DVD Corner

Castle Season 3 DVD Review

The third season of “Castle” is made watchable by Nathan Fillion.

Famed novelist Richard Castle and NYPD detective Kate Beckett team up together again for the 24 episode season three. In this season, the duo investigates murders of everyone from a psychic and a male stripper to a lotto winner and a soap opera writer. Other subplots involve a Triple Killer, a bomb, an L.A. trip, possible aliens, a film adaptation of Castle’s novel series “Nicki Heat,” a resolution to the season two cliffhanger, Castle’s ex-wife and daughter Alexis, Detectives Kevin Ryan and Javier Esposito, medical exainer Dr. Lanie, and perhaps some development on Castle and Beckett’s “friendship”.

As a police procedural, “Castle” is nothing special. It’s a “been there, done that” crime investigation series with a “murder of the week” formula and a gimmick involving a writer. What is special, however, is the humor.

As anyone who has followed Nathan Fillion’s career knows, he has real comedic timing. He IS the show and he is the only thing that keeps it afloat. Whether he’s talking about aliens in “Close Encounters Of The Murderous Kind,” wearing a Steampunk costume in “Pranked,” flirting in “Nikki Heat,” or geeking out over meeting Gene Simmons in “To Love And Die In L.A.,” Fillion always livens up an otherwise predictable series. While I no doubt wish he was doing something else (like more “Firefly”), I’m happy that he finally has a relatively successful show on his hands after jumping around from short lived show to short lived show.

Summary: Pick up this season 3 set if you’re a “Castle” and or Nathan Fillion fan. You can catch season 4 now Mondays on ABC.

Video/Audio:

The 1.78:1 widescreen picture quality is a little grainy, but overall I was pretty pleased with how the series looked on disc. On a side note, I have to say I am surprised there isn’t a Blu-ray release for “Castle” yet.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track delivers in every department whether it be the score, dialogue, city sounds, etc.

Extras:
* DVD coupons.
* ABC and Disney ads.
* 14 deleted scenes from various episodes.
* Commentary on “A Deadly Affair” by Nathan Fillion, Rob Bowman, and Andrew W. Marlowe. Fillion is always entertaining to listen to.
* Commentary on 3XK by Jon Huertas, Seamus Dever, David Amann, and Bill Roe.
* 4 minutes of bloopers.
* A music video for the rap song “Get On The Floor”.
* “Murder Boards”- A featurette on the prop erase boards used in the episodes.
* “Murder They Wrote”- Andrew Marlowe, Rob Bowman, Michael Connelly, Brian Michael Bendis, and Nathan Fillion chat about the Castle character, writing, research, comic books, etc.

* “Castle Goes Hollywood”- A short featurette about the L.A. episode (even though they already shoot in L.A.).

November 16, 2011 - Posted by nicklyons1 | DVD review | Brian Michael Bendis, Castle Season 3 DVD Review, Castle Season 4, Gene Simmons, Nathan Fillion