Mar 23 2009
Castle — “Hedge Fund Homeboys”
Nolan Gerard Funk as Brandon in “Hedge Fund Homeboys”, Castle screencap c2009 ABC Studios.
Tonight was the new Castle episode, “Hedge Fund Homeboys”. A prep school boy is found murdered in a boat, set adrift in the lake. The trail leads to his close-knit group of friends. These friends apparently got drunk and high in the park and “played” at Russian Roulette–supposedly without bullets. Add a disgruntled and suspicious drug dealer with a motive and you’ve got yourself a complicated mystery.
Castle was extremely enjoyable tonight, both for the winding tale of the murder, and the gradually developing teamwork by Beckett (Stana Katic) and Castle (Nathan Fillion). Fillion is as ridiculously charming as ever, and Katic is starting to warm up and get more of the nuances right. She had a few great dirty looks in this episode that were just perfectly timed and executed.
There was also a really nice and unexpected subplot with Castle and his daughter Alexis (Molly C. Quinn). Seeing how oblivious the parents were of what their kids were really up to, Castle has a heart-to-heart with his daughter to find out if she’s really as good as he thinks she is. Her later tearful confession of wrong-doing is just spot-on–it’s the type of thing real life good kids would confess to. Quinn continues to make the precocious Quinn endearing and entertaining, and she’s a perfect match for Fillion.
Tonight’s other good casting came in the guise of Hedge Fund Homeboy Brandon, played by Nolan Gerard Funk. This uber pretty young actor gave us an unsettlingly calm performance as one of the prep school friends, who all seem to have a carefully planned answer for everything. He was so irritatingly smug that it caused Castle to utter “I HATE that kid!” through clenched teeth after one of their interviews–and we the audience were ready to choke that kid as well. All a sign that Funk played the role just right.
Tune in for more fun and mystery on Castle, Monday nights at 10/9c on ABC. Here’s a teaser for “Hedge Fund Homeboys”:
(Go here if you can’t see the video.)
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