Season 8 Episode 12 - "The Blame Game" Review

‘Castle’ : Solving The Puzzle

By Lisa Caputo

2016-02-22

Castle and Beckett are abducted and forced to work with strangers to solve a chilling psychological puzzle with potentially lethal consequences

Over the years, the Castle team has become infamous for their ability to tell their stories seamlessly with a wide tonal range that is rare on television. Combining drama, comedy, mystery, suspense, and romance, this range has made the series stand out amongst its competition. The show has also done exceptionally well to pay homage to various genres within its storytelling, often churning out some of the most intriguing genre-specific episodes of any series and certainly exploring the largest variety of such episodes during its eight-season run. Monday’s episode tackled one of those genres, delving into a psychological thriller that forced Castle and Beckett to solve a potentially deadly puzzle, separately leading their own band of strangers through a series of riddles and lethal traps to find their freedom and bring their killer to justice. It was an exciting and captivating hour of television, allowing Castle and Beckett to shine individually and together as they fought against human nature and overcame the challenges of their mind-boggling and terrifying experience, all while saving as many of their fellow captives as possible.

Penned by one of this season’s newest Castle writers, Michal Zebede, and directed by another Castle newcomer, Jessica Yu, Monday’s episode was an hour-long rollercoaster as we watched, on the edge of our seats, as Castle and Beckett were unknowingly drawn into a dangerous game that forced the various captives to fight for their lives or die trying. It was a uniquely thrilling hour, something reminiscent of the Saw series but with more psychology at play and much less gore. It also showcased both the individual and collective strengths of both Castle and Beckett as the pair were forced to work apart yet also oddly together to lead their set of captives to their freedom by staying level-headed and thinking outside of the box. The mystery itself had plenty of twists and turns, from the various aspects of the puzzle to the gun rigged to kill the shooter and not the target, and all of the ways that it played with the natural and often barbaric human instincts within each of the captives. Truly, this was a remarkable episode, bringing out a rare yet intriguing new side to the series with the way the story was told and the type of mystery being solved, yet it also did well to maintain the aspects of the show that fans have long been captivated by. It was as if Beckett’s line within the episode, “We’re gonna change the rules” was somewhat of a mantra of the episode itself, providing something fresh and incredibly interesting without losing what has always made the show work at its core.

One of the more subtle yet poignant highlights was the way in which this story brought out the deeply rooted overprotectiveness that Alexis has for her father. It was evident throughout the hour but was also directly addressed when Hayley questioned her about it towards the end of the episode. It was a compelling component of the story, something that brought forth the fact that these terrifying things that have happened so frequently to Castle, all of the danger he has found himself in over the years, have not gone unnoticed by his daughter and have affected her deeply, perhaps even being the catalyst for her deciding to work with him as a private investigator, just to keep an eye on him and protect him. The conversation between Alexis and Hayley at the end of the episode was a vital one that not only brought this aspect of Alexis’ character to the forefront but also showcased the deepening relationship these two characters have begun to share this season, with Hayley seemingly looking out for Alexis as if she were a younger sibling. It was wonderful to see Molly Quinn and Toks Olagundoye share this scene together, both providing a great heart and soul to the episode and bringing forth what could be a turning point for Alexis as she tries to learn, with the help of her friend, to let go and allow her father to do what he does best without worrying so much about him.

But, of course, the focus of the episode was on Castle and Beckett and their ability to solve this psychological and maniacal mystery to not only save themselves and their band of fellow captives, but also to bring a killer to justice and prevent more lives from being lost in the process. As can always be expected, leads Stana Katic and Nathan Fillion were perfectly on-point with their performances, adding a great deal to the story with a single look or the specific delivery of their well-written lines, bringing the mystery to life while still finding ways to bring out their undeniable chemistry whenever possible, even when apart. It was an interesting mystery to say the least; a series of puzzles, riddles, and deadly traps that each half of this beloved duo had to navigate through without really having each other to lean on for support. While part of what has always made their story so compelling is their ability to work together and work off of one another to solve their cases, it is also always interesting to see them working separately to achieve the same goal, almost as if it allows us to see how similar and like-minded they have become. Their individual work within the episode showcased exactly that, each of them displaying a side of themselves and their crime-solving ways that only exists now because of their partnership over all of these years. They have become so in sync that even when they had no idea what the other was doing to help their fellow captives escape, they were essentially moving at the same pace, albeit with different ideas, and ultimately found their freedom at the same time. All the while, these two exhibited behaviours we have mostly seen in the other over time, showcasing how much of an impact they have had on one another as well.

Castle remained level-headed, doing well to calm down even the most anxious and action-oriented members of his crew of captives, trying to solve the mystery with facts and piecing together the elements of the puzzle without jumping to any of his typical wild theories. His ability to quickly ground himself in the reality of the situation and the life-and-death of it all was something he learned from Beckett, not wasting time on outlandish ideas or schemes to think so far out of the box that he could end up dying because of it. Meanwhile, Beckett’s ability to come up with the not-so-obvious solutions, to think outside of the box, and to ultimately use the tools available to her to break the rules of the game, or so it seemed, and allow her own band of captives to escape, that all seemed very much Castle-like, a sign of how much her way of seeing things and thinking of things has changed over the years. And when the time came for them to come together as a team to bring down their killer, the two did not need to speak a word to each other to know what had to be done. Both knew who their prime suspect was and both knew the other was on the same page, something that allowed them to silently build a plan together to take him down and end this savage game.

In a beautiful and profound way, it was their love that put a target on their backs and yet also their love that got them out of harm’s way and brought a killer to justice. It did seem a tad odd that while they are supposed to be pretending to be separated and moving on with their lives apart, they are abducted and targeted as a couple and also solve the case as each other’s better half, yet nobody bats an eye at that fact. Did everyone around them just believe that the killer missed the recent news of their breakup or did anyone think it was odd that they were targeted as a couple? Did Alexis not think it was strange that the first person her father spoke to after getting the news about his supposed collaboration with Stephen King was Beckett? It was something that struck me as odd but the message of the episode was well worth turning a blind eye to those questions. After all, this was an episode that brought Castle and Beckett to the forefront again, both as individuals who have grown so much because one another and also as a couple who would do anything for one another. 

In the midst of a dark, thrilling, captivating, and suspenseful mystery we found a deeply compelling and beautiful spotlight on the love between Castle and Beckett, something that the Castle team has always done so profoundly and did, as always, here again.