Episode: Castle 2.05 – “When the Bough Breaks”
Original Air Date: October 19, 2009
Shoot. I go running my mouth off about how none of the actual murder cases have been interesting, and then this episode airs and I have to eat my words. This case actually had me guessing for a minute, and the show suddenly was interesting as a complete show that had me hooked (until the very last part that kind of killed it).
Like I said, the actual case this time around was interesting for a change. They find Eliska Sokol’s body dumped in a manhole, and through a series of twists and turns they unravel her story. They find out that just before her murder she was fired from a housekeeping job in an apartment complex. How crazy is that — a housekeeping staff for an apartment complex? What it must be like to have money. Anyhow, she was fired because she seemed too “familiar” with the child of a doctor and his wife. Having watched many cop shows before, my first thought was that she obviously had a child and lost him/her somehow and this boy reminds her of said dead child. Once Beckett and Castle interrogate Eliska’s ex-husband, this turns out to be true (their baby boy died from some rare, incurable disease).
Soon, they finally find someone who saw a man confronting Eliska the day she died. Wouldn’t you know it? It was the doctor that got her fired from the housekeeping job! Apparently, Eliska used to work at the hospital he worked at, “one thing lead to another,” and the two of them were engaging in an affair. The doctor did the usual married man bit (strings along the mistress, promising her when the time is right he’ll break it off with his wife — but never does), then finally stopped the affair with Eliska because he claimed she was getting too comfortable with his son. So it was really weird when she got a job where he lived, right? The doctor had confronted her that day to give her some hush money so she would just leave him and his family alone, and the wifey poo would never know about the affair. This is starting to shape up to be a Basic Instinct type of story at this point.
But things get a little hinky when Beckett and Castle find out that a blonde woman had been picking up Eliska’s mail since she disappeared. First thought is that it’s the doctor’s wife and she’s the murderer. Stakeout time in the front of Eliska’s apartment building leads to another twist because it isn’t the doctor’s wife, but his nurse, who initially backed up his alibi for the night of Eliska’s murder. Inadvertently, she was helping the doctor cover up his murder of Eliska by picking up her mail. Eliska had gotten some of the doctor’s kid’s DNA and submitted it for testing (that’s what the doctor was having his nurse intercept). The doctor’s wife and Eliska both gave birth to boys on the same day in the same hospital. The doctor’s baby was the one with the disease, so instead of manning up and telling his wife they had to prepare to watch their baby die, he swaps babies out! Classy, Doc. The case wraps up with Eliska’s ex-husband and the doctor’s wife meeting so that he can see his son and he can tell her what her son was like. I really liked how this played out for the simple fact that both these people decided to act like adults when it came to the welfare of the child in question. She understood that he needed to see his son, but he understood that to the kid she was his mother.
As for the Beckett/Castle storyline, well, that was less than interesting this time around. It’s the release of Castle’s Nikki Heat book, and it looks like his time tagging along with Beckett and Co. are over since he’s been offered a chance to write the next three novels for a certain British spy. Mixed feelings about this come from both Castle and Beckett because it’s obvious they so want to do each other. Hardcore. But they just can’t tell each other that because then they’d have to act like adults instead of high schoolers when it came to their “feelings” for each other (Castle does make a nice dedication to her and the team in the book).
Speaking of acting high school, it was the very end of the show that pretty much beat the interesting out of the murder case. Castle is being offered way more money to do three more Nikki Heat books instead of “a certain British spy” series, and now he gets to tag along with Beckett even more! You’d think they’d be happy about that the way they were talking to each other like they’d never see the other again. Nope! Beckett throws a hissy fit about being saddled with Castle through three more books. I’m not sure if it was because this felt like a hook season ender or if it was more along the lines of them acting too hard like they don’t want to be around each other more, but it was a dumb ending/interaction between the two.
Rating: 3.5 / 5 stars
