10.30 The Mentalist
11.30 Castle
The Mentalist. Episode 5. "Redwood" Girl with amnesia in the woods. Did she kill her friend?
Enjoyable hokum. I'd never be drawn to this, normally, but my friends are into it and it passes the time. Several things leap out at me.
Robin Tunney/Teresa Lisbon. She's given less of an antagonistic role in this episode and seems very supportive of Jane and his methods. It helps that the script serves up an new antagonist (in the form of the local sheriff) who can give Jane grief over his antics. However, she's written into a situation of jeopardy in the climax (where she blindly wanders off into the night with the actual killer) and has to be rescued (basically) by one of her team. This is in sharp contrast to the way Castle writes it's female lead. I prefer the Castle take on things.
Amnesia. This is a great/lazy way for the show to allow Jane to perform his tricks. Part of me was rolling my eyes, but another part of me quite enjoyed watching Jane at work. So, to enjoy this show, you have to take a leap and... go with it.
The Team are stupid. Sadly, in order to make Jane seem super-cool and fantastic the show spends a lot of time showing us the CBI team following up useless leads and arresting/suspecting all the wrong people. Five episodes in, I'm thinking the show would work better if the other three characters were written out and it was more of a two-hander. Like Castle.
The Real Murderer. It's annoying when the real murderer is easy to spot for no good reason other than the fact that script makes up pay lots of attention to him at the very start. There's no satisfaction at the end when he's revealed. Unless you are an idiot and somehow believe that you figured it out. No you didn't! They made it obvious.
Castle. Episode 1. "Flowers for Your Grave" Rick Castle joins the police force!
My second viewing of this pilot was just as enjoyable as my first. Maybe even more enjoyable, now that I realise they spend a lot of time making the female detective intelligent and interesting.
Nathan Fillion is fantastic, but it must be said that in Stana Katic they have found someone who can hold her own in scenes with him. Their relationship (and considerable chemistry) is the most enjoyable aspect of the show/pilot and their best scene comes when he 'reads' her and makes some (presumably good) guesses about her past.
The Mentalist, Lie To Me and Castle are all very similar. But Castle is easily the best and most fun to watch. And the only surprise in that is that it's not all down to Nathan Fillion being bloody brilliant in everything he does. There are other reasons to enjoy this cool show.
Highlight? Castle (second viewing of the pilot is just as good, if not better)
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Mon, Mar 30, 09 - The Mentalist, Castle
