Castle - a Lighter Police Drama Comedy

Castle is a new show on ABC starring Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Waitress) and Stana Katic (Quantum of Solace). Fillion plays a murder mystery writer who has a copycat murderer, and Katic is the savvy female detective who is on the case. Many of the reviews that are coming out now are saying that the first episode of the show, Flowers For Your Grave, was too cutesy. Personally, I thought it was just over the top enough to be fun and entertaining.

Fillion has been a favorite actor of mine since the short-lived sci-fi wester TV series Firefly. He's since had roles in the film Waitress, a few television roles, and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, an interesting Joss Whedon internet experiment. He's a versatile actor with an infectious smile, and is believable as the womanizing, partying, good son, and dad figure Castle. He's an interesting dichotomy in himself. Fillion said in an interview with UGO TV Blog that Castle is "72 percent like me. He's very playful, he's very relaxed, he's kind of joyful in life. His everyday is very much like a field trip and he's really excited to be doing what he's doing." The most interesting part about his character, I think, is that he lives with his mother and teenage daughter, and is divorced from his wife, who is still his agent. Plenty of room for strife there in the future. The daughter is almost Dawson's Creek-esque, bright and witty, and already a little world-weary, it looks like. She's played by Molly Quinn, who's pretty unknown at this point but has a little bit of the look of Scarlett Johanssen to her.

Katic, playing detective Kate Beckett, is only slightly less believable in her role. She's a little too pretty as Beckett, but her attitude is appropriate. I hope in the future it keeps up, since women in law enforcement tend to be heavy handed out of necessity. She's also immune to the charms of Castle, which catches his eye immediately. The fascination leads him to stick to her like glue throughout the first episode. She's been seen in minor rolls in a few TV shows, including Heroes, but is most recognizable perhaps from the most recent James Bond flick, Quantum of Solace. She played Corinne Veneau, the Canadian intelligence agent.

So, Castle has already managed to endear viewers, I think. How is this show going to fare? I think that because it's along the vein of CSI and other cops/forensics shows, that it stands a chance at lasting through a season. Many reviewers are saying that the show has lasting power. Many are also calling it things like "Happy-Go-Lucky" which may or may not be a bad thing. Oddly, the reviews of the idea of the show were mostly bad, but the show itself seems to have gotten positive reviews since its release.