Castle – It was Colonel Mustard, with a musket, on the grassy knoll

I debated whether to go with the Clue reference in the post title, or my other thought, which was, “Screw Josh!” But since the show saved Josh for the last little bit, we’ll shuffle him off to the end of the post and kick things off with the case. Because, before Josh came in to rain on the parade, “Punked” was a heck of a good time.

The case started like so many do on whatever cop show you might be watching, with a dead body. Fortunately, it quickly took a very Castle turn with the introduction of the time travel theory. Things just got zanier from there, thanks to the recurring gag of Esposito getting worked over. That last bit, at the steampunk society, was so telegraphed. As soon as the camera cut to Ryan and Esposito arriving, you just knew how it was going to go down. Despite that, it was still hilarious. The steampunk nerdery, Delorean‘s, flux capacitors, and the mustache of Ivan Podofski (Muse Watson) just made it better.

Ivan also led a very interesting list of suspects this week. He had a grudge, and was being played by Muse Watson. Even behind that crazy get up, he’s still recognizable as Mike Franks, and that makes him a likely suspect. Adam (Andrew Leeds) als0 looked good. Goldstein had cost him money. D’Andre the Giant (Randal Reeder) had fingerprints on the wallet.

At one point, I was even looking at the sister, Rachel (Eden Riegel). She said her brother had bought her apartment, but after the crash back at the shop, wasn’t it possible that he needed that money back? Peterson (Ramon De Ocampo) was also a possibility, if for no other reason that I still don’t buy that he didn’t know the dueling pistols were taken out of the club. Of course, in the end it was Troy (Ian Nelson), the most likely of suspects for the simplest of reasons. It wasn’t the simplest of plans though. Murder under cover of the duel was a very clever twist. It all did make for a very fun adventure.

Meanwhile, back home there was more fun to be had with Castle and Alexis. I really did enjoy all the antics, especially Castle squirming as he tries to do, or say, the right thing. Or rather, not do, or say, the wrong thing. They really are great together. Alexis, all wound up and racing through their ‘talk’ was just adorable. And Castle, even at his most bewildered, remains the guy that you just have to root for. Even if he doesn’t have all the answers, his intentions are always right. My one complaint is one of continuity. What happened to the summer boyfriend Alexis was pining for in “A Deadly Affair”? He did call at the end, and she seemed pretty happy about that. We’re just dropping that storyline then? Kind of like that whole Gina thing?

Clearly, I’m one that wants Castle and Beckett together. More than that though, I just don’t want to sit through the same game over and over. Does anyone really think that this latest adventure with Josh Davidson (Victor Webster) is going to be anything that we didn’t already see with Detective Demming? Oh, he has a motorcycle? Well, there you go. Good grief, if Castle dumps Gina (I’m assuming they’re still together since the writers haven’t told us) only to have Beckett now involved with Josh….

So, a great 59 minutes with a minute of perfect Castle adventure, with a minute of head-shaking, eye-rolling, WTF?. I think we’re still ahead of the game on that score.

Bonus trivia for Nathan Fillion fans. He appeared on this week’s Venture Brothers. I would link right to it, but it’s not up yet. Bookmark this page, and it will be there shortly.

Clacked by Brett Love
on Oct 12, 2010 @ 07:47 EST5EDT