Last week's episode of Castle was pretty poor, but last night's episode of the ABC drama was a vast improvement. A much better script courtesy of Stephanie Hicks was a great place to start. "Death Wish" was directed by Bill Roe.
Throughout its eight years on air, Castle has always fared well when a mythical or paranormal force or character has a hand in the investigation somewhere, and this episode was no different - it was one of the stronger examples the series has produced. The decapitation of a tomb raider kicked things off, and moments after arriving at the crime scene Rick encountered a mysterious woman who had a habit of appearing and disappearing suddenly.
Oh please no.
That sets in motion the kind of humorous banter the series is probably best known for as Kate, along with Ryan and Esposito, are more hindered than helped by Rick's often fruitless search for the impossible explanation - in this case it was that this vanishing woman was a genie. While Rick was tied up with that, everyone else pursued leads relating to stolen antiquities. Fittingly, another body was discovered bundled inside a rug in a warehouse, and Rick ended up stumbling into a neighboring warehouse containing the antiquities. Staying true to the Aladdin theme, Rick picked up a lamp similar to the one belonging to the famed fictional character but found himself at gunpoint.
In a handy spot of timing - or magic - the mysterious woman showed up again and escorted Rick out of the building, but that would be the third and final time she would pull that trick - she was identified as Genevieve Sutton later on by Ryan and Esposito. Keeping the mystery alive was the fact that she was nicknamed Genie by her employer who collected her from the 12th when the case was closed. In the end the case was pretty good fun. It had enough complexity to avoid becoming boring, and the topical humor was nicely integrated.
Surprisingly, Rick and Kate's relationship received much more attention than I expected it to. The episode opened with a rude interruption from Martha just as the couple were about to get a little frisky in the kitchen. A golden quote from Rick here gave me a good chuckle:
I've got a crime scene right here - my mother just killed the mood.
Caskett also got a spot of attention in the middle of the hour, and in the episode's final moments, resulting in a heartwarming exchange, which was appropriately themed for the episode as well:
I have no need for genies because I have all I could ever wish for.
Right back at you, handsome.
Topping it off was Ryan's wife, Jenny, going into labor and giving birth to a baby boy. Perhaps stretching the theme a bit beyond its limits, Kate asked Rick to use his remaining genie wishes to support Jenny after she ran into medical trouble during labor. As if by magic, a baby boy named Nicholas Javier Ryan was born safe and well and Jenny was in good health too. Here's hoping Jenny and the baby make an actual appearance on the show before season's end.
It was a nice ending to a great episode of Castle. The creative team produced an episode which played right into the strengths of the series itself as well as its cast. While we've seen the mythical, paranormal, and alien on the show before, magic trumps them all.
Thanks as always for reading! Don't forget to share your thoughts and theories on the episode in the comments below. Next week's episode looks as if Rick will take Hayley to work with him to show her the ropes in how to work a crime scene. You can check out the episode promo, press release and promotional photos here.
