I enjoyed the show alot more than I thought I would thanks to Hammer.

seermagicx | September 22, 15:15 CET

This review is very good. It described what makes the show so good: The dialogue, the characters, and how they're played by the actors. Thanks for posting this.

TDBrown | September 22, 15:32 CET

Yay. Picking mine up today. :)

Jossfan_21 | September 22, 17:39 CET

Fillion is the only actor I can think of that can carry that role. He manages to be sympathetic and obnoxious at the same time. The review is right to note that the cases are secondary to the characters, and that it is this alteration that makes it stand out among other procedurals. The dialogue is razor-sharp. It reminds me quite a bit of Whedon-style dialogue, actually, which is why I probably like the show so much.

ern | September 22, 20:29 CET

The dialogue is pretty good but to me it doesn't sound Whedonesque since it's not particularly stylised, it's not as playful with language (what playfulness there is is usually in the form of puns - i.e. closer to the way people actually make jokes - rather than the neologism heavy, linguistically stylish wisecracks of e.g. Buffy) and it's not as filled with pop culture references (though there still are some, last night's had a funny little shout-out to one of Nathan's friends and past co-stars for instance ;). S'got a Tracy/Hepburn kind of vibe more than Jossian to me.

And man am I with the reviewer in being disappointed with many of the cases on 'Castle', workmanlike at best some of them. I'm aware that story and plot are considered lesser than character to many of us on here and that to some the only good procedural is one without, y'know, procedures in it but to me mystery shows should have decent mysteries, writing good plots (especially week-in, week-out) is as much of a skill as creating interesting characters and for a show to be really great both story and character have to work together (as they always have in good procedurals).

'Castle' though very watchable and fun (largely thanks to the leads) doesn't always quite reach that for me (yet). It's still got bags of potential though and it's a well made, likable show.

Saje | September 22, 22:45 CET