By Michael Seese
I felt a little lukewarm about "Under The Influence." Why? Because there was very little Castle, as the writers decided to expand Esposito's character. Understand, I think that's a good thing. Otherwise, as I have said before, the show becomes Two Stars (and everybody else). But, the downside is that there was less Castle-Beckett interplay.
Still, I'm glad they did it.
There were a few good lines:
MC Thug: " 'Or else' usually is enough!"
Ryan: "Artful Dodger. Or Artful DJ."
Castle: "Oooh! Nicely played!"
And I can think of one good look: Lanie's glare when Castle said (of her discovery that a Chinese restaurant may be involved), "Narrowing it down to every single block in Manhattan."
Really, though, the show belonged to Espo.
We got to see his tough side when he walked solo into enemy territory -- Shane's hangout -- took out his mountain of a bodyguard, and sat down to talk.
We got to see his smart side when he recorded his interview with Shane, got him to admit that he would sell Joey out, and then showed the video to Joey.
And we got to see his edgy side when he paid a final visit to Shane and laid two guns on the table.
We even got to see some humor: (To Ryan) "Come on fanboy, let's go."
My main complaint about this episode came from the scene where Castle and Beckett interviewed Regina Cane. If I may jump into the "WABAC Machine" for a minute, I didn't watch many episodes of Law & Order. But I recall one in which the detectives needed to interview the alibi of the primary suspect. We meet this fellow as he is walking out the front door of his stately club, sweater tied over his shoulders, talking backward to the detectives following behind him. Eventually, one of the detectives asked, "Do you know anyone who could commit such a crime?" And he replied, "No, and I hope I never meet him." He then drove off. And I remember thinking, Well, I'm glad you decided that the police were done talking to you. Regina pulled the same stunt when she replaced her eye shades and went back to bed. Normally, Beckett would have grabbed her ankle and had her @ss on the floor!
Oh well.
Feel free to share your thoughts.
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I could get used to writing something about "Castle" each week.
I enjoyed this week's episode. Of course. I liked that this show built upon a previous one, and that the story arc is still not finished, one would assume. I'm not saying a show should be a complete serial, like "Twin Peaks" or "Lost." But having one or two continuing threads keeps the viewer on his toes.
It was nice to see the focus on Ryan. Too many shows devolve into The Star(s), and the spare parts.
At one point, Ryan tells Beckett about the dumbest thing he ever had done as a cop: he had called out the name of a narc informant in the middle of the squad room, which at the time was full of busted drug dealers. Five minutes later, Beckett reveals the name of the undercover cop (he went by "Seth;" I forget the detective's real name) to Mr. Lee, head of a crime family. What's up with that? Careless mistake? Or was she setting him up?
On the downside, they did something that I had seen on several episodes of "Law & Order," which always made me shake my head way back when. In the L&O episode I'm thinking of, the police find a woman who has been tortured to within an inch of death. She's alive, but she's not yet able to talk to them. So they question her ex-husband. His alibi is that he was with a buddy at some high-society fundraiser. The next scene shows (we assume, then learn) the buddy walking out of his swank tennis club, talking back over his shoulder to the police officers. "Yeah, he was with me that night until around 2:00 a.m. Blah, blah, blah." As he gets into his car, one of the officers asks, "Do you know who could have done this?" "No," he says. "And I hope I never meet him. He sounds like one sick bastard." And then he drives off. And I remember thinking, "Well, I see you have decided that the police are done. I hope they feel the same way." The same thing happened on "Castle." At some point, the bar owner says, "You can wait for Seth. I've got to get to work." And then he walks away.
Finally, I liked the surprise ending. If I can some day convince someone that it's worth it to publish "Tarantulas On Leashes," "Swarm Summer Nights," Udopia,"and especially No Strings Attached, you'll see what I mean.
We got to see his smart side when he recorded his interview with Shane, got him to admit that he would sell Joey out, and then showed the video to Joey.