Castle, "Dreamworld": In the land of blue lights and green, green trees

And so we hit week two of "Everything is Going a Lot Better Than I Had Originally Projected," to my pleasure. Can everything still go horribly wrong? Of course it can, and I am suitably braced, but right now I'm feeling pretty good. Why? Well, that's what this post is for (besides personal indulgence).

So, Dreamworld. I'll just get it out of the way: yes, cheesy plot is cheesy as hell, but I have never been one to complain about contrivance -- the reality is, everything's been done already, and any correlation between quality and predictability is spurious at best. Yes, we all know going in that Castle is going to be fine, just as we all know that this engagement with the AG (or the FBI? to be honest, Beckett's job description is pretty vague) is temporary. I know I couldn't help muttering aloud to Castle at least once during initial viewing, "Don't worry, Castle, you've plot armor. Denser than lead." But that doesn't matter for the same reason that everyone knowing the resolution to "Knockout" long before it came doesn't matter, for the same reason we can watch a MOTW for years on end despite the knowledge that 99.7% of the time the murderer will be caught at episode close: because the journey's all that really matters. And I liked Dreamworld's journey.

For starters, I like the world of the AG/FBI that the show is building. I had fully expected that the office would be a cold, bloodless hell, that the people working there would be awful, distant, unrelatable, and unkind. I had expected to see Beckett trapped in the prison she'd unknowingly fallen into, homesick and pining for family. Yet that hasn't happened at all. The only thing that's really matched expectations is that the place is as gloriously ridiculous as I had imagined, with its massive touch-screen and the beeping computers and the hundreds of random, glowing blue lights (but, hey, it's TV, and Castle on top of it). But besides that, the people working there are perfectly personable, and Beckett herself seems comfortable there, at least professionally. What's more, her partner is likeable.

Let's talk about McCord for a second here, since she was a big part of my takeaway.

I like her a lot, for a variety of reasons, few of which I touched on my discussion of "Valkyrie." She's integrated well with Beckett, they seem to respect each other, and I'm getting sadder all the time that their relationship is going to end up coming to a close, since I can really see this growing into something. What did I like? Well, I liked that it was McCord who instigated the first meeting with Reed, not Beckett. I had fully expected it to be Beckett leading the charge against the Defense Secretary (given, well, she's Beckett), yet it was McCord who actively took the first strike ("Where are we headed?" "To talk to the one person who might actually know what's going on..."). I like that she already knows Beckett well enough that she's able to take the hint to leave just from the look on her face (see: 12:23). I like that she doesn't interfere with, protest against, or otherwise work against Richmond's illegal dump-mining. I like that she was given a scene in which she (attempts to) comfort Castle. I like that she trusted Beckett's hunch about Reed's wife despite not knowing her "play," that she ended up saving Beckett's life (probably). I like her "That's what partners do."

She's even giving Beckett coffee, because partners don't just back plays and save each other's lives, they do small stuff like this.

Given the show's love of contrast, I had fully expected Beckett's federal partner to be cold, indifferent, arrogant, unapproachable, and I had fully expected Beckett to hate him (because I had definitely expected a him). Yet McCord is very quickly being built into a sympathetic character -- someone similar to Beckett, just older and more cynical about the world. Part of me is already building head-canon for her: she'd been partner-less for awhile (perhaps because her last one transferred to another department or retired or died, but that was several years ago); she grew up locally, though she doesn't speak to her mother anymore (who moved to Charlotte); her dad's dead; she smoked for ten years but quit sometime in the mid-90s shortly after ending a mutually destructive relationship with a lawyer she met at a bar where a lot of government-types closed their evenings. She's fun, is what I'm getting at. And the fact that she likes and gets Beckett is a huge plus for me. I couldn't help but cheer a little at seeing that McCord has apparently already realized Beckett's coffee addiction.

I also like that Villante (the chief) is being built in a similar, likeable fashion. He seems to already respect Beckett, and he hasn't taken it upon himself to be a thorn up her ass. There's no reprimand from on high for her push to have Richmond illegally data mine from the military (which just surprised me even more than McCord not ratting about it), and he watches the clearly illegally-obtained footage/audio without comment. When he confronts Beckett about her run-in with Reed, he very quickly moves to complimenting her once he sees her plan. No threats, no leash pulling. He's even nice to Castle (not only granting him amnesty and haven within the office, but asking him to find a place in his next book for a "dashing Colombian-American federal agent"). In two episodes, Villante has reached the place that took Gates half a season to reach (if she's even reached it yet). I can actually see Beckett eventually building a relationship with him, which isn't something I feel could ever be achieved with Gates (one could make the two lionesses in one den argument, and I could go with it, but that would take too long and we're talking about "Dreamworld," not Gates). He's not Montgomery (of "Knockout" or before), probably never would be to her, but I can see them sharing a beer or something, eventually.

Also, I mean, come on:

Richmond is just hilarious. Yes, his presence borders on the painfully stereotypical, but there's something vaguely enamoring about the techie who only seems to ever move the six yards between a few different computers. It's true, he's no Marshall Flinkman, but I like that even despite how limited his screen presence has been, he's still willing to bend the rules for Beckett -- a woman he's known barely two months. He's even the one to suggest bending the rules/breaking the law. I've gotta give the guy some credit.

Overall I've just been really pleased with how overwhelmingly positive the job has been. I can see Beckett being dissatisfied with it on some level, since despite the big step up in her own power, she's no more able to take down powerful people than she was in New York (RE: Bracken), but I'm surprised at how well she's integrated, how nice everyone is being. If I didn't know better, I could see the show staying here, and I could see Beckett being okay for it, especially since for once she seems to be around equals (don't get me wrong, I love the 12th and I look forward to her coming back into her family, but the reality is that Stack was right in noticing the glaringly obvious, that she was working below herself there; as much as I love Esposito and Ryan, sometimes they're nothing more than her scut-monkeys, and she clearly doesn't always respect their counsel). I don't see McCord cowing to her, just as I don't see Beckett feeling like Villante is an obstacle, and I'm really liking the shift in dynamic (though this could (and probably will) all change).

But moving beyond the AG/FBI, one of the other things I really liked about Dreamland was Martha's little subplot.

There was something really attractive to me about early s4, when both Martha and Alexis had an almost open dislike for Beckett and her world, because to them she represented a real threat to Castle's life. I was disappointed that this never went anywhere, but I like that here we see it resurface, if with a slightly different manifestation, because the reality is that Beckett does represent a real threat to Castle's life. Castle's brief visit and his tiny bit of bored, curious digging into a case nearly does lead to his death. Her world is just as toxic to him now as it ever has been, if not more so, and I like that when it came to Martha's subplot, for brief moments Beckett almost seemed like the villain of the tale.

Reasonable Esposito calling to gently ask what's going on, only to slam into the brick wall that is Defensive Beckett.

The audience can understand why Beckett's brusque here, but Esposito and Ryan are probably aware within a word that everything is most certainly wrong. From the perspective up in New York, Beckett is a lying, unreachable and immovable force, and I can only assume that the first time she calls to tell anyone the truth is when Castle's at the hospital, having only just barely avoided death. I'm disappointed we didn't have a scene in which Martha confronts her for her behavior. It's not to say I feel Beckett is to blame for any of what happened, but I can definitely see how Martha might feel she is (similar to how Alexis felt in one of my all time favorite moments of the series, during "Cops and Robbers" when she's glaring at Beckett, telling her Castle and Martha are "all she has"), and I really like to see the concerns surface again.

I think part of the reason why is because we're reminded again through the "Valkyrie"/"Dreamworld" TBC that Beckett and Castle's relationship probably isn't going to end in the usual way (divorce, time, old age): that one of them is almost certainly going to die prematurely before they're able to. I say that because we open "Valkyrie" with Beckett getting shot point blank in the chest multiple times and we close "Dreamworld" with Castle lying in a hospital bed. I think Martha is painfully aware of this, and I bet this is something both she and Alexis have been struggling with for awhile now (or, at least, I like to imagine that).

And that's exactly the sort of stuff that makes me get my fangirl on.

You know what else does? This guy.

"I know a guy at the ACLU!"
Ugh, Pi, you're so precious, I just want to smush you like a ball of fresh dough and then run it over a few times to make sure it's good and dead.

Actually, he really doesn't. He's just fricking hilarious, and I couldn't figure out a segue.

Anyway, for real this time, you know what else gets my fangirl on?

All this.

I loved Beckett in "Dreamworld." She was the fierce, never-say-die Beckett who captured my attention at some point in s1, whose actions in "Knockdown" pretty much cemented her place in my heart. I loved her going after Reed without seeming to really care about the fallout, I loved her staring at him with an open hatred that probably would've shriveled a lesser man's balls. She seems to have grown into her new position, especially as she bellows "national security!" and "federal agent!" as if they hold the power to unlock any door. And I loved her refusal to even entertain the possibility that Castle might not live through the day, even as he sits there making increasingly unfunny jokes about it. There was something about Beckett leaving Castle on Reed's perfectly manicured lawn to go after Parker that spoke to me -- because she's a woman of action, not one to sit there beside him holding his hand and waiting for McCord. We see in her pain and retribution, but not helplessness.

To be frank, there was nothing in "Dreamworld" that I truly didn't like, and I've run out of cogent analysis. For once I feel no need to complain. I was really happy with the episode. At this point I can only hope that the next episode is as good.

Hey, Beckett, you know who probably couldn't get the drop on you?
Bracken.
Please just shoot him the face already.