Castle: Season 8, Episode 3: PhDead
So I’m finally realizing what’s happening here. Narratively speaking, the writers are having a hard time creating conflict as far as Castle and Beckett’s relationship is concerned. They had to give her another reason to resist marital bliss. She’s in another tunnel of conspiracies and she can’t help but try to make her way to the light on the other side. Even the “dead man” show helped her previously wants her to walk away. He’s faked his death and moved away at least twice now by my count. Hopefully she hasn’t ruined his life yet again.
They did a good job with another one of their twist and turn filled episodes. The best ones are the personal ones, when the character backgrounds are revealed. That’s when hey hit hard with the emotional stuff. The next best ones are the ones where they continue long running stories like Bracken (who is dead) and 3XK (who is dead). Every now and then though, they have an episode with a very unique premise that belongs pretty high in the ranks. The time traveler episode has to be one of my absolute favorites. This one was pretty good though.
The prison uniform was a very nice touch at the beginning, which as always, meant both more and less than anyone could’ve predicted. That’s the beauty of it: this show puts the evidence in your face and then shows you how wrong your guesses are. While this wasn’t on of those skyrocketing episode like the one with time travel or even the space exploration episode, it was definitely an interesting premise. Even the killer reveal was interesting.
My only issue is the forced horror imagery during the murder scene at the beginning. The murderer was definitely not strong enough to pin a grown man to a tree with a tree branch. That would take a lot of force. It would take a decent amount of strength to piece someone’s sternum with a spear, let a lone a broken piece of wood. It was a good episode, but the murder weapon was definitely inconsistent with the murderer. Also, what about the light? Where would two prisoners get that light the victim saw coming toward him? It was a little misleading.
I’m glad we saw Castle and Beckett doing some reconnecting though and Ryan and Esposito’s undercover ridiculousness was fantastic. Why did they even think that would work? I have to say however, that Alexis’ growing role is fantastic. She is proving to be more useful than her father so far this season. Now that she’s an adult, she’s demanding more attention as a family member.
Do you agree with our review? Let us know in the comments below!
Related articles across the web
Jonathan Thomas Jones is a speculative fiction author and founder of geekhavenreviews.com. He has been passionate about all things geek for his entire life. See more about him at jonathanthomasjones.com and follow him on twitter @jtgloryjones.
