I used to only watch The Mentalist TV show when both this show and Castle started appearing on my television set. I gave Castle the normal five 
minutes of my attention when any new show that even slightly appeals to me starts. I didn’t like Castle. I thought it was annoying. I loved The Mentalist. I liked the concept and all of the actors, especially Simon Baker. So yummy. They had a good working relationship with each other, even though most of the time it was the normal “who-done-it” that got cleared up in one episode. The Red John idea that ran through all the episodes was really good. It reminded me of the Profiler TV show (1996-2000), a detective show with a woman as the main character. Samantha worked to figure out all of those pesky murders also. She had someone chasing her throughout that series too – Jack. Red John is getting tiresome though. Patrick Jane was supposed to kill him off and then low and behold, he is still alive and taunting Jane. How long can you pull out a character’s story, especially a person that you never see. I’m sick of it, I tell you! Oh, and then Grace and Wayne. They were a great couple and of course had to be broken up. Now Wayne has a baby and I don’t think he is married to or living with the woman. So far this season, they have not brought up either character’s home life. The two shows so far have been pretty boring and slow. I liked Cho’s story line last season about the hooker that he had a relationship with. Now she is packed and gone and he is boring once again. Other than having Jane sleeping with some Red John connected woman one time, Jane’s love life is just as bad as the rest. The writer’s keep teasing us with him and Lisbon, which is par for the course in this type of show. But it is so small a tease that by the time you blink, you will have forgotten it.
Now I must tell you about Castle. I started watching the old episodes when I had nothing else on the Tivo. Hey, this was pretty good. I began to like it 
better than The Mentalist. Castle and Beckett always had a thing going. Yes, they were teasing us, but now they are together for real and I am loving it. It is the same type of procedural show, but it isn’t as boring. The two were stuck in a lot of places together, lots of things get blown up, they run around, and get shot at. There is also a continuing story line with Beckett. It involves her mother’s death. Somehow the way it is written, it just keeps getting more complicated, but it is good and interesting. I actually look forward to seeing the show each week. There are a few other people in the show, two detectives that work with Beckett and Castle (who is a writer and not a detective), their ever changing chief, plus Castle’s very funny mother and his daughter. All of these people have some continuing storyline.
All in all I recommend Castle over The Mentalist, but there is always hope that they will bring Patrick Jane back to life.
Kate