Like Father, Like Daughter: Review

Best episode of the season

Like Father, Like Daughter was a very interesting episode.It starts with a scene where a woman gets murdered. A few seconds later we see a young guy being arrested by the police, after he was found fleecing the crime scene. His brother called out his name, while Frank Henson is being led away by the police. Of course by then we knew already non of these guys were the real killers.

But the judge was convinced Frank did it. Even though Alexis and her little innocence review club tried to do everything to proof his innocence. Well, everything….except for asking her dad for help, who she still is mad on for not behaving very friendly during last weeks episode. 

Alexis apparently went to Ryan & Espo to help her with the case, to proof Frank was not the killer, but they couldn't really help her, although they tried everything. This is interesting. Alexis didn't' go to her dad because she was mad at him. But she didn't go to Beckett either. And that while she wasn't mad at her. Or at least not for why she is mad of her dad. I'm guessing it is because Alexis still doesn't like that Caskett got engaged without involving her in the decision at all.

To try to get Frank out of death row, Alexis finally goes to her dad after Ryan & Javi told her that he might help her, as he could see something weird others might not see (which is really nice of them and it is something they probably never would say in Castle's face).

Alexis then goes to Castle, announces she still is mad, and asks her for help. Castle, who has been keeping track of the case, has doubts about Frank's innocence, but agrees to help his daughter. Probably he saw it as a way to try to get closer to her again. The story about being chased by cows was one of the things Castle tried to make Alexis think about the good old days, when she was still young and they were really really close. But Alexis didn't fall for it and wanted to go work on the case. We see Alexis very target driven and grown up this episode. The last couple of episodes she showed a side from her I didn't like, but this episode she was great and grown up and the responsible Alexis we know.

A fun scene was the moment when Castle had to explain that he was just a mystery writer and not a cop or a lawyer. He clearly tried to make clear that he isn't a miracle worker and they shouldn't get their hopes up too much, but he would do his very best. And that is what he did. A big plot hole in the episode was that Castle was calling with Beckett from prison. That's definitely not possible.

After a suspicious meeting with a cop, who was pretty much harassing them because they still worked on the case of Henson (and who you knew clearly had something more to do with the case the first time you saw him) Castle found the first thing the investigation had overlooked. But it wasn't enough to clear Frank's name.

So Alexis & Castle continued to investigate the case. And it turned out that Alexis' professor and the other members of the team that tried to clear Frank's name didn't do such a good job with looking at everything. The Castles were able to find quite a few new clues and leads. How is it possible they didn't interview the dead girls ex-boyfriend. Yeah, he didn't want to be reminded of things. But even not when a life could be at stake? Alexis could pretty much just walk in and get some major new leads. The victim saw other boys, the victim went to a party the night she got killed and came back upset from it, the victim asked her ex to drive her home. All things the police and later the innocence club should have found out and looked for. But then there wouldn't be a case for Castle to solve of course.

Ryan found something that eventually was crucial for the case. He found out the building where the party was, was closed a year ago. People who lived there got sick from meth residue. And meth is being made with the evidence Lanie discovered before. The victim had uncovered a meth cooking lab! And there were bike tyre tracks found close to the building. The tyre tracks were found too at the victims house the night she got killed. In the same scene where Ryan passes on what he found to the Castles, they had a weird moment. Normally Beckett and Castle end up saying the same thing at exactly the same time, but now the same thing happened to Alexis and Castle. Which made Alexis almost throw up in her own mouth as soon as they realized that.

The mother of the victim led the Castles to a chemistry book, which was left behind at the crime scene. The victim tutored chemistry to some guys. With the help of a librarian they traced the book to Frank Henson's brother. A scene you could see coming came next. Frank already thought his brother was the killer and didn't want Alexis and Castle to look further in the case. But he explained he found his brother over the body and send him away and took the blame.

The father and daughter crime solving team didn't gave up yet to save Frank anyway. Castle discovered a weird clock which proofed Kim was killed before they thought she was killed. That meant both brothers were innocent. And as Castle looked at a crime scene video he found a bracelet charm under the victim. This meant that John Henson was innocent too. And that someone else lost a charm. The killer had. One of the kids she tutored must have been the killer. With the help of a money trail they found out it was…. the cop who was bothering the Castles earlier. We didn't see that coming at all… 

Frank Henson was found innocent after all and released by the judge. Alexis didn't stay to celebrate her victory in saving his life by not giving up and believing in his innocence. She thanked her dad. And she wanted to go back to NYC to thank Beckett. In the closing scene we saw Alexis and Beckett hug. A great and touchy scene, which might mean Alexis is now ok again with Castle and Beckett being together and getting married.

In this episode there wasn't much Caskett. And that is more than fine with me, as the show isn't only about Caskett making out or holding hands. If you want to only see that, then you better watch a romantic comedy or even a porn if you want to see sex scenes instead of this show that is a police procedural, a drama and a comedy. But the scenes where Castle and Beckett had interaction were pretty great. First of all the scene where Castle wants to marry in space. A great idea of course, but Beckett unfortunately does think otherwise. Another great moment is when Beckett is talking to Castle on the phone and telling him she cares about Alexis too.

Another great Beckett moment was when she came to Lanie for help for Alexis' case with the lab tests, which turned out to be pretty important for solving the case. And later again when she came to Lanie for help with how to handle Alexis. Lanie seemed a little weird in that scene. Why, I don't know. It just felt weird. But it is good to have a Lanie/Beckett scene once in a while.

All in all I really liked this episode, because it was different then standard episodes. I do like the standard episodes, but after Kate went to DC and then came back to the 12th it feels weird and it feels like the show doesn't show much progress in Casketts lives. They still don't live together, they still aren't very busy with wedding planning, their careers don't seem to change. They are stuck. While they should grow and develop. Hopefully we will see soon more of that, as it really is necessary for the show to keep the high quality and to keep its fan base not to decrease. Ratings showed too that Like Father, Like Daughter had the highest ratings of the season and that while it was focused a lot on Alexis, who seems to be the least liked character on the show lately. This was pretty surprising, but not if you've seen the episode. This episode was about growth in the relationship between Alexis and her dad, Alexis and Beckett and the growth of Alexis herself. Even though the case had some holes in it, for me this was the best episode of the season so far.