Castle: Teasing 7×11 “Castle P.I.” – **SPOILERS**

ABC pulled kind-of a fast one with this episode. It released it, then said “psych!”, and unreleased it. Cruel and unusual punishment – not the screener itself, but the TEASE! Luckily, about a week later, the show was back up and we were finally able to watch the episode. I’ve had a couple of days to digest, so now I’m passing the sitch along to you!

Before our winter hiatus, Rick was finally (I use that word loosely) kicked out of the 12th precinct and became unable to assist the team with cases. BUT WAIT! Castle being Castle, he has to go and find a loophole. He gets his Private Investigator license, and this is *his* carte blanche to get let back in with the ‘cool kids’.

That’s the premise behind this episode, but as we’re all friends here – I gotta tell you, things don’t go smoothly for our big damn hero. (obligatory Firefly reference thankyouverymuch) Mind you, if it’d been any normal Joe P.I. who’d made these same assumptions, all hell would break loose – but silly charming Rick Castle… well, you probably know where that’s going. You don’t? Oh, my bad. *Karen hums and tries to pretend she didn’t say anything*

Martha & Alexis at the Castle castle are featured in this episode, so there are quite a few home-based scenes. There’s some REALLY good news that comes along with that nugget of info. And while Lanie & Tory aren’t around, we get a dose of Perlmutter – and it’s a GOOD one. Even if you don’t like him, I think you might enjoy the interplay between Rick and Perlmutter in this one.

I usually chat things over with hubs before I write these articles, but I talked to a friend instead. Without getting too deep into things, we discussed some of the themes in this outing, and he (Jesse, one of my co-hosts from “Storming the Castle”) helped me to shape up my feelings about things.

• It’s great to see Rick being the smart guy, and not just comedy foil for the other three team members.
• Having someone on the outside isn’t the worst thing ever, and a P.I. working with the cops isn’t unheard of. (Read any detective novel, they all do it)
• Rick and Kate need to appreciate all aspects of their relationship – all the time.
• Rick needs to get taken down a peg or two every so often.
• There’s only so long Rick’s connections can get him, and maybe the show can try something new to get him in on the action??

So, in summation – I found this episode to be fun, different, and it had a surprisingly fresh feeling. This season – as I’ve said a few times – has been really great. The last few episodes have lessened that feeling for me, but this one has me hoping for the best again.

Watch it, Because Rick Says So

“Castle, P.I.” airs Monday January 12 (10:01-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.