Okay, so I'm going to throw my hat in the ring here, though I may not be able to comment on every part of the SxS as I have a lot to do this week and this weekend as well. I will do what I can.
For now, here are some thoughts on Act One and then we'll move to the next set of scenes to keep this SxS moving along.
If you do have thoughts that you want to share on ANY set of scenes, you can feel free to jump in at any time...
ACT ONE
We open with what I felt was one of the strongest murder scenes we’ve seen on this show. Mysterious, intense, and definitely rather horrific. As others have said, that song that was used, which is “Secret” by Missy Higgins, was a fantastic opening song and a great choice to kick off this episode.
We see our soon-to-be-victim in her car, sitting alone in a dark and secluded street, obviously waiting to meet someone in secret. She’s clutching a piece of paper with an address scrolled across it. Out of the darkness and fog (love the look of this scene!), a figure approaches and we can tell that the victim assumes it’s the person she’s waiting to meet. But when the figure enters her car and sits in the back seat, the victim looks back in her rearview mirror and realizes her “guest” is not who she believed they were. In one swift motion, she is grabbed from behind and murdered, her blood spattering across the piece of paper still clutched in her hands.
In a rather disgusting yet highly skilled cut, we see Alexis spitting out what looks like blood mixed with water, mirroring the blood spatter that we just saw in the murder scene. Brilliant but kind of gross. Lol.
This sets up the typical opening scene, with the usual bit of exposition to get the audience caught up to what’s going on and set the stage for the storyline of the episode. We learn that Alexis is sick with mono and is lamenting over why she had to catch this rather bothersome virus. Anyone who has ever had mono can surely feel Alexis’ pain, as it’s certainly not an easy illness to have.
I love how Castle starts to joke with Alexis about how she caught mono, which is known as “the kissing disease” and starts to give her a hard time about what she and Max must have been doing for her to catch it, but he quickly realizes this is not a topic he really wants to talk about with his daughter and stops himself, much to her delight. It’s such a classically cute moment between these two and it speaks volumes towards how Castle often doesn’t really think before he jumps in with a clever comment.
As Castle makes his way into the kitchen, we see Beckett sitting at his kitchen counter, completely at home in his home, which is lovely to see. Castle provides some more exposition, explaining to the audience that Kate is there to stay with him for a few days while her apartment is being fumigated.
What I love about this is that his words subtly yet clearly indicate that Kate asked him if she could stay at the loft, which is actually rather interesting in and of itself. We know Castle would have offered, 100%, but it was actually Kate who asked him first if she could stay with him. She didn’t hint at it and wait for him to ask, she came right out and proposed the idea herself. To me, this shows that she was comfortable with the idea of living with him for a few days and that it was something she wanted to do over staying with Lanie or with her father or going to a hotel for a few days. Folks, that’s pretty huge.
I also love that this is a nice little reverse to when Castle offered his home to Kate back in “Boom” after her place was blown up. She only stayed for what seemed like a day, maybe two, and she was pretty resistant to it at first, believing that it would be an imposition and whatnot on her part. She was certainly comfortable there while she was there and seemed to fit in perfectly in his home and with his family, but there was that initial hesitation on her part. In this case, and rightfully so, she didn’t even wait for him to ask her or offer his place as a solution to her having to leave her apartment, she came right out and asked him instead.
See, this is one of those subtle little details that has so much meaning behind it, something that the Castle team does in spades. Just brilliant.
I also love that Castle offers to give Kate an “out” here if she’s uncomfortable staying there now that their plans have changed. Had she asked to stay there because she knew she and Castle could have some time alone, playing house and all, it’s understandable that she may have changed her mind with Alexis coming home sick and those plans changing rather drastically.
So Castle is trying to be respectful of her and offers to put her up in a nice hotel for a few days so she doesn’t have to be uncomfortable sharing the loft with his sick daughter. I love that Kate doesn’t take him up on his gracious offer, though, as it shows that she’s not going to shy away from her time with him just because his daughter is going to be around them all week. She shows him that she’s opening herself up to not only be a part of his life but, in turn, a part of his family’s life as well. I mean, really, when the time comes for them to live together for real, she’s not going to run away and hide every time Alexis comes home. Nope, she’s going to embrace that and accept that and welcome the opportunity to spend time with not only Castle but his entire family as well. That’s a pretty big step for Kate and she shows him that she’s committed to being a part of his life, in its entirety, with 100% certainty.
And how adorable is it when Castle tells Beckett that he’s going to make it up to her “in so many ways” and she gets that beaming smile on her face? Yes, this man knows how to melt her heart, as tough as she has always been, and she loves him for it. It’s also funny because this is a definite pattern with them… Castle always offering to make things up to her for whatever reason… but at least this time, he’s not making it up to her because he’s in the dog house… yet
Of course, as is always the case with these two, their wonderful little moment here is interrupted by Martha trying to get Castle’s attention to drop the bomb on them (and us) that Meredith is at the door. Of all the interruptions they’ve had on their private moments, this has got to be the worst. Lol. Talk about REALLY ruining the mood.
I love everyone’s reactions to Meredith’s arrival. Martha is clearly unimpressed, as we know she’s not exactly Meredith’s biggest fan. Castle is in shock. Beckett has this horrified look on her face. And Alexis seems confused and stunned, never expecting her mother to skip a trip to Paris to actually come to New York and see her. And the music here is just perfect, isn’t it?
Meredith makes the most hilarious entrance here, without actually being invited in, as she waltzes in, throws her purse over to Martha as if she’s the doorman, and then makes this grandiose performance in front of all of them that she came to bring Paris to Alexis and nurse her back to health.
Now, Alexis doesn’t really look all too excited about this, as we already know from past comments that she can really only handle her mother in small doses and certain situations, and it seems that this may be the last thing she wanted to endure while already dealing with a horrible illness.
Meanwhile, Castle and Martha trade glances as Castle looks like a deer caught in the headlights and Martha knows well enough not to get involved when it comes to his ex-wives.
And I love the troublesome look that Meredith gives to Kate after announcing that she’s come to take care of Alexis. It was difficult to tell at first what that look was really all about. Was she purposely trying to get under Kate’s skin? Well, as we learn later on, she was there to check up on Castle and his new girlfriend, so that look was part of her testing Kate and trying to see how she was going to react to Meredith’s return.
To me, I really had no problem with Meredith in this episode. I actually kind of liked her spirit. Now, she never should have imposed on Castle, especially knowing that he was with Kate and that she was staying with him for the week as well, and she certainly never should have been parading around in her underwear like she lived there, and it was pretty darn wrong to use her sick daughter as a means for spying on Castle and Beckett. But, at the end of the day, I can see why she was curious about their relationship and wanted to see for herself what Kate was like. Whether she’s a good mother or not, it must be a little tough to hear your daughter talk about how her father is in love with another woman who she really seems to like a lot. Maybe Meredith had that sting of feeling like she was bound to be replaced. Maybe she wanted to make sure that Kate really was the real deal. Maybe she wanted to make sure her daughter was in good hands. Or maybe she just wanted to check out the reason why she wouldn’t be able to have “ex sex” (as Lanie called it) with Castle anymore.
Whatever her motivation, I don’t think she was there to stir up trouble as much as she was there to see for herself who Kate really is and what her relationship with Rick is really like. She was testing them at first and then she kind of ended up actually really liking Kate after their bonding time over dinner. And the fact that Kate didn’t back down and didn’t run away is something I’d imagine had an effect on Meredith as well, something she likely respected about her. To me, Meredith really isn’t a bad person, nor was she trying to hurt anyone here. She’s just someone who is used to getting what she wants and what she wanted here was to get a good look at Castle’s new relationship that she had heard a great deal about from her daughter.
Back to the scene, though…
So Castle manages to fumble out an actual sentence and asks why Meredith has so much luggage. Without even having to answer, she just gives him that look and he knows… and “Oh” is all he can mutter in response, leaving Beckett just a tad bit miffed at his lack of a backbone.
Now, really, this is typical and classic Castle. He’s smart and good on his feet in most situations, but when it’s a personal situation or a situation involving a woman, he seems to lose those qualities. Lol. Instead of standing his ground and telling Meredith that they already have a full house and while she’s welcome to come over to see Alexis at any time while she’s in the city, she really can’t stay at the loft, he stands there like a deer caught in the headlights and can’t come up with an appropriate response.
Cut to Beckett giving Castle a hard time about his pretty massive error in judgment as they walk from her car to their crime scene. Now, I really love this conversation for so many reasons. First, Beckett’s not giving him the silent treatment or pretending that she’s okay when she’s not (ala “Cloudy With A Chance Of Murder”), just hoping that he’ll figure it out for himself. Nope, she’s flat-out telling him how she feels and making it known that she has an issue with him letting his ex-wife stay with them.
I love how she says “stay with you… with us” as she corrects herself, making sure he knows that the issue isn’t really as much about his ex-wife staying at his place, rather that she’s staying there while they’re going to be there together.
Now, being that Castle was so thoughtful when it came to wanting to make sure that Beckett would be okay staying there with Alexis there, it seems kind of odd that he didn’t handle the Meredith situation a little better, knowing that it would surely make Kate uncomfortable, but, once again, he wasn’t exactly thinking clearly when he got caught up in the shock of it all.
So now the shock has worn off and Castle is trying to justify his inaction by pretty much putting at least some of the blame on Kate herself since she didn’t tell him, in front of everyone, that she wasn’t okay with it. Hilarious. This is one of those classic relationship issues where the guy is unaware that the girl may be saying she’s okay with something but she’s really trying to give him that “I’m SOOOO not okay with this” look and tone to make him step up and be a man, yet he fails to read her signals and ends up messing it up. Yup, that’s exactly what happened here.
I love that Kate tells him that she wasn’t meant to be the bad guy and that he was, at least in this case, because it’s totally true. After all, if she says that she’s not okay with Meredith staying with them, in front of Meredith and his entire family, then she comes off looking like the jealous girlfriend. But if he says that he’s not okay with Meredith staying with them, even in front of her and his entire family, then he comes off as the justified ex-husband who isn’t comfortable having his ex living with him again.
And then Kate lets him know that she was giving him “the look” and he should have picked up on it. So classic and so hilarious, isn’t it? I love that she asks him how he still doesn’t know her look after four years, first because he TOTALLY knows her look and has altered his behaviour on many occasions because of it, and second because she pretty much feels that they’ve been in a relationship for four years, which is true but is nice to hear her mention in this way. They may have only officially been a couple for half of the year now, but they’ve really been involved with each other and in a relationship of sorts for four and a half years now, and it’s fantastic that Beckett sees it that way too. Or at least she does when he’s in trouble for something… lol.
Castle and Beckett arrive at the crime scene with Beckett telling Castle that she doesn’t want to talk about this issue any further, at least not right now. Kate greets Lanie as they approach but Lanie picks up on her sullen tone immediately and asks what’s going on. I love the exchange between these two friends as Kate tells Lanie that men are clueless and Lanie, of course, knows she’s referring to Castle. I love the look these two give Castle and how he sort of has this “I give up” look on his face, like he definitely knows he did the wrong thing by letting Meredith stay and now he’s going to get ganged up on by everyone else around him.
We get some info on the crime scene and their victim, Michelle, and while this is vital to the case itself, I’m going to skip past the case-related stuff to keep this moving along a little faster…
I do, however, want to point out a couple of quick technical things here from the scene where Castle and Beckett interrogate Michelle’s boyfriend, as these are things that can sometimes help give away important pieces of the puzzle if you can pick up on them when you first watch the episode. First, notice how the lighting in this scene casts a pretty distinct shadow on their witness where half of his face is in the light and half is completely in shadow. This is a trick that’s used quite frequently, more than we’d ever really take note of, and it is often used to subconsciously give the impression or reveal that a character is either conflicted or hiding something. In this case, as we’ll learn later, Michelle’s boyfriend is not who he says he is, thus he’s hiding a pretty massive secret from Castle and Beckett in this scene, hence the symbolic use of the half light / half shadow lighting on his face.
Also, and this one is something they do a lot of on Castle but sometimes it’s obvious and sometimes it’s subtle (as it was this time), but they threw in a very clear shot of the guy’s school ring, a clue that would come into play down the line in the episode. When Beckett handed him the sketch of their suspect, he reached out to accept it from her. Normally, we’d just see her hand it to him and him accept it, like in a wider shot of them both or through medium / close up shots on each of them from alternate angles. In this case, though, they took a few seconds to add in a short shot of a close-up of his hands as he took the sketch from Beckett. It was subtle, much more subtle than the shot of the chewing tobacco in “Secret Santa”, but it was still an otherwise unnecessary shot, unless that ring that we see so prevalent in the shot was being shown to us for a reason. A close-up shot like that could take as much as an hour or so to set up to shoot, along with extra film, thus equating on spending extra time and money on something that would be completely unnecessary. The very fact that they’d go and shoot it and have it edited into the episode means that it’s there for a very necessary and specific reason.
There are typically a lot of clues strung about in the opening act of any Castle episode, and we typically also meet the killer in this act (though we never find out until much later on that they’re the killer)… as we’re about to see in the next scene… so sometimes you’ll notice a tiny little detail in these early scenes that will ultimately set up a clue or even a case-breaking element later on in the episode.
Moving on, we see Ryan and Esposito arrive at the gorgeous Scarsdale house that the address the victim had in her hands led them to. You know, I still can’t figure out why the killer, who we are about to meet in this scene, wouldn’t have taken that piece of paper out of Michelle’s hands after she killed her. Really, you left a piece of evidence at a crime scene that led the police right to your door?!? Even if she believed that the police would never link her to the crime, why would she take the risk of them ever even coming to her door?!? To me, that didn’t make a lot of sense, but it worked for the storyline so I just let it slide. Lol.
I love this quick conversation that Ryan and Esposito have outside of the house when Ryan makes a joke about how Esposito would probably run the minute anything got serious between him and his “dream woman”. Looking back, I don’t think Esposito ever actually told Ryan the full story behind his breakup with Lanie. He told him that they broke up and gave a brief explanation for it, but he never really admitted whether he did the breaking up or if that was all on Lanie. We know they seemed to be in different places in their relationship and wanted different things at that point, but we (and Ryan) never really learned who was on which side of that argument.
We did, however, get a number of clues since that point that seemed to indicate that Lanie was the one who didn’t want to get that serious and ended it, while Esposito was looking for more from their relationship. That was confirmed with the way that Esposito reacted to Ryan’s jokes in this episode, or at least that’s how I saw it. This left me wondering if we’re going to see the truth about their breakup come out soon, or if we’re going to see Esposito make a push to find himself a serious relationship elsewhere. With Ryan and Jenny married and trying to start a family, and Castle and Beckett now together and totally committed to staying that way, Esposito is kind of the odd man out on his team. He’s the bachelor without any other bachelors to hang out with. A pilot without his wingman. So will this spark that desire in him to find someone to settle down with? And if Lanie doesn’t want that, will he look elsewhere now? I wouldn’t be surprised if we start to see some of these elements begin to play out on the show down the line this season, and that this exchange between Ryan and Espo was just a little nudge to get that ball rolling.
Back to the scene… we get some more case-related stuff as Ryan and Espo do some questioning and then we’re back at the precinct with Castle and Beckett. Castle arrives as Beckett is on the phone with the boys, and she notices him walking in just in time for her to throw in a very sarcastic line about how men do stupid things when it comes to their ex-wives. Yes, this does somewhat relate to their case, but she ultimately says that entirely for Castle’s benefit and, I think, never would have said it had she not seen him walking in. Hilarious.
Castle, of course, has come into the break room with the resolve to go ahead and “take care of” the Meredith issue, so he originally has a bounce in his step as he’s ready to tell Kate that he’s going to man up. But then he hears her sarcastic remark and he loses a bit of that self-confidence. Classic. He clearly had a speech all prepared and now he’s been thrown for a loop so he does his best to regroup and come up with a new speech. But, like I said before, Castle’s not as good on his feet when it comes to dealing with women, least of all someone like Kate Beckett.
I love how he offers to get her espresso / coffee for her and she tells him she will just do it herself. She’s not even really that mad at him but she knows he’s fumbling around to try to figure out how to apologize to her so she has some fun with him just to make him squirm a little more. And squirm he does. Lol. But he eventually manages to apologize, though rather weakly, and tells her that he’s going to take care of the situation properly, acknowledging that he didn’t handle it very well to begin with.
It’s hilarious how he tries to be all tough and manly as he says “take care of it” and you can see Kate struggling not to laugh at him. So cute, aren’t they? Lanie calls and Beckett says Lanie has something for them but Castle tells her to go ahead and see Lanie herself as he’s going to go take care of the Meredith situation, again trying to be all manly and suave about it and really not doing a very good job of it. But he’s trying, and you have to love him for trying. Kate certainly does.
Now we cut to Kate’s visit with Lanie. We obviously jump in just after she’s arrived, likely with Lanie asking where Castle is and Beckett explaining that he’s gone to take care of the Meredith situation, which prompts Lanie to jump in with “No, YOU need to take care of it.” So here’s the deal… I adore Lanie and I think she’s a wonderful friend to Kate, but this is some horrible advice!! This is the advice of a high-school-aged girl who is telling her high-school-aged friend to go pick a fight with the school skank because she’s made it clear that she’s going after the girl’s boyfriend. This is not the advice that Lanie should have given to Kate, especially when Kate is actually already doing the right thing here. She’s secure in her relationship, she trusts Castle completely, and she knows that Meredith poses no threat to them whatsoever. Yes, she’s annoyed by the woman’s presence and she’d rather not be cohabitating with her, but she knows that it’s not her place to say anything and she knows that making an issue of this will only make her look jealous and insecure.
I love that Kate shrugs off what Lanie is trying to tell, her, though, and while Lanie does well to plant those seeds of doubt in Kate’s mind, seeds that will soon start to grow bigger with a few other things that happen throughout the episode, Kate just stays strong in her belief that she’s doing the right thing and handling this situation the proper way.
On an unrelated note, they should really give Tamala a good set of heels to wear when she’s doing a scene with Stana and they’re both standing up… look at the height difference between the two! It’s crazy!! You can especially see it when they show them standing across from each other and you can use the window frame in the background as a guide to how tall they each are in comparison. Tamala makes it to the frame itself while Stana is quite a ways over it. Hilarious. I’ve never really noticed that before, but these two don’t do a lot of scenes that are staged in this way, so I guess I’ve never really been able to compare their heights before. Lol.
Moving on… we get more case-related stuff to round out the rest of this act, so my addition to the SxS ends here, as I’ll just talk about the non-case stuff to move it along.
