So just got done watching episode 3, and I wanted to get a review in right off. Episode 3 was called:
HEAD CASEReview: Now with such an uninspired title, I wasn't completely looking forward to this episode. I admit though, it started off in a pretty cool manner. We were watching a shooting star streak briefly across the heavens, and then panned down over an overhead shot of the United States at night, lights glittering in the dark. Flashes showed from somewhere up north, and it soon became apparent that there was a thunderstorm over New York City. The camera flashed down past the clouds to a lonely alley, where a white van was speeding away, revealing a puddle of blood underneath. Pretty catchy opening, eh?
The writing for the opener got more intriguing as we learned that there was no body at the crime scene, but from the amount of blood found at the scene, there was no way the victim could have survived. So how do you solve a case with no physical body? Going off of security footage and tire tracks at the scene, Beckett and her team were able to learn which van they were looking for and that it was the suspect's vehicle, and tracked it to find a... cryogenics research laboratory?
I admit that when I learned about this twist I was like uh oh... here we go again. The writers seemed to be grasping at straws once more, or at least that's what it felt like to me. Last week's episode was a major disappointment, at least initially, and I was dreading this week's episode going the same way. BUT... despite the initial disbelief at the revelation of what this laboratory did (freezing high end clients to possibly revive them someday once technology had made it possible to bring them back to life), the writing made up for the weirdness factor.
The victim had been one of these high end clients who had paid to have his body frozen after he died, and the cryo lab guys were simply responding to his tracer going off that he had died. They had foolishly removed the body (despite the two bullet holes in his chest) and sped off to get him frozen as quickly as possible as per contract. Sounds ridiculous, right?
Well the episode actually wasn't half bad. After some initial legal battles over getting the lab to release the body (in a rather macabre manner, as the head had to be left alone, as all the cryo research was being done on the brain, as growing organs would conceivably be easier than replicating memories and experiences with the brain), the case started to pick up, with once again an interesting and intricately written cast of suspects. What really grabbed me though was the Alexis subplot that was going on at the same time as the case.
Alexis had been applying to Stanford, and had received her letter about her acceptance or rejection. Surprise, surprise, when little miss perfect actually got REJECTED from Stanford! Molly Quinn REALLY pulled off the rejection well, and you could just see the devastation in her eyes as she read it. I imagine I had the same look on my face earlier this year when I read my rejection of trying to get into the Foreign Service, and that I'd only failed the exam by nine points. I knew EXACTLY how she was feeling, and it brought a tear to my eye watching this youthful girl have her hopes and dreams smashed in one cruel moment. Quinn just did a fantastic job at feeding that to the audience, and her performance on this really spoke to me on a personal level.
In fact, it only got better. She appeared twice more, and each time kept bringing a tear to my eye. She finally asked her dad how he could get away with framing his first rejection letter from his publishing company on his wall. It only served as a reminder of his failure, didn't it? Once again, total relation here. How DO you get over a bitter failure like that? You have everything set on this one goal, and you fall so short of it. Castle had a pretty good answer for her. He said it only served to drive him, and he explained that you're a failure only if you give up. Rejections themselves don't make you a failure, but your subsequent reactions to it can determine whether you keep going or just give it all up. You may not have answers, but as he said "you'll figure it out." I really liked this part, and thought it was pretty awesome for the writers to touch on a subject that many people in my generation go through every day. It's hard dealing with it when you're younger, I think, and them deciding to focus an interesting little sub plot on such a topic really showed them to be in touch with the times, and won them pretty good kudos from me.
We get a bit more of a glimpse into Captain Gates as well, but not much of one. She's a tough superior to have, and despite the fact that Beckett literally had nothing at the start of this case (including a lack of body), Gates showed she was STILL holding Beckett in contempt, and you couldn't help but feel like "wow... what a... not nice person".
I'd use another noun here, but... yeah.
She also proved she was willing to play hard ball to get what she wanted, and she just seems like she's gonna bring some unstoppable resolve (as well as some conflict) to the precinct.
We also learned in an interesting tidbit during the show that Ryan is getting married soonish, though when isn't entirely clear. What really caught my eye with this though was the next episode teaser. In that teaser... Ryan is apparently involved in the murder (I know, right?! A major WTF moment for me at the tail end of the episode here).
Another great thing about this episode was the pacing. I glanced at my watch for the first time while watching the episode, and was like "OK, I bet it's only halfway done." I was shocked to discover forty minutes had already passed, and I was like "crap... this episode is almost over..." Great job on the writers' part, as their pacing was great. It moved just SO fast.
As the case went on, it became a bit more realistic and believable (and even a little horrifying), and by the end of it, even though the ending had kind of a quirky and surreal feel to it, I'd say the writers did a fine job on this episode, and it definitely didn't fall into the pit that last week's episode almost completely sank into. Castle and Beckett even shared another moment at the very end, though nothing yet of course. They both stated (in a somewhat freaky manner, and you'll see why when I get to the case review) that they hoped one of the characters would be reunited with her husband one day, and that was a bit heartwarming to see.
The Case: This week's case focused on the murder of a biology professor, Lester Hamilton, who had been researching life extension. He was shot twice in the chest in an alleyway, and then scooped up by cryo lab guys who had a contract with him to preserve his body after he died. Freaky... I know.
Well the detectives eventually found his body in the cryo lab, and a plethora of suspects soon emerged. His campus office had had a break in only three days before he was killed, and his computer was trashed. The first two interviewed were his colleague at the university, one Dr. Voyde (or something), and Lester's wife. They told the cops that Lester had been working on life extension treatment, or treatment that could extend one's life by about ten years or so. Not major, but it would lead to perhaps bigger things in the future.
The guy who broke into Lester's office was one of his students, but he was found to have been trying to hack into his professor's computer to get his grade changed from an F to an A, as he came from a family of straight A gatherers. But as it turned out, the student had seen Lester at a shady motel, and Lester had agreed to give his student an A if he promised never to mention seeing him there. The motel turned up a rather morbid discovery; it was an operating room that Lester had set up, and the initial theory was that Lester had been doing human experimentation to try and get his research finished. His financial backer was ruled out as a killer (Lester had given up the financial backing and had published his work online so his peers could assist him), and we arrived at a dead end again.
It was later found out from Dr. Voyde that Lester had a serious case of brain cancer, and his brain would be destroyed in another four months or so. Voyde had been doing experimental treatment on Lester in the motel, but had failed. So who in the heck killed Lester Hamilton, and why? The head of the cryo lab was looking pretty guilty, as he'd been throwing roadblocks in the detectives' way almost every step in this episode, but the REAL solution was a pretty good
shocker.
Spoiler alert ahead! Read at own risk!
Cynthia Hamilton, Lester's wife, was the real killer. She had explained just how much she and Lester were in love, and that both of them had signed up for the cryo treatment in order to meet each other again in a hundred or so years when technology was capable of reviving them. However, there was one little hitch to this plan.
Lester had a brain tumor, and it would destroy his mind completely in a few more months. He tried to keep it secret from his wife, and explained it as just stress at first, but when he fainted when getting ready for bed one night, he came clean, and told her the truth. She couldn't bear the thought of having his mind destroyed (as the brain was the one vital organ needed for the cryo process to be successful), and she was devastated to learn that he was not going to freeze himself after all, as he decided instead to spend the last months of his life finishing his research. Because of this, she begged him to kill himself, and just get himself frozen, but he refused to do that, saying his work could make a difference and was far more important. She figured he wasn't in his right mind, and decided to take matters into her own hands.
She shot her husband dead in that alley, and then fled the scene, knowing the cryo guys would pick him up and freeze him. That way, his brain would be preserved, and perhaps by the time they were awakened from cold sleep, a cure for cancer would have also been discovered. So in a REALLY twisted way (wouldn't he know his wife shot him?), she had killed him in the hopes of seeing him again in a hundred years or so. As weird and bizarre as it sounds... it sort of is a moving story, as love can be a really powerful thing sometimes.
In a perhaps heartbreaking twist, Cynthia ended up killing herself in her holding cell, and the cryo guys took her away to preserve her as well, and I was like wait... isn't suicide illegal? Why would the cops ALLOW her to be frozen and possibly revived someday? Plus she's a murderer too so... yeah. BUT... suicide is not exactly a written law, as I found out. It's still a gray area and only assumed to be illegal. But still... the fact she's a murderer... um yeah. That was kind of a plot hole, but I guess Beckett didn't really care, because Cynthia would be revived way past her own lifetime? Um... yeah... anyway... but I guess in reality, it wouldn't matter, because she's dead anyway, and you can't try a dead woman... and by the time she was revived the statute of limitations (if there was one) would have long expired so... I think I'm confusing myself now. XD Either way, it was just a... weird ending.
Conclusion: Overall, this was a very well written (except that freaky conclusion), fast paced, and moving episode. I struggled with giving it a 7 or an 8, and even a 9, but I think the writers at least did a good enough job of pulling on the heartstrings every now and again, and wrote a great case to boot, but ruined it a little with the ending, so I'm going with an 8/10 for Head Case.
