verdana

Sigh...alas no new obsession found. I do miss Castle despite the unholy debacle that was S8 and to think it's coming up to about the time S9 would have been starting up again. Where has the summer gone? I shudder to think what I would have been watching, I still would have checked it out though. Agreed and that's especially true with the Castle writers who were already showing very little indication they had any intention of expanding on their relationship in any truly meaningful way which so many fans were screaming to see and proved so frustrating to someone like me who craves to see those "slice of life" moments. There was a huge laundry list of things fans would have loved to have seen and even when they did supposedly attempt to tick them off they were so superficially done it tended to be very unfulfilling even laughably silly. May be that's a major part of the problem not that she necessarily consistently makes poor choices but that she doesn't get the opportunities for whatever reason to make any better choices - so takes what she can. Oh yeah I remember someone mentioning the lack of an acknowledgement, that used to happen on twitter too, just made no sense if they got on and had a normal relationship. It seemed so...deliberate and made even more weird by the fact Stana would mention him sometimes seemingly without any problems so what the hell was going on there? This was his co-star not some minor character he shared infrequent screentime or something. It's those kind of funny little things which fans brought up that got my radar pinging all was not well.

Yeah I read about that and how he was dropping not too subtle hints about some of his co-stars being less than professional. The one I read said it was Scott Eastwood he was referring to? Personally I think it's bad form to act like this with your co workers throwing shade at them. I'm with the studio execs on this one, keep it classy, leave that shit in house and if you want to have it out with someone then do it face to face behind closed doors. Don't start stirring the pot in the media for your own agenda which encourages bad press for the project and possibly a lot of anger and upset as various fans (with conflicting loyalties) start tearing into each other defending their respective beloved star. Also you may end up having to work with the person you slagged off again on another project or worse have your career in the doldrums and need a helping hand, I would have thought the less people you piss off in Hollywood the better. I'm sure there are lots of stars who have worked with certain actors and thought "NEVER AGAIN" but kept quiet, been professionals and sold the movie like crazy and said what a great time they had blah blah - save that stuff for a dinner time story with close family and friends at home when you can hopefully have a bit of a laugh about it.

Yeah some fans tend to forget eight years is a LONG time on network TV, it's draining physically and emotionally plus it's rare that any show lasting that long will maintain anything like the quality (and audience interest) as they did at the start. Actors face burn out and eventual chronic boredom. Throw in the fact that it seems fairly clear (at least to me) that both leads didn't really want to spend much time working together for whatever reason then the show was adding a severe constraint on itself that simply couldn't be overcome. Since Castle's success relied massively on their interactions and chemistry trying to get around that was next to impossible, the writers tried - the result was risible - I give you S8. I don't think she did either, it seemed obvious over the last year or so before Castle ended that she was disengaged both in terms of her performances on screen and behaviour outside the show. Off the show I don't care about but I expect actors to be doing their job on it, they're getting paid enough. I thought some of the acting from both Fillion and Katic was horrible at times. They both stayed on the show way past it's sell by date, I don't think either lead came out smelling of roses TBH, they both in different ways talked about not sticking with something when it's run out of steam. Although Stana took a more pretentious tone in her commentaries I thought, talking about only being interested in the "art" which always makes my eyes roll when any actor does it and you look at their resumes which are often littered with stuff they clearly took for the pay cheque alone because there's zero artistic merit there. Whilst I agree with others here that it's impossible to say what will happen to the various cast members career wise but here goes I agree with the above, I doubt any one has a clue who Katic is unless they've watched Castle. I liked her playing Beckett, acting wise I thought she had certain weaknesses but if she avoids those she'd be okay, she's so-so nothing spectacular (although if you listen to her more rabid fans how SK hasn't won at least a dozen Oscars yet is a an abomination) but unfortunately she makes lousy choices in her other projects. I can see her disappearing either completely or popping up in Indy stuff and the odd guest appearance on some cable or network show in a minor role. Because she was bored playing Beckett and/or fed up with her co-star and pretending to get on with him? Eight years would be enough for me too I'd want to try something else plus she's not getting any younger, as a women in Hollywood your options drastically reduce as you get over 35. Seems they went in peaks in troughs in their relationship but I agree that it seemed to reach a nadir at one point especially with Fillion, I found there were moments when it was super obvious he did not want to be interacting with her, his behaviour was just plain weird. But things did then appear to settle down but may be like you say something else happened which might have kicked it all off again. I also don't see the point of adding anything to fuel the flames even with a defence of your co-star. What I find especially obvious when trawling tumblr, twitter etc no matter what the story is that for many the narrative is already fixed in their heads and there is NOTHING that any one can say which will change their views it will only stir things up again. You're wasting your breath putting more out there, even if well intentioned. As to whether any of this fuss will affect Stana's career, I doubt it, Castle was small beer TV wise, it wasn't some huge headlining show with huge press/social media focus and the only people who follow this kind of thing intimately are on fan forums and the like. The general viewing public don't give a crap about any of this, if they like her on something else and her character touches a chord with them that's good enough, her career will take off again. Fans have very short memories for the most part, they'll have moved on to something else and it will be forgotten. If she became a big deal on some other network she'll have those (possibly) pissed off ABC execs crawling over themselves to get her on board something of theirs no matter what she'd done in the past. That's Hollywood all anyone cares about - money - and hitching your bandwagon to whomever is going to generate more of it and bolster your status. It's the only business where not only does bad behaviour seem to be tolerated it often bizarrely ends up being hugely rewarded in many cases.

I wish TV line would stop picking over the scab lol but of course they want the hits. Alan was there as the trusty friend to help NF out with the patter and fill in the gaps. Whatever did go down (and I'm super positive something did between Katic and Fillion) I wish them and the whole cast well, if we ever do find out it will be years from now when they're needing cash and someone writes a tell all book heh.

I agree it was probably a combination of both but it had this unfortunate cumulative effect as I explained in my previous posts and towards the end it was like they were trying to punch a hole through the screen and grab me by the throat to remind me especially of her sheer hotness, badassery and awesomeness. Her past seemed to get....messy to me filled with contrasting things that didn't really add up character wise but that I'm sure was down to pure lazy writing and they couldn't be bothered to tie up the timelines on anything much just chuck it in there and hope no one bothered trying to go back and take a look at it. This gif of Beckett (S8?) striding out with her boys to a crime scene encapsulates everything that irritated me about how they morphed her from an attractive woman who importantly looked like a professional serious cop into someone who looks like her next stop is the dominatrix dungeon. She just needs a whip and she's your fantasy hot cop giving you a little "punishment" for kicks. The flowing long tresses which are actually getting in her way (check), sky high glossy black boots (check), THIGH HOLSTER (super hot that's worth extra!) and most ridiculous of all a bullet proof vest that offers her literally zero protection in the stomach area it's riding so high up to show off those hips and supermodel strut. But hey she looks SEXY and HOT what's not to love! The boys? They look like I would expect two cops to look, her I don't know what she is but that's no cop. I thought Brennan on Bones was a good example of how to do it right, she was attractive but they kept her look suitable for lab work. I'm sure people working in one day to day had their gripes but to someone like me nothing stuck out as glaringly OTT. There was a time when I didn't mind the high heels because back in the early days they kept the rest of it real plus I realised they probably wanted Katic to be eye level with her co-star and Fillion's a tall guy. But they had to start overdoing everything and if you keep pushing something in my face it highlights the sheer absurdity of it all and they shouldn't do that. Having everyone she met tell her within five seconds how amazing she was when she's done nothing at that point to give this impression was also grating and stupid. Well stated, I can never understand why they wanted to do that because it sucked the life (and realism) out of their relationship slowly but surely for me to the point I didn't understand why either of them found sustainability together. Making a woman have to act like she's "mom" to her husband will kill any romance factor stone dead, that's the route they seemed to be heading for at times with these two. Hearing some fans calling him "Beckett's adorable doofus (or goofball) of a husband" is not a compliment especially for a guy like him, it's embarrassing when you think of the man he used to be. As one commentator pointed out it was critical that Beckett found him attractive and not annoying when he did any silly kind of stuff, if she acted bored/sarcastic or angry at him then that will transfer over to your audience. Same went with the boys and their eye rolling and making fun of his theories towards the end it got (and even Beckett got in on the act sometimes) if they looked scornful and embarrassed by them that was lethal because if they're not taking him remotely seriously then why the hell should your audience? The writers seem to forget they look the lens of how the other characters are treating/reacting to that person so they need to be careful how they do it but of course they didn't care I guess they thought it was just funny having Nathan acting like a goofball with everyone else poking fun. That's a good example where you have a supposedly major story arc that fails on every level because TPTB are not prepared to allow the characters to suffer any major repercussions for their actions. Instead it becomes a meaningless yet highly irritating story which kept getting thrust in my face but every appearance of it only served to remind the audience how inconsequential it was to everyone not just Beckett and Castle but to his family and friends - it was mostly treated like a joke and they made Castle look even more pathetic than ever. Beckett sailed on regardless after what should have been a major upheaval to her marriage (and possibly even an end to it) and much worse there was no sign that she wouldn't go and do exactly the same thing all over again if the situation presented itself. Despite all the supposedly "cute" moments they didn't have anything really substantial there for the long term the way they wrote them. Yeah I know we got the three kids at the end in the "happily ever after" tacked on ending but felt like their future relationship was set that Beckett was free to do as she pretty much wanted with no genuinely painful come backs or lessons learnt and Castle would forgive her eventually because he luuuuurved her so much and that's the pattern they seemed happy to establish and for me as a viewer it sucked. That's not the kind of relationship I wanted them to have, I'll have to resort to fanfic (where some of the writers appear far more attuned to the characters than Hawley and Winter were) for examples of a more healthy way of having these two go about things.

The super hot amazing nerd chick deal they had going on with her was annoying and it felt a bit condescending. It was obvious what they were trying to do which made even more irritating, I could imagine this checklist drawn up in the writers room as they steadily ticked every single thing off it season by season. For Christ's sake usually there's always someone out there better at a particular thing than you but not in Beckett's world by the looks of it lol. And I agree with madmaverick her so called "failures" never felt like that (and they need to carry emotional weight to work) plus she never seemed that sorry about screwing up in the first place which always irked me. Even if she did end up saying sorry I never bought into it. Beckett certainly struck a chord with some fans in a big way, for some she was their role model for womanhood and what they aspired to be - I can only assume they were either very young or very naive or both. There's a whole load of misery and trouble in store right there for any young woman aiming for Beckett's level of supersexynerdybadassextraordinariness. The skateboarding one was a classic example of them throwing in a random bit of expert knowledge for Kate that actually took me out the scene, "Whoa! Nice tail whip!" Oh please. Have her admire the cool moves by all means but that was too much. It's a pretty specialised hobby/sport yet they're asking me to believe she's acquired some in-depth knowledge of skateboarding on her travels so she can casually name the exact moves in passing? Urgh. It felt completely forced in there which is what frequently happened when Beckett suddenly piped up in this way as it was never referred to ever again. If writers are going to start doing this kind of thing constantly with a character (male or female) they need to show the audience how that knowledge might be acquired in little ways - not just dump it on me like that. Castle knowing some random stuff I can buy into way more readily given what they've shown of his experiences and the fact he's a writer and naturally curious plus they didn't overdo it and make him brilliant at everything - alas far from it. I'm surprised the guy could still get his pants on by himself in the mornings he regressed that much.

The smaller more intimate moments on the show are the ones I remember most not the big overblown two parters which as others have so rightly pointed out got totally OTT after the first couple of outings. Marlowe loved his "higher stakes" storytelling that's for sure but didn't have the writing chops (or budget) to really do them justice and besides once you've got to "saving the world" where exactly are you going to go after that? Sigh

I strongly suspect that Marlowe is a one trick pony and this is why him and his wife keeping heading back to the same things to try and hit gold again. That's not to say they can't make it happen a lot of people simply regurgitate what they've done before but a lot will depend on the casting like you said. I'm not scared of watching conflict, when written well it can be an excellent way of showcasing your actors and the story but I grew to fear it on Castle every time they hinted at something coming up because it was so woefully written. That moment when she stitched herself up was so excruciating but typical of how they amped up her badassary in various laughable ways, all they needed in the next action outing was a scene of Beckett digging a bullet out of her leg with a knife then bandaging it and carrying on and if any one asks says "it's only a flesh wound!" lol.

They definitely made her less relatable to me as time went on, others said the changes made were natural development because Castle brought Kate out of her shell but it didn't come over that way to me unfortunately. I stopped thinking of her as anything close to a real cop about S4 and by S8 she had become an expert at being kidnapped and was as far removed from any police captain I've seen as it's possible to be. I still can't get over that scene In What Lies Beneath with her laying down in that skin tight dress on the couch in her office when talking to this guy. WTF was that about? Showing off Katic's sheer "hotness" by the looks of it, that was embarrassing and completely inappropriate for the character and situation. The writers also swapped parts of their personas around whilst emphasizing in more obvious ways her alpha status whilst making him look like a beta. In reality they were both alphas at the start but that slowly changed. It got to the stage that when he said "we're both alphas" during the shell picture exchange the look Beckett gave at that point told you all you need to know about how she saw him (and by extension how the writers saw Castle) it was treated as a joke to share with the audience whilst he remains oblivious. It made me wince at how far the character had fallen from the heady days when they didn't feel the need to dumb down and weaken his character to make her look better and stronger, when his masculinity, cocky self confidence, slightly dangerous streak and strength wasn't seen as some kind of threat they needed to extinguish. Beckett had to be an expert at so many varied things not to mention being force fed that she was "extraordinary" - SHOW don't tell as the saying goes - and they were showing that at the start in lots of different subtle ways but they had to overdo it and start hitting me over the head with her sheer awesomeness, expanding her knowledge bank in areas that had me eye rolling in exasperation. She ended up going from slightly dorky, work obsessed cop with a whole load of bad fashion choices in her wardrobe to a woman blessed with the most distracting beauty pageant hair who looked like she'd stepped off a catwalk runway. Whilst she became this ultra bad ass, socially confident, well dressed and sophisticated woman poor Castle became socially inept, badly dressed, clueless and wishy washy. I knew which actor got the better deal no question especially in the clothing department lol. Both changes felt forced, you can argue the case on the Beckett transformation but Castle's? That made no sense whatsoever. I agree may be the way Castle started behaving at the end was a result of NF having to compensate for the poor writing, whatever the reason I wish they'd have asked him to tone down some of it in the OTT gurning to camera and physical slapstick (bumping into pillars, knocking over piles of books) it became too much. Richard Castle was never a buffoon. Both actors didn't have it easy at times with some of the shit they had to shovel towards the end that's for sure. Katic should have definitely demanded extra cash for having to utter that ridiculous "but you were off saving the world!" line, how on earth she got through that without cracking up I don't know.

Going back to that article I linked to I thought this was amusing: I wonder if Marlowe thought he was playing fair pulling the rug out after a whole season's wedding built up? Or was pulling a brilliant move staying "out in front" of the audience by giving Beckett a secret husband she never knew about - surprise Castle fans! I'd like to think that MilMar have learn't some valuable lessons from the 6.23 debacle with any future show they produce but suspect not.

Yeah absolutely, it's not just about the physical transformation, it's sad any way. I wish actors (women especially) didn't feel the need to change their looks and attitude to conform in Hollywood to a supposed ideal and because they believe it will make them more popular and bankable. They end up losing much of what makes them unique and interesting to me in the first place, by the time the transformation is complete you could end up throwing a rock and hitting a thousand of them looking and acting exactly the same doing the Hollywood speak and that spark/magic has gone.

Heh, it's frightening isn't it, with some fans it seems to literally consume them. Thanks McManda for the correction about that story.

I found the writing lacked maturity in how it dealt with their relationship and any contentious issues that came up, I recently read an article about Terri and Andrew regarding some new show they're trying to get off the ground and one of the quotes from Marlowe was: The problem with Marlowe was this his appetite to see Castle and Beckett in "conflict" to create this apparent movement and growth was so moronic at times and childish, he had mature adults frequently acting like two overly hormonal teenagers or is that how he and Terri argued at home? This back and forth they chose wasn't interesting which it should have been (and critically added to their character development) it was annoying because of the way the conflict was structured plus the characters appeared to learn almost nothing from their experiences. This backwards and forwards did create anger within certain sectors of the fanbase as to which was more the "wronged" party and I can understand why that occurred given the writing. There were times when I sincerely wished Castle would dump Beckett and find someone with less baggage, she became tiresome with her self absorbed behaviour and "walls" and Castle's passivity and acceptance of everything (acting like a doormat does not equal a healthy "epic" loving relationship in my book) annoyed the hell out of me. I shouldn't have felt that way due to the writing but I did. Then they'd switch is around and have Castle looking stupid and inexplicably (given he used to be so attuned to her in the early days) ignorant of Kate's feelings, Castle became like one of those guys at a party where the wife introduces him around and I'm thinking you poor woman why the hell did you lumber yourself with that idiot? It got to the point where I wondered why Beckett was so in love with this version of Richard Castle as he was nothing like the guy she fell for at the start. But in the end I lost sympathy for both of them because of their silly antics and started to wish they'd both realise they're made a big mistake and were better off apart and I definitely shouldn't be thinking such things with such an "epic" incredible love story as it was often promoted as such. That's the real shame of it for me that I went from being a die hard shipper and believing this couple deserved their happy ever and were perfectly suited (their respective strengths and weaknesses balancing each other nicely) to wishing they'd split up amicably and hook up with other people, anything to stop the rot because the writing was damaging the characters beyond repair. I agree with one commentator who said that the development of the characters bizarrely waned as the show went on which obviously isn't the way it should be, I found all the characters were far better fleshed out in the first three or four seasons and then everything seemed to either stall or worse regress. May be the person who said that Marlowe only had in his head a story for the beginning during the WTWT planned out and then was completely lost after that as to what do with them as a couple was on the money, I certainly felt the show started to unravel in places in S4 as the tried to drag out them circling each other and that accelerated in S5 once they were finally together.

Holy crap! Watching clips like this is painful. I still can't decide failed romance gone wrong or personality clash (or both), they were so adorable and relaxed together back then. Stana has this great dorkish vibe about her and you can tell she was her first real break out role. It was sad that towards the end there was more chance of an alien invasion happening than getting an interview with them together. And boy did Stana get that Hollywood makeover good and proper when you see her here. It wasn't needed sadly. Sigh

Has to laugh at No 10 and the "couples therapy" idea, I doubt very much they had therapy, they just continued to ignore each other off set and got separated on it whenever possible, that was the solution. Was Ryan always carrying one of Castle's books in every episode? Must have missed that. I knew Nathan came from Edmonton a place I'm never ever going at least in the winter (-20C is not unusual) no thanks! As for No 1 I knew he cut her blouse but in other articles the producers didn't watch it happen. I love that daisy dress she wore that you can see the top of it in one of those pics.

Are you sure Hawley was part of the set up at that point? Because I always thought he left end of S4 which perfectly explained why we got we did in S8. He acted like he'd never been away and was intent on re-doing everything the way he wanted, hence Beckett's horrible regression with her leaving Castle and getting obsessed again. Hawley was hired to be the future of Castle but amusingly spent his time digging up the past to an almost obsessional degree, it was a big mistake because you can't relive the past as if nothing has changed and still make things fresh and interesting because everyone has moved on emotionally - and that should include the characters. What we got was a pale reflection on what Marlowe did and considering what Marlowe did often wasn't that stellar he was in trouble from the start. As for the wedding disaster I blame Marlowe and his arrogance completely for that, reading one interview it appears the debacle was a combination of time pressure and the story not working and he knew it but still put it out there, assuming they could get away with pissing the fans off dragging things out and after a while everyone would calm down and get over it - but he (and his wife) badly misjudged the situation. I agree that MilMar wanted the couple to have a fairy tale happy ending because Castle and Beckett is their relationship pretty much so the emotional investment was there which it couldn't be with any other set of writers but you pull the rug out like that with the fans and there should no place to hide. Hawley lacked respect, respect for the fans, respect for the actors, respect for Marlowe and his creation and respect for the characters critically - he just didn't seem to give a shit what he put them through and assumed fans would lap it up. S8 I barely recognized the characters that I used to know it was like watching a completely different show.

A poor personal relationship between actors can bleed through on to the screen and you can tell something is "off" even if you're not fully aware of what is going on at the time, in certain cases it's obvious like the feud between Julianna Margulies and Archie Panjabi. It's much easier to spot on TV shows where actors are stuck together for often long periods so things can fester for years and then blow up. Sadly on Castle it became clear - at least to me - that during the final few seasons something was wrong because of how the storytelling was being structured to keep them separate whenever possible and the odd body language between them which at its worst points took me completely out of a scene. I believe their off screen relationship did eventually bring about a problem and affected what we saw on screen to a degree.

That's why I stopped watching mid S8 precisely because I felt the writers were doing just that, some fans would try and make sense of it all making themselves look rather foolish in the process but I'm not one of them. I won't have my intelligence insulted on a regular basis, there has to come a time to accept the writers have sold out and don't care despite their protestations to the contrary, you should move on and stop watching. I've still not watched those missed episodes and I'm not going to, because I've missed nothing. That's why when the writers and some of the crew get passive aggressive about fan criticism sorry I mean "entitlement" I get annoyed because they've got the nerve to be pissed off when they've tried to pretend it's good storytelling and they're working their arses off but instead bring me this? No, sorry not buying any of that bullshit. They were barely coasting and arrogantly assumed they would continue to get away with doing the bare minimum yet still take home a nice pay cheque but eventually the chickens came home to roost and they know it.

Oh yeah, I definitely only hung on in there because of their chemistry on screen but even that in the end started to fade, there is only so much you can do as an actor with bad writing. There was no excuse for such continuity/plot lapses of the kind you mention, not when it's the work of a moment to go on line and find this stuff out if you genuinely can't remember, or make up a bible that I understand quite a few shows have done which help both new and old writers if they're not sure of something. However, on Castle I got the impression they just didn't give a shit and thought the fans should feel the same and hand wave it, that made it even worse because they're being paid a lot of money to do this job and that to me is a basic requirement of storytelling. If I had their attitude at my place of work I'd get reprimanded and eventually fired but they got away with it for years. However, I find you can hand wave stuff far more easily if the story is engaging enough, I know this as I've done it tons of time, especially watching movies, you get so caught up in the story it's only afterwards may be someone points out some glaring plot hole and it doesn't bother me because the storytelling was exciting and interesting. However, if the story is poor or badly executed then your mind starts to flit about looking at other things and that's when I'm more likely to start harping on about continuity lapses and plot holes. Sadly the storytelling on Castle has been consistently poor and predictable (with the odd bright moment) for quite some time now so those lapses were a constant irritation.

She does and this season I've done a lot of nodding my head to the points she's made about what was not working writing wise. I found S8 crude, tasteless, dumbed down and insulting at times as for my "flip flop" comment may be that's the wrong word to use but I seem to recall reading an article or two of hers back during S5 and she seemed a stalwart Marlowe devotee, then the scales seemed to fall from her eyes as she finally realised what to me was obvious weaknesses in his stewardship but I see her Marlowe love lives on in that article but then I guess after this season I can't blame her for harking back to those days. The trouble with much of the storytelling on Castle was that it was painfully obvious that everything was geared towards sweeps, it was dragged out way too long and that let fan discontent rumble on. The excuses given as to why they couldn't get married for another 6 episodes made no sense (no surprise there), there was nothing in those episodes that appeared vital to the development of their relationship. Castle's not the only show to do this obviously, it's almost ingrained for many TV shows but I wish writers would start to move away from this tired and predictable pattern of storytelling. It can be very limiting and frustrating especially on Castle where you could guarantee absolutely nothing was going to happen for X number of episodes on a story because we had to wait until the next sweeps window. I have a pretty cynical view of most actors, they've all got egos of some description and like the attention (I don't believe they'd be in the business otherwise) and most are using the fans in some way either by social media or other methods to help promote themselves in a certain way, yes even the "nice" ones. Whenever I hear an actor say they're only doing to for the "art" or they never really wanted to be famous or get noticed I can't help eye rolling - but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy their work, read their outpourings and support their latest TV show or movie but I don't believe some of the shit they shovel and I try not to find out too much about their personal lives, I want to live in blissful ignorance, I prefer the non sharers lol. That said, I don't believe Fillion and Marlowe are best buds, Stana seems to have had a much more warmer/chummy relationship with Marlowe but then I get that. NF was already an established star she was almost unknown she owes Marlowe and she knows it, she always came across as very grateful and supportive, frequently attending presentations etc. The appearance of Castle's father was a major disappointment story wise for the reason you gave, as with so many things on this show if done right it could have developed the characters and added depth and interest to the ongoing story. Marlowe couldn't help himself though as usual, I agree Terri probably did the more "human" stuff, he seemed completely hapless at doing that. I found Castle didn't really do story arcs very well, they only had one long overreaching arc on the show that paid off and that was the Johanna Beckett murder. Everything was usually strictly episodic with no follow through at all. When you did get an arc (like the DC one) they often ended it so abruptly it was ridiculous, she gets fired (although in S8 they said she'd "left) and no one discusses it and there are zero emotional and work related repercussions to what should have been a big deal given her actions..sigh that was typical. S4 had far too many episodes where the secret and lies aspect was just dropped completely and they acted as if nothing was going on, dragging it out past the point of credibility for me that any guy would hang around that long without addressing the issue properly with the woman he claims to love. But I know that's a contentious argument because many felt it was handled well and it was right that he waited until she gave the signal she wanted to talk about it, fair enough fans can agree to disagree on the merits of that story arc. Castle's disappearance was simply horrible writing from start to finish, it was an absolute dud with no logical thought given to it's development. This story was proof that if you create something based on rocky foundations nothing good will come of it. The writers gave the impression it was something they'd love to bury and forget about, from their interviews the following season reading between the lines they hadn't the faintest idea where to go with it, the story was created so they could stall on the wedding nothing more and boy did that show. Castle's disappearance was treated like some joke by the writers and critically by Castle himself - which was a mistake.

I have no clue why Marlowe left but he must have been laughing his arse off watching the fall out and seeing fans begging him to return, many of those same fans ones who were slagging him off like crazy for his past failings, it's amazing how quickly fans can forget awful shit - helped considerably by Hawley and Winter's missteps. I wonder if in a year or so, many fans will be doing glowing retrospectives of the end of Castle and the triumph of that last season....nah. I always thought Hart Hanson was an arrogant bugger, much like Marlowe in many ways (like two peas in a pod lol) but whoever was pulling the strings towards the end they seemed to have learnt something which Castle never seemed to do, they kept going in rapidly decreasing circles. I preferred the Caskett pairing (I started watching Bones first) but felt the Bones/Booth relationship was better portrayed once they got over the stupid hot mess of getting them together, they also seemed far more comfortable with each other off screen and that showed on it in their interactions - at least for me. I read Joy's article, long and detailed as usual, is she biased? Yes but since I know a bit of how she's flip flopped over the years it helps, it'a a fan article and I treat it that way, nice trip down memory lane. I completely agree with her about the wedding, Marlowe having that build up all season and then pulling the rug out and not giving fans the final pay off was a massive "fuck you!" to the fanbase and highlighted his sheer arrogance and disconnect from the fans, for me that was the turning point, he screwed me over for shits and giggles, I'll never forget - or forgive - that and I swore I'd never watch another show he was involved with again. Marlowe was good at the start and then he appeared to run out of ideas, I also disliked his behaviour when dealing with long running fan complaints, he needed a way better PR machine, he gave horrid interviews. He seemed to deliberately misunderstand the issues fan's had with some of the more contentious things that he did or maybe even more scarily he genuinely didn't get it. That said, I get it's not an easy job, there are lots of competing factors that fans either don't understand or never know about which can effect what you see on screen and it's not always up to the showrunner they kind of have to go with the flow. I do wonder if things BTS with Katic and Fillion were affecting certain aspects quite a bit during the latter years of Marlowe's tenure? May be may be not, it's how you choose to resolve the various challenges be they actor and/or network led which make it interesting and prove your mettle - not when everything is sunshine and roses. I can't get over these showrunners who struggle to portray a relationship between a romantic couple in any realistic and interesting way when they presumably have experienced one if not many of them. it makes me shake my head every time. It should be completely possible! Completely with you on the WT/WT, you can't tick off and sigh as they go through every predictable single step that's been gone through before on just about every other TV show. I've read a few fan fics over the years which have them hooking up from the start, their chemistry certainly would have supported it but yeah how long would have that have lasted and stayed good? Marlowe didn't seem to have a clue how to write them as a couple living together, how soon would we get the inevitable make up break up rows, jealousy over old lovers and surprise husband's appearing? Ugh.

S4 felt contrived from Cops & Robbers onwards when it seemed clear they were only dragging things out to stall on getting them together, they could have compressed the last four episodes into one after Castle found out about her lie, choosing to have him not confront her and the unfolding angst was so painfully drawn out and felt completely forced. The "season of the secrets" was the start of the unravelling of the show but in comparison to what followed it's bearable because you can argue at a push there were valid reasons behind what the characters were doing, hell enough people spent time arguing backwards and forwards about it. What followed in later seasons was almost impossible to make sense of and rationalise. Squab and Quail was the start of when the rot truly set in, I get they wanted to stall things for the finale but there were better ways than what they gave us. I hated the fallout and the DC arc and the way they had Beckett and Castle acting to the point I was willing him to dump her and move on - that is not the reaction I wanted to have in those circumstances - but the writing was poor and that's precisely what happened. I'm meant to be willing these two people to stay together not throwing my arms up in their air constantly at their combined selfishness, immaturity and stupidity. Which is baffling, you make a great point and one that perplexed me too, that Marlowe was married and actually based this couple on his relationship with his own wife, I understand he even had step children. Yet he couldn't manage to write from his own life experiences and bring that to bear on the show he created especially when it came to blending a family together? WTF. That superficiality eventually drained my enthusiasm for the show along with the bad writing, I grew to eventually dislike the obviously staged sugary "cute" moments that felt tacked on to the COTW, they lacked any depth and felt obviously manipulative to appease those fans who get all excited by a fist bump and their day is made. It only got worse when Marlowe left which is some achievement, as I said ages ago if that separation arc and how Caskett behaved afterwards is based on their own personal experiences these writers are even more fucked up than I thought. I do wonder if one of the reasons why they shied away from genuine conflict over time is because they were so terrified of the fans reactions whenever there was any trouble they deliberately tried to keep everything as superficial as possible and avoid having them deal with any real repercussions even when there should have been something happening. It was like a vicious circle, the quality of the writing was steadily declining, they were wanting to inject tension and drama into the show which is natural and Caskett were an obvious vehicle for that, which promptly set off the fans who then reacted (almost hysterically in some cases) to the point that any time there was even a hint of trouble in paradise fans would be up in arms freaking out constantly - but often with good reason because they knew it was going to be poorly executed and resolved. The writers would then drop it, they'd be a slight breather and then they'd start up again with the exact same reactions. But then again may be the reason is simple - they just weren't very good writers or showrunners when it came to the crunch.

But they won't get off because later when they need to promote their next endeavour and drum up some publicity/hype they'll be reaching out to those same disgruntled fans with open arms as if nothing ever happened. I'm incredibly cynical about people unfortunately but especially those involved in show business in any capacity. I'm even more cynical about those types using twitter as a very obvious tool for the promotion of their work (and in certain cases their intimate lives) who then fail to understand they can't control the fans like a tap turning them on an off at whim when they screw up and do something which invites censure or comment that they don't enjoy reading. Hawley badly showed himself up as Cheshire Cat noted and it does not reflect well on him or his maturity levels that he can't deal with the repercussions of something failing that he was major contributor towards and suddenly took a vow of silence. That's when you get the true measure of a person and their character when things are going badly how do they behave? He's not covered himself in any glory that's for sure. That's why my sympathy levels for these people getting upset at the horrible nasty so called "entitled" fans and the likes of Hawley and his passive aggressive bullshit is limited and in his particular case non existent - because it's often the case these individuals they are reacting against (either directly or indirectly like Hawley) one week they'll be blatently using and encouraging with open arms the next. Meh

Susan Sullivan Talks End of Castle, Steel Magnolias & More at TV Fanatic Love the fact Susan mentions the clearly "tacked on" ending, yeah it certainly was, sloppy, lazy and beneath the writers if they had any pride in their work.

David does look kind of creepy looking I grant you but I find the Castle cover laughable, it should be pulled for misrepresenting the product they're selling, the two of them were hardly ever together to its amusing to see them cosying up on the cover.