istana, castle Series Finale Recap: Always... and Forever 

closed what would be its final chapter on Monday night, ending its eight-season run with an alternate epilogue that was filmed just in case this turned out to be Rick and Kate’s swan song.

The procedural’s closing hour found Rick and Kate hot on the trail of the mysterious and elusive LokSat, aiming to finally catch and collar the high-powered drug runner, who had dogged not one but

of them in recent years, ultimately tying together two different mythologies (Johanna Beckett’s murder and Rick’s “missing time”).

The final run at LokSat first led Rick and Kate into a honey pot, but they were rescued by Mason Wood of the Greatest Detective Society, who said he had been asked by Castle’s stepmother Rita to “babysit” her stepson and his wife. Next, the 12th’s investigation into the murder (by torching) of Caleb Brown pointed Kate and the boys to LokSat’s “right hand man”… who led them to a false house. Vikram eventually got a bead on the guy’s cell phone, just as he abducted Rick and hooked him up to some next-gen truth serum. This “Mr. Flynn” then introduced Rick to LokSat — aka Mason Wood.

Mason got what he wanted from Rick — the names of everyone who knows of LokSat, whom he planned to kill — and then left to meet up with an oblivious Beckett. Luckily, Mason’s plan was to bring Kate back to the CIA black site he and Flynn operated out of, and when he did, she got the drop on him…

, until an electromagnetic ceiling ripped her gun away. Mason went to kill Kate, but Rick — who escaped from the upstairs lab during the NYPD’s shootout with some LokSat mercs — showed up to distract him long enough for Kate to KO the Benedict Arnold.

After the partners in crimefighting dodged death both at the hand of LokSat

“dead” Caleb Brown (who popped up, and then got popped, in the loft), we got a final, closure-filled sequence. Jumping forward seven years and with past “Caskett” dialogue scoring the scene, we saw Rick and Kate breakfasting with their three children, precisely as foretold by Season 6’s “time traveler.”

Rewatch the final sequence below, then read on for more:

RELATEDCastle Cancelled: Stana Katic Pens Note to Fans, and Other Cast Reactions

co-showrunners Terence Paul Winter and Alexi Hawley told TVLine, “We have

ending, which is a cliffhanger that we’re excited about” — a finale that would end “in a very dynamic way which leaves open the possibility that maybe the show won’t come back in the same form” — a prudent move since leading lady Stana Katic would not be invited back for any Season 9. “That said… we have crafted a final [alternate ending] that would exist only if we weren’t coming back,” Hawley shared. “To be fair to the fans, even if we thought there was the small chance that we wouldn’t come back, we owed it to them to sort of craft something.”

Did you approve of the special “something” they crafted? Get to discussing the satisfaction level delivered by this alternate ending, as well as how fondly you will regard the series

Mostly just crap. A stupid wrap-up to the season story and a jarringly tacked on ending.

The almost-cliffhanger was so ridiculous I can’t understand why it wasn’t cut to make more room for the series wrap up.

It looked to me like they didn’t really expect to be canceled. You don’t go through all the trouble of letting some actors go and signing others if you don’t think there will be another season. Another season would have told everybody what happens to the secondary characters, but the fans didn’t want that. They wanted the show to be canceled, and they got their wish. They can’t have everything.

Yes, it definitely seems like they thought they were moving forward with another season and wouldn’t need that happy ending

Which speaks volumes about a lot of things, but whatever.

The episode was clumsy, though action packed and the Mason reveal was the only shock for me.

The ending was cute, but so rushed and bizarre without any real dialogue, I’m inclined to think it was a dying hallucination/fantasy. But definitely better than the alternative.

I’m sure many writers and future showrunners have taken note during the far too public demise of this show. Perhaps some studio and network execs learned some lessons too.

In the end, I’m grateful for the positive aspects of the show, and I’ll try to forget the rest. It’s been a solid run.

Thanks for covering Castle long before it was en vogue, Mr. Mitovich and Mr. Ausiello. It’s been real.

I don’t even understand what happened in the finale!

I just finished watching. Caleb shoots Castle and Beckett. They both hold hands like they’re dying, and then suddenly it’s seven years later and they have three kids? Was that imagination as they’re dying, or was it reality?

@Josiah: The flashforward was reality. Although I would argue that the lack of dialogue strongly implies that if the show hadn’t been cancelled, the flashforward would have been a dream sequence that Rick hallucinated while unconscious and the next scene after what would be the faux happy ending would be the cut scene of Castle at her grave. The brevity of the flash-forward was essentially a necessity due to the need to make it flexible enough to work either way based on ABC’s decision about the fate of the show.

It does make me wonder, though, if there might have been a deleted scene in-between Beckett and Castle defeating Mason and Caleb ambushing them that might have recapped everything about Loksat and Mason’s plot while he was being arrested/hauled into a paddywagon to remind us of Loksat’s relationship to Bracken and therefore, to sum up the show’s series-long mytharc that started with the murder of Beckett’s mother. It just feels like a story summary/recap scene would so naturally be a part of the ending a story like this that it had to have been both written and filmed but cut for time rather than to alter Beckett’s fate.

Ironically, if they hadn’t publicly fired Stana and Tamala, they most likely would have gotten their 9th season. It sounds like the backlash was what sealed the cancellation.

I agree. They made a big mistake. They should have waited untill the show was renewed.

@ Dottl Humphreys, the let both Stana an Tamala go because of budget cuts so ABC says.

I agree I don’t think ABC was willing to take that chance at Castle becoming even less of a contender. We have seen this sort of thing blow up in a series along with it’s networks face in the past where a key character was eliminated and the network lived to regret a renewal because the viewership went down considerably. Yes, there were those times it worked but that was when the show had more of a formula to work off of. Castle was about Castle and Kate from day one along with their interactions fighting crime and solving mysteries. The show wouldn’t be the same without either one. Lets remember it wasn’t ABC that wanted to eliminate Kate it was the producers of the show. Now that I know this was the plan I think this is why ABC chose to kill the show when a few weeks ago I had heard that it would be on the schedule.

I think Stana or Tamala people made it public.

I totally agree. I read that the fans outcry was so much they decided to cancel and no one knew until 4 days before production. Otherwise I believe this ending would have been better.

In an election year with the very real potential of electing the first female president, the last thing ABC wanted was a story of how one of their iconic dramas mistreated and discriminated against women. It’s an easy story to tell with the known facts and it could have really hurt the network. The extreme backlash only made more clear to them how real the danger was.

If they were getting rid of Beckett, better that the show just ended. Castle’s strengths were centered around the character of Kate Beckett. So if they thought they could cut a lead character out of the show, the fans didn’t want it. Maybe they will resurrect some spinoff version with some of the characters, like when Major Crimes came from The Closer. Des[ite the name of this show, the character of Rick Castle was best in his connection with Kate.

Yes I agree. There were so many fans including me having a fit about them getting rid of Kate. I for one wouldn’t have watched it again and many people said the same thing. I never missed one show. The show was totally about beckett and castle. They could have gotten rid of anyone else and the show would have been okay. But getting rid of one of the main characters just didn’t make sense. I think once ABC heard all the complaints that they were hearing and fans were going to be done watching the show that that’s why they cancelled it at the last minute.

So sad….I will miss this show more than anything. Please bring it back it some way. Not fair to its loyal fans to just end it, wipe your hands of it and the fans and move on. If Beckett and Castle’s peeps couldn’t get along, divorce them. Quit letting egos get the better of you. Let’s face it, you wouldn’t be so popular if your fans weren’t watching. So sad!

Why would it be the fans fault? Fans don’t cancel shows, studios do.

The whole episode screams how much H&W were sure they were coming back. None of the characters got a proper send off. That was pretty arrogant on their part and it speaks volumes as to how awful they were as showrunners. The shooting scene followed by that flashforward was weird on so many levels. Oh my, I will think of Castle as if it ended on S7, just because that was once a show that I adored. At least they didn’t move forward without Stana. She rules.

Wrong. Watching that show isn’t wasting an hour it’s making something out of the 2 years that I’ve watched the show. It gave me knowledge and it was the greatest love story I’ve ever seen. I’m glad that one day I flipped through channels and found the greatest show ever.

No way there was so much more they could of done with the show!

I believe they coud have been given an extension for S-9 done a better writing job(not fired Beckett) and still have gotten all the people they needed with our happy ending.

ABC Did not make their decision until the last minute.

So,so much more coulld have been done here.

I guess the fans will just have to live with what they gave us.

In my dream world- I could see a sequil to this-but it’s my dream world which can’t exist in the writers world or ABC cause nothing last there.

Wanted to add more here but tvline says I’ve already said that.

You wrapped-up the show’s ‘wrap-up’ perfectly. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, how this great show was being ‘wrapped-up’ so clumsily. It’s really too bad how this show ended.

Totally agree ,really rubbish ending after 8 seasons.

Clumsily is the perfect word to describe it. I feel like this whole season has been written and produced by a crappy fan fiction writer.

The real problem started when Terence Paul stepped down as head of the show. He knew more about the characters than anyone. And notice how all the fighting between stand and Nathan started when he left. The show became more unrealistic and the characters never acted the same. Alexi hawley turned castle into a joke

My basic take on the ending was that the show runners who took over for Marlowe were so enamored of their own navels that they couldn’t comprehend the network not green lighting a 9th season. Now, had they actually had to watch their own show and compare it to say…any of the first six seasons of Castle, or even the 7th season which was still relatively weak, they would have realized what they were doing was murdering a perfectly good TV show with hackneyed plots, bad writing, and stupid story arc choices that did nothing to improve the show and everything to erode the brand that was Castle.

The entire franchise would have been better served if they’d shot the S8 finale as 2/3rds season finale 1/3 series finale. Have Beckett and Castle both getting shot just as they did, have the fade away only with voices of the police who find them, the doctors who are working on them, through in a few hospital noises to indicate someone flatlined and then give us the flash forward where we see Castle and Beckett and three happy kids – but don’t give us 30 second of it, give us 90 second of it, enough to really be a ‘taste’ of their future.

Then if the show got picked up for Season 9 it’s all Castle’s coma dream and when he wakes up two years later Beckett is gone (WitSec), Esposito is a Lieutenant, Ryan a Sergeant, and Alexis is running the PI biz with Haley. Otherwise we get an actual ending we can enjoy. That or just leave off that last 30 seconds and leave them on the floor together – it’d be sad but it would also be REAL.

It’s really too bad you aren’t one of their writers because this totally would have worked for me! The 30 second tack-on was just “huh??!” But in the end, I just decided “Ok, I’ll take it and be happy” because it’s what I can have.

I completely agree with you… I wasn’t even sure if that was just a death dream of the two of them as they died.or if they did live after all .Very confusing ending ,,,I love your ending I wish it could happen..

Wonderful ending you proposed, that ending was just so dissappointing. Man! I looked at my son he looked at me I said so did they die? No I think that was them seven years later with the kids. At least they ended with them still protecting each other if I have to find a positive.

I agree, that would have been better.

On the other hand, pretty much anything would have been better than that ending.

I’m convinced the last 30 seconds was a death dream: It explains the empty apartment and the Season One dialogue: Castle’s life flashes before his eyes before the final fadeout. Sad ending, but satisfying in that neither has to continue without the other.

Yours is the ending that I will cherish and hold on to. Even though it wasn’t filmed, I believe it would have been if the powers-that-be had gotten your script in time.

Who remembers your first creative writing assignment in school where you had to write a short story? Maybe you managed to write a paragraph or two before you decided to end it, so you wrote, ‘…and then they all died” or perhaps “… and then they lived happily ever after,” but you always wrote THE END at the bottom and breathed a sigh of relief.

Imagine how differently this show would have been had Beckett put a round into the man who turned out to be Lok Sat the first time she saw him.

The whole season was just crap. Didn’t feel like Castle at all. Sadly, I feel like it should have ended last season.

Sucks for you. I loved the ending, and the episode actually. But people like me who got what they wanted from it, won’t come here because they won’t want to be overwhelmed by the negativity. It’s a tv show and for the majority of it, a really good one which is more than I can say for half the things on television today.

I am glad they cancelled the show because obviously it wouldn’t have been the same w/o Beckett but honestly I would have watched had they continued on.

I like your comment specially because I’m one of those people who wouldn’t want to be overwhelmed by all the negativity.

While the last few seasons were not on fleek in my opinion, I dont think the show could’ve/should’ve gone on without Beckett. Therefore I’m happy with the ending we got.

Thanks for the memories of a GREAT show…I will watch my DVD’s way into the future. I loved the banter between Castle and Beckett, Great writing, fantastic chemistry (I always thought, and was very disappointed to read there was actually tension between the two )

I started out season 8 being positive. But it got really hard to stay that way as the season went on.

People aren’t being negative on purpose. They’re really baffled and upset that a once great show took a nosedive. It’s really disappointing to see good turn bad.

I’m with you, Lisa. Maybe it didn’t work for most, but it gave me [happy] closure!

Fellow Castle Fans, there was no “Happy Ending” to season 8. The showrunners/writers were getting even with us for the nasty comments we made about their work. Castle & Beckett both died from Caleb Brown’s gun shots. They struggled to reach each other as they died. In the language of film drama, the snippets of their romance were their lives flashing before their eyes as they died holding hands. The panning shot of the empty loft said others have moved on. The last visuals of the couple and the 3 children is what MIGHT have happened if they had lived. (Did you notice the last scene was very brightly lit—almost ghostly?) The “epic love story that always ends in tragedy” was to spite us for our criticism. I wish Alexi and Winter the #@%&!*>.(!!!!!!). Will their careers end in tragedy? We can only dream.

Joe, Agree 100%. Sad ending, but at least the fans stopped what would have been the abomination of a Kate-less Season 9.

I’m pretty sure the almost-cliffhanger was kept in was because Hawley and Winter are so in love with their own writing, they couldn’t bear to cut it.

But I absolutely agree that it should have been cut for a better wrap-up, maybe one with Martha and Alexis showing up for brunch.

Shame on ABC. The end of Season 7 was the ending that this amazing show deserved.

The train-wreck that was this season was so painfully obvious after episode 3. Every failed awkward moment was easy to project out the moment Kate packed her duffle bag – that was the end of Castle right there. The remaining episodes were just the tangled, sad writhing death-throws of a show that should have gone out with grace and warmth and closure, but instead was contorted into what has to be the some of the most contrived, senseless BS in the history of television.

The tragic part of this is that the series didn’t have to end like this. Let’s assume that for whatever reason, whether Nathan was at fault, Stana was at fault, or it was mutually both their faults, that the show runners were contractually obligated to construct a major portion of the season without Rick and Kate sharing screen time.

First, if that was the case, the choice to proceed with an 8th season was simply stupid. The show is built around the chemistry and dynamic of Rick and Kate, remove that, and you remove a major ingredient of the show. However, even that is still not an excuse for the mindless insanity that this season turned out to be.

So, setting aside how ill-advised proceeding with a season where you have to keep the two leads away from each other, the true failure of the season is in HOW they did it. The foundation of their separation was a lie that was so fundamentally contradictory to the history and nature of Kate’s character and Rick and Kate’s relationship that it didn’t just strain credibility, it simply broke it. Snapped it in two. Then, throw in Rick’s moronic, pathetic ‘win her back’ response and you’ve completely contradicted 7 seasons of character development. Everyone knew that Rick’s reaction would have been to immediately investigate what made her take a ‘time-out’. So in one foul (very foul) swoop, they destroyed the fabric, spirit and soul of the show, and it simply never ever recovered because every episode suffered under the obvious weight of the often ignored problems of their ‘relationship’.

And this is where I really place all the blame on H&W. If we’re allowing for the possibility that the forced separation of the two actors wasn’t their choice, something we can’t blame them for, what we absolutely CAN blame them for is the mechanism by which they did this. It was all manner of lazy, arrogant, ignorant and downright stupid.

– First and foremost, their forced separation should have been based on something that both characters knew and even if they didn’t choose willingly, at minimum understood the necessity. The mid-season course-correction where they come clean and agree to go after LockSat in secret is what should have happened at the end of the two-part season opener. There were tons of ways to manufacture a far more believable, and entertaining mechanism for forcing their split where both characters remained true to their previous evolution, both as individuals, and as a couple.

– Second, LockSat. This is the crown jewel of crap writing. Pick your description; forced, contrived, unbelievable.. the melding of the single worst story elements of the entire series (Rick’s disappearance) with the revival of a storyline that was the glue of the first 6 seasons which had been buttoned up without a single loose end was beyond a recipe for disaster.

– Third, Alexis. Really, need we say more?

– Lastly, Castle PI. Again, need we say more? Okay, I must. Outside of Rick’s disappearance, this was easily the second most-despised idea in the history of Castle.

Put that all together and you get a season in which a loved show destroys everything about itself that is good, the fans are outraged and the ratings shockingly (*sarcasm) tank and never ever recover.

So yeah, ABC, and H&W, you have nobody but yourselves to blame for this bastard of a season. Castle is, and forever will be seasons 1-7. The only acceptable ending would have been Rick and Kate waking up at the end with Rick saying.. “I must have drank too much after my award dinner because I just had the worst nightmare ever..”

How much do you want to bet they didn’t even film that last 10 second scene together? It looked very odd.

Plus Castle looks like he got shot in the throat, he would be so dead.

yup, I thought they were both going to die holding hands and I just burst out laughing..The family scene at the end was thrown in to give us our happy ending…bizarre hour, hastily spliced together ending. Me thinks that cliff hanger was both of them getting shot, holding hands..cut…til next season!

I think it would have been a great and brave season ending if they had killed them both. It would have pissed the shippers off but it was obvious from the wounds that they both were seriously wounded and after they managed to clasp hands they both stopped moving and we scanned across to a scene of the living room completely empty of all furniture and decor before we started on that seven years later thing. It would have been a much more memorable series ender if they had both died there on that floor together.

Agreed, it should have been one or the other–shot dead but romantically/tragically together forever OR happily ever after with the 3 kids as predicted by future man.

@Sarah Schizo is pretty accurate. That’s exactly what I was thinking as soon as the episode ended. I stood there with my head tilted like “huh?”. For a few seconds I couldn’t tell if they were dying and the house was empty because of that after and therefore the family scene was a hallucination,or if it was real and then why the hell did they write them getting shot so badly, crawling and reaching out for each other’s hands and showing the empty loft.

I was genuinely confused as to what the hell is going through the head of the writers.

Even the happy ending was lackluster. It was neither one thing or the other, ambiguous meaning-wise. It deserved a clearer ending.

The episode overall was not bad, but not series finale worthy, which is obviously because it wasn’t built as one.

Meh, at least it’s over. Now let’s see if I can give this free hour to something that entertains me instead.

Silver lining: the shot of Beckett waiting for LockSat was beautiful. Her standing there alone at night, in her leather jacket and jeans, hair over her face, visibly not trusting what she’s getting into but still going for it was the more Beckett-y thing I’ve seen of her in a long while.

That was the reaction of my family–hysterical laughter. I was still trying to figure out where the ending was going and they were on the floor. Not one of the best finales, and not what 8 years of Castle deserved.

It did look like an after thought, tacked on. There was a tweet a few days after the fans blew up over Stana’s firing which had a pic of the little girl in costume. Put out to show they had done something more than just killing Beckett off. Obviously not a lot of time went into those last few seconds because they never thought they’d need them. And, how much effort do you need to keep Stana and the fans fooled.

I agree! I don’t think they were together in that scene at all. It looks just like that Good Wife scene with JM and the Kalinda character.

That’s exactly what it reminded me of as well. What a bummer.

It was an absolutely terrible ending to a bad season. People were so angry over Beckett leaving that they had to smash together a 30 second cut scene at the end to make them live happily ever after. I was excited to see where Season 9 could have gone without Beckett. I feel like years of my life have been wasted, this ending truly robbed the die hard fans.

Matt, do you ever get sick of people just coming on here to complain about how they don’t like a show but continue to watch it and continue to complain! Surely it happens with other shows to!

Thanks for all the great recaps! I enjoyed all 8 seasons of Castle and I’ve enjoyed your reviews as well. It’s been a pleasure :)

Oops that was meant to be a regular comment not a reply!

I wasn’t bawling because I didn’t like the episode, I loved the episode and I’ve loved the show for all of these past 8 years. I was bawling because I was sad that a show that I’ve connected with in a way I’ve not done before ended. I was bawling because I’m going to miss my TV BFFs and a Twitter community of friends across the world that I wou have otherwise. I was bawling because I was afraid that they were both going to die and I abhor those kinds of endings, Castle is a TV show, it’s not Shakespeare for crying out loud, but they got their 3 kids and their HEA. I was bawling because I was happy that Caskett was happy.

If your post somehow became a reply in error then I apologize for my rant, I’m still a little raw from losing my TV BFFs.

I’m right there with ya!! My post was an accidental reply to yours! PS Your rant sums up most of my feelings so no apologies necessary :)

Get a heart and while you’re at it some glasses too! I acknowledge it’s a TV show. Troll elsewhere mazel tov!

I was originally in the camp of trying to be positive and not complain. I kept holding onto hope that the show would rebound to its original greatness.

But as this season went on, Castle (the show) broke my heart a little. Castle and Beckett barely worked together. The plots were silly. I wanted to enjoy it but just couldn’t.

I’m not complaining because I love this show. I just had no clue that they were ending it. I am very sad. Didn’t know that they had fired the girls…I guess I live in a bubble.

You are 100% correct though. So tired of people just ripping and ripping. CHANGE THE CHANNEL, its not that hard (unless your remote is broken ;) ).

I like the finale and coming here and reading people being negative won’t change that. I don’t need to know what happened to Ryan/Espo/Alexis, etc., I sort of already know.

I only ever cared about Castle and Beckett, from ep one until the end. I love the way the writers gave me that final scene of them with the kids, it’s how I hoped it would end. But for the people who wanted them to die in each-others arms they sort of got their ending as well. It was literally #caskettforever.

In a way, I would have appreciated it more if they did die. More Shakespearean, I guess.

I would rather they had cut to black than jumped forward.

why even bother shooting them—so incredibly pointless, just took up time they could have used providing a better a ending.

In my opinion that was the original ending and they added on the last 30 seconds for the finale.

I just said that…the so called button on the series…Well at least we got to see how it would have ended if it was a cliff hanger to next Fall…Too rushed with the family scenes yet cute with the dialogue from past episodes.

At this point I’ll take it. The alternative would have been a disaster. In all reality though the shooting scene as a whole was pointless. If they had cut that and done 2 min final scene with the the family it would have been awesome. But like I said I’ll take what we got.

Really…those handguns of Beckett and Castle appeared to be Glocks or a similar gun. The only substantial steel in those guns are the barrel and a few smaller pieces, not nearly enough steel to go flying to the ceiling…oh well it’s TV…lol

Wait so a writer that follows a fashion model, I mean a police detective, for seven years is plausible but an magnet ceiling isn’t?

Not to mention that a strong electromagnet would have pulled at Castle’s belt buckle, Beckett’s zippers and buttons and watches, coins etc. McRaney as LokSat was totally predictable. Caleb was a surprise [wasn’t he the corpse in the burned out car identified by DNA?]. I used to assemble S&W 9MMs similar to a Glock and the have more steel than you’d think. Seven tiny metal inserts in forming the body, but with a substantial metal barrel and magazine.

ya gotta admit that was kinda creative with the electromagnetic ceiling LOL…stupid hour…crazy mom yelling at the flat screen filled, torturous stupid hour of fan watching last freaking castle ever..Not crying but praying I don’t have stupid nightmares about the stupid injection scenes.

It was very Agents of Shield, we thought maybe Castle was supposed to be an inhuman avenging Beckett’s death in the ill-conceived 9th season.

Having them getting shot like that reminded me of The Departed when everyone shoots everyone, and everyone dies. It was kind of pleasing…

As for Loksat… Let’s be real, that was the easiest take down ever…

Between the truth drug, Castle rappelling down the inside of a building while drugged and the electromagnetic ceiling (Aha, you fool, I have a plastic gun sneered Emperor Ming), it was more like the old Buck Rogers serial at the movies than the show we knew as Castle.

Another thing that was wrong was that there was so little humor. The real Castle show was funny as well as suspenceful. Here I just kept feeling sorry for the acting having to say those terrible, terrible lines.

What was the point of having them get shot like that??? Why did that scene even have to be in there? Had they just skipped that scene it would have been a pretty good finale. It looks like they just threw that last scene with the flash forward in without even looking back on the episode. I’m so upset that I watched 8 seasons and got this as a finale.

I have a feeling that that was the cliffhanger. Later we find out that Beckett died and Castle survived

Exactly. The happily ever after with the kids was the alternate finale ending

to be an alternate ending it needs to actually be instead of a different ending.

The different ending would probably have been a flash forward of Castle either eulogizing Beckett, or talking to himself at her grave.

Agreed. They originally intended Kate to die and then just tacked on that last scene when it got cancelled. That was a giant “screw you!” IMO. They should have just edited out that shooting scene entirely.

I completely agree! That shooting scene should have been cut completely. It was unnecessary. It would have been more satisfying to have them back at the apartment and then do the fast forward.

omg it’s hard to jump the shark in the series finale, but somehow they managed.

They jumped more than a shark. They jumped a castle! :-P

very funny, not a happy camper, traumatized but not happy

this made me lol the best comment so far!!! they high jumped over a castle

It was easier just to leave everything in and just tack the alt ending… like they didn’t want to put any more effort in it than they had to.. Not good for their resumes.

@bw That’s the thing, they could have just cut everything at the apartment out, skip straight to the flash forward and it would have been fine. Having a shooting moments before the credits and then getting a scene 7 years later saying “oh, they’re fine!” was just stupid. It’s like the writers just wanted you to know they intended Kate to die.

I thought they could gave tied it together a little better — Jump to a hospital scene/hospital noises. Your first thought is “oh no” — but as the camera pulls out you see Castle and Beckett and TWINS ! And Castle says “the time traveler was off” and Beckett, laughing, throws a pillow at him.

What @Morisot said!! I really wanted future man Josh Gomez’s predictions to be folded into the finale!!

I think I’m going to pretend this is exactly how it ended. Except in my head it’s just one baby girl named after Beckett’s Mom.

Amen! What a weak afterthought of an ending! The shooting ended up making no sense at all. Pure laziness to just tack on the “everything worked out” finish. But thanks in a way. Now I won’t miss not having another season. And I’ll know not to bother with whatever is the writers’ next show.

My thought exactly! How the showrunners could screw up 7 years of show history so badly, means beware of future shows by this crew.

The problem is that there are so few good dramedy shows that last (i.e. Forever, Limitless, etc), we’re suckers for what we get.

I agree. Did they? Not die? I get to choose which ending I liked? I don’t get it.

My feelings exactly. The ending left me very confused. They surely looked like they died on the floor together.

Exactly! It left me confused as well. The two moments are so disjointed, I mean, at least let us see that they were found in time by someone, don’t just jump 7 years ahead when we’re still trying to figure out if they survived or not. Because, despite the 7 years jump, I’m still not conviced that they did. This ending was such a let down.

The shots fired were not necessarily fatal. Rick to the right(not heart) and Kate to the side/stomach. Still pretty weak. Liked some of the alternate endings posted. A lot of shows go off for the finale. Too bad.

That scene with both of them being shot & crawling together is ripped off from the ending of “Duel In The Sun” with Gregory Peck & Jennifer Jones. It was ridiculous in 1947 & worse now!

it felt too cliché and been done before..just didn’t know when??? they got their happy ending yet it was forced and the violence went on for way too long..I really thought they were going to die holding hands and that some idiot would say that the Time Traveler got it all wrong!

I loved Duel in the Sun..This mess looked as thought they threw it together at last minute which they did..The show was awful for last two years..made no sense..

Stopped watching last year because the pseudo-finale at the end of season 7 closed the show for me. Following reactions to this season, it was one of the best TV decisions I’ve ever made.

Glad you took the time to come here and say you “stopped” watching the show.

Glad you took the time to make a nasty and pointless post.

The show runners did not have much time so they did as best as they could. Writing a different ending takes such a long time.

A first grader could have segued to the last shot with more finesse. And LokSat was Major Dad? I need a drink!

OMG I thought of “Simon and Simon” weird just weird..I really thought the twist would be Vikram… I was just waiting and luckily….disappointed….

I thought that too! I theorized that that “right hand man” message to Beckett was about *her* right hand man, and he awkwardly jumped in and blabbed everything to throw them off the trail (which had been his MO all along, and would explain why loksat was always a step or two ahead of them)

My husband kept saying it was Vikram too! At the end I asked “what just happened?” We rewound it and both thought that 7 years later, was 7 years after they met in the first season, and all these episodes were “stories”, Castle had written that Kate had inspired. They really had married and had a family, (Which is why they looked so young!) and now you are caught up on happily ever after…

When I saw Gerald McRaney, I thought the same thing (except as Malcolm from Agent X) — “Oh no, he can’t be the bad guy! That’s too weird” But the magnetic ceiling was very Agent X :)

I thought the twist was that Caleb Brown ended up being LokSat or at least he controlled whatever LokSat became. Caleb was the last man standing from that evil operation.

I honestly felt like it was very tacked on. I realize that to a certain extent that is the case, but it really felt like the cliffhanger ending was them bleeding out in the apartment and they just hastily tacked on a flashforward.

That end felt very rushed. It didn’t feel like a satisfying series wrap up, which is disappointing because I usually love flashforwards as a series end.

I just wonder how the show would have ended if they’d known this was the end a few months ago rather than a few days ago.

What was the point of showing the empty loft and then showing the flash forward. I think that was left too as the season finale where Beckett dies, Castle lives and he moves to LA which is why they have would have shown the empty loft. They just left everything and added a few seconds just tacked on at the end. Really sloppy I think.

That’s why the empty APA! That threw me off till the kids.So I agree it was sloppy.My only justification is that after surviving the shooting they got completely out of the crime business. She is a US Senator and he writes fiction while staying home with the kids.The Time Traveler was right.I’m glad they/we got a happy ending.As sloppy as it was.😊

So that’s why we saw the empty loft…nothing artistic about that after all…That made zero sense to me…then the happy ending….sloppy and not artistic after all….

The ending was kind of sloppy, but you gotta give it to them!! they cancelled the show last minute and i don’t think they expected to be cancelled, which makes sense why the ending was rushed!!

They could have added the flash forward after Beckett sat on the bed. They get back home, resume their lives and discuss mundane stuff like breakfast, then we see that they built a family. Fade to black.

It doesn’t even require anything else than cutting the shooting and crawling scene and the empty loft bit.

Holy crap, I’m still shaking from the end. Nearly started crying because I thought they were about to die together. But yay, at least they have kids! Last year’s finale felt more like a series finale than this one did.

I would have preferred the flash forward without them getting shot, or both of them dying, then what we got. I guess in the original version, they’re both shot and Castle survives but Beckett doesn’t?

I agree. The final shooting in their apartment was so close to the end and made the epilogue feel WAY too tacked on and after-thoughty. Maybe that’s what they needed to just settle down? IDK.

Yeah, a smoother transition would have been nice. I’m just glad Beckett didn’t die saving him.

lol My mom is so mad, but they had their happily ever after! Three more kids and Kate is probably a senator. It was…not the best, but I’m glad it ended happy instead of like Romeo and Juliet.

I burst out laughing thinking I was watching another version of “Romeo and Juliet” and that the Time Traveler got it wrong, thank you…This ending was too rushed even with the happy ending

So wouldn’t if there was a season they both would of died from bleeding out lol no one else lives there

My guess is they would say Beckett died but Castle survived.

Perfection?!?! Wow, you have a real low threshold for perfection.

Yeah, they lives and are happy. Way better than the alternative!

I call bull on the whole we filmed multiple final episodes. that is exactly how it would have ended if it had been renewed. minus a lazy 5 second long 7 years later tag.

I was so consumed that I managed to not really hear why Caleb wasn’t really dead?!

Me too! That and I still don’t get the whole “missing time” and how that related to LokSat in any sense. And why was Major Dad doing the LokSat thing? Was he a baddie for baddies sake? And is Castle’s stepmom alive?

I had to rewatch. Castle figured out that Caleb wasn’t dead because Major Dad would have burned his body in the incinerator if they really wanted to get rid of him. Caleb’s DNA in the car trunk was a plant. Caleb wanted to go into “retirement” and wanted everyone to think he was dead. We don’t know who really died in the trunk.

Don’t ask me how any of the LokSat stuff ties in with Bracken or Beckett’s mom or Castle’s missing time. I tuned out every time it was brought up this season.

Who wrote this disaster? My god , the dialogues were so pathetic . Castle ended last season for me, season 8 never happened.

Matt, out of curiosity, do you happen to know what the cliffhanger-y finale would look like? Was Kate gonna die or enter witsec or something?

I must admit I felt betrayed when the news broke about Stana not being “invited back” to s9, but after they cancelled it, I decided to watch the finale. There were a lot of mistakes in execution IMO, but all in all, I smiled like a little kid watching the flashforward scene.

A hackneyed, artificial ending to a terrible season for what once was a great program.

Where did Caleb come from if they DNA-matched his remains? Is that supposed to mean that Caleb is Loksat? What was the point of giving them what looked like fatal wounds, then not even explaining how they end up totally fine? I appreciate having a happy ending for them, but the tonal shift was jarring and confusing.

That’s what I thought. I was sure they ID’d Caleb’s dead body with his DNA. And I think I was so shocked when Rick got shot that I didn’t really hear what Caleb said. Did anyone hear that? With the whole show now over, I feel like: “what just happened?”

Knowing how powerful Loksat had been throughout the series, it wouldn’t be out of the question that the DNA identification could have been manipulated to make it look Caleb was murdered. And Caleb said he told the old man that they would figure out the truth (that Caleb wasn’t dead).

Having said that, the whole Loksat thing was just soooo dumb. The Senator Bracken story arc ran through multiple seasons. They gave it a good wrap-up with Beckett arresting him. They should have left it alone! Instead, they write in the Loksat story. Senator Bracken, who was portrayed as an almost all-powerful evil figure, suddenly is turned into a weak pawn of Loksat?!?! The beginning of the end.

Please interview the showrunners and ask them why they chose that ending. They are both shot in the floor and then you jump forward?

Here’s how that interview will go: blah blah blah organic…blah blah fun…mythology…blah blah that will inform how we handle season 9…

Sigh. that hearty laugh, no Dengue fever I’m guessin’

Oh hey lkh! I came back from Hawaii and so far so good — no signs of the Dengue! Plenty of mosquitoes though… Well, since Castle went downhill so fast I can’t say I’ll miss it, but I’ll surely miss the JOT-lkh witticisms! It’s been fun :)

sigh–I know, will miss everyone too. Be well.

At least we know what the cliffhanger would’ve been…?

Seriously though, that was so obviously a tacked on end scene to tie up a cliffhanger shot when they thought they’d have another season. I mean, I guess yay they tied it up all neat, but man did that ever feel like a thoughtless ending. Letting the cliffhanger play out or having them both die would’ve been more authentic and original.

I was disappointed. They should have cut out that whole crazy shooting at the end and just done the flash forward – I guess. I thought they had killed them both and then miraculously they are saved and have 3 kids. That was a jacked-up, hackneyed ending.

After 8 season this is one of the most unsatisfying endings. Ever. So lame. I hope Stana and Nathan are ashamed. You couldn’t have come up with literally anything better than this crap?!!!

Don’t blame them, they aren’t the ones that wrote and edited it. The episode would have been fine had they just left off the final shooting scene and just lengthened the Castle/Beckett flash forward or the precinct scene leading up to that.

I blame the writers , not the actors but to be honest everything was off in this episode, even the acting (that scene with the serum was laughable and pathetic) .One of the worst series finales I´ve ever seen.

Uh, you *do* realize that neither Nathan nor Stana actually wrote this episode, right?

Better than nothing. At least it was a happy ending. But you can tell that it was not actually written as a series finale. We got 60 seconds of what their life ended up being in the epilogue. It was rushed. No closure for secondary characters like Ryan, Espo, Martha, Alexis… But at least Beckett didn’t die! So now I don’t have to regret watching 8 seasons of Castle. I won’t miss it but I did enjoy the ride.

Great point. Had ABC actually taken Castle seriously, instead of jerking everybody around like this was freaking Amateur Hour, they could’ve been prepared for a finale with really closure for everyone.

There are a lot of mysteries about the series and its standing on ABC’s totem pole, but it is downright embarrassing that the network didn’t have a great handle on and stake IN this show’s final bow.

ha! easy to say you’re done–I say it all the time. This time, it is done though. What shall we do with ourselves JOT?

By the way, before you get away…hmmm, clearly Beckett was meant to die, and they just slapped that bit on the end (no, I haven’t watched it), but my point is, I think we bet a couple hundred dollars? no? Since they fussed with it, I’ll agree to a compromise, say a hundred? I know you’re honorable…

What did we wager and what were the terms again??

Just one more combo name to send me on my way, pleeeeese.

If they wanted to give a happily ever after ending, they should have just cut the final shooting scene and then flashed forward. I think the flash forward felt tacked on and not well integrated into the ending.

The more I think about it, the more I wish they ended it with them dying. I know the happy ending is what people wanted, but in terms of storytelling, it would have been great closure.

If they had killed them off, then DVD sales of the series would have suffered. Anyone remember a show called “Forever Knight”? They killed the main characters in the final episode as a protest against the fans telling them how they thought the show should go. To this day, I refuse to watch that show or buy the DVDs…

So glad they ended it happy. Except the whole time I was expecting her to die and waiting for that. I hate when shows don’t close out a season with the possibility of not coming back. CSI new York did that for the last two seasons. Had a finale that worked for a series end just in case.

Hate that it won’t be back! Loved the show!

I find it Ironic that you revealed LokSat was the leader of The Greatest Detectives Club but you left out the most important thing a Great Detective figures out. Motive! you never revealed LokSat’s Motive. Lazy disrespectful writing, good riddance it’s over.

Exactly! They never made that part make any sense 🙁

Tacked on or not, atleast the final scene gave us closure. Their ending remains true to their whole story. Last year was a better finale but with things not ending on a tragic note, I can look back on the series with fondness.

Am I alone inhating the tacked on time jump ending

They should have left out the final shooting scene and had a real jump forward that also showed what happened to the other characters — Ryan, Esposito, Martha, and Alex. That would have done justice to the last 8 years.

I agree though. More time with the rest of the characters would have been ideal instead that final shooting.

Amazing ending to an amazing series. ❤️Caskett Always..

The juxtapose of the gun tragedy then to the seven years with kids felt disjointed and rushed to me. It literally felt like an Inception moment, where I couldn’t tell if this was reality or some blissful dream they’re having as they hurt on the floor in that previous scene. I feel like some foley artist sounds of sirens coming or conversations from the happy future could have grounded it there better.Otherwise, the end to me leaves this feeling of ambiguity, which feels like a cop-out.

I got the feeling they were both dying together and the final scene is them remembering what they planned and now couldn’t have. Agree if it went on, it would have been Beckett dead and Castle moving on, but that show would have sucked. I know I wouldn’t watch without them both together, alive.

I would almost agree with you except for the tag line about the “Seven years later” thing. That made it a flash forward for me.

I thought that, too, but then it was odd that they said “7 years later.” I feel like if it was just a dream, that bit was unnecessary. But there were definitely some things that didn’t add up. I should be sleeping but my mind is still racing!

If you take away the seven year tag that was definitely them thinking about the future they will never have as they die on the floor. Which would have been okay.

What were people expecting? This was pretty much on par for the final season writing wise. Everything about the final season was bad. The episode did the one thing that was necessary which was at least not having me regret having watched Castle.

What in the world were they thinking with this ending? This bait and switch is straight out of a Greys Anatomy type of show. Keep the last few seconds and cut out the crappy shooting. Winter & Hawley can go kick rocks…ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Like others have said season 7 is where I end. Season 8 was an insult to the series and the fans.

Castle’s series finale was disappointing. They obviously intended to come back for S9. They needed to put more thought into a true series finale. Less time with shoot em up scenes and more with the characters. White Collar and Breaking Bad were 2 execellent series finales. Castle was a good show but this ending didn’t do it justice.

In fairness. White Collar knew it was going out and Breaking Bad went out on its own terms. Both situations are significantly different than being in limbo. Without having shot an entirely seperate episode (something that was never going to happen due to costs), this was it was; a finale that wanted to be cliffhanger season finale leading to a reworked show next season.

One theory could be that they both are dead. The flash forward is what their lives might have been if they dated from the start and he didn’t chase her around and work with her. He never gets involved, never figures out her mother’s case and none of it happened like the right hand man said. The voice-over with their first meeting at the beginning of the flash forward. Just a thought.

I thought that they were dead too, when I saw that scene

Well dying, and that scene was a what might have been

What might have been from episode one. Why say 7 years? It’s been on for 7 years so that makes sense. I don’t think it’s seven years from being shot. It’s seven years from their first meeting.

*empty apartment*8years not 7.Castle was supposed to live and Beckett die then Castle does S9.That’s why I believe that was the future.

The show ran from 2009-2016. Seven years. It started in the spring. Season two started fall 2009

Or maybe the entire series (aside from the pilot) was just fiction. They meet cute, flirt, she becomes his muse, he writes a series of books about the two of them solving crimes together…..be noje of it ever really happened.

Definitely possible as well. There is no way they survived and jumped ahead seven years with three kids. It’s their alternative life. If he doesn’t follow her, he never gets her mother’s file, never gets the autopsy pictures analyzed, never shows it to Lanie who then recognizes the wounds on Coogans brother, who then never let’s get know her mother wasn’t just a random act of violence. The initial act of getting her mother’s file in season one set this all off. The flash forward isn’t a flash forward. It’s a what could have been.

Except Castle was going to survive and go on to season 9 so sure they could survive.I believe that was the 7 years later.

We don’t know the alternative ending. For all we know they could have died in the building or been shot there. We’ll have to wait until that gets released or leaked.

7 YEARS LATER…….WE..GOT…OUR..HAPPY…ENDING…..No what might have been, no dream sequence, nothing to over think.. There was an add on that threw us all off but..We got our happy ending…

Jackle – I like your idea. A Newhart-type ending.

So the final shooting actually occurred , or the final scene simply revealed that Beckett was simply Castle’s muse, and the entire thing was just a story he’d written? (Happy healthy family)

I’m very happy. The end seemed rushed, but that’s because it was fit in. I’m guessing/hoping that the ending would have been used whenever the series did end had it not been cancelled. I’m 100% sure they weren’t killing off Kate Beckett. Very happy with the ending, sad that it came to an end.

I’m glad they got a happy ending even if it was slapped on. Still po’d about the direction they’d decided to go.

Disappointing that it has been cancelled. Very few fun, clean and entertaining shows. This is one of the only things I watch. Of course, it would have been stupid to have returned without leading lady.

One more season getting us to the same ending would have been less of a let down.

I agree with the few fun, clean and entertaining Denise!

Terrible ending to a mediocre season. Loved the show up until this year. Guess the studio wanted the fans to be relived it was finally over.

Pathetic –as has been the norm for the last two seasons–Manipulative and cheesy, especially amid the widespread rumors of just how much disdain and dislike there was between the leads. I take no sides, but it was just bad writing overall as it has been for the past two seasons.

So disappointed that Castle was canceled. Watched it from the beginning.

of course some people would’ve community complained if they didn’t tack on the flash forward. I thought it undercut the cliffhanger.

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