Castle - Season 6 Discussion & Spoilers

[cardinal biggles]

Okay, I know last week I said this episode looked like it was going to suck. I'm happy to admit I was totally wrong.

Usually when there's one of these conspiracy theory/paranormal phenomena episodes, Castle is decisively proven wrong at the end. I love that they left the door open just enough with Doyle vanishing and Beckett spilling the coffee on the letter. Really cool episode, and the guy who played Doyle gave an awesome performance. This is one I might watch again while it's available On Demand.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Castle is now Science Fiction.

Can we move this thread to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Subforum please?

 

[TimmyWl]

I thought the episode was good. The whole time travel thing was tempered by the loss of Castle's daughter. It was sad that Castle had the last words "too soon".

 

[intrinsical]

Its a fun episode. Two sci-fi guest stars too, Tim Russ from Voyager and Joshua Gomez from Chuck. Its a pity neither are time travel shows... okay Voyager does have some time travel, but I don't remember any time traveling in Chuck.

I find it hard to believe that Esposito watches Doctor Who.

 

[Pingfah]

Okay, I know last week I said this episode looked like it was going to suck. I'm happy to admit I was totally wrong.

Usually when there's one of these conspiracy theory/paranormal phenomena episodes, Castle is decisively proven wrong at the end. I love that they left the door open just enough with Doyle vanishing and Beckett spilling the coffee on the letter.

The stain was precisely the same shape and density though, so it's more a case of blowing the door off its hinges, since that is so unlikely it is as good as impossible.

 

[Kirby]

^^ Just gotta roll with it. I really liked this episode, it was well written, and well acted. It's best they just leave the time travel alone and never bring it up again, but it was a lot of fun. The one (very minor) thing that bothers me is that Alexis says that she can get work study money. Bullshit. I work in the Financial Aid industry and unless she legally emancipated herself, Castle's money would never allow her to be eligible for financial aid, which does include work study.

 

[Christopher]

Its a fun episode. Two sci-fi guest stars too, Tim Russ from Voyager and Joshua Gomez from Chuck.

Oh, was that the time traveler? Yeah, I knew I recognized him from somewhere, but I couldn't place him. I only watched the first 2-3 episodes of Chuck before losing interest, so that must be why.

The episode also featured Rod Rowland from Space: Above and Beyond, though I doubt he was cast because of that SF connection. And the lecturer/environmentalist guy was played by Sam Daly, who recently played Superman (following in the footsteps of his father Tim Daly) in the Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox animated DVD, which also featured Nathan Fillion as the Green Lantern.

 

[Greg Cox]

Kinda fun, but they went a bit too far with the "Yes, the time travel is real" gags at the end. They could've left it a little more ambiguous.

But they did surprise me. Since Tim Russ was a) the most famous guest star (at least as far as I knew, though a couple of the others looked familiar) and b) the first person they questioned, I expected he'd turn out to be the killer; but instead, he was a victim. So they subverted the formula there.

I admit, I was expecting Russ to be the killer, too.

 

[Forbin]

MORGAN!!! My wife and I fell down laughing when we saw him.

 

[Whoa Nellie]

I really enjoyed this episode and was delighted to see the light-hearted banter back. I liked the way that Castle admits that although the other explanations were more reasonable, his were more fun. I also liked the "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." type ending to the case. I have to admit I like the Alexis and Pi situation. (Yes, Pi is annoying but he's supposed to be. ) I like that we're seeing Alexis making decisions that don't sit well with dear old dad. Having an 18 year-old daughter myself, I can tell you it is an awkward transition to go from parenting a child to a more advisory role to a young adult.


Warmest Wishes,
Whoa Nellie

 

[cardinal biggles]

The one (very minor) thing that bothers me is that Alexis says that she can get work study money. Bullshit. I work in the Financial Aid industry and unless she legally emancipated herself, Castle's money would never allow her to be eligible for financial aid, which does include work study.

That's true, but sometimes student jobs open up on campus, and there's either more jobs than students receiving aid, or jobs that nobody wants, regardless of their circumstances (cleaning up after the monkeys in the Psych department was a perennial 'winner' at my alma mater). People like Alexis with means would be at the end of the list for those jobs, though. It's also possible she got a job on campus that wasn't needs-based, and she's just using "work study" as a generic term.

 

[bigdaddy]

When I went to college my mom made like $25,000 I hadn't worked yet and my dad is dead and I didn't even get work study money!

Yet my druggie classmate with two teachers as parents did. I don't get it.

 

[Data Holmes]

So, time travel is real. There will be an energy war. Castle and Beckett will have three kids (does Alexis count toward that number I wonder). Castle stops writing mysteries. And Beckett becomes a senator.

I honestly wouldn't mind if the time travel plot popped up from time to time.

 

[Christopher]

Ahh, but if time travel is real, then the future can be altered, and things won't necessarily play out exactly as the time traveler described. Although the exact match on the coffee stain does suggest otherwise.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

So, time travel is real. There will be an energy war. Castle and Beckett will have three kids (does Alexis count toward that number I wonder). Castle stops writing mysteries. And Beckett becomes a senator.

I honestly wouldn't mind if the time travel plot popped up from time to time.

Maybe it already has and this wasn't the neo-Fascist's first attempt to incite a global war by altering past events and eliminating some of their enemies by getting them to fight each other:

The conspiracy depicted in an episode of "Castle" from last week, "Pandora," and concluded on Monday in "Linchpin" garners a number of kudos for originality.

The conspiracy involved the use of the theories of a social scientist named Nelson Blakely, a kind of Bruce Bueno de Mesquita character, who can predict future events and even influence them with mathematics. Blakely has developed an idea called "linchpin" which supposes that a minor event can lead to much larger ones, changing the course of world history. It is an actual concept derived from game theory, used to help negotiate diplomatic agreements and form business partnerships.

The two main characters, Richard Castle, a writer of murder mysteries, and Kate Beckett, a tough New York detective, are recruited by an old flame of Castle's, Sophia Turner, a CIA spy master. The case involves someone who is presumed to be a rogue CIA operative who is connected with a plot to bring down the American economy using Blakely's theories.

The story has some twists, turns, and red herrings. The upshot is that the linchpin is the 10-year-old daughter of an important Chinese official. The plot is to kill the little girl in an apparent botched attempt to kill the official, blaming the killing on the United States. The Chinese official then would influence the Beijing government to stop buying American debt in retaliation. The economy of the United States collapses. The austerity measures required to repair the damage would severely limit America's ability to keep the peace. Russia, China, the Middle Eastern terrorists, and a lot of other powers would run wild, starting a global war.

The party behind the plot is suggested to be East European interests, which can be taken to mean Russia's Vladmir Putin. This is buttressed by the fact that there is a mole inside the CIA who started out as a KGB plant, now working for the conspiracy.

Of course Castle and Beckett save the day, save the world, and save the life of the little girl.

http://voices.yahoo.com/castle-presents-secret-conspiracy-real-world-10994362.html

 

[Data Holmes]

So, time travel is real. There will be an energy war. Castle and Beckett will have three kids (does Alexis count toward that number I wonder). Castle stops writing mysteries. And Beckett becomes a senator.

I honestly wouldn't mind if the time travel plot popped up from time to time.

Maybe it already has and this wasn't the neo-Fascist's first attempt to incite a global war by altering past events and eliminating some of their enemies by getting them to fight each other:

The conspiracy depicted in an episode of "Castle" from last week, "Pandora," and concluded on Monday in "Linchpin" garners a number of kudos for originality.

The conspiracy involved the use of the theories of a social scientist named Nelson Blakely, a kind of Bruce Bueno de Mesquita character, who can predict future events and even influence them with mathematics. Blakely has developed an idea called "linchpin" which supposes that a minor event can lead to much larger ones, changing the course of world history. It is an actual concept derived from game theory, used to help negotiate diplomatic agreements and form business partnerships.

The two main characters, Richard Castle, a writer of murder mysteries, and Kate Beckett, a tough New York detective, are recruited by an old flame of Castle's, Sophia Turner, a CIA spy master. The case involves someone who is presumed to be a rogue CIA operative who is connected with a plot to bring down the American economy using Blakely's theories.

The story has some twists, turns, and red herrings. The upshot is that the linchpin is the 10-year-old daughter of an important Chinese official. The plot is to kill the little girl in an apparent botched attempt to kill the official, blaming the killing on the United States. The Chinese official then would influence the Beijing government to stop buying American debt in retaliation. The economy of the United States collapses. The austerity measures required to repair the damage would severely limit America's ability to keep the peace. Russia, China, the Middle Eastern terrorists, and a lot of other powers would run wild, starting a global war.

The party behind the plot is suggested to be East European interests, which can be taken to mean Russia's Vladmir Putin. This is buttressed by the fact that there is a mole inside the CIA who started out as a KGB plant, now working for the conspiracy.

Of course Castle and Beckett save the day, save the world, and save the life of the little girl.

http://voices.yahoo.com/castle-presents-secret-conspiracy-real-world-10994362.html

You know, I thought about that. Specifically that two parter and the Beckett's mom story line. Both could play into an overarching temporal war story line...

 

[intrinsical]

I thought everyone knew its part of the temporal cold war arc that started in Enterprise...

 

[Sheep]

I thought everyone knew its part of the temporal cold war arc that started in Enterprise...

Maybe the appearances of Tim Russ, Michael Dorn, Armin Shimerman and the other Trek actors who have popped up over the show's run isn't a coincidence.

 

[FPAlpha]

If Castle starts writing on the wall in an asylum i'm outta here..

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Well, the lifestyle of Pi has him halfway there, so I wouldn't be surprised. :P

Following on last week's adventures, we have a full-on Da Vinci Code tribute this week. That improbable sort of adventure is fun, and fun without characters too. Marked the killer early on though, so if not for the adventure it would have been a fairly pedestrian show. Swordfights are always fun though, and the brief one here is pretty exciting and well-executed, and even though it's been a while it is perfectly in line with what Castle has been seen doing.

And as annoying as Pi is meant to be, I'm happy at this divergence from the usual "Alexis does something Castle freaks out about but they reconcile by then end of the episode" thing. I want Pi gone as much as Castle, and I'm just as flabbergasted that Alexis would go for that kind of guy after her previous flirtations with various A+ students... I've got a 3 year-old at home though and I sympathize at eventually having to deal with this. :P

Mark