Castle: "Secret's Safe with Me"

By Michael Seese

I hate being more than a week behind in my Castle-watching. If I had known that kids would get in the way ...

I could write this show! Midway through -- when Castle and Beckett went back to Anjelica's to confront her about the insurance fraud -- I said out loud, "The butler did it." And I was right! Castle was even gracious enough to use my exact words. Then, when they went to commercial I said, "Why commit the fraud? Just sell the $4 million bracelet for $4 million, and pay off your debts." And when they returned, what did Beckett ask Anjelica?

Overall, though, this was a mixed episode. There were a lot of good points. The homage to "Da Vinci Code" was a great way to start. 

In my writing, I enjoy throwing in pop culture references. (Did I mention I could have written this one?) 
 
I thought it was hilarious when Captain Gates turned into a giddy child when she saw the "Gemini" doll, and then became a fawning fan of Castle, the author. And I love the quirky characters they throw in. Last week, it was the makeup artists; this week, it was the you-store-it owner who looked at the victim's picture and said, really drolly, "She was a lot less bloody when I saw her."

My primary complaint was the plethora of plot implausibilities, some bordering on deux ex machina. Castle and Beckett wanted the contents of storage unit 317. A lot. Obviously, so did Felix. A lot. They didn't think to question him right then? Really? Wendell was able to take a photo of an artificial eye fragment and actually find the owner? Really? And then poor Wendell just happened to use the subway station which happened to have out-of-order cameras, allowing Kirby the butler to shove him in front of the train? Oh, and no one standing on the platform saw it? Really?

Oh well.

As always, much of the dialog had me in stitches.

Castle: "I learned so much," in reference to the time he and Alexis had "the talk."

Castle: "Mother used her Jedi mind tricks on me." (See pop culture reference comment above.)

Lanie: "Oh, you are in trouble." (After Beckett busted him rummaging through her desk.)
Castle: "I'm not in trouble." (Hangs up.)

Castle: "I'm a best-selling author. Why wouldn't I have two grand in my pocket?"

Castle: "I think my hand's getting sweaty."
Beckett: "I know. It's kind of gross."

And the capper, which was 50% a "look."

Beckett: "Take your hand off your tool."
Ryan & Esposito: (snicker)
Beckett: "Shut up."

My other favorite look was Castle's raised eyebrow when Beckett did not disavow her "kinky past."

Hopefully we will get to "Murder He Wrote"(I think that's next) sooner than next Tuesday night. 

PS: You'll notice I added some photos...thumbs up or thumbs down?

Reading 'Riting & Research

One of the aspects of writing that I truly enjoy is the research. I really do like getting my facts straight. Looking at it from a positive side, if I toss out an interesting and intriguing tidbit, it might prompt a reader to do some research as well, and learn something in the process. Looking at it from the paranoid side, I maintain this lingering fear that if I blatantly fabricate something--even if it's a really obscure factoid--someone, somewhere will say, "That's not how it works!"

That's one of the reasons that I admire Dan Brown. Whether or not you like his novels, you have to appreciate the amount of research that went into in Da Vinci Code and more so into Angels & Demons. When reading the latter, I pictured the author walking the streets of Rome, head down, looking for obscure, ancient markings in the sidewalk. It's staggering, if you really stop to analyze it.

Likewise, in one of the short stories of my book-in-progress No Strings Attached, the main character has a skydiving equipment malfunction. (I don't think I'm giving anything away; it's revealed on page 2 or so.) So I did a little basic research:

- At what altitude does a skydiver jump from a plane?
- How far and for how long does one fall before pulling the rip cord?
- If the parachute fails, how long does it take to hit ground?

Not exactly in the same ballpark as Mr. Brown's work. But you get the idea.

And sometimes, I learn something...interesting.

In a previous post, I wrote about a short story that I just completed, "Never Mind The Nonsense, Here’s The Sex Truncheons." The name, of course, is a play on the Sex Pistols. I wanted to come up with a weapon that was appropriate for Victorian-era London. Then it hit me (pun intended) that London Bobbies were famous for not carrying guns, but rather batons. So I turned to Wikipedia, and learned that a truncheon or baton also is called a cosh, Paddy wacker, billystick, billy club, nightstick, sap, blackjack, stick.

That kind of sheds new light on the old nursery rhyme...

This old man, he played one,
He played knick-knack on my thumb;
Knick-knack paddywhack,
Give a dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home.

...doesn't it?