Castle: The Way of the Ninja

By Michael Seese

This was a pretty decent episode. Though Castle's typical outlandish theory was not as implausible as those in "The Fast And The Furriest" or "Undead Again," his insistence that the murderer followed "The Way of the Ninja" drew plenty of scoffs and eye rolls from Beckett. 

Many episodes do not start with the murder; this one led off with a wicked kill, a knife sailing through the air (replete with a whish-whish-whish sound) and impaling a young woman's chest. Otherwise, the only other standout scene (IMHO) was the ninja fight at the end. 

But overall, I thought it was a very lighthearted and humorous offering. 

We were treated to the recurring change-up, the presence of Medical Examiner Perlmutter. As I've said before, I think he offers a nice contrast to Lanie. And I always enjoy his barely-contained disdain of Castle.

"What you don't know about post-mortem analysis could fill a book, Mr. Castle. In fact, it has. Numerous times."

Quick aside: since Lanie wasn't in the show, neither was "lividity."

We also had the obligatory reference to the victim's mental state of late; in this case, her dance partner noted that she had been "showing up distracted."

There were not a whole lot of great lines.

#1. Castle: "Not that any self-respecting ninja would be caught on camera."

#2. Not so much the line itself, but I laughed out loud when Castle raised his hand, and Ryan "called on" him: "Yes, Castle."

#2.5. Castle's reference to the "flying dagger of doom."


And the look was Castle's "what just happened" when the ninja slipped in, and stole the knife out of his hands. They kept the mood going when he sheepishly told Beckett, "A ninja stole the murder weapon." Then they capped it with Castle's appreciative, "Yeah!"

That's about it. Even though this review didn't gush, as I stated, I did enjoy it.

Feel free to share your thoughts on "The Way Of The Ninja."