Sounds like some folks didn’t warm to the episode, but I thought it was great fun.
I put it up there with Nikki Heat and Final Frontier for episodes that poke fun so deftly at aspects of the show business machine and pop culture meta. I think it was more subtle than Final Frontier, and less ostentatious, but just as much fun in it’s own way.
Fun meta nods to The Office, COPS, Spinal Tap, Beatles, Tango and Cash, among others. If Spinal Tap had not made it in there, I’d have been seriously disappointed ;).
The case was pretty decent, and it was refreshing that a big name like C. Thomas Howell actually didn’t play a larger role as a villain.
Everyone was hilarious. Lanie went from indifferent to Worth A Trip Sass pretty quick; love that Kevin initially avoided looking at the cameras while Espo was overtly hostile, which then morphed into Ryan actually becoming among the most comfortable with them, along with Castle, while Espo became a spotlight hound. Espo and Lanie’s reactions are kinda funny if viewed together; hints of why Esplanie both works but doesn’t really seem to work. An interesting hm.
What Castle really wants to do, apparently, is direct, lol; makes perfect sense he was picturing the possible editing of the footage into a story as it was happening, though. It was also really sweet that he wanted everyone to like what he likes, ie. Beckett, and wanted to get out of her way to let her shine. For someone who keeps getting called self-centered and egotistical, he continues to do sweet and generous things that are neither self-centered nor egotistical, at least not where those he cares about are concerned. Hocking a book, sure, why not. Call that opportunistic, but that also led straight away to him directing attention back to his Inspiration.
Gates was downright hilarious throughout the episode, and it was nice to see her so heavily involved for a change instead of more peripheral.
My favorite elements right now really center around the music though. I thought the episode was brilliantly structured and very cheeky. I loved that the outro music of each End Of Act evolved along to mirror the story, from band, to composer, to Castle literally singing them. I also loved that for a brief moment the composer was a possible evil suspect. Whoever wrote the ep and whoever did the music for it must have had a great deal of fun, along with the camera crew, and editors after the fact. Hell, it looked like everyone had a great deal of fun, and I think that does translate to what we see.
The Castle/Espo partnership was fun; nice to see a bit of mix and match from the usual. Loved that it reflected their personalities too. At the time, Espo was seeming to still want to be the alpha, continuing his riff with Kevin, but Castle remained as refreshingly egalitarian as ever in his general irreverence, especially regarding the General Order Of Things. Kate had a fun range to dabble in throughout, and there were some cute Caskett moments too.
The surreptitously filmed surreptitious caress was sweet, as was their panic after the fact. Which led to my absolute favorite moment of the ep. That of Castle and Beckett being called into Gates’ office, fearing their personal moment was discovered amid the footage. Instead we get Gates pissed off at being photo/video bombed by Castle, with Beckett looking on.
I died laughing. I fucking died. The whole ep was hilarious, but that’s the moment that got me.
Each of the 3 characters were pitch-perfect, no pun initially intended. Moreover, it’s something that is also so very Nathan. I’d not be surprised if the action behind Gates was left largely unspecified and they just turned it over to the three of them to have a go at.
The end scene. however, was very definitely scripted, and was fun to see Beckett reveal the most of herself in those final moments by luring the crew to lock them in the closet. If the photo bomb was so very Nathan, I get the feeling that this end sequence was also so very Stana.
Additional fun nods to Jon and Seamus, given they like to perform music together, by having them in with the band. I’m still trying to decipher Gate’s expression at witnessing that, given the speech on propriety she just noodle-lashed Castle and Beckett with.
All in all, a very fun hour. The self-deprecating meta of it all was hugely enjoyable. I think eps that are a half-degree twist from the norm are probably refreshing for the cast and crew too, helps keep everyone recharged. I gather we’ll probably be heading back into slightly more conventional Castle programming with sweeps over, but the past few eps were a great deal of fun, and the whole season has been sharply crafted and has yet to disappoint me.
Rock on Marlowe & Co. Y'all are doing just fine.
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