'Swan Song' -- Castle 5x07

Warning: Spoiler Alert

This episode got on my nerves. Bad. The way that the actors kept mugging to the camera wasn't amusing; it was irritating. But I have a feeling that the writers were trying to go for humor with this episode, and the way that the actors kept talking to the camera like they were regular idiots who weren't used to being in front of cameras. Every time they would do it, though, I would end up wanting to shake someone ... didn't matter if it was the person who was trying to impress whoever happened to be watching what they were doing, or the writer of the episode for seemingly thinking that this was amusing.

The thing that gets me about this was that even while I could kind of see Castle doing it somewhat (though, not as over-the-top as it was being done), I have a hard time seeing NYPD detectives being caught up in wanting to impress the cameras ... especially the captain. It seems to me that they would be much more interested in trying to ... oh, I don't know ... catch a killer than trying to impress whatever shmuck happened to be watching the documentary. And maybe it's just me, but catching someone who has murdered another human being is far more impressive than the things that they were trying to do when they were making out with the camera (which was beyond ridiculous at most points). Yes, I realize that this show has a lot of comedy in it (more than what you might expect for a show that's essentially a murder mystery), but a lot of the things that are funny in this show are things that are kind of organic to the characters (and not points where they are trying too hard ... which seemed to be most of this episode).

It still really bugs me about the way that the captain changed for this episode. She hates having Castle there, and is very vocal about it; she doesn't want the cameras there, and wants to review all of the footage before it gets cut into the documentary, and yet she pretends like she's way more supportive of the detectives than she actually is. Yes, she has their backs when she thinks that they are in the right, but she never coddles them the way that she did in this episode. It's one thing to tell someone that they did a good job, and you're proud of the way they handled things ... it's another to treat a grown-up like they are a kindergartener. I would have liked her a lot more (and gotten a bit more respect for her) if she acted the same with the cameras there as she did when they weren't there ... in that she continued to bust their balls and demand that they get things done. The drastic change that she had in this episode really made me miss Montgomery.