In Defense of Castle’s Copied Story Lines

Last week, Castle fans were outraged over a veiled comment made by David Boreanaz at Comic Con.

After a debate with Emily Deschanel over how to say “bullets” correctly, Boreanaz says, “This is why the relationship works. Look, we have foundation, we have bones, we don’t live in castles.” (See that video here.)

Castle fans took this to mean to that Boreanaz was insulting Castle, and they expressed their aggravation on Twitter. But this is a fire that started at least year’s Comic Con, in which Boreanaz called Castle a rip-off of Bones—a comment which he defended later by saying it was made in “pure fun.”

But regardless of comments or intentions, isn’t it a little hard not to compare Castle and Bones?

The similarities between Castle (2009) and Bones (2005) are striking. Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) and Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) have similar personalities— they are both fun-loving, quirky, handsome, and willing to have faith, whether that faith be in religion, the supernatural, or love…

Likewise, Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and Kate Beckett (Stana Katic), are strong, powerful women who believe in facts. The unique partnership between Castle and Beckett have specific parallels to Booth and Brennan—it’s painfully obvious. But what’s so wrong with that? It’s a good pairing, and one that existed before Bones, specifically in The X-Files (1993).

In addition to these commonalities, Castle also draws on specific storylines, not only from Bones, but also from several other shows (The Glades, the short-lived Missing, and apparently even Downton Abby). From romances to kidnappings to hostage crises, the similarities are hard to miss.

Just in the most recent season of Castle alone, we see specific similarities to both Bones and The Glades:

• At the end of Bones Season 2, Angela and Hodgins, are finally about to tie the knot when they learn they aren’t legally allowed to get married. The reason: it turns out that Angela legally married. Though she knew she had participated in a wedding years ago, what she didn’t realize was that the wedding was actually real and legally binding (“Stargazer in a Puddle” 2007).

• In Season 6 of Castle, something very similar happens to Beckett as she and Castle are applying for their marriage license. It turns out Kate is married too, again to a man from long ago, with a wedding in Las Vegas that she didn’t realize was legal. The resolution to this one, though, takes place in just one episode—whew! (“For Better or Worse” 2014).

• But just as Castle fans think they really may finally get that “Caskett” wedding, another derivative storyline halts them yet again. The most recent season finale of Castle is also reminiscent of the series finale of The Glades, where, while on the way to his wedding, Jim Longworth is shot and left for dead. Sadly, we as viewers don’t know if he died or if he and Callie lived happily ever after, because the show was cancelled after that. (“Tin Cup” 2013). Castle is coming back, and thank goodness, because the last we saw, Castle is run off the road on the way to the wedding, and appears to have been killed (For Better or Worse 2014).

• Oh, and one more thing, Jim and Castle propose to their ladies under the same circumstances, just as Callie and Beckett, respectively, are deciding if they should move away for a better job. Each pair also, temporarily, struggles through a long-distance relationship.

Clearly, all of these similarities aren’t coincidental. In fact, Andrew Marlowe, the Castle’s creator admits to some copying of story lines: “While there may be some similarities to other shows, that’s how it goes in TV-land. When shows have good ideas, other shows consider using them. Look at the ‘amnesia’ story-line in soap operas, or the Bob NewHart-ian it was all a dream… how many times were those plot points copied?”

And let’s be honest, this really does happen all the time. There just aren’t very many original ideas left in the world of television.

But more than that, isn’t part of the *point* of Castle that it’s inspired by other shows? It is, after all, a story about a writer drawing inspiration from his muse and from the crimes they solve.

Even more interesting– this fictional writer is inspired by fictional story-lines, but *real* novels come out of it. (Have you read Heat Wave?) So, I think it’s actually quite fitting that the show copies other tropes, characters, and story-lines. Castle really wouldn’t be as fun to watch if it didn’t.

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSzV17qpmjA
http://www.wetpaint.com/bones/articles/castle-is-a-bones-ripoff-david-boreanaz-makes-a-joke-fans-freak
http://www.thegahlik.com/index.php?r=site/article&id=77
http://sharetv.com/shows/castle