For the past four years (I started in 2012, binging season one to four before the start of season five), Castle has been one of my most favorite TV series. I’ve been an avid follower of this series (I think I’ve actually seen all episodes) even when I begin to feel in its latter seasons that it was not as good as it was before. But, as a whole, I’ve known this show to be a delight. There are a lot of crime procedurals on TV nowadays, but Castle’s unique premise, balanced dose of fun and tension, clever writing, nerd culture-friendly themes, and extremely lovable cast made it stood out.
Lead actors Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic have perfect chemistry, making their respective characters, Richard Castle and Kate Beckett, one of the most outstanding duos as well as couples I’ve ever seen on screen. I read a rumor that these two hated each other in real life. I don’t believe it, but if it’s ever true, then it’s just an additional testament to their talents for making “Caskett” work impeccably.
I love the early dynamic of Caskett, in which the immature, happy-go-lucky mystery novelist Rick Castle pretends to conduct research for his Nikki Heat novels so he can tag along with the serious, steely homicide detective Kate Beckett during her investigations. Understandably, due to their polar opposite personalities, they didn’t get along well; they bickered a lot. But they also developed an unconventional but very effective mystery-solving partnership, as Castle’s wild imagination and Beckett’s cold logic progressively meets in the middle to arrive to the correct solution. In addition, they had this amazing romantic tension between them. I especially loved those times he would constantly hand her coffee. I find the gesture so sweet. They eventually became a couple, got married, but I enjoyed their “will they or won’t they” days much, much more.
Hence, Kate Beckett is definitely as much important as the titular character. So when it was announced that Stana Katic won’t be coming back for a season nine, I already expected the cancellation of the show. I just couldn’t imagine Castle without Beckett.
No one was surprised when announcement of its cancellation followed a few weeks later. As a fan, I still enjoy watching every new episode, but I recognize the fact that it has long “jumped the shark.” So I was somewhat okay to say goodbye to it finally. Still, I was hoping it would have a satisfying wrap-up.
But sadly, that won’t be the case. Just like most shows with abrupt cancellations, the ending was rushed. Hence, the resulting finale turned out to be bland, anti-climatic, and unsatisfying. The season seven finale would have made a better series finale.
Season eight was basically unnecessary. Yes, it has new characters, a new status quo, a new arc, and, most importantly, it gave us fans another season to be with its wonderful characters. But it didn’t really offer anything fresh. Worst of all, it gave the show a “meh” ending.
Castle has indeed been a lot of fun, and I’m gonna miss it terribly. I really grew to love this show deeply – flaws and all. Thus, it breaks my heart that it has to say goodbye in such a sucky manner.