TV Review: CASTLE – Season 4 – “Kick the Ballistics”

By ANNE LOUISE BANNON / Contributing Editor

Posted: October 11th, 2011 / 12:24 AM

Stars: Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic, Susan Sullivan, Molly Quinn, Tamala Jones, Seamus Deaver, Jon Huertas, Penny Johnson Jerold
Writer: Moira Kirland
Director: Rob Bowman
Network: ABC, Monday nights, 10 p.m.
Original Telecast: October 10, 2011

With “Kick the Ballistics”, CASTLE is really on. And it was on in this episode with a hey-nonny. When the body of a young woman, killed execution style, is found on a construction site, it seems more than a little odd that a college kid making extra bucks by tutoring should find herself the target of a mob hit. But the real shocker is when the ballistics come back and the gun that shot her once belonged to Detective Kevin Ryan (Seamus Dever) – the one Jerry Tyson stole from him after confessing to being the 3XK killer in Season 3, episode 6 titled 3XK.

Yes, we get a quick allusion to our season opener, “Rise,” and Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) is still swearing that she doesn’t remember a thing about getting shot. Or more to the point, she says she doesn’t remember author Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) declaring his love for her. And we all know she’s lying through her teeth. Plus Beckett has been acting a lot nicer to Castle. Which she should.

But the drama in this episode – and it is one of the more dramatic ones – is all about Ryan, who feels completely responsible for losing his weapon to Tyson. And Dever turns in a lovely performance. It’s not what you’d call finely nuanced. This is Castle, for cripes sake. Luckily, it doesn’t sink into melodrama or even mild nibbling on the scenery, either. Better yet, we’re set up for more mayhem from Tyson, which should make for another intense episode.

This episode is not going to rank high for those folks who are missing some of the traditional light humor and repartee between Castle and Beckett. I don’t agree that this season is any darker than the previous seasons, but I do think we need to see some resolution in the romance department because it does provide a sweet counterpart to all the gruesome ways people are killed on this show. Not to mention the trauma behind the conspiracy surrounding the murder of Kate’s mother, which still remains unsolved.

Frankly, if the fans are cranky and the show seems darker and sadder to them, it’s not because it’s gone that direction. It’s because we were sold a bill of goods at the end of last season, with Castle’s declaration of love, that the producers have not delivered on. So, not to harp on it, but Beckett and Castle need to be in bed with each other by November. Period.

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Click on Link: TV Review: CASTLE – Season 4 – “Eye of the Beholder”

Click on Link: TV Review: CASTLE – Season 4 – “Head Case”

Click on Link: TV Review: CASTLE – Season 4 – Heroes and Villains

Click on Link: TV Review: CASTLE – Season 4 – Rise

Click On Link: Ten Things We Want to See in Season 4 of CASTLE

Click On Link: Exclusive Interview with executive producer Laurie Zaks on Season 4 of CASTLE

Click on Link: AX’s interview with CASTLE star Nathan Fillion

Click on Link: AX’s interview with CASTLE star Stana Katic