TV Review: CASTLE – Season 4 – “An Embarrassment of Bitches”

By ANNE LOUISE BANNON / Contributing Writer

Posted: January 25th, 2012 / 11:24 AM

Stars: Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic, Susan Sullivan, Molly Quinn, Tamala Jones, Seamus Deaver, Jon Huertas, Penny Johnson Jerald
Writer: Rob Hanning
Director: Thomas J. Wright
Network: ABC, Monday nights, 10 p.m.
Original Telecast: January 23, 2012

Let’s just get this out of the way, “An Embarrassment of Bitches” is referring to the dogs. Bitch is a perfectly legitimate term for a female dog and is commonly used in dog show circles, where this episode of CASTLE opens.

At first, it looks like we’re going to have a lovely take-off on Best In Show, with all the jealousy and sniping, but since it turns out that dog show judge Fernando Pilar is also a master dog trainer, the story quickly veers off in that direction. It doesn’t hurt that someone videotaped reality queen Kay Capuccio (Hilarie Burton) leaving Pilar’s dressing room right on top of the murder.

But the search leads to a mysterious warehouse with two German shepherds guarding it, and an abandoned golden retriever and Det. Javier Esposito (Jon Huertas) falling for Capuccio, who is truly gorgeous. Not to mention that Esposito and Medical Examiner Lainie Parish (Tamala Jones) are still on the outs.

The episode does take on the whole celebrity culture thing. In an early scene, the cameras start aiming at author Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) only to stop when one of the photographers groans, “That’s not Jason Bateman.” More interestingly, Cappucio is described as being famous for being famous, but in a quiet scene with Esposito, softly sighs over not having more substance as a person.

Then there’s the sweet golden retriever that is, in fact, trying to tell everyone something – something it turns out the dog has been trained to do. The fun part is Castle and Det. Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) trying to share caring for the pup, which leads to one tender moment between them and another wonderful moment between Castle and his daughter Alex (Molly Quinn), who is getting ready to head off to college.

That being said, the episode loses points on the reality score, first when they had the dog show judge in a dressing room. Since when? But what really threw it was when Beckett and Esposito ran from the two aforementioned German shepherds. No human is going to outrun a German shepherd, particularly not one that has been trained for guard duty. I’m willing to suspend my disbelief for a lot of things in this show, but that is so way pushing the envelope for a moment that’s more silly than funny.

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