both frightening and hilarious at the same time
·         And of course, love how Beckett conveniently had Castle’s back (and by proxy, Slaughter’s as well) for the investigation and comes in at the end but doesn’t steal the spotlight from Slaughter and Castle at the final interrogation

It’s very interesting that they’re doing all these “team-up” episodes with new characters who could actually be leads in other shows if done right. Basically, I loved the fact that they didn’t royally screw this up by making Slaughter a true baddie as they did with Sophia Turner. I still ache over the loss of her character, but both Slaughter and The Limey were handled very well. Both of these guys should come back.