S08.E22: Crossfire

[readster]

Wow! What a mess and I do mean mess! This ranks up there with the bad endings of How I met your Mother, Sopranos, Two and a Half Men, and Roseanne. I mean, the tacked on ending of 7 years later didn't make any sense either. I also like how Caleb went into his super villain speech and never thought for once that Beckett being in the next room wouldn't notice him talking. Here was even the worst things, Lokstat had nothing, in the end what was the deal with it? Gun running? Drugs? The paper work keeping The Bachelor and Grey's Anatomy from being cancelled? Also, Caleb was way to young to get into everything that would empower Bracken. Seriously, these show runners had no idea how to do anything and it was just a mess and I'm sure as of tomorrow and a few years from now. Mason would have made sense, but we NEVER GOT THE ENTIRE POINT OF LOKSTAT TO BEGIN WITH!!! Castle will be remembered as a show that really  bombed in the end, and how they should have either told them months in advance it was getting cancelled or just had it end with season 7 and went from here. Good luck ABC, maybe you can try and find some new shows instead of trying to keep dead shows that were once great alive because you have nothing else to air. 

[IzeOfLight]

Skimming over these comments, sounds like it's best to avoid the finale and just remember the first few seasons? Create my own finale in my mind?

[KaveDweller]

1 minute ago, IzeOfLight said:

Skimming over these comments, sounds like it's best to avoid the finale and just remember the first few seasons? Create my own finale in my mind?

That sounds smart to me.

[McManda]

I don't know, if anything I might take the season 7 finale, tack on the "seven years later", and call it good.

At least it would be cohesive and lacking the LokSat crap.

I don't mind the seven years later thing as a story wrap up, but I do have giant issues with how it was used and edited into this episode. Looking back, I enjoyed how they dealt with the big storylines in S7 (except for Castle's disappearance) - Bracken (was that S7? or S6? whatever) and 3XK and even Castle's past were leaps and bounds better than this.

Edited May 17, 2016 by McManda

[tankgirl73]

I'm pretty sure Mason was LokSat. Caleb was one of his higher-ups. The whole thing, from Caleb coming to the loft awhile ago to confess/etc was a big trap. Mason knew that Castle and Beckett would follow the planted leads until he would grab them.

Of course, he could have just grabbed them at any time. Like, in LA, for instance. So clearly, he enjoys playing with his food first...

As for the episode itself -- it didn't suck as bad as I'd feared it would. Some cliches, some eye rolls, but Castle crying when he couldn't help but give up his family? OMG take me now.

The we're-going-to-die-and-never-see-each-other-again anvils were heavy heavy heavy -- so when they did get their happy reunion, I was pleasantly surprised. I wasn't sure if this was an alternately shot happy ending for in case they didn't get renewed, or if it was planned all along and all the furor about Kate dying was deliberately fanned in order to build press for the show. Either way, I liked it.

Until Kate went off to the bedroom by herself, at which point I realized things were going to go very very wrong at the last minute.

Then I was surprised when they shot Castle first. And I do prefer both of them being shot 'together', as opposed to Castle melodramatically screaming nooooo over Kate's dead body over whatever. At the end of season 3, that was magnificent. But not now.

I get what they were trying to do with the 7 years later, and I appreciate it. But yeah definitely too tacked on.

[Goldmoon]

Agree with Blondie except seven years later is seven years after they met. The first ep was real but the rest was made up?

[McManda]

Quote

 

I'm pretty sure Mason was LokSat. Caleb was one of his higher-ups. The whole thing, from Caleb coming to the loft awhile ago to confess/etc was a big trap. Mason knew that Castle and Beckett would follow the planted leads until he would grab them

 

I've blocked parts out already. Did they not kill Mason Wood?

So ... there was a bigger bad than the bigger bad? Like, there was the Dragon (Bracken) and then LokSat (Mason Wood) and then ... someone above them all (Caleb Brown)?

Jesus, if I were Beckett I would have killed myself once I found that out. I mean, there is literally no way anyone involved gets out alive. Save people the trouble.

They should have stopped with Bracken. And kept 3XK for the big villain, because at least he seemed like the kind of guy to be a foe to Castle.

Edited May 17, 2016 by McManda

[Nadine]

Thanks for quoting my Twitter over here. Heh.

Edited May 17, 2016 by Nadine

[VinceW]

26 minutes ago, KaveDweller said:

 IZEOFLIGHT SAID:

Skimming over these comments, sounds like it's best to avoid the finale and just remember the first few seasons? Create my own finale in my mind?

KAVEDWELLER SAID:

That sounds smart to me.

My sister was in town over the weekend and we talked about watching the finale. She (Bones fan) had stopped watching LIVE since the wedding and I had not watched a LIVE episode since 8x3 after it was confirmed that the writers would keep them separate most of the season. My sister did not know that the show had been cancelled, but I told her it was possible that Beckett would be killed because of the ongoing BTS issues. We decided to checkout  this forum first before watching because we did not want to be taken in again by the producers giving us the same empty feeling that matched the 6x23 finale. So glad we skipped it. Thanks for the memories.....

Edited May 17, 2016 by VinceW

[Sandman]

28 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I watched every episode and still have no idea what LokSat was. I don't even know what Caleb's deal was.
Is there a link to a good, concise explanation???

The show would have to write one first.

[LexieLily]

4 minutes ago, Goldmoon said:

Agree with Blondie except seven years later is seven years after they met. The first ep was real but the rest was made up?

Wait, what?

[tankgirl73]

Quote

I've blocked parts out already. Did they not kill Mason Wood?

So ... there was a bigger bad than the bigger bad? Like, there was the Dragon (Bracken) and then LokSat (Mason Wood) and then ... someone above them all (Caleb Brown)?

We didn't see what happened to Mason Wood, Beckett knocked him out so I presume he was captured. I think there's no more bigger bad -- at least not that we're supposed to presume from this. Caleb worked under Mason as one of his higher-ups, and his role in the past while was luring Castle and Beckett to Loksat's trap. Caleb was doing this under Mason's instructions. But apparently at some point he told Mason he didn't think it would work -- and he was right. So i the end, he was still alive after Mason was captured/killed. So he took it upon himself to finish the job. Theoretically, if he hadn't been killed, he may or may not have been able to take over LokSat's role. But I don't think we're supposed to infer that Caleb was Loksat.

In fact, I spent 3/4 of the episode waiting for them to reveal that it was Vikram all along...

[TWP]

Season 8: The Marlowe Redemption Tour. LOL.

[LexieLily]

So who was in the trunk of the car burned alive? Just some guy?

[FlickerToAFlame]

I thought it was weird that the actor who plays Caleb was in the beginning credits even though we never saw his dead body. I should have guessed the end because of that. 

[Chado]

The episode was terrible....the show (at least the early years) deserved such a better ending than this.

A few things...

Castle would be more likely to die from where he got shot than Beckett...at least in terms of realism.

Obviously Beckett was the one who was gonna die though.....given what happened with contracts.

Them in the kitchen bleeding out was the intended cliffhanger/season end.

The empty loft scene was probably going to be used for a potential season 9 opening episode, where they show Castle's time in NY being over as he tries to move on from what happened. It was instead used to transition to the bad 7 year later crap.

In saying that....I'm surprised they actually showed Castle and Beckett at the end and not just the kids, small favors I guess.

They should have planned better to create a better end to the series, the episode needed completely new scenes from the kitchen onwards. Them still getting shot is just a lack of care/effort to separate a potential season 9 and the end of a 8 year show.

This was really bad.

[readster]

2 minutes ago, LexieLily said:

So who was in the trunk of the car burned alive? Just some guy?

Some guy they could perfectly match DNA to be Caleb, because you know, the power of evil like Tyson. "You are evil! Obey me!" "Yes master..." Take what you will who the real Lokstat was, in the end, it didn't make any sense, no reason for being, they were just the bad guys and the show runners thought it was a brilliant story that had no point in the end and a very bad tasted on ending. The only good scene in the entire episode was Castle crying after giving everyone up knowing that Mason would kill them. I also like Mr. Flynn: "The state named me and raised me, why I'm so evil!" "3XK, ain't got nothing on me!" "Shit!" "They shot me in the hand!" 

[Sandman]

If the sundry clues Mason & Caleb left were really an elaborate breadcrumb trail, surely the least reliable way of leaving such a vital clue was to scratch  "RT HND MN" into a dispatch case, burn it to hell, and then hope somebody notices "Caleb's" desperation penmanship? Oy.

[Nadine]

5 minutes ago, FlickerToAFlame said:

I thought it was weird that the actor who plays Caleb was in the beginning credits even though we never saw his dead body. I should have guessed the end because of that. 

Pretty sure we saw him being kidnapped on the video footage that Vikram was watching.

[newyawk]

I debated whether to watch this very last episode tonight, all at once, or drag it out in sections. But, like the dessert waiting in the kitchen, it simply beckoned me. I watched it online when it was uploaded, so I didn't get those suspenseful commercial breaks..maybe that was a mistake. I kept watching little pieces and then stopping, knowing it was the very last episode, and wanting it to last as long as possible. I kept watching the time code on the video, and I got to the 34 minute mark and was thinking, "What else could happen to turn this around in eight minutes!? How is this going to play out?" This was a pretty damn good one. Talk about everything including the kitchen sink.

My last "randomly" thoughts:

-- What a sick juxtaposition between the goofy Brady singers and the burning a person alive. And then using them again during the kidnapping scene. Nice, creepy touch. At least it wasn't that ultra-repulsive Pebbles and BamBam "Let The Sun Shine In" song.

-- I can't believe Castle was included in such a high stakes, critical, almost certainly classified operation.

--Anyone else think all along that Vikram was CrockShat himself? All the way up to almost the end of this episode I did.

-- Gerald McRaney is NEVER unwelcome. but...HOLY SCHEISSE. I did NOT see that coming. Does that mean Rita and Castle's dad are no more ?

-- HTH did Ryan and Espo get up there so fast? 

-- Magnets in the ceiling?? WTF!! And I was mentally screaming, "Beckett, GET THE GUN" after she just kicked it away. Those are the moments when      archvillains get up and shoot you, while you think they're unconscious and turn your back, woman!

-- And then, Revenge Of Caleb. Castle down! AND Beckett! NOOOOOOO..I almost cried, for realz. That was a shock, I really thought they were going to leave it on three dead bodies. I was glad to see a glimpse of the future..with their three kiddies as predicted. :)  But now it's really over and I'm damn sad. 

--There was some very good tension in this episode. The episode gave me a lot of second and third guessing, nailbiting what-if-oh-no-oh-whew moments.

I am going to miss Caskett. I am going to miss Martha, I'm going to miss the brothers Rysposito, and I will miss the family that is Beckett, Ryan and Espo. Alexis..I won't miss at all.

Edited May 17, 2016 by newyawk
spelling

[westwingfan]

On 17/05/2016 at 4:10 AM, Lee4U said:

Can't believe anyone on their staff that loksat crap was interesting in the least - I still don't know what it was all about but mostly because I zoned out every time they talked about it since it first came up eons ago - stupid waste of a finale of a series.  

NF does look good - on a superficial note - his face didn't have the puffy look he has had for awhile which I assumed was some health issue.  

She bugged me as always with her flat affect showing about as much emotion when seeing him alive as I do when I see my whites in my laundry come out really white.  But, to me, she has always been like that and I don't find it anything new with her - just find her a very dull performer.  Sorry to all SK fans - just my own opinion.

Wouldn't do to have us all thinking the same. I would have given up on the show ages ago if it wasn't for her. His "I love you" in the park epitomised to me how lacking he can be in the romantic scenes, conveyed absolutely no emotion whatsoever, Stana has had to carry the Caskett scenes for some time, his best scene was probably as he was forced to divulge the info to Loksat, he put some emotion into that.

Edited May 18, 2016 by westwingfan

[Chado]

3 minutes ago, westwingfan said:

Wouldn't do to have us all thinking the same. I would have given up on the show ages ago if it wasn't for her. His "I love you" in the park epitomised to me how lacking he can be in the romantic scenes, conveyed absolutely no emotion whatsoever, Stana has had to carry the Caskett scenes for some time, his best scene was probably as he was forced to divulge the info to Loksat's right hand man, he put some emotion into that.

Some emotion?

Haha.

[FlickerToAFlame]

I think the scene where he gives up his family is one of his best acted scenes of the series, up there with the crying scene when Alexis was kidnapped. 

[Chado]

2 minutes ago, FlickerToAFlame said:

I think the scene where he gives up his family is one of his best acted scenes of the series, up there with the crying scene when Alexis was kidnapped. 

Exactly.

[Blue Plastic]

1 hour ago, GenieinTX said:

The best part was Nathan crying.  Damn, that broke my heart. 

That was the only good part of the episode.  His acting was really great in that scene as Castle realized that not only was Beckett going to die, but so were his mother and daughter.

Everything else was crap.  That ending was very strange because they showed the loft empty and then full with kids and toys and a soft focus on everything.  If they were going to tack on a happy ending, why didn't they leave the Caleb scene out and omit the empty loft too?  Because they're making it seem like either Beckett died and Castle was imagining what could have been OR both of them died and this was Castle's version of heaven.

And yeah, who was torched in the trunk?

I've been a very casual viewer so I have no idea what Loksat was, but apparently nobody else knows either so at least I'm not alone!  I couldn't even find a wiki about it.  The writers were always trying to add in some dramatic overarching plot to run alongside the Murder of the Week, and I don't mind it when shows do that BUT it has to be a good/entertaining/engaging overarching plot, not some half baked melange thrown together by a bunch of hacks.

[Annec]

Typical for season 8 there were a lot of plot holes, general nonsense, too much Hayley, and a lack of emotional connection between Beckett and the Castle family.  Not a perfect (season OR series) finale by any means but I'm glad that there won't be a Becketless season, grateful for the end scene, and overjoyed that there was no Alexis/Hayley in the last few minutes.  

[betsyboo]

I purposely didn't read any spoilers, altho TVLine headlines were hard to avoid. So I anticipated some heart wrenching ending. Then, when it was cancelled, again I didn't read anything to learn if they had shot an alternate ending. So as they lay there on the kitchen floor reaching for each other, I'm screaming "THE FUCK?!?!" because Castle would have written the story that they died together ala Romeo and Juliet. I held my breath, WILLING a next scene and thank god there was one. But as a hardcore fan - up until the first wedding at least - if they had ended this season killing off Beckett to go on to next season and the PI game, I would have been absolutely livid. In fact, I think I am very angry that they even planned for such a thing in the first place!! I mean - whatever - all the behind the scenes gossip and whatnot - how on earth could they have thought killing the character we just watched Castle fight eight seasons for was the right way to write her out?? WTF?!? Send her back to DC! Have her disappear. But holy bananas that's just batshit crazy to kill her. As I held my breath praying for an epilogue, I thought "Is this another HIMYM?? Will I be betrayed all over again???!"

/endrant

[Annec]

I hope that Castle will be a reminder to showrunners that fans want strong writing consistent with the characters. Castle was essentially over when Caskett was no longer the core of the show.  Fans want what they want and they will quit watching if the characters are trashed.

[voiceover]

It looked a little Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid at the penultimate ending.   But I was yelling at the screen: "It's a COMEDY, DAMN IT!!"

And then, of course, they obliged me.

[BellyLaughter]

I'm not gonna overthink it - it hasn't earned that. 

 

Im just gonna retire my Castle viewing days safe and happy that the last image of Beckett wasn't her bleeding out on the loft floor.

 

Small mercies....

 

and adorable children FTW

 

Farewell show - it's been a rollercoaster.

Edited May 17, 2016 by BellyLaughter

[cmahorror]

I really didn't find this finale that objectionable. Nothing happened that fundamentally changed the show or the characters - Castle was still Castle and Kate was still Kate. I can usually figure out who did it but I was surprised that Mason was LokSat - did not see that one coming and I jumped when Caleb came and began shooting.

Was the ending a little cheesy - yes but a little cheese is good sometimes. Given the shooting, I could have seen a season after Beckett's death or even a case where Beckett survived but let Castle think she was dead to protect him. The set up was there.

Nathan absolutely killed the scene where he was forced to give up the information on his loved ones.

Compared to series finales where I was mad, we're talking screaming and cursing at the screen mad (screw you How I Met Your Mother), this was a middle of the road finale. Not bad, not great, just good and, IMHO, a satisfying end to good series.

[turnitwayup]

This ep makes Hollander Woods the superior finale. At least the happy tacked on 7 yrs later would make more sense than the horrible transition of Caskett in the kitchen bleeding out, empty loft to full loft with 3 kids. ABC really should've told them they were cancelled around mid season so that LokSat could've been wrapped up in the 2nd to last ep or give them a 2 parter with the happy ending getting a better transition and not this randomly tacked on minute.

Castle had no idea how badly secure his loft really is when he told Montgomery that his loft was the safest place in the city in Boom.

LokSat is still mystery that well never make any sense. It came across as AH/TWP making things up as they go along. Plus having introduce the head of LokSat in a Beckettless ep where lots of fans skipped probably confused people even more. I was really hoping Vikram was gonna be part of LokSat since he kept saying he was gonna resign but he ends up being part of the gang and goes drinking with Ryan, Espo and Lanie. Not even Haley got invited since she probably was still hanging with Martha and Alexis. Don't even know wtf Caleb showing up at the end was about or who actually died in the car that Mr. Flynn set a blazed.

Moving onto the good parts was Nathan acting the hell of that scene of forcing to give up everyone who knows about the LokSat nonsense and minimal Alexis.

Poor Beckett's body, after being shot in the chest and now in the stomach she still manages to have 3 kids later on.

Good thing that the show was cancelled, cause poor Jim Beckett. Out of the country on business and imagine him finding out on the phone from Castle that Beckett died going after LokSat. We never even found out his feelings about the separation or if he even knew about LokSat. Kinda sad that Jim's last scene on screen was being a glorified extra at the wedding and drinking from a champagne glass.

Lol Tamala. I tuned out at the commercial breaks.

Quote

Ok this episode is so good that I'm even enjoying the commercials !! Lmao !!! That new Lincoln commercial with sexy @McConaughey #yassssss

[madmaverick]

About the ending first, there wasn't any ambiguity to me.  They clearly showed "seven years later" onscreen so I'd just assumed the empty loft was a transition scene showing the passage of time (and maybe an overdue renovation after the bloodbath and a security overhaul ;)) to the happy families scene.  I'm glad Caskett got their happy ending but boy was that all too brief ending scene cheesy as hell!  They inserted the dialogue from the pilot and the 'every writer needs a muse' bit as voiceover into the family scene to show how far they'd come, so I don't really see how it could have not been real.

Anyone thought the loft might explode when Castle went to turn on the stove?  Boom!  Fade to black. ;)  But yeah, it was clear something bad was going to happen with the way they edited the shots in the loft.

Don't throw tomatoes at me, but I think if they'd closed on the empty loft scene with the Caskett voiceover from the pilot and then shown a scene of Castle mourning Beckett in his study, or a shot of both having passed away in a framed photo, the ending would have been more heartbreakingly powerful.  Don't get me wrong, I like a happy ending too, but yeah, the version we got was more tepid than emotionally powerful.  I'm sure the fans who clamoured for Caskett babies all these years will be happy.

As for the rest of the episode, boy oh boy, if I didn't feel like laughing at the absurdity of the plot and the dialogue, I felt like smacking the characters' for their stupidity.  Kind of expected that given how nothing to date about Locksat has made sense, but still it was baaad.  

I had been expecting to roll my eyes at the truth serum gimmick, but Nathan really rocked that scene hard.  One of his best in the series. I think he's a talented comedic actor but it's his dramatic scenes that I've found powerful.  I really hope he takes on some even more challenging dramatic roles in the future.  And he wasn't bad in his action scenes when in protective family mode either.  Believable.  

When Castle was heartbreakingly forced to name his loved ones, I wanted to smack him, but mostly Beckett, for selfishly dragging them all down this path because she should have foreseen the consequences from  Day 1.  They should have realised the very real potential costs to their pursuit of Locksat and not really face up to it with regret when faced with death.  Of course, this being Castle, no one died for her seeking justice in this completely off the books, unaccountable, reckless, foolish way.  But, on another kind of show, in real life, there should have been a casualty from her actions.  How would Beckett feel then if as a result of her need to bring justice for her AG team via her team of 1 + Vikrum + Castle she caused the death of Castle or anyone in their family or Ryan/Esposito?  This was such a stupid move all along!!  Not to mention what she put her marriage through. Ugh.  And unfortunately, I'm not sure Beckett learned anything by the end.... given another opportunity, she may well have made the same choices again because justice is so important to her...  at any cost, even to her family.  I didn't want to be reminded of this about Beckett, but I was thinking hubris could have been her downfall here.  Sneaking out of the precinct as her army of one after promising her husband that she wouldn't leave!!  It was ridiculous to begin with to think that her army of one plus sidekick Vikrum ;) could have defeated this all powerful Locksat, though of course Locksat turns out to be quite dumb in the end too. ;)  

Okay, rant over....maybe. ;)   Enough about Locksat but will just say it was completely stupid way they tried to trap him/his accountant.  Castle didn't even have a gun?  Neither wore body armour?  A Captain authorising civilians to shoot alleged criminals?;)   I do admit I didn't foresee the G.D.S. guy being Locksat.  I wasn't even sure who he was at first because he looked completely different.

The only interesting bit in the Locksat mess was when the creepy truth serum guy and Castle had his little psychological heart to heart, and Castle talked about Beckett, and the serum guy became a bit more than a caricature even though he was just toying with Castle.  Same when Beckett shared her feelings about Castle with Locksat.  So Castle understands the sacrifices that come with Beckett's job...but what if someone really was sacrificed?  If Martha or Alexis had died because of Locksat, I can't help but wonder if he/she would really have understood and thought it a worthwhile sacrifice for Beckett's noble cause of justice pursued in an almost reckless manner.  Where would the justice be for the new victims then?   Sigh, there's really no point getting aggravated over this because the storyline's just so dumb.

I wish the series finale hadn't been a high stakes episode but just a light hearted classic Castle, filled with wit and banter and romance and heart.  But clearly that ship sailed long ago, even back with Marlowe who steered the show in this whole high stakes direction in the first place.

Bowman couldn't avoid the temptation of doing another artsy silhouette shot, even in broad daylight. ;)  I would have rather seen a close up of Caskett's faces like in the promo pics.

I wouldn't say the show fulfilled its true potential being blessed with the cast it had, but it still was a charming piece of escapist entertainment at its best, and the Caskett chemistry was something special.

Edited May 17, 2016 by madmaverick

[MaryM47]

Missed the live-watch, so here are my random thoughts as the show progressed. Haven't read the thread yet, so sorry if I get repetitive and redundant:

show seems fresher to me somehow

wasn’t expecting Mason to save the day

when you’re being hunted, don’t take public transportation 

yes, alexis' eyeroll was more “something must be up if they’re all 'i love you'”

was waiting for the house they stormed into to blow up behind them (I’ve watched too much blacklist)

wasn’t that bad guy in galaxy quest

um, where’s the “did castle get to the precinct ok” phone call to freak everyone out

this hour is moving quite quickly, could just be my nerves

um, a do-over? set up for the new show?

i actually wasn’t expecting mason. anyone want to sell me a bridge in brooklyn?

Mason's questions "who knows about me" is vague -just because they know about mason didnt mean they knew he was loksat, which they obviously didnt. but drama!

great sadness and anger from NF

i will miss expo kicking ass first then asking questions

great action and suspense

really wasn’t expecting caleb

whoa!

quick and dirty wrap up, but I’ll take it!

[BkWurm1]

2 hours ago, GenieinTX said:

The were actually going to have the two leads dying in pools of blood as the season end cliffhanger?  Damn, I hate these writers so much.  They didn't learn anything.  Then just show a 2 second happily ever after since the show got cancelled.  That damn HEA doesn't make up for leaving everyone in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor!  UGH! 

The best part was Nathan crying.  Damn, that broke my heart. 

But still, that ending was horrible

I have to look at it as a whole and while both Castle and Beckett shot and lying in pools of blood to a HEA is abrupt, the alternative is so bad that it makes what we got good in comparison. 

43 minutes ago, cmahorror said:

I really didn't find this finale that objectionable. Nothing happened that fundamentally changed the show or the characters - Castle was still Castle and Kate was still Kate. I can usually figure out who did it but I was surprised that Mason was LokSat - did not see that one coming and I jumped when Caleb came and began shooting.

Was the ending a little cheesy - yes but a little cheese is good sometimes. Given the shooting, I could have seen a season after Beckett's death or even a case where Beckett survived but let Castle think she was dead to protect him. The set up was there.

Nathan absolutely killed the scene where he was forced to give up the information on his loved ones.

Compared to series finales where I was mad, we're talking screaming and cursing at the screen mad (screw you How I Met Your Mother), this was a middle of the road finale. Not bad, not great, just good and, IMHO, a satisfying end to good series.

I can absolutely live with the ending and that's not the case always.  This ending means I can still go back and enjoy everything that I enjoyed about the show in the past. 

Loksat was a mess of story from the start.  Riddled with plot holes that were never addressed and that's before we touch on all the out of character choices made to get the characters from point A to point B.  I never cared about Loksat and I never understood what they were beyond vague ultimate deadly puppet masters.  The story though was never about Loksat, it was about their threat.  It's just the McGuffin to move the plot so it's kind of fitting that the finale that ends Loksat also was riddled with plot holes like who in the CIA were in on Loksat,  how Caleb faked his death when Mr. Flynn was still loyal or why the group bothered both setting C&B up via the faked email and rescuing them only to let them go only to grab them later.  At first I thought he wanted to know who else was in the know, but the blue sports drink could have taken care of that so there was no reason to free them even if he wanted answers.  Also, how come Castle never gave up Vikrum?  Was he as forgettable to Castle as he was to me and just genuinely didn't remember him when he was asked if anyone else knew?  

But I really don't care.  Castle frequently is full of plot holes.  I loved the show for the characters and they get to live on.  Again, yes, the transition from what was clearly the cliff hanger to the HEA is awkward but the show got canceled.  This was sooooo much better than a lot of shows get when they unexpectedly get canceled. 

  The time traveler's prophecy was fulfilled enough that I'm good with buying into the rest of it as well.  (She doesn't have to be a Senator yet, the kids are young.)  I agree that a lot was left out of the story of how we got there, but it's not a hard one to write.

Maybe Castle or Beckett send up an S.O.S. or maybe Martha and Alexis were joining them for breakfast or maybe some neighbor called in a shots fired call to the cops and given what had just gone down, they'd rush in and rush them off to the hospital and they are saved.  When they are released, they focus on some of that boring normal and that includes kids.

I think they kept the shooting in because they liked the drama.  They kept the voiceover and transition to an empty apartment to scare the crap out of me and yeah, make me incredibly happy that they weren't dead.  Was it great writing?  Of course not but given what it could have been, yeah, I'm very satisfied. 

Bonus points that NF was looking REALLY good in the episode.  Shallow but this show may best be appreciated when you stick to skimming the surface. 

[femmefan1946]

I think I liked it as a wrapup.

But mostly reacting to earlier posts.

The best part was Nathan crying. 

Yeah, but I was more touched by Michael's vows to Jane. And then what Anneka did to Petra. It's bad when the comedy is more terrifying than the drama. At least Jane the Virgin has been renewed. (Spoiler alert! She's still a virgin.)

And I couldn't help thinking about Jackie Cooper

“To make Jackie Cooper cry during the filming of Skippy, Norman Taurog told him that his dog had just been run over by a car. The kid got an Oscar nomination and Taurog got an Oscar, so it all worked out fine. “

Still, we did get badass!Castle there. NF showed a good range of emotions.

 

@anamiii Jake / Jacob is the male equivalent of Johanna in some languages, etc.

No, it isn't . Johanna is a”John” name (as is Nathan). Female equivalent might be Jean or Jane.

 

I watched every episode and still have no idea what LokSat was. I don't even know what Caleb's deal was.

Apparently the entire CIA, except for spyMommy and spyDaddy are heavily into the dope trade. As is the NSA.

Also, Caleb was way to young to get into everything that would empower Bracken.

I think he was the up and comer who was glad that Beckett took out 'the old man' who was standing in his way. Damn millenials.

The trouble with Hollywood casting is that they picked another pretty face. I didn't recognize the actor until Castle named him. This is where 'diverse' casting comes in handy. They should have hired John Cho. ( I just heard about that meme today. Cute.)

Some guy they could perfectly match DNA to be Caleb, because you know, the power of evil like Tyson. "You are evil! Obey me!" "Yes master..."

Not to mention that Caleb is bigger and possibly younger than Mr. Flynn. And the body in the trunk was duct taped. But Flynn just shoved Caleb in. And how does a guy taped up get to anything to scratch a coded message on the trunk anyway? And why not something simple like “It's Flynn! He 's CIA!”

-- I can't believe Castle was included in such a high stakes, critical, almost certainly classified operation.

It was a totally extra-curricular operation, until Vikram told the boys and Beckett got most of the on duty 12 Precinct shot storming the CIA.

Castle was the least of her worries.

 Sneaking out of the precinct as her army of one after promising her husband that she wouldn't leave!!

DH came in because I was yelling at the screen! 'IDIOT IDIOT!!

the serum guy became a bit more than a caricature even though he was just toying with Castle.

Yeah but “I was raised by the state” What state ? The STASI?

yes, alexis' eyeroll was more “something must be up if they’re all 'i love you'”

Well, he had Alexis and Martha stashed in the panic room with armed guards. at that point didn't he?

Umm-- did the panic room have a huge window with venetian blinds?

wasn’t that bad guy in galaxy quest

Jed Rees! I thought I'd seen him before! Now he does have a face.

The time traveler's prophecy was fulfilled enough that I'm good with buying into the rest of it as well.  (She doesn't have to be a Senator yet, the kids are young.) 

No idea why they would leave the 'empty loft' snippet in though. The dialogue could have covered a little more 'wounded on the floor' maybe a hand on a phone calling 911 and then the little kids.

Also twins. Also adoption. To explain all those kids in a short time from a gut-shot woman with a damaged heart.

Edited May 17, 2016 by femmefan1946

[rspad]

Was the ending tacked on?  Heck yeah, but I expected nothing less when the showrunners described it as a "button" of a scene should the series be cancelled.  I for one am so thankful we got even that, no matter how tacked on, awkward of a transition and quick it was, because the alternative was obviously them setting up a dead Beckett in S9.  Wow.  That still makes me irrationally angry.  

As for the Loksat stuff...whatever.

Madmaverick, I too had a vision of Beckett being blown sky high off the bed when Castle turned on the burner...lol. 

Edited May 17, 2016 by rspad

[metaphor]

7 minutes ago, BkWurm1 said:

I have to look at it as a whole and while both Castle and Beckett shot and lying in pools of blood to a HEA is abrupt, the alternative is so bad that it makes what we got good in comparison. 

I can absolutely live with the ending and that's not the case always.  This ending means I can still go back and enjoy everything that I enjoyed about the show in the past.

I agree. Could it have been done better? Sure, but I think we could say that about many things that have unfolded since 6x23, and more specifically, things that have happened this season. I'd have been glad for them to have skipped that present-day loft scene altogether and come up with a more fleshed-out happy ending, but if that couldn't have been done (maybe they only had extra time to film that short tag), I'm still grateful this is the ending we got. Castle and Beckett and their three kids, seven years hence. It's the happy ending that could very easily not have been. And I can only hope that good fanfic writers can fill in the seven-year gap.

The less said about Loksat, though, the better.

[MaryM47]

Quote

Castle would have written the story that they died together ala Romeo and Juliet

For a moment while they were on the floor bleeding out together, before the flash-forward, I thought we'd get a voiceover with Kate telling Rick, who would be imagining this scene as he wrote the story of their great adventure, to make that ending not so over-the-top. 

[verdana]

Wow that was one hot mess of a finale what a waste of my time but alas I wasn't expecting anything different - 40 minutes of Locksat (meh) which left minimal time for anything decent for Castle and Beckett - this couple (and the fans) deserved a much better ending for the very last episode but predictably didn't get it. 

 

As a series finale this did not work, the obviously horrible tacked on ending was a sad let down for this once gem of a show, the writers should have crafted something better for their alternative ending which flowed more seamlessly. Instead what we got simply reinforced how seriously bad the writing has been and the way they were going to have Beckett die like that - so cheap - I could well understand the fans fury if that's the ending they had got after investing so much passion in the show and particularly in this couple. What a lucky escape but even at this critical point the writers couldn't get it right, what was with the shooting? That should have been taken out, it was far too rushed and also confusing for some by the reactions I've seen with the pan to the empty flat and the seven years later bit. To me it was obvious they just recovered miraculously from their gunshot wounds and lived happily ever after with the three kids as predicted by MilMar.  Job done, Caskett shippers happy. 

The show works a million times better when it does light hearted quirky comedy with a murder not massive shoot outs and big bad conspiracies and this was cast iron proof of that, I found the episode boring, silly and stupid. 

 

I'm loathe to say this but Hawley and Winter made me almost wish Marlowe was back in the saddle with his passive aggressive wife and I thought he was a hack! That's how bad the characterisation, plotting, planning (if there was any which I doubt) has been this season, the only plus point watching this last episode is that fans at least got the happy ending they craved with the kids even if it was crammed into the last few minutes. I would have much rather had an episode similar to the 100th as a celebration of everything Castle but Hawley and Winter weren't in the business of giving me satisfying genuinely fun storytelling, they made that clear from the start which is why this season will be easy to consign to the garbage bin and 7.23 will be the official end of Castle and I can imagine my own happy ending. 

Sad to see the show end this way with a whimper but it could have been much worse. 

Edited May 17, 2016 by verdana

[pennben]

Maybe it was because I had my expectations so, so low and watched this episode with only dread, but I thought the finale was fine, if a bit cheesy there at the end.  And honestly, that's all I have ever really wanted from the show throughout. It was my go-to fluff show that I just wanted to enjoy.

I wish I didn't know that the final bit was tacked on, because I actually think it could have worked fully even if they were going with a season 9; in that the 'Castle PI' is just another one of his new series of books and that they are just fictional characters on the screen, but we would know that Rick and Kate were alive and well, because of that last scene where we know that they were just the writer and his muse, and what had happened to "Castle" and "Beckett" was him ending that series.  That of course accepts that that last bit was showing that notion, which I think works if you tie it to the voice-over from the first time they meet.  I think maybe, if that had happened, I possibly could have watched S9; I'm hesitant to say I definitely would because there's a large part of me that would be reluctant to because I felt sexism in Katic/Jones being not being re-upped while it looked like everyone else was (I know, I know, we don't know anything, but that's what my gut is telling me).  But, that's all a hypothetical exercise now.

It also works as them being Castle and Beckett living happily ever after, so I guess I don't care which way one interprets the ending, it was fine by me.

Edited May 17, 2016 by pennben

[Nadine]

2 hours ago, femmefan1946 said:

 

@anamiii Jake / Jacob is the male equivalent of Johanna in some languages, etc.

No, it isn't . Johanna is a”John” name (as is Nathan). Female equivalent might be Jean or Jane.

 

According to this one it can be the male form in some languages. Hence the mention of it, etc. But of course it's not as common as what you've stated above which are the direct equivalents. So apologies for the mistake there. 

Jake's also an abbreviation of James - I would have put that on Twitter but I was busy working when I did the initial tweet hence why I deleted it about a minute after it was posted here.

Edited May 17, 2016 by Nadine

[Noggin]

Well at least we got a happy ending of sorts, many of the professional critics seem less than happy with the show and in many respects I agree with them. Of course Castle had to get himself kidnapped after promising his wife he would stay put but sadly that's part of what the character has become this season, someone putting others on the firing line without thought to the consequences. You just knew Beckett was going to leave the precinct, but what else was she going to do, she's a police Captain afterall.....but magnetic ceilings, truth drugs, come on, way over the top. As to the ending, not the family plus children but the final sentiment I thought The Hollywood Reporter summed it up best.....

 

"Beckett was an autonomous character. Yes, Castle had the mother and kid and the show had his name, but Beckett was a character. She wasn't just there to enable Castle's creative fiction. She wasn't just there to be an inspiration for a male writer. She's not an embodiment of male fantasy. That's what the ending makes her into. It completely sells out her personhood in much the same way a certain Fox series dispatched with its female lead earlier this spring by making her into an instrument of male deliverance and undoing everything about her as a character. The conclusion of these eight years of TV should not have been, "Oh, that Beckett. She totally inspired Richard Castle."

[TWP]

Regarding the empty loft scene: I am familiar with a real life shooting scene. It took a clean-up crew 3 days to rid the scene of blood residue. Maybe with all that blood they had to gut the loft and started over.

But I really think the end scene was supposed to be about what could have been. The "7 years later" label looked like a hack they threw in when they realized how horrific the depressing ending was. Without that label, the kid scene makes more sense as an expression of a dream state. A cemetery scene would have made more sense.

I also have direct experience  via relatives with recovering from a well done intestinal surgery where part of the intestine was deliberately removed. True recovery where you can eat normally and feel good health again takes about 2 years. I would hazard a guess that it is a harder recovery than from open heart surgery. The effect of a gunshot on the abdomen would have likely required multiple intestinal reconstruction surgeries from a really messy state, perhaps a long-term infection to recover from, and likely would not have allowed popping out 3 kids in 7 years, if the uterus and ovaries were intact after that at all?  Maybe they used a surrogate?

Yes I see why they canceled Castle. No way would that final gory scene be a good cliffhanger. What the hell were they thinking? Hubris. Maybe the entire end scene starting as they walked into the loft, was an alternate ending. If not, if failed showrunner Hawley ever gets work again, I want to know whose buried bodies he knows about.

I had to watch the end scene (thanks Castle Vital Scenes), but judging by what you all said, I don't have to watch the rest! Yayyyy. Thanks, once again, for watching so I don't have to.

Edited May 17, 2016 by TWP

[merylinkid]

I'm ignoring everything that came before it and just concentrating on the final scene.   I'm trying not to overanalyze it and just take it as face value.   I said way back in season 1 this show was Castle telling his kids the story of how he and Kate met and got together, then had really cool adventures together.   I'm sticking wth that  ... Always.

[Lee4U]

In the end, I am disappointed that the show which began with quite a bit of potential as a good old fashioned screwball comedy/romance turned into this miserable lump of irrational drama.  The never-dying-out trope of a cop/doctor/whatever having gone into their profession because of some horrible personal tragedy or mystery (as in this show) always signals to me they are following the usual crappy playbook and then filling in between the lines along the way but you always get the stupid drawwwnnnn out getting together of the ultimate romantic partners, the inevitable first, second, third break up of said partners, then the last episode/scene where they finally end on a purportedly happy note.  

It's all by the book on the networks - at least cable can mix it up and show some creativity along the way.  

These sorts of writers should never be allowed an interesting, provocative show - ever.  Everything these mediocre writers do is pretty much predictable from the start but what they had here in the beginning was a really charming, funny actor who has charisma and was sexy and playful and then they mysteriously turned him into a bumbling lump of stupidness.  And, I do agree, NF was really excellent when giving up the names of his family - it wasn't histrionic and you could see how much he didn't want the words to escape his mouth but had no ability to stop it.  

Even after getting up this a.m., I still believe they are actually dead - and, I'm fine with that.  It's actually a lot more gutsy of an ending than anything else they did so far - so, for me, they are dead.  If the writers say they didn't die, then cool. 

[pennben]

58 minutes ago, TWP said:

I also have direct experience  via relatives with recovering from a well done intestinal surgery where part of the intestine was deliberately removed. True recovery where you can eat normally and feel good health again takes about 2 years. I would hazard a guess that it is a harder recovery than from open heart surgery. The effect of a gunshot on the abdomen would have likely required multiple intestinal reconstruction surgeries from a really messy state, perhaps a long-term infection to recover from, and likely would not have allowed popping out 3 kids in 7 years, if the uterus and ovaries were intact after that at all?  Maybe they used a surrogate?

I have indirect knowledge from folks I know IRL (good guys, for the record), that a good leather coat can blunt the force of a bullet from a gun (at least guns from a decade or so ago), letting someone live even though they are injured.  I saw Beckett in that last scene, bleeding a lot, because that is what being shot leads to. So, after seeing the ending where she lives, I can piece together how she didn't go to a bad place that  was catastrophic after being shot.  I can see how she walked away without all the duress you speak of, because of a leather jacket, she would have bled a lot from being shot, but not necessarily been grievously injured.

Edited May 17, 2016 by pennben

[Nadine]

Well Steph Hicks pretty much ruled out the being dead theory when replying to Biermann after it aired.

 

Of course the fact they put both the original ending and the tacked on happy ending didn't help the cause in terms of confusing people. :)

Edited May 17, 2016 by Nadine

[ae2]

Call me crazy... but I wonder if that dreamlike ending was something filmed a few years ago when they were under thread of being canceled, and they just tacked it on here because it was better than anything else they had.

[pennben]

Hi crazy!!:)  [For the record, I'm just playing here with your first line]

From articles online, we are pretty sure they filmed this at the conclusion of this season, just in case.

Edited May 17, 2016 by pennben