Castle: Bad Santa

by Michael Seese

We finally managed to catch the end of "Kill Switch" before this week's show. Look for the review tomorrow. On to the present, there sure were a lot of moving parts to "Bad Santa." And before I go any further...

SPOILERS! LOTS!

I enjoyed this episode. Somewhat like "Kill Switch," where Esposito was the focus, it was nice to see Castle step out a bit and take the lead. Which (SPOILER!!!) foreshadowed the ending, and (based on the previews) at least one future episode. 

On occasion, Castle has been known to be jittery when flying solo. But I thought he maintained good composure in the face of Dino who, despite calling him a friend, is a mob boss after all. Dino was a great character, and I hope we do see him again when Castle has to cash in his favor.

But THE character of "Bad Santa" was Rita, the mob's tech guru. In fact, I enjoyed her so much that I'll start the "lines" with hers.

Castle: "Stolen credit cards? Why would he want those?"
Rita: "So he could buy things without paying for them." (Implied "duh!" followed by Castle's look.)

Rita: "Only because I don't want to sleep alone on Christmas."

Other greats:

Beckett: "What word rhymes with I'm screwed?"

Beckett: "I could write you a haiku."
Castle: "That's against the rules."
Beckett: "Since when do you follow the rules?"
Castle: "Since I made them."

Pissy aside: Once again, Time Warner Cable saw fit to fail to tell my DVR when to start recording. As such, we missed untold seconds at the start; we knew that Beckett had to write something, but didn't learn it was the Christmas card until the very end.

Castle: "Squeezing down countless chimneys. Delivering millions of presents in one night. It was bound to happen. Santa finally cracked."

Tech aside: I liked the reference to the Hitch app. How au courant.

Castle: "Field trip to a strip club!"

Beckett: "REALLY?" (When the stripper walked past Castle and ran a hand across his back.)

Beckett: "Castle, this just sounds like an epitaph."

Beckett: "So you believe Dino because he gave you a paper cut?"

Dino: "I don't like that word."

Dino: "I'm processing this news."

Picky aside: Even though Castle would have been caught off guard when Dino pulled the gun, you'd think he would have had the presence to say (more or less) what he said to Beckett. "Dino! My wife, the cop, and all my friends, the cops, know I'm here."

Castle: "Mafia 2.0"

And the kiss on the Castle's cheeks, courtesy of Rocco, was a great touch.

Also, I would be remiss if I failed to mention that the sub-plot with Lanie presenting Espo as her fiance was great. The first scene, where she lured him down to her lab and then dropped the bomb, was just overall fun in terms of lines, looks, and body language.

Lanie: "My parents kind of think we're engaged."
Esposito: "Why do they think that?"

The interactions with her parents were hilarious. Then the ending was sweet.

And I would be a horrible reviewer if I failed to say, "WOW! What an ending!" I never saw that coming, though based on Captain Gates's description of what happened to Detective McBride and the discovery that Castle had been involved with organized crime figures, it made perfect sense. I expect his exile to last two weeks, three max, just like Beckett's Washington DC job.

How long do you think we'll see "Castle  P.I.?"