The murder this week was of a young singer, quickly rising in fame, named Hayley Blue. Hayley was, in fact, Alexis (Molly Quinn)'s favourite star, and she told her father of the murder before Castle (Nathan Fillion) even received a call from Beckett (Stana Katic). Something to be said about those Internet blogs out there...hum...
Alexis was deeply concerned about what had happened, as well as deeply grieved. Some people might find it difficult to understand how the death of a famous person we have never met can affect us so much, but artists, whether actors, musicians, or otherwise, offer us a piece of themselves through every creative endeavor. We do not mourn them as we would a friend; not because we will never get to see them again, or because part of our life is now gone, but because of what will never be. When Heath Ledger died, I was upset and shocked, but I did not cry. Not until he won his posthumous Oscar. Then I bawled my eyes out, so grateful that the Academy Awards can given tribute to his performance, and given him the award that, had he lived, he would have been nominated for again and again. For me, Heath Ledger's death represented a loss to movies that would compare to the loss of Paul Newman had he died at 28.
Of course, Alexis' involvement was crucial to unlocking the case, since her obsession with listening to Hayley's final performance revealed that the lyrics of her newest song fingered her killer. Though, as Castle rightly pointed out, her interest in the case and small involvement made her a suspect as well. Though, of course, she'd tell her dad if she'd killed anyone, so he could help her hide the body.
So what was your verdict? Did you feel the pain of losing talent as I did? Or was the loss of talent amid the cast?
I don't think a loss of talent amid the cast, so much as a plot that... well, I found myself empathizing less with the victim than I have in the past. My feelings aren't so much about what she did, but rather the fact that we were told to care (albeit my the marvellous Alexis) rather than slowly led to care through the gradual learning about the victim (as in last week's artist).
ReplyDeleteIt's an odd thing to suss out--the whys of an episode falling a bit flat. In some ways, I'm reminded of an episode of Buffy: 3.13 "The Zeppo." There, we kept being told that the night would be an apocalypse, the end of the world--and I couldn't care because it was telling us to care and overwrought, rather than showing (a la every other near-apocalypse). What do you think?
I think that that is very accurate. I certainly didn't care that Hayley was dead, and I only felt the pain of those who did care as the mourning of an artist and not a person.
ReplyDeleteThe loss of life just never really mattered, and when that happens, I think most cop shows fall flat.
And Hayley was a talented girl who got clean and then was molested. We really should have felt for her on a personal level, but that was simply never addressed.