Castle: The Greater Good

By Michael Seese

Um...

OK, "The Greater Good" was not my favorite installment in the Castle firmament. I have said in the past that I appreciate episodes which expand the lives of the other characters, which "The Greater Good" did. Unfortunately, I thought "The Greater Good" ultimately was unraveled by a completely implausible motive for murder.

Did I need to write "The Greater Good" three times in the preceding paragraph? No. Did the writers need to have someone say it three times in the show? No. But they did.

Anyway, I thought that Penny Johnson Jerald -- Captain Gates -- did a really nice job, both in the scenes with her sister, as well as those in which she talked to Beckett about her sister. The ending, naturally, was touchy-feely. But that's OK.

Quick aside #1: Lanie was back this week, and as such, so was "lividity."

Quick aside #2: True to form, everything had been hunky-dory for the victim, until he started seeming "stressed" because "something happened at work."

Quick aside #3: Even the victim's boss got in on the act. "Pete was a rising star. His clients loved him. But..."

Quick aside #4: From what I read online, the receptionist at JP Harding is the real-life sister of Penny Johnson Jerald. 

Picky aside: A six-digit numeric password? Come on. Banks force you to use letters, numbers, special characters, and hieroglyphics.

There were a lot of good lines and looks.

Castle: "Talk about an appropriate, if not slightly on the nose, metaphor."
Beckett: "Castle. I love you. But I will not marry you on a ride, or up in space, or on slide." (Especially funny since Castle also did suggest outer space.)
Castle: "I'll bet Dr. Seuss got married somewhere fun." 

Beckett: "Wait. He has an island? We should invite him to the wedding."

Castle: "Hairy's my middle name. That sounded a lot better in my head."

Nunez: "Who did this?"
Castle: "We were thinking you... might... be able to... help us."

And the two best looks:

Beckett and Castle when Elizabeth stormed past. "Let's not put her on the list."

Beckett's and Castle's despair when Martha said she needed to fetch her guest list.

Oh well. Until next week.