I'm having trouble now with Castle being so involved with the police. I can't help wondering how many defense lawyers use his involvement to try and throw out cases. Granted, they always have a confession or the crooks are caught red-handed--essential for a cop show--and they generally get confirmation of what he finds, but he's not a duly sworn-in police officer. He's fired a gun in the course of investigations, he should be in a world of trouble for that. Reality is stretching a little thin for me.

edit: I remember an episode of Bones where the perp did not confess and the evidence was not a complete slam dunk. They didn't show the court case, and Booth told Bones that at least the family knew what happened and they were morally certain who had done it. I think that's the only time a cop show didn't have a convenient corpse or confession.

He's fired a gun in the course of investigations, he should be in a world of trouble for that. Reality is stretching a little thin for me.

Have you seen the news lately? It's not like Castle is careless with a gun - if he pulls the trigger, it's all been justifiable. If NYPD cops don't get proscuted for using unapproved chokeholds in a lethal fashion or killing people for the threatening action of being in their own building's stairwell, going to their own appartment, why on earth would a not-precisely-officially-deputized person (who is nonetheless allied to A) cops; and 2) the mayor) be prosecuted for justifiable shooting? It's not the show that is unrealistic on this topic - it is reality itself which is seriously messed up.

Yeah, but no one on the show is acting like an apparently typical New York cop, then.

True. For the most part, Beckett, Ryan, and Esposito don't seem to act above the law.

rue. For the most part, Beckett, Ryan, and Esposito don't seem to act above the law.

With exceptions, but yes. It does seem that without exception the cop show genre justifies torture. In Castle, very seldom. In a thriller like that Blacklist, the idea that black sites and torture is justified is so much at the heart of the show that the only thing that raises eyebrows is someone keeping a perp a personal prisoner for months. That is seen as out of line. But if the prisoner had been turned into the FBI, moved to a black site, not allowed a lawyer and tortured daily, well that is just what the noble hearted good guys have to do in today's tough world. Without being specific enough to spoil I will say that Arrow and Flash also justify black sites run by heroes. Hmm, Mysteries of Laura has had cops cross various lines, but torture, murder and illegal imprisonment are not among them. Ditto Forever. In Justified - line crossing happens a lot, but also has consequences. It is not just seen as something that is OK for good guys to do.

I despise the "heroes" being glorified for that kind of activity.

Is anyone watching Backstrom?

I binge watched several eps this weekend, and I am torn. On one hand, do we really need another show about a white man behaving badly, but on the other hand, I have always liked Rainn Wilson, and I really like the rest of the cast.

Just rewatched the finale of Life. Man, I miss that show, but that was such a good ending.

Person of Interest: I'm having trouble taking Aasif Mandvi seriously in a dramatic role.

Usman! Usman is on Castle! Sorry, pay no mind. Just an actor I've worked with several times.

I'm not sure I buy that as the actual story of what happened during his disappearance. I wonder if we'll revisit that again (finale maybe?) or if they just settled on a kind of clunky story.