Castle: The Complete Fourth Season
DVD Reviews | Sep 14th, 2012
Starring: Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic, Susan Sullivan, Seamus Dever, Jon Huertas, Penny Johnson Jerald, Tamala Jones, Molly Quinn
Created By: Andrew W. Marlowe
Studio: Disney / Buena Vista
Buy On Amazon.com
If I had to be picky, Castle’s fourth season wasn’t anything really new. It’s still a highly entertaining show that I watch weekly. The season begins to get a little frustrated but the fans finally get some resolution at the finale.
At the end of season three, Captain Montgomery gets killed, caught up in the scandal that got Kate’s mom murdered so many years ago. At the funeral, Kate’s shot from a sniper and Castle tells Kate he loves her. Season 4 starts with Kate getting brought into the hospital and her boyfriend is the one that starts to work on her. Chaos happens behind the scenes while Kate is being operated on but thankfully she survives. 3 months go by and Kate slowly gets back into things, and Castle comes back to consult for the NYPD. He has to get in the good graces of Captain Victoria “Iron” Gates (Penny Johnson Jerald), who isn’t very keen on Castle in the beginning. Things go back to normal for everyone for a little bit, but old cases and Kate’s mom’s murder case keeps popping up. Castle gets involved with someone blackmailing him in a way, things happen, people get pissed, people do things fans have been waiting for. It’s all very exciting.
This season of Castle has it’s up and downs because I began to get frustrated with the relationship of Beckett and Castle. Will they, won’t they, are they ever going to at least kiss or better yet, screw? Thankfully the fans’ got what they wanted out of those two and they ended the season with a bang, so to speak. The chemistry with Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic is one of the key elements of why this show works. Fillion is so likeable and it’s great when he throws out a pop culture reference. Is it just me or is Stana Katic getting sexier and sexier each season? That end scene between the two was kind of steamy, even for broadcast TV. Was nice though, looking forward to more of that in season 5. Seeing those two in some type of relationship should be fun.
I like the stories of Detectives Esposito and Ryan, and how they kind of had a falling out towards the end too. So that dynamic should be interesting in the beginning of season 5. I liked how Alexis was doing an internship with Lanie; it was a good move to keep her character interesting and involved with her Dad more. The only character I can see them offing soon is Castle’s mother. I know she’s kind of his angel on his shoulder sometimes but she seems like the one character they could do without. I almost thought she was a goner in that riveting bank robbery episode.
Things I hate TV series doing is a clip show and then another is doing some Noir/Great Depression era styled show. Shows like Las Vegas and Fringe have done that in the past and I’ve always hated that. The same thing with Castle, I just didn’t care for it. I liked the two-part episodes of the season, ones that deal with Castle’s mother’s case but I also like light-hearted ones too. The show usually does a serious episode, then follows it up with something silly like ghosthunter episode. By the way, it was nice to have some sort of Firefly reunion and have Adam Baldwin on the show. That was amusing.
One of the biggest complaints I have isn’t about the show, but the fact that ABC (or Disney/Buena Vista) is still releasing TV series just on DVD. The show is in HD, so why isn’t this on Blu-Ray? The DVD quality on my Samsung LED TV sucks, and makes it look all pixelated so it’s tough trying to watch DVDs. I believe they might be the only studio/network that isn’t really releasing some TV series on Blu-Ray. What’s the hold up?
If you like bloopers, be sure to check them out on the last disc in the set. I always have to watch the bloopers on the Castle DVDs, because I know Nathan Fillion is such a jokester. The rest of the cast were really funny too. Besides bloopers, there’s featurettes on the old-timey show they did, the stunts, some deleted scenes and more!
Castle Season 4 was a fun season that had some episodes I loved, some I hated. I guess I can say that about any show though. I’m disappointed this isn’t on Blu-Ray but it’s not a total show-stopper for me. It is what it is, I guess.
Features:
Fillion and Friends: Castle Goes Radio
Submerged: An In-Depth Look At Stunts
Bowman, Bowman & Castle
Audio Commentaries
Deleted Scenes
Bloopers
Video:
Widescreen 1.78:1 Color (Anamorphic)
Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles:
English, Spanish, French
Bottom Line: Castle is always entertaining but sometimes predictable. Like with any show, it has it’s up and downs and thankfully there was some pay off in the finale!
Running Time: 985 mins
Rating: NR
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating:
