TV Review: CASTLE – Season 4 – “Heartbreak Hotel”

By ANNE LOUISE BANNON / Contributing Writer

Posted: November 9th, 2011 / 09:24 AM

Nathan Fillion in CASTLE - Season 4 - "Heartbreak Hotel" | ©2011 ABC/Eric McCandless

Stars: Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic, Susan Sullivan, Molly Quinn, Tamala Jones, Seamus Deaver, Jon Huertas, Penny Johnson Jerald
Writer: Elizabeth Davis
Director: Bill Roe
Network: ABC, Monday nights, 10 p.m.
Original Telecast: November 7, 2011

Aside from the flashback which begins “Heartbreak Hotel,” this is one of those episodes that go back to the fun and witty CASTLE that we all know and love. Not happy about the flashback – flashback storytelling is just a lame way to build excitement at the beginning of a show when it does not need it. Nor did this one even come close to playing trough. Blech.

The crime is simple – a casino boss from Atlantic City gets shot at close range and dumped in a loading dock. Oh, darn. Author Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) gets sent with Detectives Esposito (Jon Huertas) and Ryan (Seamus Deaver) to interview the boss’s partner Charlie Turner (Richard Burgi) and anyone else connected with the crime, while Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) is ordered by Capt. Gates (Penny Johnson Jerald) to stay in New York to find out what she can. Apparently, Capt. Gates thinks Beckett is distracted by Castle. Funny how Beckett’s now defending him.

There are the normal twists and turns. Castle decides to make the most of the road trip, organizing a spontaneous bachelor party for the soon-to-be married Ryan. And, yes, there is a reason for the Elvis suit, but sorry, Castle is not in near the trouble you’d think from the flashback.

Oh, and there’s the secondary story – after Castle encourages his daughter Alexis (Molly Quinn) to have a few girlfriends over for girl’s night, to help soothe the wounds of Alexis’ recent break up with her long-distance boyfriend, the party – predictably – gets out of hand.

There’s really not much else to be said about this CASTLE episode because it is the standard froth and fun that makes Castle so much more interesting than your standard police procedural. Is it moving the relationship between Castle and Beckett forward? Not really. You can’t have the hard and heavy episodes every week. And if it weren’t for that stupid flashback sequence at the beginning, this would have gotten a higher grade.

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