Season 4 of Castle is mostly solid, with a mix of highs and lows. Here’s how we rated the episodes:
- “Rise” – 2
- “Heroes and Villains” – 9
- “Head Case” – 6
- “Kick the Ballistics” – 2
- “Eye of the Beholder” – 6
- “Demons” – 8.5
- “Cops and Robbers” – 7.5
- “Heartbreak Hotel” – 6
- “Kill Shot” – 6
- “Cuffed” – 5.5
- “Till Death Do Us Part” – 6
- “Dial M for Murder” – 5
- “An Embarrassment of Bitches” – 6
- “The Blue Butterfly” – 4
- “Pandora” – 1.5
- “Linchpin” – 1.5
- “Once Upon a Crime” – 6
- “A Dance with Death” – 5.5
- “47 Seconds” – 5
- “The Limey” – 3
- “Headhunters” – 1.5
- “Undead Again” – 8
- “Always” – 0
The average for this season is 4.8, a bit of a comedown from season 3’s 5.9. Still, this season has a lot to offer. The average is dragged down by a bunch of boring hyped-up drama episodes, but this season still delivers the crime-solving comedy action we come to Castle for.
The bottom of the heap is the finale, “Always,” that we gave a complete 0. This episode is one more step in the long, drawn-out saga of Beckett’s mother and has absolutely nothing to appeal to us. A number of other episodes also hang out near the bottom of the pack, including “Headhunters,” at 1.5, which, despite reuniting Nathan Fillion with an over-the-top Adam Baldwin, spends too much time wallowing in the dysfunction of Castle and Beckett’s relationship. There’s also the bizarre two-parter “Pandora” and “Lincpin,” both at 1.5, which takes the Castle crew into a hard swerve from crime-solving into international intrigue. It’s not something this particular writing/production team does well.
At the top end, though, we have a good set of wacky cases-of-the-week, which are just what we want from Castle. The best is “Heroes and Villains,” at a 9, about do-it-yourself superheroes. Some of the other great episodes this season similarly dig into geeky subcultures, like ghost-hunting in “Demons” (8.5) and zombie LARP in “Undead Again” (8).
Along the way there’s also a good batch of episodes in the mediocre but perfectly serviceable 5-7 range. There’s a lot to like this season, even if there are several episodes well worth skipping.
Image: Beckett and Castle research superheroes, from “Heroes and Villains” via IMDb
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