30 Days of TV meme - Day 3
Day 03 - favorite new show: Castle. LOVE. OMG. My favorite show on the air right now hands-down. Nathan Fillion rocks my socks and makes this show work. Love him, his relationship with his daughter and mother (who are fabulous characters in their own right), his developing friendships with Esposito and Ryan (also fantastic secondary characters), and his affectionate, adversarial chemistry with Beckett.
If you were turned off by the character Castle in the first couple of episodes, consider giving it another try because, while is That Guy, but Fillion gives him enough genuine charm, thoughtfulness and awareness that I don't find him smarmy, and he has genuinely grown and become more self-aware since the beginning. As as cereta points out, "Rick Castle is a grown-up. No, hear me out. He's presented as a kind of Peter Pan man-boy, but he's not. He's a guy who has enough money to buy cool toys and enough time to play with them, but in the things that really matter, he's responsible and thoughtful." I continue to love how respectfully and clearly they make it that Kate is in charge in professional situations, and that when Castle does undermine her, they make a point to show that he's wrong, and when Beckett one-ups him, they play that for humor, and that Castle likes the challenge, and not that Castle has been OMG emasculated by "the girl," and that they've tamped down the "Castle solves everything!" and have really made it that Beckett and Castle both have unique insights and strengths and work together to solve the cases, and the few times Castle has saved Beckett, it's been a fluke or made sense for his character, not some unrealistic "man must save woman" thing even is man is not qualified/capable of doing the saving in the manner portrayed.
Contrast with the Mentalist, which has a very similar main character who does undermine the female lead at every turn and always has the answers. I spend every episode asking the dwinn if anyone has punched Jane yet, and am very disappointed when the answer is no.
And Kate Beckett rocks all the socks in every sock drawer ever. And I love that the show lets her be the alpha in her dynamic with Castle, and lets him be the damsel in distress without every really making a big deal of that flip in dynamic. fialka nails it in her observation that "…the amount of control over her own story they've given to Beckett. She *chose* to tell Castle about her mother, he didn't drag it out of her, or find out through a third party. She chose to forgive him only when he became honest about what he'd done, he couldn't force, or beg or trick her into it. And she was the one who finally got to decide when she was ready to pursue the case -- everyone else would have honoured her decision to walk away."
I do wish that they hadn't sidelined Kate's friendship with Lanie Parish (and Lanie, who we don't see enough of - I'd love to see more of them interacting, especially considering how well this show does with its women characters), and I could do with a little less of the whole cast acting as matchmaker for Beckett and Castle, but I'll hope for more of the former, and can ignore the latter in the face of all the other goodness, like the hilarious in-jokes (Halloween episode OMG!) and out-right nerdiness. The show is just FUN. Even with some of the potentially angstier elements, the show and characters don't wallow in it, it doesn't try to be dark and edge and take itself serisouly. The show and cast have fun, and it's such a refreshing change from the gritty cookie-cutter procedurals network tv seems to love.
Day 01 -should never have been canceled: The Middleman, Blood Ties, Sarah Conner Chronicles, Legend of the Seeker
Day 02 - show that you wish more people were watching: Rizzoli and Isles.
If you were turned off by the character Castle in the first couple of episodes, consider giving it another try because, while is That Guy, but Fillion gives him enough genuine charm, thoughtfulness and awareness that I don't find him smarmy, and he has genuinely grown and become more self-aware since the beginning. As as cereta points out, "Rick Castle is a grown-up. No, hear me out. He's presented as a kind of Peter Pan man-boy, but he's not. He's a guy who has enough money to buy cool toys and enough time to play with them, but in the things that really matter, he's responsible and thoughtful." I continue to love how respectfully and clearly they make it that Kate is in charge in professional situations, and that when Castle does undermine her, they make a point to show that he's wrong, and when Beckett one-ups him, they play that for humor, and that Castle likes the challenge, and not that Castle has been OMG emasculated by "the girl," and that they've tamped down the "Castle solves everything!" and have really made it that Beckett and Castle both have unique insights and strengths and work together to solve the cases, and the few times Castle has saved Beckett, it's been a fluke or made sense for his character, not some unrealistic "man must save woman" thing even is man is not qualified/capable of doing the saving in the manner portrayed.
Contrast with the Mentalist, which has a very similar main character who does undermine the female lead at every turn and always has the answers. I spend every episode asking the dwinn if anyone has punched Jane yet, and am very disappointed when the answer is no.
And Kate Beckett rocks all the socks in every sock drawer ever. And I love that the show lets her be the alpha in her dynamic with Castle, and lets him be the damsel in distress without every really making a big deal of that flip in dynamic. fialka nails it in her observation that "…the amount of control over her own story they've given to Beckett. She *chose* to tell Castle about her mother, he didn't drag it out of her, or find out through a third party. She chose to forgive him only when he became honest about what he'd done, he couldn't force, or beg or trick her into it. And she was the one who finally got to decide when she was ready to pursue the case -- everyone else would have honoured her decision to walk away."
I do wish that they hadn't sidelined Kate's friendship with Lanie Parish (and Lanie, who we don't see enough of - I'd love to see more of them interacting, especially considering how well this show does with its women characters), and I could do with a little less of the whole cast acting as matchmaker for Beckett and Castle, but I'll hope for more of the former, and can ignore the latter in the face of all the other goodness, like the hilarious in-jokes (Halloween episode OMG!) and out-right nerdiness. The show is just FUN. Even with some of the potentially angstier elements, the show and characters don't wallow in it, it doesn't try to be dark and edge and take itself serisouly. The show and cast have fun, and it's such a refreshing change from the gritty cookie-cutter procedurals network tv seems to love.
Day 01 -should never have been canceled: The Middleman, Blood Ties, Sarah Conner Chronicles, Legend of the Seeker
Day 02 - show that you wish more people were watching: Rizzoli and Isles.