Castle Recap: When the Kate's Away... 

A confluence of scheduling events — Stana Katic’s time off in Milan coupled with

star Adam Baldwin’s window of availability — resulted in an episode

Ethan Slaughter, the rough-around-the-edges detective who apparently got demoted from the Gang Task Force due to suspect behavior.

With Kate out-of-town at a work thingamajig (and the whole separation thing “getting old”), Rick seeks a distraction, a bill that Slaughter for better or worse fills when he seeks out his pal “Sherlock” to assist in solving the theft of a million-dollar microchip from a high-tech, robbery-proof office tower. But when Slaughter’s CI turns up dead — killed by a knife with the detective’s prints on it — Rick finds himself and Slaughter “on the run” from Ryan and Esposito, who theorize that the disgraced cop had plotted the heist as a “retirement plan.”

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-era banter and camaraderie can be entertaining to watch, especially when Rick laid out the kinder, gentler “rules” that Slaughter must begrudgingly follow — and again later, when Rick discovered that his frenemy 1) had been married 2) to a famous opera singer whom he met in college 3) where they both majored in musical theater. It was the latter reveal that inevitably set up the “Cool” number, which Rick and Slaughter used to confound a small army of before putting the big hurt on the… well-warmed small army.

That said, I felt a bit icky about Rick duping Espo and stealing the boys’ car in the name of spiriting away Slaughter, whom they were about to haul back to the 12th. As Espo said, they could have easily brought in Rick, too, so for him to usurp that already tenuous thread of good faith…. Again, icky.

The killer turned out to be the guy who runs the organization for underprivileged youth and as such had paired the victim up with a super-genius 16-year-old with a propensity for hacking — which I pretty much sensed the moment they gave Corey Reynolds (

) that extraneous line about his previous job “moving money around for Wall Street types.” But at least the killer wasn’t the throwaway girlfriend who appeared for 15 seconds at the top of the hour!

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* We learned that Martha is writing a book literally titled

* Slaughter’s “charms” made zero impression on Hayley, as much as he digs her British accent.

* Rick received marital/separation advice from both Martha (who noted that Kate’s tragic past obviously affected her in ways she is only now realizing) and then Slaughter, who spoke from his own surprising life experience: “Quit asking permission” to be let in, he advised. “I wasn’t man enough to put my wife’s needs ahead of mine. Don’t make the same mistake.”

And with that freshly lodged in his mind, Rick eyeballs his wife’s desk nameplate, seemingly forming an idea for next week’s “first anniversary” episode….

What did you think of the Beckett-less “Cool Boys” episode?

That was a really good episode. The show is so much better without Beckett’s stupid crusade/separation storyline!

I totaly agree. The separation story has played out and become a boring distraction.

It is not a crusade. Beckett has been set up perfectly by Rita. Beckett “drug” addiction not being shown was nice for once. Still only an average episode. Well done compared to the rest of season 8, but not that great compared to the other episodes of other seasons.

I’m glad ColeSlaw (Castle/Slaughter) have a solid legion of fans. And since Slaughter has been doctored up nice and good, maybe there’ll be room for him on the roster when “Castle Legacy & Friends” goes full on variety show.

Well, this season they rewriting everything and everybody. So…

:D Well done JOT! I figured if a ‘newish’ character was introduced that you would offer up a new combo name! I couldn’t miss that even though I’ve missed most of the series at this point. It’s a slightly different format from your previous combos-but I like it, gave me a chuckle.

SK, who, for whatever reason, personal, business or just ‘damn good decision making’, has minimized her involvement with this disaster. Smart woman.

With that opinion I don’t get why you watch the show anyway. The episode last night was a toss-off. Barely passable filler. The reasons why Beckett has separated herself are valid, most people in that position would do something similar.

Beckett’s reasons might be valid, but they aren’t consistent with the story line. Kate hasn’t been successful without Rick since they started their partnership. Remember – she failed at the FBI.

I’m not sure why they are considered valid. They are married and anyone she tries to take down will know this and go after him and his family regardless if they are separated. The issue I have is that Castle has no idea of the danger that could come his way, quite frankly she is doing more harm then good.

I TOTALY AGREE!!!!!! So much better without Beckett!!!!!!!

Hia wife’s nameplate? I thought he was looking at the file on her desk to see what case she was working.

You think…? As in LokSat? She’d be sloppy to leave that on her desk if away for multiple days.

OK, I just rewatched and I’m sticking with my first takeaway, that they were just showing us that Rick is thinking about Kate.

At least her nameplate was in the episode. Does that count?

Nice to know Beckett us now seeking a divorce when we were told no divorce was coming and also she just wanted time to figure things out because she is so deeply in love with Castle and vice versa. Yep so much for fall finale moving relationship forward in a positive way.

That’s a promo tease. I bet it has something to do with a case.

I agree that I am assuming it is for the case, but with they way this season has been trashed I am not going to be surprised by anything.

Relax. Beckett “seeking divorce” = the old bait and switcheroo by the ABC promo people. .

Yep, just like the bait & switch that Stana would be in this episode.

It’s an ad. She’s seeking a lawyer that will help legally change her last name to Castle as an anniversary gift to Castle.

And don’t buy any of their promos. Remember, ABC led us to believe Kate would be in this episode even if briefly. They lied…and baited….the fan base….yet again.

They are married-she doesn’t need a lawyer to change her name.

To Brenda. I’m not familiar with USA laws. But where I live, when you ask for a marriage licence you need to say which surname you’re going to take: your own, your husband’s or adding your husband’s surname to your own (hyphenated). If you want to change your name or surname at any moment in your life, you need to file a request for that. Old fashioned when a woman marries she takes the husband’s surname doesn’t count anymore. Or maybe I’m wrong about USA laws?

It’s interesting that the show couldn’t employ their typical production strategy of a quick scene by phone to show where Beckett was — 30 seconds, tops. Guess the episode was just too full of cool boys goodness.

I’m sure the showrunners appreciate TVLine’s constant comment about Katic being out of the country.

No doubt the actors’ schedule conflicts were the first and most complex in television history. Completely untenable.

Yup and say what bad you want about Nathan at least he’s never missed a entire episode

Well, as some astute viewers are so quick to point out, Fillion plays the title character…

The husband sees Castle as both characters. He almost had a heart attack when I asked if he would like the show if only one of them…or if someone…died…then which one, etc.,, “Don’t say that!” with bulging eyes and a gasp for an answer. “It’s both of them.”

Increasingly poorly…I am so tired of his exaggerated facial expressions. Baldwin was by far the better actor in all their scenes.

Actually I think he was on vacation for at least one entire ep but they inserted scenes they filmed later, similar to what they did for XY this year with Katic. But I think you’re right in that he’s never been completely left out of an ep. Maybe there’ll be a Cool Girls ep in the future…

This isn’t High School Brad, Stana can’t just skip filming cuz she wants to go on vacation. It was all approved, and they clearly didn’t write any lines for her to read on, or off camera.

She could have done ADR, or inserts. Her being in another country does not prevent any of that. It’s been done hundreds of times.

Exactly. These are the kinds of things that are typically settled during contract negotiation.

Read somewhere that her new contract allows her to be out for her belated honeymoon and to be at a fashion show.

Did they also sell you a bridge to nowhere wherever you read that? I’d like to also buy a bridge, and read her contract while you’re taking a break.

So much information about this show is shrouded in mystery, but people know intimate details about the #2’s contract and non-disclosed reasons for her trip. Amazing.

I should have inserted into what I wrote that I do not know if it is true or not. I remember reading somewhere that she would be missing some filming of Castle for a fashion show in Italy and missing some time for what many people assumed would be a belated honeymoon.

Fans assumes this, but there are no solid proof of that – I mean beaside the fact that she was allowed to take a week leave in the heat of the filming season and they switched the original episode shooting order for her sake.

It’s a pretty interesiting scenario now, watching the episodes knowing what was their original, planned order.

– “Last seduction” was originally planned to be 8×06 and was filmed after 8×05, in normal order

– “Mr and Ms Castle” was originally Ep. 8×07, but its works were postponed because of Stana’s leave and

– they filmed “Cool Boys”, the original Ep. 8×08 before that.

I haven’t seen this episode yet, but it will be interesting to check are there any parts of these three episodes which seems to be inserted into their present place from somewhere else? I can’t rule out even some reshooting after the now valid airing order was announced.

Don’t think that’s correct, Laszlo. The order of filming was always going to differ from order of viewing. According to showrunners the week this ep was filmed was determined by when Baldwin could make it and Katic wanted to go to Europe for the Milan fashion show and a Paris vacation (honeymoon?) with her husband. This was all figured out during the summer. It’s really not that unusual.

CastleBuzz: in theory it could be true, but the thing is there were BTS photos posted on the net with the slates, which showed that this episode was intended to be 8×08, and Mr and Ms Castle was filmed as 8×07 – after this epsiode was finished. I never questioned that this episode was planned with Baldwin and without Katic, but it doesn’t mean it was planned to be aired in this place.

I’m pretty sure those numbers are filming order numbers. They filmed this one after finishing the two we have yet to see this fall. In fact, they already have two eps for February in the can and have just started the third.

There seems to be some confusion what was intended as Ausiello posted this on Sept 30

Ausiello: As dire as things might appear for Rick, Kate and their marriage, you should find more than a little solace in the fact that Episode 7 — airing Nov. 16, during the heart of sweeps — is titled “Mr. & Mrs. Castle.” “It’s going to be a great episode,” co-showrunner Terence Paul Winter told Matt Mitovich. “For the fans who right now are going, ‘What the heck and Terence and Alexi [Hawley] doing?!,’ when they see that episode they’ll understand and see what we’re going for.”

The Last Seduction was numbered 8×06, filmed from Sept 14-24 as ep 6 but will air as ep 7

Cool Boys was numbered 8×08, filmed from Sept 25 – Oct 6 as ep 7 but aired as ep 6

Mr & Mrs Castle was numbered 8×07, filmed from Oct 7-16 as ep 8 and will air as ep 8

No doubt Katic also said she doesn’t want to be inserted in said episode. I’m sure a female actor can do that on a show she’s not #1 on. I’m also sure she can tell the writers

So much for Katic being in every single episode of season 8. I’m sorry the Insert machine is broken from using it so much this season for all their doubles, and wigs. It’s a shame. It was such a good ole insert machine, poor thing.

I’m also sure she can tell the writers not to write her in an ep.*

Haha, maybe they had to give that insert machine a break before revving back up for the back-half of the season.

Oh, and you wanna see some petty studio/network stuff? Check out IMDB and observe how, though Stana Katic is officially credited in all 157 episodes, someone made it so she’s only “credited” in IMDB for 156 – which is the number of episode she actually appeared in. This now bumps her from IMDB “second-billed” to fourth.

Alone, this may seem innocuous. Maybe. Except that Susan Sullivan, Molly Quinn and Tamala Jones are also credited for 156 episodes – which we all know is not the true total of episodes THEY have appeared in.

What could this mean? Maybe nothing. It could also mean someone wanted to demote the show’s female lead on IMDB, without making it too terribly obvious.

And if that’s true, well… that’s pretty pathetic.

Maybe it’s the same person who promoted Toks to being in the first 5 episodes of the season when we know from Matt here that she was not in eps 3 & 4 (for those who didn’t watch ep 3 & 4.)

Imagine that?!?!?! It’s as pathetic as ABC releasing a promo showing Katic/Beckett in an episode that she clearly is not in, just to get her fans to watch an episode that was sure to not have her in more than “one scene.”

But that’s just crazy talk JOT, how dare we think such a thing of the fine institution called Hollywood?

I see. Someone applied the old IMDB logic to TO – which is that an actor on a full contract gets credited for every episode from day one whether they’re in an episode or not…

… but then used a different kind of logic for SK, SS, MQ and TJ – even though they’ve all been on a full contract since day one.

Weird, huh? But yes, those of us who point things out are just being mean and un-fun.

Simple. Show runners who know that the show is in serious trouble.

Seriously. I thought IMDB was somewhat official. Is it not?

I don’t know, clearly it seems that someone is able to manipulate the data to show what they want. Some say anyone can change IMDB data, guess it seems very true that they can.

No Joe Blow Wannabe Director can just make changes to a show like Castle simply with an IMDB Pro account.

IMDB isn’t official at all, mainly not in case of tv shows. It can be edited by the readers, and only if something is awfully inaccurate or henious it ischecked by the site.

Sorry JoT, this isn’t true. I think (only think, I have no solid information just second hand) it can be required at the site that only appointed people can edit a certain show or movie. But in general, people can modify episode titles, actors involved in an episode, etc.

I thought actors were more likely to be credited than in the episode. For example, Penelope Keith is credited as being in 3 episodes of The Avengers in the 1960s when she only actually appeared in 2 of them. Seems odd in that context for Stana not to be credited when presumably her name was still in the opening credits of the episode (haven’t been able to face watching it yet).

I guess that now we can expect someone with IMDB member account to change the co-lead’s character name to beckette. Going to run and hide behind the couch.

I’m not certain what constitutes “official” but IMDB is owned by Amazon. It has it’s own salaried staff to maintain and verify submissions. As with any database, errors can be made without nefarious intent. I suppose there could be someone in a grassy knoll decreasing the number of credited episodes for Katic, Sullivan, Quinn and Jones by one, but it’s just as likely an oversight by whomever is responsible for updating the entries. Anyway, it’s on the internet so it must be true.

KCC, yes, being owned by Amazon does mean that info in IMDB is official and/or verified.

I can understand why you would give them the benefit of the doubt, but if it was merely an oversight, what circumstances would lead to it? Up until this season, all six of the original main actors were credited for every episode – including three who’ve definitely not appeared in every episode, while being credited in every episode.

Why would that change so suddenly, and coincide with the one episode missing the show’s female lead? MQ, SS and TJ’s appearances aren’t predicated on SK’s.

And yet, had someone changed only SK’s episode number, without also changing theirs, it would’ve been blatantly obvious.

At the same time, that someone – whoever they were – would’ve had to go through the entire series episode list to remove MJ, SS and TJ from episodes in which they didn’t appear. No bueno. All around, no bueno.

It took some time, but I did the C/B screen time calculations for this episode, it was 0 minutes.

i liked the episode !! it was a fun filler and better than the boring separation line !!! pretty sure the hate comments are going to start now though :d

Kinda of tired of seeing a lost puppy castle my wife this my wife that

Enjoyed more than I thought I would. Quite entertaining. No Beckett means I have to search for other things to like.

Was this a template for a Beckettless show, if the scenes for next week are true and she really is meeting with a divorce attorney? Lol

It was a solid episode and all, but of a different show. She couldn’t film 1 scene? Very weird. Is this first episode of Castle that either lead has completely missed? This season just feels so off.

An actor can’t film a scene that isn’t scripted.

That’s my point tho… Why was she completely written out of the episode? Her screen time is minimal in most episodes this season; the showrunners have Castle working with all these different people; they came up with a contrived reason to break them up. Is this all trying out a new show format?

That’s the rumor but who knows? As for a Beckett scene, there were few if any opportunities that wouldn’t beg the question that she found out what Rick was up to with Slaughter. And if she found out, wanna bet she’d hightail back to her precinct when her lead homicide detectives can’t hang on to their car and suspect.

Then she could have been in an opening scene before she left for the work thing.

Yup, that’s the only realistic time I came up with but what would be the point? She’s not living at the loft so it wouldn’t have been a goodbye Rick scene. I suppose she could have been shown giving directions to whoever’s the second in command at the precinct or even a word with Vikram about the LokSat investigation, but both those would just be distractions for tonight’s story of “boys will be boys.”

We’ve reached the point where it’s now unrealistic & pointless to write the female co-lead in an episode!!! Job well done Alexi, Winter, & “whoever” is calling the shots. :(

Oh how far Castle has fallen. (This is in response to bottom comment but I couldn’t comment on that one.) :

It would appear they’ve been trying out a new format since S7, but S8 is a special brand of “new.”

Basically, where S7 became “Castle PI and Wife” (a la McMillan and Wife, I suppose) toward the end, S8 is straight up “Castle Legacy & Friends,” a quirky, mindless, little ensemble crime comedy led by a bumbling yet fearless private investigator.

LOL over “a quirky, mindless, little ensemble crime comedy led by a bumbling yet fearless private investigator.” Perfect, JOT.

Exactly. A format tried in S7 and full blown in S8. I really think that ABC was not sure about the renewal at all. At the last minute they wanted a Castle PI show. Then they got cold feet due to “no Beckett, no Castle” and invited the female co-lead. The female co-lead said OK, but I want some story for the character. Negative Nellies were screaming during the hiatus months about Castle 2.0, after the whole S7 Castle 1.5. And here we are. And, JOT, yes, an excellent description of the new show. The only problem for me is that if this was the description from the beginning six and a half years ago, I would have never watched it.

G-d awful. Had a hard time watching it. If I were Espo and Ryan, I’d never speak to Castle again, never mind work with him. If I were Captain Beckett and came back from a business trip to find out what my husband did, I’d throw him in the slammer and then file for divorce.

Another ep with Hayley and yet again no reason for her presence. Couldn’t young super sleuth Alexis have found out that info? Why have both of them there? Especially when there’s no paying client…

It’s just that awful. No other way around it.

When they broke into song at the stand-off, I lost several brain cells.

LOL again. My jaw dropped at that scene and now my TMJ aches. I hope to hell my brains’ intact.

We all lost our brains when we sat down to watch this episode, especially knowing Stana wasn’t it it. I feel like I need a brain cleanse, or a juice cleanse after sitting through it.

Nah I still have my mind, my brain on the other hand is severely lacking a good logical story it can work with. ;) (Also all this is in jest, please don’t take offense.)

Again, it so pisses me off when everyone just tries to continuously justify Beckett’s behavior? Why is always Castle supposed to be the one to put his wife’s needs ahead of his own? Why is the vice versa never true?

lol yup why must the marriage be so one sided castles like a hopeless puppy who can’t function without giving her gifts supporting her

Because the male writers wrote it that way. It’s really no that complicated to understand. They want to make Beckett the bad wife, and Castle the doting loving man trying to win her back.

It makes Castle a pitiful creature, not a doting loving man, so I don’t know why do they think it will work. I mean to anybody above the “but they luuuuuuuv each other, so be happy with it” level.

Because it’s clearly fun for them to write it as such.

I agree, Castle is written so OOC, everyone is right now so much I don’t even know what show I’m watching. Adam carried this episode, and made the “jokes” work.

The only bright spot is this episode is that Martha is writing a book, one that I hope they’re smart enough to make IRL for people.

If you would read the comments you would understand that he isn’t portrayed as a doting husband by the viewers. He is seen as week, pathetic without a backbone.

If the writers can make a solid case that the reason for Beckett’s behavior (leaving Rick) is to protect him in the only way she thinks she can, then she IS putting his needs (staying alive) over her own. Aside from that, though, when has he put her needs ahead of his own? He couldn’t even figure out what she meant when she asked him where they were heading in Season 5. I think over the seasons, there’s been a pretty good give and take on both their parts.

Oh look here comes the blind man! You seriously are incredibly biased. Castle has not put his Beckett’s needs ahead of his own has he? How about when he offered to move to DC and bought an apartment so they could live together properly? How about when he didn’t chuck her for lying to him about her job interview in DC and instead proposed and agreed to work it out with her? How about when he stood by her side while she sat on a bomb, putting his own life in danger in the process? I could go on and on. Please tell me when Beckett has put her needs above his.

If you truly love a person, you would be satisfying your own needs as well as the other’s if you chose to move to another location to be with that person (I for one thought it odd it took him so long to suggest that solution) or forgave the loved one and proposed to her or stayed with her while she stood on a bomb. On that last one, he actually put his need to be with her, to die with her if it came to that, before her stated desire that he leave and get safe.

When has she put his needs above hers? I could say every time she’s accepted him as her partner, every time she’s put her body between him and the bad guys. But again, she’s satisfying her needs too in all those instances b/c she loves him.

Lovely excuses. He was willing to move away from his mother and his daughter, both of whom he loves very much, just for Beckett. So it involved quite a a bit of sacrifice for him. You come up with the most BS excuses in the world. He loves her and he put his safety at risk in order to have a chance at saving her life. As for forgiving Kate, he puts her need to do what she wants to do by assuring her that their relationship wouldn’t get in the way. Giving her both him and the opportunity at her dream job.

How exactly is she putting his needs above hers? She was doing her job when she was protecting Castle. That’s not putting his needs above anything. As for accepting him as her partner, that’s not exactly putting his needs above hers either because she was initially forced into it and after that wanted him to come back. So you need to come up with better examples.

ndixit, have you ever thought that maybe Beckett was hesitant to ask Castle to leave his family which he adores? No? So, when she protects Castle that’s her job? Please. His sometimes reckless behaviour in dangerous situations is notorious. In “Knockout” he said he loved her not for her but for him self. If he didn’t and she have died, he would probably resent himself for the rest of his life, for not having the guts to come clean about his feelings. And Beckett asked him a couple of times “why do you come back”. Also, in “Knockdown” Castle said to his mother “if something happened to her…” But in “Rise” he said “I cannot loose her again”. And after a deal made with Smith he was calm and at piece and Beckett was left wondering till “Always” “how am I still alive”. Her needs. really. I’ve got a lot of other examples that you would probably dislike. Anyway, it’s all pointless now when the writers are rewriting and changing everything.

I means when has she ever his needs above hers? As for the solid case, if there was one to be made, it would have been made by now. She is putting her own needs ahead of his because her obsessive need to lie and self-destruct. You can try putting whatever spin on it for your own comfort. Doesn’t mean its the truth.

She isn’t putting her own anything over his own anything, the MALE WRITERS ARE WRITING BECKETT OUT OF CHARACTER.

Alexi said to blame him and not Beckett, have you forgotten that? She’s still wearing the damn ring on her finger. So again, aim your blame, dislike towards the WRITERS WRITING THE SHOW, not Beckett as if she’s really making these decisions. Sheesh.

It doesn’t matter if they are writing Beckett out of character. They have written it and now its part of Beckett’s character. I don’t give a damn that she wears his ring or smells his shirt. All that is just BS. What she has done is replicate her own obsession from years before and in the process made her husband miserable and basically destroyed their marriage. By the way, I am allowed to blame the writers and the character they are writing.

Oh that’s cute, you only “give a damn” about certain things the writers are writing, and saying. That’s just so cute how you can cherry pick what you want to be tre and what you want to be a lie. How does one do that? Is it a special skill set one has, or can us mere mortals acquire such a skill?

It DOES matter that they are writing Beckett out of character, it may not to you, but it does matter. Honestly they’re writing every single character but Martha out of character. This is the reason shows don’t survive, when someone comes in and tries to rewrite canon, and previous seasons because they think they can do it better than the last guy, in this case Andrew M. Seeing how well that’s working out for Alexi, maybe he’ll finally get a clue. But then again he’s hoping to have 3 shows cancelled within 1 year so maybe he’s going for an all time record as a show runner? *Shrugs*

Also you weren’t blaming the writers, you were blaming the character…even though the writers told you EXACTLY WHY THEY ARE WRITING everything the way they are.

To answer your question though, Beckett put his needs about her own WHEN SHE LEFT HIM TO PROTECT HIM FROM THE BAD GUYS AND HIMSELF BECAUSE HE DOESN’T LISTEN AND CONSTANTLY GET’S HIMSELF INTO DANGEROUS SITUATIONS HE’S NOT TRAINED TO HANDLE. He is not a cop, he’s a dumb P.I. who’s too busy lying & making a cool office, instead of spending time training in ANYTHING to be helpful.

But that’s my thinking, it’s much easier to blame women, after all this is a man’s world. With men in charge of writing a show excited that the “brand” has signed…let’s ignore all the inherent sexism in the industry. Let’s ignore what the writers say and WRITE, just so that you can blame Beckett for hurting his feelings. What’s stopping him from leaving her…those pesky writers again. lol

Haven’t watched yet, and since I heard there is no Beckett… I have zero interest to watch it yet.

I can’t believe but I’m CRYING for my favorite show… I can’t believe myself. I can’t believe writer, cast and actors… everything is just out of place and I’m so confused over this negativity and this broken fandom…

Guessing it is a plot device for the undercover case. If it is not about a case then Castle is very well dead.

Loved it. When Castle ends its run can Nathan, Adam, and Alan Tudyk please do a buddy cop show set on the mean streets of Harlem in the 1970s because I would totally watch the heck out of that show and enjoy every minute of it.:) I found it interesting how well the show gelled without Beckett I was actually surprised how well it did, but I think a lot of that had to do with Nathan and Adam. Anyway I really hope this whole debacle with Caskett ends and the second half of the season can get back to good old Castle with his lady love solving crimes together. With any luck that is what will happen in next weeks fall finale.

I liked it too even though I think we’re not allowed to here ;)

Actually there’s a surprising number of posters here who liked the ep so who’s “not allowing” that? Everyone should feel free to speak their mind…but you have to expect others might disagree.

Um, I thought it was obvious I was making a joke…mainly due to the overwhelming number of negative comments on every Castle article and the fact that some assume everyone hates the season (of course you also get the pro Castle “haters gonna hate so stop watching” posts comments as well)…I don’t take any of it too seriously, just a joke, that’s all.

All good CastleBuzz, I actually always enjoy your comments! You put a lot of thought into why you did or didn’t like an episode or storyline. Castle articles can get kind of crazy you know?

I really liked this episode. I didn’t miss Beckett but I think it was because I knew SK wasn’t available for filming.

Loved Slaughter referring to Espo & Ryan as ‘Elvez & Lucky Charms’. Made me laugh out loud.

How do you know “SK wasn’t available for filming?” I’ve not seen her say as much, even if she wasn’t on vacation, she clearly had weeks, almost a month to do inserts with her, or ADR, or put a BIG PICTURE OF HER IN THE LOFT SO WE COULD PRETEND Stana is still co-lead of a show….

Because she was in Milan for Fashion Week. Check the link at the top of this article.

Maybe she was in Milan because Alexi didn’t write her in the episode, because as I said above this isn’t High School, she can’t just skip one week of filming to go out of the country without approval.

If Alexi really wanted her in the episode he should have WROTE HER IN THE EPISODE, just like he did ep 1, and had her do inserts. It’s done EVERY DAY, ON EVERY SHOW.

Oh wait, the insert machine is broken, as is the ADR machine. What a shame, must have a hair ball from the wig…

TVLine – the website you’re posting on – have sources that confirm that Stana had an out in her contract to go to Milan Fashion Week. Are you calling the writers of TVLine liars?

Stana posted her week-plus vacation on IG – two days in Milan (one afternoon at a fashion show) and a week in Paris (possibly a belated honeymoon). The week was chosen to fit both Baldwin’s availability and Stana’s desire to attend that particular fashion she to which the fashion designer invited her. This would not have been a big deal in any other season. It’s just b/c of the “split” that it’s gotten so out of hand.

Which still wouldn’t have prevented Alexi from writing her in the episode. She had time off, but Alexi choose not to have her in the episode, he could have done inserts, and ADR to give the female co-lead 90 seconds in an episode. Or 60 seconds, or even 30 seconds. Heck 10 seconds would have been lovely. But instead they made a promo showing her in an episode she was not in.

But honestly I applaud Stana if she asked to not be in an episode with Adam Baldwin. (I mean lucky for her no?) I wouldn’t want to be in an episode with him either. How anyone can stand him much less be excited about having him on their show is beyond my understanding.

Also that link was updated from “my guess” to “sources confirm” sometimes after it was originally posted. So no I’m not calling anyone a liar, but it wouldn’t be the first time a source was wrong, or gave misleading information now would it?

Funny thing. TV Line keeps pushing that line about Stana’s vacation in Milan and Paris (by the way, that was Ausiello’s info) as an explanation for her not being in the episode. All it does is adding gasoline to the flame and clicks to Ausiello’s original. If here was no posted pictures on her Insta, or if there was no video on tube, would we even knew she was in Milan and Paris?

Seriously. I’m not totally clear why you’re so defensive of Katic, but it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility that she asked for some time off, so the writers wrote a story without her. They already engineered an entire two-parter to accommodate her absence (as they’ve stated in interviews), what would be the point of trying to do it again six episodes later? Why waste their limited shooting time with the leads on a throwaway scene in an episode when that time could be dedicated to a more fulfilling/relevant scene in a later episode? It’s pretty clear that Katic and Fillion both got a lot of time off in their new contracts, hence the more ensemble feel of the show, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a Castle-lite or Castle-less episode later in the season. I mean, totally agreed about Baldwin, god knows I’d avoid episodes with him if I could, but I’m not sure why this has to be some nefarious plot against Katic, instead of just life and contract negotiations.

As for the promo, I’d blame ABC for that one, and even that’s not entirely fair – the promo said “Castle comes back with new episodes,” not “in the next episode” or “three weeks from tonight,” as they often do.

I need CASKETT back together! There better be something coming up worth all this fandom drama and angst. I have been willing to wait bc of the great castle and caskett episodes Hawley and Winter have pinned before, but I want the arc to move along.

I’m confused – so, on the one hand, Castle gets the advice to quit asking permission, on the other hand, he’s adviced to put his wife’s needs before his? Aren’t those two things at odds? And hasn’t he been putting his wife’s needs before his? And before *their* marriage? When is someone going to side with that poor boy because this was not his fault and he should be allowed to stop thinking it was and he should be allowed to finally ask the right questions! This has been going on way too long. That man’s not brain dead!

That “poor boy” is a middle-aged man. He shouldn’t need people to side with him. What he needs is a writing staff and actor who lets him grow up.

Absolutely. They said they were going to ‘grow up’ Alexis (no comment); how about doing that with the guy who’s twice her age!

I enjoyed the episode. Missed Kate but would have loved to see more of Haley with the “cool boys”. I didn’t see the West Side Story coming either but I so loved how it was used! LOL!

Hate Haley! She is the phoniest, worst actor that has been on this show yet and along with the Slaughter character added even more ridiculous, totally disingenuous and unbelievable episode which matched the first episode this season- awful!

I REALLY HATE the new Castle format-totally! I have faithfully watched Castle since episode 1 and am thoroughly disgusted to see the transformation that has been gradually made to emasculate Castle’s character! Whomever is writing, directing or producing the ‘new version’ should take a step back to the beginning and see who the real Castle SHOULD BE! Not the BUFFOON you’ve made him into! No doubt, someone who likes to make women the powerful ones and men out to be weak wimps! The whole show now SUCKS-big-time! Maybe if you get some actual MEN writing you could figure out what real men do and adjust your format!

Nathan Fillion…WHY did you have to go ‘Hollywood’ and get plastic surgery? Your eyes look scary now and the constant bugging of your eyes to make you look frightened and wimpy is SO UNATTRACTIVE! Suggestion: whomever is doing your makeup…take a large glossy of what you looked like before the surgery and try to make you look more normal, like your previous self, please! Correcting your eyebrows would be a good start!

But really, I am disgusted that I chose watching Castle over Blindspot tonight; won’t happen again! ALSO>>>I really, really HATE the phony Haley character! She is so FAKE, PRETENTIOUS AND THE ACCENT seems really fake, too. YUKK! HATE HER, she does not fit in! Just another of your conceited, tough, smarter than men characters which you seem to love to flout on this show! Cut her or this show is going down the tubes! Bring Beckett back, and come up with some more interesting and somewhat believable story lines! Come on-you are ruining, no, destroying one of the best tv shows ever! Let Rick Castle be smart again. One of the best episodes was the Alexis kidnapping. Rick was serious and tough in that one and remember…the show is called ‘Castle’, not BECKETT, yeah, it should be more about HIM not her!

The show is called Castle but it has always been about Castle and Beckett until last season when the show started being all about HIM, and see how well it has worked.

A person can be passionate about a show without choking on all that bile–wow.

Well seeing as how Beckett wasn’t in a single second of last nights episode it really was all about Castle, with the “brand” front and center.

+1, Caskett made Castle a success,not NF , not SK, but RC/KB together. Not this crap.

This episode epitomizes everything wrong with this season and what’s been plaguing Castle since the “real” shift last year to focus more on him at Fillion’s request. His character on its own is boring, and glaringly so without Beckett. If this is, indeed, an attempt this year to position Castle for a future without Kate/Caskett, the “new” show won’t make it.

And these writers have even managed to make me think Ryan and Esposito are now idiots. Castle should have been arrested for what he did. They look like morons now. Hayley served absolutely no purpose…again. Glad Vikram was absent because it just would have reinforced how stupid their story arc has been(and continues to be).

They better deliver the goods in the next 2 episodes or the rest of the season, ratings wise, is done. And given how bad the first 6 episodes have been received by the majority of fans, they are almost doomed to fail to deliver. Expectations are just that high. But they created this mess. They have to live with the consequences.

This was, by far, the worst episode of the season.

Agree with everything, but I would go as far to say worst episode of the series. Bad all the way around. I guess it’s “Fun” now to show Castle taking constant advantage of his friends to protect a shady cop who is wanted. It was as fun as a root canal.

Great episode tonight. Love Slaughter we need to see more of him. I don’t like what the writers have done to Kate. She has turned into a self centered dumb person. Get back to the old format before you lose watchers.

Anybody else find it funny how almost every episode’s promo has a shot of Kate all teary eyed with the writers and execs so desperately trying to tell us that Kate is so upset about everything she is doing.

I’ve not been able to face watching it yet. I always said I’d watch the alleged Beckett scene and anything with Martha; then I thought I’d watch the whole thing just for the sake of completeness – but clearly I need to psych myself up a little more first. I was going to watch this morning, but ended up replaying last week’s Bones instead: that was fun and neither of the leads seems to have a problem with the other. I’m trying to take it as a positive that shows can come back from a questionable previous season.

Wish there would’ve been a Firefly reference. Would’ve been nice to have the show feel more like the good old days

This season feels like a contest : which one will be the most unlikeable, Castle or Beckett ? Seriously who are these annoying and dumb characters ? And at this point, making Beckett leaves Castle because he’s an immature idiot would have been more understandable than this protection sh*t.

Everytime I think they can’t do worse and everytime they prove me wrong. How long are we supposed to hang in there ?

This episode just proved how much Castle needs Beckett to counterbalance his idiocy.

Will someone please FIX Castle? Castle used to be one of my favorite TV shows. Can’t say that this season. I record it, watch it later.MUCH later. Horrible, lame storyline this season, NOT fun to watch anymore. I watch Blindspot now and record Castle. I know i am not alone in wanting Castle back on track!

Slaughter is always a nice addition to the show lol he and Castle are always entertaining to watch and that musical number made me laugh so hard :)

It was a good episode overall and I’m excited for more.

I really liked the episode. Good to see Nathan and Adam together again and with Morena on Gotham the same night, this Firefly fan was very happy Monday night.

If they are trying to show us what Castle would be like without Beckett you can count me out. The show is based on a writer and his muse. When was the last time Castel who by nature is a writer wrote a Nikki Heat book let alone any book for that mattter. Beckett by nature is a cop that tracks down and punishes the bad guys. I do believe that this is the last season for Castle. Stana Katic has so many talents and I don’t blame her for not wanting to do one thing for the rest of her life. The woman started her own Non-Profit company called ATP, she sings, she does speaking engagments, she does independent films, she just got married, and might want to start a family. All I’m saying is people need to look at this for what it is. It’s the writers doing this stupid separation story line not Nathan or Stana. They bought were surprised about it and even NF asked them if they were high. I’m willing to give Castle this entire season but not if it does not include Stana Katic playing Kate Beckett. Stop bringing in all these new people and get back to the heart and soul of this show.

I sure miss the writer emphasis of the show, i.e. the poker games with writers we all know and love…missing you Stephen Cannell. They should still have them. He would want that.

Sorry Jennifer, the above reply was in response to your comments.

I liked it. It was a nice change from watching Castle brood about Beckett and Beckett brood about everything else. And I’d be happy to watch a series all about Slaughter trying to mentor a 16-year old computer genius, while threatening bad guys, humming show tunes and cooking up gourmet meals.

The show may be titled Castle but it needs Beckett the way pizza needs cheese. She brings the edge, the hardness, the realism and the capability. Castle is just a lovable dufus. Smart, insightful but still a dufus.

As for the Slaughter character, anyone who’s seen Chuck knows that all they did was move/rename John Casey. My least favorite episode of the entire show so far.

That third season with “wooden plank” Brandon Routh was held together by Adam Baldwin. He was the only redeeming feature on that program that year with Zach and Yvonne separated

I suppose it is good for ratings but it seems like many people on here, if indeed watched the show, are watching to find what they hate about the show. It must make your lives miserable. If you like the show enjoy it and don’t try to find conspiracy theories about stuff you don’t know. Comments on this show are as bad as Glee. Not sure TVLine would be willing to do it but they should shut off comments for Castle.

Oh and I enjoyed the show and not once thought about underlying reasons Stana not in the episode

Congratulations to Hawley and Winter! They produced an episode of Castle worse than Heartbreak Hotel. If this is their experiment into an Kate-less Castle they failed miserably.

Matt, you are right on with the whole stealing the car “gag”. It was horrible and Ryan and Espo should have thrown him in jail. If we are to believe Castle is more worried about a rouge cop he hardly knows than siding with the cops he knows as true friends, then this Castle is not someone I want to watch every week. Just bad.

I know it seemed like an insurmountable task, but these guys raised to the challenge. And it’s not even the no Beckett factor, though it does contribute, but it bugs the fire out of me how Castle was more interested about protecting Slaughter than backing the boys. He never apologized, never defended his actions, or felt bad about what he did. This is the same guy he didn’t even want to talk to earlier in the day and just hours later he’s helping him evade arrest? I guess Fillion was just happy to work a whole episode with someone he likes he didn’t care what slop they threw at him.

I think that Castle is no longer the consultant with the NYPD. So, no reason for backing up the boys. His duty now is to protect his clients. Oh. wait Slaughter wasn’t his client form the start, but they do have a history consisted of rude behaviour and gut punching. Then it’s OK to make his “friends” look like idiots. But, because they love him, there will be no consequences. I guess that was for the laughs sake. The rest of the episode was “dead serious” guy talk, because, as you know, Castle speaks “guy”.

I’ve been a Castle fan forever [I even watch the re-runs on TNT during the day], but the writers have totally ruined my favorite show. So much so, that last night I watched NCIS: LA instead of Castle. The show runners have said to just stick with it, and it will all work out, but the only way I can see for that to happen is if they make this whole season a dream sequence a la Dallas. Hope they can manage to get the show back on track, but I can’t for the life of me see how.

It’s always fun watching Nathan team up with Adam and I enjoyed this episode way more then any other this season. If they are going to continue to have Rick and Kate be apart then give Stana more episodes off and link it to Kate working LokSat off screen until you bring them together to solve it.

I finally forced myself to watch this ep after a couple of stiff drinks (of hot chocolate).

I still love Martha and they should release her book with the next Nikki Heat.

Lanie got more than one line (but not by much).

Castle was actually less goofy than recently.

I don’t like being lied to about Beckett being in a scene (or the rest).

If someone spoke about me the way Slaughter previously talked about Alexis, my father would not give him the time of day.

I found the music unusually inappropriate: they seemed to be going for a light, ‘this is fun’ vibe even while Slaughter was intimidating a suspect – and there was very little fun for me in the whole episode.

I’ve found things billed as ‘cool’ rarely are (I understand the song tie-in, but that was also something which would have been better avoided).

Castle’s previously been arrested for interfering far less than he did here.

The show REALLY doesn’t work without Beckett.

Over all, not as offensive as I’d thought it might be, but I was really bored. Hoping for two stronger episodes before the winter break.

This episode was such a relief. Nathan and Adam had great chemistry. I really enjoyed it and found myself thinking maybe Stana should stay missing.

And the ratings started to come out. Per spoiler tv early ratings 0.9. Good lord!

I actually enjoyed parts of this episode. I was feeling good until I watched the promo for the last seduction. I hope they don’t go through with a divorce but I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened. I wonder if she’s thinking that a divorce may get him to finally leave her alone. Stop being cruel to Castle. enough is enough!

I am disappointed the show runners didn’t pre shoot some sceens with the Becket character before Katic left for the Milan fashion show. I get the feeling her heart isn’t in the show any more when she does something like that.

You think If she went scuba-diving that would show her heart is still in the show?

I really liked the episode. Javier and Kevin added the cop part, and Alexis and Martha added the feminine touch. I wonder if this is a way to tell Stana that they don’t need her.

Sssssshh…..sssssshh……can you hear them……crickets . Where once there were 12.76 million viewers……now crickets . 806 is the lowest rated episode ever.I don’t know if I can take anymore episodes this exciting or packed with this much fun.

Being a die hard fan, I’ll be watching till the transmission drops, already lost the muffler and the catalytic converter. It’ll be me, three fingers of Jack Daniel, two cubes of ice and a growing cacophony of crickets and the distant howling of a lone wolf.

I had no great expectations about this ep since SK was only supposed to be in 1 short scene at the beginning and that did not even happen. Some parts were good others not but it was a little above par for the season. It did re affirm something I knew already and that is for me Castle without the 2 main characters in it together and happy would lose all its magic and would become just another regular show like so many already on tv.

I also saw in some comments that according to promos, Beckett will be looking for a lawyer. I see enough double talk and lies from the writers as it is that I do not want to watch misleading promos to add to the confusion.

However if she will be looking for a lawyer in ep 7 I only see 3 options as to why.

Option 2 : she has decided to divorce Castle which could be the way the writers have found to bring us right back to S1 EP1 meaning that Castle would have to seduce her all over again. This in my opinion would kill the series since at one point you can be in love with someone and do anything you can to get them back but how much grief and pain can a man take before he says that’ s enough and moves on.

Option 3 : she has decided to come clean with Castle about what she is doing and she wants to change her name to Castle as a first step to repair the damage she has caused to her marriage. If that is the case that would be a very strong declaration of her love to Castle that would probably go a very long way in getting the relationship back on track quickly.

Of course I am hoping for option 3 but then again who knows what kind of crap the writers are going to dump on us in the next 2 eps. I guess time will tell.

Didn’t care about this episode! But really missed STANA/Beckett a lot…….

I love that Rick and Kate loves another, but keep their own characters! (Castle isn’t just a kid!) I’m excited about the new characters, sassy, computer geeks, nose, 190 IQ, and Slaughter. All of whom can spice up the program if needed! Who knew when Westside could have turned up! (Scheduling a problem?) I’m going to order Martha’s book! Yeah! And there so much story in #Castle!

I’m sorry to say this show this season is terrible, for the first time since I started watching the show ,last night I changed the channel. Guess I’m done with it. so sad.

it was a fun show – missed beckett but tired of the separation unless it involves getting to the root of castle’s two month disappearance. good comedy and detective work. don’t feel icky at all about castle pulling one on the boys – rich has deep beliefs when he’s working a case. he just can’t help himself and has been “shackled” way too many times. it was good to see him as the old castle.

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