Castle: The Last Seduction – A Good Cop/Bad Cop Review
“Kate, I have never given up hope.” ~ Castle
“Okay, I’ll see you around.” ~ Beckett
Melanie Atkins
I really don’t have too much to say about last night’s episode of Castle, because I wasn’t thrilled with it despite the writers’ lame attempt at bringing back some of the delicious romance we crave. Kate is still acting out of character, and I don’t buy any part of her stupid, contrived story line. I never have, and I never will—and frankly, I’m sick of it.
In my opinion, Esposito and Ryan stole the show, and rightly so. Their almost breakup—and the humor and emotion that went along with it—fueled this episode, and should have taught Kate a thing or two. Their drama, plus Rick’s undercover meeting with a divorce attorney, should have made her kick her crazy quest to the curb in her eagerness to get back home.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Kate went home, all right. . . just not for good. I did enjoy the kisses she and Rick shared—they brought back a tiny bit of the old Castle magic—but her leaving almost immediately after they made love infuriated me. How could she do that? Her misplaced loyalty to her mission makes me cringe, and if she doesn’t go home to Rick soon and allow things to get back to normal, I don’t know how much more of this I can take.
Thank goodness Ryan and Esposito made up and are friends again. They made me smile. Kudos to Espo for saving Ryan’s life. The boys rock!
In spite of all of the unnecessary angst I mentioned above, I’m still looking forward to next week’s episode, titled Mr. & Mrs. Castle, that is supposed to add yet another twist to Rick and Kate’s relationship and bring them back together. I’m leery, yet hopeful that the powers-that-be have finally seen the handwriting on the wall thanks to the shows dropping ratings and have realized their big mistake in tearing apart our dynamic duo. I want some Caskett happiness!
Please note: Next week’s episode will the last one until Monday, January 4.
Before I begin my part of the review I’d like to remind everyone of the original purpose of these recaps. During the first season, eight years ago, a group of writers asked me to please start watching and reviewing the police procedures. Their reason was simple. They wanted to know if what they were seeing on the show was what would happen in the real world, because they did not want to use the material in their books if it was wrong. So here we are, eight years later and the information is still basically incorrect. So off we go…
My first comment has nothing to do with police procedure or forensics. Instead, it’s about the lighting in the opening scene. We can clearly see that all fixtures are switched on and their bulbs are burning brightly. However, we, the viewers, can barely see what’s going on because it’s too freakin’ dark! When did Castle become CSI, another show that was filmed in near darkness. The darkness is irritating, directors. For the sake of old and tired eyes, please STOP.
“Nine separate entry wounds. Lividity puts the stabbing between midnight and 2 am,” said Lanie the Amazing/Psychic Wonder.
Do I really need to say it? Well, for those of you who don’t know, Lanie couldn’t use lividity as an indicator of time of death (TOD) because it’s impossible to see lividity on a victim who’s fully-clothed and lying on their back. Likewise, she couldn’t see the stab wounds, nor could she say without a doubt that either or all of them were the actual cause of death. Why not? Because layers of clothing covered the body and wounds. Bloody holes in sweaters do not automatically equal a cause of death. Sure, they’re excellent clues, but not 100% proof.
For an actual photo showing lividity go here. Warning, some images there were taken during an actual autopsy. Should you decide to have a look you’ll see for yourself why Lanie could not see lividity on this week’s victim du jour.
“The weapon was wiped clean,” said the marvelous medical examiner named Lanie. Obviously she’d taken a quick glimpse into her crystal ball before uttering this gem of knowledge, because we all know there’s no way to tell the knife had “wiped” clean merely by glancing at it at the crime scene. AND, someone placed the bloody knife into a plastic bag. Let’s see a show of hands. Why should bloody knives (evidence of a murder) NOT be packaged in plastic bags? Correct, bloody objects are always packaged in paper containers to prevent degradation of DNA, etc.
Blood should also be allowed to air dry. Plastic bags act as mini incubators that encourage the growth of bacteria, and bacteria can degrade or destroy DNA. For more details on “paper or plastic” evidence packaging, go here. By the way, sharp objects should never be packaged in plastic bags and the reason why is obvious. If you do not know this reason then you are most likely an adult who wears an eye patch yet still runs with scissors.
Lanie, while standing at the crime scene with CSU techs scurrying about while collecting and processing evidence and photographing the body, etc., said, “I just got a hit on those prints” (from the knife block). Well…who ran the prints and how and when did they receive the knife block or the pre-lifted prints? Did a CSU tech leave the scene to hand-deliver the block or lifted-printed to the lab so someone could run it through the system? If so, why did they take that one piece of evidence? Why not the knife? Why not anything else? WHY? WHY? WHY? And why would they call the medical examiner with this news and not the investigators who are actually working the case?
Here are a few more “why’s.”
Why is Hayley in this show? What is her purpose? Why would Beckett ask her, a private citizen to tag along to the spa? Why not ask one of the many ACTUAL female cops who work for the NYPD?
Why is Vikram working and wandering around the precinct? That place has a revolving door that allows random non-cops to walk in and out whenever they please. It’s silly, yet they all seem to have access to case files and notes. Are there not any NYPD detectives who’re capable of solving crimes?
At least the writers explained to the viewers that it is illegal to obtain evidence without going through the proper channels—search warrant, etc. Castle was acting as an agent of the NYPD when he entered the lawyer/killer’s office to steal the information from the client log. Same thing for Alexis. It was an illegal search and the fruits of it could not be used as evidence. But they explained this, so bravo for them.
Ryan and Espo are arguing like two little kids and that’s reason enough for a raincheck on the most important dinner of their (Castle and Beckett) lives? Dumb. Dumber. And Dumber.
So Espo stands there chatting away with a lawyer, a murder suspect who brutally stabbed a guy to death, instead of immediately cuffing her? And why was his partner not there during the arrest? Sure she shot them. Hell, I wanted to shoot them for being so stupid.
There was not a lot about this episode that I liked, but I was glad to see Ryan and Esposito save their marriage friendship. That scene was far more romantic than the show-ender with Castle and his wife acquaintance.
