castle: s02 e05 when the bough breaks

This one was very sweet. And so, so sad.

A girl is found dead, and the trail leads to her ex husband who says she left him because he reminded her too much of their dead son. They find out that she'd just lost her job at a high-end hotel / apartment place because of showing too much interest in a Doctor's kid. As they investigate, they find out that her baby and the Doctor's baby and the baby of someone else that she'd been reported for showing too much interest in two years before had all been born in the same hospital on the same day, and all were boys. The doctor switched his own sick baby for this poor immigrant lady's healthy one, and when the sick baby she thought was her's died, she made it her mission to find out what happened-- and it led to her death. It's sad because it's a horrible thing to go through.

Meanwhile, the Heat Wave book launch means the deal with the police is done, and Castle and Beckett keep butting heads over it-- he's got an offer to relaunch 'a certain British spy' and wants to take it, but doesn't want to leave Beckett; she thinks he wants her to tell him to do it, and has this image of not wanting to put up with him anymore, so she keeps insisting that she'll be fine and even relieved to see him go. This hurts his feelings because he likes working with her and thinks he's been more use than that, and hurt feelings make him snarky. Snarkiness makes her angry, and so she's insisting more firmly that he's just in the way. And so on and so forth until the case is solved and they have to part ways. And they're very civil about it. They both have things to say, you can see it in the awkward way they both keep almost saying things and then not doing so, but they shake on it and prepare to go their separate ways. It's sad because they like each other (though it's probably not at a capital-L level yet, though his agent saw how he was looking at her and told him to get it over with already), and they're both misinterpreting the situation, but neither will just admit that they want to stay together.

So, sad all around.

But in the end of the case, they get the kid's read dad (the dead woman's ex husband) and his supposed-mom (the doctor's wife, now effectively widowed by his life imprisonment for murder) together so he can meet his actual son and tell her about her actual son. And my head immediately gave them a shared-trauma-leads-to-unlikely-love happily ever after. And Becett and Castle get simultaneous calls from their bosses informing them that Nikki Heat is through the roof and they want three more books, and so they're still together whether they want to or not-- which causes anger and consternation that's really there to cover up relief.

Yay! They're still a team! It looked almost like they were actually going to split them up and make me suffer through episodes where they're doing separate things and have to work their way back together after only five episodes.

I really liked this ep. I love how Castle and Beckett are gravitating toward each other mostly against their own better judgement. And I like how their snarking covers the fact that they actually do respect each other and are starting to blur into something like a real friendship with tinges of the sexual tension that was always there. I think they can go far. People like tension in their TV shows, sure, but I don't think it has to be chaste forever-- remember Remington Steele? This could totally go that way: no actual consummation, but the occasional making out, the embroilment of emotions, and the constant reminder that she's in a dangerous line of work and he's not quite trustworthy. Maybe that's why I like this show so much-- it's like RS, and there hasn't been something like that since it went off the air. Most things that try to walk that line wind up in Moonlighting land where there's too much snark, too much fighting, and not enough love and deepening respect. I think this show is good-hearted enough to walk the line and avoid Moonlighting hell.

castle: s02 e01

The full review, as before, is on Examiner, and, also as before, I'll give the less professional reactions to the episode here, and follow with actual reviews later.

- I love Nathan Fillion. Seriously. He's got that quality that I really love in an actor, where he can switch gears in no time flat: silly and flirty to sudden recognition of his own wrongdoing? No problem. Serious as a heart attack to goofy and charming? Easy peasy. He's all over the emotional depth, and I adore watching him. This show would be boring without him, and I'm glad he gets to keep it.

- Stana Katic does uptight and self-righteous very well, but there's that edge of fun that she doesn't need for the part, but it's presence makes Beckett more interesting, like she's repressing a much more fun self that she's decided isn't useful. She comes across as smart enough to keep up with Castle, bold enough to run a team, and sure enough to know who she is and where her morality lies-- and to follow up on that when it's not necessary, like when Castle gets himself in trouble. Which he does whether she's mad at him or not.

- The crime drama could have been a little more forefront, but it's the second season, and they're allowed to loosen up a little. Just don't go all Bones-Season-4, where the crime is hardly even there, when it's supposed to be the purpose of their partnership.

- I like that he's a writer, and that he's actually seen writing. This is good. And it's good that when he's shown writing, it's just him on a computer, and nothing fancy, because that's how writing actually is.

- Alexis needs something to do. She's just uniformly sweet and unintentionally insightful, and there's got to be something else. I don't want her to go down the troubled-teen path (every teen on TV does that), but it'd be nice if she got to be somewhere other than the house, got to be involved in something, got to have a life of her own where she can be more interesting. She should be a pillar of society, since her dad is such a child most of the time.

- And the cops-- I don't even remember their names. They need to be fleshed out, too. Characters, back stories, events in their own lives. I like them, but they're just sort of a greek chorus of snarkiness now, and I'd like them to have stories of their own.

- Over all, it's a good start to the season, though, and I'm glad they didn't draw out the issue of Castle being exiled from the team. It's the partnership that makes the show work, and when they're separate, there's really no reason for them to be in one show.