(S02E07) I'm with Beckett here: I really enjoy watching Castle be a dad. I'm very far away from being the parent of a teenager myself, but I feel like people should be taking notes from him. Well, except for the part where she had to put parental controls on his computer. But otherwise, he strikes a nice balance between relating to her and not trying to be the "cool dad." I was impressed last week with how he didn't just let that drunk girl crash on their couch and made Alexis call her parents, despite her protests, and this week, when he made her go to school despite the fact that she was being helpful.
Since that happened at the beginning of the episode, and the entire thing was peppered with Alexis/Castle interactions, I was definitely predisposed to like this episode. It continued to be a strong episode to -- despite the fact that the subject matter made me really uncomfortable.
Mal Reynolds, Nathan Fillion's character from the short-lived Joss Whedon series, Firefly, made a triumphant return to television last night. Granted, it was only for a little bit, and Fillion wasn't specifically playing Mal, but the costume was there, in all of its spacey glory.
Last night's episode of Castle was Halloween-themed, and, well, you can probably see where this is going. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Fillion had a section in his contract for Castle that says, "if ever the opportunity arises, I will be able to dress up as Mal, because damnit, I miss that (brown)coat." So last night, the worlds of Firefly and Castle collided, and Nathan Fillion once again donned Mal's brown duster as part of his "Space Cowboy" Halloween costume.
(S02E06) Ooh, several Joss Whedon references in the first few minutes, including "space cowboy" and Buffy's vampires. Throw in a reference to Frank Miller, and it's a geeky fantasy paradise. I also got a little of my vampire fix, even if they weren't the real thing. I don't know that Kona's that into vampires, so I'm glad this episode aired on my week to review Castle.
It was the usual whodunnit frolicry, with Castle and Beckett trying to piece together a murder mystery involving vampires, werewolves, and a murder that took place 18 years earlier. And the vampires and werewolves were as close to the real thing as a human can get -- with implanted fur, fang veneers, and a disease that made it impossible to go out in the daytime, lest the person catch on fire. There was even a cemetery and a stake through the heart.
(S02E05) I'm really glad this episode ended the way it did, because I was about to be pissed. Obviously Castle isn't going to stop writing the Nikki Heat books and leave Beckett, so I was expecting him to make some asinine excuse to his book agent about why he couldn't take over the James Bo-- er, a "British secret agent with lots of gadgets" series.
But in the end, the excuse of, "hey, my publishing house is going to just dump sacks with dollar signs printed on the front of them on my doorstep so I can make a Scrooge McDuck-like swimming pool out of gold, so screw that British agent and his gadgets," kind of works for me. However, all things being equal, if Castle had gotten the same offer and he had been following around, say, Esposito instead of Beckett, I feel like maybe the prestige of writing the British spy series may have won out over more gold doubloons for an already-rich Castle.
(S02E04) "A con man isn't just about the money; it's about the game." - Castle
This week's episode of Castle continued the theme of a puzzling whodunit that takes viewers on a little journey to solve the crime. I was kept guessing the whole time, which is one reason I love Castle. The other, of course, is the lovely rat-a-tat banter between Castle and Beckett. Like a classic movie starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn.
And it's clear that Beckett is trying hard to hide her intrigue over Castle and his work -- making a date with herself to soak in a sudsy tub, drink wine and read his novel based on her. And then the end scene where he catches her in the bathroom looking for the steamy sex scene in the book. Oh my.
(S02E03) I don't watch Castle because I really need another New York-based police procedural in my life. I watch it because it's funny, quirky, and because Nathan Fillion is dreamy. So while I would be hard-pressed to ever find a bad episode of Castle, this one wasn't my favorite. It just wasn't fun enough.
I'm not really enthralled with models, so the whole "behind the scenes at Fashion Week" thing really doesn't appeal to me very much. However, I do like how the theme of youth and beauty plays itself out throughout the show; first with the obsession over these qualities inherent in the modeling world, then with Castle's realization that he is at the age in which the beautiful young woman he meets isn't someone he met at a party, but rather the gawky girl who babysat his daughter and watched High School Musical with her. All the while, Castle's mother is dealing with the fact that she is no longer getting the ingenue parts, but is instead being offered that of the the crazy granny who dies offstage.
(S02E02) "What is it about full moons that brings out the crazies?" - Castle to Beckett
That line above exemplifies what I love about Castle. Richard Castle is enjoying the bizarre perps and collars traipsing through the police department; he's eating snacks and having fun, while Kate just rolls her eyes at both him and the people. They're such total opposites -- Beckett so cool and controlled and Castle like a giddy kid -- and I hope they don't mess it up by having them hook up. I was just reading a story in one of the entertainment mags, where Stana Katic says that, too. She doesn't want them to get together because it's so cliche.
This week in Jane After Dark, I caught up with season one of Castle. I'm a sucker for fun whodunits, especially when they feature great male and female characters who've perfected the art of the snappy banter. Specifically, here are five reasons why I'm loving Castle:
1. Nathan Fillion is boyishly charming. I've been a big fan of this Joss Whedon favorite since seeing him in 2005's feature film Serenity. I finally completed that awesome circle by watching Firefly last winter. Fillion has the ability to be goofy one minute and deadly serious the next. In Castle, he plays Richard Castle, a best-selling mystery author who's raising a 15-year-old daughter Alexis (Molly C. Quinn) -- and, in many ways, his free-spirited live-in mother Martha (Susan Sullivan), as well. Having killed off his latest fictional character, Richard found inspiration in NYPD detective Kate Beckett, after being called in to advise on a case. Now they're working as pseudo-partners.
(S02E01) Look, I'm just going to say it up front and get it out of the way: Nathan Fillion is the most charming man on television. All I could think of when I was watching the season premiere was, "wow." Also, how could Beckett resist him? Sure, he went against her express wishes and reopened her mother's case, which brings with it the distinct possibility of opening a Pandora's box of despair and obsession that could ruin her life and career -- but has she seen him smile? Come on.
Ordinarily, I have very little patience for obviously inconsequential tension like we have in this episode with Beckett refusing to partner up with Castle. It's the season premiere -- obviously, she's going to take him back; it's kind of the premise of the show. However, they manage to conclude the storyline in such a way that it doesn't overshadow the rest of the episode, and instead of retarding the pace, it actually ushers in some new character development.
In case you missed our live blog of the event and you haven't been checking around the Interwebs, Emmy host Neil Patrick Harris did a quick skit starring his character Doctor Horrible from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. The sketch guest-starred Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer and a couple of other cast members. Oh, and by the way, that particular Internet series won an Emmy itself.
One can only wonder if Joss Whedon had a hand in the sketch. It certainly seems that way. The sketch used his sort of style and humor, particularly the bits where the screen was "buffering".
Fortunately, and perhaps in appreciation of the existing rabid fanbase of anything Whedon-related, a clip of the segment has already made it to YouTube (so TV Squad itself cannot be sued for taking someone else's intellectual property. You hear that CBS?). Hopefully it remains up there for a little while. The clip of the Dr. Horrible appearance at the Emmys follows after the jump.
When I first started exploring this project, there were a few shows that I knew were going to be important to hit. This is the first of those. Firefly was Joss Whedon's sci-fi western series. The show mustered disappointing ratings in its short eleven-episode run on FOX.
Since then it's gone on to near mythic cult status. There was such an outcry of support from its loyalists, the Browncoats, over its cancellation that the producers made a feature film sequel. That movie,Serenity, answered a lot of questions about the future fate of the cast. Unfortunately, like the television series, it couldn't find quite enough people to show up and tune in to warrant a sequel. Nevertheless, the few morsels of Firefly we did get are enough to prove that this is one of the most innovative and enjoyable series ever to hit the airwaves.
It all started with an innocent trip to The Hamptons. Fictional fiction writer, Richard Castle, was worried that his daughter hadn't returned from her walk with a new boy. He set off on the beach to look for her, and instead found... a foot.
Castle, ABC's quirky police procedural starring Nathan Fillion, is working overtime to snag viewers. In addition to the release of Heat Wave, an actual novel written by and based upon the fictional characters in the show, "Richard Castle" has also started a Twitter account. While his updates started off innocently enough, with tales of drinks with his neighbor Jerry Seinfeld, things quickly took a darker turn when a severed foot turned up on the beach.
Now, Twitter followers of @WriteRCastle can go along with the writer as he searches for clues, first to the victim's identity, and then, hopefully to the killer. He's been on the case for a little more than a week, and has already turned up some interesting information-- with accompanying pictures.
Casting Captain Hammer as Hal Jordan? This might be the only way Hollywood could make up for giving us a Whedon-less Buffy movie.
This nerdtastic fan-created Green Lantern movie trailer made my morning. The idea of Nathan Fillion filling out the green tights is inspired, but the fun doesn't stop there. DC Comics fans will notice this thing features cameos from some of their favorite Green Lantern Corps members. (I think I saw Kilowog in there). Plus it's fun trying to name the movies/TV shows the videomaker pulled from to create his vision. It features a good chunk from the Star Trek trailer, as well as some scenes from Firefly and probably every Nathan Fillion movie ever made.
I'm almost to the end of Firefly, my Jane After Dark readers' choice for this week. I really love this series, from the quirky characters to the general theme of a band of renegades burgling their way through the universe.
But even though it's set 500 years in the future, Firefly isn't your typical sci-fi space series that includes all manner of aliens and weird creatures. They're on a spaceship, and yet they rob trains. How cool is that?! It's like Alias Smith and Jones meets Babylon 5.
As with the other Whedon shows I've watched – Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel – the stories are fun and deep and fanciful (yes, I said fanciful), but it's the characters and their interactions that make the shows.
It seems as if Castle just started and here we are at the season finale. It did just start, in a way, as it didn't have a full season worth of episodes. ABC hasn't made a decision on the show yet, but we'll find out on May 19 whether or not Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic will come back next season and do their banter.
The worst part of last night's episode? The preview at the end for next week's season premiere of The Bachelorette.
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