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Castle One Mans Treasure S02E10 (ABC)

range — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 12:50:58 +0000

Castle title card via Wikipedia

I’ve been a Nathan Fillion fan for quite a while. Ever since Firefly, I was really impressed by his acting. Since he is starring in a new series named Castle, I took it upon myself to watch it weekly.

Anyway, what do I like about Castle? Well it stars an obnoxious, womanizing novelist. Detective Kate Beckett is a closet hottie, played by Stana Katic. Her hotness is kind of hard to explain. The actress is quite hot, but in Castle, she toned it down. She doesn’t wear much makeup and favors a natural look, kind of like “Oh I’m hot, but I could be the girl next door, BTW, FYI, I’m still smoking hot.” That’s how I described her in my mind. She’s kind of got the ex-catwalk model look going for her, which is quite good.

So that’s a good point. Plus she’s Canadian and a good actress. That’s always a good combination.

Warning: spoilers ahead

The show centers around a novelist who is brought in to help deal with a string of murders which seem to be taken from the pages of his novels. At the same time, Castle has hit massive writer’s block after killing off the hero of his mystery book franchise, Derek Storm. Through Beckett, he is able to write once again.

Halfway between a drama and a romantic comedy, Castle is a fun show to watch. The characters play around a lot, making the viewer wonder when or if they will ever get together. It didn’t take Castle long to find out what makes Beckett tick. He uses clues and his imagination deftly.

ABC has started to release chapters of Richard Castle’s new book Heat Wave on its website. They are up to chapter 8 and I haven’t started yet, but it’s a pretty cool tie-in to the show.

* * * * *

Alexis is spending some time volunteering at the precinct. Castle and Beckett are on a new case. The victim had more than one wife. Well, actually, one wife and one fiancée. The question is who killed him?

* * * * *

A girl discovers a body in a garbage chute. Alexis is going to spend a day with Beckett, volunteering. The dead dude’s name is Sam Parker. He was shot and shoved head first down the chute. He’s from New Haven. It turns out that the vic had a wife and a fiancée.

The fiancée knew him as Jake Holland. She met him about 6 months ago when he changed firms. He was passed over for a promotion at another place. Both women have soft alibis, so they need to check up.

Alexis looks pretty professional and lets Beckett know that even if her father is a handful, she isn’t. She’s inventorying some unclaimed stuff found at crime scenes.

The wife’s brother found out what Sam was doing. He left him a threatening message. The brother says that he owed him money. He borrowed $20K. He didn’t pay anything back. He’s got an alibi. Apparently Sam was making less money at his new job then his old one. Why did he accept the new job?

They question the new boss. He says that he believed everything that Parker told. Every single reference that he gave is disconnected now. He went to some pretty serious lengths to get this job. They don’t know why yet.

The fiancée says that she recognized Helen Parker in front of his apartment a few weeks ago. She was staring at her in a creepy fashion. They question the wife. She denies going there. Helen says that they got a lot of hang-ups. She also had their number because she called her about the funeral details, and about some stuff that she gave Parker that she wants back. Helen isn’t giving anything back.

Sam was abandoning a sinking ship. The old company was going down the drain. The CEOs were rivals. The dummy phone lines are all registered to his old company. He was planted as a corporate spy. It has something to do with the way they recycle battery sludge. The old company can’t compete. Sarah Reed was an engineer on the team that came up with the idea, so Sam was romancing her to get the details. Sam was sending secret emails from a secret hidden account to someone. These were chemical formulas. He sent these to the CEO of the old company. The CEO offered Sam $1 million to get the research from the other company. A couple of months ago, the CEO cut him loose because Sam had brought back other formula, but they were never complete. He got an email from her the night he died. He gives some BS story, but Beckett infers that Sam must have told him that he got the real formula. The company didn’t have the money to pay him, so the CEO killed him. He wants to talk with his lawyer.

There was a catfight between Sarah and Helen. She went to Helen’s place to get her grandfather’s fountain pen back. Sam went to a doctor’s office every week. He gave Sarah a cover story, but went to a bunch of different addresses.

One of the addresses turns out to be another ID of Sarah Reed. Her real name is Lauren Branston. She worked for other companies with new identities. The boss hired her to get in Sam’s way. She was a specialist in corporate espionage. Lance was feeding Sam partial formulas, which kept Connecticut Recycle running in circles. Sam made her. He found her house in Long Island. He played along not to arouse suspicion. She killed him. She’s got an alibi for the night.

It leads them back to the pen or the thing that she was looking for in Sam’s study. Castle finds something in the shredder. It turns out that NY Recycle was just switching labels and dumping the sludge in the ocean. There was no secret way of recycling. Lance killed him.

The EPA is shutting down NY Recycle. Alexis tracked down the woman who the photos she found belonged to thanks to her dad. She looked into retired detectives and traced the daughter of a murder victim. Beckett is impressed and Castle is proud.

* * * * *

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Castle Love Me Dead S02E09 (ABC)

range — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 12:45:04 +0000

Castle title card via Wikipedia

So that’s a good point. Plus she’s Canadian and a good actress. That’s always a good combination.

Warning: spoilers ahead

ABC has started to release chapters of Richard Castle’s new book Heat Wave on its website. They are up to chapter 8 and I haven’t started yet, but it’s a pretty cool tie-in to the show.

* * * * *

A dead ADA leads the team to investigate a prostitution racket, which actually involved the ADA, much to everyone’s surprise.

* * * * *

Some dude is thrown off a building. Castle hears Alexis talking to someone on the phone about him freaking out. She doesn’t tell him what it is. The victim is Jack Buckley, an ADA. He’s the lawyer that every cop wanted to try their case. He’s got an ex-wife and two hot assistants. One of them has got laser green eyes. Some guy was brought in by a cop named Frank Curtis. He was in a shouting match with Buckley. They trace Knox, the dude in question. He was at an AA meeting and has got Reverend Danny Miller as an alibi.

Some guy was hanging around Buckley’s place. His name is Norman Jessup. His conviction was overturned and he was released two weeks ago. Buckley was preparing to retry him. They find Jessup in a bar fight. Castle takes one on the face. Buckley made a mystery trip. Jessup was following him around. He says that Buckley met some Asian dude and had a screaming match.

On the way there, Alexis calls Beckett. She needs her advice and wants to meet up. The guy is Buckley’s ex-brother-in-law. He says that he was attacked two nights ago. He was told to give Jack a message to back off from Danton. He was being blackmailed for liking call girls. Danton is their pimp. They have Paul call the number. One of Buckley’s assistants arrives. She’s the call girl. She says that Jack was her client for over a year. She was going through law school by being an escort. When Jack found out, he offered her a paid internship to get out. She says that she doesn’t know who Danton is. There is a firewall between her and Danton.

Castle tries to find out about Alexis’ secret. He’s not having much luck. Beckett isn’t talking either. She’s kind of liking it.

They find out that Danton is Dantonelli and is currently serving time in prison. He doesn’t know who the new Danton is. They find out that Buckley was Danton. He offered Dantonelli 13 years off in exchange for his client list. They think that someone was trying to take over from Buckley.

They go back to see Scarlett. The new Danton used to work for Buckley in order to keep the business in line. She kept lying to them. His name was John Knox, the dude that Buckley had dragged in and had a shouting match.

Castle surmises that Buckley found Knox through his connections to the legal system. Knox is a criminal who was able to stay out of jail.

Castle finds a beat up Scarlett at his place. She says that Knox killed Buckley. She tells him that the Reverend is a client. Knox is blackmailing him to give his alibi.

The next day, Castle finds out that a man checked out Scarlett right after she was checked in by him. They had Knox under surveillance, but he somehow slipped away during the night. Castle gets a frantic call from Scarlett. She has been abducted by Knox. They arrive in time to see Scarlett shooting Knox.

It looks to me like Scarlett was the new Danton, not Knox. The reason why is because it looks too picture perfect.

Knox couldn’t have beaten up Scarlett because he was being followed by the cops. Scarlett was in on it from the start. She was in Buckley’s office to man the phone on the escort service. She was running the show and trying to take it away from Buckley. They catch her running her service.

Alexis tells Castle that her school is starting an exchange program in France. She was thinking of applying to it. She decided not to because his birthday was coming up. Alexis tells him that she’s thinking of applying to Oxford.

* * * * *

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Castle Kill the Messenger S02E08 (ABC)

range — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 12:38:53 +0000

Castle title card via Wikipedia

I’ve been a Nathan Fillion fan for quite a while. Ever since Firefly, I was really impressed by his acting. Since he is starring in a new series which premiered last Monday, I took it upon myself to watch it weekly.

Anyway, what do I like about Castle? Well it stars an obnoxious, womanizing novelist. Detective Kate Beckett is a closet hottie, played by Stana Katic. Her hotness is kind of hard to explain. The actress is quite hot, but in Castle, she toned it down. She doesn’t wear much makeup and favours a natural look, kind of like “Oh I’m hot, but I could be the girl next door, BTW, FYI, I’m still smoking hot.” That’s how I described her in my mind. She’s kind of got the ex-catwalk model look going for her, which is quite good.

So that’s a good point. Plus she’s Canadian and a good actress. That’s always a good combination. Molly C. Quinn plays Alexis, Rick Castle’s 15-year old daughter. I don’t really know how old she is, but she’s a striking looking young lady. She reminds me of my wife, who’s a redhead as well. So I have a bit of a weakness for them.

Warning: spoilers ahead

ABC has started to release chapters of Richard Castle’s new book Heat Wave on its website. They are up to chapter 8 and I haven’t started yet, but it’s a pretty cool tie-in to the show.

* * * * *

A dead bike courier leads them to a convoluted case. Beckett and Castle are in full form.

* * * * *

A bike courier gets nailed by a car. Beckett calls Castle. They’ve got a case. The courier’s bag was stolen. The package was sent by a known terror suspect. The captain calls a full tactical company. Some bozo at the courier company wrote down the name wrong.

They break down the door of the apartment where the package came from and find an old lady named Niederman. She doesn’t know what was in the package. The company wrote down the name wrong. Her favorite nephew gave her the package 10 years ago. Brady called this morning to send it to Montgomery. He was the one that sent him to jail. Brady got shanked in prison this morning. Montgomery wants to investigate his wife. The bike messenger’s sister arrives at the station. Beckett informs her about her brother’s death.

They hear the dead man’s phone calls to his aunt and wife. He warned his wife and son to leave the house. Brady was the model prisoner. Montgomery thinks that it was hit.

They managed to trace the wife and the son. Her husband got $7,000 every month for taking the fall. She says that the package contained his insurance policy, which exonerated him in some fashion. The payments started being late and short. That’s when Brady decided to messenger the package. This amounts to almost a million over the last 10 years. Someone was also monitoring his phone calls. This means that someone at the prison is involved. Beckett and Castle want to investigate the original murder, the one that Brady took the fall for. The ME found something strange in the autopsy report from 10 years ago. Brady lied about killing her and what he killed her with. He wants to exhume the body.

The captain talked with Olivia’s friend. Olivia is the girl that Brady apparently confessed to killing. She came to a club 10 years ago and had a heated argument with Jeff Delahunt. He’s got a multi-million dollar trust fund. He’s got an alibi. He was arrested with some cousins that night. He shows them a photo of the Wellesley’s. That night, Olivia went to the Pearson Club. They were having some kind of Wellesley family party. She had a heated argument with someone. Delahunt points them in the right direction of the Wellesley’s, all of whom wore the same getup for that night, dictated by their family matriarch.

They trace him thanks to Olivia’s friend. They find Trent Wellesley. He says that he had seen his uncle with her before. They ask Winston for his alibi. He hasn’t got one. He makes hasty exit. Castle thinks that he was having an affair with Olivia, but that’s not enough for motive.

Olivia’s aunt says that Winston Wellesley paid for her funeral. She also approves the exhumation order. Montgomery was able to find the prison guard roster.

Blake Wellesley is running for senator and comes to see Montgomery. He wants to create interference, but Montgomery isn’t having any of it. Castle approves of how he rebuffs the senator.

It turns out that the coffin is empty. Someone removed her body at one point. The mortuary must have switched the body out at some point. Castle remembers that these high-end coffins had a little drawer in them. They see a photo of Edna Debiasse. She worked for one of the Wellesley’s campaigns in 1978. She was Olivia’s mom.

During the campaign, Casper had his sons Winston and Blake ran his campaign office. They must have crossed paths. Winston was lying once again. Olivia found out that her father was a Wellesley. He is her father. He was on the verge of telling everyone when she died. He is surprised that her body was missing. Esposito and Ryan found out that Winston was with a lover that night named Stanley.

They have the prison guard. He’s been depositing large amounts of money into his account.

It’s highly unlikely that Winston is the father. They question Blake again. He slept with Edna in 1978. Winston lets it slip that his mother was involved. They talk with her. She says that Olivia came to see her. She gave him Winston as her father. She took care of killing her.

Frank Davis is the one who killed them. He was the family fixer. Frank couldn’t make the payments when the matriarch lost her faculties.

* * * * *

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Castle Famous Last Words S02E07 (ABC)

range — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 12:35:22 +0000

Castle title card via Wikipedia

Anyway, what do I like about Castle? Well it stars an obnoxious, womanizing novelist. Detective Kate Beckett is a closet hottie, played by Stana Katic. Her hotness is kind of hard to explain. The actress is quite hot, but in Castle, she toned it down. She doesn’t wear much makeup and favours a natural look, kind of like “Oh I’m hot, but I could be the girl next door, BTW, FYI, I’m still smoking hot.” That’s how I described her in my mind. She’s kind of got the ex-catwalk model look going for her, which is quite good.

Warning: spoilers ahead

ABC has started to release chapters of Richard Castle’s new book Heat Wave on its website. They are up to chapter 8 and I haven’t started yet, but it’s a pretty cool tie-in to the show.

* * * * *

Strangely enough, Alexis puts her dad onto the case of a rocker that she admires. Apparently she was found dead.

* * * * *

Castle is playing Rock Band to Billy Idol. Alex mentions that a rocker Hayley, their front woman, was found dead. She saw this on Gawker. They found Hayley Blue. She was killed off-site and then staged. The song that is playing is Here Kitty, Kitty by Blue Pill. The killer hung her body from a fire escape. Beckett and Castle come back to the precinct. Alexis is there. She mentions that Hayley went to rehab 3 months ago. Ryan finds out that Hayley’s body was postured the same way as in the song. Alexis says that Hayley wrote this song about an obsessed fan. They find out that she had a restraining order against her stalker. The stalker is Franco Marquez. She filed a dozen complaints against him before filing a restraining order. Beckett finds it refreshing to see Castle act like a father. She’s used to him acting like a 12-year old.

The Bushes paid for Hayley’s rehab. She then moved into their home. They were her producers. Last Monday, she disappeared. Her stuff was gone as well. They figured that she relapsed. They say that something spooked her. Her sister Sky is also high on dope.

Ryan and Esposito report that Marquez is trying to pull a runner by going upstate. They find him disguised as a Hayley trying to get out. He heard Zack Metzger shouting at her last night. He threatened to kill her. During her last set, her new songs pointed to the fact that Hayley knew that she was going to die. At least, that’s Franco’s interpretation. Hayley went to the 20^th precinct to speak with a detective, but skipped out before she could talk with one.

They question Metzger. He’s got an alibi. She found out that Blue Pill was trying to audition her replacement. She got a cease and desist order against them. Sky arrives at the morgue. She’s drunk and has blue hair, just like Hayley. She’s got a knife and a bottle of whiskey. She gives them to Beckett. Hayley found her and told her that she could come back and be a team. But Sky had to clean up. Sky says that Hayley was with Tony, Sky’s dealer. She was using again. She handed Tony a bunch of cash.

Hayley wasn’t using. Tony says that Hayley wanted a gun. He sold her one. They found gunpowder residue on Hayley’s hands.

When Castle comes home, Alexis says that Hayley’s lyrics must have been allegorically. In tarot, death isn’t just death, it can also mean change. On the bb, it turns out that Sky Blue is stepping into Hayley’s shoes with The Blue Pill. John McGinnis was her old manager. Alexis says that in an interview, Hayley implied that McGinnis got her hooked on dope. He’s got the most to gain from The Blue Pill getting back together. Hayley owned the band name. They don’t have anything on him and McGinnis’ alibi is flimsy. He called Zack the day before Hayley died. They go back to see Zack. They hear some fighting when they arrive. They find Sky with a cut lip arguing with Zack. Zack’s alibi isn’t iron-clad. He took breaks during his gig. He had enough time to go and kill Hayley. McGinnis had a plan. He wanted Zack to grease Sky’s wheels. He wanted Zack to give Sky dope and talk with Hayley to try and get the band name back. He saw her the night that she died. He says that she was at a coffee house. The phone rang and she freaked. She hit ignore and it kept ringing. The caller ID said that it was death calling. The lyrics and the call lead them back to the Bushes. Beckett tells Sky that Hayley was clean. Ryan says that Bree Bush’s credit card receipts put her near the murder scene. She bought the lipstick that was used on Hayley’s face. She also lied about where she was.

They talk with Bush. She offered her dope for her to stay to finish the record. She was invested heavily into Hayley’s new record. Her company would go down with it. Castle finds that some of the paneling in the studio is new. Castle finds a bullet hole. Bush is lying again.

They take the Bushes in. Her husband pleads with her. Bree is going to do 20 years for this, because she isn’t pleading out. This makes Castle think. Beckett and Castle go back to see Sky. They left her at Zack’s. She is suffering from withdrawal symptoms. She’s trying to get clean.

When Castle says goodnight to Alexis, he realizes that Hayley wrote a song after she left the Bushes. She is telling them who killed her. Castle calls Beckett. They release Bree. They make the Bushes listen to the song. The song implies that Ian Bush raped her. Bree told Ian about arguing with Hayley. Bree took a sleeping pill. He took Bree’s phone and texted Hayley. He pretended to be Bree and he killed her. Ian says that she seduced him.

They found gunpowder residue on Ian’s coat, the same that came from Hayley’s gun.

They all go to a remembrance ceremony where Sky sings with The Blue Pill.

* * * * *

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Castle - Love Me Dead

tvduchess — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:32:19 +0000

I have said it before, and I will say it again… Castle is perhaps one of the best, and most interesting, procedural dramas on the air today! Here’s to hopefully not getting cancelled!

A couple is arguing in a car over whether or not the husband was looking at another woman. He says if he’s lying may God strike him dead. Just then, a body falls on the windshield. Alexis is on the phone and says, “If I tell him he’ll freak.” Castle tries to find out what’s going on. Alexis blows him off and goes back upstairs. Then Beckett calls. The victim is Jack Buckley, a district attorney. The Captain is at the scene as well. There was no reason why Buckley was in this part of town; his ex-wife is in California. According to Buckley’s secretaries, the cops brought John Knox to Buckley’s office last week and they argued loudly in his office – which was unusual. Knox’s alibi is a reverend and he was at an AA meeting. Buckley’s doorman remembers that there was a man insisting on seeing him twice the week Buckley was murdered. Jessup is the man, and he was there because he was out of jail on a technicality, but Buckley wanted to put him back in jail. Beckett and the gang go to a bar to find him, just as he’s getting beat up in a bar fight.

Jessup admits to basically stalking to Buckley. They’re going to process him for assault on Castle, but then he remembers that Jessup will know about Buckley’s mysterious trip uptown on the day of his death. While in the car, Beckett gets a call from Alexis. Castle is really confused now. Jessup’s id is Buckley’s ex-brother-in-law. He tells Beckett that he was assaulted and that he was warned to tell Buckley to lay off a man named Danton. Danton runs a ring of call girls (the brother-in-law likes to order them). Beckett gets the brother in law to order a girl, and the one who shows up is not only a regular, but is one of Buckley’s secretaries.

Buckley was apparently one of Scarlett’s clients. They started going out and eventually he offered her a job as she was only working as a call girl to pay her way through law school. She’s never met Danton. All the girls are independent contractors and the clients are just numbers. They think that maybe Danton tried to blackmail Danton and it backfired, so that’s why he started to investigate him. Castle decides to drop the charges against Jessup – he’s just such a wordsmith. Castle then asks Scarlett why. She explains her story, and it kinda moves him. Beckett then leaves to meet Alexis, but she still won’t tell Castle what’s up. It’s driving him so crazy that he asks Martha what’s up. A vice cop comes by and tell him that Danton is in prison – put there by Buckley. But apparently there’s a new guy running the operation. It seems its a franchise operation. Espisito and Ryan decide to mess with Castle about all the things that Alexis could be up to. Beckett interviews Danton to find out how and why Buckley cut a deal with him when he went to jail. They tell him that they think the new Danton is the one who killed him. Danton tells them that would make it a suicide. The deal was that Buckley would become the new Danton. Yes, the district attorney was a pimp.

In trying to find out reasons behind everything, they think that there might have been a hostile takeover going on in the call girl service. They go to Scarlett to find out who it is. It was John Knox. In the car, Castle starts writing the new novel of the case. Beckett comes up with the idea that Knox (as the enforcer) has an enforcer of his own, and he’s the one who threw Buckley off the building. They can’t arrest Knox without telling that Scarlett talked, which Castle promised they wouldn’t. So, they have to let Knox go. Castle gets home and finds a beat-up Scarlett in his hallway. She says she didn’t know where else to go.

Scarlett shows Castle a photograph of the Reverend with her. He’s a client. She tells him that Knox killed Buckley. He then took her to a hospital. The next day, Castle gives the photograph to Beckett. She goes nuts. Knox’s apartment is empty. Castle calls the hospital, and Scarlett was checked out by a man almost immediately after he dropped her off. Scarlett then calls Castle and tells him that Knox has her and is going to kill her. The phone goes dead. They trace the call and go to the hotel where they hear Scarlett scream and two gunshots.

The cops break into the apartment. Scarlett’s holding the gun and Knox is dead on the floor. She tells them how it went down, and that she stole his gun when he heard a noise outside the door. When Jessup shows up at the precinct, it triggers something to Beckett and Castle. They realize that the door wasn’t dead bolted. She played them. She actually was working in Buckley’s office as the one to run the call girl business, but when Knox wanted to push her out – she needed an excuse to get rid of him. Alexis finally tells Castle what was going on – she’s thinking about going on an exchange program to France for three weeks and wanted to discuss it with Beckett since she spent a semester abroad. She decided not to go – but is looking at Oxford for college.

But as we all well know, Alexis will probably not go away to college. NYU is a perfectly acceptable and close to home school!

BTW, Scarlett was played by Michaela McManus. You can find out more about her, here: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2288842/

What did YOU think of tonight’s episode?

Comment below!!

Updating the hard-boiled detective drama in Castle and Bones; the modern Nancy Drew; urbanite grit & much, much more

illumeateight — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:46:18 +0000

It’s widely accepted that Moonlighting broke fairly new ground with its combination of mystery-solving, witty dialogue, and sexual tension between Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shephard) and David Addison (Bruce Willis). It’s also widely understood that Moonlighting’s ratings dived during the fourth season, leading to its cancellation.

Why? Commonly, it’s thought that it’s because it fulfilled the tension between the characters in the third season. Its’ contemporary Remington Steele didn’t fare that much better, dragging into a fifth and final season. But that’s not the only reason these series let their viewers down – it’s because both series relied too heavily on romantic tension as a foundational plot device.

Neither show was terribly kind to the women: Laura Holt (Stephanie Zimbalist) was forced to take on nameless, man-without-a-past, bad-boy Remington Steele (Pierce Brosnan) for the need to have a male partner in her detective business and Hayes was an ex-model, embezzled by her ex-accountant, and with debts to pay. Hayes needed Addison to resurrect one of her failing investments, Blue Moon Detective Agency, as well as to have a purpose in life post-modeling career. Needed. That’s the key word.

Navigating the “will they or won’t they” dynamic is tricky territory. I don’t think detective/crime-drama television series have come back this way since the 1980s. That is, until now: Castle (Andrew Marlowe) and Bones (Hart Hanson). Both series are finding very clever ways to sustain the dynamic, but more importantly to give it real progression.

Why are these two series succeeding where the predecessors failed? The story-telling is far better – with Castle often moving deftly like a Dashiell Hammett mystery and Bones ooing us and awing us with the details of forensic science and technology. It’s almost sci-fi, Stargate geeky. Each episode is equal parts National Geographic and psychological thriller.

However, ultimately, the success comes down to strong, in-depth lead characters as the core, engaging sub-plots, and fleshed out secondary characters . . . who can be foils, but not caricatures. Bones should be commended, next to Battlestar Galactica, for having one of the most racially diverse (and stunning) set of female characters.

Bones and Castle have as leads – strong, beautiful, intelligent, capable, women who do not need their male partners. The interdisciplinary partnership, however, enhances the overall ability to more effectively solve cases. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel) is a brilliant forensic anthropologist teamed up with confident, intuitive FBI agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) and Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) is a hard-boiled, tough, probably Ivy League-educated, NYPD homicide detective in league with insightful writer Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion).

I’m reminded of the best elements of the great noirs of the 1940s with Humphrey Boghart and Lauren Bacall (who were as equal to each other as one could be then). Castle and Bones succeed in part because yes – they are sustaining our curiosity on whether or not the two leads will get together. But only in part.

The dynamic is tricky because if it happens too soon, the viewers lose interest. If the producers wait too long, there is the danger the show will get canceled, or that the viewers will become frustrated and lose interest. My friend Stina asks the question – why have co-worker romantic tension at all? Yes, why have it indeed?

Well, because the dialogue, when executed well, is just marvelous. In Bones and Castle, not only is it intelligent in and of itself, the topic at hand is also intellectual. But a series that relies heavily on sexual tension between two characters, no matter the genre or content of the dialogue, will always fail. (A series that relies only on sexual tension between several pairs of characters is a soap opera – *cough* Grey’s Anatomy.) It may be fun, but it lacks substance.

Whatever happens in Bones, I will be satisfied knowing that Brennan and Booth have came this far – they have transformed each others’ lives. This is not just about witty dialogue and tension – it’s about a genuine friendship and a partnership – a true emotional bond with serious ramifications. Like relationships in my favorite novels, like Diana Wynne Jones’ Fire and Hemlock. Like a Miyazaki film, it sends shivers up your spine. Television rarely enters this territory.

As for Castle, the relationship between Castle and Beckett is so far, more playful. It’s always fun to see her cut him down in her Lauren Bacall/Katherine Hepburn sort of way and to see him catch her off guard. That said, the comic relief is mixed in with some very dark tones of murder cases as well as a sub-plot involving Beckett’s past. I think Castle explores the personal dynamics between those involved around the victim with excellent skill.

Castle is also a fantastic and clever example of life imitating art imitating life imitating art imitating… – and I’ve totally lost track. Moonlighting may have been a spoof of detective series. But Castle takes the best elements – breaking the fourth wall, extremely witty dialogue, and maintains the edge and grit of a real mystery.

Castle is a boyish, playboy, popular mystery writer, who is brought in by the NYPD to help solve a string of murders that mirror those in his novels. In the process, he meets his new inspiration (Beckett) and works out an arrangement (much to her chagrin) to shadow her as research for his new book. That book is actually on our bookshelves. Additionally, the show takes us outside of the homicide lounge and into Castle’s life, which includes his eccentric mother and charming teenage daughter. Castle brings the best elements of comedy sitcoms into a drama . . .which even a lot of non-detective dramas do badly.

It’s Beckett who remains the mystery – to Castle, and to the viewers. Not to mention she’s totally gorgeous with her dark brown hair and enormous green, heavy-lashed eyes, and legs to die for. And jackets to die for – I haven’t seen such great outerwear since Audrey Hepburn’s coats in Charade.

Once you develop great characters, not to say that the story writes itself; but, the viewers are far less likely to be disappointed by what or what does not happen between the leads. One tends to accept it and respects it as the choice of the characters. That my friends, makes a great detective yarn, a great romance, and simply, a great story that keeps me watching week after week. I haven’t had this much fun since reading Nancy Drew novels as a younger girl. And both Castle and Bones make me want to believe that an epic partnership could in fact potentially be real.

Castle - Kill the Messenger

tvduchess — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:21:34 +0000

A bike messenger is hit by a car, and the driver steals his bag. Alexis is helping Grandma creating a myspace page. Beckett calls and Castle shows up at the scene. There are at least 3 witnesses to the killing and they got the plates of the car. The car was stolen an hour before the killing. The package that was stolen was being sent to the 64th precinct, and chances are that it’s going to be dangerous. They head over to the person who sent it, but it was sent by a little old lady who was holding it for her nephew in jail. The package was being sent to the Captain at the precinct.

The nephew was killed 45 minutes after the messenger was. The wife is completely off the grid, however their son had to have respiratory treatments every Tuesday.

Martha’s myspace page is driving her nuts, but now she’s gotten a friend request from her “first” – but it’s based on a 20 year old photo. She’s a little freaked out.

The wife is now in the precinct. She tells Beckett that the package was her husband’s “insurance policy”. He went to prison for confessing to a crime he didn’t commit. Their son’s respiratory condition was rare and deadly. By confessing, the wife was send $7,000 a month each month he was in prison.

In trying to determine who committed the murders today, Castle suggested that they re-investigate the original murder. They want to talk to the best friend about a fight the victim (Olivia) had with a guy (Mr. Dillahunt). Castle and Beckett talk to the ME, but he suggests that they exhume the body. They talk to the guy that the friend directs them to, but he can only direct them to a snooty family known as the Wellsley (former senator). And their other clue about the fight for that night was the official dress code that almost all the men were wearing. There’s probably 40 suspects from that night 10 years ago.

They find Trent Wellsley as the one who had the fight with Olivia. He’s covering for his uncle Winston. Uncle Winston tried to “mentor” Olivia over the course of a few months. They now believe that the uncle was having an affair with Olivia, possibly killed her and is now covering it. Olivia’s aunt agrees to let them exhume the body, and lets it slip that Winston Wellsley paid for the funeral. Blake Wellsley then shows up at the precinct. He’s the one who’s running for the Senate. He would like all the impromptu interviews to stop, and for all future interviews to be conducted through his office. The captain says to stick it.

Martha still can’t figure out how to accept the friend request. Castle tells him yes, and it turns out that the guy used his high school photo.
At the ME’s lab, they get the coffin. He warns them that the coffin has been closed for 10 years and the decomposition can be extremely massive. The smell alone can be huge. So, they’re prepped, and he takes a crow bar to open it. Castle has to ask if there’s a body in it or did he pull off the most awesome magic trick. There’s just sandbags inside.

There are no prints in the casket. Beckett says that she’ll check with Olivia’s aunt to determine what she wants done with the casket. Castle mentions the drawer that are in caskets. They find a picture of Olivia’s mom, showing her working at Winston’s dad’s campaign in 1978. Winston tells Beckett and Castle that he was Olivia’s father. They also find the guard who may have been responsible for the death of the guy who confessed 10 years ago. Castle is now convinced that Winston killed Olivia, but Beckett reminds him that they don’t have the evidence to prove it. Then, Espisito shows up and tells them that Winston’s alibi checks out. Winston wasn’t alone the night Olivia died, he was with his boyfriend. Apparently, Blake had the affair with Olivia’s mother. Winston covered for Blake and claimed paternity to save the family, at mom’s request. Mom went to the apartment and said to take care of it, and it was taken care of. It was handled by Mom’s assistant, Frank. Mom didn’t want anything to ruin Blake’s chance at the Senate.

Martha decides to go out with the old boyfriend because she just wants to have fun for once. Alexis thinks she’s looking hot. But, she’s now concerned that insanity runs in the family.

Castle - Famous Last Words

tvduchess — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:36:39 +0000

Castle opens the show rocking out to Billy Idol on Guitar Hero. Then Alexis comes into the room in tears. Her favorite musician, Hailey Blue, is reported dead on the internet. Castle tells her that they don’t know it’s true – if it were, then Beckett would have called. Just then, Beckett calls.

At the scene, Hailey Blue is found hanging from a fire escape upside down and one of her own songs is playing on her ipod. Back at the station, the chief tells them that it’s about time they got back; there’s an upset citizen waiting on them. It’s Alexis. She helps them identify the song and the video that was the inspiration for the scene where Hailey’s body was found. The song is about a stalker. She also lets them know that Hailey recently got out of rehab.

Beckett and Castle talk to Hailey’s producers, who paid for her rehab. She was apparently happy to be clean – but there was a problem with her sister. They were also concerned about the stalker and the problems that he had been causing. Beckett gets a lead on the stalker, and they find him (in full Hailey makeup) on a bus.

The stalker at the interrogation tells Beckett and Castle that Hailey knew she was going to die. He believes that her guitarist was following Hailey and was going to kill her. The guitarist has an alibi, that Beckett is going to check out, but he’s quite bitter that Hailey had gone solo but wouldn’t let the band use the name that she owned. Beckett gets a call that Hailey’s sister is at the morgue to id the body.

Skye is causing a disturbance at the morgue. She’s drunk and stabbing the body. Beckett convinces her to calm down. But Skye wants to tell her a secret; she thinks she may have killed her sister. However, she thinks she did it by telling her to drop dead, and she did. Hailey told Skye that they could be a team if Skye would get clean – but Skye saw Hailey with her dealer. The ME said that Hailey was clean at the time of her death. The dealer said that Hailey wanted to buy a gun – not drugs.

Castle goes home to talk to Alexis about Hailey’s death. She points out that the death Hailey is talking about in her final song is metaphorical and allegorical. She was apparently into tarot cards, where the Death card signifies change. Then, the official website of the band says that they’re getting back together and doing a tribute tour in honor of Hailey. They also talk about Hailey’s old manager – the one that she fired and who got her hooked on drugs in the first place. This lights a fire under Castle and he now sees a killer in everyone.

The manager starts talking to Beckett and Castle in the interrogation room. He talks about how he “made” Hailey and her sister. And then he basically dared Beckett to arrest him. Turns out he claims to be Philly when Hailey died, but he called the guitarist the day before Hailey died. They go back to talk to guitarist and find him fighting with Skye. Beckett and Castle pull them apart. The guitarist finally admits that he did talk to the manager. The manager wanted him to get Skye high to help get the band name back from Hailey. The plan didn’t work. He followed Hailey the night she died, and he said that she got a ton of phone calls that night and the caller id read “Death”.

Back at the station, Castle is concerned about Skye and wants to get her help. Beckett tells him that no one can help her until she wants to get help. Then they hear that one of Hailey’s producers bought a special type of lipstick that was used to paint the smile on her face after she died. They go to talk to her, and she admits to calling her the night she died, she saw her that night, and that she offered her drugs. Hailey refused them after fighting with her. They bring her (Mrs. Bush) into the station once Castle finds a bullet hole in the recording studio that matches the type of gun Hailey bought.

Castle can’t stand the idea of Skye out there alone, so Beckett goes to help him find her. They find her just after she’s taken a major hit of dope. Castle goes home to Alexis and they compare Hailey to Lennon. They’re listening to Hailey’s last song, and start really listening closely to the lyrics. Suddenly they believe that they’ve got the wrong killer. Castle calls Beckett.

Turns out that the song talks about betrayal, crossing the threshold, a father figure, and forcing himself, etc. Mrs. Bush’s husband, the other producer, had apparently forced himself on her at some point. She had no one else to talk to, so instead she wrote a song about it. He staged the murder scene to look like the stalker scene in a previous video. He’s now arrested and the wife is filing for divorce.

A candlelight vigil is held and Castle’s family is front row center.

All in all, a very predictable episode. But Nathan Fillion gives it his best! And that’s why we continue to watch!

BTW Sky Blue was played by Erin Foster… http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1634958/

& Hayley Blue was played by Brianna Haynes… http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2698944/

Castle Vampire Weekend S02E06 (ABC)

range — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 07:39:50 +0000

Castle title card via Wikipedia

Anyway, what do I like about Castle? Well it stars an obnoxious, womanizing novelist. Detective Kate Beckett is a closet hottie, played by Stana Katic. Her hotness is kind of hard to explain. The actress is quite hot, but in Castle, she toned it down. She doesn’t wear much makeup and favours a natural look, kind of like “Oh I’m hot, but I could be the girl next door, BTW, FYI, I’m still smoking hot.” That’s how I described her in my mind. She’s kind of got the ex-catwalk model look going for her, which is quite good.

Warning: spoilers ahead

ABC has started to release chapters of Richard Castle’s new book Heat Wave on its website. They are up to chapter 8 and I haven’t started yet, but it’s a pretty cool tie-in to the show.

* * * * *

It’s Halloween and things are going to get crazy. A vampire gets staked. The vampire, Crow, was haunted by the image of a woman. This leads them to investigate an old murder, which is tied to the new one.

* * * * *

Nathan Fillion is dressing up as a space cowboy. There is some nice inside jokes for those of us who like Firefly. He gets a call. Beckett says that Halloween is the worst time for cops. The vic was staked. He also has fangs. He’s got bite marks on his thighs. The fangs are ceramic veneers.

The doc at Phantasmagoria knows the vic. Castle knows the shop. He buys his costumes there. The vic’s name is Crow. They go to Matthew Freeman’s apartment. He was quite and shy. His landlady thought the vampire thing was weird, but not that much. He had a blowout with a girl. They find her. Her name is Mistress Vixen. She’s got a coven. They go to the coven’s next meeting. Vixen says that Matthew was one of her lovers. They were fighting because he was seeing someone else. He was seeing Damon. She says that the graphic novel killed them. They based the graphic novel on someone who is convinced that he’s a vampire. His name is Morgan Lockerby.

They find Matthew’s dad. They need to find Crow’s friend Damon. Beckett doesn’t like making death notices, but she calls him. They go meet his parents. They hadn’t seen him in months. He dropped out of his design school. He called a couple of days ago. He sounded upset.

The prints on the stake match Lockerby’s. The use Crow’s graphic novel to find Lockerby. He’s totally off grid. They find him when he attacks Castle. Lockerby’s skin starts burning in the sunlight. Laney says that he’s got porphyria, an extreme sensitivity to sunlight. They find India ink on the stake. This leads them to Damon once again. India ink is used to letter comics.

Alexis wants to go to a party with seniors. Castle lets her go. Doc Halloway says that the drawings that Crow made are more focused on the woman than Lockerby. Damon was shot. His place was tossed. He was a werewolf. It’s a Halloween costume. He was a graduate student in forensic anthropology. He was killed a couple of hours before Crow. Laney says that it couldn’t have been Morlock, because Damon was killed during the day. The woman in Crow’s drawings are from a body that was murdered a while ago. The research that Damon had in his hidden file had a reconstructed image of that woman. The trouble is that the research dates from 2 years ago. The sketches date from 4 years ago. Crow’s family says that her name was Adora. His sister says that she was his own personal ghost.

Alexis calls Castle. Page’s drink was spiked. Castle comes running. He has to call her parents. She’s drunk.

Esposito says that Damon called the state troopers for info on that dead woman. The forensics say that she was killed 18 years ago with a 9mm. The bullets are a match to the ones that killed Damon. One of the drawings in his portfolio are a match to the tree near the murder site. Beckett runs backgrounds checks on the Freemans. Alan’s original name was McGenty. His 1^st wife went missing 18 years ago. The woman was Crow’s real mother. Crow was killed in the cemetery where his mom was buried. Elizabeth Dryden. Crow brought his father here to confront him about the murder.

They question him. He married his nanny. It’s obvious that it’s not the father. It’s the nanny, or his current wife. Castle makes the leap and brings Mrs. Freeman to Morlock. He ID her. Beckett says that the nanny killed his wife to get the husband. She then killed Damon and Crow to cover up the evidence that they found.

Castle tells Beckett where his fascination with murders came from. He found a dead boy in the Hampton’s. He was his housekeeper’s son. He just punked her.

Page is angry with Alexis. She sabotaged their science project.

Becket punks Castle back at his Halloween party.

* * * * *

Relevant posts

Castle When the Bough Breaks S02E05 (ABC)

range — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 07:26:16 +0000

Castle title card via Wikipedia

Anyway, what do I like about Castle? Well it stars an obnoxious, womanizing novelist. Detective Kate Beckett is a closet hottie, played by Stana Katic. Her hotness is kind of hard to explain. The actress is quite hot, but in Castle, she toned it down. She doesn’t wear much makeup and favours a natural look, kind of like “Oh I’m hot, but I could be the girl next door, BTW, FYI, I’m still smoking hot.” That’s how I described her in my mind. She’s kind of got the ex-catwalk model look going for her, which is quite good.

Warning: spoilers ahead

ABC has started to release chapters of Richard Castle’s new book Heat Wave on its website. They are up to chapter 8 and I haven’t started yet, but it’s a pretty cool tie-in to the show.

* * * * *

A recent Eastern European immigrant was found dead. They are able to trace her ID and this leads them to a strange case that involves a doctor and a child. Castle’s new novel is doing extremely well. An initial offer to do some James Bond books lead to an even bigger one to do more Nikki Heat novels.

* * * * *

Castle’s book agent shows up at his house early in the morning. She’s got some big news. She says that they want him to write three new James Bond books. Beckett calls. Castle doesn’t answer in time. They found a body in side a manhole. She was killed by a BFT. Castle arrives. She’s a Jane Doe. She’s an Eastern European immigrant. They trace this through her dental work. A note was found on her body. It was covered in Polish letters and from a candy wrapper.

The owner recognized the photo. They trace her home. Her name is Aliska Sokol. The super shows them the apartment. The vic hated someone. They find a photo with a woman’s face scratched out.

Martha mentions that if he gets that Bond book deal, he’ll be out of Beckett’s hair since he’ll have to postpone writing another Nikki Heat novel. Martha says that Beckett probably did fine without him. This kind of disturbs Castle. When he arrives at the precinct, Beckett, Ryan and Esposito have already done all of the legwork from the photo they found. They found the park in which it was taken and they are trying to find the woman. Castle’s suggestions are irrelevant. He feels superfluous.

They trace the woman to a building. The building manager says that Aliska worked here in client services. Aliska was fired because of an incident with Mrs. Talbot. The Talbots say that Aliska gave Zane a lollipop. She seemed overly familiar with Zane. Mrs. Talbot mentioned this to the manager, and she didn’t know that she was fired until now.

I think that Zane might be Aliska’s child. Esposito used to be married to Hyek, an abusive ex-husband. He does a runner. They catch him. He ran because his visa expired years ago. They tell her that Aliska is dead. He doesn’t have an alibi. The domestic disturbance was because she wanted to leave him. He didn’t want him to go. He reminded her of their son. He died 3 years ago. He shows them a picture of his family.

The ex-husband’s alibi checks out. The neighbors say that they saw him go to bed. They go back to the building for another canvas. A neighbor saw her arguing with her. The sketch is of Talbot. He says that he was having an affair with Aliska. They met when she was working at a hospital. He tried breaking if off with her, but she wouldn’t. She started getting familiar with Zane, as if she was getting ready to become part of his family. It just got too much. It was a relief when she was fired. Zane and Mrs. Talbot arrive. He’s got an alibi. Someone filed a complaint against Aliska.

Ryan and Esposito go to Heat Wave’s launch. Beckett arrives. The captain is there as well. He says that Castle will be happy to see her. Debra tells him that he got an official offer from the Bond people. The dedication was to Kate Beckett and his friends at the 12^th precinct. They get into a little tiff over Nikki Heat and James Bond. Can someone say sexual tension? The next day, they are still at it. Aliska was seen hanging around a park and talking to a kid. Someone paid her rent after she was dead. A friend picks up her mail every day. It’s Melissa Talbot. They stake out the place and find her going for the mail. It’s not Talbot, it’s the nurse from Talbot’s medical practice. Talbot wanted her to get the checks that he sent Aliska. She recants Talbot’s alibi. He left at 6PM. This means that he could have killed her.

The woman that filed a complaint had a baby at the same time as Aliska. They get the Talbots to the precinct. Aliska swabbed Zane’s mouth. Aliska sent two swabs to a lab in New Jersey. Talbot says that he is sorry. He says that their baby was sick so he switched it for another. Talbot killed Aliska. Zane wasn’t Talbot’s child, he was Aliska’s.

Hayek meets Melissa. He wants to be a part of Zane’s life and Talbot is letting him. This is really messed up. Talbot wants to know about her son who died. He gives her the photo.

Beckett thanks him for his help. They shake hands. Their phones start ringing. Heat Wave is selling novels. He gets a big offer to do three more Nikki Heat novels. Debra already spoke to the mayor. This deal is going through.

* * * * *

Relevant posts

Castle Fool Me Once S02E04 (ABC)

range — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 07:20:31 +0000

Castle title card via Wikipedia

Anyway, what do I like about Castle? Well it stars an obnoxious, womanizing novelist. Detective Kate Beckett is a closet hottie, played by Stana Katic. Her hotness is kind of hard to explain. The actress is quite hot, but in Castle, she toned it down. She doesn’t wear much makeup and favours a natural look, kind of like “Oh I’m hot, but I could be the girl next door, BTW, FYI, I’m still smoking hot.” That’s how I described her in my mind. She’s kind of got the ex-catwalk model look going for her, which is quite good.

Warning: spoilers ahead

ABC has started to release chapters of Richard Castle’s new book Heat Wave on its website. They are up to chapter 8 and I haven’t started yet, but it’s a pretty cool tie-in to the show.

* * * * *

A con man was found dead in his apartment. Strangely enough, he’s been pretending to be an arctic explorer. This wasn’t the only con he was running. He was running more than on at a time. This was another good episode of Castle.

* * * * *

A grade school class is getting a weekly interview with a polar explorer. Someone is behind him. He gets shot. He was faking the whole thing.

Alexis is getting some private lessons from a hot young male model. Castle isn’t happy. Beckett calls him. The guy was in an apartment. In the background, they see something from the Upper West Side.

The teacher Mr. Wheeler tells them that Fletcher pitched the idea to the school board. The school funded the expedition. With the help of other schools, they raised $50K. They’ve ID the building. They find a few passports with different names. He must have been conning different people.

Beckett hasn’t read the book yet. Or at least this is what she tells Castle. Fletcher conned Patty Schultz out of her life savings a year ago. She was committed quite a few times. They get her to the station. She says that she killed with her mind. Steven made her feel safe, even though she is quite the paranoid. That’s quite a feat.

One of Fletcher’s aliases was engaged to Elise Finnegan. She’s worth 100 million. The Finnegans didn’t suspect anything. There is no match on Fletcher’s fingerprints. Fletcher was the overachieving con-man. Beckett leaves because she has got some plans. Beckett has a bottle of wine, gets into the tub for a soak, and reads Heat Wave.

At home, Castle’s paranoia about Dylan, Alexis’ new teacher, doesn’t go over well. This gives Castle an idea. He tells Beckett that Jerry Finnegan might have gone a bit nutty if he discovered that Elise was marrying a con-man. He’s also got a new gun that matches the caliber of the murder weapon. Jerry hired a PI two weeks ago. He learned that Steven was a fraud. He confronted him. He agreed to a pre-nup. They get the photos. It turns out that Wheeler was in on the scam. They have photos of Fletcher and Wheeler meeting 10 days ago, when Fletcher was supposed to be in the arctic. Wheeler says that Fletcher had a partner. It’s Elise Finnegan. Elise says that Fletcher was a CIA spook and Wheeler was his partner. He was killed for his intelligence work.

They meet Agent Grey. He says that Fletcher wasn’t a spook. Alexis drops by the station. She is lived because Castle checked up on Dylan. Beckett offers a wee bit of sympathy when Alexis leaves.

They drop by the Finnegans. They are acting strange. Elise tells them that Fletch is alive. She left him a voicemail recently. They can’t confirm that the body in the morgue is Fletcher. 5 of his cards were used to book tickets. Beckett thinks that Fletcher is going to run away with Elise. They find that Elise has already gone. They find out Elise’s engagement brochure. Each of the guests were going to get one. It looks like the one that he gave to Wheeler. It was designed by Sue. She was the inside woman. The con is still on. Fletch is dead. He really was in love with Elise, so Sue took matters into her own hands. Mrs. Finnegan gives them the address of their bank.

At the bank, Elise just took out 1 million. She hands over the money to Sue, who tries to do a runner. The case is empty. Sue has been had.

Beckett has spent the episode conning Castle. It’s kind of funny to see. Castle apologizes to Alexis and they make up.

* * * * *

Relevant posts

Nathan Fillion é o cara

Krol — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:54:31 +0000

“Castle” começou como uma série que não trazia absolutamente nada de novo e que mesmo as

"Castle" on ABC -- this is good stuff

ronannarbor — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:18:06 +0000

Anyone else watching “Castle” on ABC? It’s snuck up on me, and turned into one of my favorite television shows.

First, the chemistry between stars Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic is palpable. Both are terrific actors in their own right, but together, they sizzle.

Second, the show is so well written — it’s witty and funny; in part a throwback to shows like Hart to Hart and Remington Steele, and in part their smarter, wittier cousin. But the mysteries are fun, and the acting is first-rate across the board. This is a show that is directed with, well, heart.

If you haven’t had a chance to watch the show tune in Monday’s at 10:00. ABC has ordered an entire season, so they appear to be well aware of the growing phenomenon that is “Castle”. Between Glee, FlashForward, and Castle, there is a full fall of well-written and original works.

In the words of Richard Castle…”Best…case…Ev-er…”

Soap Opera Weekly: 9/22/09

joexoth — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:33:38 +0000

Can anyone think of a reason why Nathan Fillion is not one of the biggest stars around? His star vehicle, CASTLE, owes its success entirely to his lead character. This is basically, “MURDER, HE WROTE,” but Fillion (ex-Joey, ONE LIFE TO LIVE) is so charming that the premise doesn’t really matter; it’s just an excuse for Fillion (ex-Mal, FIREFLY) to smirk and deliver the show’s best one-liners. Sure, co-star Stana Katic (ex-Hana, HEROES) gets in her licks as Detective Beckett, and the able supporting cast (including GENERAL HOSPITAL’s former Ian Devlin, Seamus Dever)…er, supports ably, but it’s still Nathan’s show. Take this line from last night’s second-season premiere: Upon discovering a corpse with all its internal organs carved out, Castle declared, “Somebody hated his guts.” Okay, so it’s not a gut-buster or even shockingly original, but it’s damn funny and Fillion delivered it with aplomb. The killer turned out to be… ah, nobody really cares. This series isn’t about the hunt for a killer, it’s about the people hunting for a killer. And the chemistry between Fillion and Molly C. Quinn, who plays Castle’s daughter, Alexis, is fantastic (even if Alexis is just a little too perfect to be believed).

Killing and mayhem and fathers and daughters all figured into the fourth-season premiere of HEROES last night, as well. But most of it was far less compelling than on CASTLE. I love watching Hayden Panettiere and Jack Coleman play out the Claire/Noah father/daughter dynamic. And it was funny that Claire’s roommate from hell was played by a fellow soap vet, DAYS OF OUR LIVES’ Rachel Melvin. I know Claire will get along much better with Gretchen, played by Madeline Zima (Mia, CALIFORNICATION). It was a little hard to judge where the season will go from here because the two-hour block was dedicated to setting the stage for what’s to come. But Robert Knepper (ex-T-bag, PRISON BREAK) has the potential to turn Sam Sullivan into a classic villain. I’m taking a wait-and-see attitude with HEROES — as in, I’m waiting to see what the deal is with that freaky tattoo ink…

Castle: My Take

mendie — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 03:24:48 +0000

When I first started watching Castle last spring I admit I was skeptacle of it’s quirky off-kilter way of looking at crimes and murders. Quirky cops shows hardly ever last, no matter how good they are. Remember Life with Damian Lewis (Band of Brothers) or The Unusuals with Amber Tamblyn (Joan of Arcadia) & Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker)? My point exactly. Two great shows that skewed a little left of normal that were cut down before they even reached their prime. Now do you understand my trepidation? I thought you would. I mean so what if Nathan Fillion has made a name for himself being in everything from One Life To Live to Firefly to Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog. Did it really matter that he had already made a name for himself among the fangeeks with Firefly, Buffy, and Serenity? Yeah I didn’t believe it would matter either, but I could not deny that it was a really good show. Funny, heart warming, light, and puzzling (in a good way). And frankly I honestly believe that if they had cast anyone but Nathan in the role of Richard Castle they would have run the risk of Castle coming off as swarmy and egotisical, instead of the charming guy we have come to know and love.

Of course like every good show there is a possibitly of romance between the two main characters Castle and the lovely, but tough Kate Beckett played to perfection by Stana Katic (Quantum of Solace). Luckily the writers seem to be enjoying themselves playing up the flirtation and friendship side of their relationship than any romance. Which I must admit I am pleased about and I hope they don’t have a romantic relationship, not because they don’t have chemistry, they do, but because too often a show is ruined when the leads get together and I would like to see a male/female relationship that is strong and close without being romantic.

One of the more pleasing and different aspects to this show is that instead of shying away from personal and family lives this show puts a spot light on it. But not in an over bearing way. Come on who among us wouldn’t love to come home and find Susan Sullivan (Dharma and Greg) drinking wine and waxing poetic about being an actress? I have to send major points out to Molly C. Quinn (The Christmas Carol) for holding her own in every scene she has with some major players. Now they could over whelm us with Castle’s family life, but they are keen to keep it level with the on-going mystery of the day. And it is nice to see that a guy who is so often cocky in every aspect of his life is at a complete loss at home.

If I had to make a suggestion for the show’s writers it would only be that I would like to see more of Seamus Dever (Army Wives, GH) as Detective Kevin Ryan and Jon Huartas (Generation Kill) as Detective Javier Esposito. Right now it seems as they are used more as side kicks and I can see their potential for so much more. But other than that I can’t see much worng with the show and I look forward to next Monday. On a side note I am so going to buy Heat Wave and being an avid reader I too will probably read it while relaxing in a bubble bath with a drink to sip on.

Castle - Fool Me Once...

tvduchess — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:51:49 +0000

While I love the reference to Firefly on this week’s episode, the best line of the night came from out beloved Beckett, “Shut the F-ront door!” And Castle’s response “No time for dirty talk.” Perfect! While some people aren’t fans of the procedural crime drama, this one is definitely in a league of its own. Plus, it has Nathan Fillion! Bonus!

This show always puts in a little bit of the private lives of our favorite characters, when most shows refuse. I find the stories regarding Castle’s mother very fun, but alas that can’t be every week.

This time we got to Castle’s daughter new violin teacher. The boring tale of the overprotective father trying to save his teenage daughter from a new male threat. Snooze fest! Of course, the daughter wasn’t trying to hook up with her instructor. But Gram sure was!

The crime tale was slightly interesting, I have to say I am not a fan of the clear cut mystery. Twists and turns are always what make a story more fun. While, it wasn’t a surprise that the teacher was in on the scam (Tsk! Tsk! Anton!), finding out the fiancée is a partner was a little shocking.

I liked the whole CIA sideline, “Thai food is pleasing to the toad.” That agent’s ability to be creepy and spooky was phenomenal! Where did the agent go??? How did he disappear like that?? I have got to learn that trick!!

I love how in a good con movie, the con artist gets conned! But it must happen a lot, but they never expect that they’ll be the ones to get duped. But it almost always happens, heck, it happened to Sawyer on Lost!

The most mysterious part of the episode has to be what is on page 105 of the book? How steamy is it actually? Ugh! Now I’ll have to buy the dang book!

What did YOU think of this week’s episode?

Comment below!

Castle - Inventing the Girl

tvduchess — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:25:30 +0000

It’s Fashion Week and the clothes are to die for! A model is found stabbed in the back in a fountain in the middle of the night – barefoot in couture. Beckett and Castle start with the designer who’s clothes she’s wearing. He says that she (Jenna) was going to be the face of his new campaign. But, she’d been acting strangely lately. He points out her best friend. She mentions Jenna’s husband. They bring the husband to the station, and asks him if he knows of anyone who could have wanted to hurt Jenna. He mentions the reports, and didn’t they read them? Reports? Turns out that Jenna had a stalker and that she had filed at least a dozen reports that the beat cops had ignored. Beckett wants to make good on this for Jenna.

The ME determines that the murder weapon was a glass Washington Monument statue. She also tells them that Jenna had speed in her system, which models use as diet pills. Beckett’s team goes check out one of the rooftops across from Jenna’s apartment, and find a potential stalker. They get a warrant and go into his apartment. In a camera is a sim card that’s been emptied. They find one picture of her, and then the guy comes home. Turns out he’s got an airtight alibi – he was parking cars at a casino in Atlantic City all night.

Jenna’s husband tells Beckett and Castle that Jenna had an argument with a photographer the week before. He also tells them that she never used drugs. They go back to Fashion Week and talk to the photographer, who tells them that yes they argued, but they worked it out and he was willing to reshoot things on his dime. Then the designer announces the new face of the campaign (Jenna’s job) – and it’s the “best friend” Sienna. Another model, Rina, was Alexis’ (Castle’s daughter) babysitter, and so Castle asks her some questions about Sienna. She tells them that Sienna is the “frienemy type” and proceeds to tell them about some of the antics that Sienna has done in the past. The guys show up with the pictures from the sim card, and it turns out that the potential stalker didn’t kill Jenna, but he was the stalker. He was also Sienna’s boyfriend and had nude pictures of her on the card.

They bring in the designer, who is adamant about this not ruining Sienna being the face of his campaign. Then, they talk to Sienna. They tell her that they know she was drugging Jenna to make her look bad to the designer. She tells them that the fight with the photographer was only resolved when Jenna agreed to sleep with him for better shots. Turns out that the photographer lives above the fountain where she was found. They go to his apartment, and he has 2 glass awards shaped like the Washington Monument and one is missing. They also find Jenna’s missing shoes. They bring in the photographer, who tells them that Jenna recorded the conversation on her cell, and when he found out he got angry. He tried to take the phone and she went nuts. She picked up his award and started waving it around. Then she stabbed him in the arm with the heel of one of her shoes. Then she left.

They start to arrest him, but then Beckett realizes that if he killed her, he did a lousy job of cleaning up the mess. So she keeps looking a bit more. She tracks down the cell phone through the GPS, and listens to the recording. It was still recording when Jenna died. They then bring in the killer to get him to confess. It’s her husband. He believes that she was having an affair and that she was going to leave him. It was a crime of passion and he just didn’t realize what he was doing.

Beckett and Castle talk about the fact that although they got their man, they don’t feel good about it. She asks Castle what would Nikki Heat do at the end of a bad day. He says, she’d go home, have a stiff drink, take a hot bath, and read book. She says it’s too bad that she doesn’t have a book to read. He then realizes that she’s been mad at him because the reporter from the Cosmo piece read the Nikki Heat book before she did – and she’s the inspiration. He promises her that she’ll have a copy by tomorrow. On the fun side of things, the two guys that they work with did a little investigating on their own (they called Beckett’s dad) and found out that she did some modeling when she was a teenager. She’s threatened them with death if Castle finds out. (I’m pretty sure that there’s more than the one picture that we saw – and that Castle will be made aware of them soon…)

Castle Inventing the Girl S02E03 (ABC)

range — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 08:59:56 +0000

Castle title card via Wikipedia

Anyway, what do I like about Castle? Well it stars an obnoxious, womanizing novelist. Detective Kate Beckett is a closet hottie, played by Stana Katic. Her hotness is kind of hard to explain. The actress is quite hot, but in Castle, she toned it down. She doesn’t wear much makeup and favours a natural look, kind of like “Oh I’m hot, but I could be the girl next door, BTW, FYI, I’m still smoking hot.” That’s how I described her in my mind. She’s kind of got the ex-catwalk model look going for her, which is quite good.

Warning: spoilers ahead

ABC has started to release chapters of Richard Castle’s new book Heat Wave on its website. They are up to chapter 8 and I haven’t started yet, but it’s a pretty cool tie-in to the show.

* * * * *

A model is found murdered. Castle and Beckett have to investigate to find the killer. It leads them to fashion parties and Castle’s babysitter from years ago, who’s become a model. Different suspects are discovered until it leads them back to the obvious.

This was another good episode of Castle. We also learn that Beckett was a model when she was younger.

* * * * *

A couple is skinny dipping in a fountain. They find a body. Castle is eating breakfast while his mom is practicing her lines. He gets a call from Beckett.

Lanie the ME says that she was stabbed. It’s the cause of death. Castle says that she was a model and going out for fashion week. She was at the party and show of Teddy Farrell, some designer. He says that the DB is Jenna McBoyd. She was a rising star, but a new model. He was thinking of making her the face of his campaign. In recent weeks she became very bad tempered and paranoid. At the party, she was with Sierra her BFF. Castle meets a model he met at some party. He doesn’t remember her.

They talk with Sierra. Jenna left the party at midnight. She’s got a husband named Travis. Sierra says that Jenna was going to be the face of his fashion line. They talk with Travis. He called the cops last night when she didn’t come home. Travis says that they had filed harassment reports, a dozen of them. She had an anonymous stalker. He doesn’t make any threats, which is why the beat cops couldn’t do anything. There are some photos of her from a rooftop taken with a telephoto lens.

Castle’s mom didn’t get the part she wanted, but got the crazy granny that died. Castle called Rina back. Alexis tells him that Rina was his babysitter.

Lanie says that she died between 2 and 5 AM. She fought back and was slapped hard. She reconstructed the weapon. It’s 4-sided by an obelisk-shaped device. Esposito and Ryan find something on the rooftop. Lanie was using some kind of amphetamine to lose weight.

Maybe the guy was getting on the ground floor, stalker-wise.
Castle to Beckett

Beckett is upset after seeing Castle’s fluff piece in Cosmo. She isn’t saying anything to Castle. Esposito and Ryan managed to get a memory card. They got a print and it leads them to Will James. He’s got a sheet. Beckett knows about comp cards. Those are head shots that model agencies give out to find work for models. James walks in and they take him in for questioning. His alibi checks out. He was working at a Casino. It’s iron clad since it involves surveillance footage, he didn’t kill her. Travis says that Jenna had a fight with the photographer. He was the one who was going to shoot her for the campaign. His name is Monroe. He’s got an alibi until 3AM. Sierra gets the campaign spot. This puts her square in the sights of the cops for the murder. She’s got motive. They see Rina at the launch. Rina says that Sierra is mostly a frenemy. Beckett thinks that Sierra might have been slipping Jenna the dope. She’s been known for doing this before. Ryan and Esposito bring that CSU find the photos on James’ memory card. He was her stalker. His girlfriend is Sierra. They have some naked photos of Sierra. James confessed to being hired by Sierra to stalk Jenna. He helped Sierra write the letters and supplies the dope to her. Sierra was trying to pressure Jenna to go back home. They bring her in for questioning. Teddy Farrell isn’t happy. Sierra says that Wyatt sabotaged Jenna’s photo shoot because she didn’t sleep with him. Monroe lives next to the crime scene. Witnesses at the Zack Posen party say that he left at 11:30. He lied about his alibi.

They question him. Castle finds Jenna’s pumps. One of his awards is missing. It’s the murder weapon. He says that Jenna was at his place trying to incriminate him. She left his place after trying to cut him. Beckett doubts that Wyatt is the killer. He seems careless.

Beckett finds out that Jenna bought a cell phone the day she died. She switched on the GPS. They managed to trace it in a dump. She left Wyatt’s place alive. The murder was recorded. It’s put the frame back onto Travis. He was following her around. Travis talked to Sierra about Monroe.

Travis says that Teddy killed her. He wasn’t there. Travis killed her. He confesses. Beckett says that she talked with Teddy. He says that Monroe and Sierra will be blacklisted from the fashion industry. Beckett was upset because a reporter read Heat Wave before her.

Esposito and Ryan found some fashion photos featuring Beckett. She was 17.

Castle invited Rina over. Castle wants to look out for Rina.

* * * * *

Relevant posts

Thumbs Up for Castle

Grammarian — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 05:13:40 +0000

Thumbs up for the television dramedy Castle. The show is about a famous crime novelist who, while suffering from writer’s block after killing off the main character in his hugely successful novels, is approached by Detective Kate Beckett of the NYPD. She asks for his help in catching the copycat killer staging murders based on scenes from his novels. Naturally, once that case is solved, writer Castle (Nathan Fillion) decides that Detective Beckett (Stana Katic) would be the perfect model for the lead character in his new series of novels and receives permission from the NYPD to shadow Kate on the job.

In the 2nd episode of the season, The Double Down, Castle points out that the message left on a murdered woman incorrectly uses your instead of you’re. As a wordsmith, he finds the common error irritating. “I’m just saying, whoever killed her also murdered the English language.”

Later in the show, when Beckett uses the term “against who,” Castle mutters “whom.”

It’s lovely to have a grammarian on television: Monday nights at 10:00 p.m.

Nathan Fillion plays witty and likable Rick Castle.

Castle The Double Down S02E02 (ABC)

range — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:40:42 +0000

Castle title card via Wikipedia

Anyway, what do I like about Castle? Well it stars an obnoxious, womanizing novelist. Detective Kate Beckett is a closet hottie, played by Stana Katic. Her hotness is kind of hard to explain. The actress is quite hot, but in Castle, she toned it down. She doesn’t wear much makeup and favours a natural look, kind of like “Oh I’m hot, but I could be the girl next door, BTW, FYI, I’m still smoking hot.” That’s how I described her in my mind. She’s kind of got the ex-catwalk model look going for her, which is quite good.

Warning: spoilers ahead

ABC has started to release chapters of Richard Castle’s new book Heat Wave on its website. They are up to chapter 8 and I haven’t started yet, but it’s a pretty cool tie-in to the show.

* * * * *

Castle is back for another season. Beckett relents and lets him back on the squad after some groveling. Castle and the other detectives have bets running on who will solve their case first. It turns out that the murders are related, though there seems to be no connection, even though they have physical evidence.

It takes Castle’s and Beckett’s magic in order to solve this case.

* * * * *

It’s pandemonium as usual at the precinct. Castle is having fun while Beckett slowly sips her coffee. Hookers are having a catfight. It’s a full moon. Castle is waiting for a case. They get a call.

Ashley Cosway was a couple’s therapist. The husband found her. She was shot a few times. Her face was covered in text. This implies that a patient killed her. After talking with the husband, they deduce that the therapist knew with whom she was having dinner with.

They have got another DB Uptown. Frank Anderson was a retired teacher. He was shot from behind.

Castle and the other cops make a bet on who solves their respective cases first.

Mrs. Rossi had dinner with Ashley. They were friends. She needed her advice as a lawyer. Something bad happened last Friday. She wanted to know how to get a restraining order. She didn’t say against whom. By running the patient names, they find out that Hal Ross had multiple assaults on his record. He was meeting Ashley at 2PM with his wife on Friday. Ross says that it was the appointment before his. A guy was swearing at Cosway fierce. Evan Hinkel had that appointment. Another cop wants in on the betting action. Esposito told her about the bet.

Kinkel canceled his appointment an hour before seeing Cosway. Cosway was going to have lunch with her husband instead. So this means that she was screaming at her husband. Beckett finds out that Ashley’s husband Jason was making a scene at a restaurant.

Beckett finds out about the betting pool. She isn’t happy about this. The husband took out a 3 million life insurance policy last month. Beckett says that she’s betting a 100 on them. They get Jason in for questioning. Jason is being evasive about his alibi. They don’t have enough evidence. Beckett is getting a warrant. Esposito and Ryan find him on the footage of the game since he was seated right behind the bench of the players. It’s an airtight alibi.

Alexis has trouble with her boyfriend.

The ME calls all detectives. They think that both cases are connected. Both victims had direct contact with the same body of water. Frank was murdered by the same person as Ashley. The salt water fish tank sent salt into the air. Anyone spending time in her office would have trace amounts on them. Frank had some. It was a transfer from the killer. They interview the families again. Frank’s daughter recognizes one of the names on the patient list: Grovner. He was involved with Frank in some incident at a school. School security had to get involved.

Ashley testified against Grovner for child abuse. He got 5 years. He was just released. Grovner has got an ankle band with GPS on his foot. He can’t leave his home.

Alexis’ problems with her boyfriend Owen are explained. He’s got a weird stalker. She knew of Owen from a girl who went to camp with him and pretended that she went there as well. It was staged.

The water sample from the fish tank didn’t match. It was another body of water. Castle has an idea. He thinks that Jason and Eric committed each others murders. The murders are connected, not the victims.

Castle and Beckett question Jason again. His alibi doesn’t really stand up. He gives them a clue without knowing. They found the body of water. The Hudson River. Both Eric and Jason take the water taxi together. The water samples match.

The detectives use an age-old interrogation tactic by pitting one suspect against the other. Eric was the weak link. They told him that Jason broke and copped a plea. Eric confesses that Jason planned everything.

* * * * *

Relevant posts

Castle Deep in Death S02E01 (ABC)

range — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:35:37 +0000

Castle title card via Wikipedia

Anyway, what do I like about Castle? Well it stars an obnoxious, womanizing novelist. Detective Kate Beckett is a closet hottie, played by Stana Katic. Her hotness is kind of hard to explain. The actress is quite hot, but in Castle, she toned it down. She doesn’t wear much makeup and favours a natural look, kind of like “Oh I’m hot, but I could be the girl next door, BTW, FYI, I’m still smoking hot.” That’s how I described her in my mind. She’s kind of got the ex-catwalk model look going for her, which is quite good.

Warning: spoilers ahead

* * * * *

Castle is back for another season. Beckett relents and lets him back on the squad after some groveling. Castle was investigating Beckett’s mom’s murder. The killer was never found and he did so against her wishes. Still, the old team is back together solving crimes.

* * * * *

Castle is taking some promo shots for his next bestseller. Beckett is getting interviewed. Her captain makes sure that she cooperates fully. The reporter tags along when they snag a case. Beckett is pissed at Castle for looking into her mother’s case.

They arrive at the crime scene. Beckett sends Castle away to the morgue when he gets annoying. The reporter tags along with Castle. The ME is also pissed at him. She’s Beckett’s friend. Castle says that three other people died the same way as Beckett’s mom. While they are riding in the van, they get ambushed. Masked dudes in body armor and with some assault rifles take the body and leave. Beckett relents and allows Castle to work the case with her.

They do the death notice. The deceased was an insurance agent. He was at a training session in Albuquerque. One of the guys that John fired named Max kept phoning nights.

Castle comes home. His daughter Alexis was worried.

They question Max. They learn that John was fired at the same time as Max. They found his body again. They harvested all of his organs. He was a drug mule. He came from Mexico. He was applying for jobs. They didn’t find any prints, but Beckett has the brilliant idea of dusting the inside of the glove they found at the scene. They get a hit: Luther Whitehead, busted twice for possession and conspiracy to distribute.

They storm his place and find the organs with dope. They get a deal because they didn’t kill him. He was vetted by Ron Bigby, a trader. He points them to some poker game in Chinatown. Castle asks a few writer friends to get him into the game. They don’t recommend it. The Russians play dirty.

Castle is going undercover and he’s got a wire. Beckett and the cops think that it’s a bad idea, but it’s the only one they got. There are a lot or Russians with tattoos. All Russians mobsters have got tats. Castle doesn’t follow the plan and takes $20K to a table. The cops use the video feed to ID the killer. The ligature marks on John Allen’s neck were peculiar. They match a Russian with a prosthetic finger. Beckett is going to go in. Beckett makes herself even sexier by changing into a skimpy dress. Castle doesn’t know this, but he’s going to meet the killer. He pulls a gun and is about to kill Castle when Beckett arrives all sexy as a distraction. She manhandles him they make the arrest.

After the case is closed, Castle tries to make his play but it falls on deaf ears. Beckett tells him that she isn’t ready to face her mother’s killer and to see him walk off with a deal in his pocket. She tells him that they had a deal to work on this case together and now their partnership is over.

Back home, Alexis’ boy trouble makes Castle realize what he should have said to Beckett. He should have apologized. He goes to apologize to her in person and leaves. She tells him to come back tomorrow.

* * * * *

Relevant posts

Heat Wave By Richard Castle

range — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:36:42 +0000

If you like Castle, the ABC show with Nathan Fillion and delicious Stana Katic, then head on over to the official site of the show. You’ll find Richard Castle’s novel Heat Wave, featuring Nikki Heat, the character based on Stana Katic’s character Beckett. A new chapter is posted each week.

Castle - Deep in Death

tvduchess — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:28:29 +0000

Apparently, Castle is up to his old tricks and Beckett is not taking it any more. The show opens with her going to her boss and telling him that she refuses to work with him anymore. At the same time, he’s being interviewed for a NY magazine and telling the reporter about how he personally has been responsible for assisting the NYPD in solving several high profile murders. Beckett’s ready to kill – especially since he broke his promise to her and started investigating her mother’s murder.

Just as the photo-shoot at the precinct is finishing up, Beckett gets a call about a homicide. Castle and the reporter are now coming, too. The other guys in the squad are taking bets on if Beckett’s either going to kill Castle or if she’s going to let him come back and work with them. She makes Castle a deal. He can work this one last case, but no tricks and no pulling strings to get back with the team, and maybe she’ll consider it.

They get to the crime scene and find the victim’s body in a tree. He’s been strangled and the cash is gone from his wallet. They figure that he’s been thrown from the building, but he was already dead. Beckett decides that Castle and the reporter are to go with the ME and the body to the morgue, while the rest of the team search the neighborhood for witnesses. While in the car, the ME is giving Castle the cold shoulder out of loyalty to Beckett – until he mentions some of what’s he found. It could prove that there’s a serial killer involved in her mother’s killing. But just then the car is rammed from behind, and guys with ski masks come and steal the body of the murder victim. Castle and the ME look at each other and go “huh?”

Now Beckett and Castle have to go to the victim’s wife and explain about the murder and see if she may know anything about it. She said he just got back from a business trip and that everything was good. He was a loving husband and father. About six months ago, he had to lay off a bunch of employees at the office and one of them kept calling and harassing him – but other than that, there was nothing she could think of. Then she asked if she could see the body. We next see Beckett and Castle in the hallway and Beckett says, “Well that was awkward.”

They interrogate the former co-worker who had been harassing the victim, and it turns out that he (the victim) had been laid off more than 6 months ago from work. The family was heavily in credit card debt and doesn’t even know it. The business trip was a fake. Then, the body is found – gutted. They find rubber gloves nearby and end up finding a fingerprint from the inside of it. They track that guy down and he’s a drug runner. The victim was heavily into poker debt to Russian mobsters in Chinatown and was running drugs for these guys to pay off his debts. He ended up keeping some of the money for his family – and that’s what got him killed.

Castle then heads off to his own poker game and ends up getting assistance from Stephen J. Cannell on how to get into one of those secret games in Chinatown. He was a wire and a camera and sits at a table with scary Russian guys, and proceeds to tell them exactly why he’s there. Beckett, listening from a van outside, can’t believe it. She also knows what the Russians are saying (because she spent a summer in Kiev during college). She then pretends to be Castle’s Russian good luck charm and insists on being let into the room – even promising the guards a good time if they’ll let her in. When the killer goes after Castle, she gets there just in time to save him and sends him out for backup.

Later, Castle’s daughter finds him typing in the apartment and is confused. “Is it over with Detective Beckett now?” “Yes, I screwed it up.” She then tells him how her boyfriend was supposed to take her to see Fame, but blew her off to play video games and didn’t bother to call or apologize. “Why do guys do that and think it’s ok?” Castle gets up and heads to the station. He finds Beckett at her desk and proceeds to apologize for being an idiot in doing the one thing that she asked him not to. She explained to him why she didn’t want to open up her mother’s case once again. And then, as he was leaving, she told him to show up for work the next day.

TDL: Stana Katic

littlelostsunny — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 01:24:53 +0000

I decided that I was officially really and truly most definitely no questions asked gay in March of 2007. This coincided with my discovery of Brandi Carlile who there was no question made me gay gay gay. I had undeniable attraction a plenty to that woman and I wanted to kiss her and marry her–in no particular order. And then in September of 2007 I saw this movie called “Feast of Love,” which featured Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear, Selma Blair and some other people. It was an awful movie. BUT… Stana Katic was in it… literally for like one minute tops.

That was enough for me. I re-watched the trailer a million times to see her for like five seconds. She played a lesbian in that movie–the eventual girlfriend to Selma Blair. And she was sooooooo sexy and if I didn’t know I was gay before then–well I certainly was afterwards.

This quote gives me hope…

“We rehearsed our love scene quite a bit … in a private room together … We both looked at the bed, looked at each other and walked into the room and went at it.”

Stana Katic, discussing her love scene with Selma Blair in Feast of Love, to Steppin’ Out.

She’s in this show called “Castle” now with Nathan Fillion of “Firefly” “fame.”

The show looks bad, but the season premiere is tonight and I might watch it just to see her face for an hour.

Oh Stana. Te amo.

Castle Returns with New Mysteries & Old Flames

Tiffany Vogt — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:35:58 +0000

After wooing fans with its delicious blend of witty banter between the world renown mystery novelist, Richard Castle (handsomely and humorously portrayed by Nathan Fillion, best known as Captain Malcolm Reynolds to Firefly fans) and the no-nonsense, by-the-book Detective Kate Beckett (played by the sleek and stunning Stana Katic), Castle makes its second season debut on September 21st.

To provide a quick reintroduction and mini-recap of the first season, Richard Castle was recruited by the New York Police Department to assist in an investigation after a copy-cat murderer staged a scene to resemble one from Castle’s books. After successfully solving that crime, Castle was intrigued by the opportunity to participate in solving real-life crimes and inspired by Beckett herself as a muse to cure his writer’s block. Thus, Castle made an unusual proposal that he would offer his services gratis in order to continue shadowing Beckett in her other cases – a notion quickly accepted by the police captain, a golfing/poker buddy of Castle’s. Much to Beckett’s amazement and dismay, their tag-team approach works exceptionally well with Beckett approaching crimes from the police viewpoint and Castle approaching them from the perpetrator stand-point. Coming at the problem from two different angles has proven to be the key to solving their weekly crimes.

Continue reading article at:

http://nicegirlstv.com/2009/09/21/castle-returns-with-new-mysteries-old-flames/