The show at its best is near-perfect escapism, bending but not breaking the conventions of Old School, pre-cable primetime detective foolishness. But the increasingly strained contrivances needed to keep the leads apart were becoming irritating. Now "Castle" has a chance to become, if not "The Thin Man" at least "Hart to Hart," than which many things are worse.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
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4 comments:
Interesting. The "boy meets girl" contrivances of an earlier age in which the stories played out over no more than two hours get frayed, to say the least, over the seventy plus hours of a successful television series.
On the other hand, a lot of writers are bad at more mature relationships...
The co-creators are a husband and wife team; that was the crux of Henry Jenkins argument. If these people can't do it, who could? Plus, it's been thoroughly established as a playful relationship, which should make it easier.
I've been disappointed Castle, and many other series, in this regard for years. It's as if writers think that "too much will change" when the couple becomes a couple. It's a ridiculous premise.
The couple on Castle already had potential to have a chemistry like the Charles Couple, in fact it was their lack of true partnership that has been dragging the show down. Nathan Fillion is one of the rare people I would cast as Nick Charles...Vincent Vaughn is another. One has to have a certain manly charm to do it, and they both have it. There are others too, but those two come most to mind.
"Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" spent an entire season preventing the couple from getting married. It was one of the worst season of television ever. A season that killed the show. So much so that the fact that the following season -- the best season of the show which featured the talent of Tim Minear-- was insufficient to resurrect the show.
"Mad About You" for some reason felt it had to have a marital crisis. Unnecessary and killed the show. "Dharma and Greg" same thing.
Not every couple cheats. Not every couple gets a divorce. Not every couple takes 7 years to go out on a first date.
The Beresfords, the Charleses, the Harts...there are some wonderful couples in literature and TV. Let them flourish as well as the tragic. Don't cease having tragic relationships, but don't forget the charming ones as well.
All of the drama that cop and military shows normally find in the concept of "partnership,' an endless source of soul-searching on even a tough-minded show like "Homicide." would only be amplified if the partners were in love or married. The different senses of duty related to public as opposed to private life, etc.
I like Kate Atkinson's take on the issue: ""Love versus duty. What nonsense. Or course love comes first."
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