It seems that the showrunners of the American crime drama TV series “Castle” on ABC will now be laying everything on the line when the show returns for its second half of Season 8 on February 1.
Apparently, it will go into a never-been-explored territory of courtroom trial in one of the episodes of the second half, reveals Alexi Hawley, co-showrunner of “Castle.”
The trial, as expected, will be from one of the many murder cases that were handled by Kate Beckett, played by Stana Katic, Rick Castle, played by Nathan Fillion, and company, notes TV Line.
In a recent interview, Hawley said that for the first time ever in the nearly eight years of “Castle,” the TV show will go into a courtroom and see a trial based on a murder case.
Although the murder case is not something that have been seen by the viewers on-screen, the testimony of Rick Castle will take viewers to a trip down memory lane.
Co-showrunner Terence Paul Winter said that it shall be a treat to the long-time fans of “Castle” because the case will deal about several things that have happened in the TV series in the last few years. It is expected that the episode shall be peppered with flashback scenes from episodes of the past seasons.
The show creators hinted that Castle delivering his testimony would be very interesting because it would apparently go sideways and that there will be some scrambling to do some form of damage control, explaining it with a hearty laugh which means that it is going to be funny.
Rick’s missing time
The second half of Season 8 of “Castle” shall also focus on Castle’s missing time during the past season.
It was actually Winter who confirmed that they will conclude the Castle going missing story arc in one or two episodes of the second half of Season 8, notes Enstarz.
It can be recalled that Rick has gone missing right before he was to get married to Becket during the Season 6 finale. While some time was devoted to where he went during Season 7, the show never fully explained exactly who was behind his disappearance.
As a way also of giving in to fans’ requests, Rick and Kate will be making up for lost time in the bedroom during the second half of Season 8, confirms Alexi Hawley.
In addition to those plotlines, two new important characters shall be coming along to the show including Vasily Zhirov, to be played by Nick E. Tarabay. Zhirov is a Russian Diplomatic Security Service agent.
There is also Ellen Woglorn who shall take viewers to the police academy where Beckett was a star before she became a cop. Woglorn’s character is essentially a mentor to Beckett.
Show’s last hurrah?
It seems that the mistake that showrunners Alexi Hawley and Terence Paul Winter made on at least five episodes during the first half of Season 8 of “Castle” is haunting the TV series.
Despite their obvious attempt to redeem themselves from the miscue of separating show protagonists Kate Beckett and Rick Castle, one episode after tying the knot during the Season 8 premiere, it seems that the rating decline can no longer be undone.
As such, reports now have it that the current Season 8 of “Castle” is going to be the show’s last on the ABC network.
In a recent interview, Hawley and Winter hinted that the future does not look good for “Castle” so it is very unlikely for the show to be renewed for Season 9.
As for the fallback plans of the producers in the event that ABC do cancel the show after Season 8, Hawley revealed that network executives normally do not make that decision until very late.
The ep’s do not yet understand that they need to get back to the “case a week” “roots” episodes as fast as possible. They need to conclude all issues ( Castle disappearance, LokSat, etc) no later than episode 18 so that they can return to “case a week” episodes in episode 19. If I can see about 4 “case a week” episodes before the end of the season it will be much more likely to bring me back to a season 9 than anything else that they might consider or plan. I feel confident that many fans feel the same way including fans to be who have never watched the series before.
I have read before that Rick’s testimony (and possibly the flashbacks he is supposed to have because of it) is supposed to bring back his memory of what happened during his disappearance. I have also heard that his disappearance will also be tied in with LokSat in some manner. And, finally, the testimony is also to address how Kate is somehow linked to the disappearance. Sounds like it will be the beginning of all the outstanding issues. I just hope that it does not take the remainder of the season to resolve everything. I want to have 4 or more of the “roots” type of episodes to get me excited about coming back for season 9.
Yes you made a major mistake by the split of Rick and Kate and not listening to the fans, and at the end of episode 8 the separation is still going on. And yes you are still not hearing the fans. But you still have some time to close out season 8 on a positive note. I sure hope in the up coming of episode 10 you did the smart thing and have Kate in the court room to help her husband, for he has also had her back from episode 1 season 1. It would sure look good to have her act like a loving wife. Cartermatt and Pollidaddy have a on going survey asking the question How long will this ‘break up’ twist last? 1. a few episodes 41.07% 2. one episode and that’s it 30.07% 3. a good chunk of season 8 18.56% 4. it will be resolved in the finale 7.9% 5. beyond this season 2.4%. So with 71.14% of the fans who took this survey want the separation to be over no later than episode 11 why would you the show runners not listen to that cry? If you bring the to them back together living under the same roof as husband and wife that would be a positive move on your part for the fans. You still go on with your firefly family reunion, your Russian agent coming in, I guess that is someone for Kate to play with, and still have Rick and Kate hunting down LokSat. If the show gets canceled and you kill off one or both of them the show would leave in a better place than it at now. But if you still want to wear your blinders and do not see what the fans want, you two show runners will always be the two that destroyed Castle. So would you let the fans have somewhat of a happy ending. As far as a spin off show, having Rick and Kate being the new King and Maxwell would work.
You know, the upcoming episodes actually sound like really good plotlines. Sadly, because of the separation of the lead characters, I believe these episodes will be just as tainted as the first eight. Whether public or private, separation is separation. It means the two main characters will NOT be sharing much screen time.
I’m curious how two veteran writers of the show could think that separating the two main characters for a full season would boost ratings. It’s not even like the separation was necessary to drive the plotline of the first eight episodes, because it clearly wasn’t. They have been separated for the sake of separation. This is a no-no in the world of writing. Everything needs to happen for a logical (i.e. believable) reason or else viewers will not buy into the premise. Showrunners are the salesmen for the show and they need to entice people to buy (i.e. view) their product. If they fail, they’re out of business…and so are all their staff.
Well, from where I stand, these particular salesmen have failed miserably. What’s worse is, they know (i.e. Via poor ratings) that the ship is sinking, but stubbornly refuse to plug the holes, hoping that their “bold choice” will ultimately be vindicated. Well, I’m sorry to disappoint them, but it doesn’t work that way. In television, the end doesn’t justify the means. The show’s sponsors are paying for the whole journey, not just the destination. At the rate their veiwers are jumping ship, by the time they reach port, the showrunners may very well be the only one’s left onboard.
As far as how long the break up twist will last it is unfortunate that they are already filming episode 15 and I wonder if they have already considered the fact that the together in private apart in public twist will only last 1 or 2 episodes before it becomes tedious and boring or whether (being the slow learners that they are) they are going to drag it out longer.