This was actually one of my favorite shows because it wasn't focused on Castle and Beckett.  I'd commented to my wife a few weeks ago how i hoped they developed Montgomery, Pearlmutter, and Martha more than they had, and this episode hit all three.

Martha is such a great character for the show, and it was nice to see her get a prominent subplot in an episode.  i have strong objections to the entire 'cliche lines she gives' argument, because if you want to go that route everything out there has been there, done that, there are no new ideas.  what is important is the performance and believability of the character, and there is never a line spoken by Martha that makes me not believe the performance.  I hope that she continues to play prominent roles in the subplots going forward.

It was great to also see the Captain more involved, and get a brief window into his motivations.  The way Montgomery worked with the other detectives, the pressure on him because of case quotas and budget cuts, and those few scenes that let you really get to know what makes him tick increased my respect for the character immensely.   Learning a bit of his history in the departent by linking the current case back to an open and shut case that he worked on 10 years ago that turned out to be more involved than he initially thought was just really well done imo.

Although i like Tamala's character, having another ME is good for the believability of the show, and Pearlmutter absolutely cracks me up.  His lack of social skills makes him a great compliment to Lanie, and he just seems the type that enjoys finding out the cause of death to assist detectives solve crimes but is just a bit abrasive to most of the detectives he works with.  i'd like to see Lanie and Pearlmutter interact a bit, but that could be difficult to write in seeings how they must work opposite shifts.

Pushing strong side characters to the side isn't a good idea for the longevity of a show, and it was refreshing to have the focus be on the supporting cast for an episode.  hopefully Alexis will get to feature in the next episode, as she wasn't prominently showcased in this one.  It is easy for a show to focus on one or two characters, but pulling in all the side characters and making them strong enough to carry a show as well as the main characters is the sign of great writers and creative vision.

/steps off soapbox

unniw said:

…and Ryan is still reading Heat Wave, what a slow reader! (Don't know if it was Heat Wave, only saw the top of the book in half a second).

I like Perlmutter too, think his comments are hilarious. "Back in the non-fiction section…" He's not guessing, and his gut is only telling him he's hungry. His education and experience on the other hand… The exact opposite of Castle, who are guessing and going with his gut feeling most of the time. And the fact that he hung up the phone on Beckett last episode give him extra points in my book. Need some characters on the team that don't worship the hero.

I was fooled by the casting this time. In other shows, if the guest star is well known (that is, famous enough that I recognize them) then he or she is usually the killer. And especially the guy who played Winston Wellesley – he always play the bad guy. Well, he was kind of bad, but not the killer. And then there's the brother, also quite famous actor, – now which guest star to pick? And then it turned out neither of them was the killer. Well done!

And I still think Beckett and Castle had a nice little moment over the (lack of) magnifying glass. Now that we know there wasn't a body present, it makes the moment nicer. They are quite close, and she IS looking at his mouth.

"Not yet": last time they were asked this, and Castle said "Not yet", Beckett added "Never, in fact" (at fundraiser in ep 107). No such addition this time!

When they expected a terrorist attack, Montgomery, Esposito and Beckett are on the phone, all urgent and business, and Castle gets up, reaching for his phone, and realise that for once, he's got noone to call…  Mr. "I have a guy everywhere." is lacking a terrorist on his phone list.

The way they work around "certain british spy" and "my face" in the episodes – making the use of those terms believable in the dialogue, then saying Bond on abc.com and Facebook on Twitter later…

I liked the episode, because it was a good case, we got to know Capt Montgomery better – he got to show off his skills, Beckett and Castle worked well together solidifying their relationship, Castle and Montgomery admire Beckett, and the whole tea-party scene from they enter the apartment guns in hand. After a light-hearted funny episode like Vampire weekend, we need some serious episodes to balance it.

…is insanity inherited?

I also particularly like the Terrorist Scare scene where you see Castle feeling left out and everyone, especially Beckett, going into emergency mode with their phones. I really liked how all of them worked in sync with each other and the overlapping voices calling a terrorist threat made seem all the more urgent and synchronized.

Was it their precinct being "threatened" or another?

I can now understand how Stana and Nathan can say that it won't be until much later that we'll see the B/C relationship finally get together…they have to fill episode slots with character development for the secondary characters as well as making room for any eventful scenarios. ARghh! I'm one of those viewers who tune in specifically for the B/C interplay and romance, but I just have to be patient and see how well these two characters develop since I don't have any choice. I just hope they don't draw it out too long because my attention span and tolerance is only so high.