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Episode 5 of CASTLE opens with a parking garage as a nervous looking woman is driving round. She spots a man in the middle of the care park holding a brief case, as she parks up and is about to get into the elevator she hears gunshots, she begins to panic and jumps into the elevator as it arrives but before it can leave a different man wearing a ski mask and carrying the silver brief case enters the elevator.

The scene shoots to Castle being accosted by Martha and Alexis who are concerned about them especially when they see Castle holding two bottles of Champagne which he explains are for Ryan and Esposito for their pass on the sergeant’s exam. We then jump straight away to the murder scene where Lanie tells Beckett there was an anonymous phone call to tip the NYPD about the murder. I liked this scene, normal run of the mill information gathering, until the writers decided to put a very strange moment in between Ryan and Beckett. The camera focus on Stana Katic’s bottom as Ryan makes a comment, moments like this have not happened on CASTLE before with Beckett and Ryan and it felt very forced to try and get a laugh out of the audience.

The team soon discover that the murder victim had bullet proof window shields and secret compartments in his car, indicating he was not what he seemed, as tech discover the name and address of the anonymous caller Esposito and Ryan pick her up and receive a lot of hostility from her as they tell her she has to come for questioning.

After Beckett finishes questioning the victim’s brother Ryan asks her to interview the caller as she is complaining about the way Esposito and himself smell, which again leads to an awkward exchange between Ryan and Beckett where he says “she always smells pretty”. Beckett gets Mia Laszlo, played by Stephnie Weir, to go through the events again as Mia finishes her account she surprises Beckett by telling her she is hyperosmia (has a heightened sense of smell) and is really quite unpleasant. I found this idea for a story actually really interesting, the writers have chosen a person with this ability that you do not come across everyday making it a very interesting subject matter and a hook for the audience.

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Castle walks in just as Esposito finds out he passed the sergeants exam and Ryan didn’t. Beckett tells Castle she wants to come grab some clothes from her place and as Castle leaves he meets Mia, who tells him Beckett still fancies him. As Castle leaves Hayley, from episode one played by Toks Olagundoye, comes back to tell them the item that was stolen from the victim was a priceless piece of Van Gogh artwork that she has been hired to recover it, as Hayley helps them fill in the victims life they find a suspect. Castle follows Mia to her apartment where he tries to convince her to help him figure out when he is being charming and annoying to Beckett, as Castle continues talking to her he realises that she would be able to smell the killer and convinces her to go back to the precinct.

Stephnie Weir is actually really funny in this role, she has fantastic face and body language for every time she smells something strong or disgusting, she has great comedic timing and you just find her hilarious. As Mia is brought down to the precinct she does a smell line up to try and catch the scent of the killer but he is not there, Castle gives Beckett the idea to lie to the suspect in custody and Mia indicates to Castle that her pheromones are going crazy for him. The suspect then admits that he was hired to retrieve the painting from the victim but he was already dead, Esposito and Ryan corner the man who hired both the victim and suspect to find out what happened, who tells them that the victim was actually not a transporter. Esposito and Ryan then go to arrest the original transporter as they try to catch him Ryan shoots Esposito in the bottom.

This is once again a strange tactic for the writers of CASTLE to take as it seems like a pathetic tactic to try and gain laughs from the audience and this does not make it more enjoyable since they have started this Castle and Beckett break up storyline. The whole Ryan shooting Esposito in the bum is then a running joke throughout the episode, which I think cheapens the show slightly, yes it always has silly gags and boyish humour but you can tell it is now going to be a long running issue with both characters. Castle convinces Mia to continue to help him so she can experience life more, the team find out that another transporter was hired by the man who was outbid for the painting, when the man turns up with hi assistant at the precinct he tells them that he only bid on it as his assistant convinced him too but he was trying to sell a Rolls Royce. The scene then cuts to Castle and Mia at a dealership where they find the Rolls Royce and the transporter trying to sell it, they trap him in the boot until Ryan and Esposito arrive.

The transporter tells them that the victim willingly gave up the paiting and apologiesd so there was no need to kill him, as Hayley examines the painting she tells them all it is a fake, which means the real killer is still out there. Mia demands Castle takes him to get some home cooked food, as he is about to leave Beckett calls him ‘babe’ which she only does when she is being sweet or loving towards him which I thought was a really lovely touch to add in.

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As Castle takes Mia back to his apartment Martha is there and Mia tells her that she loved her in a performance she did 10 years previous, back at the prescient Ryan and Esposito dig into the paintings past and discover that someone they knew tried to file a court case to have the painting returned. Back at the loft Castle, Mia and Martha are eating until Castle gets up to answer the door and finds the assistant to the collector standing at the door with a gun the assistant tells them the painting belongs to them but Castle managed to distract him and knock the gun out of his hand after that he punches him out and accidently punches Mia.

Beckett turns up at the loft to check everyone is OK and once again you see a sign of affection as she calls him ‘Rick’ when she enters and embraces him. As the assistant admits he helped hatch the plan to retrieve the original painting he did not paint it or kill the victim, as Castle broke Mia’s nose he and Beckett return to the crime scene to retrace the killers steps and manage to find the killers hair and it turns out to be the victim’s brother. The brother admits that he forged the painting and killed his brother. As Esposito and Ryan decide to bury the hatchet, the writers once again decide to try slap stick humour by Ryan telling Esposito to shoot him back. Castle takes Mia some paper flowers to say sorry and she thanks him for opening her eyes and tells him Beckett still loves him. The episode ends with Beckett returning to the loft to collect some stuff and she smells Castle’s shirt, as he returns home she has left and left him one of her shirts which he in turn smells as well.

Even though I liked this episode because its main focus wasn’t the Castle and Beckett storyline I also did not like it as it felt as if the writers are trying too hard to make the audience happy when they know all the audience want is for Castle and Beckett to be together, this is evident in their recent drop of viewers. I really hope this storyline does not last the entire season as this series has so much more to offer than just this one sad plot.

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