Castle: One Man’s Treasure – A Review

One Man’s Treasure was written by Elizabeth Davis who also wrote last season’s Little Girl Lost. I recall that I wasn’t a fan of that particular episode. In fact, I described it as a snore-fest. This week, Davis’ second effort at placing words into the mouths of two of TV’s most beloved characters, Castle and Beckett, fell miserably short once again. I could barely stay awake and focused even after consuming mass quantities of hot green tea.

Thankfully, Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic, and the rest of the crew (minus the medical examiner, who was absolutely horrid as usual) held the show above water with their chemistry. There were lots of looks, eye contact, and body language this week. And that’s a good thing because the writing was lacking what we’ve had the pleasure of seeing in the past few episodes. Overall, the show last night was extremely boring and very predictable. For me, and probably because the M.E. was back, this episode was very disappointing.

Now, for the procedure (This one was easy. There wasn’t much to it).

– Lanie Parrish. Need I say more? Bless her heart (That’s a southern catch-all expression that’s used when someone is really sub par. For example, to the mother of an ugly baby, “Bless his little heart, I bet he’s really smart.”) Tamala Jones is simply the wrong person for this part. She’s just not believable. I was so, so tempted to fast forward through her scene, but I sucked it up and took it for the team. However, her information wasn’t all that bad this time. For example:

Parrish stated the victim’s bruises were probably caused by the fall down the garbage chute.  Hmm…could be, but that could only be an accurate statement if the victim hadn’t been dead for very long, which was true in this case.  But the only way she’d know for sure would be to examine the tissue under a microscope. A bruise inflicted after death contains only the normal amount of white cells. Bruises inflicted during life contain an abnormally high number of white blood cells (white blood cells rush to an injury site to help begin the healing process).

– Beckett examines the victim’s Connecticut driver’s license. The date of birth (DOB to cops) was 12-13-78, which would have made the guy 31-years-old in a few weeks. Well, in a later scene Esposito reports, “Sam Parker, age 38, lives in Connecticut with his wife. The detective was off by 7 years.

– The “fiance” was left alone in the morgue with the dead guy. No way, no way, and no way! People are not left alone, in morgues, with dead bodies. They could do anything in there, such as destroying or tampering with evidence. Besides, this is their dearly departed loved one. Passing out, heart attack, and becoming very ill are common reactions to seeing dear old Uncle Billy’s cold body for the first time.

– Beckett’s property room tutorial to Alexis was good information, but it seemed like a forced info dump. Thankfully, it was Beckett who delivered those lines. She’s so good she’d probably make a Brittany Spears song sound good.

Alexis is left-handed, by the way.

…..By now I’m bored to tears and praying for a power failure. No such luck. The show kept moving like it was searching for the final credits, but didn’t quite know where to find them.

– Beckett says, “It’s not uncommon for a witnesses’ memory to become confused after experiencing a traumatic event.” Good information.

– Beckett and Castle question the CEO. He’s all smiles and too cooperative. Okay, was it just me, or had anyone else figured out the murderer’s ID at this point? DUH. And the fiance? Yep, she was definitely guilty of something other than bad acting.

– Beckett is called to a crime scene in Connecticut, yet her jurisdictional boundaries stop in NYC. No big deal, cops go outside their jurisdictions all the time to question people, etc. However, Beckett takes over the scene, offering a deal between the two lawbreakers. That wouldn’t have been her decision. Instead, the Ct. cops would have the final say.

The call came in as a trespassing committed by one suspect and an assault by the other. The woman who broke into the house committed a breaking and entering, a felony. When she took the pen she then committed another crime. Sure, she was trespassing (a misdemeanor) when she committed the crimes, but that’s a lesser included offense for which she probably would not have been charged.

– Castle says killers have “crazy killer eyes.” This is very often true. Once you’ve seen that look you’ll never forget it.

The final scene was great.  Castle says Alexis is a chip off the old block. Beckett’s eye roll in response to his statement was priceless.

Again, Castle and Beckett were fantastic. What the show lacked in writing they made up for in body language and chemistry, thankfully.

*ABC photos

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