TVSquad

(S02E03) I don't watch Castle because I really need another New York-based police procedural in my life. I watch it because it's funny, quirky, and because Nathan Fillion is dreamy. So while I would be hard-pressed to ever find a bad episode of Castle, this one wasn't my favorite. It just wasn't fun enough.

I'm not really enthralled with models, so the whole "behind the scenes at Fashion Week" thing really doesn't appeal to me very much. However, I do like how the theme of youth and beauty plays itself out throughout the show; first with the obsession over these qualities inherent in the modeling world, then with Castle's realization that he is at the age in which the beautiful young woman he meets isn't someone he met at a party, but rather the gawky girl who babysat his daughter and watched High School Musical with her. All the while, Castle's mother is dealing with the fact that she is no longer getting the ingenue parts, but is instead being offered that of the the crazy granny who dies offstage.

The case itself, however, was a little too by-the-numbers for me. I did, however really enjoy Harper's Island's Matt Barr as Travis, the dead model's husband. I'm still not sure how likely it is that his wife carried the broken award out of the photographer's apartment, providing a convenient murder weapon, but his confession scene at the end was well-done.

It's really Castle and Beckett's interaction that keeps this show going for me, so I kind of wish that the fact that Beckett was pissed because Castle let the Cosmo reporter read Heat Wave before he gave her a copy played into the episode more. However, it was a nice moment that just reiterated how self-centered and clueless Castle can really be. I mean, of course Beckett gets the first copy!

Also, can we talk about how amazing Beckett is as a teen model? Even though I saw that coming a mile away, the picture of her posing as a tennis player was hilarious. My sincere hope is that it comes up as blackmail material in another episode.

Now, I don't want Castle and Beckett to dress up in wacky costumes every single episode and go undercover, but this would have been the perfect episode for it. Given the fact that Beckett has a modeling past (just catalog, but still) and that Stana Katic is a gorgeous Amazon who could totally pull it off, I would have enjoyed seeing her in couture, hitting up some industry parties-- although I'm sure Castle would have enjoyed it a lot more.

[Watch episodes and clips of Castle and other shows over at SlashControl.]