Castle 5x07: Swan Song

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The lead guitarist of "the next Nirvana", Holy Shemp has been murdered in his trailer; beaten over the head with his favourite guitar, no less. I know who the killer is because I've seen one of the band's actors in something before. In what's probably the worst decision this show's ever made, the band was being followed by a documentary crew who winds up sticking around, so most of the episode is shot in handheld shakycam that makes me want to vomit.

Beckett's not too fond of it, either.

With the star of his film dead, the documentary director is screwed... until he calls in a favour and gets permission to film the investigation. It's not terribly realistic, but they wanted to do an episode with shakycam, so they needed a reason for it.

"So Nathan can mug for the camera" is not a good enough reason.

The first suspect is a groupie Beckett finds in the guy's closet. She was way messed up, though, and all she can remember about the previous night is the sound of horse hooves walking through snow.

The second suspect is a guy with a white van who shows up on a lot of the documentary footage. Dead guy was acting paranoid and told his band mates he thought someone was following him. It turns out he was right.

Interracial buddy cops Ryan and Esposito track the guy down, and define their roles pretty explicitly for the camera guy in the back of the car: Ryan's the brains, and Esposito's the brawn. Javier even puts on a tight shirt and puts on a show.

The tickets are free, and they're worth every cent.

They bust the stalker, but it wasn't the band he was stalking: His daughter was the groupie, and he wanted to get her the hell away from the rock and roll lifestyle.

The next suspect is a composer who was suing the guy for stealing one of his songs. Castle and Esposito bust in on him when they hear screams, but he's just composing the score for a crappy movie. Dead guy actually did come to see him, but he settled the case with half the publishing rights and by hiring the guy to write new music for him. This leads Castle to believe that dead guy was going solo, and therefore, one of his band mates is the killer. He's close, but not quite correct.

Beckett likes the lead singer as the murderer because his girlfriend at the record label was meeting with the dead guy to talk about making some changes. He admits to talking things over with him, but he says he has an alibi.

A rock hard... er... solid alibi. Rock solid.

With their current theory shot, Ryan comes up with another idea: It seems the dead guy was born into a cult, and his former leader (played by 80s actor C. Thomas Howell) was in town with a few days to kill. Castle and Beckett investigate, but they don't have any solid evidence. The dead guy and the cult leader spoke, but it was about getting his friend, former guitar mentor and current roadie out of the cult... and into the band.

The composer was writing songs that the band's bass player wouldn't have been able to handle, so he was out and the cult friend was in. Clearly, that did not sit well with him, so he picked up a guitar and smashed the dude's head in. That's so metal.

The bassist guy goes down, the buddy gets an audition, and thanks to the director, the tape that held footage of Castle and Beckett engaged in a few private moments has gone missing.

Sing us out, Javi.

What I Liked
-Castle makes a Wham! joke when summing up a theory, and the composer gives him a little musical sting right at the end. I like it. It gave things weight.
-When the Cap'n watches the sex tape, she turns her head a little so she can get a better angle on the action. That's some good acting.
-Castle sings a musical sting. It's hilarious when TV characters sing their own theme songs.

What I Hated
-The rock version of the show's theme tune. It just didn't work for me.
-Shakycam. It's like Steadicam in reverse, and it quite nearly made me physically ill.
-The lead singer gets over the death of his friend at the hands of one of his other friends way too quickly. Sure, being in a band that's trying to break out is about enduring hardship, but come on.

Final Thoughts
No Alexis or Martha this week.

Initially, I thought that I'd hate this episode, simply due to the way it was shot. But, aside from the camera work, it was actually pretty good; they had a lot of fun with the documentary concept. Castle mugged for the cameras and tried to get Beckett to strut her stuff so the world could see what he sees, Lanie tried to get as much screen time as possible, Esposito played the stereotypical tough cop, and Ryan just seemed sort of uncomfortable with the whole thing. They all took their characters to the next level, which, as MTV has taught us, is exactly how real people behave when they're being filmed.

However, I couldn't get over all the shaking. It was fine some of the time, but a lot of it was so bad that I thought I might puke. For that reason alone, I cannot give this episode a high rating.