babydraco

1) Because they are one of ABC’s highest rated shows, Castle is the victim of a lot of Executive Meddling. This usually consists of forcing the writers of Castle to promote other ABC shows via their plotlines. They have done episodes about a competitive ballroom dancing reality show (based on Dancing with the Stars) and one about people who like to dress up as fairy tale characters (based on Once Upon a Time). They set a murder in the Hamptons like on Revenge. I’m also pretty sure there was one about country music. If not, there will be soon. These are not bad ideas, but the network tends to exert a lot of control over how Castle interprets their suggestions. There’s a myiad of ways Castle could’ve had fun with a murder taking place on a competitive ballroom show. Especially using the characters that inhabit DWTS. Castle picked none of them. But look at what Pysch did with their “American Duos” episode. One of their all time Crowning Moments of Funny was when the Simon Cowell/Nigel Lithgoe Expy, the now beloved character “Nigel St. Nigel”, ( played by Tim Curry) continues to viciously rip the murder’s confession to shreds on live television, mocking his motive and his accent as if the guy is just another contestant on the show and not someone who has been trying to kill him. But Psych is on USA, and American Idol is on Fox (Fox traditionally has a more biting sense of humor than ABC anyway, so Fox would most likely have let them do the episode if they were airing on Fox).
2) They get so wrapped up in Castle’s antics that they frequently forget to give us important clues before the episode runs out of time. Instead, a character will have to mention a piece of evidence they discovered offscreen. Mystery fans really prefer to at least get a chance to solve the mystery themselves, and they can’t do that with an incomplete collection of clues.

What Castle Gets Right.

1) There are many prominent strong, confident, intelligent, educated, likeable female characters. Castle himself lives in a house full of women who are fully realized people. Unfortunately, somehow the show still manages to often fail the Bechedel Test because we never really see these women just hanging out with each other but it still seems as if there was a concerted effort to include women and their opinions. Castle ‘s mother and daughter are often turned to for advice.
2) Castle’s relationship with Beckett is one of the best on tv. He views her as a real person with her own opinions and experiences, and he respects her more for that. She has authority over him in the workplace, and while he often pretends that he’s ignoring that, he never really does. He ultimately trusts her experience and knowledge. He has a childish sense of humor but they’re both grownups capable of handling their own stuff and don’t expect the other one to be a surrogate parent.
3) It's funny and engaging enough that you don't mind so much that the mysteries are sometimes badly constructed.