Castle - Habeas Corpse - Review: "It's about the competition"

What’s not to love about an episode that includes Ryan and Esposito boogieing down on “Get Lucky” and that incorporates the Castles in a shower production of Sinatra? Not much.

“Castle” definitely is my go-to, feel-good show, and I’m pretty sure I’m getting redundant, but this week’s Castle was another enjoyable, absolutely hilarious one. The case to be solved in “Habeas Corpus” might have not caught my attention, I don’t feel it was meant to. The character driven scenes were incredibly entertaining, and melded the four core characters together beautifully as they pinned themselves against one another in the spirits that reminded me of “The Double Down.” Even though this episode did nothing to drive the characters forward, or the advance the mythology they presented us, in the beginning of the season, the competition between the guys, of the episode had me laughing the whole way through. I absolutely loved the fun, almost silliness of the talent competition, which absolutely worked in the context of the episode, and honestly, it’s storylines like this one that breaks “Castle” apart from all the other procedurals out there.

Ryan and Esposito, being the two time champions of the Policemen Benevolent Talent Show, have their entourage eager to see what their third representation will be about. A bonus of this episode was that it wasn’t all talk, it didn’t leave all to our imagination, and we actually got to witness their routine to Daft Punk’s Get Lucky, as they tried to top last year’s performance of their Dirty Dancing, inspired routine to “The* Crime of our Lives.” The episode mentioned Castle and Beckett’s chemistry, but it also showcased Ryan and Espo’s, Seamus and Jon’s, and it was undoubtedly great.

“Classic Espo, Ryan.” -Ryan

It’s easy to brag and gloat when there’s no chance in hell they’ll be competing against them, but when Kimmel can’t make his celebrity appearance to the fundraiser, Gates has to step on her pride and ask Castle to sub in, and do a performance in his place, in the beginning of Kate’s descent in Dancing-with-the-Star-that-happens-to-be-my-husband hell.

This whole episode had me fall in love with Esposito all over again, but it was in this scene, in the break-room, when Castle and Beckett enter the competition in which he had me. I’m usually not the biggest Esposito fan, find him a tad too severe, but Jon Huertas nailed it in this absolutely hilarious scene. His facial expressions, his reaction to Gates asking Castle, and his “Oh, Castle” were simply, accurately, fantastic. If I had a gold star to give for this episode, it would definitely go out to Jon.

Castle signing them up for the performance without running it by her isn’t a move Beckett is too grateful for and she spends the episode trying to convince him how bad of an idea competing actually is, but Castle is too excited, blinded by the competition, he doesn’t listen to her. The guys, and their *macho pride and all, they make bets on who is going to win. The deal is as follows, a dedication to Ryan and Esposito in his next book, or the two “knuckleheads” have to call him “King Castle” for a month. The deal is one Beckett isn’t convinced is a good idea leading to this awesome exchange. “Habeas Corpse” was filled with great dialogue, from every single part in the cast, and this bit obviously made the short list.

“We don’t need to make a bet out of this.” -Beckett
“Why because you’re chicken?”-Esposito
“No, because I am a grown up.” –Beckett
“Yeah, a grown-up chicken.” -Esposito

The weekly murdered in “Habeas Corpse” is Richie “Pitbull” Falco, a personal injury attorney with popular a late night ad, whom everyone recognised except early bedtime harboring, honey milk sipping, Ryan. (And what a great way to start off the case that was!)

Their first suspect, or obvious red herring, had Esposito running faster than *Lightning, in order to catch the perp. After tackling him, he fakes a busted knee, playing with Castle’s head, and making him up the bet, magnifying the competition aspect of the episode to epic proportions.

Evidence leads Castle and Beckett to the outskirts of town, digging (mostly Kate) for a body, as Beckett remained pessimist about their upcoming dance routine. Castle doesn’t understand where Beckett’s undying pessimist is coming from, and it’s not like she’s going to just tell him. Just as they manage to pull out the body bag, they get ambushed by a masked man, pointing a gun at them.

"I think we might have just dug our own graves." - Castle

Beckett and Castle are left in the woods, with their hands zip-tied at their backs. Castle needs to use some of his PI training skills to break away. I can’t be the only one extremely skeptical about how they managed to free themselves, maybe I will need to try this out myself. They would have had to hit themselves in the a** pretty hard for it break, no? Surely that had to have left a mark. (Also, how stupid do you guys think they felt filming that?)

The team manages to retrace the body bag, but upon unzipping it, they discover a dummy, the victim’s smoking gun worth millions of dollars which ultimately, leads them to their murderer. (I love Lanie’s line about not being a puppeteer!)

Castle and Beckett turned to Martha for help with their last minute routine, and there were no words exchange concerning Martha’s potential move out of the loft, as she had announced a couple of episodes back. From the performance Martha witnessed in the intimacy of the Castle Living Room, and with small tweaks and possible split from Beckett, the red head is confident Castle and Beckett have a competition winning performance. Beckett confides in Martha about her stage fright, or more accurately song fright, and statement took me by surprise. Beckett not wanting to perform because she wanted to be taken seriously in the future actually made sense, and was in ** with her assessments that she wanted to become captain. Martha’s reaction to Kate’s stage fright, and comfort was cute, and perfect, and I just love how well Kate fits in the Castle family. Also put to light in the beginning of the episode, as Beckett helps Alexis and her last minute midterm studying , in a very motherly way, and ending with another goodbye kiss.

Beckett wants to do the performance for Castle, doesn’t want to let him down, but all bets are off when Castle and Beckett are pulled out of the line-up, and Kimmel is back in. I love when Castle is goofy, but I love it even more when he does things like convincing his friend to reschedule his other arrangements in order to save Beckett from a public performance. I love it when its put to light how great and supporting of a husband he is. What made the moment even better was that he didn’t brag about didn’t even mentioned he overheard his mother and Kate talking.

Kate saying she didn’t want Rick to think less of her, paired with her facial expression as she said it, was probably one of the cutest things she’s ever said, but it gave me the feeling she’s never going to understand that it’s okay for her to be human.

And gosh, Nathan and Stana sing beautifully together. Seriously, if there ever is a season 8, I want a musical episode.



Agree? Disagree? What was you guy’s favorite quote. I couldn’t decide.