ABC’s ‘Castle’ season 8, episode 5 review: ‘The Nose’ knows
A stolen painting. Violent crimes. A person with a super-powered nose. These were the themes of Monday night’s “Castle.”
This episode was completely silly but also a whole lot of fun, played up mostly by the performance from Stephnie Weir as a woman who specializes in all things olfactory. She was needed in order to help solve the case, and was someone Captain Beckett was not altogether willing to take seriously at first. We understand why, but she was a fun component to this story given that she was demanding, at times irrational, and by and large funny. One of the best moments was her completely not caring at all about Castle’s achievements, but praising Martha extensively for what she has done.
Of course, the case was resolved without too much of a problem. This episode wasn’t about that. It was instead more about Castle helping a woman with a gift come out of her shell, while convincing him in the process that Beckett does still love him. We had visual proof of that at the end of the hour as well … hard as it may be to deal with the separation right now (which we do feel is somewhat without meaning).
Also tonight, there was tension between Ryan and Esposito as the two continue to struggle with their future (the “shoot me in the a** scene” was priceless, and Hayley also returned to help Beckett with her case. Sure, Hayley’s return was somewhat convenient, but we’re not going to argue that she and Beckett made a good team in this story. Of course, we do wish that Castle and Beckett were spending more time together in the episodes themselves.
In the end, “The Nose” doesn’t make up for some of our recent frustrations, but at least it did bring us some good stuff for Nathan Fillion, some great Ryan / Espo conflict, and at least a case that challenged us. As far as early-season one-shot stories go, this one was at least solid. Grade: B-.
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Rachmiel48
October 21, 2015 @ 3:43 am
Castle and Beckett’s getting back together is a given; just a matter of when. In the meantime, it’s obvious Beckett loves Castle. She called him “Babe”, they solved the case together, Beckett had tears on her return to the loft, and it was confirmed once again that she has “the hots” for him.
Some of the “off the wall” somewhat implausible incidents in Castle episodes are what make it different from other crime shows and are one reason I really like the show (I know others don’t): Espo getting shot; Castle getting decontaminated; the “nose”.
It does look like it’s the last season. The Castle/Beckett chemistry doesn’t happen that often, nor do shows where women can be strong and independent and yet still feminine and vulnerable.
I’m going to miss the show.
Rich
October 20, 2015 @ 8:57 pm
OK I am going to go out on a limb here. This case was pretty good, though they really wasted the obvious transporter chase scene… dumb. Stephanie Weir was amazing, Nathan Fillion did some nice work … FOR A CHANGE… Still the lack of respect they have for the characters, Ryan is a good cop the accident didn’t make sense. All livable if not for the dark cloud of the breakup. All in all a 4 which could have been a 7 without a dose of the stupid break up.
So here is the show saver. Stana is in Italy episode 7, hopefully that is out firefly reunion show. Then for the final fall show Mr. and Mrs. Castle. Rick has a girl chasing him because the split gets out, he is not interested but funny scene is possible. he also get’s on to the Lockstat story and pokes the tiger, because he’s Rick. She goes after Castle about both and he fights back and during their blowup, which has to include some broken things at the loft, and by all means NO ALEXIS, the bad guys come after them. Mr. and Mrs. Smith style. Great two parter with them on the road sure to be killed but fighting together at the “Cliffhanger”. Beckett does some amazing stunts/secret agent type stuff to help them, but Rick’s “writer status” (brain, money, connections) has to provide additional help. He needs his pride back. Then we do some more fun shows, problems with the new Lawyer (Please not marriage problems other than maybe an initial goof on Castle for fun), The season ends with them sitting on the bed staring at a white stick! Come on Awsome right?
And with the inevitable decline of Blindspot, Love the actors especially Jamie and Sullivan(Not as much as I like Stana and Nathan), but the tattoo gimmick is going to get very limiting. Blacklist is a better story arc. So we come back in the ratings, get renewed and we find out if Baby makes 3 err 5 I guess.
Jim45
October 20, 2015 @ 10:59 am
Castle’s version of an ensemble show where the only good parts are written for the men with the exception of the guest star. It was good, well done, but not what I tune in to see on Castle. Toks, Stana and Susan might have been cardboard cutouts.
Fillion and Katic are great together when they are doing their romantic comedy thing – TOGETHER in the same breathing space not over the phone or simultaneously in separate places. I tune in to watch them do the wonderful work only they do. The shows this season aren’t written for them to do that. I don’t expect award winning every episode, but they are spending less and less time together on screen each episode – from just over 8, then 7 and now slightly over 4 minutes in this episode. There is a app for that.
Charles Neale
October 20, 2015 @ 11:23 am
Jim, I am not a watcher anymore just a review reader. It appears that this is what the writers or powers to be want. I have noticed reading the reviews and comments that there are now alot of Stana/Kate haters which is unfortunate. I think that is why you haven’t heard from her,Nathan on Twitter . The only ones you see are Susan,Toks because they are so nice. The writers really think the fans enjoy this juvenile humor and the only time you get to see Caskett is always the last 5 minutes of the episode which the writers think is causing angst in the show. All it has done is piss the main demographic fan base off. Just think you have 3 more weeks to mull this over before new episode them we get closer to the next major f@$$%&up by the writers.
Will Thompson
October 23, 2015 @ 3:02 am
But that is the question. For a show whose success and possibly its survival depends largely on the interactions b/w the lead characters, why do they have such minimal screen time together in every episode. Surely the showrunners know it is counterproductive and likely to drive more and more fans away from the show. But still they keep on following this pattern. And from the spoilers of the next 2 eps, this trend is going to continue and probably worsen as Stana will not feature (except for a scene or two) at all in Sp 7.
Why do something which is likely to ensure that another chunk of fans won’t come back in Feb possibly leading to cancellation wither at the end of S8 or earlier depending on how low the ratings end up falling. This just doesn’t make any sense. In a 22 episode season, if in the 1st 8-9 eps, your lead actors share little screen time, then something definitely is going on beyond just storyline matters.
BLB
October 20, 2015 @ 4:35 am
If you were a new viewer to Castle and had no knowledge of the long and winding Kate/Rick relationship — and the current state of their broken marriage — you might have enjoyed tonight’s episode. It was silly and implausible, but generally fun and lighted-hearted. With the exception of the last scene (when they smelled each other’s clothes), it reminded me of much earlier episodes when there was no Castle/Beckett romance and the stories were about the cases, not about the couple.
Stephanie Weir was funny, as was her partnership with Castle. Hayley was more tolerable in tonight’s episode, and worked well with Beckett. But here’s the problem: the audience has invested years in the Castle/Beckett partnership. We’re not interested in watching them change partners in the middle of the dance, even if those partnerships can be amusing or entertaining. We’ve been rooting for them for just too long!
It’s frustrating that they’re doing nothing to advance the storyline that would have Beckett solve her latest obsession, and return to Castle. Instead, Beckett moves even more of her belongings out of Castle’s apartment. Clearly, she has no plans on returning soon. Is learning that she still loves him “with a passion” supposed to satisfy the audience? It’s does nothing for me. At this point, I regret they ever got married in the first place. The separation is like a dark, looming cloud that’s hard to ignore.
Buddy
October 20, 2015 @ 3:21 am
Surprisingly the episode was silly enough to have a few funny moments. Unfortunately there was some parts that were just totally unrealistic. For example: trained police officers do not shoot at anyone that they cannot identify especially when they know that their partner is on the scene. I know that there are people who have above average abilities to differentiate between smells and tastes. However, I feel that the part of the “nose” was unbelievable but I tolerated it for sake of the overall episode. Now, how much longer do we have to suffer the continuance of Beckett working on her problem without seeing some results? I expect her to let us and Castle know of something since she will have an additional 2 weeks to work on it. And do not even think that I’m going to watch many more episodes before giving up – some of the new shows being advertised on ABC as well as other networks sure look good.