6.8 Murder Is Forever Now the dialogue is not any better than usual. There’s a weird dichotomy when it comes to dialogue on the show. In the beginning, it was uniformly bad. By that, I mean it was cliché and worn thin. It was like the writers had created a random TV procedural dialogue generator and took most of their inspiration from that. As the years have gone by, this has not entirely disappeared, but it now largely only affects one kind of dialogue on the show: any time the established characters are talking to those involved in the case (witnesses, suspects, other law enforcement personnel), they tend to use this tired type of conversation. But when they are talking to each other and for each other, the conversation is more natural, fluid, and creative. My guess is this is a result of the actors who took the garbage they were being given initially and, as their characters developed and they found their voice (partly through ab-lib, not an unusual process in television production), this fed back into the writing. But the plots, while inventive in their initial premise, tend to be pretty predictable. Not this week. Sorta. This week’s show revolved around the diamond industry, the impact that high-quality man-made diamonds would have on that industry, and the lengths that some would go to avoid that impact. Let’s be clear here: it was pretty obvious early on who the culprit is (her initial reaction telegraphed too much). But good storytelling doesn’t always rely on keeping the what at the end of the tale secret; sometimes, it is all about the why. But the greater joy of this week’s episode was the Ryan and Esposito dynamic. There’s a lot to love about this relationship and the way the two men interact with the world. What this episode highlighted was both what is good and a little less-than about that relationship. Since the larger story arch was about how a woman who has studied power dynamics in the natural world came back and applied that knowledge to human romantic interactions, there is a good portion of the episode which is devoted to the old Men-Are-from-Mars/Women-Are-from-Venus thing. And as a feminist, this stuff rankles me to my toes. Hate it when it’s between Beckett and Castle (although I liked the resolution of Linus conflict, just not the male/female rationale for it) and am equally uneasy when it’s between Ryan and Esposito. Despite this, that intimacy can still breed discomfort for some, including the men actually in that relationship, something that Ryan and Esposito occasionally skirt around in usually very humourous ways: “I skimmed through her book. There might be something to her theory. For instance, in every relationship, there needs to be a masculine energy and a feminine energy—even in ours.” “Well, we know which you are.” “I don’t know about you, but I’m very comfortable in my masculinity.” “You realize you’re wearing a sweater vest, right?” But what we also see in that room is how well the two of them work together. This is no simple good-cop/bad-cop standard. The way they position themselves in the room, the way they volley the questioning back and forth, it betrays an ease and a trust that says a lot about this relationship. They are just as much a force to be reckoned with out on the street. Usually it’s Castle and Beckett at the center of the action, but when it’s the boys’ turn, they are great to watch. The scene is which they are transporting the diamond and are attacked is filmed very well. But what this technical proficiency highlights is so much better: Esposito trying to shield his partner from the hit they take, Ryan going back for the diamond as his partner covers him, the largely unspoken communication of their next move, and the way they execute on that, each providing suppressing fire as his partner retreats to a position of safety so they can both target their attackers. So often in such scenes, what you are aware of is the choreography—the actors hitting their marks. But here, the execution is so smooth and natural in its syncopation that what it really communicates is how long these two have had each others’ backs. Read Laura’s review of the previous episode, Like Father Like Daughter, here. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
