andrew marlowe

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"

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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

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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.

02 12 2015

Castle 7.14 Review: "Resurrection"

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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”.

01 21 2015

Castle 7.12 Review: "Private Eye Caramba!"

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This week’s Castle takes a telenovela twist (just minutes after I watched Jane the Virgin, no less!). A telenovela star is murdered and it’s up to Kate to find the killer and Castle to find… the purse?
Click through for the full recap, but here are some things I loved from the episode:
– Another nice moment between Kate and Martha, but once again no Alexis in sight…
– Castle’s pencil dropping from the ceiling at just the right time.
– “I thought you were a writer. What happened?” “Nothing happened. I’m just expanding my brand if that’s alright with you.”
– Castle learns that the number one skill a private investigator has is dropping $20s for information.
– Esposito’s frustration and Beckett’s amusement with Ryan’s “Castling” makes me laugh every time. Oh Baby Castle.
– I loved the detail of Castle being unable to get Beckett’s top button undone.
– I figured I’d be the only review to not mention the “private dick” line, since it was all over the commercials anyway, but here’s an obligatory mention.
– I loved Castle using Ryan’s badge number to get info from the DMV. Ryan’s the least likely to kick Castle’s butt if he finds out.
– I was glad for Kate’s concern when they find Castle with Mathis: “We would have had no way of finding you.” Obviously, it’s because they’re married, but also his disappearance is still weighing on her mind, and it shows here right beneath the surface. I hope that storyline is returning soon.
– “So you’re saying I solved my case, and your case, and I apprehended the killer… Hm.” “Yeah. You disarmed a 110lb woman. Must’ve been a tense moment.”
– Javier speaking Spanish. ::heart eyes emoji::
Full recap here: Castle Season 7 Episode 12 Review: “Private Eye Carumba!”

01 14 2015

Castle 2-for-1: "Bad Santa" and "Castle P.I"

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Castle TV Show Private Investigator — These are the Castle reviews you were looking for.

The winter TV hiatus is slowly ending and one of the first shows back is Castle. I’ve realized, however, that I never posted the link to mid-season finale recap here, so you get two for one: review what happened in the finale and get into your funny feels over the midseason return.
From my “Bad Santa” Review:

It will definitely be an interesting run of episodes for however long Castle is banned from the force. Seems like he’ll have to do something major to get back in,which we know will probably happen since the precinct and the Castle/Beckett partnership is the bread and butter of the show. But I appreciate the writers injecting new life into a season that has already resolved so many longstanding things. It’s hard for a procedural do that without killing off their existing cast and hiring new blood. Without a constant revolving door of new cast members, it’s important for the show to find other ways to change things up. I’m excited to see what they do with this twist.

From “Castle P.I.”:

This episode was such a fun return from the midseason finale and a fresh new direction for the show. I worry it can’t last too long — how many episodes can we have of them running parallel or opposing cases? But I doubt it is meant to. It’s something fun and new for the show to try and I can’t wait for the conflict it provides between Castle and Beckett in the future — it can’t all be friendly competition and case put together foreplay. The episode left me with a smile on my face — partially because I really like saxophones and all the noir background music included a lot of it. I can’t wait to see what else Castle, Private Investigator, has in store for us.

Clearly the midseason premiere didn’t disappoint. It was a fun episode with some potential stories down the road. We’ll see where the rest of the season takes us. Want to recap the first part of the season? Just check the Castle Recaps under the ConStar Recaps menu up at the top!

11 26 2014

Castle 7.08 Review: "Kill Switch"

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After a bit of a broken TV, breaking news, work all day delay, my Castle review is up over on TV Overmind! Click through to check it out!

This episode was a great return to a standard episode, an episode that could be placed in any season. Though it was Espostio-centric, we also got to see a lot more Gates and Lanie (who we got to see in more than one scene over a dead body), more Tori–who some fans suspect could have had a thing with Espo had he not been so hung up over Lanie) and even Marissa, a new cop. It was a great episode to shine some light on lesser seen characters, while remaining true to the Castle formula. The mythology episodes and the romantic episodes are great, but it’s also nice when we can return to a typical case of the week and not slow things down.

I love that this episode had so many people of color as the focus, Esposito, Lanie, more Gates, and even Marissa the uniformed cop. It was great to see. More at: Castle Season 7 Episode 8 Review: “Kill Switch”.

11 19 2014

Castle 7.07 Review: "Once Upon a Time in the West"

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This week’s Castle post!

This episode was so much fun and it’s great to see that the banter, the eye rolling, the magic of Castle and Beckett has remained even in what could have been an overly schmoopy, post-wedding bliss episode. But that’s not their style. This show really knows how to give character development while realizing that there are core truths to the characters that wouldn’t change, which gives the series both development and consistency; many other shows don’t know how to strike that balance. It gives me hope that now that they’re married, the show will still have somewhere to go. But as I’ve stated before, I wouldn’t be surprised if an end game was near. I didn’t think they could pull of this Old West honeymoon, but they wove it into the plot nicely and gave us many fun lines and moments.

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

11 11 2014

Castle 7.06 Review: The Time of Our Lives

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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.

10 21 2014

Castle 7.04 Review: "Child's Play"

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In this week’s episode of Castle, Castle accesses his not so inner child to find out who murdered an ice cream truck driver.

Some of my TV Overmind review focuses on what little Castle reveals about the mind of a child, giving us insight into what may have made little Ricky Rodgers become a writer…

“An experience that powerful is going to find a way to express itself and end up on the page. Even the wildest fantasies have a kernel of truth. As a master storyteller, I am able to separate the makeshift from the tell-tale details of thinly veiled facts.”

I am really loving the ways the cases of the week have been, even in small ways, tying into the larger mystery of Castle’s disappearance and his mysterious childhood encounter. I think more than any other season, it will lead to a large fluidity and connectedness between each episode, even the filler episodes. Castle hints here at whatever he experienced as a child that made him want to become a mystery writer. What powerful experience did he have as young Ricky that changed him so powerfully? What kernels of truth exist among his dozens of novels that hearken back to that night in the woods?

Read the rest of my review here: Castle Season 7 Episode 4 Review: “Child’s Play”.