'Castle' Review/Recap: "I, Witness"

Devika Syal ‘18 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

This week’s episode of Castle began the transition from Castle (Nathan Fillion) the private investigator back to Castle in the precinct after he witnesses a murder during a P.I. job and takes it back to Beckett (Stana Katic).
When an old friend, Eva, asks Castle to find out if her husband Cole is cheating on her, things take a turn for the worse. Going to her house to deliver the results, Castle witnesses Eva’s lifeless body being dragged across the floor and stashed in the woods.
From then on, the episode takes the viewer on a series of twists and turns as pretty much every possible thing that could happen happens…and then some. Initially, Castle suspects that Eva’s husband killed her after she discovered his secret, however after a long trail of deaths and suspects the unsuspected killer is finally unveiled.

This episode got very “Gone Girl” towards the middle. Gone Girl, David Fincher’s film released in 2014, centers around a woman who goes missing and her very suspicious husband who could have potentially killed her. Watching “I, Witness” was like watching a very condensed version of the film. Every perspective and scenario in the film was touched upon in the episode: Cole killed Eva, Eva faked her death to frame Cole, Eva killed Cole, Eva actually killed herself, somebody else killed both of them. It was actually pretty disappointing that the characters didn’t throw in a pop culture reference or act self aware, mentioning how eerily similar their case was to the recent blockbuster. Without a remark about it, it seemed like the Castle writers were shamelessly ripping off the story.
Ultimately, the last Gone Girl scenario is the one that proved true. It turns out that the couple’s lawyer helped Eva fake her death to get revenge on Cole, only to double cross her at the last second and kill both of them for money and revenge. What revenge, you ask? Who is this lawyer who was conveniently introduced in the last three minutes of the episode? That’s what many viewers were probably wondering during Castle and Beckett’s exchange with her. Many episodes often end with a surprise murderer, however this week’s seemed far too rushed. The entirety of the episode dragged on about one thing and resulted in something totally different.

While the general plot had its faults, there were still good parts. For one, Castle showed his humanity through his remorse when he realized he was incapable of saving his friend from her murder. Because he was a witness to the crime, he was able to work with Beckett, Esposito (Jon Huertas), and Ryan (Seamus Dever) in the precinct without anyone batting an eye. Since he’s basically become a regular there once again, it won’t be that difficult for him to begin working with his detective friends in the next few episodes.
Another positive was that the episode featured a funny subplot involving Ryan and his wife attempting to set Esposito up with a woman to go on a couples retreat with, which involved setting up an online dating profile and taking it upon themselves to reject women they didn’t like, regardless of Esposito’s taste. However, since the retreat was originally planned for Ryan, his wife, Esposito, and Lanie (who was back after a long stretch in this episode!), how come Esposito was the one allowed to go? Oh well, that’s the last question people were asking this week.
Next week will be the real mind bender when Castle and Beckett’s famous nemesis, serial killer 3XK, once again returns to the show. Will it be for the last time? Or will he always be the one that got away…from justice?
Overall Episode Grade: B