Castle: Flowers for Your Grave (2009)
Season 1, Episode 1
8/10
Great protagonists and performers ; original relationship between writing and investigation ; high-end production
11 June 2009
Until a few days ago I never really paid attention to Castle. In fact I decided to watch this episode after reading an article about its second season. I thought if a show was renewed it's because it was a good one. And it seems I was right because I really enjoyed it. First Richard Castle is a character you can easily relate to because becoming a writer is a common fantasy. He's a playboy but has a heart and is really funny. Moreover his mother and daughter really contributed to make him a more believable character. I instantly liked him and Nathan Fillion's performance was just perfect. Second Kate Beckett is definitely not the usual female sidekick. Stana Katic shares the screen with Fillion and doesn't work in his shadow like some female detectives in other shows, Life for example. Of course at first she just looks like an other babe but then you begin to understand that she's very smart, takes her job seriously and has her own story. Some scenes with Nathan really helped these characters to quickly grow on us and revealed how humans they're. You can also feel how great the chemistry is between the performers and that they really enjoy what they're doing. Moreover like if it wasn't enough the story itself is fascinating. It's definitely not just an other police story. The writers managed to brilliantly merge two worlds, fiction and reality. Castle is inspired by Beckett's work and in return she seems quite fascinated by the mind behind the novels. So they really mirror each other and reminded me of cult duos like Mulder and Scully in The X-Files.

So overall it was a really pleasant and unexpected surprise. The direction was also flawless and the ambiance was quite similar to the episode Ummey's Last Case from Nightmares & Dreamscapes, a show adapted from Stephen King's short stories. But the only problem is that once you've watched this episode you'll sure ask for more and as the first season only has ten, waiting September for the second to air seems just too far away.
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