Castle: Dead Red (8x11)

I didn't find this episode as solid as Sunday night's, but it was still a definite improvement over the rest of the season. Let's take a look.

Cons:

I found my attention wandering a couple of times during the case itself, which involved international Russian spies and conspiracies, another visit from Castle's mother-in-law Rita, long-held secrets between husband and wife, etc. It wasn't a bad case, but nor was it one that I really felt connected to. I didn't care much for the characters, and didn't feel a focused and vested interest in their story.

And then I'll lodge my usual complaint about Beckett and Castle's ridiculous separation plot thread. Whenever it comes up, I just roll my eyes. I'm so ready for this LokSat thing to be over with.

Pros:

But despite some occasional wandering in the main plot, I actually did like a lot of the details here. The Russian man who is sent to help the NYPD with the case, for example, was really fun. He's a jolly guy who wants to help Castle with his next book, and seems to totally defy all stereotypes about harsh Russian law enforcement. Eventually we learn that there's more to him than meets the eye, but even after his secrets have been revealed, he ends up as one of the good guys.

Rita's reappearance was lovely, if only because Rita and Castle finally got to meet face to face and talk about their relationship. Rita is such a weird character on this show, and I like that she and Beckett have a strong relationship. But it was about time that Castle meet the woman his father married.

Castle actually admits frustration with Beckett's ongoing secrets, which I found refreshing and long overdue. It seems that our main character, much like the audience, is getting sick of all this tedious secrecy. Beckett is getting closer to answers, and Castle is getting less and less comfortable with being kept in the dark. Hopefully that means that the idiotic secret-keeping days are almost over.

Martha and Alexis had a few brief moments in this episode. I liked how they seemed to suspect that Castle and Beckett might be back together. The joking tone they all took on the subject was a lot easier to swallow than the way Beckett and Castle have been handling the secret with the boys... at least nobody has brought up the fake new lovers again. In any case, the comedic effect of having Martha and Alexis sort of maybe know about the reunion is working out alright... hopefully the truth gets out in the open soon, though.

This is a pretty short review, but I honestly just don't have a lot of feedback on this one. It was a good episode. Not as good as the last one, but definitely better than what we've been seeing lately.

8/10