'Castle' Review/Recap: "Private Eye Caramba!"

Devika Syal ‘18 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

Private Eye Castle (Nathan Fillion) was back again this Monday night with a problem: his cases have been lacking the “mystery and intrigue” he’s been craving. Overrun with calls from fans pretending to have problems just to meet their favorite author, Castle finds himself trying to stay positive about his new job. That is until his supportive wife, Beckett (Stana Katic), recommends him to a client related to her most recent murder case who is desperate to find…a purse? As ridiculous as it seems initially, the clutch Castle is on a mission to find ultimately has a connection with Beckett’s murder investigation and actually helps him help them find the killer.
The episode worked on so many different levels. For one, Castle and Beckett’s marriage is still one to be envious of. Not only were there small gestures showing how much they care for each other, such as Beckett asking her husband to walk her to the crime scene on his way to work even though they both know he’s not allowed to join, but their passion for each other is evident. A scene shows Castle’s client walking in on them ripping each other’s clothing off in his office. It’s also emphasized that Castle wanted to be a P.I. in order to remain working with his wife, which Beckett makes  happen by giving him a case that will spice up his mundane job.

While Castle and Beckett were working on the same case, the fact that they had different jobs was refreshing after last week’s episode. Instead of the two competing to solve a case and trying to trick information out of each other, which got tedious after a while, they were trying to find two different things, a purse and a murderer. Since Castle was so busy doing his own thing, he wasn’t harassing the precinct to get information and since Beckett, Ryan (Seamus Dever), and Esposito (Jon Huertas) had their hands full with the murder, there was no conflict.
However, even though there were two cases, Castle’s was focused on more. The viewers got to see his step by step process and most of the action, while information about Beckett’s murder case was more fed to the audience than explained. While understandable due to how much was being stuffed into one episode, Beckett’s investigation seemed futile because in the end it was Castle’s information that caught the killer.

Aside from the main storyline, there were a few more details that stood out in the episode that should be mentioned:
1) Ryan’s insane “Castle theories”: Present in both last week and this week’s episodes, Detective Ryan has taken to providing crazy theories reminiscent of the one’s Castle usually made during investigations. It’s nice to know that Ryan misses his friend and wants to keep his spirit alive in the precinct.
2) Where’s Lanie??: Over the past few episodes, Lanie, played by Tamala Jones, has been sparse. Perhaps Jones has taken a role in something else or has personal engagements. This could explain why Lanie and Esposito’s relationship was suddenly terminated earlier in the season. Hopefully for the fans, she will return soon.
3) Perlmutter: New medical examiner, Perlmutter (Arye Gross), has been going on and on for the past two episodes about how happy he is that Castle is no longer at the precinct. Where did all this come from? What did Castle do to him that filled him up with so much animosity? Who knows but it needs to end soon.
The episode was hilarious and had a great storyline, however, viewers still don’t know how long the P.I. thing will go on for. If the show could not handle having two groups solving the same case in one episode, will it be able to handle Castle solving his own case while the detectives do their own? Watch and see!
Overall Episode Grade: A-