Wednesday, April 22, 2009
FRAZIER MOORE
AP Television Writer
NEW YORK — Despite evidence to the contrary, “Castle” isn’t a police procedural. It’s not a whodunit.
Clues are planted in plain sight for viewers, of course. For example, an abundance of evidence certifies that NYPD Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) looks fabulous in red.
There are also clues that she and Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) have a thing for each other, despite their different working styles and constant quibbling.
A recent arrival on ABC Mondays at 10 p.m. EDT, “Castle” isn’t so much a whodunit as a when-will-THEY-do-it?
Castle is a wildly popular mystery novelist and man-about-town whose tales have begun inspiring real-life copycat crimes. So the department brought him in as a consultant to help uncover the truth he helped create in his fiction.
Granted, he’s no seasoned gumshoe. For all his literary success, he tends to be more a lover than a fighter when it comes to actual police work. This week, he retaliated against the bad guy glaring at him through his windshield by flipping on the wipers. Good thing Beckett quickly arrived with assistance.
But the crime of the week doesn’t matter. What’s fun about “Castle” is the chemistry between Beckett and Castle, recalling bygone twosomes Maddie and David from “Moonlighting” or Laura and Remington from “Remington Steele.”
Then, back home, Castle’s teenage daughter, Alexis (Molly Quinn), does her part to keep him grounded. And his mother, Martha, a flamboyant Broadway diva, keeps him on his toes. Played by veteran actress Susan Sullivan, Martha is really the show’s key character: She rightly sees the stories, like the rest of her world, as something to toy with, then pour another drink.