jlh | Castle!

As many of you know, my genre fiction of choice is mystery—I went from Scooby-Doo at six to Nancy Drew at eight to inhaling Agatha Christie at eleven and then I was off and running. I even belonged to one of those "book clubs" where you get books in the mail and a catalog full of mystery books.

So I'm very excited about Castle, a mid-season replacement on ABC. Yes, it's the Nathon Fillion show, and it a lot of ways it is The Nathon Fillion Show, but I'll get to the characters in a moment. The press release says:

Castle is inspired by shows like “Rockford Files” & “Moonlighting” that are lighthearted with romantic tension and unlike the dark procedurals prevalent today Castle invites the viewer to invest in the relationship of two people having fun together and engaging in witty banter.

I am so ready for some of that; I'm sick of these dark shows that punish women for having a sex life. (God, remember Rockford Files? It's on hulu and at netflix. *puts in queue*) The two episodes so far are classic mysteries—police procedurals, to be sure, but closed mysteries that you can solve along with the team.

Fillion's character Rick Castle is catnip for ladies in their 30s: devoted single dad of sensible teenage daughter, bemused son of eccentric actress mother, wealthy successful author with many friends, charming rogue with a trail of ladies behind him. And it isn't so much that he's met his match in Det. Kate Beckett—although, thank goodness they don't make the detective either actually not a fan or pretend to be not a fan to look cool; that she's read all his books comes out early in the first episode—as that he's met someone that he finds interesting, when he'd become Very Bored Indeed. She refers to him as a nine-year-old on a sugar rush, which isn't wrong. He nails why she became a cop since "smart, beautiful women become lawyers, not cops"; sounds like a Batman-esque backstory. Now he's decided to base his new character on her, and between that and her being the actual professional in the team, it's a pretty nice balance of power without being obviously so.

If this were a series of mystery books, they'd have an awkward and reluctant courtship over the course of about three or four books, but the mysteries would go on well after they'd gotten together because the course of true love, etc. While it's very believable that it would take them a good long while to get together (without resorting to dumb plot devices) I hope that they don't get into that "well, when they do it's the end of the show" trap. But until then, I'm perfectly happy to watch them solve mysteries in the meantime.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

-grin- I'm really liking Castle as well, particularly as the second episode was much stronger than the pilot (which was super fun but I had a couple -_- moments). It's definite The Nathan Fillion Show, because every character he's ever played has been the 90% the same with the extra ten percent made up of backstory, but Stana Katic can totally hold her own against him and it's brilliant.

What were your -_- moments? I agree the second episode was stronger; backstory and meet cute take time, and the second mystery was better constructed. Also Kate spent less time being annoyed with him.

I think most of them had to do with the mother, who was much more a caricature in the first episode and the rest were over Fillion being his over-the-top self, both of which were toned down slightly in the second episode and what was still over the top was more in balance with the rest of the episode since, as you say, the second mystery was better constructed (and less obvious) which took some of the focus off them being over the top.

Jumping in - I LOVE YOUR ICON - jumping out.

I hadn't realised this had started yet! (I don't have cable, so although I am sometimes aware a show is coming, sometimes the lack of advertisements means I'll miss the start date.) I'll definitely have to check it out.

Also, I saw I Love You, Man tonight and liked it even more than I expected to! And it wasn't even like I was expecting to dislike it at all. It was very sweet and cute, imo.

It's on ABC, just fyi, and it's on right after Dancing with the Stars, which is how I saw the promos. (There are a bunch of SYTYCD alums on DwtS, so I'm watching it at a low level this year. Probably not the done thing to watch DwtS for the dancers and not the stars, but there you go.) Also, both eps that have aired are on hulu.

I saw your review! I'm so glad that movie turned out to be completely charming. If I go to a movie in the next little while it will totally be that one!

Oh, and also, someone's already written a very cute HIMYM/Castle crossover with little hints of Dr Horrible running through it. Clever.

Oooh, have they? Linkies?

http://otempora42.livejournal.com/55428.html

Because I haven't yet watched Dr Horrible (I bought it on itunes but lost it temporarily when my previous computer died) I didn't catch that reference until I read it again and realized why Barney had an inexplicable hate on for Rick.

I'm kinda concerned that this will wind up like a gender reversed Bones which is an utter disappointment to me. Also, I'm not so much familiar with the fellow, but I got a kick out of the gal when she did that last Librarian flick late last year. Keep us posted on how it goes, pretty please?

I know what you're saying. And while I can't make a response on the romance tip—that's a time will tell thing—I will say that I'd rather watch the mysteries on Castle than the mysteries on Bones, because Castle is a procedural in name only. Like, I can't imagine Castle doing that plot twist they did on Bones where someone on the team was secretly a serial killer, because the show has already expressed a disinterest in serial killers. (And thank god for that!) So since the mysteries are good, I'm willing to take the ride even if the other plot elements don't work out.

I need a Lord Peter icon I think.

I'm quite fine with there being or not being a romance. i got sick of Bones when the characters stopped making sense within the premise the show set them up with, also making the one character I understood most into a serial killer. Also, their romances are crap, going back to the characters not making sense, the romances suffer the same.

I'm ill in bed today so I think I may wander over to ABC.com to see if they have Castle up. I might also go see if I want to catch up on the final eps of Lipstick Jungle. I know, I know, but I loved it.

You know, what cracks me up here, is that I'm having another conversation else where, other named, about Harriet (mostly) right now, and that whole series always makes me think of you. We should find you such an icon. :)

You know, I've been wanting to download this largely because I <3 Nathan Fillion, but what you've just said *really* makes me want to watch!

I too am a mystery girl, and one of the things that frustrates me most about UK libraries is that there's no mystery genre, really - instead it's crime, like written versions of CSI rather than the plucky female sleuths I adore (Goldy Bear, Faith Fairchild, Arly Hanks, Claire Malloy, Temple Barr, etc). I want to read a book that's at least half as much about the detective's life than anything else - not scene after scene of tedious interviews and gore disguised as science.

It's funny because I think of the UK as having started the whole genre of the cozy mystery, while the US is more about the police procedural or the hard boiled detective. Anyway procedurals are all the rage because men and women read them, while the other stuff is mostly only read by women.

God, GOLDY BEAR, I remember those novels! I read a lot of those sort in the 90s, but I wonder if they're still around?

In the store yesterday I did get vaguely interested in #1 Ladies Detective Agency. I think they're more the thing, and HBO is doing a series based on them at the end of the month.

Now I will need a sleuthy icon!

I blame the advent of knock-off, dime-a-dozen TV police procedurals for the shift in UK genre fiction. It's a shame, really.

Oddly enough, my tiny library has exactly one Temple Barr book (the second-to-most-recent one) and the second-ever Goldy Bear book (Dying For Chocolate). I saw it and started talking it up to my boss, as my mother had just given me a hardback copy of DMD's latest Goldy Bear book for Christmas, and my boss wound up reading the library one then mine, then went onto Amazon and bought used copies of EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. So they're definitely still around, and infiltrating the UK, too! ;)

#1 Ladies is definitely more our style - I've read several of them, but a while back.

SLEUTH! As long as it's not the new movie!Nancy Drew.

Just wanted to say I am totally enjoying this show so far too. Also I just read a fun 30s mystery called "Black Plumes"--ever heard of it? I was surprised when someone reminded me this guy was on Firefly. I saw Serenity and I feel like he's far better served here.

Castle!

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