Castle Recaps

05 14 2015

Recap Finale Fever (Castle & Arrow)

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While I’ve been a bit behind, here are the recaps for the Castle season 7 finale and the last two episodes of Arrow Season 3!

Castle 7.23 Review: “Hollander’s Woods”

Castle ends an imbalanced season with a decent episode that could have served as the series finale had the stars not signed their contracts and the network had decided to cancel the series.

NOC Recaps Arrow 3.22: Don’t Stab Yourself In the Foot

This episode is a bit of a mess and introduces a ridiculous plot twist that doesn’t serve the rest of the story.

NOC Recaps Arrow 3.23: The City’s Under Attack, Must Be May

The Arrow season 3 finale finally gets us out of the Ra’s al Ghul arc that has been killing the shows cred with fans. Now that we’re moving on, hopefully season 4 will be better. That said, this episode splinters our main characters that could lead to interesting places come season 4. I’m also proud of an Aladdin joke and a Captain Planet joke that you should click-through to enjoy in its full glory.

04 28 2015

Castle 7.21 Review: "In Plane Sight"

ConStar Andrew Marlowe, Castle, Castle Recaps, ConStar Watches, Featured TV Recaps abc, alexis castle, andrew marlowe, angela lansbury, castle, castle season 7, dana creasey, dana creasy, in plane sight, jessica fletcher, Kate Beckett, Lost, molly quinn, murder she wrote, Nathan Fillion, oceanic air, oceanic flight 815, Richard Castle, sherlock holmes, stana katic 0

This week’s Castle had all eyes in the sky as Castle solved a mystery on his way to London. After last week’s jumble of an episode, it was refreshing to get a solid plot with great suspense and well used supporting characters. Though I will add in that Castle’s seeming hesitance about solving the crime in the air and possibly preventing a terrorist attack would be easier if he KNEW WHAT HE DID FOR TWO MONTHS. Still not over the ridiculousness that if Castle saved the world, that he would choose to forget. But anyway, check the recap:

As if we didn’t already know, Castle has the Angela Lansbury curse, where murder follows him everywhere he goes. On this week’s episode of Castle, he cashed in his frequent murder miles and solved a case in the sky.
Castle and Alexis are on a trip to London (on a known to be deadly Oceanic Air… no wonder they come across trouble), where Castle will be speaking at the Sherlock Holmes Society. He’s a bit upset that Alexis won’t come with him, but soon they have other concerns as the air marshal is found dead in the cargo hold. The pilot thinks Castle’s assistance is necessary: “You’re the closest thing to law enforcement we have on this plane.” “Which itself is cause for concern.”

04 26 2015

Castle 7.20 Review: "Sleeper": A Disappointing Reveal

ConStar Andrew Marlowe, Castle, Castle Recaps, ConStar Watches, Featured TV Recaps andrew marlowe, caskett, castle, castle disappearance arc, castle season 7, castle/beckett, david amann, Nathan Fillion, Richard Castle, stana katic, tvovermind 0

Castle Season 7 Disappearance Thailand
I must say: I’ve never been so disappointed with a plot resolution as I was with the reveal of (parts) of the Castle Disappearance arc. There was so much lead up, and so little focus on a mystery for Castle’s personal life, that the reveal had to be a good one. What could possibly have led Castle to disappear on his wedding day for two months and choose to not remember it? It seems we got an answer for why he was gone for about the span of a week, maybe? And it was not a satisfying answer. It was rushed, jumbled, confused, and had weak links stretching one plot introduced a few months earlier to the hastily added bits of story introduced in this episode.
Typically, Castle is great at reveals. The Johanna Beckett mystery had a lot of twists and turns and while some felt weaker than others or caused more stretches of the imagination, it still made a satisfying ride. So far, this disappearance story makes very little sense. Click through to my TVOvermind review to see what drove me to be so disappointed.
Hint: it has a lot to do with Castle’s ability to keep a secret.

This week’s episode of Castle finally wraps up the Castle disappearance arc, which has been in play since he missed his wedding ceremony in the season six finale. Going into the episode, I felt trepidation; the conclusion to this story must be compelling to be drawn out an entire season but only a handful of episodes. Even the characters seemed determine to put it behind them, decreasing my interest in the mystery. All-in-all, this season has been one of tying up loose ends (due to the show’s fate for season eight still up in the air), so it’s hard to think the show will need another season after this one; with this story, the Caskett romance settled, and Beckett’s mother’s killer caught, there’s not much left to explore. If the show does go on for one more season, I forsee it being its last. But let’s jump into this week’s episode.
As I said, the explanation behind Castle’s disappearance had a lot riding on it and I’m not sure I bought the execution.

04 03 2015

Recap City

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I’ve been slacking on posting my most recent recaps here, so here they are! I think I’ll get back into the blogging groove soon, I feel it.

Castle

Castle Season 7 Episode 18 Review: “At Close Range”

Castle Season 7 Episode 19 Review: “Habeas Corpse”

Arrow

NOC Recaps Arrow 3.17: Couple’s Therapy

NOC Recaps Arrow 3.18: Everybody Knows

02 26 2015

Castle 7.16 Review: "The Wrong Stuff"

ConStar Andrew Marlowe, Castle, Castle Recaps, Featured TV Recaps agatha christie, alien, asimov, caskett, castle, Castle (TV series), castle season seven, isaac asimov, Kate Beckett, murder on the orient express, Nathan Fillion, stana katic, the wrong stuff 0

This week’s episode of Castle is a bit Alien, a bit Asimov, and a bit Agatha Christie. The theme? Enclosed spaces. While Castle and Beckett struggle with a crowded apartment, their latest case drags them into the deadly dynamics of a crowded space mission.
More of the recap here: Castle Season 7 Episode 16 Review: “The Wrong Stuff”

Also:

– “There goes my rise of the machines theory.” Looks like you were almost right, Castle! MIRA DID do it, though under heavy influence from each member of the team.

– One of the coolest Castle title cards ever!

– “Hey, Castles.” Oh Ryan, I love for you for that.

– When Rick and Kate fight, they dream of being literally as far away from each other as possible…

– “If you think that’s how I’d get pregnant, we need to talk.”

– I know some science fiction, but definitely didn’t catch all of the references made here. Anyone got a list of science fiction tropes and reference in the episode? List them below in the comments!

02 20 2015

NOC Recaps Arrow 3.14: No Longer My Sister’s Keeper

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Check out this week’s Arrow review! It’s long but I just have so many feelings about Oliver and Thea!

What was immediately fascinating about this episode is how the flashbacks were in Starling City and the present time was on Lian Yu, a cool contrast from seasons 1-2 where it was the reverse. Especially while in the direct middle of the five-year journey. I also noticed that the present and past were a bit more even this episode, as opposed to majority present, minimal past. The focus of both sides of this episode is Oliver’s relationship with his sister. I am so glad that Oliver told Thea the truth once again. As she said, now they truly have no secrets from each other (well, Oliver always has a few up his sleeve).

More over here: NOC Recaps Arrow: No Longer My Sister’s Keeper | thenerdsofcolor.

02 12 2015

Castle 7.14 Review: "Resurrection"

ConStar Andrew Marlowe, Castle, Castle Recaps, ConStar Watches 3xk, andrew marlowe, caskett, castle, david amann, jerry tyson, Kate Beckett, michael mosley, Nathan Fillion, resurrection, Richard Castle, stana katic 0

This week’s Castle post over at TV Overmind discusses the first part of the 3XK two-part saga. Is the man before them really Jerry Tyson? That question causes great suspense in a good but flashback heavy episode.

This week’s Castle is mostly exposition/flashback. I think what was a one and a half episode story needed a few extra minutes so they dumped in a lot of flashbacks to extend the story time. Aside from being a little too flashback heavy for my taste, I really enjoyed this episode and the tension that was spun from the 5th installation of the 3XK storyline.

Click through for more Castle Season 7 Episode 14 Review: “Resurrection”.

02 05 2015

Castle 7.13 Review: "I, Witness"

ConStar Andrew Marlowe, Castle, Castle Recaps, ConStar Watches, Featured TV Recaps "i, caskett, castle, castle pi, castle/beckett, Nathan Fillion, stana katic, witness" 0

This week’s Castle was a bit of a miss for me. Not because of the PI storyline, but maybe it relied too heavily on a sort of Lifetime movie meets Hitchcock kind of thing. Too many twists and back and forths.
Check out the straight up recap here: Castle Season 7 Episode 13 Review: “I, Witness”, but here are some of my thoughts as usual:

Little Things

– The scene with Castle at Whitfield’s house doesn’t make sense considering the end. Cole says “You’ll never prove a thing” but it turns out he wasn’t involved at all. What was his reasoning for saying such a thing, then? He was truly innocent and had no reason to further antagonize Castle in such a way. This is one reason why I felt there were too many twists and turns that even the writing couldn’t keep up with.

– In the side story, Ryan, Jenny and Espo were supposed to go on a trip together, but since Espo isn’t with Lanie anymore, they now need a 4th person to go with Espo. Ryan and Jenny set Espo up with someone on match.com, creating a profile for him, which upsets Espo who says he can find his own dates.

– I did enjoy the amount of time spent in the kitchenette. Since they weren’t working on an official case, they kept a lot of their investigations before it was an official murder to the more social areas of the precinct, even in Gates’ absence.

– Kate was very wonderfully affectionate towards Castle this episode, lots of snuggling. He was going through a lot so it was nice to see her be so supportive. Not that she isn’t typically, but it was more noticeable here.

– The actress who plays the lawyer, Haskins, also plays a recurring character on the show Arrow. Her character on that show works with a special division called the Suicide Squad. Looks like her character on Castle was also looking for suicide squad recruits.

Read more at http://www.tvovermind.com/reviews/castle-season-7-episode-13-review-witness/#pzhdXh2CXU2D52Sd.99

12 02 2014

Castle 7.09 Review: "Last Action Hero"

ConStar Andrew Marlowe, Castle, Castle Recaps, ConStar Watches, ConStar Writes action movie tropes, action movies, Beckett, caskett, castle, film tropes, hard kill, indiana jones, Jason Bourne, last action hero, lethal weapon, Nathan Fillion, stana katic, the bourne identity, the bourne series, the bourne supremacy, the bourne ultimatum, tv tropes 0

Castle post for the week is up! I link to a lot of TV Tropes because action movies are FULL of awesome movie tropes.

In this week’s Expendables themed episode, Castle meets some of his favorite action stars and Kate says goodbye to her old apartment.
[…]The crew walks towards the camera in a typical action movie/tv show Unflinching Power Walk (well, Castle flinches when a car explodes for no reason, again, typical of an action movie). In a heist monologue (on TV Tropes called the “I Know What We Can Do” Cut), Brock explains how Castle and the Indestructibles crew will infiltrate El Jefe’s club and steal the boxcar. After a close call with El Jefe and a well-timed fire alarm, the crew flees the scene with the boxcar (““I’m starring in my own action movie! this is the best night ever!”).
Something I love about Castle episodes themed like this one is listening for title drops, it’s a really fun game. How many action movie title drops did you catch? I don’t know too many action movies, but here are a few titles and heroes/actor references I noticed:

The clear Expendables theme

Lethal Weapon

Jason Bourne

“Eastwood, McQueen, Bronson”

Indiana Jones

Now I want to rewatch the Bourne Trilogy (I stopped after 3, who needed a fourth without Matt Damon?) and maybe a couple of heist movies.
What action movie references did you catch?
Read more Castle Season 7 Episode 9 Review: “Last Action Hero”.

Castle Season 7 Episode 6 Review: The Time of Our Lives

11 11 2014

Castle 7.06 Review: The Time of Our Lives

ConStar Andrew Marlowe, Castle, Castle Recaps, ConStar Watches always, andrew marlowe, andrew w. marlowe, caskett, caskett at last, caskettatlast, castle, castle wedding, castle/beckett, in my veins, Kate Beckett, milmar, Nathan Fillion, Richard Castle, stana katic, terri edda miller, terri/andrew, time of our lives, tv overmind 0

As soon as I heard, over the summer, that Terri Edda Miller was writing episode 6 of this season, I knew it was the wedding. Finally! And all in all, she’s the perfect person to the pen the nuptials, being so tied pretty legally to show creator Andrew Marlowe and very much the heart of the characters and their relationship.Castle is the kind of show that has always taken an equal view of the fantastical versus reality–with Castle as the believer and Kate as the skeptic comes with having X-Files alum on your staff. Usually a supernatural themed episode will end with a plausible explanation, yet stay open to the possibility of something more, but this episode is probably the farthest it’s ever taken the fantasy.
[…]
And then they dance to “In My Veins,” which is when I started weeping. It was a short but beautiful wedding and a wonderful episode that explored our characters and who they are to each other. It’s nice to see how far they’ve come (while also showing the progression of our supporting characters as well) and to get so many wonderful callbacks to things the fans have watched out for or taken to heart all these years.
Read more Castle Season 7 Episode 6 Review: The Time of Our Lives.