Castle Season 2 Finale: Thoughts from the Bunker of Rationality

[ninja_lurker]

*peers out from the Bunker of Rationality, which is reinforced against nuclear strikes/rabid fans*

I had some thoughts about the season 2 finale and I wanted to discuss it with sane people. Are you guys out there? :-)   Had a ridiculous amount of thoughts, actually. Aside from "Stana Katic broke my heart with her acting skillz"-I think we can all

Comments

[missymeggins]

You know, I think the thing about Castle is that although he's a writer and he is good at reading people, with Beckett I think he's not always quite sure. They've gotten so comfortable in the banter that I think it throws him off sometimes. He thinks, it's all just banter and that she would never take him seriously. And one of the few times she has seriously acknowledged their friendship - the pigtails comment - it was still a small moment. I mean, to the viewers it was huge, but realistically, all she said was that she'd gotten used to having him around and that he was an asset on cases. It wasn't exactly a huge confession you know? So when she started to tell him that she'd enjoyed working with the past year, I can understand him being hesitant to assume that she was about to tell him something significant. And he wasn't about to lay his heart on the line while he still thought she was with Demming. Yes, he should have read the signs better but I can understand why he didn't

[december21st]

"I'm reserving judgement til I see how they approach it."

Waaaaaay more people need to have this attitude.

[ninja_lurker]

It's true, she hasn't really had a serious talk with him, but the expression on her face before and after Gina arrived ... for someone who people-watches as a regular habit (and partly as a profession, and who has made a particular study of her in particular), Castle sure missed something big. On the other hand, it's quite possible that he was choosing not to look too closely at her for the time being, wanting to pull back after she told him she was definitely with Demming. I don't know...

I agree that next season needs to be about more than rebuilding their friendship. Both of them need to admit that they have serious feelings for each other beyond physical attraction. That doesn't need to lead into a relationship right off the bat. I want to see them dealing with the ramifications.

[december21st]

I also am somewhat analysis fatigued, but for my new friend :) ...

And, like you, focusing on comments not directly related to the finale:
" ...it felt like something has missing lately (I don't just mean during the Demming arc; it's been the whole second half of the season after the two-parter)."I, too, thought that "Wrapped Up in Death" and "The Late Shaft" were particularly weak episodes. Especially "Wrapped Up in Death"; with Castle being "cursed", it bordered on farce, and I don't enjoy that. In fact, I have to wonder if these two were filler episodes created solely to bring the episode count up from 22 to 24

[ninja_lurker]

I wonder how this season would have ended if the network hadn't ordered more episodes. IIRC, they got the news right after the two-parter; I'm not sure how far ahead they were in production. I wouldn't be surprised if "Wrapped Up in Death" and "The Late Shaft" were written last-minute. Agreed about the farce comment; that episode would have been much funnier if the writing hadn't been trying so hard.

Bunker of Rationality?

[gilmoradict]

How much room is there in that bunker

Re: Bunker of Rationality?

[ninja_lurker]

Plenty of room! Come on in. :-)

I can't fault Stana for anything, even for "Wrapped Up in Death"; she had to play what was written. She's really grown into her character. As for Nathan, I wondered about his understanding of Castle's nature not so much in his involvement with Ellie, although that was eyeroll-worthy and I thought Beckett handled it well; it was when he acted that goodbye scene with Ellie. I read a lot of divided analysis by fans over that one. Even adding a subtle undertone of ruefulness or pain would have elevated my opinion of Castle, and that would have informed the later arc of Castle's rivalry with Demming (which I thought Nathan played quite well; I've no complaints there).

Agreed about the writers setting up conflict for next season. I am looking forward to season 3 and for the most part I trust the writers. Think they got fatigued in these last few eps-going from a 13-episode season to a 22-ep and then a 24-ep season must be tiring.