This week’s episode of Castle, Room 147, didn’t fit the mold and I liked it. For the past couple of episodes, there has been a major wedding decision to be made which made me more excited than the actual case, but not this week. This week, the bulk of the episode focused on the extremely well crafted case.
What seemed like an easy slam dunk, personal best, 11 second to confession case, turned out to be extremely enigmatic. The murder even left Castle theory less (for about 2 minutes). When even Espo (he’s even more down to earth than Beckett!) demands a castle-sque theory, you know they’ve got nothing to run on. I can’t be the only one whose brain was spinning like crazy during this episode. (My theory revolved around hypnosis killer.)
Three people confess to a murder they cannot possibly have commited. All three of them are sure they are the one's who killed him, but all they can remember is how. None of them know why they would kill him, only that he was the cause of their problems. The past few weeks has been hazy for them and none of them seem to remember much of anything. I loved the contrast of how frustrated Beckett got as the case got weirder opposed to Castle’s evident enthusiasm. It kind of mirrored the older seasons (aka my personal favorite: season 2).
“Yeah, take a number.”
The three witnesses were finally not, psychically linked to the killer and each other. They had been used as test subjets in an experiment conducted by Internal Horizon Institute. As usual on Castle, the murderer was someone we had been introduced to in the beginning of the episode, but had no idea they would end up being included in the plot. The struggling actor had been killed out of revenge, for his involvement in the self-help cult that had caused the death of people some years ago during a sweat lodge initiation.
We've witnessed Kate as Castle’s confidant for everything Alexis-related for the better part of 6 years, so it's not unlikely he would confide in her. I do not believe he was insinuating anything being Beckett’s fault, but it was pretty predictable (and understandable) Kate would jump to the conclusion that Little Castle didn’t want to come back to the loft because of her.
They’ve actually never really talked about it, there has never been an actual onscreen Beckett/Alexis conversation. Although they seemed to hug it out in “Like Father, Like Daughter”, it’s understandable Beckett feels like she isn't part of their particular family dynamic. Even if we have not experienced much of the relationship on screen, none of it seemed forced. Their conversation felt like the natural development of their relationship over the years. Their interaction had a real feel to it, very motherly, but not too much. Alexis is a grown women now (or almost) and she isn't looking for a mother, she didn't really have one, but what she needs now is a confidant, a friend, which is exactly what Kate gave her.(This reminded me: I vaguely remember an episode, in season 1 or 2, where Alexis called Beckett for a women's advice, anyone care to refresh my memory?) Their interaction was sweet and Kate’s advice and analysis of the situation was spot on.
(Thumbs up to Nathan for the world’s cutest reaction to a father/daughter hug!)
