Castle: Last Action Hero

by Michael Seese

Sorry about going out of order. Last Monday, something delayed "Dancing With The Stars" (or whatever flotsam comes before that) by 15 minutes. The upstart is that Kill Switch didn't start until 10:15, and therefore our recording ended rather abruptly, since Time Warner Cable couldn't be bothered to tell our DVR to wait. (We tried to watch the end on ABC.com last night, but it kept hanging; we'll get to it.) They also lopped off an untold amount from the beginning of this week's show... thanks a lot, TWC.

So for now you're stuck with my thoughts on Last Action Hero. Since Kill Switch was pretty dark, I assumed this week's episode would be light-hearted. And it certainly was.

On more than one occasion, Castle looked like the kid next in line to sit on Santa's lap: when watching "Hard Kill" with the boys; when he visited the set of The Indestructibles; when Brock asked him to join them for a few drinks; and of course, on "the mission."

Picky aside: they didn't need Castle to join them. He could have said, "It's a blue Cobra with the number 52 on the side."

I thought they staged the mission so well. The slow-motion hero walk, complete with the background explosion. (Which caused Castle to flinch, natch.) The code names whispered into the communicator bracelets. And the split-screen with voice-over, a technique similar to that used at the end of Hunt.

A great bit-within-the-bit was Brock getting ready to kick in Booth's door, before Castle stopped him and said, "Always check."

And I thought it was a neat idea to have Beckett listen to the purloined recording on headphones (all the while saying, "Oh my God!") to keep the whodunit a secret for a bit longer.

I nearly filled my notes page with lines before the first commercial break.

Castle: "This man was a Lethal Weapon." (I wondered how many action movie references there would be. I found a few more.)

Castle: "...a brilliant, but buxom, archeologist."

Castle: "I was raised by a single mother. Hard Kill was my bro time."
Ryan: "That explains so much."

Castle: "I had her poster on my wall..." (Beckett's withering glance) "...for about... a... minute."

Beckett: "This is so cheesy."
Castle: "And by cheesy, she means amazing."

Beckett: "Because a B-movie actor in a kimono said so?"

Esposito: "You keep working on that, bro."
Ryan: "Time to pay the bill for doin' the kill"
Esposito: "On second thought, don't."

Beckett: "Despite this deeply personal betrayal, we still have a murder to solve."

Castle: "My opinion is not affected by her skimpy outfit."

Beckett: "You don't always have to keep talking."

The best look (other than the aforementioned Santa's lap joy) was Castle's dejection when he learned that Lance DeLorca was not an operative, but rather a "goat herder in the Pyrenees."

A few quick hits:

"Earology."

"Raiders Of The Nubian Temple."

"ISIS militant #12."

So what are your thoughts on Last Action Hero? Any other great funnies I missed?