SEASON FINALE REVIEWS of Scandal, Grey’s, Castle, How I Met Your Mother, and Elementary Coming Soon

Heading out for the weekend so I will recap these shows Sunday and Monday.   Lots to talk about!   Here’s a quick preview:

Castle: Rick proposed to Kate!!!!   Rick proposed to Kate!!!!  But what does this mean for them going forward and is this really a good thing?  I’ll discuss.

Grey’s: Callie and Arizona had quite the blow up.   Who’s side am I on?   Come back to find out.   Plus, Richard better not be dead!!

Scandal: Enough already.  Ok enough!   Either keep Olivia and Fitz together or break them up but ENOUGH with Olivia running around saying “we can’t do this.”  I’m so done with that.   Did you know David was wearing the white hat all along?   Did I?  And what about Quinn becoming baby Huck and Huck’s reaction to it.

How I Met Your Mother: FINALLY!!!   We got to meet her.   Now we just need Ted to meet her.   But when Carter Bays says this will be the longest wedding in the history of TV, does her really mean that next season will cover the span of only 56 hours?  I don’t know how I feel about that…or maybe I do!

Elementary: haven’t watched it yet but I will by Sunday, so don’t spoil me!

Have a good weekend peeps!

 

RECAP & REVIEW: Castle “Target” & “Hunt” S5 E 15 & 16

WOW.   Just….wow.  Easily the two best episodes Castle has ever done.  It was very reminiscent of the two parter they did a few seasons ago (Tick, Tick, Tick & Boom) where I was on the edge of my seat dying to know what was going to happen next.  But what put this twofer (a little 30 Rock reference) ahead of the others was the emotional tug on your heart-strings from so many angles in addition to the action packed portions of the episodes.

Believe it or not, I’m going to start with the 3 negatives so I can get them out-of-the-way and because they were so minor.  First, I thought Dylan Walsh was woefully underused as a guest start.   In these twofers, Castle has always had really strong guest stars from Adrian Pasdar to Dana Delaney who have been excellent in their roles and really added a strong character base to such a plot driven series of episodes.  I was really excited to see Walsh as a guest star because I’ve always been a fan of his.   But because this was so Castle focused, Walsh really wasn’t needed.  I think we only saw him for about 5 minutes in “Hunt” so for me, you could have cast any actor to play that part because he wasn’t as integral to the story and didn’t seem to enhance it at all.  Second, the lack of Beckett and Castle working together on this.  Now I know they did, but not in their usual way.  Again, this is minor because I liked the way she was more Kate the girlfriend than Beckett the cop in these episodes.  She was there as the woman who loves him and is broken over seeing this happen to Alexis and to him.  I was hoping to see them go off to Paris together to get Alexis back but I applaud Marlowe for taking the daring risk of not doing that because it honestly made better sense for the story.  Rick would leave Kate behind because he couldn’t risk her doing the things he needed to do to get Alexis back because she is an officer of the law.  He, on the other hand, is a desperate father frantically trying to save his little girl.  Therefore, he can use his contacts, however shady they are, to get the information he needs and not put Beckett in a difficult situation.  And even though it was the right call and I agreed with it 100%, there was a part of me, who so loves seeing them work together, sad that the one time you really need Beckett’s skills to team up with him, is the one time we can’t see it.   Finally, the CGI of Paris was horrible.  Wow, it couldn’t have looked any worse.   But that’s all for the negative.   See I told you it was minor!

I’ve read many articles over the years where the cast of Castle doesn’t get their due credit for being “serious” actors.  Because this show has many episodes where the goofiness and silliness is played up, the serious tones don’t seem to carry as much weight.  After watch “Target” and “Hunt” I would defy anyone to tell me these people aren’t serious actors.  I’ve always said that Stana Katic is painfully underrated for her acting skills.  She’s one of best on TV in my opinion who can really hit certain notes from a comedic side as well as a serious side.   She has the chops for both.  And over the years, she has gotten stronger and stronger.  Her best scene of the twofers was when she was questioning Hanson’s girlfriend and that girl gave her nothing but attitude and disrespect.  The next thing you know, Beckett kicks her chair so hard that chick goes flying off her chair into a wall and Beckett gets in her face screaming about how she’s in her way of finding a missing girl.  Holy. Shit!  I’ve seen Beckett get fired up before but this was something different.  She would have been last person on earth (well maybe second after Castle) that I would have ever messed with at that point.  She was brilliant!   This was a combination of cop being agitated at a person blocking her investigation and a girlfriend so angry that this bitch would block her ability to find her boyfriend’s missing daughter.  Not a good combination for little miss sassy pants!

I’ve never been a huge fan of the Alexis character.  I certainly don’t dislike her but I always thought she was written a little too perfectly.  And I know I’m being a hypocrite because I’m always the first one to defend the Reagan family on Blue Bloods and they (except for Danny at times) are written the same way.   But it’s one thing for adults who have been around a long time and who are bound by the law, to be so black and white, good vs bad in their convictions.  It’s a whole other thing for it to be a young girl in high school to be so righteous.  See how I justify that?   But seriously, Alexis seemed way too mature for her age.  Now is there something wrong with showing a responsible, respectful, good person?  Absolutely not.  In fact, I wish we saw more of that.  But no one is THAT perfect.  I mean this girl never made a mistake.  EVER.  And making mistakes doesn’t make you a bad person, it makes you human.  So that’s always been my gripe with Alexis.  But I have to admit, there was no one rooting for her to be saved more than me.  And Molly Quinn was sensational.  True to Alexis’ character, she played her as calm and cerebral during the early parts of the situation always looking out for her friend.  It wasn’t until she was able to Skype her dad and see him that she lost it a bit.   And I would be the same way.  If I saw my dad, I would lose it.  It wasn’t until later when she realizes that not only is she not in NYC but she’s in Paris, did she really get scared.   And later when we saw her in that cage not knowing what was going to happen, not knowing where her friend was, not knowing if she was going to live, did we see her eyes swollen and red with fear.  I’m glad she played it that way and they wrote it that way because as strong and as smart as Alexis is, she’s still a 19-year-old person with no training or experience in these situations.  You bet she’d be scared out of her mind.   My only gripe is at the end when she is rescued and Castle brings her back home, when she’s walking up to her front door, all she says very cavalierly is “wow I’m so glad to be home” like she had a really bad flight back from spring break instead being held hostage for days by crazy people.   Maybe it’s me, but I would still be a little more shaken up and she seemed like she was ready to just get back to normal.  Even with that, Molly Quinn, you were outstanding!!

So 1,200 words in, let’s get to our main man and all that went down for him.   Because not only did he have to save his daughter’s life, but in the middle of all this mayhem, he meets, for the first (really second) time in his life, his father!   Nathan Fillion was BRILLIANT in these episodes.  He didn’t just knock it out of the park, he drilled it to the moon!  The first scene we really see a whole new Castle is from last week’s “Target” when he asks Beckett to have a moment alone with the man who drove the van with the girls in it.  I know there has been much discussion over this scene and my opinion is that I have no problem with it.   He’s a father desperate to find his daughter and this man is his only lead.  You do what you have to do to find her.  No issues at all with that.  Extenuating circumstances cause people to do extraordinary things they wouldn’t normally do or condone.  And I think it was even better that we didn’t see it!

So Castle has left everyone behind and has headed to Paris to find Alexis.  Her friend Sara was released but Alexis was not.  Fearing she’s not collateral damage, he high tails it to Paris to use his contacts there to track Alexis down.   One of Castle’s old connections, that he used to help him with some of his books, introduces him to man named Jacque who will help him find Alexis.  Jacque is able to help and tells Castle the kidnappers want 3 million in Euro in exchange for Alexis.  When they go to the drop point, in a move I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t see coming, Jacque turns the tables on Castle and puts a gun to his head and takes his money.   Just as Rick is about to meet his maker, bullets start flying from an unknown location and all the baddies (including Jacque) are taken out.  Castle turns around to see Mr. Barbra Streisand standing there telling him that he’s the good guy and that he should come with him immediately.  When back at his place, Castle sees all the pictures of Alexis on the wall and Jackson Hunt (that’s the name he gave to Castle) explains to him that this whole situation is his fault.   That Alexis was kidnapped because of him as a payback for killing a former KGB member’s wife and child years ago.  Castle is understandably confused and asks how this could have anything to do with Alexis and that’s when Hunt tells him that they went after her because he was careless and slipped.  They went after her, because she is his granddaughter.  ”Rick, I’m your father.”  As if this man doesn’t have enough to deal with….WOW!!!!!  Now that’s how you introduce a long-lost father into the fold!

My fear with this storyline is that I really thought Brolin was going to end up being a bad guy.   Turns out, he’s nothing of the sort.  He’s actually a hero in many ways.   We learn that he had a wonderful night with Martha but being a spy, was called away on an assignment, he couldn’t disclose that to her, so he left.  A year later he learns about Castle.  Then Castle learns that his father has been keeping track of him all these years and that they even met once.  Curious, Castle asks when.  He tells about the time they were in a book store and Castle was looking for something to read and his dad recommended Casino Royale.  ”That was you?” Rick asks him and he confirms it.  Castle tells him that’s the book that made him want to become a writer.  Aw.  Then Hunt tells him the words every kids wants to hear from their father “Son, I’m really proud of you.”  The look (and the tears) in Castle’s eyes were indescribable.  It was beautiful.  I loved the way the writers and the actors handled this moment and this whole encounter.   It could have been really cheesy or really cliché.  Instead, it was so perfectly handled.  Brolin played it so well.  He was very matter-of-fact about his life without seeming cold and distant.  He also told Castle how he followed his life and career, as any proud parent would, without being creepy.  It was perfection.  And Rick, well talk about bad timing.  Your whole life this enigma finally comes back and instead of having a Walton’s type reunion, you have to pull all that aside because your daughter’s life is at risk.  And to top it off, once his plan to rescue her is enacted, they just have to run and not look back.  He won’t know if his father made it out or not and that’s the way it has to be.   So no steak dinner reunion for these men.  It’s hi, nice to meet you, love you, now let’s go bomb these KGB freaks ok?

His plan works like a charm and Alexis is rescued by her dad and pop-pop.  When they get home, Martha and Kate are both there so excited to see them and hugs and kisses are flowing everywhere.  Castle walks into the kitchen where a package arrived for him.  He opens it up and inside is a copy of Casino Royale.  Dad is ok!!!!  He then looks at Martha with a huge smile on his face and says “mom, there’s something I have to tell you.”  Face to black.

What an amazing set of episodes from Castle.  I really have to say that I am so impressed with how Andrew Marlowe has handled this season.  He finally puts his leads together, Beckett’s mother’s storyline is no longer a who done it but a how are we going to catch him direction, Alexis is kidnapped, and Rick meets his father.  And the fans were worried Season 5 might suck with Caskett together.  Please!!!!  This show is better than ever!!!

 

RECAP & REVIEW: Scandal “Nobody Like Babies” S2 E13

Was that the season finale?   Because it sure felt like a season finale.   Scandal has always been a show with a fast pace…both speaking and storytelling.  I love that about the show.  There aren’t filler episodes like many shows have or episodes that don’t mean anything or episodes where your heart can take a break.  You are on the edge of your seat with every episode.  And tonight was no different.  Some MAJOR things happened so let’s start going through all this.

The big question that got answered was that we finally learned who shot Fitz.  And it turned out, it was Verna.  I was going with Hollis, until last week.  After last week happened, I had no idea who it was going to be.  I really didn’t think it was Sally Langston and I was petrified it was going to turn out to be Mellie.  But Verna was a good solution.  I’m not going to lie, I was a bit surprised, but not nearly as surprised as how the episode ended!!!  More on that later.   Olivia has a showdown with Verna in the hospital about what Verna attempted to do and Verna called Olivia out.  Basically Verna told her that if she is going to call Verna a coward, she should look in the mirror.  And she’s right, although Olivia is no killer.  Bad person?   Yes.  Killer?  No.   But Olivia’s attack on her certainly got through to her because she picked up the phone and called David Rosen right away.  When Rosen arrives to talk to Verna, he’s denied entrance because of security.  We learn the security is there because the POTUS is there and needs to speak with Verna.  Unfortunately, Verna passes away before she has a chance to confess her sins to Rosen.

Another big payoff, which disappointed me, was Abby finally learning that Olivia and Harrison lied to her and set David Rosen up as an abuser.  While Abby was upset, I thought she would be even more pissed off.  I know I would.  But what really bothered me was Harrison’s reaction to her.  We’ve seen him be torn up about what he had to do to her and how much it bothered him.  So for him to be so cold and robotic and go into that God awful gladiator speech again, was unnerving.  And it goes to back to what my #1 issue is with this show.  Why can’t we get SOME explanation as to why these people will so blindly follow Olivia Pope into the darkness and off a cliff?  For once, Quindsay gave me a reason to root for her when last week, she started demanding answers to the same question many of us viewers have…why do you all do what Olivia says, no questions asked?  I really thought, FINALLY, we’re going to get somewhere with this.  Nope.  Shut down.  I hate it.  Harrison, Huck, even Abby…I am no longer buying the “she saved my life” speech as to why they do anything she says regardless of the consequences.  For me, I need more than that and if Shonda Rhimes is going to ask me to buy into that, she owes me an explanation.  Because it’s getting absurd.   For Harrison to tell Abby to suck it up, it’s the job, after what Olivia has done for them she needs to understand the rules or get out, was awful.  If that blind loyalty is supposed to earn my respect as a viewer, it hasn’t.  In fact, it knocked him down a few more pegs (and he was already pretty low.)  I can’t understand Harrison’s POV if I don’t have any idea what she did for him.  I can’t buy into this loyalty without a reason anymore.  In the beginning, I could let it go.  But we’ve been through enough episodes where I need at least one back story to shed some light.  Otherwise, how could I feel bad for Abby after betraying David and stealing that flash drive and therefore destroying his career?  Better to save Olivia Pope, one of the bad guys, than to save the man you love, who just so happens to be one of the good guys?  I know Olivia saved her from an abusive husband and if I were in Abby’s shoes, I would be eternally grateful.  But at some point, especially after what Olivia did to her with using that abuse as a way to get what she wanted, Abby has the right to call Olivia out and say “if you saving my life comes with the price tag of using my past to throw in my face when you need something to go your way, then I’m out and you’re scum.”  Saving their lives is one thing.  Using that against them later for your own benefit, is just sleazy.

So speaking of David, he subpoena’s James to testify about Defiance and the voter fraud.  As a result, James and Cyrus have this fantastic moment in their bedroom where Cyrus doesn’t trust James and James doesn’t trust Cyrus and they both make the other strip to prove neither is wearing a wire.  It was beautiful and sad at the same time.  While they do love each other, they have a terrible marriage!!  After what they each put the other through, I don’t know how they’re still together.  Hell Cyrus even hired Charlie to kill James!!!  Now he eventually told him to stop but only with 1 second to spare.  He’s insane!!!  Those two need some serious counseling.

The final big reveal is that Fitz finds out…about everything!  And his reaction was not what you expected (even though I called it right away!)  I’ve never been shy about saying the unpopular opinion that I hate Olivia and Fitz together.  Can I deny the chemistry between Kerry Washington and Tony Goldwyn?   Hell no.  It’s palpable.  But do I like it?  No.  He’s the POTUS and he’s married.  I think it’s disgusting how they not only have the affair but how they have flaunted it and been so careless with it.  Where they’ve had sex, they couldn’t care less if Mellie or someone else saw.  They have been incredibly disrespectful.  Not that affairs are the most classy or most respectful actions a man and woman enact.  But come on.  Do you have to be so blatant about it?  Sheesh.  So I don’t find Olivia and Fitz romantic or destined to be together.  Nope.  Not even a little.  So I did jump with joy when I saw that he ended up choosing to be with Mellie after all.

In the beginning, Fitz told Olivia not to marry Edison and to wait for him because he was divorcing Mellie and he didn’t care what that did to his political career.  He talks about how Mellie induced labor to try to keep Fitz at her side and he couldn’t be with someone like that.  Olivia couldn’t give him an answer.  When she sees Edison later she gives him back his grandmother’s ring and tells him that she can’t marry him.  When he asks why she tells him that she wants a painful, devastating, passionate love and that he should want that too.  Edison correctly informs Olivia that love shouldn’t be painful or devastating.  It should be fun and joyful and wonderful. The look on her face was priceless because she looked at him like she didn’t know there was any other kind of love.

At Verna’s funeral, she goes up to Fitz and accepts his offer and agrees to wait for him.  Fitz coldly tells her that she should marry Edison and that he made a mistake telling her to wait for him and that she should go away and move on with her life.  And while the President is giving Verna’s eulogy, we flash to her time in the hospital with him where she not only admits that she was the one behind the shooting, but that she and her team of misfits fixed the election so he would win.  He starts to guess the names of the people involved and when he gets to Olivia, he is absolutely crushed.  Then Verna sticks the knife in even further by telling Fitz he should have never been the POTUS but she only did so because of his charm and because that’s what his father wanted.  Ouch.  She had to bring up daddy.  Fitz then calmly tells Verna that her legacy won’t be tarnished and neither will his and he gently lifted her oxygen mask off her face and held down her hands so she couldn’t grab the mask or call for help and then she died.   FITZ KILLED VERNA!!!

After all this, Mellie goes to visit Fitz in the office and he asks her if she loves him.  She responds that of course she does and that she will always stand beside him and always be by his side.  He tells her that of everyone he knows, she’s the only one he can trust because she’s the only one who’s been completely honest with him the whole time.  And he asks if she will continue to be honest and stand by him.  She says that while he’s wavered on her, she’s never wavered on him and will never.  They seal their agreement with a kiss and the First Family is back together.

I’m sure there are many people who will be upset thinking “why did Mellie get off the hook about the election rigging and not Olivia?”  Here’s why.  Mellie has never hidden who she is…ambitious, ruthless, and cunning.  She doesn’t hide it, she doesn’t apologize for it.  It’s like McDonald’s vs. Subway.  McDonald’s doesn’t pretend it’s healthy, therefore you can’t be mad at it when you eat there and your jeans feel tight.  But Subway promotes itself has “healthy eating” yet has a million ways to sneak in the bad stuff that you had no idea was in there so that when your jeans get tight, you blame yourself instead of them.  Mellie is McDonald’s and Olivia is Subway.  Fitz wasn’t pissed at Mellie because he wouldn’t expect anything less from her.  But Olivia?  He held Olivia to higher standard and she crushed that when she aligned herself with the group to fix the election.  In that moment, she was no different from his father who said he couldn’t win on his own.  In Fitz’s mind, she didn’t believe in him.  She betrayed him.  And because of his love for her and because of the elevated opinion he had of her in regards to her integrity and loyalty, it hurt much more and cut more deeply than he ever thought possible.   That’s why Mellie gets the free pass and Olivia is left sitting in a church, alone, and crying.

What an amazing episode.  I’m wondering, now that it appears, aside from the David Rosen angle, that this main story is wrapped up, if we go back to the case-of-the-week scenario which started the series.  I hope so.  While all this has been fantastic, I kind of miss those cases.  So hopefully, we can get a little bit of each.  But with so much story to tell with the main arc, I can understand completely why the side cases were put on hold.

What did you all think of the episode?   Would love to hear your thoughts!!

 

RECAP & REVIEW: Castle “Recoil” S5 E13

Castle has always done a fantastic job with any episodes involving Johanna Beckett’s murder.  Last night revisited that story line and honestly, this was a weaker episode.  It’s hard to compare it to some of the other nail-biting, edge of your seat episodes they’ve had in the past, but since it’s not really about who anymore but when, it didn’t seem to pack as much punch.  Having said that, there were parts of the episode that were really fantastic.

Jack Coleman plays a great baddie.  Senator Bracken sure fits that bill. As we learn, not only does Beckett have a major beef with the Senator, but apparently so do a lot of other people who claim that he is responsible for their love one’s death.  In this case, a woman is murdered and she has ties to Senator Bracken so immediately Beckett and the boys think he’s guilty.  But as evidence is revealed to them, it turns out that Bracken was not the perp, but the victim.  Someone is planning to take out the Senator, this young woman found out and was killed.

The investigation leads to a man named Robert McManus, who we learn his son was murdered and he blames Bracken.  In their hunt for McManus, they find his apartment and Beckett, finds him.  She sees that he is a broken man and let’s him escape by “missing” when she shoots at him.  This really messes with Beckett especially when she finds out that he has C4 he is planning to use to attack Bracken.   Now innocent lives, not just Bracken’s, are at risk and this crushes Kate.  They track down the vest loaded with C4 and other evidence linking McManus to the crime and they arrest him.   None of this sits well with Beckett.  The vest was too complex for McManus to have rigged and there were too many pieces of the puzzle that didn’t fit.   Eventually, she comes to the conclusion that the bomber is going after Bracken where he is giving a speech on energy conservation.  She orders the evacuation of the building and after a quick sweep, nothing was found.  The Senator is furious for her blowing his big campaign speech and threatens to take her down.  Just when this is looking really bad for Beckett, she starts hearing a pinging sound.   It’s the same sound she heard on the cell phone recording the night the young woman was shot.  She realizes the bomb is in the car and runs to the Senator to keep from getting into the limo.  Just then, the detonator is activated and bomb explodes.  Castle tracks down the bomber (who was Bracken’s limo driver for years) and the Senator thanks Beckett for saving his life.   The real bomber is captured and McManus was just the man the bomber was framing do deflect attention away from himself.

I loved seeing how this affected Kate.  She’s always been a no-nonsense cop.  Things are very black and white with her when it comes to the law.  In “Recoil” we saw that line blur for the first time in her career.   We all know why Kate hates Bracken and that she’s just waiting for the chance to take him down.  And we learn in this episode that his criminal acts aren’t limited to just the Johanna Beckett case.  Turns out, if the claims against him are true, this man is pretty evil.  I give Kate so much credit because, like Castle said, if it were me and this is the bastard that had my mother killed, I’m not sure I would have saved his life.  And she did it twice.  The first time, she let McManus go because this is a man who is planning on killing the person responsible for her mother’s death.  It would certainly keep the blood off her hands and rid the world of an awful human being.  So would it really be so bad if she let him go and enact his plan?   She realizes that yes it would.  Especially when she finds out that this went from a sniper rifle attack, where just Bracken would be killed, to a bombing attack where innocent people would be killed.   She could never live with herself if she thought she let a killer go who was now going to destroy innocent people’s lives.  So she find McManus and stops him.   Only that’s not the right guy.   The second time is when she hears the clicking of the cigarette lighter and sees that the bomb is in the Senator’s limo and therefore, she runs to block him from entering the car.  So she saves him, twice.  Ok technically, McManus wasn’t a killer but in her mind, she wasn’t sure so she just went on the information she had.  So from a decision standpoint, where she could choose to let it happen or stop it, twice she chose to stop it.

I think the best part of this episode is seeing Kate struggle so much with this.  And it’s completely understandable.  The daughter in her wants her mom’s killer to pay for what he did no matter how that happens.  But the cop in her says it has been done through the right channels and the right way.  She doesn’t have the luxury of allowing someone to commit murder.  Well, really no one does, cop or no cop, but the dilemma is slightly stronger when you are an office of the law and you have sworn to always uphold it.  Kate’s integrity is a huge part of her makeup.  She is incredibly ethical and the lines of right and wrong are always very clear to her.  That’s why to see her start to blur that line was really eye-opening from her character’s perspective because she’d never done that before.  She would never even think of doing something like that.  But cops are not machines and I can’t blame them when a case is personal, that emotions, at times, can cloud their judgement. But Kate stays true to her character and eventually choose the right path.  In the end, while watching Bracken on the news with Castle, she tells Castle that eventually he’s slip up and that when he does, she’ll be there to make sure justice is served.  I, for one, am really looking forward to watching Kate bring him down.

 

QUICK REVIEW: Criminal Minds, Castle, Revenge, The Good Wife, Blue Bloods

Criminal Minds

This is not a show that needs recapping every week but every once in a while, an episode or string of episodes happen that warrant discussion.  Last week’s episode broke my heart.  In the early days of Criminal Minds, I rooted for JJ and Reid to get together.  A big part of me, still does.  But I’ve moved on from the idea of those two getting together.  As a result, I was 100% on board with this romance between Maeve and Spencer.  And before you start referencing Manti Te’o asking how can you have a relationship with someone you’ve never met, this show handled it very well to the point I totally believed it.  Matthew Gray Gubler and Beth Riesgraf did a fantastic job selling this relationship that up until this episode, only existed via cryptic phone conversations.  The reason for this, she had a stalker.  So she was in hiding until the stalker was caught. Unfortunately, the stalker found her and kidnapped her and as a result, Reid, who is a very private person, needed to out his relationship to the team and ask for their help in finding her.  Turns out it was someone applying for a PhD and Maeve denied her application and therefore Diane (Michelle Trachtenberg) flipped out and murdered her ex-fiance and ultimately murdered herself and Maeve with a bullet to the head.  It was such a sad scene for so many reasons.  First, Spencer had never seen her face.  Even when Garcia had her picture, Reid refused to see it because he wanted the first time to be face to face.  He also wanted to tell her that he loved her because the last time they spoke, she said she loved him and he didn’t respond.  When he finally saw her, it was with her strapped to a chair with Diane pointing a gun at Reid’s head and Reid pretending to love Diane and not her so he could get her free.  Instead of telling her that he loved her, he had to tell her that he didn’t love her so he could protect her.  Unfortunately, Diane saw through all this and while holding Maeve against her, put a gun to her own head and pulled the trigger, killing both of them.  I told my husband I was afraid she was going to die but then I thought, there’s no way CM would do that to Reid.  Yep, well, wrong again!   Maeve is dead and Reid is crushed.  It was brutal to watch and I’m really curious to see how this will impact him moving forward.  Reid is so private and doesn’t open his heart to many people.  And for him to be ready to make a committment to this girl, only to have her murdered in front of him, will completely damage his already fragile psyche.

Castle

Still one of my favorite shows on TV and I’m loving this season.  The last two episodes were great.  Seeing Meredith (Darby Stanchfield) around making things tricky for Castle and Beckett was priceless.  But it was also a nice change of pace to see Meredith and Beckett go to dinner together and really get along.  Unfortunately before she left, when Kate asked why they didn’t work, Meredith told her the truth.   Castle knew everything about her but she really didn’t know much about Castle.  He’s fun and romantic and sweet, but he never let her in, especially when it came to his dad.  And she couldn’t handle being in the dark.  It really resonated with Kate because she’s in the same situation…to some degree.  Castle knows everything about her darkest time…her mother’s death.  But Beckett knows nothing about, what appears to be, Castle’s darkest period…his father.  And I know there were people who thought Meredith did that maliciously, I don’t agree.  I think she was honestly answering Kate’s question without trying to sabotage anything.  I also think that Kate’s relationship with Rick is VERY different from Meredith’s.  Yes, she is just in the dark about Castle’s history with his father as Meredith is, but she has seen so many different layers to Castle that I’m pretty sure no one else has.   They have been through so much together and she has been around some very vulnerable sides to Rick, that she can’t compare her relationship with Castle to his relationship with anyone else.   She has seen a deeper side to him.  But I think this issue regarding his father, could be a driving wedge between them.  I hope it isn’t but I think it’s inevitable.

I just quickly wanted to mention how much I enjoyed last week’s episode which focused on Esposito. I like when the show puts focus on another character (especially Ryan and Esposito) because I care about them just as much as Castle and Beckett.  Ok maybe not AS much, but it’s close.  Esposito is such a great guy.  I love seeing a hard-nosed, tough guy get hit in his heart (figuratively) because he has no chance to avoid showing his soft side.  I hope the show brings Joey back.  I know cop shows always have those episodes where the cop gives the troubled kid his card where the cop says to call anytime and the cop promises to keep tabs on the kid.  Well I would like to see that.  Not all the time, but I think twice a year wouldn’t be out of the question.

Revenge

I would have to agree with everyone else…this season of Revenge isn’t as good as last season.  I liked the simplicity of last season with a target of the week under the umbrella plan of taking down the Graysons.  Now we have Aiden involved and his story.  Then you have the Initiative involved.  And there’s the Ryan brothers going after the Porter brothers.   It’s too much.  I don’t know why things need to go to this massive levels of story telling.   Sometimes, less is more.  I’d rather go back to last season’s methods with twists and turns complicating matters along the way.   But having said that, I still love the show.  If we can cut down on the side stories (mainly Aiden and the Initiative) I would be ok.  I’m not a fan of Aiden would rather him go away and just have Emily do her thing.  I also don’t know why we needed some major secret group being behind some the Grayson’s decisions.  I would rather have had the Grayson’s be responsible for all their own decisions without having to drag this secret society in.  But if the show can wrap those two things up and go back to business as usual with Emily driving everything and Nolan being there to help her, things will be good again.

The Good Wife

Alicia and Peter sitting in a tree.  F-U-C….whoa!!!!  I’m not going to go there.  But how about that trailer scene? AWESOME!!!   If the show continues down this path with Alicia and Peter doing their thing and Will possibly working on a relationship with Laura (Amanda Peet) I would be very happy.

The second half of the season is already cranking.  They got rid of Kalinda’s God awful husband storyline, the firm is slowly starting to pick itself back up again, the case of the Justice Department going after Eli (headed up by Wendy Scott Carr) resulting in bringing in George O’Malley is fantastic, and Louis Canning is now one of the firm’s creditors which should be an interesting wrinkle.  My biggest complaint?  Cary Agos.   Can we PLEASE find this man a storyline worthy of him?  I’m so tired of him being on the back burner.  It’s time to bring him to the big front burner and let him dominate a storyline.

Blue Bloods

I know I’m really late to the party in commenting on this but I think it’s really shitty the way Jennifer Esposito and her character were handled on the show.  If what she is saying is true, then it’s horrible.  The short version, Esposito had been diagnosed with Celiac Disease.  It went misdiagnosed for years and her form of the disease is pretty severe.  I know people with Celiac and there are varying degrees with some leaving people down right ill for weeks, especially when you don’t know what’s wrong.  Esposito was violently ill but when she finally was diagnosed properly her doctors suggested she have a reduced work load on the show to accommodate her illness.  According to Esposito, CBS didn’t grant the reduced work load nor did they release her from her contract.  She was put on medical leave without pay but because she was still under contract, she wasn’t able to seek employment with another network TV show.   She could do theater, film, or cable TV (as long as it didn’t air at 10pm) but she was pretty much stuck.   That’s the part I don’t get.  You won’t grant her request because it isn’t fair to the cast and crew, that’s fine.  But then let her go so she can find other work.   And they wouldn’t do that.   So she went on medical leave and now she’s gone for good.   I hate it because I thought she was fantastic and her chemistry with Donnie Wahlberg was amazing.  I think it’s a big loss for the show.  Having said that, I don’t think the new replacement, Megan Ketch has been bad.  I actually like her.  Not as much as Esposito of course, but Ketch is doing a good job.  It’s tough shoes to fill and I think no matter who it was to fill them, fans weren’t going to like her.  Now apparently Ketch is moving on and Megan Boone is set to replace her for 4 episodes with an option to be picked up a series regular.  Guess we’ll see how she does.

In terms of the season, as always, I love this show.  I know people can get annoyed at how the Reagan family always does the right thing and makes the right decisions.   But I don’t care.  I like the fact that they are good people trying to do the right thing.  What’s wrong with that?  They still have flaws.  They still struggle with decisions.  But if they always try to go the right way, I’m ok with that.

 

Recaps Coming Soon….Season Finale of Homeland and Winter Finale of Scandal

Sorry guys but I have been beyond busy with work and on the road for the last two weeks!  I swear I need some down time!

I have seen the season and winter finales of Homeland and Scandal and I promise I will post my thoughts this week.   Just make sure you check back.

I should have Homeland up tomorrow and Scandal soon after that.  In the meantime, post your thoughts in the comments sections or read up on some of my posts leading up to those finales!

 

RECAP & REVIEW: Scandal “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” S2 E8

UN.BE.LIVABLE!!!!!!!!!  What a flipping episode of Scandal last night.  This show has quick risen to must see TV each week.  There was so much happening, a lot revealed, and many more questions popping up.  And I’m so mad at myself by not knowing who the shooter was right away.  Looking back through the episode, it was SO obvious but I was so entrenched in taking in each scene as it came at me, I didn’t see the forest through the trees.

Here are some of the big questions from this season and over the course of the series:

1. Who Shot Fitz?
2. Why was Fitz shot?
3. Who’s behind it?
4. Why did Olivia leave the White House?
5. Who was responsible for Jesse Tyler’s murder?
6. How did these 5 people (Cyrus, Olivia, Mellie, Verna, and Hollis) come together to get the President elected and fraud the entire country?
7. Where does Olivia shop because she always looks AMAZING!

Let’s take this one at a time.  First, Jesse’s murder and the explosion at Cytron.   We have been sort of following this story since the end of season one when we learned Quinn is not really Quinn but Lindsay and Olivia brought her under her wing at Pope & Associates to protect her (and to help release the huge amount of guilt she has over the situation.)  And while we already knew that Quinsay was set up to take the fall for the explosion, we didn’t know who was really to blame and why.  Now we know.  A reporter in Ohio was getting wind of balloting issues in Ohio and was investigating it.  As a result, he came across Jesse who started to give him intel on what was going down.   Hollis, Cyrus, and Olivia all learn about this and Hollis tells them not to worry, he’ll take care of it.  Next thing you know, boom.  Cytron explodes and Jesse and 6 other innocent people are murdered and his girlfriend Quinsay is set up as the perp.  When Olivia hears about it, she goes straight to Hollis and in a very sinister and frightening way, tells her that you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs.  Basically, he could care less that he just killed 7 people and set up and innocent girl to take the fall.  It showed Olivia just how truly dangerous Hollis is.  And it was nice to see that back then Olivia did have some conscious because she was absolutely mortified and disgusted at not only what he did but how he reacted to it.   What made it worse, was when she told Cyrus, he basically reacted the same as Hollis calling the 8 victims (if you include Quinsay) patriots.  I guess that’s why Cyrus declares himself a monster.  And he’s not wrong.   So could Hollis be the one behind Fitz’s shooting?

We also learned why Olivia left the White House.  Although to be honest, it was pretty self-explanatory from the beginning.  She couldn’t deal with her relationship with Fitz and what it was doing to other people and left.  I was surprised it happened so soon after he was in office.  Because here’s my thing.  She made a comment how she didn’t like smiling at Mellie while taking off her clothes for Fitz.  Yet, hadn’t she been doing that for a while already?   Why now does she all of a sudden have a problem with it?   I think what the flashback made very clear is that these were more than just an affair….they were very much in love.  And based on last week’s episode where the President is tearfully going through photos of Liv and Edison and Liv breaks down in tears in the President’s closet while holding his Navy sweatshirt, they are still very much in love.  It’s also clear that the First Lady knew about the affair very early on and in typical Mellie fashion, pushed it aside and dealt with it because it was best for them politically for her to do so.

I said last week (either on the blog or my podcast, I can’t remember which) that I was hoping Liv would stay with Edison and Fitz would work it out with Mellie.  But after seeing last night’s episode and the raging chemistry and passion between Liv and Grant, it’s hard to deny they belong together.  Except for the fact that HE’S MARRIED and therefore unavailable but that’s beside the point.  It’s so fascinating to see these relationships and all the complexities surrounding them.  It appears at one point as if Mellie and Olivia were friends/friendly.  It also appeared that the First Lady loved her husband very much.  Even if they were together for a political end game, she had genuine feelings for him.  And I have to imagine, he had feelings for her, before Olivia came along.  And seeing Mellie breakdown after what the doctors told her and seeing her swollen eyes and tears soaked face when Olivia brought her Fitz’s pin, this is a woman completely concerned over the health and well-being of her husband.  I really believe that.  Is it partially because she sees her political future falling right before her eyes?  Perhaps.  Is it because she was obviously so in love with being First Lady and in the White House that if something happens to Grant, she’s out?  Of course.  But in this situation, I really think it’s secondary to the fact that she just witnessed her husband being gunned down in front of her and she has no idea if he will recover.

So who shot Fitz?  Well we know who but the bigger questions are why and who’s behind it!   If you don’t want to be spoiled, then stop reading now because the discussion about the shooter is about to happen in 3……2……..1……………….   It was Huck!  Now like I said in the beginning, I should have seen this coming.  First, we see Huck in a flashback, looking very Tom Hanksish a la Cast Away, which seemed to be a random, somewhat out-of-place sighting.  Then, I noticed in all the scenes at Pope & Associates, only Harrison, Abby, and Quinsay are together.  Huck was nowhere to be found.  Third, the shooter had to be someone we knew, for maximum impact at the reveal, and who else do we know who’s a trained killer?   All signs pointed to Huck. But the big question is why?  Is this something he did on his own?  Did someone hire him?  Why did Huck do this?   And it appears we’ll get our answer in next week’s winter finale.  Or at least we’ll have some clue but maybe not the whole picture.   There’s a part of me that thinks Huck made this decision on his own only because if someone came to him asking him to do it, he would have told Liv.  However, if the person who hired him played it in a way that this shooting would somehow protect Olivia and she couldn’t know about it, then it is possible someone hired him.  Because the thing that holds me back from thinking he did it on his own is why?  What reason would Huck possibly have to shoot the President?  If he was getting itchy about killing, he should have called Dexter Morgan.  Or, go kill someone less conspicuous.  The POTUS seems a bit of a lofty, not so under the radar, target of your angst.   So I’m dying to know the who, what, where, when, and why of all this!!!   And one final note.  I saw this mini debate on Twitter last night after the episode.  Did anyone else think Press Secretary Lane Kim was a specific target and not collateral damage?   Some people said wrong place wrong time and some people thought it was deliberate.  One of the arguments was that Huck is a trained killer and therefore wouldn’t miss.   I don’t buy that.  He may be a trained killer but he’s not a trained sniper.  So it’s very possible he could have missed and hit Lane by mistake.   I’m not sure why the Press Secretary would have been shot purposely unless something comes out later about maybe her getting too close to the Cytron scandal.  I think it was wrong place, wrong time for poor Lane.

Now we have the VP Sally Langston (side note…I love Kate Burton) taking the oath of office since the President’s condition is precarious at best.  Now she may have jumped the gun a little bit by landing on the South lawn of the White House and announcing herself as Commander-in-Chief while the President was still getting worked on, but eventually the reigns were hers.  We also learned how their relationship became a bit contentious.  You see, one of the big reasons Langston ran on the ticket with Grant was because she was promised the right to appoint the new Supreme Court Justice, once there was an opening.  Well the problem with that is that Verna was promised by Cyrus and Olivia that very seat for her assistance in getting the President elected.  Verna threw her weight around and told Cyrus and Olivia to find a way to fix it and get her that nomination.  And Cyrus does by digging up information on Langston’s candidate which therefore removes him from consideration.  She knows this was all Cyrus’ doing and declares that from now on, she’s all about her and not “the team.”   So it’s understandable that she would be very quick to jump on the power train once she heard of the President’s condition.  The question is, will this be a permanent promotion or does Grant make a miraculous recovery?

So what did you think of the episode?  Will Fitz survive?   Will Huck get caught?  Is there someone paying Huck to do this or is he acting on his own?  I would love to hear what you all think!!!

 

RECAP & REVIEW: Scandal “Defiance” S2 E7

In a week when we lost the incomparable Larry Hagman, we have an apropos episode from Scandal…”Who Shot Fitz?”  In a shocking ending to episode 7, President and First Lady Fitzgerald were heading to a gala event for the President’s birthday when all of a sudden shots ring out and screams ensue.   I’m surprised that Shonda Rhimes would do an episode like this and not have it be the winter finale…because this episode screamed winter finale!!!   But I’m not complaining that I’ll only have to wait until next week to see what happens next.  This was a pretty major episode.  Between Fitz being shot and James figuring out what David Rosen had suspected, Scandal is starting to reach a whole other level.

For weeks, David has been trying to figure out what really happened with Quinn Perkins.  And what started out as a simple investigation into why Olivia was so desperate to protect Quinn that she sabotaged his case, causing him to get fired, has turned into a major uncovering of voter fraud.  Now it took many steps to get to this point, with Abby’s help, but this is where we are at.  David knows Olivia and Hollis Doyle are involved and he wants to uncover the truth.  Since Olivia destroyed his relationship with Abby and his reputation on top of it, David now needs another partner in crime to help him with research…enter Cyrus’s husband, James.   David gives James his research and asks him to help with the investigation using his reporter connections and investigating prowess.  At first, James wants no part of this because he didn’t see anything in the data all that alarming. That is until he’s sitting at dinner in the residence with the President and First Lady and the President starts telling a story about how one small county in Ohio gave him the presidency.  Fitz was talking about how you can never trust pollsters. He talked about what all the exit polls were saying and how the votes came in completely opposite of what the exit polls said.  He mentioned the county of Defiance, Ohio.  This set off alarms in James’ head.  After dinner, he went back to his office to pulled out David’s research and found the county of Defiance listed as one of the counties that was impacted with faulty voting machines.  So James catches the first place to Ohio.  Long story short, he finds the voting machine in a high school and tests the machine.  He votes 5 times for Fitz’s opponent.  When he prints out the copy of official registered votes on the machine, he is stunned to see the results were 2 votes for the opponent and 3 votes for Fitz….Fitz wins.  He has his proof.   Uh oh.  This is BAD news for James.  I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up dead.  He’s a pretty expendable character, as much as I like him, so I have a bad feeling this is going to get him killed.

Now we need to figure out, how all the players are involved…Doyle, Cyrus, Mellie, Verna, and Olivia.  We know why they wanted to do it but the question is how did these 5 people decide to come together to defraud the citizens of the United States?   And how were they able to get away with it?

Here’s another question I have, was it really necessary for Olivia to do what she did to Abby and David?  Think about it.  Did she really think David would stop investigating this after Abby broke up with him?   If so, she isn’t as smart as she thinks she is.  So she broke Abby’s heart and ruined David’s reputation for what?   For him to still figure out about the voter fraud?   Each week going by, Olivia is looking worse and worse.  I think it’s fair to say at this point that she isn’t a good person.   She’s been a mistress, a liar, a manipulator, and now a defrauder.  And she constantly justifies her actions to her own warped views about what is right and wrong.  Yep, no longer an Olivia Pope fan here.

So let’s get to the huge cliffhanger….Fitz is shot.  Who shot him and who’s responsible?   I’m going to go out on a limb and say it isn’t Mellie because it’s too obvious.  The way she was looking around outside and limo and the fact that she didn’t want to go to the party and tried to stop Fitz from getting out of the car…it screams Mellie is behind this.  But the big sticking point for me that it isn’t her, is that if she really changed her mind about having him shot, he gave her the perfect out…the baby.  He asked if the baby was ok and she said yes she and the baby are fine.  If she was really behind it and really didn’t want him to go, she could have easily used that as the excuse to get him out of there.   So I don’t think it’s her.   Could it be Doyle, sending a message?  Could it be Senator Davis being a lot more ambitious than we thought?  Could it be Cyrus?  Could it be Verna?  Or is it Mellie?  The promo said the shooter will be reveled next week.  I think that’s a bit soon but maybe it’s the shooter but not who’s behind it.  I guess we’ll find out soon enough!!!!

What do you think of Defiance?  Did you love it?   Were you shocked by that ending?   Let me know!

 

RECAP & REVIEW: Scandal “Spies Like Us” S2 E6

I love this show.   But I’m not going to lie, I am falling less and less in love with Olivia Pope each week.  When we first met Olivia, she was “The Fixer.”  A tough, no-nonsense, intelligent woman who could fix any situation. The fun part was that Olivia’s job wasn’t to find the truth (although she does most of the time) it was to find reasons to get her clients out of the tight situations they were in and handle it/spin it to the best of her team’s ability.  We also learned that Olivia’s team would run through fire for her.   Whatever she did for them, they feel as though they owe her everything and will do whatever it takes for her.   That was never more true than this week.   And as a result, I’m now questioning my initial feelings about Ms. Pope.  My initial feelings being she is smart, tough, and very well-connected and has garnered much respect and fear in DC.  I liked seeing a strong woman take control and dominate situations the way she has because she’s always putting the good of her clients first.  And even though that hasn’t changed, the peek behind the curtains we have been getting into Olivia hasn’t shown such a rosy picture.

As we have been seeing these last few weeks, there is something major that went down that involved Olivia, the First Lady, the White House Chief of Staff, a Supreme Court Justice, and a very wealthy oil man.  And at the end of last week’s episode, we learned it might have been voter fraud.   Don’t know that for sure, but that’s what the show is hinting at as of right now.  But I think we’re getting to the point (at least for me) that I want some more clarity on what these secret meetings are about, why they are all so concerned, and at what levels each person was involved.   Because certain decisions are being made to protect this little bridge club and those decisions are disgusting and vile.  So I want to know why such decisions are being made.  And this is Scandal so I have to believe that we can’t believe just what we are seeing on the surface.   There has to be something else going on that will be revealed so we don’t end up hating the lead character.    Right?

In case you’re wondering what I’m talking about, I’m referring to Olivia’s decision to take Harrison up on his offer to help her and break up Abby and David.  And not just break them up.   Use the fact that Abby’s husband used to beat her, against her and David.  I can’t even begin to explain to you how much that disgusted me.  And my question is why?   Why would you do something to protect a circle of people (half of whom you hate) yet destroy someone you are obviously close to and care deeply about?  Is it because “All Roads Lead to Fitz?”   Is it to protect the President of the United States or is it to protect the man she loves or both?   I mean let’s think about this.  Olivia just destroyed the reputation of David Rosen.  She painted him as a wife beater.  AN INNOCENT MAN.  She could have set him up as a cheater or lying about being married, but a criminal.  And a wife beater???   Really?   How do you live with yourself after doing something like that?   And what about what that information does to Abby?  How do you face her everyday as if nothing happened?  It’s unfathomable to me.  And as a result, I find Olivia Pope repugnant.  I no longer feel she’s a strong, smart, successful woman.  I think she’s a coward, a manipulator, and vile.   I guess people would argue that there must be a reason she’s doing this.  Well, I’d like some insight because right now, there is no justification for what she did.  And there are a MILLION other ways she could have handled this.  How about not being a coward and do the dirty work yourself instead of letting Harrison do it (more on him in a bit.)  Or even better, why not have a come to Jesus talk with Abby and tell her why she can’t see Rosen anymore and if she doesn’t back off, then break them up…but not the way she did.   Speaking of Harrison (and for that matter all of these associates at OPA) how about getting some background into why he is so loyal to Olivia.  See, it’s one thing to be grateful to someone for standing by you when no one else would.   It’s one thing to stand by someone who got you out of a terrible situation.  It’s another to blindly go where they tell you and destroy people in the process out of “loyalty.”  In one breath he tells Abby he loves her like a sister.   In the next, he’s setting up her boyfriend as a wife beater so he can destroy her trust in him and break up with him.  Apparently, there are no boundaries that can’t be crossed in the name of loyalty to Olivia.  And maybe that’s what Olivia is banking on.  Did she purposely go after these people to begin with knowing that if she took care of them, she would have Charles Manson like disciples for the rest of her life?   That’s why I need more back story.   I need to know more if I am to also follow Olivia wherever she goes.

On the flip side, I LOVE Cyrus.  His evilness is just so delicious to watch, I can’t stand it.   Now you’re probably saying I’m a complete hypocrite for loving how awful Cyrus is yet bashing Olivia for it.   Here’s the difference.  Cyrus was always a monster (as he himself puts it.)  We were always to think that Cyrus is a whole other level of scary that we don’t want to mess with him.  Olivia, is our protagonist.  Our heroine.  It’s hard to be a heroine when you destroy anyone in your path to get what you want.  Olivia is supposed to be the person we root for.   Cyrus is not.  Therefore when Cyrus puts Mellie in her place in the middle of the White House in one breath and in the second accepts her invitation to the residence for dinner, it’s not awful, it’s awesome.  When Cyrus breaks out the tears in the Oval Office telling his husband not to pursue stories because it will destroy him and then shuts them off completely after James has left the room showing there wasn’t an ounce of meaning behind what he just told him, it’s fantastic!!!!  Because, Cyrus is the Evil Queen.  So having those expectations going into the character are fine because that’s what he is.  And as a viewer, I would disappointed in his character if he was anything but what he is.  He isn’t pretending to the good guy while being awful.  He’s the awful guy being awful.  Olivia thinks she’s a good person (even donning wearing white at all times) but is anything but good.   And maybe she was at one time, but the lines are so blurred at this point with decisions she has made and people she’s aligned herself with, that the word good can no longer be used to describe her.

But this show is awesome!!!  It is must see TV each week.  And even though I’m disappointed in the path Olivia’s character has gone down and I’m frustrated with the lack of back story explaining why she’s making the choices she is making, therefore giving me reason to cut her slack, I still love the show.   What do you think of Scandal this season?

 

RECAP & REVIEW: Castle “Probable Cause” Season 5 Episode 5

Best.  Castle.  Ever.   To me, it’s a real testament to the writers and the actors when you know what the outcome is going to be and you’re still anxiously watching the episode with excitement and anticipation…that’s what this episode was for me.

I’m going to get my one pet peeve out-of-the-way right now so I can focus on all the delicious good stuff.  ABC, you ruined the surprise for me when you listed the actors at the beginning of the show.  I’m sure most people don’t know who Michael Mosley is.   Or if your like me with a lot of actors, you know the face because you’ve seen them in virtually every show (which was Margo Martindale for me for years) but you’re not sure of their name.   But for me, I know exactly who Michael Mosley is, because I think he’s excellent, and so when I saw the “Guest Starring” and underneath it “Michael Mosley” I knew it would be a 3XK episode.   I bit of advice, if you want to pull off a big “ta da” moment in the episode, for those of us (me and his mother) who know who he is, it would have been a bigger “TA DA!!!!!” moment had I not known he was in the episode.  Just eliminate his name!!  Shows have done that before when they don’t want to ruin the surprise.  Hell you did it for Revenge this year when you left Madeline Stowe’s name off the opening credits to not give the surprise away.  Not that it was much of a surprise but I digress.  I’m begging you (and this goes for everyone, not just Castle and ABC) for those of us insane TV fans who knows the actors playing key characters, if you want to have a big reveal, don’t put the actor’s name in the credits!  Simple.  Easy.   Done.  I’ve said my piece.

As for the episode itself….wow!!!!  What an amazing job all the way around.   Think about it.   You know Castle isn’t guilty of murder and (me and Mrs. Mosley) knew who was behind it.  But it didn’t matter.  It was still so riveting to watch how this was all going to play out.   And even though we knew Castle would be innocent and 3XK was involved, Beckett didn’t.  Ryan and Esposito didn’t.  So I was happy to take that ride with them.  Castle, at this point, is all about these characters.   I’m invested in this show because I’m invested in these characters.  Whether we have a light-hearted Castle, a serious Castle, a romantic Castle, or serialized Castle, every Castle works because of the actors/characters.   You can see it in every scene in this episode.  When Kate is sitting with Esposito, and she calls him Javi instead of Esposito, and she’s talking about helping Castle and Javi says that he loves him too but that he has to follow the evidence (more on that later.)  And then the scene with Lanie and Beckett where Kate is pouring her soul out to Lanie.  When I watch this show, I really feel as though these people would run through fire for each other.  It’s why, when the story is somewhat transparent, it doesn’t matter because I still don’t know how it will impact the characters and how they will handle it.  And that is what I really want to see as much as how the storyline will play itself out.

There seemed to be much debate, surprisingly to me, over Beckett and the Boys reaction to Castle and the charges against him.  I was shocked to hear and read that some people thought they were too easy to believe the evidence and not Castle.  First off, I don’t think that’s what happened.  Second, that’s their job.  That’s why they’re so good.  Not because they go soft on each other but because they do what is their duty…find the truth.  As Esposito said, if it was anyone else, they would follow the evidence wherever it took them and go from there.  Until they could find a reasonable explanation, they had no other choice.  I think it was very true to character and the right thing to do from a storytelling aspect.  And there were several drops from Ryan and Esposito about how they don’t like that they have to go after their friend but they have no choice.  Kate said multiple times how this is way off base but that she’ll go by the book until she proves otherwise.  I was thrilled with how the writers handled it.   And in the end, the truth won out and Castle has all charges against him, dropped.  Case closed right?

As Castle and Beckett were heading home, they had to wait for a bridge to close.  No sooner were they discussing how they thought it might have been too easy, BOOM, their car is hit from behind.  Who hits them, well that would be 3XK.  After some back and forth, Castle gets the upper hand and shoots 3XK several times sending him over the side of the bridge.  Alas, when divers go to retrieve his body out the next morning, the body is nowhere to be found and Castle knows this story is far from over.

So why was 3XK after Castle?   Because Castle ruined 3XKs anonymity.  He felt he couldn’t be who he needed to be because people knew he was out there.   He couldn’t kill and hunt they way he wanted to because of Castle.  So he needed to plan Castle’s demise and destroy his and Kate’s lives at the same time.  When that didn’t work out, he planned another metal attack….he came after them on the bridge and planned his “death.”  That way, if people think he’s gone, he can go back to doing what he loves most…hunting and killing.     So he’s still out there and Castle is fully aware that he and everyone he loves could be in danger.

These are the episodes when Castle is at its best.  Don’t get me wrong, I love what made Castle fall in love with it from the beginning and that’s the funny, silly, don’t take itself too seriously show.  But when the show goes to the serious moments, the cast really shines and the writers do a terrific job making us believe in what we are seeing.  And just like I am on the Monica Potter better get some damn Emmy love this year, Stana Katic better get some damn Emmy love this year because she has been brilliant.

What did you think guys?   Did you love this episode?   Were you surprised by the 3XK reveal?  Sound off below!!