I came across this on livejournal. It’s from an internet blog, which the article talks about a lack of strong female characters on television. However, in it, Kate Beckett is used as an example of how a female TV character should be. I’m going to just share the blurb about her, but you’re welcome to read the rest of the article here.

If you’ll forgive a plug of my hands-down favorite TV show, I think that this is where a LOT of credit is deserved on the part of Andrew Marlowe (creator of ABC’s Castle), Castle’s writers and directors, and of course Castle’s lead actress Stana Katic, for combining to create a character who is one of the few examples that I can readily cite of a TV female who is truly well-rounded in her capabilities. (When I think about it, this is very likely one of the major reasons that I love the show so much.) No, Det. Kate Beckett is certainly not a Mary-Sue character who is annoyingly perfect in everything that she does. But the contrasts of her undeniably strong professional character are ones that make her more believable and fascinating as a person – hidden vulnerabilities, seemingly uncharacteristic guilty pleasures, a private persona that’s softer (but NOT more inept) than her public one. We viewers who are invested in the romantic tension of the show may scream for her to come to a realization of her true feelings already, but unlike in many other examples on TV today, the core couple of the show is not kept apart by any awkward fumbling or lack of personal grace. Beckett (and Castle, for that matter) both very much maintain control over their own personal lives, as evidenced by the carefully-played flirting and banter that they have both employed to push one another’s buttons. Again, they are kept apart by mostly external circumstances – poor timing, old wounds – and this is thus achieved without painting Beckett as a bumbling career-oriented female.

So thank you, Mr. Marlowe, Ms. Katic, and everyone else involved with Castle, for giving us a rare TV testament to the idea that a woman CAN be a multi-faceted creature – good at her job, beautiful without belying her personal control, capable and vulnerable and well-liked and private and complicated all in one. Your wonderful work will never get old to watch, truly.