Castle: "Always"

[icepixie]

I think I am actually mad enough to spit nails right now. Anyone have a home improvement project they need a nail gun for? Because I am at your service.

Castle spills his secret with a little, "I was just trying to keep you saaaaaafe!" and Beckett is the one who comes to his door later and apologizes? SERIOUSLY? I couldn't enjoy the poorly-lit (this entire episode was poorly-lit) making out after that, I was so outraged. Just...really? Both of them should've apologized for acting like children and being unable to have a conversation this entire season, but Castle especially. Did he really on just now realize the pressure Beckett had been living under for a year because he didn't tell her she was safe as long as she didn't investigate the case?

Also, she really doesn't ever need to work for the police again after this. Stupid decision after stupid decision after stupid decision. Maybe Gates will do us all a favor and insist the resignation stays, so she and Esposito can open up a private investigation agency, with Castle as occasional investigative help and Ryan as their friend on the force. Because I would watch that show very happily. Next year...I will probably watch to see how they fuck up handle the ensuing Castle/Beckett relationship, but more endless Johanna Beckett conspiracy stuff does not excite me in the least.

The greatest tragedy of this episode: CRIMINAL UNDERUSE OF TAMOH PENIKETT. If you have Helo on your show, you should give him more than five lines!

Comments

[lydiabell]

I was mostly happy with the finale, but I'm pretty grossed out by the realization that this tendency of Castle to make decisions for people "for their own good" is never going to really be addressed. Now, maybe I'm wrong and 5x01 will feature a strong case for why he should have been up front with her, but I'm worried it'll be left at, "well, he did it for a good reason, so it's OK." No it isn't! She's a fucking adult! "It was wrong, but he did it because he couldn't bear losing her," I could live with. But ... I don't know, they did have Beckett yell at him about not treating her like a child, but I really feel like the show was on Castle's side in that argument. Like he was actually right, not just understandable.

Now, oddly, I'm not mad at Ryan for making the decision to go to Gates. Maybe I should be, because it was kind of the same thing -- he overrode Beckett's decision in order to keep her safe. But on the other hand, she is supposed to be a cop, and she was making terrible, terrible decisions from a professional standpoint.

The thing that kills me about all the stupid secret-keeping this year is that absolutely none of it was necessary to set up this payoff. Zero. It still wouldn't have been good even if it had been necessary, but at least I would understand why they made those writing choices. As it is, all the shit that made me mad about this season was pointless, because you could have had all the good stuff about this episode without it.

Edit: also, I have some hope that maybe they will wrap up the JB conspiracy, because now it seems that taking down the conspirators will be the only way for Beckett to be safe. Also, because once you've had your character decide that staying alive and being happy and in love mean more to her than her quest (which I am fine with, for the record -- if I were killed, that's what I'd want for my kid), you might as well take the quest off the narrative table, so to speak.