‘Castle’s Best Duo Isn’t Beckett and Rick

The Big Picture

• Castle‘s comedic and whimsical elements make it unique, but it was important for the show to still take its crime elements seriously.
• Detectives Esposito and Ryan bring authenticity to the police procedural aspect of the series, making it feel more realistic.
• Esposito and Ryan prove to be more compelling and consistent characters than the show’s leads, adding depth and tension to the series.

Castle isn’t a standard crime show, and in turn, Nathan Fillion’s Rick Castle isn’t a traditional hero. Castle, an author who finds himself actually solving crimes alongside the New York City Police Department, adds a healthy amount of humor to what would have otherwise been a fairly straightforward crime procedural series. While this comical whimsy that Castle (and Fillion) contribute to the series makes it unique, it was important for Castle to still take its crime elements seriously. If the series consisted of Castle just goofing around the whole time, then it could have felt like a complete parody of an otherwise serious premise.

Thankfully, Castle was able to bring a sense of authenticity to the police procedural element of the series thanks to the characters Detective Javi Esposito (Jon Huertas) and Detective Kevin Ryan (Seamus Dever). Although Esposito and Ryan are first introduced as side characters within Castle’s adventures, they prove over time that they are the most compelling duo on the show.

Ryan and Esposito Feel Like Real Cops in ‘Castle’

Esposito and Ryan are first introduced during the beginning of Castle, and play a significant role in the series up until its final season. In many ways, these two characters, despite their history within the NYPD, serve as the audience’s avatars. They help acknowledge how ridiculous the inherent premise is. Why would Richard Castle, the acclaimed author of the Derrick Storm series, want to solve crimes for real? What value could a writer have during real homicide investigations? By questioning what Castle himself could actually bring to the team, Ryan and Esposito allowed the series to feel more realistic. It also gave Castle himself something to strive for; in addition to doing his own research, Castle needed to gain these characters’ respect.

The relationship between Esposito and Ryan is a compelling one. Although the two cops often share jokes and make fun of each other, it never feels like they don’t take their jobs seriously. Unlike Castle, Esposito and Ryan have earned the right to have a sense of humor about homicide cases. They’ve done the work and actually solved crimes, and they’ve been in situations where peoples’ lives depended on them. Castle only knows about murder cases from a fictional perspective, and he quickly learns that not every mystery can be solved by a last-minute plot twist. Real crime solving doesn’t fit within the confines of one of Castle’s stories, and Ryan and Esposito are a reminder of that. While their missions together might feel like an extended vacation for Castle, for Ryan and Esposito, it’s a reality. However, getting to take part in the weird plane of reality that Castle makes a living in led to some of Esposito and Ryan’s more humorous moments on the show.

Ryan and Esposito are also able to react to aspects of Castle’s world that make their way into the police station. Castle has a bunch of strange connections to the world of popular culture, which serve as both a disruption and an advantage in some cases. By contrast, Esposito and Ryan are grounded in the real world, and seeing them react to all the silliness that comes with Castle makes it even funnier. This comes across particularly well thanks to the strong performances from Deaver and Huertas; they take their roles so seriously that Fillion feels even more exaggerated in comparison. They kept the series on track when it risked getting a little too caught up in Castle’s worldview. It’s thanks to Deaver and Huertas that Castle never jumped the shark. Castle was never equipped to deal with serious criminals or serial killers, but Esposito and Ryan were.

Ryan and Esposito Are a Better Duo Than Beckett and Rick in ‘Castle’

Over the course of the series, Ryan and Esposito add a sense of consistency that the leads simply weren’t capable of. Over the course of the first few seasons, Castle begins to fall in love with Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic), the senior New York City detective that he is supposed to be shadowing over the course of his research study. While initially there’s a sense of friction that makes their relationship compelling, this tension ultimately subsides as the series allows the two to fall in love, and ultimately marry. This would have been a great way to mature the series, but unfortunately, Katic and Fillion had some serious issues with each other; Castle’s inherent problem stems from some of the behind-the-scenes tension on set. It was more than apparent that Katic and Fillion couldn’t stand being in the same room together, and it became more noticeable once the characters’ relationship was intended to be more romantic.

This was reflected in Castle’s downward spiral in quality; the series began to take itself a little too seriously by the time it reached its later seasons, as it no longer felt realistic that an untrained man like Castle would be so integral to the NYPD. A shift towards a more dramatic story felt at odds with a character like Castle, but Esposito and Ryan were able to make it work. Deaver and Huertas had generated so much goodwill within their initial appearances that there was genuine tension when the two characters were in danger.

The series showed how two characters matured over time. Both men live their own family lives and have aspirations of rising within the ranks; they even come into conflict when the notion of police corruption is brought up. It would have been inauthentic to suggest that Esposito and Ryan never had issues with each other, but they never let any of their personal feelings make their way into the workplace. Castle ultimately collapsed when its premise proved to be unsustainable. However, Esposito and Ryan were more than just side characters; they proved more often than not to be more compelling than the show’s actual protagonists.

Castle is currently available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.

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