castle/beckett

05 14 2015

Recap Finale Fever (Castle & Arrow)

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While I’ve been a bit behind, here are the recaps for the Castle season 7 finale and the last two episodes of Arrow Season 3!

Castle 7.23 Review: “Hollander’s Woods”

Castle ends an imbalanced season with a decent episode that could have served as the series finale had the stars not signed their contracts and the network had decided to cancel the series.

NOC Recaps Arrow 3.22: Don’t Stab Yourself In the Foot

This episode is a bit of a mess and introduces a ridiculous plot twist that doesn’t serve the rest of the story.

NOC Recaps Arrow 3.23: The City’s Under Attack, Must Be May

The Arrow season 3 finale finally gets us out of the Ra’s al Ghul arc that has been killing the shows cred with fans. Now that we’re moving on, hopefully season 4 will be better. That said, this episode splinters our main characters that could lead to interesting places come season 4. I’m also proud of an Aladdin joke and a Captain Planet joke that you should click-through to enjoy in its full glory.

04 26 2015

Castle 7.20 Review: "Sleeper": A Disappointing Reveal

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Castle Season 7 Disappearance Thailand
I must say: I’ve never been so disappointed with a plot resolution as I was with the reveal of (parts) of the Castle Disappearance arc. There was so much lead up, and so little focus on a mystery for Castle’s personal life, that the reveal had to be a good one. What could possibly have led Castle to disappear on his wedding day for two months and choose to not remember it? It seems we got an answer for why he was gone for about the span of a week, maybe? And it was not a satisfying answer. It was rushed, jumbled, confused, and had weak links stretching one plot introduced a few months earlier to the hastily added bits of story introduced in this episode.
Typically, Castle is great at reveals. The Johanna Beckett mystery had a lot of twists and turns and while some felt weaker than others or caused more stretches of the imagination, it still made a satisfying ride. So far, this disappearance story makes very little sense. Click through to my TVOvermind review to see what drove me to be so disappointed.
Hint: it has a lot to do with Castle’s ability to keep a secret.

This week’s episode of Castle finally wraps up the Castle disappearance arc, which has been in play since he missed his wedding ceremony in the season six finale. Going into the episode, I felt trepidation; the conclusion to this story must be compelling to be drawn out an entire season but only a handful of episodes. Even the characters seemed determine to put it behind them, decreasing my interest in the mystery. All-in-all, this season has been one of tying up loose ends (due to the show’s fate for season eight still up in the air), so it’s hard to think the show will need another season after this one; with this story, the Caskett romance settled, and Beckett’s mother’s killer caught, there’s not much left to explore. If the show does go on for one more season, I forsee it being its last. But let’s jump into this week’s episode.
As I said, the explanation behind Castle’s disappearance had a lot riding on it and I’m not sure I bought the execution.

02 05 2015

Castle 7.13 Review: "I, Witness"

ConStar Andrew Marlowe, Castle, Castle Recaps, ConStar Watches, Featured TV Recaps "i, caskett, castle, castle pi, castle/beckett, Nathan Fillion, stana katic, witness" 0

This week’s Castle was a bit of a miss for me. Not because of the PI storyline, but maybe it relied too heavily on a sort of Lifetime movie meets Hitchcock kind of thing. Too many twists and back and forths.
Check out the straight up recap here: Castle Season 7 Episode 13 Review: “I, Witness”, but here are some of my thoughts as usual:

Little Things

– The scene with Castle at Whitfield’s house doesn’t make sense considering the end. Cole says “You’ll never prove a thing” but it turns out he wasn’t involved at all. What was his reasoning for saying such a thing, then? He was truly innocent and had no reason to further antagonize Castle in such a way. This is one reason why I felt there were too many twists and turns that even the writing couldn’t keep up with.

– In the side story, Ryan, Jenny and Espo were supposed to go on a trip together, but since Espo isn’t with Lanie anymore, they now need a 4th person to go with Espo. Ryan and Jenny set Espo up with someone on match.com, creating a profile for him, which upsets Espo who says he can find his own dates.

– I did enjoy the amount of time spent in the kitchenette. Since they weren’t working on an official case, they kept a lot of their investigations before it was an official murder to the more social areas of the precinct, even in Gates’ absence.

– Kate was very wonderfully affectionate towards Castle this episode, lots of snuggling. He was going through a lot so it was nice to see her be so supportive. Not that she isn’t typically, but it was more noticeable here.

– The actress who plays the lawyer, Haskins, also plays a recurring character on the show Arrow. Her character on that show works with a special division called the Suicide Squad. Looks like her character on Castle was also looking for suicide squad recruits.

Read more at http://www.tvovermind.com/reviews/castle-season-7-episode-13-review-witness/#pzhdXh2CXU2D52Sd.99

01 21 2015

Castle 7.12 Review: "Private Eye Caramba!"

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This week’s Castle takes a telenovela twist (just minutes after I watched Jane the Virgin, no less!). A telenovela star is murdered and it’s up to Kate to find the killer and Castle to find… the purse?
Click through for the full recap, but here are some things I loved from the episode:
– Another nice moment between Kate and Martha, but once again no Alexis in sight…
– Castle’s pencil dropping from the ceiling at just the right time.
– “I thought you were a writer. What happened?” “Nothing happened. I’m just expanding my brand if that’s alright with you.”
– Castle learns that the number one skill a private investigator has is dropping $20s for information.
– Esposito’s frustration and Beckett’s amusement with Ryan’s “Castling” makes me laugh every time. Oh Baby Castle.
– I loved the detail of Castle being unable to get Beckett’s top button undone.
– I figured I’d be the only review to not mention the “private dick” line, since it was all over the commercials anyway, but here’s an obligatory mention.
– I loved Castle using Ryan’s badge number to get info from the DMV. Ryan’s the least likely to kick Castle’s butt if he finds out.
– I was glad for Kate’s concern when they find Castle with Mathis: “We would have had no way of finding you.” Obviously, it’s because they’re married, but also his disappearance is still weighing on her mind, and it shows here right beneath the surface. I hope that storyline is returning soon.
– “So you’re saying I solved my case, and your case, and I apprehended the killer… Hm.” “Yeah. You disarmed a 110lb woman. Must’ve been a tense moment.”
– Javier speaking Spanish. ::heart eyes emoji::
Full recap here: Castle Season 7 Episode 12 Review: “Private Eye Carumba!”

01 14 2015

Castle 2-for-1: "Bad Santa" and "Castle P.I"

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Castle TV Show Private Investigator — These are the Castle reviews you were looking for.

The winter TV hiatus is slowly ending and one of the first shows back is Castle. I’ve realized, however, that I never posted the link to mid-season finale recap here, so you get two for one: review what happened in the finale and get into your funny feels over the midseason return.
From my “Bad Santa” Review:

It will definitely be an interesting run of episodes for however long Castle is banned from the force. Seems like he’ll have to do something major to get back in,which we know will probably happen since the precinct and the Castle/Beckett partnership is the bread and butter of the show. But I appreciate the writers injecting new life into a season that has already resolved so many longstanding things. It’s hard for a procedural do that without killing off their existing cast and hiring new blood. Without a constant revolving door of new cast members, it’s important for the show to find other ways to change things up. I’m excited to see what they do with this twist.

From “Castle P.I.”:

This episode was such a fun return from the midseason finale and a fresh new direction for the show. I worry it can’t last too long — how many episodes can we have of them running parallel or opposing cases? But I doubt it is meant to. It’s something fun and new for the show to try and I can’t wait for the conflict it provides between Castle and Beckett in the future — it can’t all be friendly competition and case put together foreplay. The episode left me with a smile on my face — partially because I really like saxophones and all the noir background music included a lot of it. I can’t wait to see what else Castle, Private Investigator, has in store for us.

Clearly the midseason premiere didn’t disappoint. It was a fun episode with some potential stories down the road. We’ll see where the rest of the season takes us. Want to recap the first part of the season? Just check the Castle Recaps under the ConStar Recaps menu up at the top!

Castle Season 7 Episode 6 Review: The Time of Our Lives

11 11 2014

Castle 7.06 Review: The Time of Our Lives

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As soon as I heard, over the summer, that Terri Edda Miller was writing episode 6 of this season, I knew it was the wedding. Finally! And all in all, she’s the perfect person to the pen the nuptials, being so tied pretty legally to show creator Andrew Marlowe and very much the heart of the characters and their relationship.Castle is the kind of show that has always taken an equal view of the fantastical versus reality–with Castle as the believer and Kate as the skeptic comes with having X-Files alum on your staff. Usually a supernatural themed episode will end with a plausible explanation, yet stay open to the possibility of something more, but this episode is probably the farthest it’s ever taken the fantasy.
[…]
And then they dance to “In My Veins,” which is when I started weeping. It was a short but beautiful wedding and a wonderful episode that explored our characters and who they are to each other. It’s nice to see how far they’ve come (while also showing the progression of our supporting characters as well) and to get so many wonderful callbacks to things the fans have watched out for or taken to heart all these years.
Read more Castle Season 7 Episode 6 Review: The Time of Our Lives.

10 29 2014

Castle 7.05 Review: "Meme is Murder"

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On this week’s Castle, the team investigates the death of a viral meme star and Castle himself is a victim of the dark side of memes.
[…]
This case was a really interesting one. Aside from a few weak links in why Adam chose these particular stars (I’m curious if it was too much for these stars to have been bullies at Adam’s school–he’d already axed his high school bully before this–making his Snappamatic choices a bit weak), it’s a scary thought that this could happen somewhere. We already know of crimes committed via introductions on the internet, but if someone were to post awful things like Netslayer did (and they do, somewhere), would the number people outraged and reporting the account be greater than or less than people following the account to… enjoy… the show? It’s been a while since we’ve had a serial killer episode (especially one not in some way connected to 3XK) and I think they did a good job of his choices in teasing the cops (if not in the choosing of his victims). There was equal parts suspense and humor, rare in serial killer themed episodes.
Read more Castle Season 7 Episode 5 Review: “Meme is Murder”.
Watch Castle’s viral video here: http://abc.go.com/shows/castle/news/castle-news/141027-official-raging-heat-webmercial

10 07 2014

#Castle Season 7 Clues

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In writing this season’s Castle recaps for TVOvermind, I want to keep track of the clues we’re being given with regard to Castle’s disappearance, crossing them off as we get resolution. So here’s a master post of clues as we build them.
Let’s crack this mystery Castle-style!

Clues up til now:

Remember: “three people.” Castle was seen alone for the rest of the episode, but two people dragged him out of that car. Could Henry Jenkins have been one of those people?
The money Castle took out for the wedding got used for the dumpster drop to trash the car. Who knew about the money? Was that the first thing they did when they grabbed Castle? Made him get the money—where was he holding it that it wasn’t being watched by the cops or the feds?
Beckett tries Paris, no dice.
Lanie’s check-in: ~~The 38 key sewn into the lining of his pants.~~ Dengue fever, tropical climate. Grazed rib wound.
Montreal, the Bank, the suspicious bank manager.
Fake Henry Jenkins again— the willing amnesia, or so “Fenkins” (as Terri Edda Miller put it on Twitter) says.
Where did Castle get those memory cards, camera? Was he doing something else with them before making the videos? Why were the videos so quickly done, who was he expecting to interrupt?
Hollander’s Woods. February. 11-year-old Castle. What happened and why is it coming back to haunt him 30 years later?

Read my other Castle reviews and theories over at TVOvermind!

04 29 2014

Castle 6.21: Law and Boarder

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Castle may be the writer, but Beckett’s got the words in this week’s Castle. The episode is all about competition, when a professional skateboarder is found murdered. Meanwhile, Beckett is the first in the family to beat Castle at Scrabble and he does not take it well. Ryan and Esposito have a competition of their own: which of them will Castle pick to be his best man?

Check out my Castle review this week at TV Overmind.

11 19 2013

ConStar Watches Castle "Disciple"

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(This is my 100th blog post! exciting! I guess…)
Tonight’s Castle gave us 3XK Round Four and was probably my favorite 3XK episode yet. Even though Jerry Tyson does not appear in the episode, you can feel his presence even before Castle theorizes he is the one involved.
Read more here at my first post on TV Overmind: http://www.tvovermind.com/castle/castle-6-09-review-disciple-223947