Monday, January 7, 2013

Favorite Castle Episodes



With TNT running old Castle episodes I have been on a massive re-watch and since new episodes of Castle resume tonight, I thought I’d share my favorite episodes. So here they are, in no particular order.  

1. “Knockout” Season 3 – This is the episode where the search for Beckett’s mother’s killer brings Captain Montgomery to sacrifice himself for Beckett and to finally do the right thing. It’s gut wrenching.

2. “Once Upon a Crime” Season 4 – Two murder victims are dressed as fairytale characters. Castle and Beckett have to move quickly to stop a third murder.

3. “After Hours,” Season 5 – The mob is going after a witness and Castle and Beckett are the only thing that stands between them. Tony Denison from The Closer and Major Crimes makes a boffo guest appearance in this episode, as does Bonita Friedericky from Chuck.

4. “Undead Again” Season 4 – Castle, Beckett, Espo, Ryan, Zombies. Excellent. This time one of Castle’s crazy theories about the victim almost comes true.  I can’t tell you which one, in case you haven’t seen it.

5. “To Love and Die in LA” Season 3 – Castle and Beckett travel to LA against Montgomery’s orders to try and solve the murder of Beckett’s former police partner, Michael Royce. They get to interview and suspect on the set of the new Nikki Heat movie and meet Gene Simmons.

6. “Flowers for Your Grave” Season 1 – This is the first episode of the series. Victims modeling deaths in Richard Castle’s books start piling up and he is brought in to consult. He becomes inspired by Beckett and Nikki Heat is born. 

7.  “The Final Frontier” Season 5 – I know this episode was just on, but it was just full of geeky goodness. Arman Shimmerman (formerly Quark on Deep Space Nine) as the inventor and seller of sci-fi props, including weapons that work, was perfect. I loved the Nebula 9 take off on the old Star Trek Experience in Vegas (which I don’t think is there anymore). We also learn that Castle has a life size cardboard cut out of Boba Fett in his bathroom.

8. “The Blue Butterfly” Season 4 – An old case resurfaces and each member of the Castle cast was someone in the story from the past. Of course Castle and Beckett are in love in that time too.  Fabulous.

9. “One Life to Lose” – Season 3 – Murder on the set of a soap opera. Yes, it’s been done before, but this was fun.

10: “When the Bough Breaks” Season 2 – Castle’s launch party for the first Nikki Heat is quite the affair. Beckett says she doesn’t want him to write a second Nikki Heat book but do we believe her? There’s a chase scene in this episode that where Castle and Beckett run through a hotel kitchen. Castle sticks his finger into one of the dishes and then sticks it in his mouth. It’s those kinds of details that make this show fab and the ending of this particular ending makes it superb.

These are my top ten. Feel free to argue, but you have to make your case below.

And while you’re thinking about it, make yourself a Castletini…
“The Castletini” – Three parts champagne, one part cranberry juice, and a splash of blood orange liqueur. 

2 comments:

  1. Some good choices, and many of them were on my list too. The one I would add would be the Steampunk episode, since I'm a fan of the genre. I do have another observation, though. I really enjoyed watching the reruns and seeing how much Castle's job as a writer played a heavier role in the earlier seasons. He was given the bulletproof vest that said "writer," he had poker games with other famous writers, and people recognized him and his name got them in places. I also miss his childlike comments like "this is the best case ever." I think the show went too far away from all of that fun.

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  2. @Kerry - The Steampunk episode is a great one. I have to agree that they have lost some of the fun with the seriousness of finding Beckett's mother's killer, 3XK, and the whole Montgomery thing. After they did all of that I think it would be strange if it retained the super light attitude. But I do agree that I miss it. The older episodes are more fun. These are more dramatic.

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