TV Review: Castle - Nathan Fillion Returns to TV

Nathan Fillion is just one of those guys I root for. We all have people like that — for one reason or another the people whom they portray on screen captures our imagination, the actor has a certain way of carrying themselves, of delivering lines, of doing what they do. For me, Nathan Fillion is one of those guys.

I didn't know who Fillion was back when he was on Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place, nor when he appeared as Caleb on Buffy. No, I watched the first sporadically and the second religiously, but I didn't know Fillion. The first time I realized I enjoyed watching him was, I think, when many Fillion fans realized it — with the premiere of Firefly. Of course, Firefly didn't last all that long, so I didn't really have a good chance to know Fillion at the time, I just knew that I was intrigued.

By the time he appeared, three years later, in Serenity, I was well aware of who Fillion was. I had watched all of Firefly on DVD, and had been looking forward to the film for some time. Of course, I didn't only seek out Fillion as Malcolm Reynolds; I watched him in Slither, an episode or two of Drive, Waitress, Desperate Housewives, and last night (and the reason I'm telling you all of this) on Castle.

Castle is ABC's new show with a terribly old premise – killer uses writer's work to commit serial slayings, at least that's what happens in the pilot. The writer, Richard Castle, is played by my old friend Nathan Fillion, and opposite him is Stana Katic as Kate Beckett, the police officer hunting down the brutal murderer. Castle is juvenile, sophomoric, and goofy, but has a great eye for people, and Beckett is the world-weary, nose to the grindstone cop. You know how it goes — she doesn't want to work with Castle, but as Castle may be able to shed insight onto the killer she has no choice.

It could be a one-off, two-hour, made for television movie, but it's not. See, Castle just killed the character he's written several successful novels about, and is looking for a new hero. See where this is going yet? That's right, by the end of the episode Castle has decided that his new character will be based on Beckett, and that he needs to spend time with her, following her around, in order to get a feel for how to write her. She's against it, but as Castle is buds with the mayor, she's got no choice.

Article Author: Josh Lasser

Josh Lasser, formerly known as "TV and Film Guy," and complete with a Masters Degree in Critical Studies in said areas, gives his opinions on TV, Film, and Entertainment in general. All of which he does in a shameless attempt to try to get paid to do the exact same thing. …

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