The Double Down (2009) User Reviews (3)

Castle 'The Double Down' Review,

[maine_310 · 9/10 · 22 October 2009]

You know you've reached a point in your criminal career, when you begin to place bets on the cases you solve. It soon becomes the best way to pass time in the career that tends to suck the soul out from you. It only takes Castle to turn a profession into a dance lesson.

To top it of from a blast of a season premiere, 'Castle' found a way to make it all comedy and a whole ball of fun.

Who knew that placing a bet on two completely different crimes would turn out to be linked. Two complete strangers planning a murder was quite clever, but they must have really hated their counterparts enough to arrange for them to be murdered. I knew the husband axed his wife from the moment he began squirting out fake tears and regretting not professing his love to her. Somehow his words of love for his wife came off cold and lacked any sense of emotion, which was why I was shocked when he was marked at a game around the time of her murder.

We didn't really grasp why he hated his wife so much, nor should we care. These strangers would have to live with the guilt of concocting a slightly flawless plan and going behind bars when all fell through. Be careful who you talk to on board your daily boat detour, you wouldn't really know what stranger you could trust with your life.

It is almost amazing that every mid-life crisis Castle's daughter faces, she always gives an antidote for his poison. She finds a way to give Castle some life changing advice which inadvertently turns out to be the solution to his crime solving problems. It was all for the best she got rid of her boyfriend, he was really becoming a bit of a bore. Props to Castle's mother's acting skills, I really wondered if she finally had a screw loose.

Quotes Castle: "You know if this was one of those super sci-ency forensic shows you could stick some electrodes in these fishes brains get a fish eyed view of whatever they saw" (I wonder if he would be the detective on that show) Dr. Parish: "Looks like a patient lost his patience" Castle: "Also his command of grammar. you're should be you-'-re as in you are, that's not even a tough one not like when to use who or whom." Beckett: "Do you really think that's the take away here castle" Castle: "I'm just saying whoever killed her also murdered the English language." 'The Double Down' was filled with elaborate humor and the title could have easily given away the entire plot, but whenever you've got Castle in a scene, one would tend to crack up rather than focus on the guilty. Who knew such a Romeo could cause you to break out a laugh for centuries. I was really looking forward to see him with that dress and shaved head. Oh Well.

Lexa Reviews

http://lexabuti.blogspot.com

___________

Five Stars

Grade A-

___________

One of the funniest episodes ever

[omero-omero · 9/10 · 4 September 2022]

With the addition of new interesting characters too, which are quite "believable" given the genre.

Punch lines along with some expressions are truly remarkable.

Albeit the plot is not so original, the execution of the script and the performance of all the actors involved is excellent.

Since this is going to be a spoiler free review, one will have to watch very closely how the main cast characters dynamics evolves throughout the whole ordeal.

It is even scientifically accurate for the part that reveals the key to solve the case. No, not the part about applying electrodes to fishes to read their brains! That was obviously Castle being himself.

A flimsy premise for flimsy plot

[phoenix-hourglass · 7/10 · 6 November 2014]

What could have been an interesting episode- Ryan and Esposito getting a chance to work on their own case, outside Beckett's command- was utterly spoiled when it turns out the cases are connected. From that point it becomes clear that it's a Strangers on a Train plot, and Castle name-checking the movie doesn't excuse them for using it.

Also, the cases are linked because of diatoms found on both bodies unique to one body of salt water. That body of water winds up being a lake. I'd think a heck of a lot of people would be walking around with the lake diatoms on their bodies, making that connection incredibly flimsy. I understand New York is a big city, but it's like saying "Either both victims, both killers, or some combination of the two both passed by the same commonly accessible spot in some time prior to the murders. That can't be a coincidence!" It would've been better if they'd managed to find some other way to connect the cases, because that ruins it for me. A flimsy premise for a flimsy plot.

The 'full moon' scene at the opening feels incredibly out of place, because we never just watch them sit around the squad room. Maybe it's more common in other crime shows, but we don't get anything remotely close to this pandemonium in a typical episode, so it already feels like we've been transported to another precinct.