Castle Season 5 (including Spoilers)

Discussion in 'TV & Media' started by FPAlpha, Aug 29, 2012.

  1. Scout101

    Scout101 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2003
    Location:
    Rhode Island, USA
    Priroities. Covert Affairs HAS to go to other countries, or the show doesn't work. So they work the budget appropriately. Actors sign on for it, several episodes or even a season is there, etc.

    For Castle, it's a novelty gimmick. Would cost a lot to move the whole production there for just part of an episode or so, so easier to just fake it.
     
  2. Vendikarr

    Vendikarr Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    May 17, 2001
    Location:
    Vendikarr
    So at the end, it appears Castle is going to tell Martha (and Beckett since she's there) about his father. Do think he'll mention that his father was behind the death in the farmhouse? While the Castle family is forgiving, I don't see Beckett intentionally giving a murderer a pass.

    But knowing how smart she is, she will probably figure it out once she hears the story. But by the time Castle and Alexis got home, the whole affair probably got a CIA cover-up.
     
  3. Kirby

    Kirby Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2003
    Location:
    Alt: 5280
    Except for the bad green screen as others have mentioned, I really enjoyed this episode. I like that when the oversaturate with the yellow lighting that something cool is going happen.
     
  4. Jan

    Jan Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2005
    Location:
    ...is insane. --JMS
    I liked it okay...except that I'd really hoped that Alexis would be featured more. This could have been just about any 'race to rescue vulnerable person at risk' episode for all she had anything to actually do onscreen. They've established that she's bright and levelheaded and yet all she did in two episodes was to make a Skype call.

    Jan
     
  5. Kirby

    Kirby Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2003
    Location:
    Alt: 5280
    True that. She deserves a stand out episode for herself and this would have been a good one for that. That said, if I were in her shoes I don't know how to make a Skype call, and I probably would have spent the entire time curled up in a ball and wetting myself, so points to her.
     
  6. Locutus of Bored

    Locutus of Bored Yo, Dawg! I Heard You Like Avatars... In Memoriam

    Joined:
    Jul 5, 2004
    Location:
    Hiding with the Water Tribe
    She picked the lock on her cell, stole a phone, escaped to the roof of the building, and made the Skype call when 911 failed, thus giving her father and the authorities the only clue they had of her and her friend's whereabouts. And she did this against a team of ex-Russian spies. Plus she remained calm and collected throughout the ordeal, waiting for a chance to escape, and helping her friend.

    I'd say that's pretty damn impressive.
     
  7. Admiral_Young

    Admiral_Young Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2002
    Location:
    Gotham
    ^ Agreed with LOB about Alexis's level-headedness ...besides which Alexis's kidnapping in the first place was a plot device created so that Richard and his father could finally meet. I don't think Alexis was ever going to be directly spotlighted in either of these two episodes. This whole thing was designed so that Rick could meet his father the spy for the first time.
     
  8. Mark_Nguyen

    Mark_Nguyen Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2006
    Location:
    Calgary, Alberta
    Fandom nod, probably unintentional - the brief scene where Sara was released was filmed on the same part of the Seine where Duncan Macleod moored his barge for most of the Paris-based episodes of "Highlander". You don't see it, but on the opposite side is Notre Dame.

    All of the actual scenes featuring Castle, Alexis and Grandpa (and Canadian actor Chris "Todd from Atlantis" Heyerdahl as the French spy guy) were filmed in New York or on greenscreen, but the exchange was the only thing filmed in Paris. I'm guessing they used a double for "Sara" and kept her on a fuzzy screen without dialogue to hide the fact it wasn't the same actor.

    The episode was a little disappointing as it had little Caskett interaction, which is why I watch this show; it was still fun to enjoy seeing Castle pushed this far and reacting without his usual aloof sarcasm. His dad adds needed backstory to Castle, but I hope they don't play it out like other similar tropes. If dad shows up asking Rick to join the Scarlett Alliance, there better be a shark in the episode too. :P

    Mark
     
  9. Thestral

    Thestral Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 9, 2009
    Location:
    East Tennessee
    Honestly, as good as the episode was in highlighting Castle, I felt like the whole back half was a bit rushed, like they could have easily made this a three-parter. Except for one scene Beckett didn't get to do much - was there even an acknowledgment for her that the killer was Castle's dad? - and Alexis did kind of disappear after having a really strong first episode. It wasn't that I'd take any of it out per se, but it just felt overstuffed after a really excellent Part 1.
     
  10. Admiral_Young

    Admiral_Young Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2002
    Location:
    Gotham
    Rick's father's identity is only known to Castle and Alexis I believe. Unless I totally missed something...and unless Rick actually tells Martha. I assume we'll have fallout/follow up from this when we return from hiatus.
     
  11. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2001
    There were some other exterior shots that seem to have been filmed in Paris, like Castle approaching the cathedral. But we couldn't see his face in those shots, so it was probably a photo double. This is a common technique for faking the presence of your actors in a distant location -- film some long-range location shots with lookalikes in the real location, then do tight or interior shots of your actors back on the soundstage. If you don't see their faces in the long shots, it's a giveaway.


    Yeah, Beckett did kind of disappear after figuring out what Castle was already on the verge of discovering independently (and what many of us had no doubt figured out last week), that Alexis was the real target. So that kind of fizzled out. I would've liked to see more cooperation, with the cops contributing meaningfully somehow to the resolution despite being back in NYC.
     
  12. Forbin

    Forbin Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2001
    Location:
    I said out, dammit!
    I guess we jaded ol' TV viewers come to expect that after all these decades of seeing doubles, but even at that, my first reaction to that shot was "Geez, that guy doesn't even move the same way Nathan would!" :lol: I think he was about 10 pounds thinner too. :D
     
  13. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2001
    ^Yeah, I had much the same reaction to the body language.
     
  14. Mark_Nguyen

    Mark_Nguyen Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2006
    Location:
    Calgary, Alberta
    The long shot of Dad & Daughter going into the US Embassy (which was NOT the US Embassy - the real one is smaller and fenced in) is most decidedly not them either; he moves very differently indeed. The one right before it may have been them on a greenscreen (you see her face, though blurred somewhat), and if so it was a pretty good shot with good motion matching.

    Mark
     
  15. Admiral_Young

    Admiral_Young Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2002
    Location:
    Gotham
    I've no problem with the lack of Caskett in these episodes, because frankly, they weren't designed to be focused on Rick or Kate. This was all about Rick finally meeting his father through somewhat grandiose means of course. We've had plenty of Caskett so far this season and it's been handled pretty well for the most part, so I can excuse a couple of episodes where they're not a huge factor. We know they will be in coming episodes, so it's not a big deal for me. I was impressed with James Brolin's performance, and hopefully we will see him a bit more.
     
  16. Skywalker

    Skywalker Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Feb 24, 2005
    I thought that spot looked familiar! Nice catch. :techman:
     
  17. Data Holmes

    Data Holmes Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2001
    Location:
    zone.33 lounge at club Planet Noir
    Molly Quinn was in Paris for five days of filming, but Nathan wasn't. It was his stunt double. That was her and him running to the fake embassy in Paris.


    Apparently he agreed to do it at his wife's urging. She is a huge Castle fan.
     
  18. Thestral

    Thestral Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 9, 2009
    Location:
    East Tennessee
    So, followed Molly Quinn's Twitter during the broadcast? :p
     
  19. Mark_Nguyen

    Mark_Nguyen Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2006
    Location:
    Calgary, Alberta
    Interesting factoid! So it WAS Molly Quinn on the streets of Paris for the shot running into the "Embassy" and presumably on the rooftop too.

    Five days, huh? They musta taken their time doing it. Between that and the Castle double shots it shouldn't have taken that long to do it.

    Mark
     
  20. FPAlpha

    FPAlpha Vice Admiral Premium Member

    Joined:
    Nov 7, 2004
    Location:
    Mannheim, Germany
    I quite don't get it why the need for such bad green screen effects?

    I mean how much can this really cost? An episode of Castle costs around 1.5 million dollars but this was a two parter sweeps episodes so add in some bucks to bring it to about 2 million (most shows cut back on expensive stuff for later episodes to get the budget back in line after the more elaborate sweeps episodes).

    They couldn't spare 50.000 to 100.000$ to fly Nathan and Molly to Paris for a few days, alongside a small film crew (i'm no expert in filming but it can't be more than 4-5 people for the crew) and hire the equipment locally to cut down on transportation costs? Surely there are companies who provide services for local filming and take over the logistics (permits, equipment, extras etc) so you just have to fly the actors there to film some scenes.

    I know that the rambling of some people about bad special effects on message boards mean little to production companies but still.. show some effort.

    Anyway.. surprisingly good episode considering that the second part almost always feels worse than the initial, brilliant episode. They even managed to squeeze in some humor in an otherwise tense episode and the end was just heartwarming to see.. i hope they pick up on it from time to time and don't let it fall besides the road.

    This should be huge for Castle and his mother.. a bit cliché to have his dad be an elderly version of James Bond (though i loved the Casino Royale connection) instead of a normal office schlub but this is a TV version and normal isn't sexy or interesting.