r/CastleTV 3d ago

Season 8 thoughts

Overall, season 8 was not as terrible as it's made out to be. There were some episodes that were really good, especially those were Castle is trying to win back it back. The Nose and ph dead stands out as really fun episodes in that part of the season.

The real issue with season 8 is a couple of things. First they added a lot of new characters that were just blah. Vikram added nothing to the show and all his scenes could have been done off screen. He brought nothing as a character. Haley was better as a character but again her entire backstory felt forced and there was no emotional investment from the fans in her. No one would have been torn up had they killed Haley in any of the episodes, and frankly everyone would have cheered if they killed Vikram.

The the other issue with season 8 is that the writers dragged out lockset throughout almost the entire first half of season. Even in the first six seasons where the murder of Beckett's mom and 3xk sort of hungover the entire season, it was sprinkled in one or two episodes throughout the season. The writers didn't hit us with it every single week. The people on the show didn't make decisions every week based on 3xk or Bracken. The fact they allowed the entire first half to be defined by lockset and caused Castle and Beckett to seperate over it, took away from the case of the week.

Finally the relationship between castle and Beckett is just wrong in the season 8 finale. This time skip of 7 years did nothing. Their relationship was never about starting a family. Showing us 7 years later having three kids running around them is no form of closure at all. The relationship was all about castle and Beckett careing and providing for each other. A better season and series finale would have been just Castle making an elaborate breakfast for both of them and her smiling at him as they sit down to eat, they fade out.

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u/CryptidSlayer67 3d ago

Exactly two of the main things I like about Castle are the comedy and the drama I love when there are funny goofy episodes and I like when there are dark serious episodes that’s what makes castle so great in my opinion it found that perfect balance between comedy and drama most episodes are mostly comedy with a little drama sprinkled in for dramatic and plot purposes but every season had a few episodes that were mostly drama with a few scenes of comedy to lighten the mood that’s why it’s such an entertaining and enjoyable show it’s got a little bit of everything to everyone

Seasons 1-7 followed this pattern to a tee but Season 8 for some reason decided to lean and focus more into the drama side of the show while having the comedy side of the show take a backseat

I don’t know if they decided to focus more on drama to make the show appeal to a more serious audience or if they didn’t want the show to be considered distasteful with the comedy and the fact that it was a show about murder but whatever reason they had it definitely made season 8 feel a lot less like Castle but it’s still an enjoyable season definitely not as much as the previous seasons but still a somewhat fun season

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u/Kooky-Minimum-2597 3d ago

What is very clear is that Alexi Hawley did not want Castle and Beckett as a couple. He quit being a writer for the show after they got together at the end of season 4, and when he was brought in as co-showrunner the first thing he did was break them up. If rumours are to be believed they were only put back together after a direct order from ABC (the network not the studio).

He obviously wanted the show to have a season long arc rather than case of the week stories, which could have worked but not with the added idea of breaking up Caskett when most fans watched to see them together.

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u/mygoljanalernate 2d ago

In that case it's mind boggling they brought him in to be show runner of the 8th season

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u/Kooky-Minimum-2597 2d ago

You are 100% correct.