Carstairs Considers....: TV Show Review: Castle

Friday, June 21, 2013

TV Show Review: Castle - Season 3

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: 24 mysteries with a humorous edge.

Cons: One twist to on-going mystery I don't completely buy

The Bottom Line:

You can't go wrong with

This light mix of mystery

Humor and romance

"Why Would Anyone Want to Kill a Writer?" "Oh So Many Reasons."

I love a good murder mystery, but I prefer them on the lighter side of things. Add some humor and I'm hooked. So you can imagine how much I enjoy Castle, a show that mixes mystery with humor. Season 3 continues the fun.

This season picks up a few months after the last season ended. It's been a few months since Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) has heard from writer Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion). Last she'd heard, he was heading off to the Hamptons to finish up the second Nikki Heat novel he's writing based on her, the reason that he shadows her at work and helps her solve cases. So you can imagine how surprised she is to find him leaning over a dead body when she responds to a hot tip. Yes, she arrests him, but they quickly work through that issue by finding the real killer, and their partnership returns to normal.

Which means we get 24 episodes of fun mysteries. The 200 year old bullet in a corpse leads Castle to think they are hunting for a time traveling killer. A psychics murder comes complete with a letter predicting her death. An alien abduction appears to be the cause of death for another murder. They've got cases involving magicians and strippers. And in a fun twist, the actress set to play Nikki Heat in the movie version of Castle's first book shows up to shadow Beckett to better portray the character.

But it's not all fun, games, and unusual cases. A serial killer returns to town and picks up where he left off. Plus there's a terrorist threat that almost spells the end of Castle and Beckett in a thrilling two parter. These episodes are definitely more serious than the normal episode of the show.

And then there's the case of Beckett's mother. This unsolved murder has haunted Beckett for years, and she takes some big leaps forward in solving it. Unfortunately, one of the twists in that case took a not so pleasant turn, one I really feel the writers forced into the story. It doesn't feel quite believable to me, although it's not so unbelievable that it will ruin the series for me going forward.

While Castle and Beckett are the main focus of the show, there are plenty of supporting characters. At the precinct, there's Captain Montgomery (Ruben Santiago-Hudson), coroner Lanie (Tamala Jones), and detectives Ryan and Esposito (Seamus Dever and Jon Huertas). To help flesh out Castle's character, he lives with his mother, aging actress Martha Rodgers (Susan Sullivan), and his teenage daughter Alexis (Molly C. Quinn). Everyone in the cast does a great job with their parts.

As so many other shows like to do, this one plays up the will they/won't they between Castle and Beckett. While I didn't buy any sexual tension between them in season one, I completely buy it now. I am on board with wanting them to get together, although so far they have found believable reasons for keeping them apart. Hopefully, that will continue.

Meanwhile, the mysteries are entertaining while I wait for Castle and Beckett to finally give a relationship a try. Most of the time, they do a good job of confusing me, but then again I'm very easily confused. Even when I do figure things out early, I still have a lot of fun getting to the end.

And that's where the humor comes in. Castle is always willing to float some wild theory early in the case, and Beckett's reactions are priceless. They keep up a pretty good verbal battle of wits, although underneath it, it is obvious they care for and respect each other. Meanwhile, Ryan and Esposito have a serious man crush on Castle, and their treatment of him is often quite funny. There's usually a good laugh and a few chuckles in every episode.

The 24 episodes of season 3 are preserved on 5 DVD's in full surround and wide screen. Extras include an audio commentary, new cast and crew interviews, a couple of featurettes, and the usual deleted scenes and bloopers.

Castle continues to be an entertaining show that serves up a decent mystery with a large helping of fun. Don't miss your chance to get season 3 to enjoy for years to come.

Season 3 Episodes:

1. A Deadly Affair

2. He's Dead, She's Dead

3. Under the Gun

4. Punked

5. Anatomy of a Murder

6. 3XK

7. Almost Famous

8. Murder Most Fowl

9. Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind

10. Last Call

11. Nikki Heat