Castle Season 1 Episode 8

A body is found in a tub filled with motor oil inside a cheap SRO hotel. What’s the story here?

Castle hosts a poker party with the team at his penthouse.

Beckett has a winning hand to play.

The game becomes a showdown between Castle …

… and Beckett …

.. and it turns out Castle’s hand is the winning one!

But Beckett rakes in the chips!

A peek at his folded hand …

.. and Mother Castle sees the truth. Castle threw the game!

Nice camera angles at the SRO.

Episode credits.

A writer has a connection to the case.

Beckett gives Castle the winnings from the poker game.

His own mother ratted him out! Beckett wants a rematch!

Look at why even minor proofreading is important:

True-crime writer Lee Wax. Hmmm … I wonder what @crimewriters thought of her?

The manuscript.

Why is it in a binding? It should be loose pages tied up with rubber bands!

Castle’s Gotham Gang poker party: the Mayor, the Chief of Police, and the Judge who signs Beckett’s warrants.

This time Beckett has the winning hand.

But Castle rakes in the chips!

The actress used had real burns scars. Look closely: no middle finger tip.

Castle returns the winning money to Beckett.

He pulls out a deck of cards.

And the battle of skills and wills begins again!

The dead person who really isn’t dead is an old one. But they managed to keep me distracted long enough with other things not to catch on.

Two more episodes of Castle this season. Still no word — as of this post — of its renewal for Fall.