Castle 6x01 "Valkyrie"
Castle 6 x 01 "Valkyrie" reaction post where I liked some stuff, but didn't love it.
The good:
The "proposal aftermath" opening scene was adorkable. THEY are adorkable. I was thrown for a second because I was not expecting the episode to start *right* where we left off, in the exact scene. I thought we'd get some "back at the station, telling everyone the news" scene and then flashbacks to her saying yes. Or the jump in time that they did, and then flashbacks to the resolution. So, that was kind of nice that they actually had the whole bumbling, flustered conversation and proposal acceptance, in the moment. Yay!
Also of the good - Castle being true to form and not being able to leave a mystery unsolved. Classified? Pffffft. He's a writer, and those kinds of rules don't apply to him, lol. I expect nothing less from him.
The not-to-my-liking:
The pacing felt off to me. They tried to cram in all the existing characters and all their storylines into small contrived chunks. Alexis back from her trip a week early to exactly coincide when Castle is back from his book tour, and oh yeah here's her new stoner boyfriend, and Castle has to be a parent, and Martha is walking away from that one, and Beckett suddenly can't come for the weekend. Castle finds an intriguing photo so must investigate and his first call is to Homicide cops (because we have to work in Esposito and Ryan!) not to someone more suited to answer research questions about a blown transformer (and in the end, Espo and Ryan go to someone more suited to answer anyway), and of course Ryan is practicing swaddling because we last hear that he and Jenny are expecting, and now that their team is halved, they are less busy than usual so he definitely has time to do that at work. It just felt way too forced to me.
Halfway through the episode I found myself saying "I just do NOT care about this new team". And if we get the old team - Espo, Ryan, Lanie, even Gates and Martha/Alexis - in these weird, taped-on mini-scenes, that's going to make me sad. One of the things that makes Castle so good is these rich, *integral* supporting characters. You made me love them, show. You can't just dump them now for some new people.
So, I am wary of how this is going to play out. Because if Beckett sticks with her new job, those secondary characters can't come with her, except in the contrived way we saw in this first episode. Old friends meeting up once in awhile, doing the occasional professional favor. And, as we saw in this episode, *Castle* can't be a part of her new job either, because it will get her fired or him nearly killed.
If, for some reason, Beckett goes back to the NYPD, that means she failed at her "big chance". Whether she was fired or left on her own, it is a huge failure. And that's a crappy thing to do to such an awesome character.
There is a third path, and I think they maybe tried to go this route with "Valkyrie"? But didn't get it right. And that would be to have Castle straddle the line, working with the boys and precinct *and* occasionally with Beckett's new team ("here, have a consulting job with the FBI since our case almost got you killed, ha ha").
Or maybe Beckett gets her own FBI team based out of NY and of course brings the boys on board. But that's a spin-off show called "Beckett," amirite?
I am all for these characters being able to stretch their wings and grow personally and professionally. I think that two people having to reconcile their professional dreams with their personal lives is modern and believable storyline; I am not knocking that at all. I just want them to do it in a way that doesn't jump the shark.
So. I am wary of how the season plays out. And also that rumor about Nathan being in a contract dispute is now making more sense and making me a touch nervous. Keep it together, show runners! You have been warned!
The good:
The "proposal aftermath" opening scene was adorkable. THEY are adorkable. I was thrown for a second because I was not expecting the episode to start *right* where we left off, in the exact scene. I thought we'd get some "back at the station, telling everyone the news" scene and then flashbacks to her saying yes. Or the jump in time that they did, and then flashbacks to the resolution. So, that was kind of nice that they actually had the whole bumbling, flustered conversation and proposal acceptance, in the moment. Yay!
Also of the good - Castle being true to form and not being able to leave a mystery unsolved. Classified? Pffffft. He's a writer, and those kinds of rules don't apply to him, lol. I expect nothing less from him.
The not-to-my-liking:
The pacing felt off to me. They tried to cram in all the existing characters and all their storylines into small contrived chunks. Alexis back from her trip a week early to exactly coincide when Castle is back from his book tour, and oh yeah here's her new stoner boyfriend, and Castle has to be a parent, and Martha is walking away from that one, and Beckett suddenly can't come for the weekend. Castle finds an intriguing photo so must investigate and his first call is to Homicide cops (because we have to work in Esposito and Ryan!) not to someone more suited to answer research questions about a blown transformer (and in the end, Espo and Ryan go to someone more suited to answer anyway), and of course Ryan is practicing swaddling because we last hear that he and Jenny are expecting, and now that their team is halved, they are less busy than usual so he definitely has time to do that at work. It just felt way too forced to me.
Halfway through the episode I found myself saying "I just do NOT care about this new team". And if we get the old team - Espo, Ryan, Lanie, even Gates and Martha/Alexis - in these weird, taped-on mini-scenes, that's going to make me sad. One of the things that makes Castle so good is these rich, *integral* supporting characters. You made me love them, show. You can't just dump them now for some new people.
So, I am wary of how this is going to play out. Because if Beckett sticks with her new job, those secondary characters can't come with her, except in the contrived way we saw in this first episode. Old friends meeting up once in awhile, doing the occasional professional favor. And, as we saw in this episode, *Castle* can't be a part of her new job either, because it will get her fired or him nearly killed.
If, for some reason, Beckett goes back to the NYPD, that means she failed at her "big chance". Whether she was fired or left on her own, it is a huge failure. And that's a crappy thing to do to such an awesome character.
There is a third path, and I think they maybe tried to go this route with "Valkyrie"? But didn't get it right. And that would be to have Castle straddle the line, working with the boys and precinct *and* occasionally with Beckett's new team ("here, have a consulting job with the FBI since our case almost got you killed, ha ha").
Or maybe Beckett gets her own FBI team based out of NY and of course brings the boys on board. But that's a spin-off show called "Beckett," amirite?
I am all for these characters being able to stretch their wings and grow personally and professionally. I think that two people having to reconcile their professional dreams with their personal lives is modern and believable storyline; I am not knocking that at all. I just want them to do it in a way that doesn't jump the shark.
So. I am wary of how the season plays out. And also that rumor about Nathan being in a contract dispute is now making more sense and making me a touch nervous. Keep it together, show runners! You have been warned!