Castle (TV Series) Secret's Safe with Me (2012) User Reviews

Overall Good Show, Though Some Iffy Plot Tricks

[MichaelSeese · 8/10 · 17 October 2012]

SPOILERS THROUGHOUT! Proceed at your own risk!

I could write this show! Midway through -- when Castle and Beckett went back to Anjelica's to confront her about the insurance fraud -- I said out loud, "The butler did it." And I was right! Castle was even gracious enough to use my exact words. Then, when they went to commercial I said, "Why commit the fraud? Just sell the $4 million bracelet for $4 million, and pay off your debts." And when they returned, what did Beckett ask Anjelica?

Overall, though, this was a mixed episode. There were a lot of good points. The homage to "Da Vinci Code" was a great way to start. In my writing, I enjoy throwing in pop culture references. (Did I mention I could have written this one?) I thought it was hilarious when Captain Gates turned into a giddy child when she saw the "Gemini" doll, and then became a fawning fan of Castle, the author. And I love the quirky characters they throw in. Last week, it was the makeup artists; this week, it was the you-store-it owner who looked at the victim's picture and said, really drolly, "She was a lot less bloody when I saw her."

My primary complaint was the plethora of plot implausibilities, some bordering on deux ex machina. Castle and Beckett wanted the contents of storage unit 317. A lot. Obviously, so did Felix. A lot. They didn't think to question him right then? Really? Wendell was able to take a photo of an artificial eye fragment and actually find the owner? Really? And then poor Wendell just happened to use the subway station which happened to have out-of-order cameras, allowing Kirby the butler to shove him in front of the train? Oh, and no one standing on the platform saw it? Really?

Oh well.

As always, much of the dialog had me in stitches.

Castle: "I learned so much," in reference to the time he and Alexis had "the talk."

Castle: "Mother used her Jedi mind tricks on me." (See pop culture reference comment above.)

Lanie: "Oh, you are in trouble." (After Beckett busted him rummaging through her desk.) Castle: "I'm not in trouble." (Hangs up.)

Castle: "I'm a best-selling author. Why wouldn't I have two grand in my pocket?"

Castle: "I think my hand's getting sweaty." Beckett: "I know. It's kind of gross."

And the capper, which was 50% a "look."

Beckett: "Take your hand off your tool." Ryan & Esposito: (snicker) Beckett: "Shut up."

My other favorite look was Castle's raised eyebrow when Beckett did not disavow her "kinky past."

This show doing what it does best

[Jackbv123 · 9/10 · 29 January 2022]

This episode is proof that they don't need to dredge up deep conspiracies of high placed corruption or echoes of the series Firefly to produce a brilliant hour of entertainment. This episode is Castle (the series) doing what it does best.

I am partial to the family moments, especially Rick and Alexis, and this one is perfect right down to Rick looking under the bed.

The handshake moment is another gem that harkens back to the early days of clever interactions between Beckett and Castle.

Deduct a star for continuing a shallow stereotype in Gates. She is not as bad as sometimes, but still one-dimensional.

I will continue to push through the other junk for hours like this one. I never get tired of these.

A little auction secret

[VetteRanger · 8/10 · 27 December 2022]

Brother and sister twins are murders weeks apart, and Castle discovers the sister wanted to bid on a storage unit in her brother's name ... although he rented it under an assumed name. Castle reinterprets a clue to figure out which unit to investigate, but the auction is starting and they have no time for a warrant to stop it.

I was impressed that the writers actually knew a handy bidding secret at actions, since obviously Castle decides to win the action and take possession of whatever valuable item or clue might come with the contents.

As the bidding progressed, I'm talking to the TV: "JUMP THE BID!"

Auctioneers want to lead people along with small raises. It keeps the momentum going, because the last people outbid only have to make a small budget decision for their next bid. In truth, people are frequently led (and tempted) to bid more than they'd intended.

If you really want to win a bid, don't let the auctioneer do that. First, decide on the maximum you're willing to bid on something. Next test the bidding. Let other people bid for a while to see if there is any real interest ... that lets you know if you might pick it up at a bargain.

If you can't pick it up for a low bid, and that's become obvious, jump the last bid by a fairly substantial margin. Now the other bidders have a MUCH larger budget decision to make, and they just might not make it before the auctioneer knocks it down to you. If there ARE more bids after that, see if they bid at lower raises than before. Those are weak bids that indicate that bidder is at the top of their range. Jump them ONCE more, possibly to the price you've decided is your top bid. 95% chance you'll win the bidding on the spot. But make that your last bid. Don't exceed your budget.

That's what the writers had Castle do, and they let it work, which it most likely would have.

Good episode, but based around a weak cliché.

[phoenix-hourglass · 6/10 · 5 November 2014]

This may seem nit-picky, but they brought it upon themselves.

I've never seen a case where a victim leaving some sort of clue to their murderer made sense. How did they know? What if they're wrong? Why didn't the killer wait until they were dead to leave? How do you know that's even supposed to be a clue? They really had the presence of mind to do that? How much blood has this person lost already? Etc.

So as I'm watching the episode, all I can think about are better clues she could have left. Why "317"? Why not "locker" or "doll" or her brother's name?

And why write it so big? You're BLEEDING TO DEATH! Ration that stuff! She had to crawl, repeatedly, to write out the most cryptic clue she could find in huge letters. Wouldn't it make more sense to stay in one spot and write a longer clue in smaller lettering. If she hadn't wasted so much time and blood, she could have written something that actually made sense. "Locker 317." "Gemini doll." "My brother tracked down the man who killed our parents, so if you look inside the Gemini doll inside storage locker 317 you'll be able to solve four murders."

Who the heck is she writing to anyway? At least when a victim leaves a clue to the murder's identity, it's clear they're leaving it for the police. She really expected writing "317" to help the police? Why would she possibly think they'd have any idea what that meant? Again, at least write "locker 317" so they have some idea where to look. Yeah, maybe they'll waste some time looking at a train station or gym or something, but that still narrows it down much more than just a three-digit number does.

And the most infuriating part is that it didn't have to be a cryptic message written in blood. It could have been a note in her pocket, or jotted down on her arm if they wanted to go for something a little weirder. And in that case, it makes more sense, because it would mean it's a note she wrote to herself. It doesn't have to be specific or useful to the investigation. It just needs to be helpful to her.

The rest of the episode is great, but it's based around one of my least favorite crime tropes, and that spoils the whole thing for me.