Official "Castle" thread! Spoilers welcomed!

[design_mom]

So, can a new fan just jump into this show in the middle? Besides romances, are there any recurring storylines that would cause new people to be lost (like the Red John storyline in The Mentalist for example)?

I've watched a couple reruns during lunch break on TBS, and it looks good. I just want to know whether I should start from the beginning on Netflix or something.

I jumped in two seasons ago and think it was fine. I would like to see the old ones, just to see how the relationship has developed, etc. but I think I "understand" what's going on, at least for now.

There is a recurring storyline about Beckett's mother's murder and a bad guy who has shown up a couple of times, but they tend to give you the basics each time it's brought up... so I don't think you'd be too lost. Most episodes are pretty self contained, murder-of-the-week type episodes.

 

[Missy1961]

Here are the episodes that deal with the back story:

Season 1
#1 - Flowers For Your Grave
#5 - A Chill Goes thru her Veins
#10 - Death in the Family

Season 2
#13 - Sucker Punch

Season 3
#13 - Knockdown
#24 - Knockout

Season 4
#1 - Rise
#23 - Always

Season 5 (this season)
#1 - After the Storm

I'd also consider watching the first episode of the 2nd season, Deep in Death.

I know a few of those will be shown on the day before Thanksgiving & Thanksgiving Day on TNT.

As I'm making that list, I realized that a lot of those episodes are my favorites.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Thanks, everyone.

 

[NotUrsula]

There is a Castlewiki site out on the web that has a rundown of who all of the characters are and their relationship to one another; that will help a lot in terms of catching up.

As to Swan Song, not my favorite, but then, I've never like the cinéma vérité style, so I was prejudiced out of the gate.

However, having the spotlight so much on Esposito brought out one of the funnier facets of this show that I've always enjoyed -- how much of a naïf that character really is. Look back at The Mistress ... , Till Death Do Us Part, and even Final Frontier, and it is obvious that Mr. Special Forces tough-guy is really very conservative and shy in his dealings with women, and even a bit afraid of them if they come on strong. (Not stupid, you understand, just not very sophisticated or worldly.) For all that Ryan gets teased so much about being a geek and not that physically imposing, he's a much more sophisticated person who has a very open mind and an adventurous outlook on life.

The "sweet" moment of the ep? Castle saying that, "I just want them to see what I see" when trying to talk Kate into being more cooperative with the film crew. The thing is, they can't: no one else is going to see what he sees, because no one else is so hopelessly in love with her.

 

[MickeysMommy]

This ep was just meh for me

Sent from my Incredible using DISBoards

 

[Missy1961]

I'm not going to do a review for that episode, just don't feel like watching it again. I did like that Rick wanted everyone else to see Kate as he does.

Next week is the "Meet the Parents" episode. Then I think no episode the Monday after Thanksgiving, then the Christmas episode on December 3rd, then a long break until a new episode.

And another Christmas episode spoiler:
http://tvline.com/2012/11/13/mad-men-season-6-spoilers-ask-ausiello/

Question: You said that something is going to keep Kate and Rick apart in Castle‘s Christmas episode… any other clues? Maybe another letter in the asterisk quiz? —Eli

Ausiello: Sure. *or*

So my guess of Josh is out.

 

[Missy1961]

Castle's office:

http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/castle...office-photo-gallery?cid=fb_csl_castlesoffice

 

[Missy1961]

Kate's desk:

http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/castle.../kate-becketts-precinct-desk-photo-gallery-11

 

[Missy1961]

http://www.tvguide.com/News/MegaBuzz-Greys-Five0-Vampire-Diaries-1056174.aspx

Any other hints about Castle's upcoming Christmas episode? — Melissa
ADAM: The episode, titled "Secret Santa," once again plays on the hush-hush relationship that Castle and Beckett have (pretty much unsuccessfully) tried to keep from their colleagues. But creator Andrew W. Marlowe confirms that the secret will officially be out soon. "We're going to move beyond it. There's only so much storytelling we can sustain," he says. "Capt. Gates is certainly the big issue. How is she going to react? Is that going to threaten the partnership?" So will that reveal be a Christmas gift to viewers or a big lump of coal? "[We] will be dealing with the good of the holiday season — and the bad," Marlowe teases.

 

[Missy1961]

hmmmmm

http://tvline.com/2012/11/14/blind-item-pregnancy-tv-series/#380928-14-blinditem300

 

[NotUrsula]

I really doubt it. Not unless it is reality, and if that is the case Marlowe will be doing some fancy footwork to take it out of the equation in the end, i believe. (Talk about your Moonlighting curse ... geez.)

I was speculating this morning on how Christmas will go, and wondering how the gift exchange will be set up, as it is supposed to be comic. I'm betting that somewhere in there will be the gift of a book with something important written on the flyleaf, and I'm thinking that Kate will be the one giving it.

 

[Missy1961]

I think I know the "*or*" that will cause problems -WORK.

 

[NotUrsula]

Yeah, with that extra letter, that has to be it.

Marlowe is saying that Gates will find out the secret in the Xmas ep. I've been thinking about this, and do we really believe that she doesn't already know? She has read the Nikki Heat books, and she was on that rooftop and heard Beckett screaming Castle's name over and over again -- surely a supposedly legendary IA investigator has figured out what that adds up to.

I think it would be a good story point to have Beckett and Gates have a talk about what they do and what the job means to them, maybe in a semi-deserted squad room on a very slow Xmas Eve. They are really very alike in many ways, and some real back story on Gates would be interesting, especially if it turns out that somewhere along the line her devotion to following the rules cost her an important relationship.

FWIW, I think that back story on just about everyone would be good; (with the *possible* exception of Ryan) these people are all flawed in important ways, and it would be interesting to find out how that happened. However, there are some apparent folds in the timeline of the backstories that we know so far, most notably re: Kyra/Meredith/Alexis. (If Castle was with Kyra for three years just out of college, how did Alexis manage to be born when he was 23 and married to Meredith? That must have been one heck of a quick rebound.) Also, there is Kate and her cosplay past: if she is 32, and if N9 aired just over 10 years ago for only one season (if it really is a FF reference: 2002) then how was she a fan in her freshman year at Stanford in 1999?

 

[Missy1961]

sneak peek:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGNT9LqZ4S0&feature=colike

 

[Missy1961]

sneak peek #2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w2FKIWCAlo&feature=g-all-u

 

[Missy1961]

sneak peek:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH47VyU0rEM&feature=g-all-u

Meet the Parents!

 

[NotUrsula]

sneak peek:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH47VyU0rEM&feature=g-all-u

Meet the Parents!

I don't know about you, but I really wanted to slap Martha during that clip. Beckett's got grounds on this one.

 

[Missy1961]

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

This review is a little late this week--was out of town visiting family.

I loved Monday's episode! Just another funny & sweet classic Castle episode.

Loved:

1. the dinner with the parents - just too funny!
2. Javi & Kevin discussing the interview with the nun - Javi making Kevin be the bad cop - Kevin discussing how Catholic school was like combat, and Javi reminding that yes, he'd been in combat.
3. the interview with the nun--she was so perfect. Loved Javi's reactions!
4. Rick: "dude, where's your car?"
5. the scene when Rick is trying to decode the phone, the ringtone, and the conversation with the phone's owner. Of course, they should have been able to simply dial 9-1-1 even on the locked phone, and if you're going to break a window to steal the phone, why not steal the car?
6. this exchange between Castle & Leo:
Leo: We’re gonna end up floating in the river with cement shoes on.
Castle: Yes, well, technically, if you have cement shoes, you’re not gonna be floating.
7. Martha calling out Gates on her "acting".
8. Martha & Jim's heart to heart about worrying about their kids, and how they each feel safer with the other having their backs.
9. and another exchange between Rick & Leo:
Leo: Great. You have an engineering degree or electronics experience?
Castle: No, but I’ve seen every episode of MacGyver.
10. the kiss before Castle goes alone to find the Chinese restaurant
11. the hug when Kate sees that Castle is OK
12. the conversations between Rick & Kate; first when she worries that he's a best selling novelist & she's "just a cop" and they don't really work "on paper", but he reminds her how they don't live on paper.

Loved the twists too--glad that the mobster/friend of the priest didn't have him killed.

Once again, a killer gives them relationship advice!

Over all, a fun episode. No new episode this Monday. The Christmas episode airs Dec. 3rd, then no new episodes for the rest of December.

 

[NotUrsula]

5. the scene when Rick is trying to decode the phone, the ringtone, and the conversation with the phone's owner. Of course, they should have been able to simply dial 9-1-1 even on the locked phone, and if you're going to break a window to steal the phone, why not steal the car?

In NY State, the answer to that is to avoid committing a felony. If the value of what you steal is under $1K it is misdemeanor theft. I'm guessing that committing a misdemeanor in the name of an emergency would go over better than committing a felony for that reason. Still, I was annoyed that they would just toss the phone; a cop really would have to return it or make restitution if it was taken for emergency use.

Martha really was rude to Jim at dinner and gave him adequate provocation for a verbal smackdown. (As a general rule, trial lawyers are fairly adept at the art of the verbal smackdown -- she was asking for it and I thought he went pretty easy on her, all told.)

One of my favorite bits was Javi commenting on how nice Kate looked, and then on the dinner thing: "Already? How'd that go?'" ... and, of course ...

"Breaker, breaker I gotta momma bear and two Joes in need of a ride back to the bear cave."

I don't know if anyone here is also a Mad Men fan, but Patrick Fischler, the actor who played Leo, also memorably played SC's Utz Potato Chips pitchman, Jimmy Barratt (whose wife had an affair with Don and caused the two of them to punch one another out.) He was also a recurring character on Lost. He's always been great at the schmuck thing.

PS: Anyone want to do a little creative speculation on what it is that Kate may not be ready for, per the promo for Secret Santa? It appears that the Marlowes are teasing us with the spectre of meaningful jewelry or the utterance of a certain 3-word phrase, but if it isn't one of those two big anvils, what else could it be? The two less-loaded possibilities that I thought of would be either a major vacation, or the prospect of "coming out" as an established couple in the NYC literary social scene.

(And speaking of that, bring back Castle's friends, especially the poker buddies!!. He's always calling in a favor from this or that friend, but when does he spend time with any of those people any more?)

 

[Missy1961]

http://officialabcprints.com/