The Graveyard Shift

Archive for the ‘Castle Reviews’ Category

Crime solving is as easy as collecting a piece of DNA and running it through a magic computer, right? Well, that’s what TV would like to have us believe, but it simply isn’t so. Not by any means. There’s one step in the process that TV often overlooks and it’s called manual labor.

Manual labor - physical work performed for a wage.

Yes, believe it or not, police work can be very demanding, no matter what the assignment.

Seriously, cops and crime scene investigators really do work for their money, especially when it comes to painstakingly processing a crime scene. There’s a lot to do and very little time to accomplish the task. And, it’s easy for crucial evidence to become lost, degraded, or even destroyed.

The process of evidence collection begins with effective preparation. Investigators absolutely must gather as much information about the crime and the scene before they ever set foot within the perimeter. Is it a large crime scene? Do I have enough manpower and equipment to handle the scene?

Those are two very important questions the crime scene investigator must ask himself. Is he/she getting ready to wade into a stadium-size murder scene with only a flashlight and pair of tweezers? The correct amount of help is just as important as a fancy genetic analyzer. And, too many folks at a crime scene could trample or disturb crucial trace evidence. We see this all the time on TV shows—a two dozen cops plowing through an apartment kitchen, stepping over and around the victim. No!

- Your CSI team should be on the lookout for things that aren’t where they should be. For example, the victim’s home is exceptionally neat and organized, yet her purse is lying in the tub…well, that’s a clue.

- Photograph, photograph, photograph! And then take some more pictures. You cannot take enough of them, and from every angle imaginable. If possible, use an HD Laser Scanner for 3-D images.

- After you’re positive that you’ve photographed every detail then it’s time to move on to collecting…EVERYTHING! And I mean anything and everything that could possibly point to the bad guy. This is no time to be a know-it-all. That’s right, some officers do get that thing called tunnel vision and think they have the case solved before ducking under the crime scene tape for the first time. As they say, “Been there, done that.” And it’s a huge mistake.

So collect everything, including hairs (humans shed tons of hair each day), blood, and fibers. If you’re not sure if the reddish-brown stuff is blood, use a presumptive field test. There are several out there, such as Heme Stix. There are even field tests available to determine if the blood is human or animal.

Heme Stix demo

- Where can investigators locate fingerprints and DNA? Simple answer, anywhere! Dishes, glasses, garbage, toilets, sinks, mirrors, car steering wheels, car seats, carpet, hardwood floors, brushes, combs, the wall behind the toilet, bed sheets, pillows, doorknobs, light switches, computer keyboards, ink pens, pencils, On-Off knobs and buttons, silverware, refrigerator and stove handles (backside)…the list is endless, and investigators should be creative when searching.

- Find a pair of latex gloves at the scene? Sure, we all know to print the inside, right? But did you think about checking your suspect’s hands for powder residue that matches that on the inside of the gloves?

- Get the real dirt on your suspect. How? Check their shoe soles. Some soil embedded in the treads? Collect it and see if it matches the soil found at the crime scene. I once solved a murder this way. Soil found on the killer’s shoe matched a sort of unique clay-like soil at the scene of the crime. Result? Prison time for the murderer based on the lab comparison of a thimble-full of dirt.

So, to sum up this little topic, I’d say the answer to our questions—Where Do I Start And When Am I Done—is simple. You start with your thoughts and ideas and don’t stop until there’s nothing left but answers. Sounds a lot like writing a book, huh?

* I guess Snoopy and Elmore Leonard have something in common. Neither uses a computer to write a book, and both are highly successful.

All good things must come to an end, and this season of Castle is no exception to the rule. This episode, the last of the year, was written by Andrew Marlowe with Rob Bowman taking another turn at directing.

Marlowe, the same writer who put the pen to the page for the very first episode of Castle, decided to bring back mystery writers, Stephen J. Cannell, James Patterson, and Michael Connelly for the season finale. And what a great decision that was. Who better to give advice on mystery writing, muses, and the motivators for murder than three masters of the craft? And to ding Castle for writing only one book a year…that was priceless.

With Alexis and dear old Mom soon to be out of the picture for the entire summer, Castle makes plans to invite Beckett to his place in the Hamptons—the perfect place to develop a budding relationship.

But Beckett turns down Castle’s invitation citing plans with lover boy Demming. So, Castle calls it quits. Says he’s going to take the entire summer off to finish his book.

Oh, wait a minute. There was a murder to solve. I got so wrapped up in the Castle/Beckett love story that I’d put the goofy M.E. on the back burner. Back to mushy stuff in a minute.

Here goes…

- A pretend spy is shot five times in the chest. His body is discovered lying on its back in a small creek-type body of water. The queen of Voodoo Medicine, Lanie Parish, says the wounds are all through-and-through’s, meaning all the bullet holes had exit wounds. Well, how the heck could she possibly know this without rolling the guy over to examine the places where the rounds were likely to have left the body? She couldn’t have done that because the guy’s arms were stretched out straight to each side like he’d been attempting to take flight at the precise moment he was killed. Besides, the front of his clothes were dry, as were his face and hair.

- Beckett asked for time of death. I cringed because I knew what was coming—same old same old from the M.E.

Lanie said, “Based on temp and lividity, I’d say between 11pm and 1am.” I have to assume that in order to have reached that conclusion she’d have pulled down the dead guy’s pants, taken a rectal temperature, and then pulled his pants back up, fixed his belt, and tucked in his shirt tail. I say that because that’s how we saw him—completely and neatly dressed (if you overlook a few bullet holes and bright red blood). I doubt seriously that anyone in the field would go to all that trouble prior to shoving the stiff inside a body bag (a human burrito). And, lividity does not really help determine the time of death. The best that lividity would have told her was that the victim had fallen on his back and hadn’t been moved since it (lividity) had become fixed (on the back of the victim since that’s how he landed after he was shot).

- Searching for the victim’s car around the entrance of the park was good. That’s how it’s done. Grabbing and pawing the things they found inside that car—guns and the faux pen—was not so good. Whatever trace evidence that was on those items was definitely compromised.

- The actual mystery/twist this week was pretty good. The killer wasn’t predictable and James Patterson was right, the motive did involve love, money, and covering up a crime, the three reasons to kill.

But this episode wasn’t really about murder. It was about Castle and Beckett. So now we’re back to the mushy stuff, where Esposito lays it on the line to Beckett. He tells her, in a round about way, that Castle has feelings for her and she’s blowing it by hanging out with pretty boy Demming.

The exchange between Esposito and Beckett was great. Finally, one of the sidekicks was able to deliver meaningful dialog. He and Ryan are too good to lurk in the shadows. They could really add another dimension to the show without stealing any spotlight, if allowed.

Eposito - “Castle’s done enough research to write fifty books. Whatever the reason is (for Castle to hang around) I’m pretty sure it doesn’t involve watching you with another guy.”

The crew throws Castle a going away party. They’re all there, including Lanie Parish, the psychic M.E.

Seriously…

Beckett shows up after breaking it off with Demming. She plans to spill her guts to Castle—maybe even go to the Hamptons with him— when…

Castle’s ex-wife, Gina, shows up. And much to Beckett’s dismay, Castle tells her that he and Gina will be spending the summer together at the beach house. The ex-spouses then turn and walk away.

Beckett, obviously brokenhearted and knowing that she blew it, is left waiting in the hallway until next season. In a sad little girl voice she calls out to Castle, “See you in the fall?”

Castle turns around and smiles. “See you in the fall.”

And that’s where we’ll be until the season opener, waiting in that empty hallway with Beckett.

* Due to an overwhelming amount of requests I’ll be continuing these reviews in the fall. In the meantime, let’s try to convince Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic, Jon Huertas, Seamus Dever, Tamala Jones, Molly Quinn, Susan Sullivan, and Ruben Santiago-Hudson to attend the Writers’ Police Academy. Somebody please have their people contact our people.

ABC photos