This week’s “What Lies Beneath” delved in a mostly case-centric episode, the most case-centric one of the eighth season yet, with very little time spent on Beckett’s new mission. The team investigates the murder of a pathological liar found dead in a church. The episode was good, nothing more, nothing less; it was a pretty standard Castle episode which I still find a way to enjoy. The characters were lovable, the dialogue and plot was funny without being too silly, and the storyline still showcased a nice continuity. Like I said, it was good, it simply wasn’t riveting, didn’t have me glued to the screen for an hour, but that’s okay, every episode can’t be awesome; the word would lose its meaning.
This season, with every week, every new case, Castle is going to have to find a new, creative way to infiltrate the case, as he is no longer a consultant for the NYPD, and his plan to win his wife back relies heavily on solving cases with her. The storyline still works great, brings to the screen heartfelt moments between the leads, but I just have to wonder what’s going on his head, how he’s rationalizing the chase. From their interactions, he must feel that she still loves him, still wants to be with him. He doesn’t need to make her fall in love with her, doesn’t need to win her over, it’s already a given. What does he think he’s accomplishing? What does he think working cases with her is going to change? Anyone have any insight? When will he try to discover the real reason she left?
“It’s my pony, you can’t pet it!” -Castle
Woken, by an ecstatic daughter, from a deep sleep and dreams about ponies, Castle discovers, to his misguided pleasure, that his favorite novelist was murdered in the Twelfth Precinct’s jurisdiction. This week, he gets his initial entry into the case through his connections with the “Writing World,” and gets to represent the victim’s wife, as her PI. But why? Why would she need a PI? WHY?
Anyhow, from there on out, Castle’s in the game. The victim makes them turn into circles at first as they identify him as P.J. Moffet, renowned novelist, then as the Jimmy Two Guns O’Malley Irish mob snitch, then discovered as Dave Johnson the pathological liar and con man. In parallel to Esposito and Ryan, Castle, sometimes helped by his daughter, investigates the case, which seems to be the new format to the show.
If looks could kill, right Espo? Castle keeps showing up wherever they’re going, and he’s annoying the guys more than he’s annoying Beckett at this point. He gets to the mobster hitman before them, and befriends the mobster by the time they actually locate him. Esposito’s not too happy about, and throughout the episode, the sentiment it yielded some pretty funny facial contortions. The guys, with Castle’s guidance, quickly move on to another venue after learning of the mobster’s alibi: front row tickets to the Lion King Musical. (He couldn’t possibly be making it up!) An awkward hug, and a GPS tracking device later, Castle meets up with them at a Pathological Liars Anonymous Meeting, where they learn their victim’s true identity.
The team comes to the conclusion that his real life caused his death, when a slush fund he uncovered with his job as a janitor at City Hall comes to their attention, from the no so blind priest. His escape gave us some pretty great dialogue.
Here are my top contenders:
“The blind priest just ran away.” –Alexis. I loved it, loved the simplicity of that line. I’m loving Molly this season.
“Let me get this straight, you got parkoured by a blind priest.” – Beckett. Confident Beckett messing around with Castle without any drama, this definitely makes it on my list.
And my favorite:
“Alright, Speedy, gotta go. Make sure you stretch before bed.” – Beckett
Beckett messing with Castle, having fun at his expense, is truly what makes this show great, what makes their relationship so fun to watch, and this little moment, that back and forth, was old school Castle and Beckett, and it was great. It was cute and silly, and simply them. It was happy, not Bracken obsessed, them.
With help from the priest, the guys, do a “Midnight Run” con. They trick the City Official into committing conspiracy to obstruct justice. They set it up so the guy would steal the USB drive he thought contained incriminating information from the church. Just as they are about to catch him in the act, Alexis decides to kill the lights, and I still don’t really get why. “Go big or go home.” What does that even mean? My theory is that he knew the guys wouldn’t approve of his methods, so he let the bad guy run away with the flash drive on purpose. I’m going to let it slide that none of them have the expertise to make this type of virus on such short notice, and go with “He had a guy.”
Beckett’s takes the back seat on this con, because it could blow up in her face and cost her career. Foreshadowing, much? Last week, we didn’t get to see much of Captain Beckett, she was always in the field, or checking up on Castle, most of the time doing both at the same time. This week, Ryan and Esposito are alone in the field, investigating by themselves, but still guided by their Captain in the background. While they’re out and about, we got to see Beckett as a Captain, and the incredibly important work she’s doing like paperwork and napping… I definitely laughed at the couch cushion with a gun on it, whoever decided to include it in the décor is genius, it’s awesome!
Beckett acknowledged that she can’t go around doing whatever she wants if she ever wants to be taken seriously, she can’t follow crazy leads without any back-up evidence. She can’t be the same person she was when she was detective, kicking down doors whenever she felt the need to, in the name of justice. I guess though, this doesn’t apply to the case she’s working, out of the books. Or does she feel like this case could be worth both her marriage and her job? “What Lies Beneath” showed us just enough of the mission impossible storyline to show us it’s progressing with the heroin lead Michael Smith gave Beckett last week.
“What? Did you guys rehearse that?” -Lanie
Above Castle and Beckett’s relationship drama, there was Ryan and Espo’s bromantic drama. The quirky duo started the episode on the same page, stronger than ever in their brolationship. A much needed bump in his paycheck prompts Ryan to accept Espo’s idea they should both do the Sergeant’s exam next week. (With the new writers, I have hope we’ll actually get to know how the exam went in upcoming episodes, something I wouldn’t have dreamed of in the past seasons.) When only one spot is left, Ryan lies to Esposito and takes it for himself, lying to his partner. We also learned of one thing through the branches, and that is that Ryan would make an incredibly lousy spy. The lie puts a strain in their relationship for the remainder of the episode, until their Captain, and friend, uses her powers to get them both in. With that, order is restored for BFFs.
I really need Ryan to stop complaining about money ASAP, though, it’s not cute anymore, I’ve got enough of that in the real world already.
Beckett seems to have given up on trying to boot Castle out of the precinct, she pretends to be mad, but ultimately she gets that it’s useless, that he’ll keep showing up, always. It must make her realise how stupid of a plan it was to take a break to try and protect him. He’s still there, and unless she makes a clean break, which she isn’t going to do, the “needing space” excuse is simply useless. Above, that, there is more than just Castle showing up at the precinct, her red-headed mother in law shows up too.
“Be honest with yourself, and be honest with your husband.” -Martha
Martha’s wisdom: as much as Beckett isn’t honest with her husband, she isn’t honest with herself. I feel though, that Beckett’s digging herself in a hole that it’s going to be hard to get out of without looking like a complete jackass with every passing episode that she doesn’t talk with Castle. It was a heartfelt moment between the two women, not overly dramatic, simply honest and true to the characters.
I loved Martha’s description of the relationship; a few weeks ago they were ahaha, woohoo, then pff, huh. You know?
In the beginning of the episode, a lot of similarities were pointed out between the relationship between the “writer” and his wife, and Castle and Beckett. This is why I found the ending statement from the wife really powerful. I know I'm extrapolating, but could this be how Castle will feel? He’s not a murdering psychopath, but could he ever harbor that level of anger? Are the lies even comparable? Could he ever just feel like she ruined his life? Could her actions lead to that?
“I married a liar who ruined my life.” – Johnson’s Wife
