Castle: The Blue Butterfly

[osprey_archer]

I got to Castle episode 4.14 today, "The Blue Butterfly," and OMG you guys Castle has its own film noir forties AU episode! Castle is a PI, Becket is a gangster's moll, Ryan and Esposito are low-life gangsters (Ryan has an Irish accent!), Lanie is a singer, and it all takes place in a swanky 1940s bar.

This is the BEST THING EVER. All television shows should have film noir episodes. Castle wears a trenchcoat! Becket has beautiful forties hair!

Actually, I think Castle should do, like, a seasonal AU episode. THINK OF THE POSSIBILITIES. There could be an episode set in Edith Wharton's high society New York! Becket could wear a bustle and a giant ridiculous hat! (And possibility hit Wharton with a parasol? I can dream, right?) An episode about Dutch New York! Okay, that might be going back a bit farther than anyone else but me would want...

THINK OF THE POSSIBILITIES.

Other awesome Castle episodes in season 4: the superhero episode! An episode about a haunted house! An episode which I am pretty sure is six kinds of fanservice, featuring Castle and Becket waking up handcuffed together with no memory of how they got there! I am totally okay with this. (There was a tiger involved.)

I think it's kind of a shame that the Castle writers keeping drifting back to their overarching conspiracy plot, because really the show is at its most hilarious and interesting when it's doing ridiculous concept episodes.

Comments

[carmarthen.livejournal.com]

I kind of fell out of the habit of watching this show, but clearly I have to watch this episode!

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Yes! It is exciting! Although sadly not in a way that leaves room for reams of fic about Castle & Becket's 40s alter egos' going on adventures.

[kikainausagi.livejournal.com]

I SO AGREE about Castle's dumb conspiracy plot. I really enjoy the show, but conspiracy episodes make me groan out loud.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I know, right! I guess having a mix of conspiracy episodes and zany fun steampunk/film noir/vampire etc. episodes helps them keep two fairly different audiences watching, but...gah, the zany fun episodes are just so much better!

[silverusagi]

I stopped watching Castle a while ago, what is this conspiracy thing?

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

It turns out that Becket's mother's death is actually part of some broad-reaching political conspiracy in New York City. I'm only halfway through the fourth season, and the conspiracy hasn't taken over the whole show (yet), but it seems to be getting more and more episodes.

They also sometimes bring in the CIA or whoever for episodes about less wide-reaching conspiracy, which is also not my favorite thing, but I figure that's just part of their genre-homage thing. Of course I'm not going to like all the genres they homage.

[silverusagi]

Hmm. I stopped watching at the beginning of S3, I think. I get bored with procedurals in general after a while. But the episodes I enjoyed most of Castle were the wacky ones. Like the one with the 'vampires.'

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I loved the vampires! And the steampunk episode. And now this film noir episode. If they did all wacky eps all the time I would be down with that. (Although maybe they're all the sweeter because rare?)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I definitely think *all* Castle episodes should be like that--it would get them back to the writer thing, and in a meta way. (Actually, the ninja girl suggested that an episode they had featuring (I think, IIRC?) a science fiction show was a meta reference to the actor's former career in Firefly.)

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

That episode is in season 5, so I haven't gotten to it yet, but they've had a sprinkling of Firefly references throughout the show (Castle dresses up as Mal one Halloween, for instance) so it wouldn't surprise me at all.

The 40s episode is gloriously meta.

[artemis_wandering]

I would love seasonal AU eps! I did really enjoy that one though. It was so perfectly Castle - both the show and the character.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I know, right! Ha, I'd be happy if they even had a 40s PI episode every season, although the way this one ended doesn't leave a lot of room for Castle & Becket's 40s counterparts to go on extended adventures.