Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Why I Like Castle

Besides the obvious of course.

I love Castle's writers for so many reasons. I love that the main character is a writer so the writers get to put their own pet peeves into the dialog and you get a running gag about the proper use of the word irony. I also love that they actually seem to be intelligent. So the past two episodes of Castle were a two parter in which Castle and Beckett were chasing a serial killer, since it was a serial killer the FBI shows up to profile and catch the guy. I've watched enough (too much) TV to know what happens next.

See when you watch a cop show and the FBI shows up what happens is the FBI is so caught up in rules and regulations that they can't get anything done and the cops have to go behind their backs to solve the case on their own. When you watch an FBI show then the locals are going to be too personally involved and go off all half cocked almost ruining the investigation which then has to be salvaged by the FBI. This is TV writing 101. This is not what happened. They got along. They worked together. They respected each other. They solved the case and caught the bad guy. Together.

Here is where it gets REALLY weird though. Beckett and the lead FBI agent were both women. They managed to show two strong, professional women who were good at their jobs working together and respecting each other. Does Beckett get kicked off the case for being too close to it all? Of course she does, what does she do about it? Well she goes home and gets a good night's sleep and then says it was the right decision to make because she was too close to the investigation and she would have done the same thing. (pardon my french but...) What. The. Fuck.

I can't tell you how nice it is to see two intelligent women getting along on TV. There was no bitchery or backstabbing, there was only communication and respect. I am a little annoyed that this is so surprising though. So thank you Castle writers, and to the rest of you, how about we show that it is possible for women to work together on something that doesn't involve bringing down another woman.

And just for good measure: My favorite Castle moment (no matter WHAT happens on Castle, this will always be the best scene).