‘Castle’ 5.12 Episode Recap And Review: Death Gone Crazy

Hi Castle fans! It’s time to get crazy! We are on the set of a “College Girls Gone Crazy” party and the place is packed! Beau Randolph, the creator of this video empire, has just arrived on the scene. (Do you remember Beau from Season 4 episode “Head Case”? I didn’t, I hope that doesn’t make me a “bad” fan!) Beau doesn’t really seem to be enjoying the party though. Then he sees something or someone that seems to disturb him even more. That’s the last we see of him until he turns up as our murder victim.

When Castle gets the call about this murder he is at home having a “over protective daddy” moment. It seems that while he was Googling himself, he stumbled across Alexis’ vlog (video blog). This does NOT make him happy! He is worried that Alexis is over sharing and should be more careful. Martha tells him he is overreacting and that he should just answer his phone. (Look, it’s Beckett, maybe she has a nice murder to distract you!) And with that we are back to the club.

Beau has been strangled in the ladies room with a very expensive ($250) bra. There is a really hilarious moment when Esposito questions paying that much for a bra; shoes yeah, but a bra?? Before he digs that whole too deep Castle tells him to “eject” and we get back to business. Who might have wanted to kill Beau? Well, to start with we have his ex girlfriend, Tiffany Shaw. Seems Tiff wasn’t happy about the break up and had become obsessed with Beau. But no one remembers seeing her in the club.

There is also a huge protest being held across the street from the club, full of angry folks (possibly fathers and brothers of some crazy college girls). Perhaps one of them might have done it? Ryan and Esposito go looking outside the club for Beau’s bodyguard. They are looking for a big, burly guy. They find Scarlet Jones, a very hot looking woman. Espo really likes what he sees, but she is still a suspect…for now.

Castle and Beckett come across another lead. Someone used Beau’s security card to gain access to his office. And guess who shows up on the security video? Scarlet. But she can explain. She claims she took the job to help a friend who had made a sex tape with Beau. She didn’t kill Beau, she only used his key card to steal the video and destroy it. And a call to her friend confirms her story.

Scarlet does give them a new lead. It seems that Beau had an altercation with a man and she had to intervene. She broke the man’s nose. That’s all she knows, but it’s enough for them to track him down. In the meantime though, Esposito asks Scarlet out, with Beckett’s blessing, and they go for drinks.

The man with the broken nose is Seth Parino, and Castle finds him on the video footage from the club. He and Beckett pay Seth a visit on the set of his new video series “College Guys Gone Nuts” (ugh, really?). He tells them that he was at the club to try to convince Beau to invest in this new venture. Apparently Beau had been on board, but had recently had a change of heart and pulled out of the project. This is what they argued about the day Scarlet broke Seth’s nose.

Seth also tells our duo that he saw Tiffany Shaw at the club that night and that she and Beau had a fight. As it turns out, that murder weapon belongs to Tiffany. When they bring her in and confront her with it, she is excited to see it. It seems she lost it in the bathroom of the club while having revenge sex with some random guy (YUCK). She didn’t kill Beau. But she is full of handy information. It seems that she has video footage of Scarlet picking up a bag of cash from a trash can in a park. This moves her back to the top of the suspect list.

Poor Esposito, his date is cut short by Beckett and Ryan when they show up to take Scarlet in. It seems she paid her friend to play along with the sex tape story. What she was really into was corporate espionage. She was hired by Little Frog Enterprises, a children’s media company to find dirt on Beau. It seems that Beau wanted to invest in Little Frog and the CEO was trying to keep him out. He was desperate to find something to use to keep this man from destroying his life’s work. He turns over the SD card that Scarlet had stolen from Beau’s office.

On the SD card they find a sex tape alright, and they see a familiar face; one of the ladies they interviewed from the club. Turns out that her name is Candace, she is a kindergarten teacher AND the daughter of Ronald Armstrong, the head of a group called “Voices for Decency”. This is the group that was protesting outside the club. This makes Candace the prime suspect.

Candace confesses that she knew Beau, that they had a one night stand, and that she was pregnant. She had told Beau and he had made it his mission to be a good father to this child. He had promised Candace he would prove to her that he could change. He had planned to close up shop on “College Girls Gone Crazy” and invest in Little Frog as a show of good faith. He wanted to be a Father.

One problem, by shutting down the show, he was putting his producer out of work. And Troy Strickland was having none of that. When he found out what Beau had planned he decided Beau had to go. He found his opportunity that night at the club and took it. And that is another case closed.

What about Alexis’ vlog? Well, Castle tries to talk to her during the case, they argue and Alexis storms off. But after tempers cool they work it out. She tells her dad that she is a smart girl and he needs to trust her. Castle agrees, but lets her know that he will never stop caring or worrying. All and all, a nice wrap up to the vlog drama.

As usual, I enjoyed this episode. It was a good mix of humor and drama. I am enjoying the continued break from the romance angle. I think we have a good balance here of romance, humor, and drama that a lot of shows struggle to achieve. Castle seems to come by it almost naturally. This is most likely due to the combination of great writing, a great cast, and a great crew. And lots of hard work. The work is really appreciated. This show never fails to bring a smile and a laugh, to engage my heart and my mind. It is a great escape!

I would love to hear what you think of this episode and where you see the show headed in the future. Will Beckett and Castle make it or break it? Will Espo find love and change his ways? What’s next for Ryan and the rest of our cast? What do you think?