S08.E01: XY (1)

[KaveDweller]

A little surprised that Nathan made two references to kissing in his live tweet, even in jest.  Nathan and Stana didn't share much screentime in the episode, but their chemistry seemed fine to me as it was last season.

 

The tweet about her always kissing the upstage side of his face made me laugh, cause when you think about it it's true.  But I wonder if it's a little passive aggressive? The fix is for Castle to initiate some of their kisses...

[BellyLaughter]

It's always a little passive aggressive - no matter what the tweet - or the subject - or its intended target! It's his style on Twitter.

[McManda]

LT's still alive, right?  Right???  Couldn't tell who was shot at first and I thought that person would be dead at such close range.  Espo's move would probably have gotten him killed in real life.

I had to go back and check, but I think LT’s okay. He moves after he’s shot and Espo (or Ryan?) tells him to stay still. I think he be fine (and honestly, I’m okay with suspending disbelief on that). The other guy was a precinct regular, too, and he looks okay afterward, too.

Is Kevlar a standard uniform piece? Maybe they both wear it all the time, especially when they’re very noticeable as being police officers?

 

Is that a term people use in the States?

I’m going with no. I’ve never heard the term before, to describe either romantic or non-romantic relationships.

 

The tweet about her always kissing the upstage side of his face made me laugh, cause when you think about it it's true.

I missed this tweet, but it makes me laugh. It makes me think of the episode of Friends when Joey’s Days of our Lives character gets a brain transplant and he’s taking lessons from the actress leaving. She tells him her character would kiss with her hands on the cheeks of who she’s kissing … to draw attention to herself.

Or in the Pirates of the Caribbean commentary someone mentions that Geoffrey Rush is convinced people scan screens from left to right, so he always wanted to be on the left side, because if he was in a scene with Keira Knightly and the monkey and he was on the right no one would ever see him.

I guess all actors have their ‘thing’. :)

Re ratings: that hurts, a lot, but kind of expected. But the fatalistic view of FormerlyCancellationBear is weird to me … to relate, Bones had been doing numbers for like that toward the end of last season, and it’s mostly likely just as expensive. (I only pick Bones because it’s a good, similar comparison in terms of demo, age, show type, etc.)

Edited September 23, 2015 by McManda

[KaveDweller]

I missed this tweet, but it makes me laugh. It makes me think of the episode of Friends when Joey’s Days of our Lives character gets a brain transplant and he’s taking lessons from the actress leaving. She tells him her character would kiss with her hands on the cheeks of who she’s kissing … to draw attention to herself.

 

Ha....Stana puts her hands on Nathan's face a lot when she kisses him too.

 

Re ratings: that hurts, a lot, but kind of expected. But the fatalistic view of FormerlyCancellationBear is weird to me

 

We really need to see how the rest of ABCs line up does to see what it means for Castle.  FormerlyCancellationBear is always saying it's all about relativity within a network.

[Hipshooter]

I liked it and didn't expect to.All of the articles etc had me dreading it.

[smiley13]

I am not a fan of the new girl.  She sounded like a Mel B impersonator.

 

As always, I loved Espo and Ryan!   I was also happy to see Alexis featured.

[McManda]

I know she technically wasn't kidnapped, but can they hang this in Beckett's office? I feel like Castle would get a kick out of it. He could even maintain it.

 

I was thinking about it, and I think I'd be much more receptive to the idea of Beckett if danger if it hadn't been done twice in the last season and a half. That's really what I'm sort of stuck on. Like, how much mortal peril can they have her face? It's too much all in a row, like it's become a storytelling crutch.

Edited September 23, 2015 by McManda

[MaryM47]

I will politely disregard thread protocol and share my first impressions before reading everyone else's wise insights, and pray your patience if I repeat sentiments already thoroughly discussed before my posting. I realize I do watch this show through rose-colored glasses, but I must say I enjoyed it very much.  I was riveted to the case and the chase, and sincerely felt (despite rationally knowing otherwise) that both Castle and Beckett were in actual danger, and thought the new guys ramped up the action - big fight between Hayley and Assassin girl, and the shootout at the precinct - quite well.  It was good to hear a shout-out to the fact that once upon a time Castle wrote some books, and I very much liked his impassioned declarations of love for Beckett -  offering any amount necessary to Hayley for her help, and saying he loves Beckett "like a house on fire." Speaking of Hayley, so far I like her mix of brashness and honesty, and the matchmaker in me can't help but wonder if she might someday be a love interest for Esposito, as we know from the hot bodyguard from the College Girls Gone Wild case that he does like a badass chick. I even found myself liking Alexis a bit more, being pleasantly reminded that she is a smart, well-educated young lady, and has spent enough time with her mystery writer dad and supercop stepmom to have picked up a few tips on how to be a PI (which suits her far better than dating a Pi), and it was great to hear her defend Beckett. It was also fun to see both sides of Castle - the giddy little boy seeing his tricked-out PI office, and the loyal husband and partner sternly declining Hayley's suggestion that he might have to screw over his friends to get answers he wants. And as I was only expecting one spider in that box, and it has taken me most of my 40+ years to get over my insane fear of spiders, I nearly peed myself when Bad Guy opened the box and a whole flock of them started to crawl out. I'm not too keen on the promo suggesting a breakdown of trust between Caskett, and like most of you here, definitely do not want a protracted separation, but overall I'm feeling a bit more hopeful that the new showrunners just might be able to pull this off. Thanks for listening!

[verdana]

I know she technically wasn't kidnapped, but can they hang this in Beckett's office? I feel like Castle would get a kick out of it. He could even maintain it.

 

I was thinking about it, and I think I'd be much more receptive to the idea of Beckett if danger if it hadn't been done twice in the last season and a half. That's really what I'm sort of stuck on. Like, how much mortal peril can they have her face? It's too much all in a row, like it's become a storytelling crutch.

I saw that on tumblr and laughed so hard. It's perfect for her as it's getting a beyond a joke, as for storytelling crutch yeah absolutely and the new writers are more than happy to keep on using it. In theory it should be harder to have your captain in peril than a mere detective due to the nature of the job but by the looks of spoiler pics she comes back just fine and dandy and everyone moves on as if nothing happened.  

 

The showrunners said she's be "out in the field" more than a normal police captain seems like she'll get into danger more than any other too lol.

 

Hasn't every character been kidnapped on this show aside from Martha? 

Edited September 23, 2015 by verdana

[turnitwayup]

Hasn't every character been kidnapped on this show aside from Martha? 

 

Well she got held hostage in a bank so she has had her in danger moment before, but yep no kidnapping for her. Gates has pretty much gone unscathed.

 

Like Castle loosing his phone is kinda of a running gag, that works # days before kidnapped should be Beckett's running gag.

Edited September 23, 2015 by turnitwayup

[verdana]

I didn't particularly care for that opening murder scene either.  Once upon a time, they said that they didn't want to glamourise murder or something along those lines.  Looked to me they were doing that here like every other crime procedural, and not for the first time either.  Also, yes, I presume they wanted the badass femme (fatale) as usual, but that agent came off as idiotic.

 

That opening scene in the club definitely had a different feel to it and as regular viewer you could immediately tell there were new guys at the helm, the way the murder was staged and her line to him that almost glorified it was unsettling and not typical of Castle but then I remembered that Hawley worked on The Following and that was supposedly more dark and gritty. I do hope Hawley remembers he's working on Castle now and this is not that type of show and introducing those kind of elements are going to feel jarring to an audience used to a much lighter diet. If I want to see stuff like that I can go watch any number of other shows.  I agree about the agent, he was completely brainless no wonder they're all dead. 

Edited September 23, 2015 by verdana

[Nadine]

Well she got held hostage in a bank so she has had her in danger moment before, but yep no kidnapping for her. Gates has pretty much gone unscathed.

 

Well Gates' alter-ego didn't go unscathed in Raging Heat.

Since Castle blew her character up.

Heh.

[madmaverick]

Is that the one where she pops out of a paper bag naked in the street? Weird.

 

It sounded ridiculous to me, but what do I know?  Stick a beautiful, eye catching, naked woman in there and you catch the eyeballs, lots of eyeballs apparently. ;)  I checked it out because I liked some of Greg Berlanti's TV in the past, but I definitely checked out of this.  And lol at the idea of the COTW coming from tattoos on said naked woman's body.

 

I'm surprised he didn't want to take a few months off here to go work on the X Files. 

 

 

Ah, but did they want him?  Milmar, Bowman, Amann all want to land their new projects but so far nothing yet.

 

She spent the ep looking like she was gonna go out on a date instead of being a PI.

 

 

Nailed it.

 

The other element about this scene was that it allowed Alexis some vulnerability in her reminding Castle of his own disappearance, and that's the one thing that kept the Castle/Alexis scenes charming in the beginning seasons - she might have been "wise for  her years", but she also needed his emotional support, so you didn't have the current level of unbelievably know-it-all proficiency.

 

 

Agreed.  Character scenes generally work better for me when there's a two sided layer of vulnerability layered into it, be it with Caskett or other relationships.  Doesn't work so well when it's one character on his/her high horse lecturing the other.

 

I thought it was a little creepy that Alexis was using the name of a character based on someone Castle slept with, but I guess Alexis didn't know about that.

 

 

Come to think of it, she may have done because wasn't she interning with the morgue when Beckett waltzed in and loudly said that she didn't care if Castle had slept with her (Sophia) and they went for that uh oh moment when it turned out Alexis was listening?  But it was smart of Alexis not to use her own name, because duh.

 

Characters like Hayley are advocating taking risks and even committing crimes like B&E in her work as a PI.  Interesting to see if Castle will be influenced by her more reckless approach, because he's a famous author with a police captain wife, and could have a lot more to lose professionally and personally if he got in trouble with the law. Then again, S1 Castle had an arrest record already.

 

But everything is dark, so they must just prefer to spend their money on Beckett's wardrobe.

 

 

It's gotten a bit nauseating how Luke is almost bragging about Beckett's designer labels these days.  God forbid he buy anything that isn't designer!  But give the man a big budget and... ;)  Imagine if this had been one of those gritty police shows instead where everyone wears grungy, drab clothing.  How would Luke have built a following from fangirls then? ;)

 

The tweet about her always kissing the upstage side of his face made me laugh, cause when you think about it it's true.  But I wonder if it's a little passive aggressive? The fix is for Castle to initiate some of their kisses...

 

 

I didn't find it passive aggressive but more that he's always going to go for the comedic note, whether people find it funny or not, than the earnest, romantic note in his tweets.  Be it about Castle or anything else.  I do enjoy his Valentine's Day tweeting sprees though where it can be funny and heartfelt both.

 

I don't know that Castle initiating kisses is going to solve the problem because it seems like they always want to block the kisses so that you can only see one actor's face, and the back of the other's head, and even if we see faces it's often half in shadow, and we almost never see their actual mouths and lips when they're kissing, which is annoying.  

 

Is Kevlar a standard uniform piece? Maybe they both wear it all the time, especially when they’re very noticeable as being police officers?

 

 

I don't think police officers would wear it under their uniform because isn't it thick and bulky, not to mention heavy?  Castle writers did clarify on twitter that LT was OK.

 

So many of us here have professed a liking, even a preference, for the fun, fluffy, light fare on Castle.  I think they might have made a mistake by not opening with a lighter episode to distinguish itself from the competition.  But the writers don't ever seem to have been interested in opening or closing a season, or even doing important sweeps episodes, with lighter fare, even though they say that the fun episodes are their bread and butter.  For whatever reason, the go to is high stakes big drama every time.  But basically every show goes for that approach, rightly or wrongly.  The rom com, fluffier, comfort food TV episodes are still the ones that are most rewatchable to me.

[retrograde]

The promise of something fresh was enough to get me to tune in again after pretty much dropping the show last season. (Hey guys, I've missed you!) 

 

I didn't mind it. I liked the different opening. I liked Castle and Alexis doing the PI thing together (I'm sure I'm in the minority there) and their tricked-out new office -- all that reminded me of early seasons. I thought the new woman had the potential to shake things up in a good way -- the actor still seems to be finding her feet with the character (she was too obviously ~*~acting~*~ in some scenes) but had her moments.

 

But I've always liked the procedural nature of the show and prefer fun episodes. I don't mind a few dramatic ones here and there, but this seemed to be setting up a long-term angsty arc and those really aren't my bag. But I'm intrigued enough to watch again next week to find out what the hell is going on with Beckett.

Edited September 23, 2015 by retrograde

[KaveDweller]

Come to think of it, she may have done because wasn't she interning with the morgue when Beckett waltzed in and loudly said that she didn't care if Castle had slept with her (Sophia) and they went for that uh oh moment when it turned out Alexis was listening? But it was smart of Alexis not to use her own name, because duh.

Alexis heard them talking, but she didn't know who they were talking about because there was a scene later where she asked Castle and he wouldn't tell her. And supposedly no one ever knew Clara was based on a real person because it was too classified to reveal it. But yeah, very smart of Alexis. I just watched another show where someone used their real name in a situation like this, and i was yelling at my TV about how dumb she was.

[verdana]

Now Beckett has moved up the ranks where's her replacement? The boys are fighting over her desk but why? They have not been promoted (yet) from what I gather and they're down a team member.

Guess they must be light on homicides to investigate at the moment...

[verdana]

Alexis didn't look old enough to be an audit manager which should have made the guy suspicious, but then saying that we've had some people come into our work claiming to be auditing staff who look like they've just got lost on the way to school.

Whilst using another name was a good move, she kind of ruined it by introducing herself and started saying hi I'm Alex....then changing it to Clara lol, that would be enough to send alarm bells ringing, like you forget your own name.

[Castle75]

Alexis didn't look old enough to be an audit manager which should have made the guy suspicious, but then saying that we've had some people come into our work claiming to be auditing staff who look like they've just got lost on the way to school.

Whilst using another name was a good move, she kind of ruined it by introducing herself and started saying hi I'm Alex....then changing it to Clara lol, that would be enough to send alarm bells ringing, like you forget your own name.

It was all a ploy to allow Alexis to use her new found "way to manipulate a man guide" info from Hayley.

[oberon55]

Now Beckett has moved up the ranks where's her replacement? The boys are fighting over her desk but why? They have not been promoted (yet) from what I gather and they're down a team member.

Guess they must be light on homicides to investigate at the moment...

 

Maybe they will bring Sully back. I wonder why the boys didn't fight over her desk when she went to DC?

[femmefan1946]

And lol at the idea of the COTW coming from tattoos on said naked woman's body.

 

That was a stupid idea in Waterworld and it is a stupid idea today.

 

And yes that' off topic

[AntiBeeSpray]

It sounded ridiculous to me, but what do I know?  Stick a beautiful, eye catching, naked woman in there and you catch the eyeballs, lots of eyeballs apparently. ;)  I checked it out because I liked some of Greg Berlanti's TV in the past, but I definitely checked out of this.  And lol at the idea of the COTW coming from tattoos on said naked woman's body.

 

Ah, but did they want him?  Milmar, Bowman, Amann all want to land their new projects but so far nothing yet.

 

Nailed it.

 

Agreed.  Character scenes generally work better for me when there's a two sided layer of vulnerability layered into it, be it with Caskett or other relationships.  Doesn't work so well when it's one character on his/her high horse lecturing the other.

 

Come to think of it, she may have done because wasn't she interning with the morgue when Beckett waltzed in and loudly said that she didn't care if Castle had slept with her (Sophia) and they went for that uh oh moment when it turned out Alexis was listening?  But it was smart of Alexis not to use her own name, because duh.

 

Characters like Hayley are advocating taking risks and even committing crimes like B&E in her work as a PI.  Interesting to see if Castle will be influenced by her more reckless approach, because he's a famous author with a police captain wife, and could have a lot more to lose professionally and personally if he got in trouble with the law. Then again, S1 Castle had an arrest record already.

 

It's gotten a bit nauseating how Luke is almost bragging about Beckett's designer labels these days.  God forbid he buy anything that isn't designer!  But give the man a big budget and... ;)  Imagine if this had been one of those gritty police shows instead where everyone wears grungy, drab clothing.  How would Luke have built a following from fangirls then? ;)

 

I didn't find it passive aggressive but more that he's always going to go for the comedic note, whether people find it funny or not, than the earnest, romantic note in his tweets.  Be it about Castle or anything else.  I do enjoy his Valentine's Day tweeting sprees though where it can be funny and heartfelt both.

 

I don't know that Castle initiating kisses is going to solve the problem because it seems like they always want to block the kisses so that you can only see one actor's face, and the back of the other's head, and even if we see faces it's often half in shadow, and we almost never see their actual mouths and lips when they're kissing, which is annoying.  

 

I don't think police officers would wear it under their uniform because isn't it thick and bulky, not to mention heavy?  Castle writers did clarify on twitter that LT was OK.

 

So many of us here have professed a liking, even a preference, for the fun, fluffy, light fare on Castle.  I think they might have made a mistake by not opening with a lighter episode to distinguish itself from the competition.  But the writers don't ever seem to have been interested in opening or closing a season, or even doing important sweeps episodes, with lighter fare, even though they say that the fun episodes are their bread and butter.  For whatever reason, the go to is high stakes big drama every time.  But basically every show goes for that approach, rightly or wrongly.  The rom com, fluffier, comfort food TV episodes are still the ones that are most rewatchable to me.

 

Bingo. Like in the X Files. In IWTB, it was light... but part of it was from the angle of the back of Mulder's head. /facepalm

 

That's neither good nor romantic.

 

Two of the best ones were in the Truth and in Existence.

 

Sure the one in the Truth was badly lit, but at least there was a reason for it, it took place in a prison, where the lighting isn't the best. And Existence, the only real annoying part was the camera pulling away. The kiss itself was a nice one.

[Julia]

Who thought it was a good idea for Alexis (the teenaged college student from private school who unilaterally took over a investigation business and investigated people with something to hide without experience, without backup, and without letting anyone know what she was doing) school Castle about not taking foolhardy risks?

[Sonik Tooth]

So many of us here have professed a liking, even a preference, for the fun, fluffy, light fare on Castle.  I think they might have made a mistake by not opening with a lighter episode to distinguish itself from the competition.  But the writers don't ever seem to have been interested in opening or closing a season, or even doing important sweeps episodes, with lighter fare, even though they say that the fun episodes are their bread and butter.  For whatever reason, the go to is high stakes big drama every time.  But basically every show goes for that approach, rightly or wrongly.  The rom com, fluffier, comfort food TV episodes are still the ones that are most rewatchable to me.

Personal preferences aside, you could also say they made a mistake by not closing the last season with a cliffhanger (which they mercifully didn’t with respect to the unknown future of the series). Big drama is what worked out well in the past, so I probably wouldn’t veer away from that formula either. Most of the time, I think it’s hard to create buzz from the normal, fluffy and charming. I also found it curious that someone here mentioned the lack of fanfiction (?) over the summer and linked it to the missing cliffhanger at the end of last season.

 

But as they say, if you go big, you better deliver. I like the idea of the two-part-his-and-her perspective, and storywise I will reserve judgement for when the third episode has aired.

 

The episode itself felt like a mixture of 6x01 and 7x01 to me with the missing part and the addition of a new character. I liked Hayley (and the British accent is definitely a plus). What I didn’t like – but that’s nothing new for Castle (YMMV) - is how the show chooses to implement drama or dramatic moments. I like it subtle and unassuming, they like to go for caps and exclamation marks (music, reaction shots and dialogue) at times. Strangely enough, I like humoristic elements both ways.

 

Looking forward to part two and the resolution. Not looking forward to any DVD extras with spider content, dear Erik.

Edited September 23, 2015 by Sonik Tooth

[verdana]

Looking forward to part two and the resolution. Not looking forward to any DVD extras with spider content, dear Erik.

 

Jesus that's a horrible thought, I even paused before clicking on the link because I was terrified what I was going to see, urgh. Nathan deserved to be paid extra to endure that. 

Edited September 23, 2015 by verdana

[femmefan1946]

Who thought it was a good idea for Alexis (the teenaged college student from private school who unilaterally took over a investigation business and investigated people with something to hide without experience, without backup, and without letting anyone know what she was doing) school Castle about not taking foolhardy risks?

 

Well she's 22 or so, not a teenager.

I had been married for over a year at her age.

She's a university student, and bright enough to have been the valedictorian at her secondary school.

We only know about one case, about a philandering wife, which may not have required anything dangerous, just some stalking and careful observation.

 

She should have communicated with her father about what she was doing. Isn't he the family cook? Dinner time would be a good time to mention her day's activities included a class in Romantic Literature , an upcoming essay on the causes of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and finding a lost dog for the PI business.

[Blackrock1]

I'm late to the game, but here is my two cents on 8x01;

I never understood why we have to see the crime being committed at the opening. The first couple of minutes seems wasted. Is it enough to to get the particulars from the team as they stand over the body? That said, what an opening, that was intense!

The lack of gloves on Castle at a crime scene has bothered me since he stopped wearing them. I get that they are not big with details but him picking up that bloody bracelet un-gloved was both gross and also took away from the scene IMO.

I am not a fan of the cliff hanger as a season opener. Obviously there were scheduling issues with Stana, and Castle will never get a two hour block to do a two parter, but it wasn't satisfying as a season opener. We waited all summer, now we have to wait some more? This is the age of binge watching. Productions can't afford to drag out a story because the attention span of the consumer is short and the content alternatives are endless. Be tight with the story telling.

If this was a re-boot, and a sort of "pilot" for Castle 2.0, I think they would have done themselves a favor by watching the actual pilot which completely drew me in. I absolutely wanted to see the next episode to see where these two were going. After seeing 8x01, if you were a new viewer, why would you come back next week?

The opening scene bookended by the reveal that more than one assassin team was in play heightened the drama. I think this team has the ability to tell more compelling stories than in the past few seasons. I look forward to that.

[newyawk]

This episode made me forget how much I had been looking forward to a season 8.

 

I wish Alexis had moved out and Martha had stayed. Alexis is all over my nerves. I also don't need to hear Beckett's motivation for becoming a cop coming out of Alexis's mouth.

 

The first 15 minutes reminded me of so many lines and plots from previous episodes..3XK--oh look, Beckett is missing yet again, also, here's a twist on Hong Kong Hustle..except now we are dealing with an Australian detective instead of a Chinese detective..who also made a violent entrance and was assumed to be a foe at first. 

 

EW, spiders!

 

Hayley is ok, but I don't want her to be recurring. I just want the Fab Five..Castle, Beckett, Lainey, Ryan and Espo, dammit!

 

That Beckett would deliberately go missing after what Castle put her through is something else. How is she still involved with the FBI? I thought she was fired over that leak. And that SUCKS about McCord!

 

I'm mixed over this episode. I kind of liked the last quarter of it, but I wasn't bowled over by it.

The lack of gloves on Castle at a crime scene has bothered me since he stopped wearing them. I get that they are not big with details but him picking up that bloody bracelet un-gloved was both gross and also took away from the scene IMO.

 

 

Castle picked the bracelet up with a pen. 

[sinkwriter]

 

"Your a writer, dad. And you and Beckett are magic together, but you don’t have her training or her skill set."

 

I actually really liked that line because I've been saying that all along about Castle, since season 1, that I don't want him to be super-human joining the cops and being able to do all that they do when he has not had the training. I like that he's got different skills than the cops do. I want the showrunners to remember that even with his shooting skills, he's still a writer first. Instead, I prefer when we see him get out of situations with his cleverness, or from reading something obscure in prep for one of his books. So his ability to get out of those zip ties and handcuffs was awesome to me, and that he just ran like hell, rather than trying to be all macho or find a gun and shoot his way out or whatever. So I thought that line from Alexis was a good one, and though I'm still confused what the hell Beckett's up to and why on earth she thought she could keep Castle safe by not telling him ANYTHING (which she's got to know will only make him dig deeper because that's who he is), I'm intrigued by what's going on and I liked the episode. Good tension, great Castle focus.

 

I just wish they hadn't had the scene with the spiders.  *shudder shudder shudder*  

[Blackrock1]

Castle picked the bracelet up with a pen.

Yes, he did. He also got a drops of blood on his hand/thumb. My point though, was that his lack of gloves at crime scenes takes away credibility in general, (one would think after the Tyson ordeal they would make him wear gloves again) but heh, he never handles evidence so no big deal, it's tv right? In this instance, it was downright head shaking.

[oberon55]

I actually really liked that line because I've been saying that all along about Castle, since season 1, that I don't want him to be super-human joining the cops and being able to do all that they do when he has not had the training.

 

I actually thought it was hypocritical as hell coming from someone that took it on herself to investigate cases without telling anyone what she was doing with no training, license, or experience. It is par for the course that Castle would not call her on it.

[verdana]

Call his daughter out? Never! She's way smarter than him and is brilliant at everything, you must have forgotten the four cases she's already solved in his absence from the office and that was in between sorting out her college work and refurbishing the office.

[KaveDweller]

I read that Nathan asked to stop wearing gloves because they were really uncomfortable. Supposedly it came from an interview with him, so I'm not trying to bash him.

It does take you out of the scene.

[westwingfan]

I read that Nathan asked to stop wearing gloves because they were really uncomfortable. Supposedly it came from an interview with him, so I'm not trying to bash him.

It does take you out of the scene.

I thought he had an actual allergy to them.

[sinkwriter]

 

I actually thought it was hypocritical as hell coming from someone that took it on herself to investigate cases without telling anyone what she was doing with no training, license, or experience. It is par for the course that Castle would not call her on it.

 

Well, yeah... it's hypocritical coming from Alexis, but I think it's still a fair point about Castle as a character.

 

(Frankly, I don't love the "joke" of Alexis just letting some guy in and then randomly taking four cases on Castle's behalf. I know she's not a child, and I also noticed he said "we're not done with this conversation," but I do wish he would have said something, like, "You were kidnapped once too, which is a solid reason for YOU to not just start helping complete strangers with absolutely no backup or without even telling me that you're doing this. Or even asking me if I was okay with it, seeing as it's my business and my reputation." I know they've always had the dynamic that Castle is more of a kid than Alexis, behavior-wise, but there also have been moments when he's pulled the "dad" card and laid down the law, so her talking to him like it's all no big deal that she did this and dismissing him was pretty disrespectful. She acts like she's being so adult but If she truly wants to consider herself an adult, she needs to behave like one herself, by coming to her dad and saying, "Hey, you got a client and I think I've already managed to solve the case for him, can I run this by you?" instead of hiding and pretending she's a P.I.)

Edited September 24, 2015 by sinkwriter

[slitz]

You could argue that everyone on the show has a history of lying though.  Everyone lies sometimes.

 

Since everyone keeps talking about how Beckett has lied to Castle, I just had to quote this and point out that Castle is not innocent in the lying department either.  Mr. Smith anyone?

[Blackrock1]

I thought he had an actual allergy to them.

i can't believe I wasted 5 minutes on this...but I googled and this is an account from someone at one of the Aussie comicon type panels this past summer. Q&A with Nathan and Adam Baldwin

"-Castle doesn’t wear latex gloves at crime scenes because they have to wear them for ages when shooting and it gets gross, so he doesn’t like it and told the writers that Castle doesn’t wear gloves"

Ha ha ha ha ha ha!

[madmaverick]

I'm not a fan of sweating in latex gloves myself, but I thought they could take them off and put on another pair if it got too gross, although that's not very good in terms of recycling!  But I've also noticed that even when they do wear gloves at crime scenes they all seem to touch other stuff as well as the evidence, which should be a no no?

 

I personally don't find it helpful for my viewing experience to think about who has lied more, who is to blame for what etc.  Once you start doing that, it can be a slippery slope.  And I don't believe in pitting Castle and Beckett against each other because I ship them and that means they're on the same team.  Unless one of them commits an unforgivable act to me (and I realise that lying, or breach of trust, can be that in some circumstances) which makes me stop rooting for the character and the relationship.  Everyone makes mistakes.  There can be some wiser choices, some more foolish choices in every decision.  As long as the story can carry me on the characters' emotional journey and keep me invested, I can flow with it even if I didn't agree with their choices. 

[Sonik Tooth]

If you expect proper police procedure and credibility, I think the gloves are one of the smallest problems. The whole series is based on ignoring fundamental principles of police work (exhibit A: Richard Castle himself, not just his hand;-). And they are working murder cases, not just some petty theft.

[sinkwriter]

LOL. I was just having this discussion with a friend of mine about the show Bones, and their ignoring of fundamental ways in which the military and government work (with their lead male character being an FBI agent and a former sniper). There's just so much that showrunners ignore, detail-wise, no matter what show (medical, cops, whatever). It's enough to drive you batty. Sometimes you just have to roll with it.

 

Sometimes. And sometimes it's so ridiculously missing the mark, you have to speak up and say "WTF, writers/showrunners/directors? Seriously? We're not dumb here. Give us the courtesy of having your characters follow even the most basic of protocols." LOL.

[Sonik Tooth]

Heh, I ain’t really disagreeing. I saw the panel mentioned above, so I was extra alerted to the hands of blue everyone but Castle was sporting. It nearly came across as a shout-out – at least to me.

 

I think it’s also a case of not only following the most basic of protocols but having your characters follow the same protocols in your “misguided” universe. One time it’s a good thing, the other time there are suddenly consequences because of a fancy plot…

[sinkwriter]

LOL. Hands of blue. Love the reference.

 

And yeah, exactly. Some missed details make my eye twitch.  *GRIN*

[TWP]

Castle is an alternate universe where writers can work on police forces for years, and people can experience things like kidnapping and near mutilation multiple times with no residual signs of trauma. DNA contamination does not exist in the Castle-verse. Hence, no gloves required.

Nobody asked the serious plot hole question, which is how could Castle stick his head in a bag of tarantulas, without even one tiny bite? This is more than I can say after one fall nap in a lawn chair. Still recovering from that unsightly face bite.

[oberon55]

Nobody asked the serious plot hole question, which is how could Castle stick his head in a bag of tarantulas, without even one tiny bite? This is more than I can say after one fall nap in a lawn chair. Still recovering from that unsightly face bite.

 

Actually my kids had several tarantulas growing up & overall they are not really aggressive or venomous. They go through a whole series of warning behavior before they bite. It is actually pretty fascinating to watch. Of course being stuck on somebodies face inside a plastic bag could just piss a few off enough to bite.

[westwingfan]

Actually my kids had several tarantulas growing up & overall they are not really aggressive or venomous. They go through a whole series of warning behavior before they bite. It is actually pretty fascinating to watch. Of course being stuck on somebodies face inside a plastic bag could just piss a few off enough to bite.

Might depend on whose face they're sharing the plastic bag with. LOL

[oberon55]

The funny thing it was my girl not one of the boys that threw a fit about wanting one. Somebody brought one to class when she was in second grade and she decided she simply could not live without one. She was 15 or 16 when it finally died & she bawled her eyes out.

Edited September 25, 2015 by oberon55

[madmaverick]

They go through a whole series of warning behavior before they bite. It is actually pretty fascinating to watch.

 

Do you mind sharing what that warning behaviour would be?  Just for future reference heh.  It's really quite interesting on a psychological level how most of us have an aversion to creepy crawlies when we are many times their size.

 

Reminded of a tweet from Nathan ages ago where he mentioned he was inspired by seeing a little girl touch a big bug and then celebrate that she had conquered her fear.

[oberon55]

First they will lift one or two legs in the air. If this does not work they will turn backwards and start rubbing their back (I can't remember proper term (thorax maybe). They are actually rubbing tiny hairs off their body which will cause minor itching. If they still feel threatened they will rear up on their hind legs and show their fangs. Biting is the next step. You will mostly see this behavior when you first get one. After a little while they become used to be handled.

[verdana]

If they still feel threatened they will rear up on their hind legs and show their fangs.

 

Holy shit rear up and show their fangs...they wouldn't need to worry about giving me a warning signal I'd be up and gone long before that, I could beat Usain Bolt for the quickest spint ever. Urgh.

[westwingfan]

First they will lift one or two legs in the air. If this does not work they will turn backwards and start rubbing their back (I can't remember proper term (thorax maybe). They are actually rubbing tiny hairs off their body which will cause minor itching. If they still feel threatened they will rear up on their hind legs and show their fangs. Biting is the next step. You will mostly see this behavior when you first get one. After a little while they become used to be handled.

I think I'll pass LOL

[benteen]

I enjoyed that a lot more than I thought I would.  It was pretty intense.  I liked the villain, she was a good one-off.