Castle S5 Ep20 – The Fast and the Furriest

First off, apologies for the recapping delay. I was traveling and without reliable internet. Second, I’m going to confess that when I saw the episode title, my first thought was that one episode of CSI with the furry convention. I’m glad that’s not, in fact, what this ep of Castle is about.

Note the large footprints in the background.

This ep centers on the death of a young woman who was studying evolutionary biology, primates, and oh yeah, also Bigfoot. She was beaten to death, and also had huge wounds that looked like they were made by claws. Her blood is also in an alley, with huge Sasquatch-esque footprints all around. Of course, Castle wants to believe and Beckett really doesn’t. But when Castle is cornered by what appears to be a real-life Bigfoot during the course of investigating the actual crime scene (out in the woods), it turns out this particular primate is nothing more than a man in a monkey suit. The “world’s foremost expert on Bigfoot,” a cryptozoologist whose life goal is to actually see Bigfoot, just dressed up to try to get close to one. He believed the victim was close to finding one.

The actual murderer is not a vicious primate cryptid, but the victim’s creepy stalker professor and boss at the primate sanctuary. He killed her because she was about to get him taken down for murdering her roommate.

I thought this was a decent episode: everyone was in-character, and I find Castle’s enthusiasm and willingness to believe in Bigfoot much more believable than that he would actually, truly believe in a cursed DVD. Plus, I like that while she never once thinks that Bigfoot could be their murderer, Beckett does believe in everyday sorts of magic – like the inexplicable fact of her and Castle, together. Awww. And hee. It may be a mysterious thing, Beckett, but it’s also a lovely thing.

One thing they both believe in.

One random note about the ep: the tech that analyzed the victim’s video footage – have we seen her before? She’s gorgeous and competent, and I hope we do see her again, whether or not this was her first appearance.

I also thought the little storyline with the mystery of the missing food in Castle’s fridge was nicely done. Poor Alexis – although really, she should have known that her dad wouldn’t let a serious thing like missing food remain unexplained. I wonder if that bamboo-on-skyscraper-roofs idea really is something someone is trying to Kickstart or Crowdfund. Crazy but cool. I’d be tempted to back it, too.