I’m not wild about the series. Every episode I’ve seen has been lifted from some other show, mainly BONES.

If you have watched Bones, NCIS, CSI or any other procedural crime show you will instantly recognize Castle’s formula. Murder of the week, initial suspect(s) usually turns out to be red herring (or in a variation, guilt circles back to someone unsuspected at the beginning), some new and somehow previously overlooked piece of evidence or insight leads them to the guilty party just in time. This rigid formula is not really the fault of Castle per se, it’s just a result of the type of show Castle is. Also like Bones, Castle does add an over-arching storyline every 3-5 episodes or so, the unsolved murder of Beckett’s mother (so much like Bones in fact it’s a direct copy.) This has yet to really develop Beckett however.

Of course all these type shows need a gimmick to break free of the same procedural formula. Bones did this by pairing an eccentric anthropologist with a tough but likeable FBI agent with some success until the writer’s strike at least in my view. Castle tries to use the hook of pairing a hedonistic writer with a stiff NY police detective. Not exactly leaps and bounds of separation in the means used to escape the formula with the two shows. Also very similar is the romantic tension between the lead characters of the two shows.

Speaking of the leads, Fillion is brilliant as Castle. Imagine Mal from Firefly wasn’t a futuristic space smuggler (without the associated emotional baggage), but a present day NYC author and father and you have Castle. Fillion plays the roguish type well, but he adds the aspect of being a caring father and son for this role, and does it all well. In short, he makes the show for me and is the reason I still watch it and hope for it to become more than it is. Castle and his family seem to me to be the only real characters on the show at this point, although his daughter is somewhat too mature and perfect sometimes. However one mildly annoying aspect to the family relationship is how in a few episodes crimes are solved by some unrelated interaction between Castle and his daughter wherein she might say something to the effect of “my boyfriend would never do that” and Castle makes some great intuitive leap from her comment to suddenly solve the case. But, that’s the rigid murder of the week formula striking again.

Now, on the other side of Fillion’s well defined and fully developed character is Det. Kate Beckett. In stark contrast to Castle, her character is barely developed at all. The first time we even see her at home was in the second season! Did she live at the police station for season one? She has no personality to me and is not likeable in my view because she is so one dimensional. She has a bad attitude towards Castle for example, but for no real reason (that is ever explained beyond she is just itchy with a b). In one episode she says she “hates cops who can’t think outside their own stories” meaning cops who don’t go all the way to solve crimes or who won’t use unconventional means to solve a crime. So why then is she so opposed to Castle being there? He often solves cases the police would not have. Some people decry comparisons to Bones, but the similarities are self evident. One major difference is that both Booth and Bones were developed characters and not hollow stereotypes. I know this type of show doesn’t focus as much on character development (one reason I’m not a huge fan of the genre), but some would be nice.

As for the supporting players, Castle’s mother is a more loveable and lucid Lucile Bluth from Arrested Development and you can follow the logical progression of Castle’s childhood with her to his life now pretty well. His daughter Alexis is the only mature member of his family and is played well by Molly Quinn. Though she’s a bit too goody-two-shoes to be realistic sometimes. Bursting into tears for jumping a subway turnstile for example, a bit overmuch in the nice department there. Most of the time though his family, including his vapid ex-wife, are well played and believable.

Pretty much all the cops are total stereotypes though. Ryan and Esposito are likeable enough but are reduced to bit players with not a lot to do but be ordered around by Beckett. The police captain, medical examiners, other cops, mayor, etc are generally window dressing. Which would be ok if Beckett had any level of development beyond hard-nosed feminist cop who orders men around and is surly.

In short, Castle makes the show for me and Beckett along with the genre ruin it(but mostly Beckett). And don’t call me a chauvinist. My favorite show ever is Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so I have nothing against strong female leads. I just like to have fully developed ones.

In my review I took off one star because this a procedural crime show with a rigid formula built in by design and another star because Beckett is a total stereotype. If you really like crime procedurals and/or stereotypes, add 1-2 stars accordingly.

Wow, this is one of the few series where every major player in it just…fits. I love this series and can’t wait to grab season 2 when it eventually comes out. I’m a little sad that it probably won’t last long, but then, nothing good ever does.