Ever since the news broke a few weeks ago that Castle season 5 would include a convention episode with an emphasis on star Nathan Fillion’s cancelled sci-fi series Firefly—directed by Jonathan “Commander Riker” Frakes, no less—fans have eagerly been looking forward to “The Final Frontier.” The most intriguing element of the episode was that the producers were looking to cast someone to basically play Nathan Fillion, if he had succumbed to depression and alcohol abuse and faded into obscurity after his show got cancelled. How meta!
I’m sad to report that “The Final Frontier” fell short of my expectations of a total Firefly lovefest. The in-jokes weren’t as delightful as in years past, and many of the plot points resembled the kinds of murder-at-cons episodes we’ve seen from similar procedurals like Bones or one of the CSI offshoots. It was a valiant effort from the producers, but lacked the nuance and respect that Firefly fans deserve.
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