Episode Review: CASTLE, "The Late Shaft"

Castle doesn't utilize the whole "ripped from the headlines" approach as much as most crime procedurals do, but tonight's "The Late Shaft" borrowed some elements from the now infamous Late Night Wars involving Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, and they even threw in some of the David Letterman scandal to boot, which all made for a pretty entertaining episode.

What made tonight's episode work was the fact that it was able to tell a story we already knew about, added an interesting death, and the reveal was believable without being too cliched. Plus, we got the chance to see Castle getting freaky with an actress trying to "earn" the role of Nikki Heat in the movie adaptation of Heat Wave, which of course made Beckett all kinds of jealous. I've said this before, but jealous Beckett is HOT, and the looks and smiles she gives Castle are killer. I could've done without the Freudian roleplay Castle had with "Nikki" though.

While we're on the subject of Castle & Beckett, this show really knows how to make unresolved sexual tension work unlike other favs like Bones and Chuck. Right now, the two are still in the feeling out stage, but watching them try to make the other jealous is brilliant. I've always enjoyed the fact that Castle and Beckett know they like one another, and they're doing a dance, unlike other shows where all they do is repress their feelings. I don't want the creators to draw out the UST too long because it'll get annoying like B&B, but I like watching the swordplay. It'll be interesting to see how Castle reacts to Kate's new man next week.

Overall, "The Late Shaft" was another strong installment of Castle. It wasn't groundbreaking like "Tick, Tick, Tick" and "Boom", but it had a little more meat to it than say "Wrapped Up In Death" (although the zaniness of last week's ep was much appreciated). "Shaft" probably won't go down as one of the all-time great episodes of Castle, but it was a heck of a lot of fun to watch. #Castle FTW!