Castle: Tone Death (8x09)

They're deciding to play the whole "Castle and Beckett broke up for some reason" thing for laughs now, and I guess it does work a bit better than the angst of the first half of this season... but I'm still not liking it much. Let's take a look at an unfortunately sloppy opener for the second half of this season.

Cons:

The murder this week involved Martha, as she was there when the body was discovered at the theatre where she was working on her show. I love Martha, but her presence was totally underutilized here. There was this whole thing about how she felt personally connected to the victim, all because the young woman had talked to her once. It was weak. Now, if the victim had been someone who Martha had known for a while, and had actually bonded with, that would be different. As it stands, it was a bit confusing how personally upset Martha seemed to be.

The main thing to dislike about this episode is the Castle/Beckett stuff. They are back together, but in order to protect Castle from the not-so-threatening conspiracy that Beckett apparently is still working on, they decide that their reunion must be a secret. They sneak around, yelling at each other in public and then getting together in private to celebrate being together once more. There are two main reasons why this does not work at all. First of all, this whole sneaking around thing is just a repeat of the earlier stuff when Beckett and Castle were hiding their relationship at work. It's like they're trying to recapture some of that fun silly banter, but in a way that's totally unconvincing. Secondly, there's Ryan and Espo, who are horrified to learn that Castle and Beckett are both "seeing other people," a lie they each make up to continue the deception. I'm sorry, but using infidelity as a humor tactic is really not working for me at all. It's not at all funny that Castle and Beckett are telling their closest friends that they're both sleeping with other people. It's just depressing and weird, and it shows a fundamental lack of trust and respect for Ryan and Espo.

Not to mention the fact that the reason for the breakup in the first place still makes no sense. This episode didn't really even touch on the A-plot, and you know what? I didn't miss it at all. I don't care about the ongoing conspiracy! It's not working for the story! At all!

Pros:

The only thing I liked about Castle and Beckett hiding their reunion was that Ryan and Espo seem legitimately upset. Their reactions are not being played for laughs. As Castle and Beckett sneak around, making jokes and showing an utter disregard for the feelings of their friends, we see that Ryan and Espo are genuinely upset about what's going on. I hope when the truth comes out, we get at least a moment of these two being seriously offended at the deception. Because honestly, Castle and Beckett are acting like jerks right now.

Alexis had some screen time, which I always love to see. I hope that we can get some more of her own life away from her father soon, because it seems like she's turning in to another investigator just like dear old Dad. But I nevertheless enjoy seeing her investigate the case and go along with Castle as they try and uncover the truth about the victim. The best part was when Castle uses Alexis' knowledge of emoji-speak to uncover a secret code. It might be a bit silly and juvenile, but this show is sort of supposed to be a bit immature.

The case itself was actually really excellent. I loved all the a capella, and the story of the victim was really touching. She was an ex-con, but she had really gotten her life back together after getting out of jail. It was actually really upsetting to realize that she was killed just when things were starting to turn around for her. I loved the twists and turns, as each one felt appropriate and related. There were no crazy red herrings here. Also, I must mention how awesome it was to hear Esposito singing. He's got the voice of an angel! My goodness! His improv with the other singers was hilarious and super entertaining.

That's where I'll stop. If it weren't for the annoying sneaking around that Castle and Beckett are doing, I might have liked this episode a lot more. As it was, I just found myself getting more and more frustrated with these main characters for their lack of understanding. I'm thinking that Season Eight might be a good place for this show to bow out, before it gets itself any more entrenched in bad patterns.

6/10