Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Keeping Secrets--Last Night's Castle & Hawaii Five-O

I've been sick for the last little while so last night as I laid there watching my shows, I was tired and cranky.  And I want to preface the review with that because, well, there are some things I'm not liking so far this season and last night magnified it.

Let's start with Castle. Castle and Beckett are going away to the Hampton's for the weekend.  They have an almost giddy Castle waiting for it to be 5 p.m. so they can leave, happily showing her his house, and there is a pensive Kate sort of overwhelmed by the beauty and grandeur of the home.  For a second I thought she might be thinking about how her world and Castle's world is so different, but then they had her say she was thinking about how many girls had gotten the tour of his home.  Castle very sweetly says he doesn't deny bringing other women there, but they weren't her.  Awww.  And Nathan Fillion looks very good in blue.  Just sayin'.

They're about to start their weekend when a man stumbles into the pool area all bloody and dies.  Castle puts on his investigator hat while Kate sort of skulks around trying not to be seen and named.  I thought her expression at being mistaken for a hooker was hilarious.  I also thought we were going to get an episode where Castle could sort of take the "lead" in the investigation, but alas, while he did take the lead, they still portray him as bumbling which bothers me.  It's funny for a while, but the reality is, Castle has sat in on four years worth of murder investigations. I would think by now he knows how to finesse a conversation instead of practically accusing a suspect in a restaurant with little more than a "hey, how ya doing, and did you murder the guy you fought with on the beach last night?"  I seriously rolled my eyes.  Why does Castle have to be bumbling all the time?  Let him have learned under Kate's tutelage and let her be proud of him instead of slightly embarrassed.  And Debra, did you hear the reference to Caskett?  It was so funny they actually mentioned it on the show.  I thought of you.

I did like the storyline, though, and the scene with Vinny the scar was funny.  I really thought it was the police chief with how shifty he looked sometimes.  Got me there, writers, so good job.  And does anyone else think that Esposito is going to be really mad that he was the only one out of the loop on the secret?  Yeah, that's going to be bad news I think.

Hawaii Five-O had a good plotline as well, but the decapitation (which was shown twice) was seriously gross.  Like, gag-worthy gross, especially to a sick person watching the show.  Throw in an old kidnapping where there was mutilation, and a car bomb, and you have an action-packed show.  There were also two flying take-downs from Steve, which is his specialty.  Suspects should never run.  There should be a criminal's book of laws or something that says don't run from Steve McGarrett. It always ends badly.  And the ones last night were extra special in that he took them down amid a polo game with horses everywhere and the other was over a bridge.  The other ewwwww moment was when McGarrett had to give himself a tetanus shot.  In his hip.  But I just couldn't turn away.  

The best part of the show for me was him and Catherine.  When she gets the bat and says she's going with him and he says no, she's staying upstairs where it's safe and she's all, whatever, you're coming with me then, and leaves, the look on his face was priceless.  I love strong women and Catherine wears that label so well.

But then we get into the soapy quagmire that is Steve's mother.  It is too hard for me to believe that Steve lets her into his life so easily.  His mom RUINED his family by deserting them, irrevocably changed Steve's life and the life of his sister and father, but hey, come on in mom.  You want to move in?  Okay.  You want to make me breakfast?  Great.  I'm sorry, but that is so unbelievable to me.  The scene where she tells him she can tell when something is bothering him in the truck was cringe-worthy.  Believing your mom was dead affects you.  Being sent away to protect you after your mom's death affects you.  And it's all being brushed under the rug.  Steve doesn't even make her work for it.  He just smiles and goes along.  And Christine Lahti is an amazing actress, but it seems like she's trying a little too hard here. I'm glad Steve told Danny he doesn't believe her, but it took him the entire episode to get up the guts to ask her about Wo Fat.  Why is that?  I would think he would be very suspicious of her and anything she does, but instead he looks a bit afraid and unable to face his mommy issues.  Add that to the fact that she's playing him (with the scene of her mucking around in the floorboards for hidden film) and I'm sort of hating this storyline.  *sigh* Bringing people back from the dead is tricky business if you're going to make it fly.

But back to the murder of the week---I was surprised at the son being the killer.  I would have guessed the dad because that guy was so creepy.  I'm sure my villain-picking skillz will pick up now that I'm on the mend.

Are you good at predicting the villains if you watch crime shows?

4 comments:

Debra Erfert said...

*whines*cries* my brand new 60 inch flat screen television died Sunday! Five minutes later the Direct TV DVR recorder thingie died too. No power surges or anything unusual going on with our electricity, so we will have to wait until new appliances arrive. (we had insurance.) Thanks for the review on Castle. Still don't like Caskett. Too creepy! All I see is the both of them tucked inside a red silk lined . . . never mind.

I hope you are feeling better.

Julie Coulter Bellon said...

Debra, if you really want to watch it, you can go to abc.com and it's there. That stinks about your TV, though!

Last night the dialogue was how they solve murders so Caskett went along with that. Haha. I can see both sides of it. :)

I'm feeling better today, thank you. Good health is a wonderful thing.

Jon Spell said...

I thought the Caskett reference was nicely done, a nod to the fans. He goes through a whole list that don't sound right and latches onto that one. See, it's got that whole murder thing going for it? (He says something like that.)

Julie, I don't see Castle as bumbling, more like he's too eager and makes mistakes when he does that. It's in character for him. (I'm not sure how in-character it was for him to put Kate off in bed to talk about the murder. It was amusing, though.)

Kate says something early on about being deceitful with her co-workers so as to avoid an ethics violation. I doubt Castle is actually paid by the NYPD, so is it still a problem? (Next week it might be! Does that remind you of the very first Castle episode?)

I haven't caught up on H50 yet, Julie, but I saw the one with Carlos Bernard. He was a throwaway character. In fact, at the end, I'm like, what did that guy have to do with the art theft? Oh, he was just a patsy for Catherine to get his password into WITSEC? Bleh. Like any government computer system would allow a case-insensitive password with no numbers or symbols. (Also, they didn't track the plane after it took off?)

Incidentally, I thought the funeral ceremony they perform with the ashes and surfboards and everyone joining hands to be just beautiful. My wife says that the women in bikinis ruins it for her. =)

Julie Coulter Bellon said...

Jon, it was amusing. But sometimes I wish the writers wouldn't go for the cheap laughs. But overall, I have to say I'm really enjoying how they're writing the new relationship and its progression. And it does remind me of the first episode. The first season was so great!

Yeah, Carlos was a throwaway character, but I still thought it was interesting that they had so many 24 alum on the show. And I did like that scene with Catherine. :) The funeral was so beautiful. I love the scenery they show and I would love to go to Hawaii someday.
But yeah, I don't think I will ever wear a bikini. Haha!