End of Castle round up
Jun. 20th, 2016 09:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedi_of_urthI actually finished these up a week or two ago, but then I ended up diving into Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and forgot to post about the end of Castle. But here was what I was thinking as I finished off this series.
Castle 8x18
It’s a little weird doing these now that the show has been canceled, and considering the kerfuffle leading up to it, we’re unlikely to see the story continued down the road. That’s fine since we had eight seasons worth of show, and last season really should have been the end, and I was expecting them to move on. But it means judging these last few episodes is going to be a different matter since I know we’re on the series’ final legs. Mostly I’m going to be commenting on Haley this time around for obvious reasons. I’m glad we did get an episode really focused on Haley, and it was probably the right time for it in time-into-season measurement; in time-from-end measurement, it’s a little awkward for the same reason; we needed to build a relationship with Haley the character over the course of the season to offset some of the Scrappy-ness of her presence before giving an episode of to her to carry, I can’t decide if I ship Alexis/Haley or if I see it as sisterly thing, but I really like how non-sexual her relationship with Castle is; she’s just part of the family, she’s basically the same as Ryan and Espo, and that’s good to see. As for the plot of the episode, part of me thinks it could have worked better if we hadn’t seen things from Haley’s perspective so we might actually wonder about her, but that wasn’t the point of the episode, this is Haley’s ‘Probably Cause’ (which even got a veiled references when discussing fingerprint contamination) except because it’s Haley they can play in the realm of spy stuff. I did pretty quickly figure out who was behind things once her supposedly dead partner was mentioned, though I figured it would be more of a grudge thing instead of retirement planning.
Castle 8x19
This was not a well-constructed episode. The A plot was way too comedic on its own and even more so when paired with the B plot. I am glad to get movement on the B plot since they really need to finish that off obviously (I’m expecting it will happen since even before the cancellation they seemed to know things were going to change if they went on), and I’m even fine with getting that movement in episodes where it isn’t connected with the plot of the week, so that’s not a huge complaint. The fact that the A plot mostly sucked is the main complaint, and it stood out all the more since it had pulled the ongoing plot into its orbit. I liked that we got a decent amount of Lanie in this one, and think she and inspector man have decent chemistry if they end up going that way. But inspector man took a long time to become a decent character instead of just a comedic oddball. I saw pretty much all the twists coming in at least an ‘I won’t be surprised if that happens’ way, including that Caste’s incredibly dickish behavior towards inspector man was going to get inspector man killed except that the episode would be too comedic to end on a downer. I guess the reason for the combination of plots here is that Kate is an actual superhero as opposed to inspector lucky man, but that just reminds me that they were going to try and do the show without Kate and how much that would never have worked.
Castle 8x20
I can’t say that I particularly liked that episode either, it wasn’t as bad as the previous one but it wasn’t very good either. Castle getting kidnapped this time reminded me that just a few episodes Alexis was commenting on how often he gets kidnapped; also that there was never any real tension in this one, though I think that may have more to do with how often it’s happened at this point and the only times it really hurts is when it’s connected to a bigger plot than this one; this was more ‘Castle’s been kidnapped, must be Monday.’ It really was time for the show to go wasn’t it? I’m not sure they’ve even been writing Castle and Beckett’s relationship very well, it’s like they’re so afraid of a Moonlighting curse that they’ve forgotten it is okay just to write them as actual partners rather than making a big production out of their relationship. Which is thrown into contrast with the Ryan family here; the comedy wasn’t necessarily to my taste but it was very much about the characters being where they are in life instead of the weirdness of Castle and Beckett the last few episodes.
Castle 8x21
I didn’t really like this episode as a general episode, and as a penultimate one it’s a real letdown. I thought the writing was bad, the directing poor, and the acting lousy. Castle has become really unlikable at some point in all this, his eccentricities are not charming anymore they’re just dickish and dumb. So many of the plot points here had been done before on the show and basically always better (which isn’t to say they were ever my favorite episodes), and this episode didn’t do what it might have done and let other characters get some of the spotlight in the eccentric episode, like say letting the good Catholic boy Ryan be the one in the know about stuff going on here. I can’t decide if it was brilliant casting or not on...you know I’ve already forgotten his name, I was always calling him Eddie, but that was probably one of the better acting jobs of the episode since he was walking a nice line between being actually that good and noble and awesome, and maybe having something darker in the long term efforts going on; but it was good to see the actor again. I think maybe as a penultimate episode it would have been better if say it had been a follow up on the time travel related episode from a few years back; it would have still allowed them to be quirky and Castle would probably still be kind of dick about it, but it would have served a lot more purpose and reminded us that life will go on for the characters after the show ends.
Castle 8x22
Well...it wasn’t a bad episode, but I can’t shake the feeling it should have been a lot better. I’m pretty sure it was supposed to end of a cliffhanger with both of them bleeding out on the floor and then they added in the epilog just to give it some kind of ending. Although it might have been a more thoughtful cliffhanger with Castle thinking ‘hey wait, why not burn him in the basement,’ because Caleb’s reappearance seems really out of left field and doesn’t make a lot of sense. A lot of the episode kind of feels at war with itself between the elements that work and those that feel like they were pulled out the writers’ asses to rush to a conclusion. It’s also some serious whiplash going straight from the previous episode into this one. And for the first time all season, I feel like most of the actors are checked out; they may have been coasting at times this season, but this feels like they were just done with things (even though I don’t know that they had been canceled when this would have been filmed). Fillion in particular felt like he was giving several levels less than his all, especially during the interrogation scene where I needed a lot more oomph in the performance. It definitely had moments when I was very invested in what was happening, and it wasn’t a terrible note to go out on, but there were better.
So I think for me I’m going to consider Castle as having ended after season 7, that finale seemed designed to be a series final so there’s not much problem in doing so. I won’t say s8 was a total failure, there were definitely episodes I liked, and the overall plot was a good enough idea sometimes executed well. I liked the new characters introduced in s8 as well as the expanded role for Alexis; one would miss getting the further explanation of what happened to Castle when he went missing; and there were good ideas at times throughout the season. All along I would probably have said it was unnecessary considering that s7 wrapped basically everything up, but I wasn’t regretting that there was a s8. The season had so many elements that I was willing to like and get behind, but so little of it actually worked for me as it happened. I was willing to go along with the separation plot considering it was part of/a consequence of a bigger arc plot, it wasn’t even that badly handled at first; but when they got back together openly and no one commented on it, that was when I felt cheated. And that kind of coincided with the point I felt the show started limping towards the end; basically around/shortly after the LA episode (which is sort of weird considering I ended up giving that episode a positive review in spite of itself because the elements of the arc plot were enough to forgive the terrible GDS plot). So yes, saying the show ended after s7 is in danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, because there are good bits on s8, but the s7 finale was an ending that I’m happy with and trying to pick and choose a good cut on s8 isn’t something I care to do, especially since I don’t think it would include the ending and it needs an ending. S8 is a really highly produced post-series-fanfic where I can say it had good ideas but didn’t live up to the show itself.
But if they do ever want to do some follow up, I would take an Alexis and Haley spinoff (lesbianism optional). Maybe some sort of Leverage series (note I have never seen Leverage). They could bring Vicrum too, since they’ll probably need a tech. They’ve all got enough reasons to mistrust governments at this point so maybe they’re trying to uncover various misdeeds done by the people in power. Come on, leave this procedural cage behind and go bigger, the show always seemed to want to do that but they kept pushing it back into the more episodic box, change it up and try something new. ...And now I’m kind of making myself sad that it won’t happen, it would be more than enough reason to reconsider s8 as canon.
Castle 8x18
It’s a little weird doing these now that the show has been canceled, and considering the kerfuffle leading up to it, we’re unlikely to see the story continued down the road. That’s fine since we had eight seasons worth of show, and last season really should have been the end, and I was expecting them to move on. But it means judging these last few episodes is going to be a different matter since I know we’re on the series’ final legs. Mostly I’m going to be commenting on Haley this time around for obvious reasons. I’m glad we did get an episode really focused on Haley, and it was probably the right time for it in time-into-season measurement; in time-from-end measurement, it’s a little awkward for the same reason; we needed to build a relationship with Haley the character over the course of the season to offset some of the Scrappy-ness of her presence before giving an episode of to her to carry, I can’t decide if I ship Alexis/Haley or if I see it as sisterly thing, but I really like how non-sexual her relationship with Castle is; she’s just part of the family, she’s basically the same as Ryan and Espo, and that’s good to see. As for the plot of the episode, part of me thinks it could have worked better if we hadn’t seen things from Haley’s perspective so we might actually wonder about her, but that wasn’t the point of the episode, this is Haley’s ‘Probably Cause’ (which even got a veiled references when discussing fingerprint contamination) except because it’s Haley they can play in the realm of spy stuff. I did pretty quickly figure out who was behind things once her supposedly dead partner was mentioned, though I figured it would be more of a grudge thing instead of retirement planning.
Castle 8x19
This was not a well-constructed episode. The A plot was way too comedic on its own and even more so when paired with the B plot. I am glad to get movement on the B plot since they really need to finish that off obviously (I’m expecting it will happen since even before the cancellation they seemed to know things were going to change if they went on), and I’m even fine with getting that movement in episodes where it isn’t connected with the plot of the week, so that’s not a huge complaint. The fact that the A plot mostly sucked is the main complaint, and it stood out all the more since it had pulled the ongoing plot into its orbit. I liked that we got a decent amount of Lanie in this one, and think she and inspector man have decent chemistry if they end up going that way. But inspector man took a long time to become a decent character instead of just a comedic oddball. I saw pretty much all the twists coming in at least an ‘I won’t be surprised if that happens’ way, including that Caste’s incredibly dickish behavior towards inspector man was going to get inspector man killed except that the episode would be too comedic to end on a downer. I guess the reason for the combination of plots here is that Kate is an actual superhero as opposed to inspector lucky man, but that just reminds me that they were going to try and do the show without Kate and how much that would never have worked.
Castle 8x20
I can’t say that I particularly liked that episode either, it wasn’t as bad as the previous one but it wasn’t very good either. Castle getting kidnapped this time reminded me that just a few episodes Alexis was commenting on how often he gets kidnapped; also that there was never any real tension in this one, though I think that may have more to do with how often it’s happened at this point and the only times it really hurts is when it’s connected to a bigger plot than this one; this was more ‘Castle’s been kidnapped, must be Monday.’ It really was time for the show to go wasn’t it? I’m not sure they’ve even been writing Castle and Beckett’s relationship very well, it’s like they’re so afraid of a Moonlighting curse that they’ve forgotten it is okay just to write them as actual partners rather than making a big production out of their relationship. Which is thrown into contrast with the Ryan family here; the comedy wasn’t necessarily to my taste but it was very much about the characters being where they are in life instead of the weirdness of Castle and Beckett the last few episodes.
Castle 8x21
I didn’t really like this episode as a general episode, and as a penultimate one it’s a real letdown. I thought the writing was bad, the directing poor, and the acting lousy. Castle has become really unlikable at some point in all this, his eccentricities are not charming anymore they’re just dickish and dumb. So many of the plot points here had been done before on the show and basically always better (which isn’t to say they were ever my favorite episodes), and this episode didn’t do what it might have done and let other characters get some of the spotlight in the eccentric episode, like say letting the good Catholic boy Ryan be the one in the know about stuff going on here. I can’t decide if it was brilliant casting or not on...you know I’ve already forgotten his name, I was always calling him Eddie, but that was probably one of the better acting jobs of the episode since he was walking a nice line between being actually that good and noble and awesome, and maybe having something darker in the long term efforts going on; but it was good to see the actor again. I think maybe as a penultimate episode it would have been better if say it had been a follow up on the time travel related episode from a few years back; it would have still allowed them to be quirky and Castle would probably still be kind of dick about it, but it would have served a lot more purpose and reminded us that life will go on for the characters after the show ends.
Castle 8x22
Well...it wasn’t a bad episode, but I can’t shake the feeling it should have been a lot better. I’m pretty sure it was supposed to end of a cliffhanger with both of them bleeding out on the floor and then they added in the epilog just to give it some kind of ending. Although it might have been a more thoughtful cliffhanger with Castle thinking ‘hey wait, why not burn him in the basement,’ because Caleb’s reappearance seems really out of left field and doesn’t make a lot of sense. A lot of the episode kind of feels at war with itself between the elements that work and those that feel like they were pulled out the writers’ asses to rush to a conclusion. It’s also some serious whiplash going straight from the previous episode into this one. And for the first time all season, I feel like most of the actors are checked out; they may have been coasting at times this season, but this feels like they were just done with things (even though I don’t know that they had been canceled when this would have been filmed). Fillion in particular felt like he was giving several levels less than his all, especially during the interrogation scene where I needed a lot more oomph in the performance. It definitely had moments when I was very invested in what was happening, and it wasn’t a terrible note to go out on, but there were better.
So I think for me I’m going to consider Castle as having ended after season 7, that finale seemed designed to be a series final so there’s not much problem in doing so. I won’t say s8 was a total failure, there were definitely episodes I liked, and the overall plot was a good enough idea sometimes executed well. I liked the new characters introduced in s8 as well as the expanded role for Alexis; one would miss getting the further explanation of what happened to Castle when he went missing; and there were good ideas at times throughout the season. All along I would probably have said it was unnecessary considering that s7 wrapped basically everything up, but I wasn’t regretting that there was a s8. The season had so many elements that I was willing to like and get behind, but so little of it actually worked for me as it happened. I was willing to go along with the separation plot considering it was part of/a consequence of a bigger arc plot, it wasn’t even that badly handled at first; but when they got back together openly and no one commented on it, that was when I felt cheated. And that kind of coincided with the point I felt the show started limping towards the end; basically around/shortly after the LA episode (which is sort of weird considering I ended up giving that episode a positive review in spite of itself because the elements of the arc plot were enough to forgive the terrible GDS plot). So yes, saying the show ended after s7 is in danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, because there are good bits on s8, but the s7 finale was an ending that I’m happy with and trying to pick and choose a good cut on s8 isn’t something I care to do, especially since I don’t think it would include the ending and it needs an ending. S8 is a really highly produced post-series-fanfic where I can say it had good ideas but didn’t live up to the show itself.
But if they do ever want to do some follow up, I would take an Alexis and Haley spinoff (lesbianism optional). Maybe some sort of Leverage series (note I have never seen Leverage). They could bring Vicrum too, since they’ll probably need a tech. They’ve all got enough reasons to mistrust governments at this point so maybe they’re trying to uncover various misdeeds done by the people in power. Come on, leave this procedural cage behind and go bigger, the show always seemed to want to do that but they kept pushing it back into the more episodic box, change it up and try something new. ...And now I’m kind of making myself sad that it won’t happen, it would be more than enough reason to reconsider s8 as canon.
