By Michael Seese
This was my least favorite episode of the young season. I can appreciate that the writers want to shake things up by putting the leads into new locales. But as I've said at least once before, I really consider New York City to be one of the characters. So if you take the show out of the city, it loses something. That's why "Murder He Wrote" left me lukewarm. 
Still, there were many good elements worth mentioning.
Four standout scenes come to mind. The first was the gang's inquisition of Beckett as they sought her boyfriend's identity; you just knew Castle couldn't resist lobbing a beach ball like, "A boyfriend, Beckett? Really?" Also noteworthy was Castle's and Beckett's back-and-forth as they realized that Franklin was the meth king of the Hamptons. Another was Ryan's interrogation of Aaron Lerner, especially the way he ratcheted up the intensity as he drew closer to cracking, not the case, but the Castle-Beckett romance. (Nit-pick: why wasn't Esposito on the other side of the one-way glass providing a second set of eyes and ears? They ALWAYS do that.) Finally, there was the speakerphone conversation between Castle (with Beckett listening in) and Ryan, where the two of them came to the dreadful realization that Ryan knew.
I also love how Castle's Ferrari has become the currency for favors from the boys, as in "Headhunters" last season.
The ending, likewise, was a nice surprise. As was the case with the episodes "Til Death Do Us Part" and "A Deadly Game," the killer was someone who was not even on the radar, but popped up at the last minute.
My two favorite lines were:
Castle: "Call 911."
Beckett: "Really?"
and
"Suspects tend to hold back on stuff like that," said by Castle to Chief Brady, in reference to the affair between Franklin and Natalia Roosevelt.
There were very few "looks." The best was Esposito's quizzical eyebrow arch as Castle and Beckett went their separate ways after the "boyfriend" discussion.
What did you think? Feel free to share your thoughts.
Monday's show (which we actually watched within one day) was a good, keep-you-guessing episode.They even pulled a little "fast one" right at the beginning. Knowing the episode was about a lothario, I assumed that the "pineapple guy" chatting up the girl in the first scene was soon to be the victim. But then a body falls out of the sky. Surprise!The plot reminded me of a previous episode, "A Deadly Game." Castle starts speculating that the victim was a spy. Beckett doesn't buy it. But as the evidence mounts, she is forced to admit that it's a possibility. Then, we learn he's a pick-up artist, rather than an international man of mystery. But by the end -- whoops! -- he is a spy, of sorts.In many episodes, the murderer turns about to be someone who had been called in for questioning, dismissed, and then later nabbed after a critical piece of information comes to light. But in this case, the killer wasn't even a suspect until the very end. (Which also is what happened in "A Deadly Game.") And, they managed to hook me by having Whatever-Her-First-Name-Was Franklin (the red-haired lawyer) look really worried as they walked in to bust the blonde. Also, though they didn't really build up a lot of tension about Ryan finding out about Jenny's past, you knew it would somehow come out. But rather than having it blow up (as Beckett, Castle, and Esposito thought it would) Ryan de-fused that bomb. Interesting.I loved the scene where the victim's two womanizing buddies were brought in for questioning. The split conversation -- in which they seemed to finish each other's answers -- was terrific. And I couldn't help but smile at the terms they tossed out from their pick-up dictionary. "Slip her the butter" and "Wax her car" (Or whatever.)And of course, there were lots of "looks." Especially notable were the looks all around the table when Ryan announced that Lanie would be bringing a date and, later, the look on Ryan's face the first time Esposito was talking to him and waving a doughnut. Feel free to share your thoughts on this episode.
