March 9, 2009 – The Crime Drama Television Series Castle Premieres on ABC
“Mr. Castle, this whole ‘bad boy charm’ thing that you’ve got going might work for bimbettes and celebutants. Me, I work for a living, so that makes you one of two things in my world: either the guy who makes my life easier, or the guy who makes my life harder. And trust me, you do not want to be the guy who makes my life harder.”
On March 9, the crime drama television series Castle premiered on ABC as a midseason replacement. The show quickly gained popularity, and has been nominated for, and won, several awards, including the People’s Choice Award for Favorite TV Crime Drama and Favorite TV Drama Actor for lead actor Nathan Fillion. Several books have been released as tie-ins with the show; Castle’s first novel about character Nikki Heat, titled Heat Wave, was released in September of 2009 and peaked on the New York Times Best Seller list at number 6. The television series was created by Andrew W. Marlowe, and stars Nathan Fillion as Richard Castle and Stana Katic as Kate Beckett.
The first episode, “Flowers for Your Grave,” begins with flowers being placed over a young woman’s body, before quickly switching to the book launch for author Richard Castle’s new book, Storm Falls. Meanwhile, detective Kate Beckett is called to a homicide – the body seen from the beginning. She quickly deduces that the murder is reminiscent of a book she’d read – Richard Castle’s, to be exact. Castle is chastised by his publisher and ex-wife for killing off his best-selling main character, but he felt he had to as he no longer found him inspiring. She threatens to take back his advance if he doesn’t give her a book in the next three weeks, but he is plagued by writer’s block. Just as he wishes for something new, Beckett approaches him to ask him a few questions about a murder.
Castle is taken to the station to talk. Although he tries to flirt with her, she doesn’t fall for his flattery, and doesn’t hesitate to let him know. She shows him a picture of the victim, Alison Tisdale, but Castle isn’t sure if he’s ever seen her before. She then shows him a picture of another victim who has been murdered in a fashion similar to another Castle book; Beckett has come to the conclusion that there’s a deranged Castle fan that wants to get his attention through murder. He manages to anger Beckett further by asking for the pictures of the crime scenes, calling it a “red badge of honor” for a mystery writer. Castle goes home, and tells his daughter Alexis that he’s been asked to help the police on a case concerning his books. He tells her that the books the murderer picked are his lesser works, and wonders why the murderer would pick them.
Beckett starts giving assignments to her team, making them well versed in Castle’s work
Back at the station, Beckett gives her team members Detective Javier Esposito and Detective Kevin Ryan a box full of Castle’s works, telling them to familiarize themselves with the murder scenes so they don’t miss another one. Esposito and Ryan tease Beckett about being a fan of Castle, with Esposito asking why Beckett would want to read murder stories after dealing with bodies all day. She counters with wanting to understand why someone would want to commit murder. Esposito reports later that the murderer has left no trace, and there’s no connection between the two victims. Beckett gets more bad news when the Chief tells her that Castle has offered to assist with the investigation. Beckett and Castle then have to go through a mountain of his fan mail, and she asks him why he’s there, as he doesn’t want justice, nor is he outraged. He says that he’s there for the story, and that there’s always a story. He studies her, and deduces that something happened to her to make her become a cop, as women like her become lawyers, not cops, he decides. She isn’t impressed with his trick, and goes silent until she finds the letter that could lead to the killer. When the team hears that it will take a week to get the prints from the envelope, Castle calls in a favor with his friend, the Mayor, which annoys Beckett further.
The team is called out when another body is found, imitating yet another Castle story. Although Castle is told to stay away from the scene, he heads over to the medical examiner before Beckett can stop him. As Castle studies the scene, Beckett gets a call that they’ve gotten a hit from the prints, and the team races to get the suspect Kyle Cabot. Castle is told to stay in the car, but of course, he leaves after Beckett has raced into the building. She enters Cabot’s apartment and finds several Castle books with frightening crayon drawings. In the back room, they find all of the evidence they need, including a layout of Cabot’s plans, and then find Cabot hiding in the closet. Back at the station, it looks as if the case is solved, as Cabot has serious mental problems, but Castle disagrees, saying that it just seems too easy. Beckett brushes Castle off, but his words stick in her head later, leaving her to go through the evidence again. After a poker game with some author friends, Castle decides to keep digging, as he is still unconvinced that Cabot is guilty. He shows up at the police station again, and presents Beckett with a gift of an advance copy of his new book. She begrudgingly thanks him, and he kisses her on the cheek before he leaves. She realizes that he’s gone through the evidence again and stolen her files.
Beckett arrives to have Castle arrested for stealing her files
Beckett tracks Castle down and has him arrested for felony theft and obstruction of justice. As he is led away by the officers, he lets her know that the type of rose petals used in the crime means Cabot is innocent. The charges are dropped if Castle agrees to leave the case alone, but Beckett is hung up on Castle’s theory, and reopens the case. Castle is convinced that Cabot’s been set up, with the murderer really only wanting to kill one person, with the other two just used as a cover. Beckett and Castle realize that, had Cabot really been the killer, he wouldn’t have gotten several details wrong when copying the murders from the books. Alison is the intended victim, they conclude, although they still don’t know why. The next day, Castle and Beckett show up at Ashley Tisdale’s father’s office, and ask him questions. They find that, should something happen to Mr. Tisdale, the money will go to his son, Harrison. After they question the brother, they find that he was asked to hire Cabot by his sister, and he refused. He has an alibi, but Beckett knows that he’s lying, as he is too quick to provide the alibi. They begin the pursuit to prove the Harrison’s guilt.
After stopping at the court house to get a search warrant, the two head off to Harrison’s residence, although Beckett tricks Castle and handcuffs him to the car. Beckett finds that Harrison has fled, as well as shredded the evidence. Castle is able get out of his handcuffs and chases after Harrison, with Beckett not far behind. Harrison holds Castle hostage, but Castle knocks Harrison out, with Beckett able to cuff him. After Harrison is arrested, Castle invites Beckett to dinner, but she turns him down. He is intrigued by her, enough so that he decides to base his new character, Nikki Heat, on her. The Chief calls Beckett into his office, and announces that Castle will now be joining Beckett on her cases for research, much to Beckett’s dismay.
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