Castle Review: Witness for the Prosecution / Dead Red

Guys, Castle is fun again!

This week, Castle gave us a special two-night event, with “Witness for the Prosecution” on Sunday, and “Dead Red” on Monday during its usual time slot.

Both episodes prove that Castle is finally back on track after a somewhat unpleasant start to Season 8.

“Witness for the Prosecution” is an episode I feel like I’ve been waiting for for years. After all the time Castle has spent working with the NYPD, we’ve never seen him in a situation like this before. We never get a chance to see what happens in court, usually because the cases are solved so quickly each week.

Seeing this side of it – all of the characters in court, testifying as to what happened – shows us new sides of every character, particularly for Castle.

After witnessing a murder, Castle has to take the stand for the first time. He also points out that the prosecution has never had him do this before, and it seems like that may have to do with Beckett’s concerns over how well he would do.

After all, his charm could easily get him into trouble!

But that isn’t what happens. Castle’s charm isn’t the problem at all. Instead, he gets tripped up on the stand when he realizes he might actually be wrong about what he saw. At first, he’s certain of every detail, but as the defense points out, even Castle has written in one of his books how often eyewitness accounts can get things wrong.

It’s a crisis of conscience for Castle, who starts out as a confident witness, but who finally has to admit that yes, it is possible someone else was responsible.

Beckett watches the entire thing, and you can see the concern (and disappointment) come across her face. It’s a blow to their case, after all.

Castle, Beckett, Ryan, and Esposito then do their best to find new evidence on a time crunch – a dynamic that’s nice to see, and even in some ways shows us the benefit of Castle and Beckett hiding their relationship.

Sort of.

What’s most important about this episode, though, is having Castle at the center as he tries to save an innocent woman from going to jail – after realizing he was in fact wrong about what he saw the night of the murder.

Not only is he driven by doing the right thing, but he also has to do some scheming. I mean, leave it to Castle to get himself thrown in jail on purpose by insulting the judge. Even Martha gets involved, putting her acting skills to use to help trick the same judge into thinking someone broke into her house.

The case itself is also one of the more interesting ones we’ve seen in a while, and I half expected Beckett and Castle to say “I know who the killer is” at the same time.

At the end of the episode, Castle asks Beckett about Locksat, but she still won’t budge on any information, except to say that she’s getting close. In other words, things are likely going to come to a head pretty soon.

Castle admits frustration over being shut out with the whole Locksat thing more specifically in the second of these two episodes, “Dead Red.”

Castle: This is getting really old, Beckett.

It’s especially bothersome to him in this instance, because Beckett has been communicating with Castle’s stepmother, whom Castle himself has never met.

He gets that opportunity in this episode, and I don’t think it’s the last time we’ll see the two of them interact. It’s nice, though, to get that meeting between the two of them, although Castle is sworn never to talk of it again. It’s a reminder of the other complications of Castle’s life – it isn’t just his relationship with Beckett that’s complicated.

Castle is, in fact, a really complicated character himself. We often spend a lot of time talking about Beckett’s obsession with her mother’s murder, but considering Castle’s own backstory is also important. In fact, I think a lot of what makes him so likeable – his fun-loving personality and all that charm – is actually a defense mechanism.

Of course, he’s witty too, and he’s able to use all of these things to his advantage. One of my favorite scenes in this episode is when Castle convinces Vasiliy (played by Nick E. Tarabay, who is one of my favorite guest stars to date) to give him 60 seconds to get an answer from mom who will otherwise be brutally tortured. It works, thank goodness.

The other thing that this episode delivers is chemistry between Castle and Beckett – in fact, both of this episodes do that well. I still don’t fully buy their “pretend” separation, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun to watch.

What did you think of these two episodes of Castle? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Castle airs Mondays at 10/9c on ABC.