S08.E19: Dead Again

[WendyCR72]

Quote

When a mild mannered safety inspector for the city miraculously survives a poisoning, it might be luck; but when he survives another, it's a mystery Castle and Beckett will have to solve.

[Chado]

It sounds like lolsat is all over the episode

[turnitwayup]

Hanning wrote an enjoyable COTW, but it had shades of different plots from previous eps (Chinese gang, mob, waste management plot from One Man's Treasure). Another ep where it seemed like everyone got equal screen time including Lanie and Alan the not dead victim. Jonathan had great chemistry with Nathan. LOL Lanie had many lines and she didn't have to say lividity. At least this Lanie subplot was better than the one with Ryan/Espo pranks. She got the date at the end tho I'm not sure we really needed the Alan/Lanie mind melt thing that Caskett does. Maybe Lanie get's her happily ever after with Alan. Also didn't need bumbling Castle in the lab and should've found another way to show that yellow chemical liquid is important. GH's Sonny of course is a mob head and JAG's Bud has gotten so old. 

 

The loft continues to be the worst secure place in NYC if Caleb can sneak in. Yay to no Alexis or Haley. Boo to no Martha and the horrible LokSat mess that basically takes all of Caskett screen time this ep. The anvils of won't be Captain forever, Caskett should go do other things like visit Paris and Caleb warning Beckett is becoming such a downer.

 

So if you skip the Caskett alone scenes, Beckett/Vikram office scene, Beckett/Caleb office scene and Beckett/Castle/Caleb in the loft scene, it was a fun ep.

 

With Lucifer renewed and I'm hoping Limitless gets renewed since both has basically fill the quirky consultant works with law enforcement that amuses me genre for next season. Is Canada gonna keep showing Castle on Sundays cause at this point it's probably a better companion with OUaT's underworld storyline than DWTS.

Edited April 25, 2016 by turnitwayup

[metaphor]

Gotta say, given recent news, the two separate mentions of moving to Paris in this episode had my antennae up. I just don't know. The thought of a Beckettless S9 is just depressing to me, no matter how they write it. 

 

I love Rob Hanning's work and he seems to be the one writer left that I can trust to get Caskett right, but I wasn't sure how I felt about the mind-meld thing either. I get they were going for funny with Caskett commenting on it, but after the seeming downplaying of other things I thought were special/important this season, I just feel kind of burned. 

Edited April 25, 2016 by metaphor

[BellyLaughter]

There were a couple of giant sized anvils in today's episode which leads me to wonder if this whole ABC cutting Katic for budget reasons is really the big blindside that everyone thinks it is. For Stana that is.

I mean Caleb literally handed Becket the scissors and you just know she's gonna run with them....

There's too much to this Loksat stuff to lead me to believe that they were crafting a "season finale/series finale" situation versus a "how are we gonna write Beckett out of this" type situation.

I think more and more it's likely that Stana wanted out....what the biggest mystery to me is why would ABC take a bullet with all the garbage that's been written and said in the past week when they simply could have released a statement declaring Stana's desire the move on. Regardless of whether it was leaked they could have still corrected the information that came out in the initial leak??? It would have still been a huge disappointment to many fans but at least the cries of sexism, Fillion bullying, Stana's a diva et al might have been avoided and whoever chooses too could have watched these final Beckett episodes without a fandom in meltdown. What a bitter pill to swallow and what a ginormous joke this has turned into...and not in a ha ha way.

Surely for any future seasons of Castle to have a chance of succeeding ABC and Nathan had to come out of this better than they have -- balled dropped.

Legacy ruined. RIP storytelling.

Edited April 25, 2016 by BellyLaughter

[Thirteen]

There were a couple of giant sized anvils in today's episode which leads me to wonder if this whole ABC cutting Katic for budget reasons is really the big blindside that everyone thinks it is. For Stana that is.

I mean Caleb literally handed Becket the scissors and you just know she's gonna run with them....

There's too much to this Loksat stuff to lead me to believe that they were crafting a "season finale/series finale" situation versus a "how are we gonna write Beckett out of this" type situation.

I think more and more it's likely that Stana wanted out....what the biggest mystery to me is why would ABC take a bullet with all the garbage that's been written and said in the past week when they simply could have released a statement declaring Stana's desire the move on. Regardless of whether it was leaked they could have still corrected the information that came out in the initial leak??? It would have still been a huge disappointment to many fans but at least the cries of sexism, Fillion bullying, Stana's a diva et al might have been avoided and whoever chooses too could have watched these final Beckett episodes without a fandom in meltdown. What a bitter pill to swallow and what a ginormous joke this has turned into...and not in a ha ha way.

Surely for any future seasons of Castle to have a chance of succeeding ABC and Nathan had to come out of this better than they have -- balled dropped.

Legacy ruined. RIP storytelling.

 

But according to ET Canada it wasn't her decision to leave -> "Katic's rep confirms to ET Canada that the decision to leave was not hers"

[McManda]

The reason I can tell that I won't be into a Beckett-less (or Lanie-less) season 9 is that more than anything, this episode made me sad. I'm sad that they'd think they could change their formula and I'm sad that it's ending the way it is. I'm not apathetic anymore so they accomplished that... now I can hardly stand to watch because it's like I know death is coming and I don't want to be around when it does.

 

... I'm not sure that's the reaction they wanted.

 

My best hope now is that they give Castle and Beckett a semi-happy, fulfilling ending and I can pretend that's where it all ends and then I can either avoid any spoilers on Beckett dying... or maybe they'll send let Beckett go to Paris or wherever (maybe a WitPro thing with Lanie?).

 

The only way I can even see myself keeping up with Castle at all - and I mean, reading about what they're doing, I don't know if I could bring myself to watch - is absolutely if they don't kill Beckett.

Edited April 26, 2016 by McManda

[KaveDweller]

I thought this was entertaining at the begining but then there was too much Loksat. But it's definitly one of the better episodes of the season.

 

During Caleb's speech to Kate about how the brain functions for 7 minutes after you die (which....really?) all I could do was picture her dying and flashing to all the people telling her not to go after Loksat. What a terrible way to go, and how sad for the character. Rob Hanning said on Twitter he wasn't forshadowing Beckett's death (he evidently didn't know it was really happening), but I felt like there was so much of that.  The line about someone finally running out of luck and dying made me think about it too.

 

I'm glad Lanie can sort of get a happy ending even if no one else can. Although Alan doesn't seem like her type.

 

We actually got a tiny bit of Caskett theorizing together, which was nice, but I was a little weirded out at them watching Lanie and Alan theorizing and hoping they don't sound like that. It's supposed to be special that Caskett would do that.

 

I get that Alan could have survived all three attempts, but what explains Lanie not finding a pulse?

[BellyLaughter]

Do you really believe Rob Hanning when he said he wasn't foreshadowing Beckett's death in this episode?? He knew, he had to have known...

[KaveDweller]

Do you really believe Rob Hanning when he said he wasn't foreshadowing Beckett's death in this episode?? He knew, he had to have known...

 

Someone asked him on Twitter if he was told to foreshadow her death, and his response was, "That would be a NO" - The use of capitalization made me think he really wasn't told to do that and that he's kind of ticked about not being in the loop about it. Maybe that's reading too much into things, but between that and his other tweets about being upset, I believe him. He even tweeted something about understanding if people don't want to watch the episode because their upset about everything.

 

I think he (and most of the rest of the cast/crew) knew it was possible she wouldn't re-sign, but didn't know ABC wasn't even going to approach her.

Edited April 26, 2016 by KaveDweller

[BellyLaughter]

One of their senior writers wasn't in on the loop....that's just sad really.  if he was kept out of the loop I feel desperately sorry for him and anyone else who works on that show who was also lied to.  That's disrespect at its worse.  

Edited April 26, 2016 by BellyLaughter

[KaveDweller]

One of their senior writers wasn't in on the loop....that's just sad really.

 

I'd be pissed if I was him too (assuming he didn't really know). He's live tweeting the west coast episode, so maybe he'll say more then.

 

I kind of believe the speculation he's not coming back though. He's one of the best writers they have left, so that's just one more strike against next season.

[break21]

IMO - that was a really good episode - best they've done in a long-time.  Guest-star was good.

[turnitwayup]

So while I was watching Lucifer, I noticed Seamus snarky east coast live tweeting and Tamala RT everything since she never gets this many compliments in an ep. Some of the Seamus tweets that cracked me up.

 

 

seamusdever: .@Jon_Huertas had to bribe @RedCarpetLuke to put him in a suit. It got pricey for him.

 

txmedic37: @seamusdever @Jon_Huertas @RedCarpetLuke How much did you bribe him to ditch the vests? :-) #IStandWithCastle

seamusdever: Jesus, did that get expensive!

 

seamusdever: I can't believe we got that location for the lab. Feel like we should had DoD clearance to be in there. The owner was either crazy or broke

 

seamusdever: So locksat still uses Blackberry? Don't think that will save RIM.

 

So a while ago Nathan and Alan were interviewed by Kevin Smith and they mention Alan was gonna be on an ep. I wonder if Alan was suppose to play Alan Masters, but his Rogue One schedule got too busy he had to pass and that's why Jonathan has this role. I got the feeling that it just seems like this guest role was tailor made for Alan with the comedic aspects and the hula girl reminded me of Wash's Hawaiian shirts.

[FlickerToAFlame]

Yep, you're right.

@RobHanning Yes! He was also supposed to be "The Nose" (shhh). But there's no way he'd have been better than @jonny_silverman

[break21]

Who was the guest actor?  He was very good.  The last good guest-actor I saw on Castle was the dentist episode.

[Driad]

Were the safety inspector's "deaths" supposed to make sense?  This was apparently the annual episode in which Castle gets all excited about UFOs/werewolves/whatever, but usually they have at least left the possibility that the universe is rational.  Lanie declared the guy dead a few times but she is the kind of "genius" who doesn't understand how lividity works, so maybe that is our explanation.  Or maybe I just should not expect anything in this show to make sense any more.

[turnitwayup]

It's just so obvious that when a guest actor is spending so much time with Castle, it's for one of Nathan's friends. The Nose makes even more sense now that I know that Alan was suppose to have that role too. Hmm I wonder if the Russian agent role that Castle spent a lot of time with was another attempt to get Alan on the show.

[femmefan1946]

Gee a happy funny fluffy CotW  with the Writer Vest and they ruin it with stupid LocSat. 

And with due respect to the Caleb actor, that was a dumb reason to get taken in by LocSat and a dumber one to get out. His work almost made me wish they had committed to LocSat and fleshed out what the hell he was up to and who all he had subverted and how.

Sheesh.

Because I'm back to my headcanon that Beckett is hallucinating the whole thing as part of the PTSD.

[GoGiants]

I too was sad watching this episode. I keep thinking that I'll walk away but my resolve has yet to take hold. I will be disappointed however the end comes for Beckett but I can't make myself turn away yet. Anything but a happy ending ruins it for me, I don't think I have the imagination that others do to let me think 7.23 was the finale. This last week full of gossip and BTS nastiness has made it rather awful regardless of the show's end.

This thread is very telling, with little deep episode discussion. When the issues surrounding a show receive more discussion than actual show content, it is time to end it. I'd say end it with dignity but that opportunity passed this group by long ago.

The motorcycle last week, the talk of Paris this week, all of the efforts at demonstrating their love etc in these recent episodes, makes me want to barf. Those are the moments the show trained us to think were sweet and it all rings false given S8 and last week's announcement. If I didn't know about SK, it would feel like they were wrapping up the show and gearing up the characters for new adventures together. What a cold, hard smack in the face for those viewers that haven't heard the news. What a strange way to line up the story for S9 if it happens. It sure will be "fun" when Castle gets over all of this five minutes into hypothetical S9.

On a less mournful note, this is another episode that I think was a reasonable representation of what S8 could have been if they hadn't gone with the break up. Nothing like the old days, complete with all the obvious tricks keeping the leads apart, but far better than the majority of S8. Certainly a better template for what the show with drastically reduced Castle and Beckett time should have been.

Edited April 26, 2016 by GoGiants

[oberon55]

On a less mournful note, this is another episode that I think was a reasonable representation of what S8 could have been if they hadn't gone with the break up. Nothing like the old days, complete with all the obvious tricks keeping the leads apart, but far better than the majority of S8. Certainly a better template for what the show with drastically reduced Castle and Beckett time should have been.

Exactly. It's even sadder when you realize they pissed away a large part of the last Beckett & Castle season on lies, breakups & ridiculous conspiracies. Talk about going out with a whimper instead of a bang.

[break21]

It was a trip down memory lane - the "Writer's" vest is always welcome.  I really liked it - seemed like old-school Castle. Guest actor was really good and NF had a field-day.  Why can't they come a little close to this stuff every week?  I know they've got 20 some episodes to crank out, but episodes like this should be the rule and not the exception.

[newyawk]

Well, I wrote this last night then couldn't post bc of upgrades. 

A day late, a dollar short. Just watched. Randomly:

I liked Alan quite a bit. He seems like he'd fit right in as a recurring character, although the Lazarus schtick is worn out.

Ugh. More CrockSat.

As we know, all serious labs of course don't label their "control" and "active strain" samples directly, they all use loose pieces of paper that can easily be knocked off the table and then mixed up by a clumsy oaf passing through. I laughed anyway.

"I'm telling you with my *mind*!"  LOL

UGH..I quit watching General Hospital years ago because of Sonny oversaturation. Now the actor shows up on one of the shows I do watch. (Much like many, many other GH and ABC actors.) Minor annoyance. 

I vaguely remember Caleb from another episode and can't remember why. While he was threatening Beckett I couldn't remember if he was a DA, CIA, FBI or something else.

Alan and Lainie doing the Caskett simultaneous thing was cute. So were they. :)

 "Come with me if you want to live!" LOL I was sad for Alan that his dream girl was the villainess, but it was comical how the reveal played out. 

Why would Caskett have that discussion with Caleb with the front door still wide open?

[TWP]

I loved the episode, thought they should all be like it, Bore-Sat aside, Beckett marginalization aside.  Silverman was hilarious, best guest they've ever had, IMHO, in my bad short-term memory of TV. He played great off Nathan.  Maybe he should be the costar next season, although I doubt he's cheap.

I thought Rob Hanning did an excellent job.  He's going to Hawaii 50, so I guess I'm setting H50 on my DVR again.  I don't think he knew ahead of time about the casting fiasco/idiocy, just that he needed to write a pair of scissors into Stana's running hand (as someone else so eloquently put it).  No way did Stana not see the writing on the wall, unless she was totally in denial.  She was marginalized in so many ways.

It will be weird without Stana and I hope she gets hired soon again, but I think if they can manage more episodes like this (Rob gone, yes, writers room probably played a role, too, tho), they can maybe get picked up for a back 9 next season, Fillion(e) willion(e), of course.

Edited April 27, 2016 by TWP

[verdana]

CASTLE: DEAD AGAIN – A SAD COP/BAD COP REVIEW

Melanie is heartbroken and can't even bring herself to watch after news broke of Katic and Tamala's departure so it's left to the bad cop to hold the fort.

Quote

 

Finally…the Lokstat BS was back stinking up the place.

What an absolute mess the writers and ABC have created. Even Fillion’s scenes this week were waaaaay over the top silly. What are trying to prove? That they know how to ruin what was once a fabulous show enjoyed by fans worldwide? That they can write horrible storylines and dialog? That they do not care one speck about the fans? That they do not respect the viewers?

I know I’ll be glad when this mess is over and done for good.

And, they turned Melanie from Good Cop to Sad Cop, and that’s downright unforgivable.

 

[Guest]

I liked this episode if you remove the Locksat stuff.  I mean, it was over the top silly in places, but that is part of Castle's charm.  (Castle the show, not Castle the character.)  When they revealed the "victim" was shot point blank in the head and lived, I wasn't even surprised, just amused.

I much, much, much prefer lighthearted episodes to the dark and serious ones.  It also covers all the plot holes when the show isn't trying to take itself to seriously.  

Though Castle believing in superheroes did go a little too far.  But still, fun.

[Lee4U]

I really liked Alan - he was hysterical and it was, for a change, a really nice surprise as to who the villain was - 

I fast forward through the stupidness that is locksat or however it is spelled - I really don't even know what the hell it is for the most part anymore because it has bored me to death from the beginning and what I did know about it, I forgot.

I'd be happy with episodes like this if there is a new season - it was a bit over the top silly in parts but there were some just plain fun moments.  

[madmaverick]

I enjoyed the episode except for that Locksat stuff which really, truly, was like a dead weight in the episode.  Worst conspiracy/villain on the show EVER.  Every time Vikrum came on screen and had yet another one of his pointless conversations with Beckett, I wanted to tune out.  They could cut and change any of those scenes throughout the season and it wouldn't matter.  And I couldn't care about the Caleb stuff either.  Why on earth would Beckett trust him at all?  Same question I ask of Castle/Beckett trusting people like Vikrum and Hailey this season, from the get go.   Makes no sense.  Ignore.

The rest of the show was quite entertaining though.  Silverman was good and had good chemistry with Nathan.  I think Castle taking an interest in guest character of the week and helping them resolve some issue could be a framework for next season, if indeed there is one.  Castle does take an interest in people and try to help them in his own way.  I thought the guilt angle we've seen with Castle a few times now as a character trait, when he thought Alan had died, could be worth examining in future depending on what happens with Beckett.

Glad Tamala got something real to do this episode and she did well with it.  There's more to Lanie than lividity for goodness' sake.  Nice to see a glimpse of the Lanie/Beckett friendship which did not involve Lanie giving Beckett bad advice about her husband. ;)  But yeah, why did Lanie not find a pulse? ;)

Caskett chemistry still consistently good for me this episode although amidst all their talk of Paris and wild adventures, I was a bit sad that the subject of starting a family didn't come up even though I've never been a fan of Caskett babies onscreen.  You would think kids would be something on their minds as the next step since they did say they want them.

[Cyranetta]

Because of the necessity of sticking LokSat into it the episode just felt manic-depressive, so I couldn't just enjoy the "manic" as much as I might have, had the episode been tonally consistent. Also, Castle's insistence on a superhero theory felt OTT.

[Driad]

Or "Beckett drove to Paris on her motorcycle."

[RustbeltWriter]

I really enjoyed Jonathon Silverman in this episode. Even if the Lazarus thing didn;t make sense, it was fun.

I'm also totally confused by LockSat at this point. It's become such a terribly managed plot that I've lost track of why they are after him, what threads are entangled in this mess and why I should care.

[John Potts]

I would have liked some sort of explanation of how our "Murder victim" managed to keep surviving (He'd drunk ginseng tea that neutralised the poison, there was a brownout that meant the voltage was unexpectedly low, the gunman didn't realise it was loaded with blanks) - or are we meant to think he really was Wolverine? Also, we have the classic "Hollywood homely" character who is "totally out of somebody's league", because we can't have somebody actually ugly onscreen.

As for LokSat - I thought the Kate was keeping on friendly terms with the DA because they didn't want him to know they knew he was involved. I guess they gave up on that idea - possibly because they realised they might only have four episodes to tie up that plot!

[andromeda331]

On ‎2‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 7:23 AM, John Potts said:

I would have liked some sort of explanation of how our "Murder victim" managed to keep surviving (He'd drunk ginseng tea that neutralised the poison, there was a brownout that meant the voltage was unexpectedly low, the gunman didn't realise it was loaded with blanks) - or are we meant to think he really was Wolverine? Also, we have the classic "Hollywood homely" character who is "totally out of somebody's league", because we can't have somebody actually ugly onscreen.

As for LokSat - I thought the Kate was keeping on friendly terms with the DA because they didn't want him to know they knew he was involved. I guess they gave up on that idea - possibly because they realised they might only have four episodes to tie up that plot!

So would I. Maybe he really was Wolverine. I thought that too about Kate and the DA but I can't decide if they changed things because they only had four episode to tie it all up or if they forgot about it.