Castle Review, Season 1 Episode 2 "Nanny McDead"

By Barry Schnidel

**SPOILERS!**
If you have not watched this episode, please do so before continuing!

Sooo once again, disturbing image in the first scene: body in the washing machine, while a cell phone rings with Pink's "So What." Oddly enough, the song kind of relates to the nature of the mystery—more on that later. As we foray into the world of homicide in New York, this episode shows the darker side of the business of nannying, and makes us wonder if all big-city freelance jobs resemble a daytime soap, and also makes us grateful for rigorous psych evaluations in the hiring process--more on that later.

The "Good Parts" Version:

-So Castle's got a bunch of waivers to sign if he wants to dog Beckett. She gets a call about the body in the middle of it and thinks she's left him behind. Ha!

The only adequate response to "Whaddaya know? He's a fan!"

-Beckett starts heading up to question the family who employed her, and Castle's just waiting outside the elevator. How did he know she'd be there, and how long was he waiting? Who knows? He's got info on the family, too—from the doorman, who is apparently a fan. 

-D'aww! We have Castle's first-ever intro! "Just NY." Yyyeeeaaahhhh.... We're gonna have to work on that one.

-In the world of Crime Tropes, this one takes it: the couple takes turns getting home in time for dinner, and on the night the nanny was murdered, guess whose turn it was? The husband's.

-This of course gets Castle started: it's the perfect setup for a novel plot! Husband carrying on an affair with the nanny? And according to nanny Sarah's good friend Chloe, those nights when he was supposed to be home were the nights Sarah stayed late... Suspicious?

-Heightening the mystery is the fact that no one can seem to find Sarah's cell phone, which could hold the most pertinent evidence of all.

-"Three men around a computer. That better not be porn, and if it is, I want in." Watch who you're talking to, Castle! One of those men is the Chief of police!

-The husband's alibi is the fact that, yes, he was having an affair—but with his secretary. The nanny would stay late to cover for him while he carried this on at work.

-Castle directs their attention to "The guy who lives in 8B" (next door to the family employing Sarah) He engages in a full-blown premise that leaves everybody staring, hanging on his every word. Such is the gravitas of a writer, and only Nathan Fillion could pull it off with such panache.

-I love how supportive his family is of all this: Alexis asking "Who got murdered today?" and Martha swaggering in crooning, "Catch any perps, kiddo?" Susan Sullivan I think enjoyed the "veteran of the screen and stage" persona, being a veteran herself; while the claim of being the "crazy homeless lady on NYPD Blue" is fictionalized, I did discover that she has been on crime dramas like Perry Mason and S.W.A.T. Go Martha!

-Heehee, I forgot that one usually wears protective covering when examining a body at the morgue. Castle points this out—and I do believe this is about the only time they ever do that. "I thought you guys usually hang around eating ham sandwiches and cracking jokes, like gallows humor stuff." Only on TV, right?

-Castle makes comments on Beckett's straight-faced interrogation style, and invites her to poker.

"What, you mean your hangout with James Patterson and the rest of the New York Times Bestseller List? Too rich for my blood."

"We could always make it strip poker."

"No thanks; I prefer mystery to horror." PERFECTION!!

-Ryan: "I'm telling you, marital bliss is a thing of the past. Name one happily married couple."

Castle: "DeGeneres and DiRossi."

Really, Castle?? I gotta say, Kevin Ryan is my favorite character. He's just so sweet and charming and innocent! While sexual tension ranges all over the map with other characters, Ryan dates a girl, likes her, proposes, marries, and becomes a father over the course of the show. He's probably the cleanest, steadiest character, being in only one relationship (with his IRL wife, I might add!!) which also means he's no good at flirting (or recognizing advances... He's a good-looking dude, after all!) and he's got great moral values. I like him a lot.

-Reviewing the security footage, Castle realizes that when Sarah made the second trip down the elevator to the laundry where she would meet her killer, it was just a few seconds longer—which means she wasn't coming from the same floor. They figure out that the extra time puts her on the fifteenth floor: where the family Chloe works for lives.

-When they're questioning the couple, the husband hedges suspiciously when Beckett mentions Sarah. From then on, it's a cinch: Sarah's cell phone under his bed, the fact that Chloe obsessed about him leaving his wife and taking up with her (she'd had a copy of a picture she took with the family, but when Chloe framed it, she cut the wife out of the photo), the fact that Chloe would know Sarah's schedule, and discover that the man she thought loved her was actually getting with her friend.

-They go looking for Chloe, hoping to find her before she kills again.

-Castle: "I'm coming with you!"

Beckett: "Okay, but remember, this is accompany and observe, not participate and annoy."

Castle: "Participate and annoy is more fun, but whatever."

 
-of course, it doesn't come out till then just how psycho Chloe is; she's sitting in the laundry room cutting herself as she confesses to killing Sarah out of jealousy.

-The perp is caught, and Castle begins writing his first Nikki Heat novel.

As far as episodes go, this one was actually rather lousy in the "crime" department. The whole string of clues, evidence, and conclusions was very cliche and straightforward. Not that I think all crimes should be messy, but I was never really intrigued at all. The conclusion was far too inevitable. It does go a little further in advancing Castle and Beckett's effectiveness as a crime-solving team, and for a technical "first case" it isn't that bad. I'd give it a 6/10.