Nathan Fillion

"It’s too easy." You’ll wind up hearing this phrase quite a bit on ABC’s new mystery series Castle, and it almost fits as an impression of the series itself. It’s hard to venture out from a critically acclaimed and beloved Joss Whedon series like Firefly and head into fluffy network shlock land, but Nathan Fillion is attempting the leap. For those of us who might be tuning in to hear him spout off some meaningful dialogue, both poignant and humorous, like he did as Captain Mal, then Castle will come as a big letdown. For those of us who might just be glad that an actor that we appreciate has landed a lead role on an ABC crime series, Castle will merely serve to satisfy our "Fillion fix." But just for the time being. This show might wear thin very quickly. Castle might be meant to be breezy and light and, dare we say this in our current television climate, fun - but it’s still hard to evaluate this show purely on its own merit knowing how good Fillion can really be when given expert material. He does get his moments here and there in "Flowers for your Grave," but it only really happens when he tones things down a bit and gets to have more grounded, serious moments.

Of course, serious moments of reflection don’t come very often for best-selling celebrity novelist Rick Castle. Castle, played enjoyably by Fillion, is a man-child who lives his life "out loud" and who usually only stands still in front of the camera long enough to sign a female fan’s chest. For some reason, he’s decided to surround himself, at all times, with family, who are no help when it comes to tethering Castle to reality. Usually these are the "ties that bind," but for some reason, Castle wants his strange family unit on deck and on hand at all times. Even his ex-wife Gina remains as his publicist. This offers very little comfort for anyone tuning in that might instantly be turned off by Castle’s infuriating narcissism. Meaning that, if his own family isn’t enough to keep him from cavorting all over Manhattan like a maniac, then there’s probably very little hope in seeing him come to some sort of catharsis of responsibility. Seeing how loopy Castle’s own mother Martha (Susan Sullivan) is certainly lends a lot to explaining Castle’s own petulant behavior, but it still seems odd that his overly-mature teenage daughter Alexis (Molly C. Quinn) would be allowed to live with him and not with Gina.

This leaves Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) as our last hope of saving Castle from a life of debauchery and malaise. Quite a hefty load to drop down onto one of those stern and beautiful female TV cop characters who we’re supposed to believe can’t get a date on Saturday nights. "You should try lipstick," says one of Beckett’s investigation team members. Yeah, because it’s lipstick that will make her beautiful and not her already naturally beautiful face. Beckett gets the short end of the stick in Castle because she must now play "the first real and serious woman that Castle ever encounters." And it’s through her frustrations with him that we get to vent some our own misgivings about his character. Beckett brings Castle in on a murder investigation that involves a young social worker named Allison Tisdail, who’s body is meticulously set up like one of the victims from Castle’s Derrick Storm murder-mystery novels. And she’s not the only dead body out there aping Castle’s work. It seems as though one of his "fans" is killing in his name. In one of the worst scenes of the episodes, Castle asks Beckett if he could have the crime scene photos of the dead victims to show off to fellow poker-mates James Patterson and Stephen J. Cannell (who appear as themselves in said poker game). It’s meant to show us just how "too much" Castle really is, but it just instantly paints him as a cold and soulless jerk who deserves all of Beckett’s scorn.

Beckett and Castle’s chemistry will most certainly play out in a "will they/won’t they" fashion, but in this episode it effectively rolls out as a fandom scenario. In this case Beckett, who is really a closet Castle fan, meeting her favorite author and finding out that, up close, he’s a pig. It works totally on a "wish un-fulfillment" level, and we’re actually able to delve more into the layers of why she’s so disappointed with him. Castle is at his best when he’s actually using his amazing powers of storytelling and detecting to unravel crime scenes. It’s a bit obnoxious, of course, since "It’s too easy" is Castle’s explanation as to why he doesn’t believe the cops caught the right suspect. But it’s only in these scenes that get a glimpse at Fillion’s potential in creating more "character" than is on the page.

If you’re to become a fan of this show, you have to put aside an notions of gritty law enforcement that you might find on shows like Law & Order, or even something as extreme as The Shield. Castle loves to tell Beckett that there’s always a "story," because he writes...stories. But the world we’re forced to endure is one where there is always a glossy and contrived mystery behind every kill. It’s a world where the insufferable man-child is right and the realist is wrong. The best and most tender morsels of this episode come when Castle and Beckett both bond over their love of "wondering why people kill." I hope that it is in this notion that lays Castle’s attraction to Beckett and not just the fact that she rejects his advances.

Castle will premiere on ABC on Monday, March 9th at 9pm.