Mystery I'm Never Gonna Solve: The Genius of ABC's Castle

This is literally my favorite thing to blog/talk about. Like seriously. So please excuse any excessive fangirling that may occur.

Castle follows the life of best-selling mystery novelist Richard Castle (Firefly's Nathan Fillion), who lives with his daughter Alexis (Molly Quinn) and mother Martha (Susan Sullivan) in New York City. He begins shadowing Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic, Quantum of Solace, For Lovers Only and CBGB) and her two partners Detectives Kevin Ryan (Seamus Dever) and Javier Esposito (Jon Huertas) when a serial killer starts committing murders the same way Castle does in his books. He comes up with his new series, clearly based on Kate and the gang, with its main character named Nikki Heat. The TV series has had many ups and downs, through the ongoing investigation into the unsolved murder of Kate's mother, a Triple Killer, a mystery father, relationships and much much more.

Castle premiered mid-season on March 9, 2009 to an audience of 10.76 million viewers. It's first season was limited to only 10 episodes but lived to gain a half season (13 episodes) renewal for the next year, which was then increased to 22, and even more to a full 24 episodes.

Now in it's fifth season and going strong, Castle continues to draw in large audiences week after week and is a lock for a sixth season renewal. In fact, right now, as I type, they are filming and celebrating their 100th episode!

When after 4 fabulous seasons, Kate and Castle finally got together in the April finale, I thought this show just couldn't get any better. And boy was I wrong. There's this little thing that is feared in the world of television romances, and its called The Moonlighting Curse. Moonlighting quickly went down hill and was soon cancelled after their two leads finally got together. But Castle is proof perfect that that Curse does not exist if dealt with correctly (in their defense, Moonlighting also went down due to a writers strike...).

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

I'll try not to give away too much.

Kate and Rick have been through a lot together over the last 10 months as a couple. First they found out who hired the hit on Kate's mother, had to come to terms with the fact that they can't stop him just yet. They tried to hide their relationship from their coworkers, which resulted in some hilarious precinct hijinks. They spent a weekend in the Hamptons...where a body just had to fall into Castle's pool. Castle was framed for murder by 3XK. They were kidnapped by the mob. Castle forgot to buy Kate a Christmas gift, and then screwed up her Valentine's Day present by putting it in her boss' suit jacket instead...And finally, in Monday's conclusion of a two-part event, Castle discovered who his father was while rescuing his daughter Alexis from the kidnappers who took her to Paris.

It's been an eventful season, and I can't wait for what is coming!

I love the show as a whole, but there are some things in particular that I believe make this show so endearing.

Brilliant Creator and Writers

Andrew Marlowe and his wife Terri Edda Miller are the masterminds behind Castle and Andrew has said in the past that he based a lot of the relationship between Castle and Kate on he and his wife. They spearhead a group of amazingly talented writers who have come up with everything from ice bullets, to dream sequence scenes, to XFiles and aliens. Social media, especially Twitter, has helped fans get to know Andrew and Terri, as well as other writers, producers, editors, and crew. He answers questions and live-tweets with fans. He's even taken fan suggestions and integrated them into the show (ex. Kate now calls Esposito "Espo," and the ship name "Caskett" was acknowledged on screen as well). Without Andrew and his incredible team, we wouldn't have Castle in the first place.

On-screen Team of Stana and Nathan

These two are amazing. The looks. The eye-rolls. The hair. The eyebrows. Everything they do is perfection. I may be insanely biased, but I seriously wonder why these two have not won Emmys yet. They can do funny. They can do heartbreaking. They can do relationships and teasing. They can get to your heart.

Always

Character Development

My favorite character's story arc is that of Kate Beckett. In season 1 she was a by-the-book detective, hard as nails, and driven to to the people behind her mother's murder. She wanted nothing to do with the nine-year-old on a sugar rush that was The Richard Castle. In season 2, she saved his life by killing the man who was hired to kill her mother before she could get answers out of him. In season 3, she told Castle that she was tired of having one foot out the door in her relationships and that she wanted someone who would jump into it with her together. In season 4, Kate sat Castle down on some swingsets in the park to tell him that she had a wall around her heart, that she wouldn't be able to have the relationships she wanted until that wall came down, and her mother's murder was put to rest. She took the initiative to work through her PTSD (after she was shot in Season 3 finale) with a therapist and realize that all she wanted was Castle. Her arc is so easy to relate to. She has a strength about her that is very appealing, as she works in a "man's" world. Kate is by far my favorite character.

The Relationships

Rick and Kate. Rick and Alexis. Rick and Martha.