Castle: "Knockdown"

A review of this week's supposedly pivotal episode of Castle, coming up after the jump....

When it comes to procedurals, nothing is more dangerous that attempting to tell a multiple-episode story, especially by dipping in and out of it over a random scattering of episodes. Though this can lead to some great episodes (or maybe just one), a show also risks aliening viewers or losing their interest if the story line is rolled out over too long of a span of time. Sometimes, when a show or network is aware of this trapping, the storyline will get pushed through, and the rushed quality results in a sub-par episode

Tonight's Castle dealt with pushing forward the mystery of Beckett's mom's murder, a plot line the show hasn't spent but 3-4 episodes dealing with. I don't know if the desire to move forward on this came from the writers or the studio execs, but tonight's episode was an example of the frustrating side of this formula, as the episode burned through what seemed to be many plot points, and yet we ended up at about the place we were before this episode: we still have no idea who order the murder, we just know the man who may have pulled the trigger.

Procedurals being what they are, I am not going to spend this review recapping plot points or criticizing elements that didn't work within the episode. Instead, I am just going to talk about the general tone and outcomes of the this episode, and what they mean for the series as a whole.

Let's go ahead and talk about that kiss; it was the most heavily hyped part of this episode, and it was also the most disappointing. The episode spent a good portion of its running time to Castle realizing the depth of his feelings for Beckett (honestly, haven't we already gone over this?), and so it seemed that the kiss would in fact be legitimate. And yet we were treated to one of the cheapest cop-outs in the book: the kiss undertaken as part of a ruse. I guess I shouldn't be mad at the episode itself, as this kiss obviously meant something to Castle (and most likely Beckett), but I definitely reserve the right to hate ABC and their promo department for getting my hopes up. This is why I try to avoid promos as much as possible.

But let's talk about what I did like. Normally, Castle falls on the lighter side of police procedurals, not only in Castle's nature, but in the cases themselves. This is what I like about the show, and it's what keeps me coming back (especially Fillion's performance). But this episode's subject matter was dark, and the show handled changing it's tone to fit the case quite well. The dark tone adopted here helped the show to sell the seriousness of what we were watching, and it also helped to create an air of tension that helped to raise the general excitement level of this episode.

I also liked that Espisito and Ryan were given a larger role here in this episode. When a show has supporting cast, it faced with the challenge of how to give these actors meatier parts, without distracting from the major action. While I respect the difficulty this presents for showrunners, I have little patience for plot lines that are shoehorned in just to suit the needs of actors. So I was pleasantly surprised that these two characters (who I genuinely like) be given a larger part, yet it all still remains within the main body of episode. (Compare this with the ridiculous Espisito/Laney relationship plot they gave us an episode or two ago.)

In the end, this episode was not the game changer the ads promised it to be. We are no closer to catching Beckett's mom's killer, and next week we go back to wackier hijinks. Which leaves me asking: what exactly was the point of this episode?

What did everybody else think?


Additional Thoughts: 

Pull-ups on the sprinkler system? That just seems like a good way to risk one's security deposit.

“I may not have a badge, unless you count the chocolate badge Alexis gave me for my birthday...But like it or not, I'm your plucky sidekick.”

“Listen, assclown, I was in Catholic school for twelve years,..”

“Listen, you're too late, the cops already know about me and your mom.”