Castle 4.01: "Rise" and Warehouse 13 3.10: "Insatiable"

[icepixie]

Castle

Hmmm. Well, the first three-quarters were better than I expected, but the last fifteen minutes were disappointment after disappointment.

First, the good:

I liked that (at least for a while) they let whether Beckett really remembered Castle's words or not be ambiguous. Between the conversations in the hospital and on the swings, I felt it was reasonably obvious that she remembered, and that Castle knew she remembered but was lying about it, and both of them had a tacit agreement not to bring it up again until they unraveled the conspiracy. However, there was a little mystery left because neither of them admitted this out loud, and Beckett in fact denied everything. Subtlety. It's a good thing. (Joel and Maggie did this all the time on Northern Exposure, so as I'm currently experiencing an NX renaissance, I may just be especially pleased by seeing this kind of thing here.)

They handled the time jump about as well as they could; if they'd spent the entire episode in the immediate aftermath of Beckett's shooting, she would've been unconscious in a hospital bed rather than running around investigating, so hey, three months, whatever.

Gates is a reasonably believable hardass. She doesn't have some kind of unreasonable vendetta against any of the Fab Four; she just thought Castle was annoying, and she doesn't give the rest of them much leeway because she doesn't know them yet. She's kind of like a stonier version of pilot-era Montgomery. (Though I hope she doesn't turn out to be part of the conspiracy. That would stretch believability just a bit too far.)

Re: Beckett and her psychological wall she has to tear down: I do like this particular roadblock on the journey toward Castle and Beckett resolving their UST. Josh and Gina felt manufactured for that one purpose; this is actually growing from Beckett's character. I especially like that she said she had to tear down this wall [/Reagan impersonation] so she could rediscover herself, which coincidentally means she can't be with Castle anyone until she puts the case behind her, instead of jumping straight to the romantic angle.

Martha's hair looks even more amazing than usual this season.

Now the bad:

Well, that last scene sure ended any ambiguity about Beckett's memory! Dammit, where's your faith in your audience, Marlowe?

Castle is making a terrible decision not to tell Beckett about that phone call. First of all, it's damn cruel to not tell her hey, you don't need to be looking over your shoulder for another bullet every moment. Good Christ. Second, he thinks he can steer her away from working on her mother's case, and do so apparently indefinitely? SERIOUSLY?

...On the other hand, this is exactly the kind of terrible decision Castle would make, and at least Martha tried to talk some sense into him. Personally, I wish she had got her mom on and ordered him to tell Beckett, or done it herself, but at least there was some kind of protest. Just...ugh.

The fair-to-middling:

Josh. So the guy gets the most lines he's ever had in an episode, and then...Beckett dumps him offscreen, mentions it once, he's never referred to again. Sure, I never liked him, but damn. That's kind of harsh.




Warehouse 13

W13 was fun again! The past couple have just felt very blah, largely because I DO NOT CARE about this season's arc, not one tiny bit, and they were all about it. But this had zombies, and Claudia thinking the fortune teller from Big was going to kill her (and also joining a band, awww!), and Pete and Myka and Artie being fun and goofy! Also the dog being adorable! And Leena being useful to the plot instead of getting shafted like she usually does!

ALSO IN TWO WEEKS THERE IS HG!!!

Comments

[singer-shaper.livejournal.com]

And Leena being useful to the plot instead of getting shafted like she usually does!

After re-watching some of the first-season eps, I'm still waiting for her to be put to more use. I'm also looking forward to seeing what Sasha Roiz is going to offer Steve.

What's HG supposed to be doing in 2 weeks?

[icepixie]

What's HG supposed to be doing in 2 weeks?

I'm not totally up on my spoilers, but I've heard that they discover her working as a teacher by the name of Emily Lake in Wyoming. I don't know if she's escaped from the Regents, if they wiped her memory and stuck her there, or what's going on, but I am hoping for femslashy moments!

[rensong.livejournal.com]

Yeah, not really a bad season premier but I wasn't as impressed as I have been in the past. Castle going all broody when Kate's back was turned kind of irritated me, too.

I do, however, rather like the new captain - and I was kind of eating up how she made Ryan and Esposito squirm. Instant distrust of Kate's therapist, but I think that's just a knee-jerk reaction to the actor and his creepy calm soothing voice.

[serendipityxxi.livejournal.com]

Re the therapist: No I'm willing to lay bets he's on the bad guys' side. (I say this completely spoiler free btw so no worries there)

[rensong.livejournal.com]

Glad to know it wasn't just me. :)

[icepixie]

Castle going all broody when Kate's back was turned kind of irritated me, too.

Yeah, not at all a fan of that.

I like the new captain as well, or at least I don't dislike her. BTW, did you know she played Kasidy Yates on DS9? I didn't even recognize her.

Instant distrust of Kate's therapist, but I think that's just a knee-jerk reaction to the actor and his creepy calm soothing voice.

And apparently HE is Michael Dorn, aka Worf! Hah, now I know why I, too, had an instant distrusting reaction to him. I never liked Worf. But yeah, I think he's probably meant to be not all good, especially given that they had their therapy session basically in the dark, which was weird.

[rensong.livejournal.com]

She did look familiar, but I think she played (or plays) the wife of a mainish character on some other show I watch... NCIS maybe? I saw a whole two episodes of DS9, and one of those was the Tribble flashback. :)

Ah-ha! Knew he looked familiar! And again, glad it wasn't just me. :D

[serendipityxxi.livejournal.com]

I agree with your good, bad and fair-to-middling on Castle. I also have to give the wardrobe and makeup dept props for 1. having Beckett actually look like hell after the shooting and 2. sticking her in all those sweaters because I imagine she'd be cold all the time while recovering. The writers also get a huge gold star for having her freeze up when that perp levelled the gun at her the first time. They've really been making an effort at making Beckett less infallible/more human lately and I think that's really made a difference in my appreciation of the show.

[icepixie]

The writers also get a huge gold star for having her freeze up when that perp levelled the gun at her the first time.

I liked the idea of having her freeze up, but it was weird--it wasn't like she saw the gun that shot her, so why freeze up at the sight of another gun? Hmm.

[serendipityxxi.livejournal.com]

I'm fanwaving it away with it was the danger of the situation that triggered it not the actual gun (or the very much not dangerous looking kid who was holding it on her)

[graycardinal]

My problem with Gates (and for those downthread, she evidently played a significant character on 24, a series I never watched) is that while she's believable as a hardass, she is emphatically not believable as an incompetent hardass -- which she pretty much has to be if she has (a) not noticed after three months that her entire lead case squad has mutinied and is disobeying her direct orders by continuing to investigate the Beckett murder/conspiracy case, or (b) is aware of the mutiny yet has failed to bust said case squad all the way down to parking-meter patrol for said disobedience (and, not coincidentally, making her look like an idiot).

I also have issues with the growing nonsense that is the supposed Evil Conspiracy surrounding this whole series of murders. Going by this week's episode, Montgomery's death did nothing to derail it (at least not in the immediate term), as all his "friend" has done is to immediately re-instate the preceding status quo. The longer this spins out, the less competent the Evil Mastermind looks, and the harder it becomes for the writers to keep inventing and juggling believable new McGuffins.

Fortunately for us viewers, Fillion and Katic are more than good enough at their roles to keep us invested in the characters for the moment. But I'm worried that the writers will eventually force them to try and sell the idea that Castle and Beckett are much dumber than we're prepared to believe when it comes to their relationship issues.

[icepixie]

Didn't she just take Esposito and Ryan off Beckett's case like, days before Beckett came back, though? I thought they said she told them to quit pretty recently.

I gave up on understanding the conspiracy about halfway through last season. I like those episodes because they often lead to interesting emotional things for the characters, but as far as I'm concerned, they could be investigating who stole Miss Muffett's tuffett and I would be just as happy and clueless about what's going on.

[fallingtowers.livejournal.com]

I share most of your opinions on the Castle season premiere - I rather like Captain Gates as the new boss, and I fervently hope that she is not part of the conspiracy. (I also hope with equal fervour that their conspiracy arc will end up making at least a tad more sense than that on The X-Files, for obvious reasons.)

And I really wouldn't want to be in Castle's shows when Kate finds out that he lied to her and made such a monumental decision behind her back...

[icepixie]

I also hope with equal fervour that their conspiracy arc will end up making at least a tad more sense than that on The X-Files, for obvious reasons.

SO MUCH THIS. Although honestly, I've already given up on most of it making sense. I'm just glad that unlike XF, understanding the show in its entirety doesn't depend on understanding the conspiracy.

And I really wouldn't want to be in Castle's shows when Kate finds out that he lied to her and made such a monumental decision behind her back...

Yyyyyep...