By Michael Seese
Nope. Not a sign of the Fonz or water skis.
"Need To Know" felt a lot like your "typical" Castle. Intriguing plot twists, lots and lots of lines and looks, a suspect who is written off and then is revealed to be the killer, and not one--but two--surprises at the end.
I loved the opening scene. Castle and Beckett, lying there, enjoying pillow talk. Then the camera pulls back, and we learn that they're (literally) miles apart, conversing via smart phone. Nice!
Which leads us to a great line / look.
Beckett: "Do you know what my favorite position is?"
Castle raises his head expectantly.
Her answer, of course, was "In person."
I also liked the side story which revealed that Ryan was a closet fan of the 80s teen show, "2 Cool 4 School." It reminded me of Captain Gates, and her obsession with the Gemini Dolls. As I said in that post, it's nice when they fill out the characters, and give them real quirks, those like the rest of us have. (So says the Rick Springfield fan.)
And, that particular schtick gave rise to most of the great lines.
Castle: "A former child star getting the book. Hoisted on his own petard. Hung out to dry."
Ryan: "That was a very nuanced performance."
Ryan: "You know what I don't get?"
Esposito: "You're wearing that hat. There's a lot you don't get."
Castle: "It's like Romeo and Juliet. With a nerdy Romeo."
Esposito: "And a smoking hot Juliet."
And a few one-offs...
Castle: "I don't know if I'm smelling a compost bin, or my daughter's rotting ambition."
Perlmutter: "Mister Castle, you're back. But not by popular demand."
Beckett: "Castle, you're not going to Castle me on this."
Castle: "This place could be teeming with bloodthirsty Cossacks."
IF YOU DON'T WANT THE ULTIMATE SPOILER, STOP READING NOW.
The last scene totally caught me off guard. I didn't see it coming. But once Castle turned serious and told Beckett he wanted to talk about "them," I knew he was going to say he was moving to DC. "I can write from anywhere." Where have I heard that before? Oh yeah...MY BLOG.
Then...
I guess the government shutdown has impacted the AG Office, as they've obviously let their HR department go. That's my snide way of saying my only gripe was that McCord would not have been the one to fire Beckett. But I'll forgive them.
Feel free to share your thoughts on "Need To Know."
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?
