As a crime procedural, Castle is one of the least impressive shows out there, with bland, uninvolved crime solving each week. It's hard to ignore the major deficiencies: the crime solving, mentioned above, the secondary characters don't have much to do but carry out generic police operations, and the Alexis plots are the same each week--Castle worrying and Beckett chiming in to add more worry before everything turns out fine. It's the third season now and instead of improving, as the vast majority of shows do, Castle has stagnated into a familiar pattern, refusing to push anything beyond the safety of repetitive plots.
As a playground for Castle, though, it's a pretty fun show. It's frustrating to see a show unable to get things to click when the pieces are there. All the writers have to do is occasionally up the ante, add more layers to the characters, balancing the playfulness, and it would dramatically improve the show.
"Old Money" is the Prohibition indulgence episode for Castle, and fitting a day after the Boardwalk Empire season finale. He relishes the old tavern ways and shows how much knowledge he has of the city and its past. The auctioneer is revealed as the murderer, but the episode's main point is that Castle can run around an ancient labyrinth with aged bottles of alcohol. The fact is, crimes are structured around the theme of the episode instead of the other way around, leaving very little plot.
Score: 8.0/10
