Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Nathan Fillion Week: Special Edition: Castle

Ah, Castle, the premiere that made me decide to do Nathan Fillion Week this week. Nathan Fillion plays celebrity author Richard Castle. Writer of murder mysteries and signer of breasts. He's also the type of person who has let the celebrity go to his head.

After writing a successful series of crime novels, he's killed off his main character, much to the chagrin of his publisher. Which wouldn't be so bad, except the rumor mill keeps saying that his well is dry and he can't come up with a new story. He's nine weeks past his deadline. What's a self obsessed writer to do? We'll come back to that.

You see, someone is killing people. More than that, someone is killing people based on Castle's books. Which intrigues Castle. Detective Kate Beckett, aside from being the lead on the investigation, is also a fan of Castle's books. And, like any good detective, she talks to Castle. And, suddenly he's involved in the case. He's not a suspect, but his knowledge of his own material gives him a unique insight into the case. Or at least he thinks so. So, he talks to some of his friends and gets brought in as a consultant.

Long story short, they end up working together to solve the mystery. And, in a mostly fun way. It's not quite as light as some of the USA Network shows like Psyche or Monk, though the potential for it to go that route is there. It's also not deathly serious. Castle and Beckett have a lot of witty banter between them that will hopefully become sharper as the characters develop. Castle treats the case as a story, and Beckett comes at it as a cop. It's two unique perspectives. And they go together well, like ranch dressing and...well a lot of things...like salad, or fries or onion rings from Red Robin. Just trust me on this one, the analogy works.

The show has a lot of potential. The characters look like they could be interesting and fun. The focus was on Castle in episode one, with just enough Beckett to establish her and her role. And, of course, they gave the two characters enough of a personality conflict, and made them both smart enough, that they become equally matched verbal sparring partners. I have to say it, Castle seems like it might just be fun!

3 comments:

The Queen of the Blogosphere and Pizza said...

Has he kept his hair that length forever? I don't think I have ever seen him with different hair in ANY other film/show. Just sayin'. Not that this is an issue. I finally like my hair length, and I will probably keep it like this forever. Let's get Thai food soon, ok!

Unknown said...

His hair was slightly shorter in Dracula 2000, but you're right, it's been pretty much the same length/style for everything he's done. That's not uncommon for a guy though.

Totally, let's get thai. I hear that they closed that sushi place by your work (or are about to).

Anonymous said...

My daughter called for a lengthy chat while I was watching this show and I still managed to understand everything that happened. That proves that it isn't very deep. As much as I love Nathan, I was thrilled to see Castle playing poker with James Patterson! That part rocked!