by Daniel Erenberg

Somewhere, in a saner universe than our own, Nathan Fillion is the biggest movie star on the planet. He’s got matinee idol looks, he looks like he could take you in a fight, he’s as good at slapstick as he is at subtler verbal humor and he forces you to immediately care about the characters he plays, no matter how morally ambiguous they are. Unfortunately for his career and bank account, Fillion has historically chosen roles in difficult, unconventional films and television series destined from the start to be universally beloved critically while being watched by a very few devoted followers. He was Captain Malcolm Reynolds in Joss Whedon’s cult space western, Firefly, and its companioning theatrical release Serenity. He was a murderous and possibly immortal priest named Caleb in the last season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He starred as a man entering a cross-country race in FOX’s wonderful Drive, which aired for two weeks before its cancellation. Last year, he brought his charm to theaters in the minor indie hit Waitress. But now Fillion has done something totally genius. Following a stint last year on ABC’s Desperate Housewives, he’s taken a role in a middling, but halfway decent, crime-of-the-week police procedural on ABC, which airs after Dancing With The Stars. If Castle is even remotely watchable on a weekly basis, it’s going to be a hit.

Castle is definitely watchable, but this is largely due to Nathan Fillion’s performance. The show feels like it was written for Fillion’s large personality, but Fillion may just be grafting his best personal tics onto a middling script by Andrew W. Marlowe, a screenwriter responsible for Air Force One (“Get off my plane!”), End of Days (“Maybe it’s not Christ In New York, but a name, like Christine York!”) and Hollow Man (Umm…”I’m Kevin Bacon, but you can’t see me!”). Fillion plays Richard Castle, a famous mystery writer, and a womanizer with heart of solid gold. The best scenes involve him taking care of his 15-year old daughter (the ridiculously charming Molly C. Quinn), a strait-laced high school student, who refuses both the champagne Castle offers her at his book release party and the snatch of whipped cream he wants to feed her like a baby bird, because she “already brushed.” Fillion has a better chemistry with her than he does with his obvious love interest, Kate Beckett, played by Stana Katic, an unmemorable actress who I’m not sold on yet. She plays Beckett like a huge stick in the mud, so it’s hard to root for her to end up with Castle. It’s also hard to see Castle want to pursue her, which he relentlessly does, going so far as to plant himself in her police precinct under the pretense of researching a series of books about a female police detective.

The crime stuff, involving a murderer taking his ideas from Castle’s lesser-read novels is standard broadcast TV procedural nonsense, and it’s populated with ciphers like the sassy black crime scene expert (a one-note Tamala Jones) and the wise old black police chief (Ruben Santiago-Hudson, probably missing being the creative force behind Lackawanna Blues). The thing to keep coming back for is Castle’s personal life, involving an ex-wife who remains his editor, that great father/daughter dynamic, and his live-in mom (Susan Sullivan, channeling Arrested Development’s Lucille Bluth), who proves he’s a chip off the old block.

Castle is underwhelming as anything other than a perfectly watchable cop show, but it may finally turn Nathan Fillion into a household name, just like he’s always deserved. You gotta do the mediocre stuff before you can make your art. Fillion’s finally learned that. Maybe Castle can bring about another Firefly film. And wouldn’t that make you appreciate this fine little show on another level?

B

Tags: Nathan Fillion Castle tv review
March 11, 2009 at 3:41pm ∞