8 X 17 EPILOGUE Death Wish

[nathanfan1]

Despite the ominous sounding title of tonight's episode, it promises to be a fun one. In the true tradition of Castle, we have Castle, the fantasy believer and Beckett, the common sense voice of reason. 

Please join in the discussion afterwards.

[motowncf]

This was a fun, classic Castle episode. I enjoyed Castle's playfulness with the whole genie thing, and Kate's reactions.
The case was interesting, with the usual twists and turns. And the final scene was Castle at its best, the team always being there for each other. So happy that Jenny and the baby are okay. And the continuity from "Under Fire", naming Ryan's baby boy after Javier.
Loved the closing scene between Castle and Kate! THAT is the Caskett magic that is the heart of this show. It's just too bad it took 17 episodes for this new team to realize and get back to it. Hopefully the remaining episodes this season will have more of this.

[geezer2008]

IMO, that was the best episode of the year by a mile. We had Rick and Kate in love and at their best, a fun case, and wonderful humor. We had the wonderful bonus of a new baby for the Ryans. Sigh, where has this magic been all year?? I REALLY loved it and will rewatch an epi for only the 2nd time this year. Y E S!!!

[castlecrazee]

My show is back!

[nathanfan1]

This one passed the 'Rewatch Test' with flying colors! I can't wait to enjoy it again and that's been a VERY rare feeling this season. Classic Castle at its best! I guess "better late than never is appropriate" but it still makes my blood boil that we were robbed of an entertaining season 8 for so long. They could have been doing this kind of show every week. 

As they've done with other fantasy oriented episodes, they did a good job IMO of playing with the question of believability. There were some things that made you wonder but they always came back to having a reasonable explanation. Castle was able to show off his child-like enthusiasm but never looked like a fool. He took a good bit of teasing but it was funny and didn't seem to be mean spirited. The Barbara Eden promo picture from I Dream Of Jeannie was a hoot and Kate's eye rolls and under-her-breath mutterings were also delightful. I did love it when she asked the boys to give Castle the first rub if they found the lamp. She does understand Castle! Testing the carpet samples for 'flyers' was one of those quiet, physical comedy moments that I LOVE on this show!

One thing I also wanted to mention was the timeliness of this whole topic. I thought it was a great story line for today's world. How many times in the past couple of years have we seen terrorists destroying the treasure of an enemy culture? I appreciated the underlying purpose of what was done and how Mr X let the team know that the outcome had been good.

Can't say enough good about the Caskett scenes!!!!!!! About darn time we see a happily married, playful couple! I had mixed feelings about the first loft scene and Martha interrupting, but Martha is such a great distraction and is so totally unfiltered in what she says, that I could hardly stay mad about her.   Later, we did get the second loft scene and it was not interrupted so I was happy about that. It is SOOOOO good to see Kate happy and enjoying her married life! Oh how I wish LokSat never existed!

Two nice bits of continuity were the mention of Martha's book again and using Castle's well versed literature background to summarize the Arabian Nights story and the existence of the lamp. For any viewers who didn't know it, they created a nice frame of reference.

I must say that I was shocked when they threw in the complication with Jenny delivering the baby. I figured that since Sarah Grace arrived under tough circumstances that this second one would be easy-peasy. The drama that it created was a wonderful opportunity to showcase the closeness of the team members and they all acted the heck out of it. I had tears in my eyes. One of the sweetest moments IMO was when Kate asked Castle to use his last 2 wishes for Jenny and the baby and he already had. It spoke volumes to me of how close those 2 are. Loved that Nickolas will have a Latino middle name as a testament to the fantastic partner Ryan has. That was a nice nod back to Under Fire. On a side note, I know that Jon and Seamus are very close friends in real life too. Wouldn't it be awesome if, someday, one of them named a kid after the other? Speaking of them in real life, there was also a mention of the singing duo that Jon and Seamus have formed. They call themselves Shay-Jean and I believe Ryan mentioned them being successful when he was fantasizing about his 3 wishes. Again, classic Castle to mix real life into the show!

I saved the best for last! That final Caskett scene at the hospital is another one for the ages! I'd liken it to them dancing at their prom and Castle telling Kate he's thankful for everything that led him to her. An awwwwwww moment for sure and one that will undoubtedly be one of my most treasured as I look back on the series as a whole. When I see Nathan and Stana given material like that and the earlier scenes in this episode, I KNOW that they haven't lost a beat in the chemistry department! The love eyeballs were there and the passion in their kisses was too. What a moving ending!

Nothing like a great episode to make you yearn for a season 9!!!!!!!!!!!

[castlelover66]

This episode was awesome! It was so classic Castle - opening scene in the loft with Caskett and interruption by Martha, a case involving the supernatural which causes Castle's inner child to come out, crazy theories, Caskett at home in the evening, the team working together at the precinct, great one-liners, the team together to support Ryan and Jenny, a sweet romantic Caskett moment. It IS possible to write a happily married couple on this show. Kudos to the new writer, Stephanie Hicks! May she write many more!

[cxq319]

This episode conjures days of old. Such a terrific surprise for a season that was sorely lacking Castle-like cases or characters. Congrats to Stephanie Hicks for capturing the Castle spirit!

[tycho657]

Interesting that the last two episodes that we have loved are by new writers. Amazing that the new people have captured the Castle we have loved and wanted all season. It will be interesting to see if the ratings are up again for this episode.
They should be filming the last day of episode 822 today. If they can continue with this classic Castle writing I hope we see a season 9.
It was nice to LOL again while watching live. We have been waiting to watch later but last night we watched live with the commercials. I was looking forward to Monday again.

[ddcnj]

I'd actually forgotten that the Ryans were expecting another child. Glad everything turned out OK.

When they found the body in the carpet, one of them said something like of course or not again, don't remember exactly; nice call back to that early episode when there was a vic wrapped in a carpet.

I did find it a bit hard to believe that Ryan, Espo and Lanie all didn't know anything about 1001 Arabian Nights.

[angie1379]

If I'm being totally honest, and if this were any other season, I would have some gripes about the plausibility of the case, the murderer, and Castle coming a little too close to playing the fool for my liking. But given the unbelievable heart of this episode and the long, long, long wait to enjoy consecutive weeks of this wonderful team and adorable couple doing what they do best, I don't have it in me to criticize too harshly. The love was just everywhere, and the teamwork and banter and love-eyeballs and sexy times and kisses and heartfelt declarations and, and, and ... Sigh ...

So yeah, I'm as happy a camper as the rest of you today.

I wish we'd gotten to see Jenny -- and I hope we get to see her and the babies at some point, but the added drama was both unexpected and so very touching. It really gave the cast a chance to shine in the closing minutes of the episode.

I can't wait to rewatch!

[fantasynovelreader]

A truly fun episode A good mix of everything I love about this show: Caskett, everyone working together, the humor, the drama, Castle's fanciful theories. Loved his testing the rugs to see if any were magic carpets.

[lindy]

Agree with everyone's comments here. A great mix of drama, humor, love. I have to say, when Castle opened the file, and Barbara Eden's Jeannie popped out, that was hilarious! If there is a season 9, this writer needs to write the majority of the eps!

[castlefan8]

My only gripe about this episode is that they continue to make Castle the fool. While he always had wild ideas, he never truly believed these crazy things whole heartedly...until this episode, and it made him look silly. Par for the course S8. Gosh I miss smart Castle.
Everything else i really enjoyed. No Hayley, core 4, Caskett. That makes me happy.
As for ratings, lets hope ABC and TPTB realize they are getting better because Caskett is back on track and the original 4 are working together (for the most part) again.

[glo1196]

Almost like the old days! Loved the episode...didn't want it to end, and will definitely be rewatched!