I’ve recently started watching Castle. I’d heard of it a while back but never got round to watching it till now. So I’ve been racing through the episodes. Partly because its rather good but also because Amazon might remove it from Prime at any moment.
I was interested in the show because of Nathan Fillion. I like him as an actor and it’s good to see him in something else. In this he plays the eponymous character and stars alongside Stana Katic and its the chemistry between these two that really makes the series work and really that’s to be expected.
With any show of this ilk you know what you’re getting. The bad guy is always going to be caught by the end of the episode. What keeps people coming back is the intricacy of the plots and the characters.
One criticism I feel I must make is the background to Detective Beckett. Spoilers. Five… Four… Three… Two… One….
Beckett joined the NYPD because of the death of her mother. I tried to find the name of this trope but failed. I only succeeded in finding spoilers. So I’m not going to continue looking. In any event this is a fairly common device used as character back story and/or motivation. Not specifically a parent but a bad thing that happened in the past.
Adrian Monk (Monk): The death of his wife
Fox Mulder (The X-Files): Disappearance of his Sister
Temperance Brennan (Bones): The Disappearance of her parents.
Seeley Booth: (Bones): Worked as a sniper and now wishes to atone.
All these characters, and no doubt ones in other series, have this darkness. My googling says that there are over a million police officers in the US – do they all have tragedy in their pasts?
This backstory doesn’t detract from the series but I wish writers would come up with something new now and again.
One thing that really makes the series work is Castle himself. He is a fairly well rounded character. He has two ex-wives, as we might expect, but also has a teenage daughter, Alexis, and he is the responsible parent. In many ways Alexis is more mature than he is. The dynamic between them is wonderful. Fillion slips effortlessly between his bantering and flirty personality to being the responsible parent. The interactions between Castle and Alexis are wonderful and a nice departure from the usual cliches we might associate with a divorced father.
Shows like this are like popcorn. Little in the way of nutritional value but you won’t be able to watch just one.
Disclaimer
I just wanted to say that I have checked this post. I really have. Unfortunately my particular combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia makes it really hard for me to spot typos. Please enjoy and I’ll try not to make too many errors.
Unstable Orbit 