Castle S7 Ep12 – Private Eye Caramba!

Well, my guess about how long this PI gig was going to last was inaccurate – and it turns out that might not be a problem.

Espo emoting along with the telenovela actors = gold.

This week sees Castle bored at his office, with no real clients yet. The ever-supportive Beckett sends a case his way. Her case is that of a murdered telenovela actress found outside her apartment, but the actress, Anahita Menendez, had borrowed her coworker and friend Sofia’s diamond purse, and Sofia needs it back. With Beckett’s recommendation, Sofia goes to Castle to get her purse found. It’s his first real case! Plus, it means legitimate moments of interaction between Castle and his wife, which they both count a bonus.

Meanwhile, Beckett & co. discover that some shady ex-military guy was hired by a rich Saudi diplomat to force Anahita to come talk to him, because the Saudi guy was not pleased with his daughter’s interest in telenovelas and friendship with Anahita. But the ex-military guy is not the murderer. In fact, it was Anahita’s boss. He was furious when he found out that Anahita and Sofia were planning to leave his show to start their own network, with the Saudi diplomat’s daughter’s investment money.

Best things about this episode: first of all, I must repeat how happy it makes me that Beckett so genuinely wants to support Castle in everything that makes him happy – and how much Castle knows he owes to Beckett’s love, support, and general awesomeness. Also the way they both went with the noir PI narration thing throughout the ep was amusing and sweet. (Also sexy.)

Other best things: Espo, trying and failing to hide his fanboying over these telenovelas and their stars. I mean, it was pretty obvious that it wasn’t his Tia who loved the shows, but that didn’t make it any less hilarious when he finally admitted to Sofia that he wanted her autograph for himself. Plus, any opportunity to hear Jon Huertas speak plenty of Spanish (and pronounce all those Spanish names correctly, as did Stana Katic to my ear) is nice. Multilingualism is sexy, y’all.

Saw it coming, still laughed. Could’ve at least closed the door, guys.

Ryan’s little smile and “Great minds!” when Beckett told him Castle had already put forward the spy theory about Anahita was another great moment. I hope he continues his Baby Castle routine until Castle rejoins the team. (Which he’s still going to do at some point soon, right?) Speaking of which, where’s Lanie been the last few weeks? I miss her. Perlmutter has … some charm, I suppose, but Lanie is much better.

One other thing that bothered me: were there no legal consequences for Castle pretending to be Detective Ryan when he called the limo company? Pretty sure impersonating an officer of the law is, you know, against the law. Of course that resulted in Castle at knifepoint when the ex-military guy found him investigating the limo. And then Ryan and Espo extorted some more game tickets from him since they saved his life, so perhaps he’s learned his lesson. I kind of doubt it, though.

All in all, I’m pleased with the way this season is going at this point. Next week there’s no new episode, but we’ll be back in February!