The Gourmet Detective

The general story arc was fairly good. I never saw that climax coming.

On the other hand, when it comes to specifics, the plot was so full of holes, it would sink an aircraft carrier. The biggest factor in those holes was police procedure. I guess we can't count among them the fact these two were paired up to begin with given Castle went on for how many seasons with a very similar arrangement. But there were so many other obvious police procedure flaws, I won't even start to name them.

The acting was decent. Neal and Burns got along about like you'd expect and certainly a lot like Castle and Beckett in the early days. Some critics refer to Maggie as bitchy, but her reactions through all the early scenes are exactly what should be expected when her captain has just handcuffed her to an amateur. Perhaps at the cooking demonstration at the top, she should have just kept her mouth shut, but her skepticism at Henry being labeled a detective is natural. She does eventually lighten up and they seem to almost like each other and end up carping at one another like a married couple.

I think in terms of enjoyment, it is fair to compare this to Castle, although in my mind Castle brought a lot more humor to the table through a combination of lame theories and general bumbling.