I admit that I have been a Castle fan ever since the first episode premiered on March 9th, 2009 all the way through all 173 episodes (some more than others) up to the finale that has just aired. I liked the premise, a mystery writer (duh) who ends up assisting the NYPD when a fan begins to take the crime scenes from his own thrillers and brings them to life. Granted, that storyline only lasted for the first episode, but it was enough to get the ball rolling and introduce a cast full of engaging, likeable characters. The quick rata-a-tat delivery of dialogue brought back the good ol’ days of His Girl Friday (a personal favorite) and other such Noir detective films with teasing banter like with Bogart and Bacall. Nathan Fillion had finally found a show that appeared to have legs and would allow his charm to shine through the TV screens as so many had seen before on previous shorter-lived projects. And Stana Katic, though not as familiar, appeared to have the perfect combination of sensuality and toughness to hold her own against such an overpowering presence in its title character/actor. I won’t spend too much time mulling over specific characters or plot points here as I would expect anyone actually reading this to already be somewhat familiar with the Castle show (though that could always happen in a future posting).

After the first season I had even attended the Paley festival where they did the group interview with the cast. And had even gone to the Barnes & Noble at the Grove when the first Richard Castle novel was released and met the cast who each signed the book.

There were a few surprises over the years. A few characters we had to say goodbye to over time. A few storylines that were effectively engaging (the 3XK killer worked for me and I actively looked forward to each time that character’s storyline was brought around) while some were simply meh, (LokSat just never hooked me and the big “reveal” at the end had little to no punch for me).

That was why I too was among the many who were surprised (to say the least) when ABC announced that they were not bringing Castle back for a ninth season, even if only for a partial 13-episode season to wrap things up for the viewers. Especially when it was going noticed in the news for the few weeks leading up to the end how much it appeared that ABC was trying to keep most of the cast secured for another season.

Which brings us to the dismal, but “it’s all we’re gonna get so we’ll take it” tacked on final scene of the now series finale. I get that the producers weren’t sure if the finale was going to be a season finale or series finale. And I can appreciate that they at least made that 60 second scene to be on the safe side. It was better than if we were to be given nothing and left with that cliffhanger of an ending. That being said I get why people who are invested in a show like Castle that not only relies so heavily on its two leads but the entire ensemble as well felt somewhat cheated by not having the rest of the cast involved in that final scene. If you’re going to jump ahead 7 years and show your two leads, is it really that hard to have it set at a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner type scene where you can introduce each of the characters so we the viewers can see where they’ve ended up? That being said, like I said before, what we got was better than if we had gotten nothing.

Besides after Murder, She Wrote wrapped up Jessica Fletcher still managed to grace our TV screens with several made for TV mini-movies. One never knows what the future for Richard Castle and Co. just might bring.