Castle 5.24 (Season Finale)
Oh. My. God. You Guys. What. Just. Happened.
Its been almost a day since I've seen it, and I'm still in shock!
Before we get to those last 20 seconds of the ep...let's take a step back and cover what makes a great season finale. To me, the greatest season finales (and even mid-season plot twists) are the ones that leave me sitting (though more often standing) going "oh shit! OH SHIT! OH SHIT!!!" at progressively louder intervals because it's literally the only thing I can say. I love moments that absolutely shock you. Granted, not so much if someone is put in mortal peril (Castle Season 3, I'm looking at you), but still, I love being surprised by shows. Last years finale was phenomenal - there is no argument about that - but I can't say i was SHOCKED...that was sort of the inevitable climax (no pun intended). Season 5 finale...well, let's break it down:
Kate going to DC without telling Castle was bad. No way around that. When he found the ticket stub and reacted the way he did, he was totally justified. When that guy mentioned the job to her, it was understandable why Kate didn't tell Castle right away -- she was still thinking it through -- but the moment she made the decision to go to the interview, she should have told him. Now, Castle overreacted a bit, because DC is relatively close to NYC - its not like a diff country - so her getting a job in DC did not categorically mean the end of their relationship (plus, hello? Rick! you dummy! writers can write ANYWHERE... but i digress...)
Loved the Kate/Laney, Kate/Her Dad, Rick/Martha conversations (though, I did want to slap Martha for telling Rick she thought he thought maybe he & Kate wouldnt work out in the long run). Loved Kate's dad calling her out for bailing on relationships and pointing out that this is the furthest she's ever got in a relationship.
And then...we were in the park. At the swings. And, okay, as soon as I saw the scene where Castle gave Alexis the check and he was all glum i KNEW they wouldn't break up. Why? Because thats what they were making you think, so it was too obvious. I thought either Kate would say she wanted Rick to come with her/to try long distance bc she wanted to get more serious OR Rick would say he wanted her to stay so they could get more serious...or something along those lines. I NEVER. EVER. EVER. EVER expected him to propose!!!!!!
And if I'm being honest guys, I'm a little disappointed. I mean, dont get me wrong, my little shipper heart was doing a happy dance last night, but really? This is the proposal playful, silly, writer-boy Richard Castle is going to give to Kate Beckett, his muse, his best friend, the woman he's loved for five years? Stone faced and stoic without any colorful speech? Nope. Sorry. Proposal fail. And the crazy part is that time and time again Nathan Fillion has NAILED emotional scenes like this and yet this was nothing... which means it was probably written that way, which begs the question: why?
The proposal itself seems to make sense coming from Castle. He's kind of impulsive and emotional. He's obviously no stranger to marriage and Martha probably scared him into it a little bit. Right or wrong, he believes this was the way to show her he's in it for the long haul. It was just HOW he did it that bothered me... Maybe they wanted to keep us guessing til the end (bc I really did think he was going to break up with her as soon as he said he wanted more) and yes he was probably scared she was going to leave anyway, but his lack of emotion bothers me. Well, that and Beckett's middle name is Hougton?? WHAT?
As far as Kate's side of things - we dont even need to discuss this - she was clearly blind sighted and scared shitless by what he did, but before he was an idiot and proposed to her out of the blue, I believe Kate was going to tell him that she was going to stay.
So what's going to happen in the fall? Thats an excellent question; we have no idea. What do I think will happen...well, i guess I should say what would i LIKE to happen. I would like her to not say no to the proposal but not say yes either. Saying no would be too cruel, but yes almost seems out of character. They need to figure more stuff out and then maybe my midseason we can get a nice romantic proposal from Castle!
This being said..... I may need to fic this... I've written fics for the last 2 castle season finales, I think that means i almost have to write one for this finale ;)