Why I love Castle: A List.

For the first time in a long time, I look forward to Monday nights. Why? Castle, of course!

I was thinking about using pictures and being funny, but I'm going to leave that to the people who are good at it, and instead just do what I am good at: a list full of long sentences!

Note there are spoilers for the aired second season episodes (through episode 2x19, "Wrapped Up in Death") in this list, so if you are sensitive to that, click away now to look at pictures of Maru the cat instead.

Reasons why I like Castle:

• This show is one of the most respectful shows I've ever watched. Remember the Halloween episode? Everyone talks about how Castle was dressed up as Mal, and most people don't mention the rest of the episode. Well, think about it: the episode was about a bisexual polyamorous man, and not once did anyone make a joke about it. Not once. The jokes are about other stuff, rather than about the ways people live their lives. Another example of this is the episode with the dominas -- there are plenty of jokes about how Kate knows off the top of her head that the handcuffs are handmade, but none about how BDSM, etc., is just soooo icky and people who like it are just sooooo messed up. (Contrast this to any other show currently on the air that's done BDSM episodes -- House, Bones, Law & Order SVU...)
  
  
• LOL PUBLISHING. I debated making this number one, but I like the respect more than I like the publishing. And the publishing stuff is totally ridiculous in a very wishful thinking sort of way that I find incredibly charming.
  
  
• New York. While the setting is somewhat recognizable as New York City (more than White Collar, anyway!), their weird and silly version of NYC pissed me off at the beginning, but now has grown on me. I kind of like it. Ditto their ridiculous technology and all the other things that all cop shows do to adjust reality to the size of my television.
  
  
• Related ridiculousness: the show is highly stylized in many ways. Kate wears high heels to chase suspects, and the beat cops all have perfectly fitting uniforms, and everyone is a size 2 and beautiful, and even Castle's mother and teenage daughter are always perfectly coiffed, even -- especially -- when they are in pajamas.
  
  
• Castle's daughter. Despite being a geeky, yet slim and beautiful with perfect skin, teenager, she isn't played for sexiness. With so many shows focused on how "sexy" sixteen year old girls look in miniskirts and tight, low cut shirts, it's really nice to see a show that doesn't require its teenage character to get a bikini wax before coming to the set. Yeah, when I was a teenager, I was totally outre a lot of the time, but it's hard to watch it on television and not feel uncomfortable with the exploitation and beauty myth, etc. etc., insert my feminism here. Castle does not ever make me feel uncomfortable in that way. I also like the way she and Castle are written -- expand that, actually, to the whole family. They love and respect each other, even while they are poking fun at each other or saying things that have a bit of an edge. Unlike many television families, they are never entirely sweet, but neither are they terribly nasty to each other.
  
  
• when Kate's apartment is blown up and Castle rushes in to rescue her, she has already rescued herself by diving into the bathtub -- and when she says she's okay, he doesn't insist she's not, or demand to carry her.
  
  
• Three dimensional characters. It would be really easy for the show to write off guest stars as plot devices (which they technically are), but they almost never do that. I cannot remember one single episode I was irritated with after watching it because of the way the characters are drawn.
  
  
• Ryan and Esposito. WOW. I love them! They're cute, they're funny, they're charming, they're good together. They have a really traditional buddy cop vibe that puts me in mind of other charming buddy cops who I love, but they don't read to me like knockoffs.
  
  
• Castle is a knockoff. I mean, come on. It's a buddy cop show, similar to so many other buddy cop shows, with its one cutesy tagline thing to draw the viewers. So instead of a forensic anthropologist and a cop, or a Canadian Mountie and a cop, or a cop from the future and a cop from the 1970s, it's a mystery writer and a cop. Yet so many things about Castle work so well and the writing is so good, I actually find its additions to the genre to be comforting instead of tired or boring.
  
  
• Yes, I wish there were more women, but contrasted to other shows? There are a ton of women! And they all talk! And none of them are unbearably stupid! And no one ever scores points off them or tries to be funny by making fun of being a woman! And they talk to each other!
  
  
• People of color! I am surprised that there are not more people of color, considering the incredibly diverse population of New York, but there are quite a few -- more than most shows.
  
  
• Two words: hot mayor. (Feel free to replace "mayor" with... well, anyone else on the show, since they are all devastatingly attractive.)

Yeah, I also have my problems with Castle. I do wish New York City was more recognizable, and I can't figure out why there aren't any Jewish characters, and I would definitely like to see more instances of women talking to each other about things that aren't men, and that scene with Kate in the shower a few episodes ago was extremely off-putting (way to make sure viewers never forget about the male gaze!) but ultimately? Ultimately I am definitely a fan of this show.

I would love to hear about why you are a fan of Castle! Feel free to explain in text or pictures. Or video, if you have it! Spoilers through through episode 2x19, "Wrapped Up in Death," are okay, but do not post about future episodes, including the one airing tonight!