Much of season 4 of Castle simply continues the show's basic formula. So we get a lot of quirky cases, such as one with all the victims dressed as fairy tale characters, another where the killer is a zombie, or a noir homage with much of the action set in 1947. And we get a lot of simmering unresolved sexual tension between Castle and Beckett.
However, this season does also do some things to disrupt the status quo. There's a bit more attention put on the supporting cast, which I appreciate since I think they're pretty darn vital to the show's successful light entertainment package. We see Castle's daughter Alexis transition from high school to college, Detective Ryan get married, and more flexibility in the character balance in the episodes. Sure, there's still a lot of the Castle and Beckett show, but we also get episodes where Castle is working more closely with Ryan and Esposito, or where a guest star comes in to interact heavily with one of the leads. Oh, and the season finale has some significant character developments too, I guess :)
Now some of the experiments work better than others. Anything that gives Molly C Quinn more to do on the show is a great idea, for instance, but the mid-season attempt to do a Frederick Forsyth style thriller is embarrassingly ham-fisted, though there is some entertainment value in guest star Jennifer Beals's ability to make almost every line of dialogue sound dirty.
Season 4 of Castle remains mostly light, frothy fun. It's not challenging TV, but it's certainly easy to watch.
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