4.10 "CUFFED" - Discussion

What a great little gem of an episode. This episode was about relationships and how one can tell if the relationship is working and is in sync. From the beginning to the end, we saw how much Caskett have come to know each other and rely on one another. As each minute progressed, they were more in sync. Like the Canoeing example Espo mentioned, they began going in circles and eventually were rowing in unison to a common goal. Their banter, the chemistry, and the situations only served to emphasize that they are together for all intents and what is missing is the physical intimate aspects of the relationship.

Who was expecting a tiger? NOT ME!! And quite honestly, I find it very rare when a TV show throws something at me I wasn't expecting. I think my eyes were about as big as Castle's Goodness that was creepy.

I give it a 10 just for the scare factor level. At least I was scared. Never mind that I've had nightmares for years about large animals hunting me. Thanks Castle! I barely slept last night! hahaha


EDIT: Oh, and how significant do you think Castle's slip at the end about being hitched was? A few episodes back he joked about something to do with marriage suggesting he wasn't ever going down that path again. Could he be changing his mind?

On sheer creativity alone that episode was AWESOME! Nevermind the fun Caskett stuff!

I loved how they threw in the "Saw" reference and made it so ridiculous. It felt like a wink to the audience, like, "Yeah, we are SO not doing that crap."

I'm conflicted about this episode. I liked the theme, working together in a relationship, but Caskett being cuffed together and Esplaney bickering was enough to clue us in to that theme, and I found it annoying that they stuck in that scene with Ryan talking about his road-trip with Jenny. Apparently it wasn't enough for Marlowe to put up a metaphorical flashing "THEME" sign in the opening scenes; he had to beat us over the head with it a little. I really wouldn't mind it all that much except that extra theme exposition took away precious time that could have been used to show more Caskett interactions.
And that conveniently brings me to my second point. On the one hand I love how the episode showcased the nuts and bolts of their relationship; how Beckett is naturally driven and dominant, but Castle is the one person to whom she will surrender the initiative, if he asks, and how Castle, dispite his innate independence, will happily follow Beckett's lead but will still gently balance her out and keep her grounded. But these are all elements of their relationship as colleagues and partners, and even though we all know that their connection runs far deeper, that deeper, romantic level was almost completely MIA in this episode from the instant that Castle woke up. Yes there was plenty of sexual tension in those situations and much of it was not lost on either Castle or Beckett (which was excellent) but 100% of that tension was turned into comedy, with no tenderness, no romance whatsoever. Don't get me wrong, that mischievous banter between them when they ended up in sexually charged positions was deliciously hilarious, but it wasn't very heart-warming, and by the end of the episode the vast amount of teasing combined with absolutely zero tenderness became a little annoying. Its like "yes, they're in sync, yes they play off each other, yes, they're attracted to each other.... AND????????????????, where's the rest?, where's the affection?" I know it was meant to be a joke, but that exchange about them doing the three-legged race really ticked me off; I mean really, that's what they want out of their relationship? Same with those last moments where Beckett says "Next time let's do it without the tiger", even though Castle's reaction and Becket's look back were priceless, it was still almost all tease and no romance. Now I'm a guy, which means I love the sharp, mischievous comedy, and I think personal drama should be mixed in carefully and in very small proportions, but it is still possible to have too little of it, and this is one of those rare cases.

On a separate note, the case was fairly interesting, especially considering this was relationship-heavy episode, but WHAT'S WITH THE GLARING PLOT HOLES?????????????????

First, since this was not a human-smuggling op. but a Tiger-smuggling op, why would they keep Castle and Beckett alive as long as they did. Even granting that the bad guys chose, for whatever reason, not to kill their prisoners at he Queens house, but rather to bring them to the other building and have the tiger dispose of them, why didn't they put them in the room with the tiger in it?!?!
Second, if your criminal enterprise consists of flying something out of the country, why the heck would you bother trucking it all the way from TX to NY just to have it flown out of there. I'm pretty sure there are international airports in Texas, where the client can fly in and the tiger can fly out, and there are also plenty of other places with airports between South Texas and New York. And considering that it was legal to possess their merchandise in Texas, but illegal to take it out, and that their merchandise was A FREAKING TIGER,I ask again, why the heck would they go through the incredible trouble of trucking it from south Texas ALL THE WAY TO MANHATTAN?!?!?!?!
Again, I understand that this episode centered around the Caskett relationship, not the case, and admittedly they didn't screw the plot up quite as badly as in other similar episodes (namely "Setup" and "Countdown"), but it's still difficult to suspend disbelief when you have a tiger-sized plot hole staring you in the face!

tolkeinite wrote:

that deeper, romantic level was almost completely MIA in this episode from the instant that Castle woke up. Yes there was plenty of sexual tension in those situations and much of it was not lost on either Castle or Beckett (which was excellent) but 100% of that tension was turned into comedy, with no tenderness, no romance whatsoever. Don't get me wrong, that mischievous banter between them when they ended up in sexually charged positions was deliciously hilarious, but it wasn't very heart-warming, and by the end of the episode the vast amount of teasing combined with absolutely zero tenderness became a little annoying. Its like "yes, they're in sync, yes they play off each other, yes, they're attracted to each other.... AND????????????????, where's the rest?, where's the affection?" I know it was meant to be a joke, but that exchange about them doing the three-legged race really ticked me off; I mean really, that's what they want out of their relationship? Same with those last moments where Beckett says "Next time let's do it without the tiger", even though Castle's reaction and Becket's look back were priceless, it was still almost all tease and no romance. Now I'm a guy, which means I love the sharp, mischievous comedy, and I think personal drama should be mixed in carefully and in very small proportions, but it is still possible to have too little of it, and this is one of those rare cases.

And this is why I rated it a 10 based on how much the tiger creeped me out. Because I completely agree with you. If that tiger hadn't caught me by surprise, well.... I doubt this will be a must see again episode for me.

I don't think the plan WAS for the tiger to eat them. I think they just wanted to hold them until they could get out of there with the tiger. They knew Beckett was a cop. I mean she certainly annouced it enough. Probably saved they lives because killing a cop is a much bigger deal than killing some random nobody. It brings down a lot of heat and investigation - which they didn't want. They just needed to temporarily HOLD Beckett and Castle until they got the tiger picked up. Even in the end, all the criminals wanted to do was get back to Texa and continue their bussiness . So the woman in the cage was the bait to "catch" Beckett and Castle. There were THREE of them, remember? The two guys got Castle and Beckett from behind. Hence, she's the last thing they remember. That would explain them checking on them and not having the Tiger in the same room...and they would have gotten away with too, if it weren't for those meddling kids digging into the wall.

As for flying the tigers out of Texas, I don't think that would work. Raising the tigers is legal, which isn't the same as flying them out. Animal welfare patrols would certainly be watching for private jets coming in and out of Texas because of the legality of tiger-raising. Even private jets have to log a flight plan. It would be easy to figure out where the tigers came from. Semi-trucks driving out of Texas are a dime a dozen, and who thinks of there being TIGERS in NYC?

The Caskett issue...I think this wasn't the episode for it...or really the timing. Not that I don't WANT more Caskett, just...maybe not brought on by being forced into it.

New Castle behind the scenes photos...


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