Castle – Recap & Review – Eye of the Beholder

photo: abc

Castle
Eye of the Beholder

Original Air Date: Oct 17, 2011

Divina F – TwoCents Reviewer
divina@thetwocentscorp.com

Somehow, I never tire of the “everyone can see it but them” trope. This episode introduced Serena Kaye (played by Kristin Lehman) an insurance investigator who volunteers her services as a consultant on a case involving a museum curator impaled to death on a piece in his gallery. Not surprisingly, the chemistry that develops between her and Castle is enough to get under Beckett’s skin.

The opening scene shows us a shadowy figure breaking into the museum, presumably to steal a statue that looks way too cheap to be worth 50 million. Cut to a huge gala at the same museum, where the staff busily keeps investors happy while flustering around looking for their boss.

Who turns up pinned to a large statue. Dead.

Castle finishes off a scene for his book in an eerily similar manner back at his place, only to be interrupted by his mother, who is trying to play matchmaker with Castle and a lady in her acting class. Thankfully, Castle is spared at having to explain why he hasn’t been on the prowl when Beckett calls with the news about Brian Hayes. They also learn that the statue, a bronze arm clenching a bedazzled dollar bill – the “Fist of Capitalism” – has been stolen. This is where Serena Kaye first makes her appearance, wearing a blue cocktail dress and crime scene gloves. It’s not unbelievable that Castle would become intrigued by her, especially when she gives them a lead by explaining how the thief could have managed to blend in. She further ups the sexy badass when she uses Captain Gates to assure her a position as a consultant on the case.

The team discovers that Hayes was concerned about the fist being stolen ever since it arrived at the museum. He had taken some surveillance footage from two weeks prior out on a flash drive, now missing. Beckett reasons that the killer must have taken it because it implicated them for burglary and or murder.

Serena and Castle hit a bar to contact an informant about anyone trying to sell the flawless diamonds that bedazzle the statue. They get a small lead, but Serena drops the name Flaco – a legend in the art thievery world who has never been caught or even photographed. Esposito takes it and finds out that Falco is basically a for hire guy. So all they have to do is find out who could have hired him. The search leads them to the couple who owns the statue. They are entangled in a divorce suit, and the fist would have been valuable to either of them.

However, when the team discovers that Hayes was exchanging emails with someone about the value of flawless diamonds, the suspicion is turned on Serena, who met with him the day before he died. Added to the fact that Hayes was in debt?

Having Serena as a suspect is perfect fuel for Beckett’s jealous feelings. I like that as opposed to other times when Castle was involved with another woman, there is a deeper maturity to the way Beckett addresses the situation. My favorite scene was when she talked to her therapist – who is no longer creepy with the curtains of his office pulled open – while we flash back and forth from Martha encouraging Castle to make a move on Serena. Beckett’s therapist: “What are you afraid of? That he won’t wait for you? Or that he will?”

The tam digs up dirt on Serena, discovering that she was suspected of a number of stolen art pieces herself. They arrange for Castle to take her out on a date so that they can search her hotel room. They find, among other things (a drawer full of lingerie) a cache of tools for breaking into art exhibitions. Nice. But! At dinner, she confesses to Castle that she was, and still practices, if the tools are any indication, the profession of “recovering” art pieces.

Castle follows Serena up to her hotel room for a drink, fanatically trying to alert the team to abort before they are discovered. At the last minute he has to push Serena against a wall and kiss her in order to distract her. Beckett, having what she believes to be evidence and a jolt of jealousy, interrupts to take Serena into custody. In the interrogation room, Serena gives a very believable alibi and Beckett is forced to release her, all the while dancing around why she was taking things so personally.

As soon as she is released, she reveals that she had the flash drive containing the security footage Hayes was viewing. She points out a man who is obviously casing the museum and they find him but are unsuccessful in proving that he is Falco until Serena volunteers to talk to him. Alone with her, he opens up and almost becomes a different person, revealing that he was hired through a third party to test the security around the fist. He did not, however, steal it. The killer is revealed to be the owner of the fist, having hired Falco to disable the security so that she could take and hide it in the compartment of another piece she bought the night of the gala.

Beckett and Serena appear to be on good terms at the end of the episode, with the latter parting on “I don’t steal things that belong to someone else.” And Castle and Beckett going off to eat hamburgers at their favorite place.

Do you think you could make a more convincing art prop? Is the Castle/Beckett relationship being developed well or being dragged out? Were you disappointed by the total lack of Lanie?

Next Week: Demons