Two weeks ago I posted about my technical DVD difficulty, but thanks to the internet’s insta-buying capabilities, I was finally able to watch and review Castle’s Season Two DVD. After such a long wait, I was both happy yet disappointed. Happy because I love Castle, disappointed because I wanted DVD commentary. However, focusing on the positive, watching the DVD set reminded me of what I loved about Season Two.
Season one Castle is what my brother referred to as Mentalist-light i.e. a crime procedural incorporating light comedy with a charming lead and a sedate female authority figure, but without pretensions to anything more. Despite his derision, I watched it faithfully. Why? Although I enjoyed Firefly, I never bought Nathan Fillion’s interpretation of Mal’s man-child personae (I just didn’t sense he experienced the horrors necessitating his occasional escape through immaturity). However, seeing Castle Season one, it all clicked and, I truly bought his concerned parent, multi-divorced character dealing with a financially insolvent mother who latches onto the first character who helps escape his seemingly polished life. Season two took it to the next level.
By mixing the natural charisma of its lead, allowing the chemistry of its co-stars to develop naturally without coerced storylines, and exploring the side characters outside back up dressing, it turned into the awesomeness I now love. Here’s where Esposito and Ryan became more than one-liner Guildencrantz and Rosensterns through Ryan’s secret girlfriend, Esposito’s ex-partner, and Esposito serving as Beckett’s love conscience. This is where Martha leapt from cougar-ish wild child to theatrical fabulousness dealing with the difficulties of Hollywood aging and diminishing Broadway roles. Even Lanie jumped from Beckett’s only work gal-pal to a little bit more.
The storylines remained juicy and densely textured, with the mistress spanking more than once on a vampire weekend while the underlying mystery of Beckett’s mother’s murder intensified with the hired assassin’s discovery. The relationship between Castle and Beckett realistically intensified and complicated with Castle’s seeming betrayal and the introduction of “Captain America.” Honestly, I loved every single episode in Season two and the DVD set reminded me of it in full color glory.
I even enjoyed the DVD extras (Esposito-Ryan giving a behind the scenes set tour, Nathan introducing folks to the crew, a description of the murders used in the show, and an inclusion of the music videos from “Famous Last Words”). They were fun and lighthearted, but, some of them reminded me of the YouTube videos Nathan released throughout the season.
It’s a high-quality five DVD disc set. If you’re a Castle fan, I’d say go ahead and get it. The reason, I’d hesitate over the 39.99 price tag is because it lacked DVD commentary. Drop Dead Diva did this as well and I’m wondering if it’s some new trend. Admittedly, there are films which I feel don’t require DVD commentary from the director, extras, writers, production staff, key stars, and supporting cast. However, for shows with a rabid fan base, such as Castle, I’m surprised they didn’t even give us one episode i.e. the season finale/season premiere with commentary from someone – the captain, perhaps, which is why I hesitated in giving it the higher grade I wanted to.
Here’s hoping they include commentary on the season three release to give my sundae the ice cream with whipped cream and cherry topping it deserves.
Clacked by An Nicholson 
on Oct 19, 2010 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
I’m sad to hear that there was no episode commentary because that was one of the things I really enjoyed about the season 1 DVDs.
Even though the show seems light, there is a lot of intricasy in the plotting of the arcs and the writing of the episodes that’s easy to miss if you’re just watching casually.
I’ll still buy the DVDs because I love the show but not with the enthusiasm I bought season 1.
*POST AUTHOR*
It’s possible they didn’t have enough time or thought they didn’t need the commentary between the S1 release and S2’s DVD extras, but I still would’ve loved to hear the actors’ thoughts.
I’m still trying to get my brother to watch. But, he’s convinced ‘Castle’ has remained at S1 level (and I doubt he watched much of S1 after the pilot/first few episodes).