Castle – Recap & Review – Den of Thieves

photo: abc

Castle
Den of Thieves

Original Air Date: Apr 19, 2010

Karen Belgrad – The TwoCents Reviewer
karenbelgrad @thetwocentscorp.com

Mystery-schmystery. How HOT was the sparring match between Kate Beckett and Detective Tom Demming? It may have ruffled the feathers of some viewers longing for the Castle/Beckett hook-up, as Demming is certainly an interloper to their wishes!

Yes folks, in addition to the case of the week, this week the clearly smitten Beckett found herself with a new, equally smitten suitor. And our mystery writer found himself unable to use his poker face to hide his disappointment at the possibility of missed opportunity.

While this episode was decidedly more serious in tone than The Late Shaft or Wrapped Up in Death, it also shifted the meatier part of the story to Esposito and we learned some back story on the character. At his old precinct (the 54th, where everyone had matching keychains), his partner Ike Thornton, had disappeared and was presumed dead.

When Paul Finch, a convicted thief, is found dead (by car battery electrocution) his lawless path ties to an old mob case that Thornton was working when he “died”. And then Thornton’s finger prints are found on the deceased’s eyelids. Next, Internal Affairs detective Holliwell (also known as Gilmore Girl’s Max Medinah!) reveals that Ike was probably working for Victor Racine, the mobster he was pursuing.

There’s some back and forth, and Esposito finds out Ike was alive, in hiding, and secretly still working to bring down Racine. He was framed as a dirty cop to throw suspicion off the real dirty cop, IA Holliwell. It all leads up to Esposito going slightly rogue (but for the good guys!) and helping to bring down Holliwell who is shot and shoots Ike in the process. While waiting for the ambulance, Esposito introduces Ike to his partners Ryan and Castle. Aww!

Ryan and Esposito have great timing with each other. And they have each other’s back unconditionally. I like that there is no question that they come first for each other on the job.

The real juicy parts this week were all about Detective Tom Demming. After initially meeting at the gym when he offered to “steady her bag”, he ends up assisting on this week’s case. Their sparks are instantaneous and do not go unnoticed by an unnerved and forlorn-looking Castle.

Demming isn’t even unlikeable as a foil to the Beckett/Castle pairing. He seems to be a nice, upstanding guy who genuinely likes Beckett. He even paused to make sure he wasn’t infringing on any Beckett/Castle vibes. Total respect for the bro-code! Of course, Castle, in his staring at Beckett, was only slightly obvious with his jealousy and longing. When, for a brief moment, they though Demming was the killer, Castle was all too quick to point out faults:

“Too pretty. I bet he takes yoga classes just so he can pick up girls. Probably subscribes to the New Yorker, but doesn’t even read it. Just leaves copies lying out so people can see them.”

Ah Castle, green is not your color. But based on this hour, you may have to wear it a little longer.

In order to distract Demming, Beckett and he have a sparring match that was so hot and passionate, parts almost bordered on violent. Kudos to the show’s editors, as no stunt doubles took me out of the scene! Yes, it had shades of Benjamin Bratt/Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality resonated throughout, but this scene had so much more…. Smolder! (I was going to say heat, but removed the Nikki Heat pun before mocking could commence!)

Other points on the episode:

-Does anyone else want to play poker with the Castle family (in costume) as bad as I do?

-I knew who the killer was by the half hour mark. The faked death was pretty easy to figure as well. The show never gives characters a name unless it intends to link back to them later on.

-Can detectives really have cases dropped? All my Law & Order rerun viewings led me to think that prosecutors have to do that?

-How funny was it when Castle offered up his “fiction writing expertise” to help Captain Montgomery put out the report on this internally convoluted case.

-Is there an official fan name for Castle & Beckett? Is it Caskett? Or Bestle? Should there be one for Beckett & Demming? Deckett? Bemming?

Those are my TwoCents? What are your TwoCents? Leave your thoughts, comments, and observations below!

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