Castle
Episode 17: Scared to
Death
By: Carlos Uribe
Castle
is a show about a mystery writer who helps his lover solve crimes.
Spoilers
Ahoy!
If I
had to describe this episode in one sentence it would be that it
presented the perfect Halloween episode in March. It's actually
really surprising that they didn't just hold on to the idea until
next season because it really belongs in October. Scared to Death
basically presents a weekly case that pays homage to horror movies.
It actually reminds me a lot of the Scream series as it's very
self-aware of what it's doing and it even takes time to dissect
horror movie tropes. It all begins with a horror movie cliché.
There's a scared girl in an apartment who is trying her best to stay
away from an evil spirit. She calls 911 but they aren't really any
help. The lights go out and she screams. The next thing we see is
Castle and Beckett arriving at the crime scene. There's no sign of
forced entry and she's dead. Her face looks like she was terrified of
something and there's no evident sign of how she died. The immediate
theory by Castle is that a ghost killed her because she said that
“it” was coming after her. He sticks with this idea for the rest
of the episode and the show largely plays with him. There's a logical
explanation at the end of the episode because Castle is supposed to
be set in the real world but it doesn't completely wrap everything
up. There is one loose end it doesn't explore but it's irrelevant to
proving the case. The weekly case was a fun homage to the horror
genre. The whole investigation and dialogue were built towards paying
tribute to the genre and it even had a Wes Craven cameo. The cameo
didn't really add to the narrative but his presence really helped
express the love that the writers have for the genre. Plus it's
always cool when respected real-life figures show up on the series.
The
weekly case gets more complicated when they figure out that the girl
had receiving a package before she died. What did it contain? A DVD
that proclaimed that the person who saw it would die in three days.
Three days later and she's dead. The two different personalities of
Beckett and Castle jump to two different conclusions. Beckett thinks
that the killer sent it to scare the victim. Castle instantly
believes that there's an evil spirit in the DVD that killed the
victim. There are a lot of times on this show where even Castle is
joking with his out-there theories but he actually seems to believe
this one. He's afraid that he's going to die after watching the video
to a ridiculous point. It's okay because Castle has comedy elements
and this is a light-hearted show but they might have gone a little
overboard with his irrational fear. The DVD is a clear homage to the
Ring movies. Of course, Castle points it out to the audience in case
you didn't get the reference. It's a bit annoying since I believe the
Ring was a mainstream hit but it is a bit dated so I could see why
they wanted to remind people it existed. What's interesting is that
as soon as Castle watches the show seems to impose a three-day
deadline on the characters. They really aren't going to die and
Beckett knows this but there seems to be a race against the clock
that wouldn't have existed otherwise. They do manage to get the bad
guy a day early but right before the third victim is expected to die.
The
DVD isn't the only homage the episode gets to play. They visit a
scary asylum where they get to talk to a mental patient. His name is
probably a reference to the real-life killer Leopold. There was a
large red herring with Leopold where Beckett believed he was behind
the murders. It was quite the opposite actually. He wanted to secure
his appeal so badly that he sent his nurse to try and stop the third
witness from dying. Why did the nurse agree? She's in love with him.
It's so ridiculous but awesome at the same time. I wonder if they
wrote that in to dig fun at American Horror Story: Asylum* or not.
The climax at the episode just happens to take place at a cabin in
the middle of nowhere. There's scary shots of Beckett in the woods
trying to catch the bad guy and even the killer looks like she
belongs in a horror movie. Those aren't the only references as
there's a lot of smaller ones hidden throughout the episode. Castle
himself believes that if he was in a horror movie he would die
because he's the comic relief. He also refuses to have sex with
Beckett until the deadline of the video has passed even after they
caught the killer. Castle is a character who not only knows the
horror movie tropes well but even respects them.
Scared
to Death is a pretty good episode of Castle. It presents a great
weekly case that simply has fun with the horror genre. It might
belong better near Halloween but at least the show proves it can
still present fun geeky episodes.
*I
haven't seen it so I have no idea whether or not a nurse is in love
with one of the patients but I'm assuming this is the case.
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