Castle: Teasing 8×09 “Tone Death” – **SPOILERS**

Episode Summary:

“Tone Death” – When a body is found in the theater of Martha’s latest show, Castle and Beckett’s investigation leads them into the unexpectedly dangerous world of competitive a capella. “High School Musical”’s Corbin Bleu guest stars. “Tone Death” will air on MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8 (10:01-11:00 p.m. ET/PT), on the ABC Television Network.

“Castle” stars Nathan Fillion as Richard Castle, Stana Katic as NYPD Detective Kate Beckett, Tamala Jones as Medical Examiner Lanie Parish, Jon Huertas as NYPD Detective Javier Esposito, Seamus Dever as NYPD Detective Kevin Ryan, Molly Quinn as Alexis Castle with Susan Sullivan as Martha Rodgers.  For Season Eight, Toks Olagundoye (“The Neighbors”) joined the series as Hayley.

Guest cast: Corbin Bleu (High School Musical, OLTL) as Hunter, John Billingsley (Intelligence, ST: Enterprise) as Dr. Harvey Larson, Jaquita Ta’le as Charisse, Arnell Powell (Drop Dead Diva) as Chris Jackson, Reilly Brooke Stith as Robyn King, Sonya Eddy (Legit, GH, Joan of Arcadia) as Olivia “Mama” Toussaint.

“Tone Death” was written by Robert Bella and directed by Hanelle Culpepper.

I don’t think it’s any secret that I’m not One-Hundred Percent in love with Season Eight of Castle. Yet I still start each episode wanting desperately to love it. I still adore the characters and actors, and I remember what the show can be, and know it has the potential to make me love it again.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the episode that made me fall back in love. It doesn’t make me want to quit watching though – that’s a plus. However, the number of cringe-worthy moments and hand-waves all over this one couldn’t overpower the cute sidestory of the Castles being back together again.

And don’t get me started on that… I’m one of the viewers that thinks the whole “secret marriage” route should’ve been taken from day one, so starting that premise in episode nine isn’t a mark in the win column. But since beggars can’t be choosers, the interactions between Rick and Kate while in front of others are pretty hilarious.

The episode is bookended with lovely scenes between the pair, and it’s refreshing to see halfway healthy interactions for them finally. Lots of stuff from Martha and Alexis as well, in fact, Martha is spotlighted in an interesting way – and I love when they’re given airtime – so there’s that as well.

Now for the downside. Castle is a little late on the whole Acapella group thing, but the kids they got were weirdly stereotypical. The only part of the singing that I LOVED was VERY meta, otherwise it was mostly meh. And truly, I LITERALLY cringed a couple of times during the singing scenes. Not a good thing.

Of course, you’ll have to judge for yourself. You may like it a lot more than I did. Also, like I always say, Castle – even when it’s bad – it’s better than the best episode of half of what’s on TV right now, so I take even my own opinions with a grain of salt. (yeah, that sentence was awful, but hopefully you understood it)