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Thanks Cyranetta. Marlowe by the looks of things hasn't a clue what to do with them as a couple, he can't seem to wrap his head around the idea that having them simply continue on as they were with the flirtatious banter and sexy teasing with the added bonus of their physical coupling was all that you needed to create magic. Instead he dampened down the fires and held them back which made their interactions often awkward because they weren't behaving as I would expect. Always really was the high point and the last two seasons with the odd stand out exception have felt like one long exercise in avoidance. Fail factor: Just how bad was the 2013-14 TV season for new shows? at Zap2it. thought it was interesting that ABC has the worse fail rate out the bunch, Marlowe will feel he's safe for a good while yet.

CTV Announces Fall Schedule 2014 at SpoilerTV No early viewing of Castle in Canada by the looks of it.

I really disliked S4, can't help it, as soon as Castle tells Kate he loves her and you know she knows then the clock is running and they just dragged it out with the stupid secrets and lies. They should have got them together right after Cops and Robbers but instead we had to wade through a whole load of so-so episodes and then the douchebag arc that seemed to go on forever. It made Castle look like a tool and Beckett a selfish cow and I couldn't stand that run of episodes, I've never watched them since and never will. If they hadn't got them together by Always I would have probably quit watching at that point, prior to Always my dislike of Beckett had grown so much I just wanted her to leave Castle alone to find happiness with someone else! That's how bad it got. Marlowe has a gift when he creates angst between these two of making me dislike them as characters for their often immature, stupid behaviour towards each other. He can't seem to write grown up drama where people have disagreements and fights but don't end up resembling mean kids in a playground.

Tripp. Heh I think it would still be worth him paying you a visit! Talking about the finale and fans wondering if Marlowe would change anything because of it. Didn't Marlowe or Bowman admit in some DVD commentary that they changed the way Castle came across in 3.01 because of fans reactions to him happily walking off with Gina and not looking like he realised the pain he had caused Kate? Then there were the comments post finale about Pi disappearing and the dress getting replaced so clearly they do look at fan reaction to the show and pick and choose what they want to react to. Pity they don't allow Caskett more intimacy (Samantha's spot on it's been watered right down) that's been something a lot of fans have been on about since they got together but no such luck!

That's the impression I get, they know the product they're selling isn't a patch on what it was but they don't need to be that fussed, ratings are stable so why bother pushing themselves? If I didn't know what they could do I wouldn't complain about it, I'm not asking for the moon and stars I just want the old show back with the added bonus of Castle and Beckett as a couple.

I couldn't help laughing when one fan pointed out that in the finale Castle finally gets to drive a car and he ends up in a fireball, that'll teach him! That moment after the car went into the river was a prime example of big action/drama over content. They missed a glorious opportunity to have the car accident lead on to a truly satisfying emotional moment between them. And that's a common occurrence on this show, the emotional aftermath is often treated superficially or ignored entirely and it's such a let down. Because you know these are two actors who could really create something special between them if given the time and the script. I agree it doesn't have to be a big moment to draw something out of them as a couple and make you remember it long after the episode is done. Some of my favourites: Kate worrying she'll let her mother down in Sucker Punch and Castle comes out with the "because you're tall" line. I loved that little exchange it said so much about them as a couple mixing humor with a serious intense moment really well unlike the slapstick buffoonery they tend to give Castle now. Her reveal about the stick man in her desk drawer when Castle's persistence finally pays off and she opens up to him. Once again Sucker Punch, Castle says he can't follow her any more and the "pulling my pigtails" speech. Any time Beckett's listening enraptured to his storytelling which is so much a part of their relationship sadly the show seems to have almost forgotten about that now. And there are other moments not Caskett related which I adore: Castle getting Alexis to call her friend's parents when she brings someone home drunk, still loving but a firm no nonsense dad. God how I wish there had been some of that on show during the Alexis/Pi arc. Castle sending Martha and Alexis away when he thinks there's a dirty bomb in New York, wonderful moment for Fillion there. Martha's rightful anger at Castle in Knockdown as he's acting all oblivious as to why she should be worried about him and of course that scene ends with "its not about the books any more", great little moment for Susan and Nathan. Martha's "I raised a good man" line when she's being comforted by her son over Chet's death (that's when Martha had a life outside the loft!) always gets me every time. Watching some of those scenes today feels like getting a feast in comparison to what they serve up now as meaningful character interaction, poor Susan barely gets a chance to wave her hands in the air let alone exercise her acting skills. Meanwhile Stana and Nathan get a minute if they're lucky to make something count emotionally. Some of the best moments between Caskett have came out of the cases and the way it's happened always felt very natural now they're a much more clumsy blunt object used to facilitate the B storyline and often it's not done very well (Limelight springs to mind). Back in those early days it didn't feel so forced, characters were also allowed time to breathe and it seemed more meaningful because of that.

Glad I'm not the only one who thinks the lighting makes them look orange thought it was my crappy eyesight. Regarding your first point. That's partly what bothers me about the Beckett supermodel makeover and Castle's fall from grace on the sartorial front. There doesn't seem to have been any real thought given by Luke to the characters they're playing in contrast to the first two seasons under Salvador Perez. He seems to spend most of his time fussing over Stana and ignoring Nathan completely. Beckett now looks way better than him and he couldn't look less like the guy that walked into Kate's life in the pilot. He clearly liked to dress well (but not obsessively so) and looked every inch the millionaire, playboy writer they were aiming for and Beckett looked the part of the professional buttoned up cop who liked decent clothes but her wardrobe definitely wasn't stuffed with designer goods as evidenced when she was desperately searching for a dress to wear that was so adorable. Now it would never wash she's a walking fashion plate, she's all beauty pageant hair, designer outfits and at times odd ball fashion choices that should never be worn by any detective on duty. Meanwhile poor Castle looks like a guy ten years older than he should be, who got dressed in the dark with his eighty year old mother helping him choose his suits. As she's got hotter he's got more slovenly and frumpy and there's no valid reason for his decline. Why couldn't Luke just keep on doing what Perez was doing? Why can't he find a suit that fits Nathan for crying out loud? Other designers manage to achieve this but Luke seems incapable of figuring out how to make a big guy like Fillion look good. That's a basic requirement from a supposedly experienced fashion designer. I could hand wave the change in Beckett in that it's love making her come out of her shell and start expressing herself by glamming herself up but him? Does falling in love really have such a sudden dire effect on your wardrobe? Finally breaking her twitter silence, I wonder what "delights" Terri has planned after that finale?

True although his supporters would tell you he never technically said there would be a wedding so he wasn't lying to anyone and it's your fault for being naive. Yeah well may be so but the build up had been going on all season long so it was only fair for many to assume there was at least a strong possibility they could get married by the end of it especially given comments about the episode being lighter from cast and crew. To have that ripped away and in the way that it happened with such an obviously contrived cliffhanger really got fans upset and with good reason. Best case scenario for me is they'll have found him in the premiere and he'll have forgotten all about his "trauma" by 7.02 and they're back to fun and fluff at least for a while which is what Castle does best. As for the new mythology Marlowe is on about I couldn't care less and if it's anything like the old one it will be a once or twice a season event.

Oh yes that swimming costume, God awful. I'm right with you on show don't tell and what happens to the general audience who don't want (or can't) get to read forums or follow twitter, tumblr etc and pick up on all this stuff? Marlowe loves things to happen off screen that I would pay dearly to see but he doesn't seem to think they're important or interesting. He's obsessed with the COTW when it's the characters that fans are attached to and tune into see but he doesn't seem to get it. Hopefully this means that MilMar aren't in charge of writing the premiere, to avoid further damage especially to Beckett (I'm dreading finding out next she has an evil twin) they let another writer sort this mess out. Elysium. I got the impression from your meeting with them in Austin that they had a pretty high opinion of their own brilliance as storytellers. Doesn't bode well for them heeding any complaints about the direction of the show and the finale I must say. Nathan does look smoking hot in that picture and I don't see any grey either! What he's worried about? Jesus if he could turn up looking like that on Castle come 7.01 it would be a good start. I find the dramatic episodes on Castle have got bigger and more flashy as the storytelling has weakened. I suppose it makes sense to use it as a distraction and hope fans are so busy wowing over it they don't notice there's very little substance behind what they're seeing. Marlowe seems to like showing off his action and drama skills but its the characters that should be the focus of the story not explosive set pieces.

Heh. I'm sure they do have separate budgets obviously for various departments. However, in the end it all adds up no matter where you spend the cash in a business (and this is a business), the designer clothing, talk of expensive rings and their replacements, sets built but never used. It's easy to throw money around but ignore what's important which is the writing and that's what is being neglected right now. And to hear Marlowe suggest that with a healthy budget to start the season he can give fans more of what they want says quite a bit about their mindset. Still didn't cost much because they didn't have much and yet I thought it was a great episode - it's not about the cash it's about the creativity - and that was really my point.

Yeah to find out that he knew all along and had no intention of going there made it even worse, admitting you've screwed the fans over all season long shows you the kind showrunner you're dealing with. I agree with KaveDweller the fact he admitted what he had done made me sad for the show and the actors who have to deal with his constant bullshit. I was embarrassed for Stana especially during that scene where Kate has to sit down and admit she didn't know her Vegas wedding was legal. That scene was cringe worthy to watch I can't imagine what it was like for Stana to have to try and sell that crap like she believed it could happen. I still want them to get married but I'm nowhere near as excited about it now as I was in the build up to the finale, when I admit I had convinced myself it was going to happen. Everything looked lovely, we had the build up all season and the time felt right for the characters and now that's all ruined. Whatever they do serve me up as a replacement is going feel like half baked goods and contrived because it should have happened in 6.23. As for what's going to happen to Castle I really don't care that much right now. I also don't give a toss about any new mythology that Marlowe is going to tease with me with. It's bound to be trite and predictable since it's coming from him. I so wish they could go back to having Caskett behave as they were back in those first two seasons too, seriously how difficult would that be to achieve? That's all they needed to do once they hooked up! Keep the best bits of their teasing and sexy banter and meaningful little moments when they discovered things about each other and then add on to that with their new found physical closeness and love. But no Marlowe had to take it away and replace it with chaste kissing in the dark, hardly any banter, stupid interruptions, slapstick comedy and often boring gimmicky cases.

Ask Matt: Fargo, Glades Rage (and Other Cancellations), Case Histories at TV Guide. Questions still coming in for Matt about that finale: I agree with Matt completely, it felt like a cop out by the writers and a cheap stunt inserted at the end to simply delay the inevitable.

According to this fan site she was an Assistant Director.

Family by the looks of it. God I love scruffy Nathan now why can't we have some of that on Castle! Considering the guy has probably been kidnapped would his captor(s) let him shave...I think not.

I did wonder about that when someone posted her tweet. David Grae a long term writer left too and I'm not sure he's been replaced as yet may be he will but if he isn't then that's again more consolidation. And Marlowe I'm sure mentioned in one post finale interview of course running on fumes towards the end of the season. The budget always seems to have been a bit of an issue, it was brought up when they did Still because ABC put them in a difficult position with a late order of an episode and they had to somehow fit it in on the existing budget. But it just goes to show you it's not about the budget available because Still is one of the most popular episodes with the fans and considering they seem to waste so much on expensive wedding dresses and other items I'm not sure I have much sympathy. I would rather they had spent their time crafting a decent story than spending cash on hiring guest stars to play strippers, bikers and assorted characters I didn't give a hoot about and concentrated on the main players and their emotions leading up to the big day.

I'm kind of intrigued how they're going to play it if they do one bearing in mind they defaulted on the wedding and then you've got that silly cliffhanger. The whole finale felt like a regression for the couple unlike previous seasons where you had positive forward movement but not this time. I wonder if they dare do a wedding theme? Castle is in danger now by the looks of it so Nathan should get something to stretch his acting chops with any luck even if it's only for an episode or two. I hope if they go down the kidnapped route (and I can't see any other option TBH) that the audience see it from both sides not just take it from Beckett's POV. That would be a mistake, they can't not have Nathan in an episode that just would cause all sorts of problems but I do wonder as Tripp has mentioned whether this storyline did come about because Nathan needed some time off for some project so they scheduled accordingly so he will appear but only sparingly. That would not be a good start to the season, even during the DC arc they made sure he was around.

I want s7 to be the last because I think if pushed they could squeeze one good (hell may be even great) season out of everyone before winding it up. What I fear instead is that Nathan and Stana will decide to stick around and the show will drive itself into the ground very painfully. I still really care about the characters and I'm probably way too invested in the show for my own good and I want it to bow out with dignity. The idea of having to watch Marlowe faff around ineptly for another two or three more seasons whilst merrily changing the characters backstory on a whim whenever he feels like generating cheap drama fills me with dread.

Here's a link to a guy who was on the Castle set as a guest star and he talks about filming with Stana and Nathan. Memories from the Sets and here is the direct link to his post as he's been a few different shows. And coming towards the end of the hiatus already for the writers, they are certainly going to have their work cut out recovering from that finale.

I didn't watch the finale of The Mentalist but I presume it did give fans what they wanted. It is refreshing to hear a showrunner openly saying they want to try and please the fans and that you actively believe him when he says it, in comparison to Marlowe who I don't trust further than I could throw him and that was before the finale aired. Seems from that article Jane and Lisbon are at the "Always" stage at this point, I hope they deal with the aftermath better than Marlowe did. As for the shared loving looks, yeah they've been at a premium on Castle and sadly it's mostly been the guy letting the side down. Kate's been great at them which only makes it worse when her supposedly doting and loving fiancé looks interested in everything else but her. It's a total romance killer when one person is not looking at the other one in the same way or appears distracted or oblivious for some inexplicable reason. It doesn't matter if the words are romantic it's the little things like holding eye contact, gestures etc if they're not also present then it negates the romantic aspect and makes everything feel off and awkward. That's happened too many times on Castle over the last season or so. And it's bizarre that no one has ever sorted it out when it seems blatantly obvious to me there's a problem that needs correcting.

Or just a really bad nightmare, that was a clusterf**k of an episode and badly written from start to finish. It felt like something Marlowe pushed out at the last minute because he suddenly realised he had another episode he had to give ABC. I know some fans are assuming that because it was so full of plot holes and utterly ridiculous that there has to be some grand plan behind it all and everything will become clear in the premiere. I doubt that very much, that episode was a case of shitty writing pure and simple and I can't see how they're going to correct any of it or want to for that matter since that would mean owning up to making a cock up and they'll never to that.

Another TWOP refugee, I'm glad to see some familiar faces here. I enjoyed the single TWOP thread after taking a while to get used to it so it's strange having all this room to post in different places but it might make easier for some folks who wish to avoid certain discussions that irritated them on that thread. Good to see some lurkers on TWOP have come out to talk.

That's a good way of looking at the show, it does feel like there are two different versions of Castle. The show that aired up to S3 and the one after that. I remember most of the episodes prior to S4 and the guest stars but after that not so much. If I was forced to name a top ten all time Castle episodes I know that most of them would be made up of shows out of Castle 1.0. and in a way that's kind of sad considering now should be the best time ever for the couple and the fans.

I wish they would fix it but I don't think they going to and I expect to see the same thing next season. Marlowe seems quite happy with the dynamic that's been set up between Castle and Beckett now they're together, Beckett calls the shots in and out of the bedroom nowadays, Castle is mainly a passive presence.

I would go by season. Season 1 Flowers For Your Grave Nanny McDead (now annoyingly connected to the knowledge that Beckett had a "secret" husband when she made the comments in this one about never being married, thank you for that Marlowe) A Chill Goes Through Her Veins Always Buy Retail Home is Where the Heart Stops Season 2 Where the Bough Breaks Vampire Weekend A Rose For Everafter Sucker Punch Tick Tick Tick/Boom Season 3 3XK Nikki Heat Poof You're Dead Knockdown The Final Nail To Lie and Die in LA Knockout Season 4 Cops & Robbers Once Upon a Crime Always (the first ten minutes and the last ten minutes) Season 5 After the Storm Murder He Wrote Still The Lives of Others Season 6 Valkyrie No 1 Fan Smells Like Teen Spirit Veritas What I've realised looking back is that S3 was way better than I thought at the time, despite the contrived roadblocks of Gina and Josh. Overall quality wise S1 had the most consistency, I would sit down and watch every episode quite happily and not skip any picking a favourite episode out of that season was tough I enjoyed them all. I hated S4 and that's reflected in the fact I had to think long and hard to find even two that I liked. Cops & Robbers was the stand out episode that season and S6 had only one stand out episode for me - No 1 Fan - both written by T Winter. S5 and S6 have been very patchy and rather disappointing, I could find three or four episodes I liked but the rest I've instantly forgotten about and don't care to watch again. I've found there was a huge drop off in quality after S3.

It feels OOC to me that he's even behaving like this, I don't buy into this transformation to someone who is now acting oblivious to her needs and has to be almost dragged off to have sex. I don't know who the writers are trying to kid but it's not believable, not with this guy. I feel like he's been lobotomised, the writers are to be blame ultimately though for this bizarre change. May be they decided they needed to tone down his behaviour once he got the girl after all that chasing and make Beckett the one instigating things romantically but unfortunately it's gone too far the other way.