Category Archives: Television

The Best Thing I Saw on TV This Week (5/19 – 5/26)

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As this TV season continued to draw to a close, this week gave us more finales and episodes featuring big moments that will surely be remembered for a long time. Game of Thrones featured the first of many important weddings as Sansa married Tyrion, reminding us why Tyrion is such a great character, why Joffrey is such a hated character, and why Sansa is more than deserving of our sympathy and even our admiration for surviving amid such horrid circumstances. Dancing with the Stars ended with perhaps the strongest final four ever. Modern Family ended its season on a high note, with big laughs and big emotional moments. And Nashville‘s finale featured more cliffhangers and dramatic scenes than most shows have in one whole season. 

While there were more than a few fantastic television moments this week, my favorite came from the finale of Dancing with the Stars. As someone who’s been a dancer for 20 years, I watch shows like this (and So You Think You Can Dance) and wait for the one dance every season that moves me to chills and tears because of the raw emotion that mixes with sheer talent to create a truly wonderful example of the best that dance can be on national TV. For this season of DWTS, that dance was Kellie Pickler and Derek Hough’s freestyle performance. While the other choreographers chose to make their freestyle routines loud and splashy, Derek stripped this freestyle down to simply focus on Kellie’s gorgeous lines and wonderful technique. It was a gamble that paid off; the two of them created a true moment of beauty and grace that put tears in my eyes and made me feel proud to be a dancer.

What was the best thing you saw on TV this week?

The Best Thing I Saw on TV This Week (5/12 – 5/19)

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What a week this was to be a fan of great TV! Season finales often bring out the most memorable and thought-provoking moments each year, and this year was no exception. This past week gave me so many phenomenal choices for TV’s best of the best that I needed another day to finally make up my mind!

It seemed that each show I love had at least one moment that I’ve watched again and again and could talk about at length to anyone who’ll listen: Emma finally calling Snow and Charming “Mom” and “Dad” on the finale of Once Upon a Time; Brienne and Jaime sharing a heartfelt goodbye that perfectly captured the nuances of their relationship on  Game of Thrones; Castle laying all his cards on the table and proposing to Beckett on Castle‘s season finale; Danny and Mindy’s game-changing glasses-cleaning moment on The Mindy Project; Michael Scott’s return and all of the sob-inducing final talking heads on the series finale of The Office; and Stefon and Seth’s big moment on Saturday Night Live.

Each of these were incredible television moments, but no moment on TV this week made me as happy as the final scene of New Girl‘s season finale.

 

Yes, I love a good cliffhanger as much as the next girl, and sometimes a season finale needs to end with me reaching for the tissues in order for it to be a great one. But sometimes you just want to go into the summer hiatus with a smile on your face and hope in your heart—and that’s what New Girl gave its fans with that final scene. This scene was a great representation of everything that’s right about New Girl: Its emotions were honest (I think this scene was Zooey Deschanel’s best work yet), it showcased the blinding chemistry between Deschanel and Jake Johnson, and it simply felt real and earned.

Some finales are like a punch to the gut, making you feel like the wind has been knocked out of you. But this finale was like a happy sigh of relief, a warm laugh as genuine as Jess and Nick’s laughter after yet another stunning kiss.

What was the best thing you saw on TV this week? What moments are you looking forward to with the summer TV season right around the corner?

Grading the Series Finales: The Office

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Title Finale (9.24/9.25)

Written By Greg Daniels

What Happens? One year after the Dunder Mifflin documentary aired, the whole gang reunites and is filmed once again for two very special occasions: a panel discussion about the documentary and Dwight and Angela’s wedding. After catching up with various characters, we learn that Darryl is making a lot of money and loving life in Austin as he enjoys the success of Athlead, which has now changed its name to Athleap. Jim, however, has stayed in Scranton but appears happy with his decision and his life with Pam. Andy’s breakdown at his singing competition audition went viral, and he’s now a nationwide joke—but he did get a job in the admissions department at Cornell. Kevin and Toby were both fired by Dwight, Nellie moved to Poland (the Scranton of Europe), and Stanley retired to Florida.

The day before the wedding, Jim does his best to throw Dwight a fun and Schrute-friendly bachelor party, which is his duty as “bestest mensch.” Meanwhile, Angela is kidnapped by Mose at her bachelorette party and forced into the trunk of a car as part of a traditional Schrute pre-marriage ritual. The wedding day begins with the panel discussion, where Andy discovers he has fans, Erin finally finds her parents, and Pam has to face some tough questions about her reluctance to let Jim follow his dreams.

Following the panel, the wedding preparations begin in earnest, but Jim tells Dwight there’s a problem—the bestest mensch is supposed to be older than the groom, so he can’t do it. But he finds an even better alternative when Michael Scott shows up with a smile and a classic “That’s what she said!” Michael, now a family man with kids of his own, happily sits back and basks in the joy of watching the love that grew out of his office—even the dysfunctional love of Kelly and Ryan, who run off together into the sunset, leaving behind Kelly’s boyfriend and Ryan’s baby (who is then given to Nellie).

Before going to a big reception for the documentary back at Dunder Mifflin, Jim and Pam stop at home, but Jim is surprised to find a realtor showing their house. Pam reveals to him that she had been secretly showing the house for months because she wants Jim to be able to live his dream in Austin with Athleap and have his family there to support him. Seeing the documentary made her see that some things are worth the risk; sometimes you need to do the big, brave thing.

The night ends with a private party in the office where each member of the Dunder Mifflin team says goodbye to their friends who are moving on and to the people behind the cameras.

Best Moment The moment Michael Scott appeared onscreen, I knew that this finale was going to go down as one of my favorite series finales ever. For so long, NBC had been trying to deny all reports of Steve Carell being a part of the finale, but I think everyone knew that a finale of The Office without Michael Scott would just feel wrong. Michael needed to be there—not just for the fans but for the characters as well. Dwight’s face when he hugged Michael was one of the most beautiful single moments of the finale, and it was because it signaled that everything was right in the world: Dwight was marrying Angela, Michael was there to be his best man, and Jim had just pulled off the best prank ever. The emotion in that scene was just right. It wasn’t cloying or heavy-handed; it was filled with the sense of joyful pride that a reunion between these characters needed to have. Michael is proud of Jim and Dwight like a father is proud of his kids, and he should be. But he doesn’t need to say it: It’s all in Carell’s smile. And then he follows that smile with the most-anticiapted “That’s what she said” moment of the series, reminding everyone of the way this show can deftly walk the line between sentimentality and silliness. This moment was everything I’d been waiting for and everything I could have hoped for. It was that kind of perfect series finale moment when you could see the emotions of the actors coming through in their characters in a way that worked wonderfully with the material they were given.

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Grading the Season Finales 2013: The Mindy Project

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Title Take Me With You (1.24)

Written By Mindy Kaling and Jeremy Bronson

What Happens? After Mindy decides to go to Haiti with Casey, she attempts to prove herself capable of surviving in that environment during a camping trip with Danny, Christina, and Morgan. However, she soon finds herself wanting to go back on her decision and stay in New York instead. Rather than let Casey down, she decides to scare him off during their going-away party by demanding they get engaged before taking the trip together. Her plan backfires, though, when Casey attempts to propose, and Mindy is forced to tell him the truth: She doesn’t want to go to Haiti with him.

Following the successful delivery of triplets, Mindy and Danny both make big decisions about their relationships. Mindy realizes that Casey is worth the year in Haiti, and she proves this with a late-night trip to his apartment building and a pixie cut. Meanwhile, Danny decides to take a step back and slow down his reunion with Christina. After telling this to Mindy, the two share a moment that blurs the line between friends and something more—before Mindy tells him that she got back together with Casey and is going to Haiti for the year.

Game-Changing Moment With just one look, the dynamics on this show were suddenly changed forever. Danny’s quiet intensity and surprising softness as he looked at Mindy after cleaning her glasses couldn’t be mistaken for anything other than an intimacy far beyond friendship. For this whole season, the audience has been able to see the potential between these two characters, but it appeared that the characters were either unaware of it or unwilling to acknowledge the obvious chemistry between them. After this moment, though, neither will be able to ignore it any longer. Danny made himself vulnerable with her in a way we’ve never seen from him before, and that’s going to fundamentally alter their relationship—even if they both try to pretend like the moment didn’t happen. For someone as obsessed with romance as Mindy Lahiri, it’s going to be hard for her to ignore the fact that her closest male friend put himself out there in a romantic way with her, and it’s going to be interesting to see how that moment is handled at the start of Season Two.

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Grading the Season Finales 2013: New Girl

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Title Elaine’s Big Day (2.25)

What Happens? It’s Cece’s wedding day, but Schmidt infers from an accidental look at the bride that she may not want to go through with it after all. Claiming to be working as her friend, he plans to “sabo” (aka sabotage) her wedding with the help of Nick and Winston. However, Nick is initially against this plan, not wanting to upset Jess and hoping to prove her father wrong about his immaturity. However, Nick is betrayed by his own “Cotton-Eyed Joe” CD; when it’s played during the ceremony, Jess assumes Nick is in on the plan and tells him he acts like a child. Feeling hurt, Nick decides to help Schmidt and Winston with the next phase of the sabotage operation, but things take a turn for the worse when the badger they plan to let loose escapes in the air ducts.

As Jess climbs into the ducts to try to stop the madness, Nick confronts her about her concerns about a relationship between the two of them, and Jess admits that a part of her is afraid that he’s too much of a mess to have a functional relationship with her. Their talk is interrupted, though, when they fall through the ceiling and literally crash the ceremony. The destruction seems to allow Cece to finally speak her mind: She doesn’t want to marry Shivrang because she’s in love with someone else (Schmidt). As for Shivrang, he has a secret love of his own named Elaine.

With the wedding officially called off, Nick and Jess do some calling off of their own, deciding that the one night they had together was enough, although it’s clear neither of them really wants to walk away from whatever they have. While Nick goes to drown his sorrows at the bar, Winston emerges from the air ducts with a nasty wound and some sage advice: Drinking and running away were the moves Nick’s dad always fell back on when things got hard, but they’re not the only moves. Schmidt seems to have never gotten that memo, though, as he runs from the room when faced with the choice between Cece and Elizabeth.

Unlike Schmidt, Nick doesn’t want to run away anymore. In fact, he’s ready to run to Jess, who he finds standing outside in tears over their decision to end whatever was happening between them. She asks Nick if they can un-call it, and he replies with a smile and a kiss. Laughing and bickering, the two drive off into the night towards a destination neither of them knows yet.

Game-Changing Moment While Nick and Jess’s relationship has been the driving force behind most of this season, the real emotional journey has been Nick Miller’s development from a man paralyzed by anger and fear to a man who can embrace uncertainty and hope. That arc found beautiful resolution in Winston’s speech about Nick not having to use his father’s moves. For much of Season Two, we’ve seen how Nick’s father and his abandonment had such a profound impact on his life and his decisions even after his father’s death. So it was hugely important for Nick to make a stand and show that he’s not his father; he’s better than his father ever was. There are other moves—better moves—and Nick is finally ready to choose another move. That moment of deciding to run towards Jess instead of running away signified a huge leap forward for this character we’ve watched grow all season. It was the culmination of a truly wonderful arc, and it hinted at even more growth to come next season.

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Grading the Season Finales 2013: Castle

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Title Watershed (5.24)

Written By Andrew Marlowe

What Happens? As the team at the 12th precinct investigates the murder of a Harvard student and computer hacker posing as a prostitute in a seedy motel, they uncover ties between the victim and a political dynasty which was behind the cover-up of a young woman’s death years before. The case also proves to be possibly Beckett’s last homicide as a member of the NYPD, as she takes an interview in Washington for a job with the attorney general—without telling Castle. Although she’s encouraged by Captain Gates, Beckett struggles with the decision after Castle finds the boarding pass for her trip in her coat pocket and gets angry over the fact the she shut him out of such an important decision. While Castle discusses their relationship and its challenges with his mother, Beckett is counseled by Lanie and her father. Both Beckett and Castle seem to be questioning where their relationship is headed, but both are too scared to broach the topic with the other.

After Beckett is officially offered the position, she begins to feel the weight of leaving her home at the precinct bearing down on her. Both Ryan and Esposito can tell that something is wrong, but neither can figure out what it is. Instead, Ryan lets Esposito in on a little secret of his own—he’s going to be a father. Fatherhood also proves to be a challenge for Castle, as he deals with his fear of letting Alexis go on a summer trip to the rainforest by avoiding the situation—until he can’t any longer and simply has to realize that despite his fears and worries, he loves his daughter and wants to do right by her. That same emotion goes into his meeting with Beckett on the swings where they once talked about Beckett’s emotional walls and where Beckett decided to let those walls come down with Castle. Castle tells Beckett that he understands she’s always going to have walls and won’t always let him in easily, but he isn’t going to give her an ultimatum. Whatever she chooses, he wants to be with her—and he proves this on one knee with a ring and question left unanswered until Season Six begins in the fall.

Game-Changing Moment Yes, Beckett being offered the job with the attorney general was a major moment, but it wasn’t the episode’s true game-changer. No, that title belongs to seven little words said by Richard Castle on the swing set that has come to mean so much to these two characters are their relationship:

Katherine Houghton Beckett, will you marry me?

No matter what Beckett answers and no matter what she decides, those seven words have forever changed their relationship and the direction of the show, which we all know has always been first and foremost a love story (with some murder thrown in for good fun). I know some people hated this twist and others loved it (my own feelings are quite complicated), but there’s no denying that this proposal was one of the most shocking moments in Castle’s five-year history. Whether you thought it was romantic or ridiculous, I bet you had a reaction—and that’s what a good finale cliffhanger should do. This was a moment that people will be talking about all summer, from the most passionate fans to the most casual observers. And that’s what season finales are all about.

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Grading the Season Finales 2013: Once Upon a Time

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Title And Straight On ’Til Morning (2.22)

Written By Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz

What Happens? Picking up where last week’s “Second Star to the Right” left off, this episode begins with the characters dealing with two tragedies: one recent (the shooting of Neal and his disappearance through a portal) and one impending (the destruction of Storybrooke and all of its residents born in the Enchanted Forest, meaning everyone but Henry). Regina believes she has the power to slow down the destruction of the town enough for everyone else to escape, sacrificing herself in the process. In order for the townspeople to escape, though, they have to open another portal, which means getting at least one magic bean from Tamara and Greg. Charming is aided in this quest by Hook, who believes in self-preservation rather than dying for his cause as Tamara and Greg do.

Once Charming retrieves a magic bean, he and Snow decide to take a chance and send the self-destruct mechanism to another realm through the portal instead, saving Regina in order to do what’s good even though it might not be easy. However, once the Charming Family reaches Regina, Emma discovers that Hook took the bean for himself, leaving them with no option other than to prepare for their death and leaving Henry alone without his family. While Emma says goodbye to her parents and Henry shares a moment of understanding with Regina, Rumplestiltskin prepares for the destruction of this world by restoring Belle’s memories (thanks to a magical potion made by the Blue Fairy and given to him by Grumpy, who never forgot the kindness Belle once showed him) and allowing himself to grieve for his son.

Before Storybrooke is demolished, however, Emma realizes that while Regina may not be powerful enough on her own to stop the destruction, her magic may be able to work with Regina’s to stop it—and she’s right. But as soon as the moment of relief ends, panic sets in when the Charmings and Regina realize that Henry has gone missing. It turns out he’s more valuable to Tamara and Greg than the destruction of Storybrooke, and they take him through a portal to another realm.

Just as all hope appears to be lost for Henry, Hook returns with his ship, a magic bean, and a change of heart. It turns out he has a soft spot for abandoned boys with selfless streaks and big hearts, as we discover his relationship with Bae through flashbacks. What was at first a chance for Hook to find family and redemption in raising Milah’s son and keeping him safe from the shadow hunting him, turned into one of Hook’s darkest moments when he let the “Lost Ones” take Bae after the boy learned the truth about his mother, Hook, and his father. In the present, Hook wants to redeem himself for what he did to Bae by saving his son since everyone believes that Bae/Neal is dead (although we see him at the episode’s end being discovered by Aurora, Philip, and Mulan). Hook’s knowledge of Neverland will surely come in handy on the journey to rescue Henry, as Rumplestiltskin sees that’s where the boy is headed. Leaving Belle behind to keep Storybrooke safe and hidden as he goes to rescue his grandson (although Henry was once said to be his undoing), Rumplestiltskin sets foot on Hook’s ship with Charming, Snow, Emma, and Regina to save Henry from Peter Pan—the shadow who has been hunting a boy who looks just like Henry since Bae was a child in Neverland.

Game-Changing Moment Following last week’s big moment where Neal was sent through a portal, this episode also used a different realm to change the course of the show in a major way and set the stage for a very interesting Season Three. I definitely thought this season’s cliffhanger was going to be Henry going to Neverland somehow, but I honestly believed Hook was going to kidnap him for some reason. I didn’t see Tamara and Greg’s involvement coming at all (and I can’t say I’m thrilled about it). However, the quest to find Henry has the potential to create some fantastic storytelling and powerful moments between the men and women who I feel are the best actors on the show. It unites all of these characters against a common enemy, and that can only be a good thing after a season of so much fighting and so many fragmented stories. Also, the introduction of a new realm and a new villain have me excited for next season to start already—and isn’t that exactly what a finale should do? I think the choice to make Peter Pan evil is fascinating (and actually pretty believable—his story was always darker than it looked at first glance), and making a beloved fairytale character a kidnapping shadow creature is exactly the kind of twist on a classic story that makes Once Upon a Time compelling television. This is how you create a mysterious, interesting villain—not the haphazard way Tamara and Greg were thrown into the show. With Henry and his family’s journey to Neverland setting the stage for Season Three, I feel optimistic that this show, which has felt disjointed for some time now, will find its direction and heart once again.

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The Best Thing I Saw on TV This Week (5/5 – 5/12)

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This past week was the relative calm before the storm of season finales coming my way as a TV viewer. Most of the shows I watch had strong episodes that set up what look to be even stronger season finales.

Once Upon a Time had its best episode in weeks with an emotional hour that made me love Bae/Neal more than ever before and absolutely broke my heart with his tragic separation from his family once again. Game of Thrones continued to effectively build a sense of foreboding and lay the groundwork for the incredible moments coming in the rest of the season. Castle gave us a compelling case and an even more compelling cliffhanger surrounding Beckett’s future at the 12th precinct. New Girl featured some great scenes with Jess’s father and one ridiculously romantic moment on the rooftop. The Mindy Project was absolutely hilarious—from Mindy and Casey in the shower to Mindy accidentally performing a routine on a stripper pole. And Saturday Night Live welcomed back Kristen Wiig with some of my favorite characters she brought to life during her time on the show (Garth and Kat! Target Lady!).

While all of these shows featured some great individual moments, my favorite thing on TV this week came from The Office. The show’s penultimate episode was its most enjoyable and emotional in a long time—mainly because of the scenes between Jim and Pam and Dwight and Angela.

Jim’s way of showing Pam how much she means to him left me a crying mess. From the clips of their best moments set to a fantastically appropriate song (“Open Your Eyes” by Snow Patrol) to John Krasinski’s flawlessly earnest delivery of “You are everything,” this moment was all that a diehard fan of their relationship could have hoped for as the show ends its run. And the callback to the Christmas card was perfect, but what I loved most was that we’ll never know what it said. That’s for Jim and Pam—not for us—and that’s the way it should be.

The huge leap forward for Dwight and Angela was also incredibly emotional. Rainn Wilson gave me a new favorite Dwight scene with his proposal. He doesn’t usually show that kind of emotion or sincerity, so seeing such pure joy and love on his face was a beautiful thing. I never thought Dwight and Angela could make me cry, but I guess I was wrong. I am going to be an absolute wreck on Thursday when I say goodbye to Dunder Mifflin for good.

What was the best thing you saw on TV this week? Do you have any predictions for what’s going to be the best moment next week (in what’s sure to be a week of exceptional moments)?

TV Time: New Girl 2.24

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Title Winston’s Birthday

Two-Sentence Summary The morning after Nick and Jess’s first night together (and the day before Cece’s wedding) is interrupted by the arrival of Jess’s father, who believes Nick to be unworthy of his little girl because he sees too much of himself in the younger man. Meanwhile, Cece deals with an unfortunate henna accident, Schmidt deals with the beginning (or restarting) of a relationship with Elizabeth, and Winston deals with the fact that his friends may have forgotten his birthday.

Favorite Line “You know how much I love to explore space and time!” (Winston)

Episode M.V.P. While I loved both Schmidt and Winston in this episode, I thought it belonged to Jess, Nick, and Bob. Their dynamic and the way it built from comedy to heartbreak felt incredibly natural, just like so much of this season has felt. Jess had a lot to do both physically and emotionally in this episode, and I thought Zooey Deschanel did some of her best work of the season in this half-hour. Nothing she did or said felt forced—from her easy laughter with Nick before the chaos rained down around them to her palpable panic at having to do too many things for too many people while still trying to make her own future a priority, too. While I loved everything Deschanel did in this episode, three moments in particular stood out. The first was her immediate defense of Nick when Bob told her Nick wasn’t good enough for her. I loved that she didn’t even wait a moment before telling her dad that that there’s nothing wrong with Nick. Jess’s feelings about Nick were also a huge part of her monologue to her students about life being messy, which I thought Deschanel delivered with an incredible vulnerability and emotional honesty. You could feel her come to her decision in that moment; yes, things with Nick are messy (she went so far as to call him a mess during their kissing in “Quick Hardening Caulk”), but the messy things are the best things in life—because they’re real. The final Jess moment that really got to me was her reaction to Nick’s breakfast on the roof. For so long, we’ve really watched this relationship through Nick’s eyes; we’ve seen it written all over his face how much he loves her. But this time, we got to see plainly just how much Jess loves him, too. The soft way she looked at him throughout that rooftop scene was perfect. Being in love looks great on Nick, and now we know it looks gorgeous on Jess as well.

Nick and Bob both worked so well in this episode because of Jake Johnson and Rob Reiner’s ability to so effortlessly show the way both of these imperfect men love a woman who they both feel is out of their league. Yes, they were both hysterical in their early scenes in the episode. (Any scene involving Nick screaming like a little girl will make me cry with laughter.) But what really made this episode for me was their sincerity. When Bob told Jess he’s not good enough for his little girl, my heart broke because you could feel the pain of this man who’s spent 30 years trying to be the best man he could be for his daughter but never feeling good enough. And that reflected back on Nick perfectly because you could see how much that hurt Nick—not just being rejected by a father-figure but the confirmation of what he always believed to be true, that he’s not good enough for Jess. Johnson played that moment perfectly; you could see Nick crumble under the weight of those words. I really hope Reiner comes back at least once or twice a season because he fits in with the cast (especially Johnson) like he’s a regular.

Favorite Moment I cry a lot when I watch TV. A LOT. But New Girl had yet to make me actually cry…until the end of this episode. When Jess got Nick’s text, I could feel my heart start beating faster in anticipation because I’d honestly thought they were just going to leave the relationship in a kind of limbo after the confrontation with Bob. But once Jess reached the roof and we saw Nick setting up the same breakfast he made her in the morning (but this time with the flower!), I started to tear up. There was just something so simple and beautiful about that gesture; it just furthered my belief that Nick is the most realistically romantic man on television right now. He may be a mess in every other area of his life, but that action showed that he loves Jess with a clarity and a simple honesty that is anything but messy. After what her father said to them, they both could have taken a step back. But he made her breakfast on the roof, she showed up, and they were both looking at each other like any doubts that could ever exist about them had no place on that rooftop.

Of course, however, this is New Girl, so the moment had to be interrupted, and it had to be by Schmidt (and later Winston). But that interruption proved to be emotional and beautiful in its own right. The last moments of the episode—with Winston, Schmidt, Elizabeth, Nick, and Jess together on the roof—were moments filled with the kind of silly, sentimental, honest, and hopeful energy that has made me love this show since Season One’s “Injured.” This is a show first and foremost about friendships, and I love that the writers and cast never seem to forget that.

A New Girl GIF* For My New Girl Feelings

winston i can't do this

Yes, New Girl is a comedy, but it’s a comedy that stands apart from the rest because it’s one of the most emotionally honest shows on television. That emotion was what made this episode so special. It made me laugh, it made my heart skip a beat (I can’t end this review without mentioning the fact that Nick kissed Jess’s shoulder!), and it made me cry. The best part about it was the fact that, despite putting me through the emotional wringer, this episode never felt emotionally manipulative. It all came from a very genuine place for each character, and that makes me even more excited for next week’s big wedding finale (even though I’m not sure my heart will be able to handle it)!

 

*I have no talent for GIF-making. Thankfully, I am highly skilled at searching Tumblr for the best GIFs. I take no credit for this beauty. 

TV Time: Castle 5.23

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Title The Human Factor

Two-Sentence Summary When the man behind a website famous for leaking government information is killed by a drone, the team at the 12th precinct must work with Jared Stack, an operative put on the case by the attorney general. Beckett’s tenacity and intelligence earn her Stack’s respect as well as a chance at a job in Washington.

Favorite Line “That theory is highly improbable. And coming from me, that’s saying something.” (Castle)

My Thoughts “The Human Factor” was much better than I was expecting it to be. It came on the heels of “Still,” one of the best episodes of the season and was originally supposed to follow, “The Squab and the Quail,” which was one of the worst. I was worried that it was going to bring Castle and Beckett back to an angst-filled place in their relationship before the finale, but I am so happy to say that my worries were all for naught. Instead, we saw them as flirty, fun, and united as ever. I’m happy that the obstacles coming their way in the finale are external ones, and they’re believable ones. After so many seasons of seeing how good Beckett is at her job, it felt right to see her offered a chance at something bigger. This episode did exactly what it was supposed to do—it made me excited for the finale while standing on its own as a solid episode with a very strong case at its center.

This was probably one of the most interesting cases Castle has come up with this season. I found myself drawn to the more “procedural-ish” (I love inventing words!) aspects of this episode even more than I was drawn to Castle and Beckett’s interactions, and that only happens with the most compelling cases. I think what made this case stand out were the guest actors. From the son’s palpable anger over his father’s abandonment (and its reflection of Castle’s own abandonment issues) to Stack’s journey to respect Beckett and her abilities, these characters felt like real people with real emotions and believable motivations for their actions.

The case itself also raised some interesting questions about national security, the use of drones on American soil (and abroad), and morality in general. I love when this quirky little show gets serious because it does it in a natural way. There’s never a “very special episode” feel to it (except maybe when it comes to the Johanna Beckett case); it’s merely a matter of reflecting reality: Sometimes life is funny and light, but sometimes it’s serious and makes you think about things much bigger and more complex than your world usually is. I’m not always a fan of episodes where the 12th precinct deals with federal agencies (Season Four’s two-parter was not a favorite of mine), but the conflict in this episode felt real and understandable from both sides.

I think the real reason I loved the case so much—more than its complexity or its great guest actors—was because it allowed Kate Beckett to shine. Beckett is extraordinary for so many reasons, but it should never be forgotten that one of the first things Castle (and, by extension, the audience) came to love about her was just how good she was at her job. When I watch other characters come to admire Beckett’s skills as a detective, I feel like a proud mother. Beckett is my favorite character on TV for so many reasons, but one of the first things that stood out about her was that she was allowed to be exceptional at what’s typically known as a masculine job, and those exceptional skills were what attracted Castle to her as much as her looks.

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