“I was kind of in the moment.” -Castle
This week’s “Tone Death” was “Castle’s” comeback from its… it’s actually been so long I’ve forgotten how long we’ve been Castle-less… but let’s just say this week’s episode was the show’s comeback from its very long hiatus, with the team solving the murder of an ex-con turned Acapella enthusiast. “Tone Dead” was a remarkable shift from the pre-Christmas portion of the season, in its dramatic intake opting on going easier on the relationship drama and angst. In addition, it nicely balanced the comedic aspect, while not going over the top with it, like it’s sometimes the case when it comes to “Castle.” Here the characters mostly managed to be funny without feeling silly. It proved a great performance from the ensemble cast, as we were pry to some surprising performances, out of the characters’ usual repertoire.
“Tone Death” is back to normalcy for Castle and Beckett, or it is, in the privacy of the loft. When we last saw them, way back in November, Castle and Beckett had finally gotten back on the same page, quickly albeit, but together. If you ask me, getting them back together quickly, while still a faux pas, was still a better move than breaking them up in the first place, and this episode seemed to prove it.
They’re back together, but Beckett’s “I need LockSat to believe we’re broken up so he won’t go after you” theory still applies, which means they will need to keep their relationship under wraps, and will need to lie to their entourage, a comedic relief within the episode, given how bad they were at it.
“You said you want to break up, instead you want to make up.” –Martha
The lying to their entourage, I assume, has Martha and Alexis as the exceptions. With Beckett slipping in and out of the loft through the next door building, if only you’d thought about that a couple episodes ago my dear Katie, we wouldn’t have had to suffer through the first half of the season, keeping their relationship hidden from the occupants of that said loft would prove a difficult task. Are both red-heads still living at the loft? I recall a conversation, some while back, about Martha finding her own place, in order to leave the two lovebirds their space. Where are we on that front? The writers make a good job, this year, at installing plot continuity, but this particular detail in their lives really hasn’t been addressed lately, or did I miss it? Please tell me if I did.
The eldest red-head, who may or may not still be living at the loft, has the murder of the week fall on her lap, almost literally, as one of her protégés’ corpse is found amidst the fake snow box, above the scene from Martha’s new show as she performs “The Things we do for Love.”
What we do for love. I felt the choice of song had more meaning than I initially realised, as the song faded to Castle and Beckett in bed, talking as if nothing had happened. I felt this song pretty well represented what was happening between Castle and Beckett, why he had been able to so quickly forgive his wife. Like the song was used as another hint as to why he’d forgiven her. Because of what he does for love.
The Castle and Beckett relationship drama portion of the episode wasn’t sappy or dramatic, in the real sense of the term, and I’m thankful for that. I need something light between these two. It was getting exhausting, and slightly depressing to watch. “Tone Dead” was exactly what it needed to be, light. They’re still good together, and this episode proved it that the leads still have that chemistry even when everything isn’t falling apart around them, that they don’t need the drama every step of the way.
How freakin fast does Beckett change? I don’t even think I have time to put my underwear on in the time it takes her to change. I know, I know, TV. It just hit me there.
“Provide support and comfort. Lots of comfort.” -Beckett
Not much was said and done related to the Locksat Mythology. As my mentioned earlier, something I am incredibly grateful for in the new showrunners is their need for plot continuity, so even though the episode did not focus on LockSat, Beckett and Castle still talked about it. It’s an important part of their story, of their relationship, and it makes all the sense in the world that they would still be talking about it. It seems they are now even able to joke about how Kate once used a meeting from 1PP as a cover-up, way back when Vikram was in trouble. Never too early.
As we could see, while Castle and Beckett are back together, while Beckett’s been forgiven, the pair isn’t completely on the same page about LockSat yet. Castle is still mostly in the dark about Beckett’s covert operation with Vikram, and you can see with Castle’s facial expressions that he’s not 100% okay with that. Kate tells him that when the time is right, they will take down Locksat together, but should she be trusted? Does Castle truly believe her when she says that? That’s a different story. She’s lied to him plenty before, and forgiven does not necessarily equal trusted. What do you think? Does Castle believe her? Should he believe her? Do you believe her?
Martha, distraught over the death of her college, calls her son to the case, as the 12th precinct’s Ryan and Esposito get to the scene. Are they going to continue to need to give Castle excuses to be on the case every week? I still don’t understand why he can’t still be a consultant with the NYPD.
“Oh, I’ll decide how short my leash is.” -Castle
With Castle being at the precinct, it was imperative for the couple to make it look as if they were not together. Beckett couldn’t publically accept having him working on the case. So, coming back from her meeting at 1PP, she fake got into it with Castle, under the preoccupied stare of Ryan. They’re pretty horrible at fake hating each other, if you ask me. Beckett being the extremely horrible one at it. She can cross being an actress off her bucket list. She’s simply wayyyyyy too intense, and lacks subtlety. Still, having them in on a secret that the rest of the world doesn’t know about always brings the best in their relationship and their scenes together were great.
It’s suspicious that Castle and Beckett are finally so vocal about their personal affairs, but it makes for great comedy. The comeback episode gave the boys good exposure, and included them homogeneously into the Castle and Beckett relationship storyline. Esposito and Ryan are incredibly protective of Beckett, as if we already weren’t aware, but this episode shines more light on their big brotherly love and protectiveness. I loved it, I don’t think I could ever get enough of the guys taking Beckett’s side over Castle’s and edging him out. Both the scenes in the hallway and the scene in the apartment were Castle comedy gold. These guys’ facial expressions are simply hilarious.
One thing though, is I don’t understand the slap, I don’t understand what could possibly have been going through Beckett’s head at that moment to prompt that slap other than a moment of shear panic. She simply couldn’t figure out how to handle the situation. From all the times she’s lied, you would think she’s be better at it, but she is working wayyyy too hard on making the others think they hate each other. The thing is not being together and hating each other doesn’t equal each other.
“Owe! It’s my skin!” –Castle
The boys come to the conclusion that Castle has been cheating on Beckett, and Castle in a moment of panic admits to it. I’m not sure I consider what Castle is hypothetically doing cheating, though. They’re broken up, and from Castle hypothetical point of view, Beckett’s been kind of a b*tch about it. I feel that when someone dumps my ass, months later, I have the right to get it on with a hot model, if I wish. I grant it, they’re not divorced, but I mean, what’s a piece of paper worth these days anyways, but that’s probably just me.
The search for the killer leads Castle and Alexis to an underground Acapella get-together, in the Spanish Harlem, where gentrification has yet not managed to make this riverfront property good. That was such a Castle-esque thing to say, and I love it. I was/am (who am I kidding, I really am!) a fan of the Pitch Perfect franchise, so I loved the idea of an Acapella themed episode. I enjoyed the riff-off but I have one minor complaint, I needed more singing! Castle’s hasty 911 call to Esposito had the cops barging into the place, SWAT team and all, putting an end to the riff-off with the only ones not running away being the ex-cons. Trust the system, aye?
This leads the detective, the sergeant, the captain, and the private investigator to the Acapella competition to gather more information on the victim. We were blessed with a great performance from Esposito when he Aca-interrogates a competing team to the Aca-Cons, ending with an Aca-spitting, semi-beat-boxing, Castle. (Yes, I tried to fit as many aca-words in this sentence as possible. It was harder than I thought.). Jon Huertas is a smooth singer, who knew?
While Espo was singing, and Castle was trying to get included, Beckett and Ryan were in the other, communication through the vents, changing room, looking for a new leads. This is where Beckett tells and emotionally invested Ryan about the doctor she’s supposedly seeing. Josh’s buddy, maybe? Did she lie so they would give Castle a little bit of slack, or did she lie so they wouldn’t be sad her that Castle moved on while she hasn’t? I can’t be certain, but I think it’s probably the latter, she loves seeing Castle get tortured by her boys as much as we do.
Despite me absolutely loving how cute the guy’s protectiveness of Beckett is, I still hope the guys will figure out soon their shenanigans, because Castle and Beckett really suck at hiding their relationship. Having Espo and Ryan go with it for too long would be an insult to their intelligence, but it can still be funny for an episode or two, if they don’t drag it on too much. I kind of wish for them to figure it out, but not tell Castle and Beckett they know, kind of like in season 5.
Their hypothetical lovers will surely give them some interesting role play…
Oh yeah, and they solved the case, who cares? Okay, probably Martha, but she isn’t reading this.
