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.

the mentalist: s02 e04

Jane vs bikers is fun, and Lisbon totally not being intimidated by said bikers is fun, but the story itself was kind meh. Not horrible, but not all that interesting, either. The chick with the brother wasn't all that likable or relatable, the wife was dull, the dead husband was nasty... I don't know, I sort of feel like a case ought to have someone I can root for.

Other than Jane.

Of note this ep: Rigsby's dad was a biker, and that's why he doesn't like bikers. Lisbon is still putting up with Jane, no matter what he does. No progress with Van Pelt, but she's pretty kick ass on the road.

bones: s05 eo5 a night at the bones museum

This is the moment when the whole rest of the cast ruins my life. Or, you know, breaks my brain.

Because right before that, we had progress, people. This is why I love the episodes where one of the other of them has an outside romantic interest-- hackles go up, defenses close down, eyes go green, and then in the end, it forces movement on the thinning line between them. And I squeed so much my eyes were bleeding like this week's second body.

The main story was about an ancient Egyptian mummy and how excited Bones is to find new anthropological evidence on who it is and what happened in his life, solving a 3000 year old crime and bringing justice in such a way that the museum holds a banquet in her honor. And it's about how the mummy was used in the murder of the scientist in charge of the study on him, and another scientist that couldn't handle the prospect of the riches he could gain by the secrets she uncovers in her examination. There was more of the in-house paranoia like a few seasons ago when scientists turned up dead. But you know what? They talked through that one then, and there was no need to say it all over again-- they just all knew that one of their own was dead and the crime needed to be solved.

Meanwhile, Daisy's back, and she and Bones find common ground with the mummy. And Booth's boss thinks Bones is hot and asks her out, which puts Booth on edge and on the defensive, and he keeps insisting that it's because he doesn't want her messing around with his boss, but we all know better-- including Angela, who says as much, flat out, and that's why I love this show. It's like real life here: everyone can see what's going on except the two of them.

Anyway, Bones doesn't get it, and goes out on the date, and talks about Booth, which he'd asked her not to do, and when he finds out about it, he's hurt, and she can't understand why, until he doesn't quite say that he shares more with her than he does with anyone else, but even she, with her near-total lack of social skills figures that one out. And in the end, she takes Booth to the gala instead of AD Hacker, and there's a Moment, where they're being honest with each other for the first time all episode, and each thing they say brings them closer together, and he sort of ducks his head and she sort of tilter her chin up... and then everyone walks in and I die of deferred fandom. Not quite as bad as that scene in the first X-Files movie (nothing has been that bad, ship-wise), but it was such a perfect scene, so of course it had to die. That's how TV works. ::sigh::

But before they go back to the party, she straightens his tie and he pushes her hair back off her shoulder, and they smile at each other, and there's still hope. And maybe an idea, and inkling, a hint of how that Moment could have gone? The feeling that they would be okay with it? A girl can hope.

Now we just need to get that lingering issue of Booth's brain trauma out of the way, the nagging idea that he only loves her because his neurons are rattled. I'd like him to face a clown and find it disturbing again, get all shaken and upset, and then realize that he still has feelings for her. About face, gushing that it's okay, she's confused, and... well, probably nothing. At least a hug, even if he doesn't explain anything to her. Which he probably won't unless it's sweeps week or the season ender, because Hart Hanson wants me to have an aneurysm. Oh, but the fanfic it could spawn!

the mentalist: s02 e03 the scarlet letter

This week, for once, it was all about Lisbon. Yay for backstory! Apparently, she's a hardass because she had an abusive father, a mother who died when she was 12 and three younger brothers. I'm assuming that it drove her to upholding the law as a direct result. And it's nice to get to know something about her; I've always sort of gotten the idea that something was broken there-- why else would she have so much trouble trusting people, relaxing, letting go?

Right, synopsis.

The body of a child molester that she put away when she was an investigator shows up in an alley, and she doesn't remember what she did the night it happened, which becomes a problem when her fingerprints are found on the gun. She's relieved of duty and her team is taken off the case, and she takes it badly. While the kids keep looking for clues in a phenomenal show of solidarity and faith, as well as stubbornness and bucking authority, she quietly dissolves. She fails a polygraph and asks Jane to hypnotize her in a touchingly fragile scene where she's about to come undone at any moment, and he does his best to help hold her together. Really, if they don't want me shipping these two, they need to not have scenes like this.

Anyway, even under hypnosis, she can't remember, and that apparently gives away the real culprit about the time that Van Pelt recognizes the corpse's cellmate as the brother of his girlfriend and that leads them to a money trail that uncovers the real culprit: the shrink who's been not signing of on her for weeks, and a guy who she was supposed to testify against that day in court. Jane figures it out, of course, but the episode is more subtle than usual, and we don't know that he's figured it out, so the big reveal at the end actually works better than it does when the payoff is only Jane's cleverness (which is usually a pretty great payoff, but I find myself liking the subtlety). Offscreen, they hatch a plot that involves Lisbon's very public breakdown, and a very visible downward spiral involving booze, drugs and her off-duty glock, and use all of the above to catch the shrink.

A very strong ep, and a great one for character development, without sacrificing the plot. That's a fine line, and they got it right off.

Best parts:

I loved that whole scene in her apartment. She's all nervous in seventeen different directions, and he snoops around a bit to distract her, then gets her to relax with reverse psychology. Regardless of his own brokenness-- or maybe because brokenness calls to brokenness in the age old traditions of tv-- he's starting to care about her. When she's out, he holds her for a second and pats her head, which was very sweet, and when she's under, he goes out of his way to keep her calm and keep her comfortable, and he doesn't force her when nothing comes up. And that moment when she's trying desperately to hold it together-- beautiful. They've got a secret together now, and he wanted to comfort her when she started crying, but he understands her well enough to know it's not what she wants. Wonderful.

I wonder how much of the displays and the talks could be considered real?

Bosco's in love with her? Isn't he married for, like, twenty-five years? But it was a new side to the gruff old adversary, and it both gives him depth and gives Jane something to leverage him with, especially since Lisbon doesn't even seem to notice. I hope when it comes up again, Jane doesn't use the detail to damage too much; we don't want him to lose Lisbon's support again too soon (though the inevitable return of Red Jack around midseason or season finale would be a good time to pull out all the stops and start burning through all this gathered information...). Relationships are so odd in this show; this looks like the start of a love triangle, but Lisbon doesn't even notice, Jane's too damaged to play it straight, and (I think) Bosco's unable to act on it.

I wonder how Cho's date went?

I like the comradery. I like that they take the team seriously, and they stick up for each other, even the boss who shouldn't play favorites. And is frequently annoyed with them all. The actors must actually like each other; it comes through in the acting.

Poor Rigsby. There's so many reasons why being in love with a team mate is a bad idea, and yet there it is.

Man, Robin Tunney does tense and brittle well. I was literally leaning forward through the whole last act, waiting for everything to fall into place and stop being so achingly horrible... Though it would have been nice if it was Jane (maybe with the team) who talked her down. But that would have messed up alot of dynamics, and would have put her into therapy for good.

I love that the method was the coffee that she's been saying is awful since the first episode. Awesome foreshadowing.

Lisbon's a lot smaller without her blazer and her gun. That was awesome costuming.