Let me start off by saying that I'm a huge fan of Castle. I own the first three seasons on DVD, I've seen all the episodes of Season 4 so far, so I'm in no way saying that it's a bad show. What I am saying is that the writing has just simply turned crappy and this episode is living proof for a few reasons:
1. It isn't fun anymore. Remember when it was a show about a lovable boyish man who, thanks to some string pulling, got to ride along with a cop and solve crimes? That was Castle Seasons 1-3. Now, there are no jokes, no lightheartedness, nothing to balance out the seriousness of it.
2. It's no longer centered around crime. Early episodes of Castle were all about catching the killer and restoring justice for the victim and their family, with the really personal stuff being shown as a sub-plot. Now all you get is Castle pining for Beckett who may or may not love Castle back and Castle having to deal with the fact that he won't tell Beckett that he loves her, with the actual crime taking a back seat.
3. The murderer is a total surprise, just not in a good way. Originally, I liked Castle because it was a show that helped you figure out who the culprit really was. They built up evidence, slowly leading you to the conclusion of who the murderer was, but that's all changed. Remember this episode? The reporter was the accomplice? You mean the one who appeared for the first thirty seconds and then disappeared until her interrogation? Yep. No longer is this the show that made you feel smart for slowly but surely discovering the killer, but rather it's the one with the last minute twists put in place for shock value. This episode is a perfect example. As far as we know, the reporter had no motive, and no opportunity to set off the bomb. Then we discover both at the very end. Motive: wanting to advance her career which is stagnant. Opportunity: she just so happened to have gone to the same college as the recruiter of the protest (the college that has around 20,000 students) and they just so happened to be friends who met for drinks. The only real clue we get of any connection between the two is that the victim made a phone call right before the bomb went off and our lovely reporter received a call before she started filming. That wasn't the only episode either. Remember last week, when the killer was the financial adviser, who we only discovered was the murderer toward the very end? Or the one before that when we didn't even meet the murder suspect until the episode was half over with? Hopefully, in the future, the writers will go back to the old way of solving crimes on TV.
4. Castle is a writer, or at least he *was* a writer. One of the fun things about the show was that whenever a new piece of information popped up, Castle had some wild, crazy, awesome theory that, while usually never true, added an air of fun and let you remember who Castle is. He's not some tough cop who's been hardened by the dirty world of crime, he's this youthful, immature, optimistic writer with a huge imagination and a boyish charm that could melt a heart of ice. It was wonderful because it provided a wonderful contrast of Beckett's "evidence is everything" attitude. The victim wasn't killed by his wife, it was super Nazi secret spies wanting a computer chip in the victim's brain. Now, there's no real fun theory about spies, aliens, conspiracy theorists, or anything. It's just three cops and their rich friend who provides no unique insight. Castle is no longer a writer, he's just a guy who's been there for a while and gets to stay for some reason. There hasn't been any mention of a new Nikki Heat book in a long time and, aside from a real quick favor for Martha's "friend," there's been no real mention of Castle being a professional novelist.
So, that's it. Those are my reasons. Hopefully, though, this is just the dark before the dawn. Next episode looks to be promising (it's already aired, but I haven't had a chance to see it) and the episode after looks to be even better, featuring Nathan Fillion's (Castle's) old acting buddy, Adam Baldwin, who played Jayne Cobb in Firefly, a show starring Fillion as Capt Malcolm Reynolds. So, maybe we're looking at a dark past with a bright future ahead of us. One can only hope.
1. It isn't fun anymore. Remember when it was a show about a lovable boyish man who, thanks to some string pulling, got to ride along with a cop and solve crimes? That was Castle Seasons 1-3. Now, there are no jokes, no lightheartedness, nothing to balance out the seriousness of it.
2. It's no longer centered around crime. Early episodes of Castle were all about catching the killer and restoring justice for the victim and their family, with the really personal stuff being shown as a sub-plot. Now all you get is Castle pining for Beckett who may or may not love Castle back and Castle having to deal with the fact that he won't tell Beckett that he loves her, with the actual crime taking a back seat.
3. The murderer is a total surprise, just not in a good way. Originally, I liked Castle because it was a show that helped you figure out who the culprit really was. They built up evidence, slowly leading you to the conclusion of who the murderer was, but that's all changed. Remember this episode? The reporter was the accomplice? You mean the one who appeared for the first thirty seconds and then disappeared until her interrogation? Yep. No longer is this the show that made you feel smart for slowly but surely discovering the killer, but rather it's the one with the last minute twists put in place for shock value. This episode is a perfect example. As far as we know, the reporter had no motive, and no opportunity to set off the bomb. Then we discover both at the very end. Motive: wanting to advance her career which is stagnant. Opportunity: she just so happened to have gone to the same college as the recruiter of the protest (the college that has around 20,000 students) and they just so happened to be friends who met for drinks. The only real clue we get of any connection between the two is that the victim made a phone call right before the bomb went off and our lovely reporter received a call before she started filming. That wasn't the only episode either. Remember last week, when the killer was the financial adviser, who we only discovered was the murderer toward the very end? Or the one before that when we didn't even meet the murder suspect until the episode was half over with? Hopefully, in the future, the writers will go back to the old way of solving crimes on TV.
4. Castle is a writer, or at least he *was* a writer. One of the fun things about the show was that whenever a new piece of information popped up, Castle had some wild, crazy, awesome theory that, while usually never true, added an air of fun and let you remember who Castle is. He's not some tough cop who's been hardened by the dirty world of crime, he's this youthful, immature, optimistic writer with a huge imagination and a boyish charm that could melt a heart of ice. It was wonderful because it provided a wonderful contrast of Beckett's "evidence is everything" attitude. The victim wasn't killed by his wife, it was super Nazi secret spies wanting a computer chip in the victim's brain. Now, there's no real fun theory about spies, aliens, conspiracy theorists, or anything. It's just three cops and their rich friend who provides no unique insight. Castle is no longer a writer, he's just a guy who's been there for a while and gets to stay for some reason. There hasn't been any mention of a new Nikki Heat book in a long time and, aside from a real quick favor for Martha's "friend," there's been no real mention of Castle being a professional novelist.
So, that's it. Those are my reasons. Hopefully, though, this is just the dark before the dawn. Next episode looks to be promising (it's already aired, but I haven't had a chance to see it) and the episode after looks to be even better, featuring Nathan Fillion's (Castle's) old acting buddy, Adam Baldwin, who played Jayne Cobb in Firefly, a show starring Fillion as Capt Malcolm Reynolds. So, maybe we're looking at a dark past with a bright future ahead of us. One can only hope.