Christmas came early this year for many of us, in the gift of an absolutely delicious television series, Castle. The seemingly mismatched duo of detective fiction writer Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) and Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) are a treat to watch as they discover they make an excellent team for crime solving.
The series Castle burst onto our television sets with a whirlwind of classy social events as Rick Castle promotes his latest book. These scenes are broken by the real-life investigation of a grisly murder by Detective Beckett and her NYPD team. The juxtaposition of the two worlds is no mistake, as they will soon collide.
The murder is taken directly from one of Rick Castle’s novels. Rick is asked to join Detective Beckett’s investigation as a consultant, but finds that he is more interested in helping to solve the crime. Having just killed his novel’s main character, and facing severe writer’s block, Rick is ready for inspiration.
He of course finds it in Det. Beckett and her work, but she is less than pleased with his interference thinking he is simply a rich and coddled playboy. The rest of this first season has Beckett and Castle working together to solve crimes, discovering along the way that each has more depth and mystery in their personality than first acquaintance would reveal.
It is delightful to have the first season of Castle on DVD to re-watch enhanced with a nice selection of special features. Most of us are already in love with the series, and enjoying the beginnings of the second season, but if for some reason you missed this first season, now is your chance to get caught up.
For those of us that are established fans, this is one to collect and to enjoy repeated viewings. The dialog is fast paced, witty and on target. The characters are interesting, and develop with each episode. In spite of murders to solve, there is much humor in each episode, and the lives of the characters are as important as the task of investigating the crimes.
Susan Sullivan is priceless as Rick’s flamboyant actress mother who is helping him raise his daughter Alexis played by Molly Quinn. Alexis is a wonderful teenager, and Ms. Quinn makes us believe in her as a real person and therefore care about her. We look forward to the home scenes with Rick and his mother and daughter as some of the funniest and most touching interactions seen on television in a long time.
Well done both writers and actors for creating such fine entertainment, and to the rest of the production crew for giving them incredible surroundings and sets.
Castle: The Complete First Season is presented on three discs containing all ten episodes. The running time is 431 minutes in English audio, but with French or Spanish subtitles available.
The special features for this first season include “Whodunit: The Genesis of Castle” a featurette that looks at the creation and development of the series, “Misdemeanors: bloopers and outtakes” from the series, “Write Along with Nathan Fillion” in a scene of art imitating life imitating art, Nathan Fillion spends a day with a real life mystery writer. “Castle’s Godfather” is a special interview with the legendary mystery writer Stephen J. Cannell, who also makes guest appearances on the show.
And there are audio commentaries for selected episodes which give a lot more information about the series as well as illustrate that the crew and cast really seem to get along well.
Castle: The Complete First Season is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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