It’s a return to form for the sixth season of Castle. Here’s our take on this season’s episodes:
- “Valkyire” – 7
- “Dreamworld” – 2
- “Need to Know” – 5.5
- “Number One Fan” – 8
- “Time Will Tell” – 8
- “Get a Clue” – 6
- “Like Father, Like Daughter” – 8.5
- “A Murder is Forever” – 6
- “Disciple” – 2
- “The Good, the Bad, and the Baby” – 9
- “Under Fire” – 8
- “Deep Cover” – 2
- “Limelight” – 6
- “Dressed to Kill” – 5.5
- “Smells Like Teen Spirit” – 2.5
- “Room 147” – 8.5
- “In the Belly of the Beast” – 3
- “The Way of the Ninja” – 7.5
- “The Greater Good” – 5
- “That 70’s Show” – 3
- “Law and Boarder” – 6
- “Veritas” – 2.5
- “For Better or Worse” – 3
The average rating for this season is 5.4, not the best that Castle has done, but a decent showing and better than the last couple of seasons. This season does well when it plays to its strengths: offbeat crimes and the interactions of its characters.
The three lowest episodes this season, coming in at 2, try to break the formula: “Dreamworld,” in which Beckett gets tied up in an international conspiracy; “Disciple,” in which Castle’s pet serial killer returns with a new friend; and “Deep Cover,” in which Castle gets tied up in an international conspiracy. None of these episodes works well or delivers the crime-solving comedy we expect from this series. I’m beginning to get the sense that someone in the Castle writers’ room really wanted to write spy thrillers but couldn’t hack it. Every time Castle tries to do international intrigue, it just bombs. At least this season mercifully more or less ties up the overdrawn story of Beckett’s mother’s death.
But this season more than makes up for its occasional missteps with a lot of average-to-good episodes that are enjoyable to watch. Our top pick this season, “The Good, the Bad, and the Baby,” at a 9, finds the team working backwards to uncover what led to a dying man staggering into a church holding a baby. One of the lovely things about this episode is how eagerly Castle jumps into the role of taking care of the baby, a refreshing reversal of the usual trope that men are useless with children. As runners-up at 8.5 we have “Like Father, Like Daughter,” in which Alexis enlists her father’s help for an Innocence-Project-like case, and “Room 147,” an intricate mystery in which multiple people inexplicably confess to the same crime.
Image: Beckett and Castle investigate, from “Room 147” via IMDb
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