Castle: Flowers for Your Grave

*Caution spoilers Ahead*

"Tell me you saw that!" -Richard Castle

I must admit up front that I am a fan of Nathan Fillion. I have liked him ever since I first saw him in the sitcom “Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place.” I further came to appreciate his talents in Firefly, a short-lived comedy/drama, which in my opinion, was drowned by the bungling maneuvers of the Fox network. It has since become one of my all-time favorite series.

Castle is not a fortress, but an individual. In a new dramedy from ABC called Castle, Richard Castle is played by Nathan Fillion and is somewhat akin to his character Malcolm Reynolds in Firefly. Castle is a cocky, handsome, novelist who trades quipy lines and flirts with most every girl. Fillion’s character is played almost to the point of being over the top; almost. The series is in the tradition of recent comedic dramas such as Psych and Life that deal with murder and other serious subjects, but on the lighter side. They don’t take themselves too seriously.

The show opens at Richard Castle’s latest book launching party, where his ex-wife/publisher questions his wisdom of killing off the successful main character of his murder/mystery books. Castle answers by saying that he killed off the main character because he got too predictable.

Enter unpredictability. A killer has staged 3 murders that mirror scenes from Castle’s books. Castle is then paired with an attractive, pseudo-hardnosed, female detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) to help solve the crime. Beckett just happens to be a fan of Castle’s books and is the one who first makes the connection. This is where one of my few complaints comes about the series. In my experience, most professionals do not enjoy entertainment that deals with their profession. My brother-in-law doctor, for instance cannot stand to watch shows that deal with medicine. So, I find her interest unlikely, but I guess not impossible.

For that matter, Castle seems a little too perfect to be real. Almost a genius when it comes to his powers of observation and conclusion. It is the old; the cops can’t solve this on their own and need the help of a smarter outsider to solve the crime. But in my opinion, Fillion pulls off the roll successfully and will probably be the make-or-break element of the show. If you enjoy him, you will enjoy the show. Most likely, the show will do well with the female audience, if you know what I mean.

Castle soon becomes enthralled with detective Beckett and uses every excuse to come back and see her. But when the murder mystery was solved, I wondered what could bring the two back together again. After all, the copycat murderer was caught. In a somewhat cliché, but believable turn of events, the series takes a page out of Michael J. Fox’s playbook from the movie The Hard Way. Castle creates a new character for his new detective series, a character based upon, you guessed it, Becket. Pulling a few strings at the mayor’s office and Castle gets himself a ticket to a ride-along partnership for “research.”

The chemistry between Fillion and Katic is not quite effortless or polished yet, but it is there. In the end, it was a fun show that promises to entertain with interesting mysteries and strings of one-liners. I plan to give it a shot and see where it goes.