Castle 4.10: "Cuffed"
Dec. 5th, 2011 10:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icepixieHere's what my reaction to this episode was going to look like up until, oh, forty minutes into the episode:
This...is good. It's really good. Is this even Castle? Because I would've expected this a couple years ago, but lately it hasn't been this good. Win! I love how they're updating screwball comedy tropes; this is reading a little like The Thin Man meets The 39 Steps. (Tangent: Now I really, really really want the AU where Castle and Beckett are solving mysteries and getting drunk in the 1930s like Nick and Nora Charles, only this time it's Beckett who's the former detective who married Castle's money.) Even the lighting in Castle and Beckett's hidey-hole is kind of Hitchcockian, as things are obviously lighted for high contrast like a black and white movie. There's also plenty of sparky screwball dialogue and poking fun at the things you can't do on network TV, much as the comedies they're referencing bounced off the Hays Code. There was also a dancing reference in the "why don't you let me lead"/"why do you step on my toes" exchange, which can't be coincidental.
It's also put together very well on a narrative level. The connections between the various storylines might be a little too on the nose (Ryan and Jenny's road trip as a relationship test, Esposito's description of the canoe trip he and Lainey obviously took at some point, circling vs. straight line, cut to Castle and Beckett walking in circles), but I'd rather they be too obvious about pointing out the connections than there be no connections to point out, so I'm cool with it.
Even C&B commenting oh-so-casually on how Lainey and Esposito obviously want to be together but won't admit it, hyuk hyuk, who else do we know like that, went over okay because the old movies they were referencing all over the place were pretty cheesy like that too.
About the only thing I don't like is Castle bitching about Beckett always going first. As she explains, she's the one with the gun, of course she's going to go first. Grrrr.
Now. Here is my reaction as of the forty-minute mark:
OMG WTF IS THAT A TIGER???
I just...I...I don't even know what to do with that. Well, aside from thinking it's a really, really bad attempt at a Bringing Up Baby reference to go along with the other homages to old comedies and mystery movies. Was there a crack pipe going around the writers' room when they came up with this?
I don't know, y'all, apparently I can deal with Elvis impersonators on this show (even if that was their worst episode ever), but not tigers. I wasn't sure Castle had a "this is too cracky even for you" line, but apparently they do, and this pole vaulted over it.
On the other hand, I was pissed about Castle wanting to lead when he obviously shouldn't be, when they make a big deal about how he's going to be the first to investigate the other room, he GETS A TIGER IN HIS FACE. So...perhaps that cured him of his stupid ideas of not letting the experienced--and armed--detective do her job? 'Cause I could get behind the ridiculousness of the tiger if it does that. (Even if the problem itself felt very manufactured, because Castle's not actually that much of an idiot and he knows better than to get between Kate and imminent danger...but anyway...)
This...is good. It's really good. Is this even Castle? Because I would've expected this a couple years ago, but lately it hasn't been this good. Win! I love how they're updating screwball comedy tropes; this is reading a little like The Thin Man meets The 39 Steps. (Tangent: Now I really, really really want the AU where Castle and Beckett are solving mysteries and getting drunk in the 1930s like Nick and Nora Charles, only this time it's Beckett who's the former detective who married Castle's money.) Even the lighting in Castle and Beckett's hidey-hole is kind of Hitchcockian, as things are obviously lighted for high contrast like a black and white movie. There's also plenty of sparky screwball dialogue and poking fun at the things you can't do on network TV, much as the comedies they're referencing bounced off the Hays Code. There was also a dancing reference in the "why don't you let me lead"/"why do you step on my toes" exchange, which can't be coincidental.
It's also put together very well on a narrative level. The connections between the various storylines might be a little too on the nose (Ryan and Jenny's road trip as a relationship test, Esposito's description of the canoe trip he and Lainey obviously took at some point, circling vs. straight line, cut to Castle and Beckett walking in circles), but I'd rather they be too obvious about pointing out the connections than there be no connections to point out, so I'm cool with it.
Even C&B commenting oh-so-casually on how Lainey and Esposito obviously want to be together but won't admit it, hyuk hyuk, who else do we know like that, went over okay because the old movies they were referencing all over the place were pretty cheesy like that too.
About the only thing I don't like is Castle bitching about Beckett always going first. As she explains, she's the one with the gun, of course she's going to go first. Grrrr.
Now. Here is my reaction as of the forty-minute mark:
OMG WTF IS THAT A TIGER???
I just...I...I don't even know what to do with that. Well, aside from thinking it's a really, really bad attempt at a Bringing Up Baby reference to go along with the other homages to old comedies and mystery movies. Was there a crack pipe going around the writers' room when they came up with this?
I don't know, y'all, apparently I can deal with Elvis impersonators on this show (even if that was their worst episode ever), but not tigers. I wasn't sure Castle had a "this is too cracky even for you" line, but apparently they do, and this pole vaulted over it.
On the other hand, I was pissed about Castle wanting to lead when he obviously shouldn't be, when they make a big deal about how he's going to be the first to investigate the other room, he GETS A TIGER IN HIS FACE. So...perhaps that cured him of his stupid ideas of not letting the experienced--and armed--detective do her job? 'Cause I could get behind the ridiculousness of the tiger if it does that. (Even if the problem itself felt very manufactured, because Castle's not actually that much of an idiot and he knows better than to get between Kate and imminent danger...but anyway...)
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no subject
Date: 2011-12-07 04:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-07 04:41 am (UTC)Perhaps this should be the tagline for this episode.
I wish they'd gone the Criminal Minds route of really creepy old lady serial killer.
I was thinking they would do something like that--or, you know, something that did not involve a tiger--and it would've been so much better, yes.
(BTW, please tell me I was not the only one who thought the Skeevy Texans were totally ripped off from the "Home" episode of TXF?)
no subject
Date: 2011-12-11 04:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-11 07:05 pm (UTC)Yay, it wasn't just me!
Also, creepy people are far creepier when there aren't illegal tigers in the basement e.g. humans are horrific enough we don't need gimmicks!
This.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-11 12:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-11 07:02 pm (UTC)It did at least have the virtue of keeping my attention, yes...
(Oh, Castle. You were so good! What happened?)
no subject
Date: 2011-12-11 07:39 pm (UTC)I'd blame a run-out gimmick, but... no! This is just stupidity!