So what happens when you have an amazing television show, loyal fans and you are trying to make them happy whilst forgetting the poor storyline you have concocted for your two main characters? While you throw in a character from the past who offered tension, laughter, danger and conflict.
The writers are starting to realise that the break-up of Castle and Beckett was not their best idea, as this week Beckett does not feature in the episode at all as she is ‘out of town’. Therefore bringing back Ethan Slaughter, Adam Baldwin (Chuck, Firefly) gives the viewer what they want in terms of the mixture of comedy, danger and array of relationships. Slaughter turns up at Castle’s PI office to enlist his help on a robbery and bribes him into working with him based on stories Slaughter has about an underground cartel operation; it had only dawned on me in this episode that is has been a very long time that the show has made any connections to Castle being a writer. So far this season he has acted more as a cop/PI than a writer which is his actual job and premise for the whole show, this is actually really sad as it makes you realise that Beckett has broken his muse; she helped him write and now that she has distanced herself from him he is unable to write because he needs her in his life to fill the blank pages.
I adore Adam Baldwin, I think he makes a fantastic tough guy, especially as you can see he is always type cast in those roles, in addition it is nice to see Baldwin and Fillion working together after Firefly. Bringing in Baldwin feels like the right time to take a break from the Beckett and Castle storyline that obvious has many of the fans of the show disappointed and eager for their reconciliation, which we all know is going to happen, there is no way they would spend 5 seasons on a budding romance to than throw it away in 2 seasons. Baldwin’s character pushes Castle to extremes making him ignore his own safety and his loyalties at times towards other people.
Castle and Slaughter act as a juxtaposition to Esposito and Ryan this made me feel constantly conflicted towards Castle as his loyalty was to Slaughter instead of the boys. If you think about it, this makes no sense as he has spent more time with Esposito and Ryan and is actually friends with them than he is Slaughter. Slaughter uses Castle to help him track down the guys who killed his mole and of course chaos follows, Esposito and Ryan think that Slaughter is the murder therefore causing more conflict as Castle is trying to help him and goes against his friends, especially when he helps Slaughter escape.
I loved this episode when I first saw it, but when I watched it again and thought about it more, I realised how out of place it was, particularly with the current storylines that they are working with. However, I did love the whole scene with Slaughter and Castle in his ex-wife’s house I did find this whole scene very amusing and thought it was a nice way to see the old sarcastic humorous Richard Castle.
Another great scene was when Castle and Slaughter start singing ‘Keep Cool Boy’ from West Side Story as they are held at gunpoint, it was silly and completely unnecessary, but I did love it and thought it was really funny. Baldwin’s character offers a nice break for the audience however, the writers can’t help but make sure he delivers some sort of relationship advice to Castle. They have added parts to Baldwin’s character to make him more relatable to Castle’s current situation.
I think all of the fans will agree with me when I say that I hope they will end the Beckett and Castle on a break storyline soon, it does not need to be dragged out this long and the series does not work with them too no longer together. Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic are amazing actors and apart from the first two episodes I would argue that they are not being utilised enough throughout the season so far and neither are their characters.
