Gah! Come on! Really? Did that ending just happen? All of the Castle/Beckett shenanigans all season and Gina (Monet Mazur) comes in and puts the kibosh on the big ending? Gina? Shoot.
I really loved the first 58 minutes of this episode. Both of the cases were great. By both I mean the fake one that featured Mitch Pileggi as secret agent Hans Bremel, and the real one that it actually became. As the original spy plot was being revealed, I was thinking that this is one of the few cop shows that can actually get away with a case as bizarre as this. There is just enough humor in the Castle formula to allow that kind of leeway. Castle’s bumbling attempts at espionage are a perfect example. And when Hans started laying it all out for Castle and Beckett, I was ready with the familiar decleration of best case ever.
But then, when Spy Ventures was revealed, it got even better. Spycations! What a great idea. I was on to Copley (David Starzyk) right away, for the obvious money reason. And then even more convinced when Cannell dropped his line at the poker game about the only three reasons you kill. Love. Money. To cover up a crime. He was right of course, I just had the wrong guy.
So, fun case, but what we really need to talk about is the Castle and Beckett romance. It was all set up so well. You had the authors at the poker game (Stephen J. Cannell, James Patterson, and Michael Connely) pointing out that he wasn’t really there for research. (“Really Ricky, just one book a year?” HA!) Meanwhile, Esposito is laying it all out for Beckett, explaining that the research was done long ago. Even the Captain got in on the game with a little subtext of his own when talking about the case, “All the people involved were too scared to say what they really felt.”
That line led to the scene where Demming walked in and you could just see on Beckett’s face that it was over. Beckett was finally going to jump in with both feet. Weekend in the Hamptons. Etc. Etc. We even had Castle hinting to Alexis that he thought she was going to come around. Happy endings and a summer spent wondering what happens in the fall when we see Castle and Beckett as a couple. Fun!
Then … Gina.
I’m now glad that I never got around to perfecting my design for the WTF? meter, because I fear her entrance would have sent glass flying everywhere. And I don’t wear my safety glasses when I watch TV. Seriously? Gina? Did anyone see that coming? After all of that perfect setup for the happy ending, having the rug yanked out from under you is quite unsettling. So, the obvious question becomes, did you like the ending?
I really didn’t, but I can compartmentalize it to those two minutes. It doesn’t take away from what has been a terrific season. And it did remove the obstacle that was Demming from the equation. I think history tells us that Castle and Gina are not long for this world as a couple, so we can still hold out hope that her stay in the Hamptons is rather brief. And, like Beckett, we can count on seeing Castle again in the fall, where we’ll start this whole thing over again.
Clacked by Brett Love 
on May 17, 2010 @ 23:52 EST5EDT
At first, I was disappointed in the ending. But, I actually think it was very fitting and in the show “Castle” style with twists and turns that you don’t expect.
I’m not sure how much it was a Rick-Gina romance as it was Writer/Agent (or Publisher, not sure which is right). Gina will be there to make sure he gets the book done.
Beckett just waited too long. And, really, why did Gina come to the station? Castle wanted to save face since Beckett had moved on.
Perfect season ending- Castle style!
Since when is Castle a twisty show? I mean, I get the the cases twist, because they have to, but I’ve never felt it was a twisty show.
And I saw it coming a mile away. Constant references to her the entire episode, but not seen? Perfect storm.
Are you sure you are commenting about Castle? Every episode has twists and turns. The cases seem to be headed one way and then another and perhaps even another, before we find out who actually was the perpetrator. That is what makes Castle so great as a procedural. The cases are hilarious and almost impossible to figure out.
See, thats every procedural to me. When it comes down to the ongoing plotlines on the show, I think it’s very straightforward.
Plus, like I said, it felt like there were big road signs to this one all episode long :)
I have to agree with Ivey. Castle _seems_ to be a twisty show but the general setup is _always_ this:
Murder – wrong suspect – (repeat up to three times) – castle’s family (or friends in this case) say something seemingly unrelated (sometimes Beckett’s friends do too and she also has a revelation) – real suspect – conclusion
That’s the formula of the show.
I wondered what you had thought of it.
I agree, 58 great minutes and WTF? Good Spycations (loved Mitch Pelligi when he realized that this was for real and it was a real jail), and I enjoyed seeing the poker game again.
Absolutely hated the ending. All the worst cliches of bad TV shows.
Beckett had already removed Demming from the equation. What the ending proved to me is that Beckett was absolutely right when she thought that Castle was too immature and too much of a man-whore to be relationship material. It doesn’t matter how brief Gina’s stay in the Hamptons is, the real damage to the relationship is Castle’s immaturity. Beckett is now far too mature and for him and far braver than he is.
The sad thing for me is that the writers are good enough that they could have put Castle and Beckett together and the show would have been awesome. This was incredibly lame.
i’m calling it, Kate and Castle get together on ep 10 of next season!
I’ll hold that bet. See you in 8 months.
My bet is a year later :-)
After planning to spend the summer with Gina (someone he’s been fighting with since the pilot) just so he won’t be alone, there isn’t enough grovelling that Castle can do in 10 episodes to prove to me that Beckett should even consider getting together with him ever. Maybe in 10 seasons but she’ll have moved on by then.
The heart of the show was the Castle/Beckett relationship and this just smashed it.
Come on Brett! Beckett loves Castle! We didn’t know that before this episode. She was together with the “other guy” and Esposito hitting her in the face with the proverbial two-by-four was such an indicator that they wouldn’t end up in the Hamptons together this summer. Or better: I so wished they wouldn’t! Because the show got renewed, it needs (HAS!) to go on for a couple more seasons and if they would’ve gone off and had been together for the summer you just KNOW what would’ve happened in the first episode of the next season – total denial, they don’t match, the summer was horrible, she stayed for two weeks and left because she couldn’t take it anymore – that is what’s going to happen now with his Ex. If not now then in a half a season next season.
I mean this is all good and perfect as long as they get together in a natural, fitting way over time. Let’s say at the end of Season 3. Or in the middle of the fourth Season. That was why I was so fed up with “Bones” when the show hit that spot – back then I was grinding my teeth so extremely and that show did it again this year in its sixth (!) season.
I really dug this episode. It was sooooo cute to see Beckett realize that she likes Castle. They both do! Everybody knows it. The whole department does. I can’t wait for an episode round about 2×15 or something when Esposito drops the knowledge bomb on Castle. I expect the whole shebang next season – him returning, kinda happy but with underlying animosities against his former Ex and her showing up at work nagging the whole department with her mere presence… a couple of double entendres here and there like this time… Alexis not getting along with her, Castle’s mother neither… oh it’s going to be so much fun! Can’t wait :-)
I’m so tired of “We can’t do Moonlighting!” By now this last-minute Paolo crap just comes out so badly that nobody cares any more.
There is going to be crossover episode next season between Castle and NCIS. Gibbs is going to fall for Beckett (red hair) and she is going to be wife #4. With the heat on Gibbs, they will slip off to Frank’s place in Mexico.
I’m pretty sure that Castle does something stupid and marries Gina over the summer and that at the end of next season finale Castle and Beckett end up together. I don’t like it. But I think so.
Amazing episode otherwise! Was telling a friend as Castle was playing a spy that I also want to play a spy, and apparently you can!
I was incredibly disappointed in this ending: might partially be because I really dislike Gina. I agree that this series has strong enough writers that they could handle a Beckett Castle relationship really well (without having to resort to the misunderstanding/break up/make up roundabout). Why on earth would Beckett now be willing to consider Castle again? He’s shown himself to be fickle and proved her fears to be correct.
I wanted so much more from this show!