itsmyworld said:

Oh, I get that Beckett likes Castle's relationship with Alexis and there is no doubt she centers him… I simply think the character done just a bit differently would make her more enjoyable for me personally. I very much enjoy seeing Kate helping Castle with his "teenage girl issues". Again, I don't need her to be an angsty little monster. I appreciate a mature take on a teenager, but she's just too perfect.
I do have to disagree on the point that there is nothing more sexy than a guy with his kid. That does absolutely nothing for me. But I'm also not baby crazy in any way, shape or form so perhaps that is why I'm just kind of "eh" on the whole thing.

Actually, a friedn of mine has two girls. One of them is only 10 and guess what, she's enrolling at Sacramento State to take up a class during the summer in Public Speaking. Apparently, alot of Elementary and Middle Schools public or private are doing this. And her other daughter, only 8 years old, she already knows what she wants to be. And without fail, she ahs not changed her mind. Alot of these kids are aware of what it takes to get to Ivy League schools and universities. It's alot tougher now and I can understand why Alexis is taking all these classes and all these extra curricular activites. They want to accept kids who not excel academically but also in other areas. And it's a breath of fresh air to see a teenager like Alexis on television who isn't lashing out at her mom or dad. Telling their parents they hate them. blah, blah, blah.

Alexis actually goes through teenage angst but it just so happens that she's able to analyze and is smarter than most teenagers. But it doesn't make her less of a teenager, who got her heart broken. She goes out with her friends.

I love children so I guess that's why I find a man sexy who plays or takes care of their child/children.

Back to the 'imaginary boyfriend' issue.  Beckett doesn't actually say she has a boyfriend, she says she wouldn't bring her boyfriend to the station. It's simply a statement of intention/opinion – which, given the atmosphere, shows good sense.  No point in giving the boys anything more to rag on her for and no point in putting any additional stress on a relationship.  Only thing worse than introducing significant other to office mates, is taking him/her to a family wedding.  She's pulling Castle's chain and she knows it.  Once or twice later when he refers to the imaginary boyfriend she's got a positively evil smile on her face for about a millisecond.   It's all part of the dance between these two.

GhostWriter said:

Back to the 'imaginary boyfriend' issue.  Beckett doesn't actually say she has a boyfriend, she says she wouldn't bring her boyfriend to the station. It's simply a statement of intention/opinion – which, given the atmosphere, shows good sense.  No point in giving the boys anything more to rag on her for and no point in putting any additional stress on a relationship.  Only thing worse than introducing significant other to office mates, is taking him/her to a family wedding.  She's pulling Castle's chain and she knows it.  Once or twice later when he refers to the imaginary boyfriend she's got a positively evil smile on her face for about a millisecond.   It's all part of the dance between these two.

Exactly! It was Castle, who thought Kate meant she does have a boyfriend. It's the jealous response that kicked into gear. hahaha. What i found really intriguing was Castle's response, "if he missed something." To me, it means he keeps tabs on her or that, there was no way he would not have known about a boyfriend cuz they are always together. hehehe

I loved the episode.  I didn't watch any Sneak Peeks so I didn't know what to expect other than the promos that ABC aired.  Remarkable development in the Beckett/Castle relationship was shown in this episode–the comments she made to him would never have happened a few months ago.  That made me very happy.

And I know Beckett made the "boyfriend" comment last night, but where did we hear that he's a homicide detective?  Is that a spoiler for later in the season?  If so, thanks for ruining my avoidance of any and all spoilers. :P

Marbs84 said:

That was reported maybe two weeks ago by Ausiello. That he will be in four episodes and that he is a homicide detective. No actor yet but they do have a name for the character already.

If you were avoiding spoiler, then, I aplogize but I'm in the knowledge that most people in the forum already knew about the love interest for Beckett later in the season.

I don't care if most people knew about it, I really don't think spoiler info of ANY kind should be discussed in a post-episode thread.  Now I don't feel like I can take part in such discussions if they are open season for posting spoiler info about future episodes.

If forum policy says otherwise then fine, I'll just stay off the forums completely, but I personally have a problem with spoiler info being posted in a thread like this, especially when it's not preceded by a warning.

And I know for a fact that not everyone knew about this particular information.  Maybe it generated a lot of talk in the spoiler threads but those of us who avoid those threads avoid them for a reason.  I understand things slip out accidentally but don't try to defend it by claiming everyone knew about it. 

GhostWriter said:

Back to the 'imaginary boyfriend' issue.  Beckett doesn't actually say she has a boyfriend, she says she wouldn't bring her boyfriend to the station. It's simply a statement of intention/opinion – which, given the atmosphere, shows good sense.  No point in giving the boys anything more to rag on her for and no point in putting any additional stress on a relationship.  Only thing worse than introducing significant other to office mates, is taking him/her to a family wedding.  She's pulling Castle's chain and she knows it.  Once or twice later when he refers to the imaginary boyfriend she's got a positively evil smile on her face for about a millisecond.   It's all part of the dance between these two.

Nicely said ghostwriter!  I did get the impression that Castle made the wrong assumption about Beckett's comment and she just didn't correct him because it was fun to see him jealous.

Wow, I didn't realize that there were so many who dislike Alexis!  I thought last night's episode was particularly good where she was concerned because she was a little sassier than usual and was pushing her comfort zone.  That's nice to see in a character who is generally pretty serious.  Maybe it's because I was a pretty serious, intense, focused, "good girl" teenager that I identify with Alexis, but teenagers like that do exist.  I happened to find my wilder side a little later on in college.  I like how even the normal teenage drama is often difficult for Castle to deal with…that balance between being the cool parent/friend and the parent who has to set limits is always interesting to me to watch.  And I like that Alexis doesn't let Castle forget that he hasn't been the best role model (even though sometimes it comes across a little bratty)…like the time she gets him in the interrogation room over the issue with the violin teacher.

The turnstyle jumping stuff may have been a little melodramatic, but I agree with what someone else said earlier about it being realted to her lying to her father and it makes more sense in that context.  The one storyline with Alexis that bothered me was her "big secret" she was discussing with Beckett and not Castle…the fact that it ended up being about studying abroad seemed silly to me.  But I like that Castle talks to Beckett when he has issues with Alexis, and I like that she draws from experience from when she was a teenager to talk Castle down from being so overprotective.  And even though she is pretty serious, I think Alexis is a nicely balanced character…she has dated, she has friends, she's involved in activities, and she has a silly fun side like when she is fencing or playing laser tag with her dad.

sarah_darling said:

I think we can all do better at keeping certain threads spoiler free. I know I adore spoilers, but there are many out there who choose to remain spoiler free. Let's all just try a bit harder (unless a thread is clearly marked as a spoiler thread, then it's fair game).

Perhaps some of you who aren't fans of Alexis (Molly's character) might consider that the character's role is to give us a greater glimpse of the personality of Richard Castle.  Without Alexis (and Martha too), we would have a far more one-dimensional view of Richard Castle.  In fact, I suspect without the nuances added to his character by Alexis and Martha, we might not like Castle's character nearly as well.  Certainly they give us a key as to Castle's relationship with females.  If we ONLY knew of his female encounters (and ex-wives) we might have a totally different perception of him as a male than we do as a result of seeing his "good side" in dealing with his daughter and mother.  It gives his character so much more depth than it would have otherwise, that that reason alone is sufficient for me to enjoy his daughter's character. 

The fact that Alexis is so "mature" and "wise" perhaps beyond her years indicates she is an extremely intelligent girl AND it tells us something about Richard Castle too.  Children in disfunctional families sometimes become "the parent" to their own parent who is "less functional."  With two ex-wives and a wealthy lifestyle of excess, the Castles could easily be considered a wealthy, but disfunctional family.  The fact that they ARE able to function effectively, says loads about the character of Richard Castle and his relationship with both his daughter and his mother. 

So, while some of you may not enjoy having a "kid" involved in the story line, that kid does help us understand Richard Castle not only better, but in an entirely different way, adding great depth to the character.   

Oh, I'd agree that we see Rick Castle as a more rounded character because we get to see the side of him that deals with his family.  Although personally, there have been instances where seeing that side of him made me like him less.   But I'm terribly dysfunctional myself, so . . .

On Alexis…

I generally like the chararacter and really have no problem with her. Yes, she's mature but I don't think it's in an unbelievable way. I have a sister who is eight years my junior and growing up she posessed that same kind of near unbelieveable air of maturity.

At the same time, the Castle-seeks-help-from-family-to-solve-case is an extremely convenient plot device for the writers. Sometimes it's used well, but sometimes it seems like the writers paint themselves into a corner and use it as their get out of jail free card. I don't really see that as a problem with Alexis' character however, simply an occasional issue with plot structure. In my opinion the case aspect of the show is one of its weaker elements but, even with that, the show has much stronger writing than many that are out there.

As for the teary turnstile bit… my take on that is that it was the third episode of the first season. While we might all wish that every episode of Castle was a masterpiece, the fact is that early in a series the writers are going to try things out to see what works and what doesn't. When I look back on that scene, I see a misfire that the writers quickly corrected and that we have not seen the like of again. In my opinion, we're lucky that neither the actor nor the writers needed to grasp all that much to settle on a decent balance for the character. Instead we've had scenes like the one in "The Third Man" with Alexis helping to pick out her father's tie and pointing out the evils of dating a woman off a list. When I think of quintessential Alexis, that's the scene that pops out for me.

nalissa2 said:

I like Alexis. She's the first teen on TV in a long while that I don't feel like kicking out of the house.
If you want to see a really unrealistic, well-adjusted, mature teen -wise waaay beyond anyone's years, (young or old) watch Life UnExpected.

hahaha. Or we can go as far back as "Roseanne" or one of my all time teenage filled angst series "My So Called Life" and "Once and Again."

Or there's always "Alw & Order: SVU" where practically all of Stabler's kids have problems and blame their Dad for their so called "problems" and yet expect their Dad to get them out of trouble.

Actually Alexis reminds me of "Felicity", who she was in High School before she went off to college and started todo crazy things. She was a perfect high school teenage girl.

Does anyone know the name and artist of the song during the opening scene?

It's called "Patterns" by Band of Skulls. Got the song. Very cool song.

Thank you Moby Dick, that's all that needed to be said. I was sure it wasn't done on purpose.

It also wssn't intentional on my part. Again, apologies to you.