Castle: "Under The Influence"

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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