Just how many roles was Nathan Fillion born to play?!
I’ve already read a few comments; that Nathan Fillion was born to play Richard Castle. And I agree, wholeheartedly. But it occurs to me, that this is not the first time I’ve had this thought. Despite Nathan’s protests to Joss (as stated in one of the ‘Making Of’, on the Firefly DVD set), I believe he was the only person who could’ve portrayed Malcolm Reynolds so flawlessly. He might not be the tortured guy that Mal was, but he gave Mal a heart that might’ve been lost with another actor. Hell, I even made comments that no one could’ve made Caleb, Buffy’s disturbing cleric in Season 7, as joyfully sadistic, as Nathan did. Three such insanely different characters, one actor, and each performance is equally mesmerizing and exhilarating. I guess it just goes to further prove the point; Nathan Fillion is a much better actor than he gives himself credit for. :)
But with Richard Castle, we might just be seeing one of the closest roles to Nathan himself, and that helps makes Castle one of my ‘love at first site’ shows. Castle (the series) is actually a pretty stereotypical, Hollywood-esque story. Certainly there’s a similarity in stories like Michael J. Fox’s The Hard Way. It’s not that the premise itself is unique; it’s toying with those common elements, and combining it with an intriguing set of characters, and a cast that brings them together beautifully.
In Richard Castle, you have the standard angst of the civilian who’s somehow managed to finagle himself in with a crack police team. But hang on a second; this isn’t your average celebrity playboy type. He’s definitely the ladies man. But with a teenage daughter (her flighty mother off pursuing her own dreams), plus his own Postcards From the Edge style mother at home, he’s hardly the irresponsible cele-brat boy. Castle is a good guy, and a very smart man, who also has a highly developed playful side. He’s flirty without being smarmy, inventive without being a constant showboat, and definitely has more charm than any man has a right to possess.
Then you’ve got the standard hardnosed cop, unimpressed by the free spirited writer in her midst. But Kate Beckett has a lot more depth than that. For one thing, irritated as she is with Castle’s intrusion in her life, she is impressed by what he brings to the table. Plus, she’s a fan of his books. She’s also not so hardnosed. Even with our brief glimpse of the character so far, it’s clear that there is a lot more to Kate than we would expect. She’s got a family history that I’m dying to hear more about, and a willingness to use whatever reasonable means she can (except ones that improve Castle’s chances of getting shot), to catch the bad guy. She’s by the book, but trapped between its pages, which makes her a great match for Castle. It also adds realism to Castle choosing to use her as inspiration for his next novel series. Heck, I want to read his first book about her!
And then there’s the chemistry between Stana Katic and Nathan Fillion, which is there in spades! It would be really easy for any actress to be pushed aside by Nathan playing such a charming and roguish character, but Stana holds her own brilliantly, without going into Scully finger-wagging mode. She can be fun and playful too, though she’s careful to hold to some propriety, which explains Castle’s growing attraction to her. The only problem I can see right now is, how are they going to keep the tension in this relationship? These two people should’ve already started playing the horizontal tango by now. But hey, they pulled it off on Bones for this long, I’ll trust they’ll keep them in separate corners long enough to be interesting.
The supporting cast is also strong, and works as a lot more than just filler and fodder. Molly C. Quinn plays Castle’s slightly too straight-laced daughter, Alexis. It’s clear that having a flake for a mother (and grandmother for that matter), and a free spirited father, has led Alexis to be an overly responsible teenager. But she also doesn’t seem to rebel, by being overly responsible for her age, simply to do it. One thing her father has done right, is to encourage Alexis be herself, while never letting her forget the fun that is to be had in their life. And since dad’s idea of hanging around the house, is to play with the coolest laser tag equipment around, fun is there to be had.
While Susan Sullivan’s been all over the boob tube for decades, she’s probably best known (in recent years) as Greg’s stick-up-her-bum mother, on Dharma and Greg. But as much fun as she probably had with Kitty Montgomery, she’s having even more fun with Castle’s mother, Broadway actress Martha Rodgers. And once again Susan proves, the parents in the story don’t only have to be wallpaper. You have to love a woman who refuses to grow up, even at 65 years old, and wonders why her son ever married a flighty actress like Alexis’ mom. Only one flaw I’ve seen in this story so far, is that this world class diva never picked a better stage name than Martha.
The police cast round this entire ensemble out very well, and once again aren’t just playing wallpaper. Ruben Santiago-Hudson, who has a nice long history of working in crime dramas, plays the captain of the squad with just enough conviction and authority, instead of defaulting to being the suit always yelling too much and getting in the way. Tamala Jones is terrific as their primary ME, and reminds me a bit of NCIS’s Ducky, in her lack of officiousness. She also helps even out Kate’s tendency to get bogged down in the darkness of looking at dead bodies all the time. Jon Huertes and Seamus Deaver round out Beckett’s detective team well, and well they should. They also have their own history in fun and inventive crime dramas, both having done turns on NCIS and Crossing Jordan, among others. They play well with Castle, without being insubordinate lackeys to Beckett, and they even help to humanize Beckett further. They really do play the parts like co-workers, not just distant brooding detectives. Plus, they are smart cops.
One thing that’s terrific about Castle; is that he’s not a Monk or Psyche, swooping in and solving the cases, while the real cops often appear to have their thumbs up their asses. His place, in the investigative work, is mostly what it should be. He has done a lot of research to write his best selling detective books, and he has a pretty good profiling talent (from years of cooking up motivations for his own bad guys). He gives them insight, and will figure out clues they might not get, but generally solving crimes really is an effort of the entire team. That’s a refreshing change of pace, and one that makes this show a more legitimate (if definitely more stylized) crime drama. No one person is stealing the glory here. Heck, they even got a little help from Alexis’ mom Meredith, when she popped by the station. I mean, who else could’ve provided the information that the victim’s handbag was a knock-off of a bag recently made famous by Sarah Jessica Parker?
Once again, I find myself watching a new and fun show, with slightly baited breath. Though I’m sure Nathan is holding his too, having been on more than one series that was cancelled without being given a chance to really show what it could do (think Nathan will ever work for Fox again?). But I’m hopeful that ABC will give Castle time to shine, because so far, it’s sparkling wonderfully.
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