Apartment Pants

Castle - season 4 finale & other musings

I’m still new to Castle. I started from the beginning a few months ago, and got caught up literally the day the season 4 finale aired (yesterday). And I fully admit that it took me until really late in season 2 to fully appreciate the show. I actually told several people that I had no idea what all the fuss was about because while I immediately saw the appeal in several secondary characters, I really didn’t see anything special in Castle or Beckett. Thankfully I was wrong. But regardless, I feel like I haven’t yet earned a place in its fandom.

And as stupid as that sounds, I do mean “earned.” There’s something to be said for watching a show for years. TV is important to me, and characters on TV shows are important to me. When I watch a show each week for several years in a row, everything takes on deeper meaning. Shows become a part of my life. Characters become like friends and family. So as much as I find myself liking Castle, I’d feel like a fake if I tried to act the way I do about Grey’s or FNL or any other show that I’ve watched since the beginning.

I guess this rambling is all just a disclaimer of sorts; a long way of putting into context everything I’m about to say. Which is that yesterday’s finale was so freakin great. So unexpectedly emotional. Not that I didn’t expect it to be emotional, but I didn’t think it would be that emotional.

• Castle’s reaction when Beckett says she’ll watch those movies with him.
• Holding hands.
• Castle’s speech, no PLEA, to Beckett not to continue the case.
• Beckett’s outrage at how patronizing Castle was being.
• Beckett screaming Castle’s name as she hung on for dear life.
• Beckett resigning.
• Beckett sitting in the rain alone on the swing.
• “You.”
• That first kiss.
• Castle putting his hand on her scar.

Not to mention all the other moments. Esposito’s fierce and unflinching loyalty to Beckett. Ryan’s personal code and adherence to the rules that saved Beckett’s life but may have cost him Esposito’s trust and friendship. Alexis’s graduation speech and seeing her uncertain and scared about the future.

The one thing that’s been most consistent for me since the beginning of the show is how fantastic the supporting characters are. Lanie is my absolute favorite, Ryan and Esposito are perfect, and Martha is also perfect.

But I am now, finally, fully invested in Castle and Beckett. I mean, there have been some episodes I’ve adored them in, and I think they’ve got great chemistry so I’ve loosely shipped them for awhile. But after this finale, I’m going to be devastated if season 5 starts and they aren’t together. I was pleasantly surprised at how great Nathan Fillion was at conveying all Castle’s pent up emotions. The love and respect and frustration and terror he was feeling was written all over his face. And I was downright floored at how good Stana Katic was. Of all the characters, me practically in tears because of something Beckett said or did was the most unexpected.

My only complaint is that they should have picked a different song to play during the episode than Andrew Belle’s “In My Veins.” Which sounds stupid, but that was the song Grey’s used when Derek got shot. And Grey’s isn’t exactly a cult show with a small following. There are so many songs out there, I just think Castle could have chosen one that isn’t already associated with an emotional scene on another TV show.

Anyway, I can’t wait for September and Caskett and season 5!

Castle, “Kick the Ballistics” (4x4):  permanent addition to my list of favorite episodes.  So freakin good.  Seamus Dever is fantastic.

Castle - season 3 finale

Holy hell, what an awesome finale.  All the intensity and urgency and emotion I could ever want in a cop procedural, and a great confession/cliff-hanger for season 4.  Brilliant.  

This show has grown on me so much.  It took me a long time, honestly until midway through season 3, for me to really get there, but I totally get it now.  It’s probably never going to be one of the shows I’m most passionate about, but that’s okay.  

Instead, I’ll talk about all my favorite Castle things:

• How the supporting cast is virtually flawless - I adore Lanie, Ryan, Esposito, Martha, and Montgomery (OMG his replacement has big shoes to fill; I have a feeling it’s going to take me awhile to like whoever will take his place).  They’re all fantastic, and I love every scene they’re in.  The supporting cast is probably my single most favorite thing about this show.
• How everyone, including Castle and Beckett, knows that Castle and Beckett are in love with each other.  I appreciate that no one tries to pretend that Castle and Beckett are blind to it all,which would be ridiculous.  It adds emotional depth to some scenes, and it makes for some amusing moments in other scenes.  
• My feelings ebb and flow with regard to Castle and Beckett themselves, but I definitely like both of them, and there are moments of utter perfection.  
• I’m not a huge fan of Alexis but I like her relationship with Castle at this point in the series, and now that she’s seventeen I can more easily believe a lot of what comes out of her mouth.
• I love how the cases of the week often turn out in surprising ways; it keeps me on my toes.
• I know this is a really small thing, but I like that the characters talk about why Beckett wears such high heels - without mention, it would be ludicrous, but because I know the reason for it, I’m okay with it.
• The cameos by Patterson, Connelly, Lehane, etc.  That’s pretty fuckin great.
• Other than this finale, the two-episode bomb in NYC storyline (season 3) and the one about Esposito’s old partner (season 2) are my favorite episodes.

And now on to season 4!!

A Lanie appreciation post

OMFG I LOVE LANIE.  Where’s she been all my life?!  I also love that now I finally know what people are talking about when they say Lanie is like the audience.  It’s so fucking true!!  I’m watching that episode in season 2 where Alyssa Milano guest stars and I LOVE how Lanie almost rolls her eyeballs right out of her head and literally shouts at Beckett (and then talks to a dead guy) when Beckett is so oblivious about what’s going on between her and Castle.  Seriously, Lanie is the best.  

Castle guest stars

Just finished Castle season 1, and one of my favorite things about it is how so many guest stars are characters from Grey’s.  And when they’re not from Grey’s, they’re probably from other shows I love:

• Sarah Drew (April Kepner on Grey’s) - crazy chick who killed her best friend and shoved her in a dryer.
• Caterina Scorsone (Amelia on Private Practice, but who was first on Grey’s) - daughter whose mom was murdered.
• The woman who was the wife of the guy with an unexploded bomb in his chest on Grey’s - burned woman considered dead for like 20 years.
• The woman who was the girlfriend of the guy who had to get a silicone implant in his chest on Grey’s - reporter interviewing Castle as he had his photo taken at the police station with some girls dressed in slutty cop uniforms.
• Bailey Chase (Penelope Garcia’s date who tried to kill her on Criminal Minds) - Beckett’s ex-boyfriend.  (No wonder I didn’t like him the second I saw him; he tried to kill one of my favorite characters!!)
• Judy Reyes (Carla on Scrubs) - the woman who kidnapped her own child to avoid having to give her husband alimony and joint custody in a divorce.
• Francis Capra (Weevil on Veronica Mars) - the biological father of the kid adopted by Judy Reyes’s character.

Hours later:  now I’m in season 2, and who just popped up, but Melissa Hastings from Pretty Little Liars.  As a model.  Lol.  

I finally started Castle

I’ve watched the first three episodes, and so far I’m not sure what all the hype is about.  I mean, I’m interested enough to keep watching, definitely.  Plus, I’ve heard that the first season is not its best season, and it’s been recommended to me by multiple people whose TV tastes are a lot like mine.

So I’m not trying to shit on anyone’s favorite show or OTP here.  I’m more just genuinely wondering what I’m missing.  Is it just that I have to wait until season 2 for it to get really good?  If so, I’m willing to do that (best example of a show that didn’t get good until season two but God was it worth the wait:  Parks and Recreation).

To be fair, I’ve already come leaps and bounds on my thoughts on Castle’s character.  About 20 minutes into the pilot I was like, oooh noooo.  His voice bugged me (like Alec Baldwin’s low, throaty thing, but annoying), his talking out of the side of his mouth was distracting in a bad way, and he was just way too cocky and full of himself in a not-endearing way.  But I almost never think pilots are great, and even those that are, are rarely indicative of the series as a whole.  And just as I hoped, Castle was much less annoying in the subsequent two episodes.  I am getting used to his voice, and I don’t feel like the writers/directors are shoving him in my face so much.  I also appreciate his relationship with his daughter.  Now, the daughter herself I have issues with, which I’ll get to in a second, but I appreciate that Castle clearly loves her and isn’t a terrible father.

As for Beckett, I have a very high bar for lady cops, created by Olivia Benson, Emily Prentiss, Lydia Adams, and Debra Morgan.  In the pilot I thought she was nothing but a cliched character that the directors didn’t trust enough to show any subtlety or nuance.  For instance, when Castle was psychoanalyzing why she became a cop, her reaction was just so fucking over the top.  The lips pressed together, the repeated swallowing, the shifting of her body in her chair, and averting her eyes.  She needed only one of those things to convey her reaction.  However, I also saw flashes of something.  Stana Katic seemed like she was capable of SO MUCH MORE than her character allowed.  So she intrigued me.  And now after three episodes, I’m kind of moving in the opposite direction - her character is getting more interesting (I love how easily she lies to people, and how she pinches Castle’s nose or ear when she is annoyed at him), but Stana’s acting is… uneven.  Does it just take her a bit to settle in?  I feel like there’s so much potential but it’s not being utilized.

I do flat out love Castle’s mom.  Her “graydar”!  

As for his daughter, I get that she’s supposed to be wise beyond her years, but I think her dialogue reflects writers who do not know kids at all.  No kid would behave like she does. Practically sobbing and grounding herself for a week because she once didn’t pay for the subway even though she paid double the next time??  Maybe if she was like eight years old, but a 15-year-old?!  Puh-lease.  If she was really like an adult trapped in a kid’s body she’d realize her “crime” was so minor that no one would care.  I don’t think SHE would waste time beating herself up over it.  I do like her and Castle’s relationship.  A lot even.  I am just hoping that her character gets smoothed out.

Okay, well on with episode 4.  And lol, after writing all this, I just know e4 will change my mind on everything.