Castle: The Lives of Others (5x19)

This episode was... it was... I don't even know. I... I was distressed. I think that they went too far with some things, and I just couldn't help but think that if I had been in Castle's shoes, I'd be pissed. But... I'm getting ahead of myself. 

This week's episode had the very clever set-up of an injured Castle stuck at home while the rest of the gang was off solving the crime of the week. It pushed the physical comedy of the show to new heights and made for some great moments of Castle behaving like a spoiled baby as he expected to be taken care of by Beckett.

Before I get into Castle's role this week, I'll talk briefly about the actual crime. It was... fine. Better than average crimes on these types of shows, in fact. I didn't see the twist coming at the end, and it was nice to see Beckett solve it virtually without Castle's help. That very rarely happens. I wasn't dying to know what happened (pardon the pun) but I was never rolling my eyes at the murder scenario or the reveal at the end, so that's always a good thing. My biggest problem with this plot was that it felt pointless. With the other plot of the episode being so much more compelling, why did they even need a murder-of-the-week? It's alright for formula shows to break the mold, and since this episode very nearly did just that, I wish they had gone all the way with it.

But, anyways... on to the important plot: Beckett and all of our other characters pull a prank on Castle in order to surprise him with a birthday party. Cool, huh? Only, do you know what the prank is? They set up a fake murder across the street, and then make Castle think he's just paranoid and imagining things. Then, at the end, Beckett goes over to the murderer's house, and makes Castle think she's been killed. But then - Surprise! Happy Birthday! And guess what? Castle thinks it's great! He fakes them all out by acting angry, but then is like "just kidding! This is the best birthday ever!" 

I don't know about you, but that's messed up. Wow. It was a really cool and compelling idea to have Castle lost in his paranoia, and it actually worked okay that the whole thing was a setup. But... I actually would have loved this episode a lot more if Castle had been genuinely pissed. I know this show is a dramady, so they couldn't put too much angst in it, but if I'd been Castle in this episode, I would be so angry. They put him through a lot of torment for a birthday surprise! I found myself slack-jawed at the end of this episode. It was... it was... wow. That's really all I can say.

So, did I like it? I don't... I don't know. There were some great moments in it. It was the 100th episode of Castle, and they referenced that by having Beckett and Castle discuss how many murders they had solved together. Maybe 100 or so?" "Here's to 100 more!" That was great.

There were also so hilarious jokes about Castle as an invalid. His whiney voice when he called Beckett was great, and I liked all the scenes with Alexis and Castle spying on the "murderer."

It wasn't that the episode was a mixed bag for me, because I really have no idea how I feel about the payoff at the end. I'm very confused. I guess... I guess it left a big impact on me. That's more than I can usually say for Castle nowadays.

7/10