Review — Castle “Flowers For Your Grave”

Nathan Fillion’s new series Castle premiered last night on ABC, and the pilot has already established a number of character dynamics and claimed its own territory in the Specialist + Handler mode of procedural drama.

Fillion stars as Richard Castle, narcissistic best-selling mystery novelist.  Castle is called in to assist Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) when a copycat killer re-creates murder scenes from Castle’s books.   Castle’s upcoming book  kills off the protagonist of his long-running series of best-sellers, and Castle is now stymied by writer’s block.

Katic and Fillion have created great chemistry between their characters, but Fillion is the real stand-out here.  Castle has enough qualities in common with his role of Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly to re-captrure some of the fun of that character. Castle is rebellious, impulsive, and narcicisstic, while Beckett is controlled, by the book, and sharp-tongued.  They grate on one another in a way that brings conflict but also sexual chemistry as a result.  Like any similar situation, much will depend on how well the ‘will-they-won’t-they’ question is handled.

Aside from the chemistry between the leads, I think the show’s main staying power will be the fact that Castle sees everything through the lens of storytelling and the laws of dramatic narrative.  He continues investigating a case after it is initially ‘closed’ due to the fact that as it was, it made a crappy story.  He also reads people well based on his experience with characterization.  Castle sees things that Beckett doesn’t, and Beckett picks up on things when Castle misses them.  Castle‘s version of the Specialist appeals to me specifically because of my love of genre conventions and because I am a writer myself.  It is likely to appeal not only to general procedural watchers but especially to true fans of the genre due to the way that it weaves in direct discussion of the mystery/detective genre to the story.

At the end of the pilot, we’ve established how the show is going to work — Castle is doing research for his new series (with a protagonist inspired by Det. Beckett), so he’ll be hanging around getting into trouble, giving insights based on investigative and/or dramatic theory, and annoying the hell out Beckett, while they’ll waltz around their feelings.

Castle is for Fillion fans, procedural fans, and for fans of self-referential/post modern genre/narrative amusement.

On the Horizon — Mid-season

Here are three speculative and/or genre-inclined shows coming up soon in TV-land. Dollhouse, Castle, and Kings.

Dollhouse

Joss Whedon’s anticipated new tv drama, starring Eliza “Faith” Dushku as Echo, one of a number of ‘Dolls’ — people who have had their memories wiped, live in an idyllic but infantile ‘Dollhouse’ facility, and who, when they become ‘Active,’ are implanted with memories and skills to serve as whatever the Dollhouse’s clients want them to be. This will allow Whedon and the show to explore Dushku’s range as a leading lady, explore the theme of memory vs. spirit/soul, exploitation, human experimentation/human trafficing, etc. The show also stars Tamoh “Helo” Penikett as James Ballard, the FBI agent who investigates the urban legend of the Dollhouse. Dollhouse has been troubled by production delays, disagreements about creative direction, and other issues, but it is on track for at least a nine-episode initial order.

Dollhouse premiers February 13th on Fox.

Castle
Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion, of Firefly and Dr. Horrible fame) is a famous best-selling mystery novelist who is tapped by the NYPD as a consultant when a copycat killer starts committing murders in the same manner as Castle’s books. This creates what seems to be a very promising meta-genre component for the series, since we’ll have Castle interpreting everything through the filter of a crime/mystery writer, and provides a variation on the ‘expert consultant protected by bad-ass detective/agent’ dynamic of shows like Fringe, The Mentalist, Numb3rs, Bones, etc.

Stana Katic (Heroes, 24, Quantum of Solace) plays Castle’s detective handler/inspiration for the protagonist for a new series of books. The show is likely to make good use of Fillion’s range, injecting comedy (From the video preview — “Did you see that? That was so cool!”) and romance (Castle asking the detective out, and her brushing him off while acknowledging the chemistry) into what seems to default to a prime-time hour-long crime procedural drama.

Castlepremiers March 9th on ABC.

Kings
An alternate-present America re-telling of the story of King David, Kings gives us David Shepherd (Christopher Egan) rescuing the son of King Silas (Ian McShane), ruler of Shiloh, a city in the Kingdom of Gilboa, David is welcomed into the court and turned into a hero of the people, wrapped up in politics and power. NBC’s promotion has highlighted the alternate-history aspects of the world, focusing on the monarchic nature of the Kingdom of Gilboa (Shiloh, the center of the story, appears similar/evocative of a New York City or the like).

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This show appears to be high-production value, since there will not have to be much in the way of SF special effects, focusing on costuming, graphic and set design to highlight the subtle but fundamental differences between our world and that of Kings. The story of King David should provide enough material for several seasons, depending on how close of a re-telling is planned and how quickly the story is to unfold. Early responses to the pilot script paint it as “bold, bizzare, fun”.

Kings premiers March 19th on NBC.