Castle Season 8 Episode 10 Review: Witness For the Prosecution
Christine Orlando
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It’s taken ten full episodes but Castle Season 8 Episode 10 was the first installment of the show this season that I can honestly say I enjoyed from beginning to end.
Woohoo!
This hour had an entertaining mix of both a new twist and the old Castle that I’ve always loved.
The twist was that Castle not only witnessed a murder but he was called to testify for the prosecution. Somehow after all of these years working with the NYPD, Castle has never been called to the stand until now. Beckett gave him some sound advice in this Castle quote…
Kate: Now Rick, be charming but not too charming.
Rick: That's like asking Superman not to be too super.
Unfortunately Rick’s superpower flew out the window once public defender Caleb Brown entered the courtroom. Caleb tore Castle to pieces on the stand, and I appreciated that he used his own history to do it.
From Rick’s eight weeks of memory loss to passages from his own book and then reminding him how he was once accused of murder himself but was truly innocent, the cross examination was a powerful scene; perhaps one of the best of Castle season 8 so far.
Even better was how devastated Kate looked as she had to sit back and watch it unfold. To be honest, despite this silly separation drama, I haven’t felt much emotion between Castle and Beckett this season. This one scene went a long way in making up for that. I hope it’s a trend that continues.
Castle looked shell shocked as he left the court, and I do hope that this incident pushes him to find some more definitive answers about his memory loss. The few reasons we got for his disappearance in Castle season 7 didn’t make a lot of sense and certainly didn’t fill up two months of the time he lost.
But back to this case. It was wonderful to see Castle, Beckett, Ryan and Espo working together to solve a case over takeout Chinese. I’m not sure I can find the words to explain how much I’ve missed that. Sometimes it’s the simple rituals that bind them together as a team.
The case itself had some fun twists. I’m a big fan of Kassie DePaiva from both One Life to Live and Days of Our Lives, so it was fun to see her in the role of possible murder suspect and Richard Castle’s fan. I loved that when Rick offered to name a character after her to get into the safe; she wanted it to be a villain.
It was also fabulous to see Castle as a famous author once again. We’ve seen so little of that side of him this season, and I much prefer Richard Castle. writer and NYPD consultant, to Richard Castle, P.I., any day. The day they drop the P.I. storyline, you’ll hear me cheer.
Castle trying to get the judge to arrest him was ridiculous in all the best ways that only Castle can pull off, and I couldn’t help but laugh. I also liked that the boys came to spring him and jibed him about it but weren’t mean.
I knew from the beginning that the murderer was probably the man in the bathroom, but I just couldn’t figure out who it was until Castle was called back to the stand.
Beckett referred to Caleb as a monster with a desire to do good, and she could use that to take him down. At first I thought that sounded like nonsense, but maybe that is something that Kate can understand. Certainly her own desire to do good has led her down some dark paths. Not monstrous, of course, but dark nevertheless.
There were many things to like about this episode including…
- No Hayley for the second week in a row.
- Vikram appeared, but at least we saw very little of him.
- Beckett seemed to realize she needed to wrap up this ridiculous LokSat case soon and get back to her life.
- Caleb Brown is far more intriguing than I ever expected.
- No one mentioned that horrible fake cheating story from Castle Season 8 Episode 9. (If it's never mentioned again, I'll be all too happy.)
- Caskett!
Caskett had some of their most fun scenes all season. Yes, the nose rubbing was silly but in a completely adorable way, and this was the first time in ten episodes that Rick and Kate felt like a normal couple. It feels so good to have the Castle I love back.
Maybe we should call them Happy Castle Sundays!
Let’s hope we’re on a roll and that Castle has really gotten its groove back. Check back tomorrow for my review of Castle Season 8 Episode 11…because yes! There is another new Castle on Monday. If you just can’t wait, you can always watch Castle online here at TV Fanatic.
C. Orlando was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.
