Last night was a new Castle and it finally FINALLY gave us some movement on the relationship front. It's what I've been waiting for all season.
But let's start from the beginning.
We have a reporter covering a sort of Occupy Wall Street protest when suddenly a bomb goes off behind her. People are killed, dozens injured, it's horrible. (And oddly, they kept showing the bodies. Castle isn't really known for doing that.) The FBI takes over the investigation and our fearless detectives are doing the fringe/support work. They interview a bunch of people and you just know the bomber is one of the "Waldos among Waldos" as Castle puts it.
But as they peel back the layers of the case, both Castle and Beckett are also thinking about how most of the victims were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Castle especially seems to be thinking about how "tomorrow isn't guaranteed." He talks to his mom (I love Martha/Castle scenes. They play them so well) and she tells him that maybe it's time to tell Beckett how he feels. Castle takes her words to heart and goes to tell Beckett, but of course they are interrupted. The case rolls on and we're still trying to figure out who the bomber is---
And then the other shoe drops.
Beckett is interrogating a suspect and unbeknownst to her, Castle is watching on the other side of the glass. She tells that suspect he can't claim a trauma amnesia from the bombing because when she was shot she remembered every moment.
Uh oh.
She'd told Castle she didn't remember anything, including his declaration of I love you. The look on his face is so real. Hurt, anger, disbelief. Nathan Fillion is amazing at facial expressions, I'll tell you that.
Castle goes with his mom to a bomb memorial and I think this is a powerful scene because Castle is mad and hurt and he's trying to figure out how to deal with this. The one line, "I was willing to wait," hurt my heart because he was. He was willing to wait for Beckett to get her act together, but apparently Beckett has known all this time and didn't feel the same way. His mother tells him to move on, that he can't work next to her knowing she doesn't love him back (frankly I don't know how his mother restrains herself from going down to that precinct and ripping Beckett's hair out. Mother bear Martha would have been awesome to watch!) but he thinks he can do it. So he goes back to the station.
The only thing I was hoping for was that Castle would call Kate out on this and give her a chance to explain. Of course he doesn't, he goes the passive-aggressive route throwing out little jabs "silence is cowardly" stuff. Beckett just looks confused. And then Castle's kicked puppy look in the elevator, *sigh* hasn't this poor man put himself and his heart on the line for Beckett just one too many times? I'm sort of starting to hate how she strings him along.
So, while it wasn't exactly great movement in the relationship, at least is was something more than the brother/sister vibe we've gotten since the bank robbery episode. Although since there's only five or six new episodes before the season finale I have a sneaking suspicion the writers aren't going to handle this well and leave their fans more frustrated with this season than they already are. (But I'd be happy to see them prove me wrong.)
(Oh, and the bomber ended up being someone who wasn't even on my radar, so kudos to the writers on that aspect of last night.)
The previews for next week look awesome with Castle going back to his playboy ways and Beckett finally realizing that hey, maybe she shouldn't have strung him along for almost an entire year (sort of like how the fans are feeling? Is that bad to say?) I guess we'll see how it goes since previews are notoriously misleading.
But we've taken a step forward (or a step backward depending on how you look at it). Castle is hurt (again) and Beckett is unaware that she's hurt him (again). It seems like we've been here before. So, please, writers, don't screw this up. You're killing the tension between Beckett and Castle, you're killing the fans with the made up ways to keep them apart, and yet, even with all that said, Nathan Fillion is KILLING ME with his spot-on acting, facial expressions, and the way he just IS Castle. I totally buy him and all the Castle angst he has. Love him. (And we even hail from the same hometown in Canada. So, that's special, right?)
Who's your favorite TV couple? Do you like the angst TV shows seem to always heap upon their popular couples?
9 comments:
Oh, my goodness, I so gotta see this. I had a migraine last night and couldn't hardly keep my eyes open, so no t.v. at all. I'll pull it up on my computer this afternoon. Thanks for the blow-by-blow. I love Nathan.
Years ago there was this series call Remington Steele. Their relationship was kind of like Beckett's and Castle's. Of course I fell for Steele (the most handsome Bond, James Bond) that long ago. And then there was Moonlighting with Cybil Sheppard and Bruce Willis. Loved their interaction.
Last nights episode left me feeling so frustrated. I don't understand what Kate's problem is. He's kind, he's handsome, he's rich, he's responsible, he's fun, he's smart, he has good healthy relationships with his daughter and his mother and you know he would do anything for Kate. Castle can show up on my door anytime and sweep me away. I wish he would confront Kate. I wish Martha would confront Kate. I wish Alexis would talk to Kate. I wish someone would do something.
Is it possible that Kate is thinking that she imagined it, or maybe that he said it under the heat of the moment and didn't really mean it? Is she waiting for him to say it when things aren't crazy? Maybe she is. It seems she was inviting him to tell her, that she knew, but she needed to hear him say it again.
He's so open and loving to the other two women in his life, and he's the kind of guy that isn't afraid to go after what he wants, but maybe this is the one thing that he finds too hard. To expose his heart when it could get stomped on.
Debra, do yourself a favor and don't go back and watch a Remington Steele now. We made that mistake a few years ago. It's nearly unwatchable now.
The story on last night's Castle was pretty good, plenty of red herrings. The one off thing to me was the whole business of having the FBI take over, but then it didn't really affect anything. But, uh, the software display showing all the cell phones and tracking the dots moving... um, there's no way that's possible. (Also, amusing to me that all of these "poor" people all have GPS enabled cell phones.)
I was pretty sure the bomber was the drummer. =)
Regarding Castle and Beckett, it feels like a TV plot device. I mean, I would have been more satisfied if Castle had busted into the interrogation room and confronted her loudly about it. But noooooo. They have to play it out like this. It's dramatic! It keeps the tension up! It stinks!
Oh well. Hope the meltdown is entertaining to watch, at least.
@ Jon...did you just give away the bomber's identity?
No, I won't go back and watch RS. I'm sure it's hokey anymore. My tastes in shows have sophisticated since I was . . . what? 20 years old? :) But I still like the concept. Even in today's society women aren't taken as seriously as men when it comes to doing certain things and having a man for a front guy still might work. I'm playing around with that idea for a book.
I, too, loved Remington Steele. Pierce Brosnan in his prime was serious eye candy.
And Jon, I thought it was the drummer, too. When we were traveling in Europe, a guy got on our train with an accordian. Someone asked him to play something. My husband is always on the lookout for terrorists, part of what he does professionally. He said, "If that guy doesn't make some music soon, we're getting off at the next stop." He played his accordion and all was well, but I've always thought that would make an interesting plot, to have the street musicians as terrorists. Of course, nobody needs to give anybody anymore ideas.
And yeah, it is totally a television device. Didn't you see it coming when he almost told her how he felt and they were interrupted? What about her two sidekicks? One of them ought to say something to her. I also think his daughter and mother should get mixed up in it. They could mine some humor out of that. His mother could write and star in a play about star-crossed lovers with thinly veiled characters we would all recognize. But they need to stop just falling back on the old TV standbys of "I don't dare tell him or her" and "I don't want to be the first to spill it" and "I've been hurt and I don't dare to love." Give us something we haven't seen before. Surprise us. Impress us with a twist. Don't keep up this junior high stuff.
Oh that would be funny if Martha did a play about them, especially since she's already done one about
Castle and Beckett found it funny.
I don't know why things have to fall apart once the main characters get together. It could still be fun, only now it's with a romantically involved couple.
But yeah, you could see the interuption coming a mile away.
Now i wish I hadn't stopped watching this after the first season!
Debra, I'm so sorry about your migraine! And that you missed Castle. It was a good one. You know I used to watch Remington Steele and Moonlighting, too. We must have good taste. :) Did you watch Scarecrow and Mrs. King, too?
Anna, that's what I really don't get because it doesn't seem to go with Kate's character that she would be so passive with Castle and so proactive in every other area of her life. I think that's part of the reason why it's so frustrating.
Jon, I thought it was the drummer, too, and that the drum was the bomb! haha. I didn't think about the phone thing, but you're right, why would all the poor people have GPS enabled phones? Good catch.
Susan, I agree. Do something different! That's what I first loved about this show is that it seemed so original. *sigh* Give us the Castle we fell in love with!
Sarah, you stopped watching? *gasp* Quick, do some penance and catch up on the seasons! :)
I had thought about watching this show when it first came out. I'm a big Nathan Fillion fan. I started watching Firefly just because he was in it and I loved him in Two Guys and a Girl. Life got in the way and then I forgot about it. After reading what you've written, I'm going to have to start watching this. Soon.
My personal theory on why it takes forever for a TV couple to get together: the problems a relationship encounters last more than a half an hour (or even an hour). Plus, if the show gets cancelled (or put on indefinite hiatus) you end up with loose ends. Mal and Inara (Firefly) were a great example of this.
So, writers try to only have problems that can be neatly wrapped up in a short period of time. (Disclaimer: I've never written for TV, so this is just my personal, armchair theory.)
As for favorite couple, it would have to be Jim and Pam from The Office. They were so cute! They were the best of friends and the attraction they felt for each other was muted for a believable reason...Pam was engaged to someone else. Jim had (supposedly) moved on by the time she was available and watching everything resolve was the best time I ever spent watching a TV show. Except for Firefly. ;)
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