Review - Castle Season 2 Episode 11 The Fifth Bullet

There was a turning point this season when the stories became more complex the show turned a corner for me. Instead of being passively interested in the show, putting it near the bottom of my priorities, I actively wanted to watch the next episode. The show has a rich infusion of humor, characters, semi-decent crime solving, and a sense of surrealism that makes it much like Bones. While I have stopped watching Bones, Castle is still fresh and I hope it stays that way.

Last night's episode was another solid episode. It was a bit odd that so much focus would be put on an amnesiac (Marc Blucas) while there was a dead body in the morgue. Castle and Beckett spent most of their time trying to get memories from him, and while he may have been the best lead, it seemed curious that so much time and effort would be spent on him.

That may also be attributed to the structure of the show, and the fact that the show is so unrealistic. Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic are the leads, so Jon Huertas (Esposito) and Ryan (Seamus Dever) fall to the wayside, so the investigation is often lopsided in the direction of whatever Castle and Beckett are doing, making the crime solving seem incomplete. In the real world, a writer would never be allowed to follow

Anne Dudeck as the wife made the episode heartfelt and added the bit of pathos we've come to see every week. The focus on the episode was clearly not the dead body. It was about a man who for whatever reason had changed, and with memory loss, regained who he truly was.

This is the midseason finale, so looking ahead, here is what I would like to see of the show. We need more backgrounds on the characters. We know about Beckett's mom and we know Castle has been married a lot, but what else do we know about them and the other characters. All characters on television, in movies, novels, plays have something that makes them tick. What are they for these people?

Score: 8.9/10