Observations while rewatching Suicide Squeeze

For me, this was a fairly typical Castle episode: an OK case, but one that serves as a framework to showcase the interpersonal relationships – for which we really watch the show. Although I didn’t see much progress or growth this time, I still watched our DD’s interplay with interest. I think this episode could have been dropped in almost anywhere in the sequence without disrupting the flow.

The opening family scene raised a question in my mind. After Rick told Alexis that she came from “a long line of hucksters and charlatans”, I was wondering if he knew his maternal grandparents. Did he ever meet them, or had he only heard about them from his mom?

At the crime scene, he seems comfortable with his being “famously fatherless”, if the explanation goes no farther than “It’s complicated.” When Esposito starts to explore that a little deeper (even in a humorous way), it gets into a sensitive area. Rick seems to be sensitive about his paternity only when it starts to reflect on his mom’s reputation. Later, he can talk a little about it with Alexis, in a tender yet serious scene.

In the station, we see R & E tossing a baseball back and forth, when Kate reaches out to snag the ball mid-flight (effortlessly), then tosses it on to Ryan, behind her back. But when the ball is tossed to Rick, he misses it completely. He fences, plays laser tag, is a *very* good pistol shot, how can he be so bad throwing or catching a baseball?

Rick tells Montgomery that his family was “mostly con artists and circus folk”. When asked about it by Kate, he adds “mindreaders”, to which he adds a ‘demonstration’ where he shows that he really can read Kate’s state of mind.

What was Kate doing, teasing Rick about “Me, In a swimsuit. Under the hot, blistering sun.”? And she will call him on “trying really hard to see me in a swimsuit” after teasing his imagination like that?

When Joe Torre says “I’ll say a prayer for you guys”, what was he referring to? Was he talking about the cops solving the case, or for Rick & Kate?

There are still some unanswered questions, but there wasn’t much else that stood out differently, now that we have seen through the end of the Season 3. Since that’s what I was looking for, I’ll stop here and let someone else post their thoughts, too.

I guess I'm in the minority.  No it wasn't an epic episode, but I always enjoy it.  I like that we get a lil glimpse into Beckett as a kid  through the discussions about baseball, joe torre, and the fact that she can bare hand catch a baseball…which isn't that hard, but I've played softball since I was 5 and just turned 25 so I'm assuming there is some softball/baseball experience there.  I'm also a cheese ball and liked the ending where the wife takes in the lil girl.

bookworm857158367 said:

I've done a fair amount of rewatching old episodes this summer as well. From this episode, I remember thinking the casting of the secret daughter was way off. She looks 30 and I think she was supposed to be considerably younger. Couldn't they find an age appropriate actress?

 

I have some curiosity about Castle's paternity, but it's also refreshing that he has managed to make his peace with being "famously fatherless." Too many TV characters seem to devote a lot of angst and anger to "who am I?" issues.  If Castle went through all that, it was blessedly at a younger age and off screen. Keeping in mind that Nathan Fillion would like Christopher Walken to play Castle's online dad and that Montgomery thinks Castle has a little cop in him, I looked up Walken's filmography and discovered that he played the role of a New York City detective called Detective Rizzo in a 1977 horror film called "The Sentinel." Maybe Martha met Detective Rizzo at a party way back when and nature took its course …

It is great that Castle seems to have come to terms with growing up w/o a father, but I think it would be nice if somewhere down the road the topic is revisited.  The first three seasons have pretty much been about Castle getting to know Beckett and now I think that there should be a lil shift where the start diving into who Castle is.