7x22 - "Dead From New York" Review

‘Castle’ : Second Act or Curtain Call?

By Lisa Caputo

2015-05-04

Castle and Beckett investigate the murder of a late-night sketch comedy mogul while Martha begins her “second act”

While most Castle seasons have included a dramatic story arc to lead into the finale, season seven has taken a different path, finding balance between the joyous life that Castle and Beckett have settled into late in the season, setting the stage for what may be to come, and giving the characters some sense of closure should this turn out to be the end of the long-running series. With the fate of the show still up in the air, the Castle team has done well to showcase every admirable element of the series throughout this seventh season, and the episodes down the final stretch have allowed for both a satisfying sense of closure yet also enough possibilities and promises for what an eighth season could delve into. Monday’s episode continued that trend, presenting an hour of classic Castle storytelling, a sense of potential closure for Martha, and a fantastic combination of comedy, family drama, romance, pop-culture references, and mystery.

Penned by longtime Castle writer, Terence Paul Winter, and directed by the incredible Jeannot Szwarc, Monday’s aptly-titled “Dead From New York” took Castle and Beckett behind the scenes of the fictional Saturday Night Tonight sketch comedy show, an on-point parody of Saturday Night Live, complete with all of the sharp pop-culture references we have come to expect when the Castle team takes on a specific genre of storytelling. The murder of the show’s creator in the midst of their dress rehearsal the night before their live show had Castle and Beckett thrust into the world of late-night comedy and the hilarious cast of characters involved with the show. Meanwhile, Martha struggled with a bout of self-doubt as she prepared for her return to the Broadway stage after nearly two decades.

Castle has always done well with attracting fantastic guest stars and Monday’s episode was no exception, with a plethora of memorable moments throughout the hour from Jaleel White, James Eckhouse, Gregory Harrison, and Joy Osmanski, as well as singer Carly Rae Jepsen. From White’s comical attempt to sneak out of the prop room wearing a suit of armour, despite the obvious noise it made that would thwart his plans, to Eckhouse’s seemingly good-natured character turning out to be the killer (which was oddly disturbing since I still think of him as Jim Walsh), to Osmanski’s hilarious fangirling over Beckett and creating a sketch based on Caskett for SNT, each of the guest stars added a great amount of enjoyment to the episode.

Harrison’s portrayal of Danny Valentine, a silver-haired and ruggedly handsome film and television (and commercial) star was highly entertaining, attempting to woo the beautiful Detective Beckett with his charms while a jealous Castle visibly showed his discontent, especially when Beckett found herself unable to resist the opportunity to flirt back with the charming star, complete with the hair twirling and bashful gazes. After all, as Beckett so eloquently stated, “He’s Danny frickin’ Valentine”, a line that not only gave us a witty throwback to her “That’s Joe frickin’ Torre” line from the second season but also managed to silence Castle’s protests. If that failed to work, she could have just muttered “Kat Kingsley” to him and it would have convinced him to drop it.

Speaking of throwbacks, the Castle team delivered numerous inside jokes throughout the episode, something they do extremely well with in an effort to give the most observant fans something to look for with every rewatch of an episode, and many of the examples in Monday’s installment were clever jokes that took shots at the show itself. The Castle writers were on the SNT poster that Castle and Beckett lamented over being the worst cast ever on the show while Liz proved to be a huge fan of Beckett’s and commented on some of the elements of the character that are more television-friendly than true-to-life for most female detectives (ie: her flowing hair, her high-heeled shoes, her upscale outfits). But it was Liz’s sketch that provided some of the most hilarious moments of the episode by parodying Castle itself, from “Model Cop” getting her heel caught while trying to kick down a suspect’s door (which Beckett herself did later in the episode with no issue at all, by the way) to Danny’s Castle-inspired character wearing a “Righter” vest, all of it showcased that wonderful fact that fiction works best when it’s fictional rather when it tries to be too realistic.

But the heart and soul of the episode was the storyline that revolved around Martha, including her interactions with Castle and Beckett throughout the hour. With the preview of her new Broadway show looming on the horizon, Martha’s typically optimistic attitude began to be replaced by her own paralyzing fear that she had waited too long to return to the stage. While Castle seemed reluctant to face the reality that his mother had lost her confidence, preferring to focus on the fact that she had at least stopped uttering her opening line over and over again, it was Beckett who pushed him to stay home and talk to Martha to see what was bothering her. This was a wonderful moment for Mrs. Castle as she showed not only her perceptiveness but also her deep feelings of care and concern for her newfound family.

It also set the stage for a truly profound moment between Castle and Martha, one that could perhaps serve to give us closure on this mother/son relationship just as last week’s moments between Castle and Alexis may have done for their father/daughter relationship. But there was also something fresh and new about this scene between the two, with their usual roles reversed. While we are used to seeing Martha giving Castle her wise words of advice and encouragement to help him through his troubles, it was now an opportunity to see Castle return the favour to his mother, beautifully providing her with her own brand of wisdom and support to help her overcome her fears and take the stage with both her head and her expectations held high.

The scene also provided some very thought-provoking commentary on the world we live in today, a world that far too often seems to pit art against technology. With social media, videos going viral in mere seconds, and blogs that allow anyone and everyone to be a critic of someone else’s work, it has become a vastly different world from the one that Martha was used to living in when she was in the public eye. Her fears may be what many artists fear these days; having their performances, their art, their work that they poured their blood, sweat, and tears into, all torn down in just seconds by a worldwide online community should portions of that community not enjoy and appreciate what was put out there for them. Both Nathan Fillion and Susan Sullivan were outstanding in this moment, delivering a poignant and absolutely stirring performance together, and they certainly deserved to take that bow at the end of the scene.

Of course, there were also plenty of Caskett moments throughout the hour for fans to enjoy, from their classic bantering over the case, to their absolutely adorable dance during Carly Rae Jepsen’s musical interlude, to Castle trying to keep himself out of the doghouse with his “What answer’s not going to have me sleeping on the couch tonight?” remark, to their “I know who the killer is” line making a triumphant comeback during the final scenes of the episode, there was a fantastic showcase of some of the things we love most about these characters, with the show’s stars, Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic, delivering that on-screen chemistry that only they could.

In the end, the crime-solving couple caught their killer in memorable fashion. Just as the SNT sketch based on their relationship was being filmed during the live show, Gene attempted to escape his imminent arrest by running on stage with Beckett and Castle hot on his heels. In the greatest takedown ever, Beckett tackled Gene as he broke through the door on the stage, throwing the killer onto a prop couch as Castle realized the studio audience was watching the entire thing. Taking the opportunity to give their own cameo on SNT, Castle and Beckett clasped hands and took a bow together on the stage, the audience erupting in enthusiastic applause.

Meanwhile, back at the precinct, Martha arrived with news to celebrate, having been heralded throughout the Twitterverse for her “amazeballs” performance in the preview of her Broadway show. With Martha proving to herself that being a legend does not mean you are past your prime, the gang gathered around to celebrate with champagne, toasting to her success and sharing a wonderful moment together to close the episode.

It may be the calm before the storm with the season finale just one week away, but it seems as though the Castle team is setting the stage perfectly to give the fans some sense of closure should this be the end, while still maintaining enough intrigue and promise of what could be to come should the show return in the fall with an eighth season.