To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive

Ha! Well, I guess this was pretty much the one scenario where it would be halfway believable for a team of medical examiners to be totally badass, such as by storming into a hospital and shutting down an entire surgical ward, and they certainly played it to the hilt. In fact, the whole thing felt like a much, much more natural way of integrating the ME characters into the crime-solving. At least surgical procedures and hospital administration is something Megan actually should know something about, and I can certainly see Kate having the power and connections to lean on Gwen in appropriate ways.

I loved Ethan's little subplot/romance, too! Awwwww, so cute. I loved the bit at the end where Curtis was caught between Ethan and Karen and going, "Ohhhh, places I do not need to be, OMG." And I liked that it was a straight-forward, non-criminal death that it centered on. It's nice to see some of the more routine work they do. (There was a nice shot somewhere in the middle where we saw another body prepped for autopsy, giving the impression of a bustling office, which again makes it seem like a more real, fleshed-out setting.)

Though speaking of realism...I question whether a former neurosurgeon-turned-ME can use a bottle of vodka and a kitchen knife to cut someone's abdomen open and figure out exactly what's gone wrong and exactly how to fix it until the paramedics get there. (Though at least they had her only able to do a stop-gap measure, and not just go ahead and cure the guy.) Then again, these kinds of shows do tend to work best on the "drink more, think less" principle.

So, Megan and Peter broke down a door and performed emergency surgery. Surely this is up there with the delivering-a-baby-together cliche on the scale of shippiness? Yes? Oh, you guys. You're too adorable for words. I liked their banter at the beginning, too, and the way Peter literally pushed her forward when the guy they saved wanted to thank her.

I also liked the way Megan's dead patient "haunted" this episode without completely overwhelming it. (Minus one scene. More anon.) I'd been wondering how the inevitable malpractice suit had gone down, and exactly how she'd left neurosurgery. Like Peter, I was really impressed with the way she handled it: giving up her practice immediately, not trying to fight it. The pilot certainly gave the impression that she'd been dragged kicking and screaming from her surgical tools. I liked how the accident informed her drive to get to the bottom of this case; in general, I find "because she wants justice!" kind of a weak motivation for any character, and very much appreciate it when we get a more specific motivation.

Something I did not appreciate, though: Megan's chat with Dr. Chandler near the end. These were special circumstances and all, but I really, really, really want them to quit with the scenes where she goes all judgy-judge on people and tells them they're "pathetic" or "reckless" or whatever. Writers, if you've done your job, we know that already. Megan doesn't need to tell us. I like her being smug about her intelligence and medical knowledge; being morally righteous makes her much less sympathetic.

I guess Bud is still in court this week? I...can't say as I missed him. I already mentioned that the show has a few too many characters, and Sam's excellent. I wonder if they were planning to go somewhere with that "Because you're prejudiced" line the cheesesteak place worker said to her? Given the issues inherent with Megan's frequent treatment of Curtis (SPEAKING OF WHICH: OMG, that scene where they're all archly mutually respectful, how great was it?), I was surprised to see that pop up.

Kate was awesome this week. She knows the mayor well enough to know that he hates when people hang up on him! And the mayor calls her back! Heh, she and Castle should talk.

One last thought about Ethan: is he actually Megan's intern/fellow, or is he just employed by the city and has attached himself to Megan like a baby duckling because he's figured out that she's the smartest person in the building and he'll learn the most from her?