Last night's episode of Castle was a largely mixed bag. "The G.D.S." was written by Alexi Hawley with John Terlesky directing. It had a bit of everything, but left me scratching my head with an ending that felt a bit cheap.
In the last episode Castle opted to head to Los Angeles in an attempt to solve the mystery of his disappearance once and for all. This week he, along with Alexis and Hayley, lived the high life at times, but also managed to capture a serial killer who was responsible for 8 deaths in L.A. and New York. The killer's latest victim was found in a cemetery with his heart in his hands - it had been cut out of his chest.
The New York connection provided a reason for Detectives Ryan and Esposito to take part in the episode, with Lanie also roped in for some light humor to fill the void left by Kate, who rather bizarrely, sat this episode out.
Hayley was much more prominent in this episode than I expected. She left Rick in the dust on the multiple occasions she came up with a quick-fire solution to a problem staring them in the face. She met an old friend at the crime scene too, who gave her and Castle his fair share of grief later on too.
Our membership spans every continent, save Antarctica.
Not too many murders there.
The episode's title originated from the episode's subplot, with G.D.S standing for "Greatest Detective Society". I knew as soon as that was revealed that this wasn't something that could be taken seriously. House of Cards' Gerald McRaney guest starred as Mason Wood, which was probably the highlight for me. Rick had been selected as a potential member of the society and was running against another potential member, Kendall Frost, played by Summer Glau.
With the G.D.S. being nothing but comic relief, that made the episode's case much the same, with the fact that it was based in Hollywood an added bonus. Rick and Hayley vs/helping Kendall was essentially how things rolled from then on. Hayley and Kendall managed to pass as a lesbian couple for a short time while Rick slipped inside an actor's mansion looking for an unusually shaped knife which was the murder weapon Lanie had identified. That plan fell flat on its face fairly quickly
Lanie's boosted screen time was also for comic relief. In the hour's opening minutes she asked Ryan to covertly run a background check on a potential boyfriend. Esposito was onto him in no time though, so the pair proceeded to make up some not so attractive things about her potential suitor
You know what this means right? We are gonna have some fun at Lanie's expense.
While the boys' fun did result in a breakup, Lanie got some revenge with a fire extinguisher in the closing moments.
Alexis's role in this episode was much more functional as opposed to humorous. She managed to track down the owner of a GPS tracking device found in the back of a watch Rick had used to pay for food at a restaurant while he was missing. The owner turned out to be a highly trained military man, and when mentioned to Hayley, she discouraged Alexis from pursuing the lead further. Not one to back down easily, Alexis posed as a journalist to arrange a meeting with the man's aunt who lived nearby. Surfing through some photos she found a picture of the man with Hayley. The tables took a significant turn.
Back at the hotel, Hayley confessed her role in Rick's disappearance. She said she was instructed by Rick's father to keep an eye on him as he stuck his nose in areas where he shouldn't have been. Rick went rogue and Hayley lost track of him, only to find him wounded later on.
Who shot me?
You wouldn't say.
Rick then asked Hayley why she stuck around and began working with him and Alexis in his private investigation business. Hayley had a pretty admirable and genuine answer.
I'm fond of you, Rick. And I adore your daughter. And after a lifetime of caring about nobody but myself, I decided to stick around and keep an eye on you two.
It culminated in Rick opening a dark web site that contained a video of himself talking to himself. In the video he outlined why he was taking the step of erasing his mind of the memories from his rogue mission so he could protect Kate from LOKSAT, but now that he's managed to put the pieces together once more, things just got a lot more complex for Rick and his wife.
The creative team dug themselves a massive hole with the LOKSAT storyline, but this episode gave me a glimmer of hope that they'll be able to dig themselves out of it. The storytelling was rather cheap, though. Hayley followed some instructions given to her by Rick's father, asking no questions as to what was going on, and Rick was shot by someone who he refused to identify when Hayley asked. They're both fair questions that need answering, but despite that, it's a pretty cheap and simplistic way of clearing a few things up. Previous multi-year arcs have received much more thought so it's a bit of a shame the standards have dropped somewhat.
The good thing about these answers is it exponentially increases the information that's available on LOKSAT between Rick and Kate, however in the video Rick made for himself, he sternly warned against mentioning anything further to Kate, but I'd say it's a sure thing that he will defy his own advice and join forces with Kate and Hayley to close out this storyline once and for all.
In all, this episode of Castle was a mixed bag but accomplished what it needed to, I guess. I do think the series would have benefited from a serious episode addressing Rick's disappearance instead of one that blended humor with a couple of more serious moments. Kate's absence was strange but in this sort of episode her presence would have provided no real benefit anyway. The G.D.S. subplot and Ryan and Esposito's antics were funny, but very much a filler.
Thanks for reading! Don't forget to share your thoughts and theories on the episode and the LOKSAT storyline in the comments below. Check out next week's episode promo, press release and promotional photos here. You can also check out Castle's ratings and much more on www.seriesmonitor.com/castle.
