TVSquad

(S02E07) I'm with Beckett here: I really enjoy watching Castle be a dad. I'm very far away from being the parent of a teenager myself, but I feel like people should be taking notes from him. Well, except for the part where she had to put parental controls on his computer. But otherwise, he strikes a nice balance between relating to her and not trying to be the "cool dad." I was impressed last week with how he didn't just let that drunk girl crash on their couch and made Alexis call her parents, despite her protests, and this week, when he made her go to school despite the fact that she was being helpful.

Since that happened at the beginning of the episode, and the entire thing was peppered with Alexis/Castle interactions, I was definitely predisposed to like this episode. It continued to be a strong episode to -- despite the fact that the subject matter made me really uncomfortable.

I'm not talking about the drugs, or the rape, or anything like that. I just get really uncomfortable when people sit around and try to divine meaning from song lyrics. Since that was a huge thread throughout the episode, I spent a lot of time wincing. But onto the episode itself.

It always seems to be the case in these situations that the people whom the victim trusted the most, and/or the people who are the most upset about his or her untimely death generally have something to do with said untimely death. However, with that said, I didn't really guess the ending beforehand, which to me, is always the mark of a good episode.

One complaint about the episode though, is the scene in which we're introduced to Sky. She's standing over the body of her dead sister, screaming at her while holding a nearly-empty bottle of TV-brand liquor and a knife. Because it's perfectly easy to get into a government building and just hang out with some dead folks while swilling booze and brandishing a large weapon. I'm pretty sure the viewers would have understood that this girl has problems, without making her look like the Southern Comfort-soaked reanimated corpse of Janis Joplin.

The ending, though, was nice, with Castle taking Alexis to Sky's concert/Hayley's vigil. It was nice how he supported Alexis instead of just telling her to get over it, since she didn't know Hayley. For someone who has her patience murdered by Castle on a daily basis, it sure seems as though Beckett spends a lot of off-hours with him. I've heard that the writers aren't planning on getting them together at all, but I feel like that's going to be more difficult as time goes on, because I frankly do not understand how she could physically not sleep with him. Seriously.

Also, when they caught Hayley's super-fan at the beginning of the episode, am I the only one who immediately thought, "Chris Crocker?" Now that's scary.

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