Storming Castle

A mix between The Mentalist and Murder She Wrote, Castle interested me in its first outing, but not enough that I was still watching it by the end of the series. As a fan of American crime dramas – yes, my weekend is filled up with watching ‘letters’ shows, otherwise known as various CSIs, NCIS and the perversely named for its genre Numbers – this is something that should appeal to me. I even have a pre-existing interest in vehicles for its star Nathan Fillion, from way back when he was in Two Guys, A Girl And A Pizza Place, through Buffy and Firefly. He cuts a large swaggering space pirate figure, so as a crime author cum sleuth he is both physically and charismatically bigger than a lot of his co-stars. And yet my mind wandered off, my weekend dates with Nathan meandered away and I lost track of which weekday the repeat was showing on one of Channel Five’s satellite channels. In short, I lost interest.

With the second series arriving now though, I’m hoping for a shot in the arm of riveting storylines. Castle has been granted ‘one last’ ride-along by NYPD ‘tec Beckett. With a newspaper journalist doing a story on him and adoration coming his way from all quarters save Beckett, not forgetting a ‘sexy’ photoshoot for the paper, most things are going his way, if only he can win round his former police escort. Beckett sends him and the journo off with the body of their most recent murder investigation, only to find the ambulance is hijacked en-route and the hack has a bigger story than they bargained for.

“The frisson I get at discovering that I am watching a brand new series of CSI wherever is not arriving…”

So, essentially because this is a new series of 24 episodes it is pretty clear that Castle will begrudgingly be taken back into the NYPD shadowing fold, and this opener is setting the scene for quite what a dude he’s going to be to win back Beckett’s trust after last season’s climax. OK, I boned up on the plotlines to get up to speed and it would seem that he discovered a very important clue in the ongoing investigation into her mother’s murder, despite being told to keep his sticky beak out of it. Beckett’s cross but whatever he does at the end of this one will make her less so. Following?

To be honest, it doesn’t sound much better than the last series, and perhaps if it ain’t broke for so many other people there’s no need to fix it for me. I never thought it was terrible, but I get the feeling this is never going to be appointment TV for me, simply a pleasant way to fill an hour. The frisson I get at discovering that I am watching a brand new series of CSI wherever is not arriving for this bad boy any time soon, but then it doesn’t really have to. It’s enjoyable, it’s got the key ‘letters’ telly shows components of solving a brutal crime as if it were a particularly colourful jigsaw puzzle, and it’s got nice looking people, in this case one wise-cracking and the other long-suffering. It’ll do. But let’s make this one the last ‘average’ one. As much as I enjoy the genre, it might be time for Channel Five to start finding something without a body in its 9 o’clock evening slot.

Castle series 2, Channel Five, coming soon.

Victoria Nangle