Castle: Veritas

By Michael Seese

Brrrrr!

Tuesday night there was a chill in our house. We watched "Veritas," and any episode which features Senator Bracken sends shivers down my spine.

Need I say... SPOILERS!

You don't realize how much backstory this arc encompasses until they say, Previously on Castle..." and you have enough time before the show starts to earn a college degree. OK, maybe not that much, but...

I didn't take a whole lot of notes. I just thought that overall, it was a really good episode, and one which -- we can ASSUME -- has closed the books on Senator Bracken. Now, they can get married without the fear of death hanging over their heads. But as we saw from the previews, it's always something.

A few noteworthy points.

I thought there were a lot of tight camera angles -- for example in the alley at the scene of the (first) murder and in the precinct after the gang was arrested -- used for effective dramatic effect.

I enjoyed the bit where Gates spoke with Ryan and Esposito; it was good to see that despite her by-the-books mentality, she clearly was on their side.

A nice touch: Castle meeting with (fugitive) Beckett on a swing set... perhaps the same one where he proposed?

And of course, the scene in the motel where the baddies tried to set up Beckett's "suicide" was spectacular. I wondered aloud how Castle would ride in an save the day. Kudos to my wife for opining that Beckett never swallowed the pill.

Small picky aside #1: Admittedly, Beckett had been liquored up and clocked on the head. Still, I was surprised she put the extra rounds in the second bad guy. To be certain, she didn't want him to get away. But he was worth more to her alive than dead.

Small picky aside #2: Sure, it was a no-tell motel. But gunshots went unnoticed???

Finally picky aside #3: If the bad guys were trying to frame Beckett for killing Vulcan Simmons, why did they pick up the shell casings and remove all but one bullet? I mean, it's not as though her legal defense could have been, "I couldn't be the killer. I would have covered my tracks better."

There weren't all that many funny lines. The two I liked the most were:

Beckett: "Bracken's firewalling himself."

Beckett: "I need to be put on this case."
Gates (the delivery was noteworthy):" I know. But you can't be."

Feel free to share your thoughts on "Veritas." 

So, until the wedding...