Castle

Something about the performers, Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic, and their characters, Richard Castle and Kate Beckett, convinced me to give Castle an other chance. In fact even if the previous episode, Nanny McDead, was bad, because of its old babysitter story, the relationship between Castle and Beckett is charming enough. In my pilot review I mentionned how their chemistry could be compared to Fox Mulder and Dana Scully's one from The X-Files. However even if I've only seen its pilot I think comparing them to Bones protagonists one would be more appropriate. It's both a pro and con because apparently the love birds have been singing for seasons now and nothing really happened between them.



It leads us to the shows episodic format and without a doubt my major complain about Castle. This time the character development was even cheaper than last time. It seems Beckett has a few secrets but nothing to intrigue enough the demanding viewer. As for the Cluedo story it was better than last time but even its numerous rebounds couldn't hide the fact that it wasn't original. A young man was killed and they investigate his friends, between two subliminal ads to YouTube and the iPhone. It requires more than good acting and funny lines to appeal the audience nowadays. I want to be puzzled. I need to be surprised by stunning and creative ideas. But Hedge Fund Homeboys didn't make it happen. Instead I thought the episodes could air one after an other without bringing anything knew to the TV world. It's watch and forget.



However I read the season 1 summaries and it seems a few other episodes are better but the show would be far much more interesting if it focused on Castle's career and Beckett's background. It would be great if we saw Castle writing about her, his muse, at the end of the day for example. Instead we had to hear his crying baby daughter talking about how much she was a liar. She's perfect and doesn't have issues. How boring ! The mother has potential but it seems she's just here to fill the gaps between two takes. Lose the family if you don't have anything interesting to film about it. And what about teamwork ? It's like if Beckett had no real support and it seems the so-called experts surrounded her don't know much about their respective fields.

The show is getting better, in this episode the dialogues were much less staged and more natural and convincing, Beckett's relationship with Castle is improving and is also starting to gain some depth, moving away from the initial verbal matches and pissing contests. Now both of them seem to have adjusted to working together and the dialogues they have are more essential, as well as useful to the case. They're starting to understand eachother's feelings and as time goes by and more revelations are made I'm sure their relationship will develop. The writers have much room to develop that angle. Castle's family is also a big plus, especially his mom who is amazingly funny and likeable.



Case-wise this is the typical teenager drama, a bunch of teenagers are thrown together and in the chaos of their personal feelings, debaucheries and financial problems some of them take advantage of the situation, each to their own ends, while others get killed. Castle uses his psychological expertise to get the truth out of the killer and once again saves the case. It wasn't the most original case but it was well directed, well acted and it unraveled quickly enough to maintain the interest of the viewer. Let's see if in the next episodes the writers will try something more complicated, now that they have a firm grip on the characters. I'm beginning to really like this series!

Of course a prep kid murdered brings lots of attention, but I actually liked how this episode played it out. I really appreciated the attention brought to how our current economic situation can hit rich kids. From what I've learned of Castle as a character so far, I knew this case would have an affect with this daughter. A parent's fear for their child, especially a teenager, was address but I'm just puzzled by Alexis' reaction to her jumping a turnstile incident. For a smart kid, she should know it's not a big deal and give n the situation it was justified. I was really excited to see Castle actually learning Beckett's job in regards to being able to build a solid case against a suspect then him learning how to interview and completing one successfully...

The third episode proves to be as strong as the previous two, if the initial premise for the series originally sounded like 'all style, no substance', I am very happy to admit it's not. Classy and fun.



Castle is proving to be better and better at this, he'd make a pretty good cop. Good instincts though he's learning that actual police work is a lot more work than just writing it. Castle does his whole hypnotic 'what if?' and Brandon falls under his spell and admits it. Nice. Sad thing is he's a juvi and will never see jail time.



Great scene between Castle and his daughter, suddenly wondering if she's doing drugs. Definitely a strong part of the series, a very believable relationship between them.



Favorite quotes:

- "Did you know in the original Greek, 'tragedy' literally means 'goat song'? I know, doesn't make any sense to me either, whatever that first story was, I can't help but think bad things must have happened to that goat…"

- Love Castle's ringtone, "I hear dead people."



I can honestly admit I didn't expect the series to get stronger by episode but I'm impressed. Very smart, nice twists Cry-Wolf style and again, fun watching.

I'm really enjoying this show, and in my opinion this episode was great just like the last two were. It had good comedy moments with Castle and Beckett, and I think they have really good chemistry together. I like the father and daughter bond Castle has with his daughter, and I hope to see more of it in future episodes. I'm interested in Beckett as well, and I want to know more about her past and what she's like at home. Hopefully in future episodes they'll reveal some of that. Overall, I give this episode, Hedge Fund Homeboys, a 9 out of 10.

I had hopes for this show with the pilot. Episode two was so so, but this one was a total snore. I find the writing really boring, the dialogue very stilted/forced/cliched. And I find it just implausible that this writer would be given that much lattitude to interrogate suspects and be right in there as a participant. Even for him to be an observer in many of these scenarios stretches credulity, but this is really ridiculous. Also, the whole writer persona of Castle is getting old already. He's not being written as a very intriguing character. It feels like a really boring formulaic show already. I doubt I'll watch it again.

This week involved the mysterious murder of a teenager who was once counted among the rich and overprivileged. For me, it turned out not to be that big of a mystery. It was kind of obvious who the killer was, although the actor who portrayed the killer did a decent job of playing the role of a cold and pathological killer. The reason why I liked this episode wasn't so much for the case as it was for the development of the relationships between the characters. Castle and Beckett seem to be gelling more as a team now, and the scene where he was trying to listen in while she was talking on her cell had me laughing like a lunatic. Castle also seems be be getting the point that the realities of investigating a crime aren't the same as writing about it. My favorite scenes though happen to be the ones with his daughter, especially the one where he's watching her sleep and expresses his fear that he doesn't know his goody two shoes daughter as well as he thinks he does. The dynamic between the two is touching and balances out his obnoxious know-it-all side that he shows when he's with Beckett. This is a good show with good characters and I already count myself as a huge fan. Can't wait for next week.

The chemistry was better between Beckett and Castle this week than last because last week they really spent more time looking at procedure and this week was more about their investigation together. I feel Katic is really playing her character well and is creating a strong credible investigator. Castle showed a little more vulnerability with his seeming new understanding that we are dealing with actual people being murdered not just characters in a book. I really enjoyed the scene with his daughter in the morning where he was watching her sleep.



I do feel that the interplay and dialogue between Castle and Beckett characters is really getting better as well. It's like her character has bought into having to have him around. There is some really good acting like at the end where Castle gets the overly confident young man to admit to the murders.



I noticed the formula on this episode was very similar to first few weeks. The obvious suspect comes to the fore and the case seems to be solved early in the episode. Castle notices something that bothers him in this case when his daughter points it out to him and then he brings that to everyone's attention and it becomes obvious it must be someone else, etc... All of the suspects have been shown up to that point but suspicion is pointed away from the killer because we don't have enough information. I still enjoyed the episode but I am not sure that this show can survive on a one trick formula.



I really enjoy both Fillion and Katic and have high hopes for this show long term. I am very interested to see how they develop the stories going forward.



Thanks for reading...