I've never been a fan of romantic tandem monikers.
You know what I mean.
The eventual fusion of the names of two people who are considered to be viable romantic interests for each other. It always made me feel that people are attempting to turn two individuals into one morphed romantic monster. Or just too lazy to pronounce the proper number of syllables it would take to say the names of two different people.
So, I was surprised to find that I didn't mind the term "Caskett". Not only did I not mind it, I sometimes use it when I talk about the TV series that spawned the moniker.
Which means I really, really, really love Castle.
I started watching the ABC TV series after my friend Baj recommended it and gave me a copy of the first season. It didn't take long to make it a part of my must-watch list for TV.
Castle chronicles the (originally) unlikely partnership between best selling mystery novelist Rick Castle (Nathan Fillion) and NYPD detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic). Beckett is the muse of Castle's best selling Nikki Heat novel series, and in order to get the necessary inspiration, shadows her as she works on murder cases with the help of detectives Kevin Ryan (Seamus Dever) and Javier Esposito (Jon Huertas), and medical examiner Dr. Lanie Parish (Tamala Jones). While initially annoyed over the arrangement, Beckett finds herself valuing Castle's unique contribution to the investigations.
The fourth and latest season of Castle pick up after the events of the previous one. The third season ended with Beckett shot and Castle admitting that he loved her as she lay bleeding. While it was a given that they won't kill off Beckett, there's the will they or won't they question. In this case, the question is will they or won't they finally allow Castle and Beckett to be together in the opening salvo of the season.
Of course, they didn't.
After the fall premiere that featured a twist that made Caskett fans howl in collective frustration, the rest of the season deals with a lot of fallback from previous events. Beckett has to deal with her mother's case, her shooting and other things that she claims to not know of. Castle juggles with secrets and repressed feelings. The death of Captain Montgomery (Ruben Santiago-Hudson) paved the road to the appointment of the new, and very strict, Captain Victoria Gates (Penny Johnson Jerald), who is not quite as supportive as Montgomery when it comes to Castle's presence in her team.
The mystery surrounding the death of Beckett's mother
continue to be both the season and series's great big puzzle, with the
elusive big bad still working from the shadows. The end of the third season gave us episodes that were heavier than we were used to in Castle, and we saw a significant number of episodes in the fourth season that featured the same darker and emotional form of storytelling. While the more dramatically charged episodes aren't unwelcome, their impact is keenly felt considering the lighter tone that Castle usually employed in its earlier seasons. It's like watching a more mature or evolved creature at play. I actually like this development, since the heavier form of storytelling parallels the continuously raised stakes in the overarching season plot.
And there is no greater stake on the show than the outcome of the relationship between one of my top two favorite TV couples of all time (the other being Chuck's Chuck and Sarah).
Castle and Beckett continue to brim over with chemistry, both as work partners, as friends and with their aching to be defined romantic relationship (if you're a fan, then this aching probably already bordered on chronic pain after four seasons). Both Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic had plenty of individual chances to shine, while still at best in their moments together onscreen. At this point, we have been used to Beckett having her serious moments, but this season gave us more of the same from Castle, and the execution of which made my adoration level for Nathan Fillion go up several notches.
I also loved that the supporting cast got the chance to shine in different moments throughout the season. While Alexis (Molly Quinn) continue to be a comforting presence to her father, she also deals with the prospects of her future, which might find her living far from Castle. This season also featured Martha (Susan Sullivan) heavily playing the role of mother to Castle, providing sound advice in light of his troubles regarding Alexis and Beckett. Of Beckett's co-workers, I particularly enjoyed Detective Ryan's more dramatic turn, as he struggles with the knowledge that his service gun, previously stolen by the serial killer 3XK in season three, was used to commit murder. The series, of course, continue to showcase the strong relationships between the various characters.
For the past four seasons, Castle has served some great TV moments for me. The series deftly combines elements of drama, comedy, crime procedural and successful mentions of pop culture references that many other TV programming attempt and fail spectacularly at doing so. The dialogue is still fast, yet continue to be well paced, and the storytelling still remain relevant and fresh. Of course, even if the series takes dramatic turns now and again, there were still fun episodes that involved solving a crime in the past, getting trapped with a tiger, ghost hauntings and zombies.
The latest season just showed us why this former mid-season replacement has become a strong player in its US Monday timeslot.
So, the question remains.... did the term Caskett finally become a nickname that embodied a real relationship at the end of season 4?
If you haven't seen Castle yet.... wouldn't you like to know? :P
Happy viewing!!Labels: ABC, Castle, Comedy, Drama, Must-Watch, Procedural, TV, TV Series
