Showrunners Terence Paul Winter and Alexi Hawley of the American crime drama TV series “Castle” on ABC have been under fire from fans for the most part of the first half of Season 8 of the show.
After having Rick Castle, played by Nathan Fillion, and Kate Beckett, played by Stana Katic, tied the knot on the first episode of Season 8, the showrunners decided to separate them through a mysterious plotline so that Kate can focus on her investigation without jeopardizing the safety of his novelist husband.
The fan backlash on the separation plotline was so great that it caused “Castle” some serious dip in its viewership ratings over the next couple of episodes.
It was only in episode 7 that Rick and Kate got back together again which also resulted to most of the fans started coming back to watch the show again.
In fact, episode 8, where the pair investigated a murder on a cruise ship, was the highest-rated episode of “Castle” of Season 8 precisely because the tandem of Rick and Kate were working on the case. And it is really their on-cam chemistry which packs in the viewers.
Did not learn their lesson
It seems though that the showrunners have not picked up the lesson of the miscue they did during the first half of Season 8.
Apparently, they are planning to do it again by looking at putting another twist on Rick and Kate on the second half of Season 8. But this time, it will not be on the insistence of Kate to work on her secret case alone but on the mysterious disappearance of Rick during the past season.
In a recent interview, Alexi Hawley confirmed that there will be an episode during the second half of Season 8 that could reveal the real reason why Rick went missing in the previous season. He also hinted that Rick’s disappearance will have something to do with his wife.
Hawley also revealed that he and Winter have not nailed down the story yet, but they do like the idea that something that Castle came across during his missing time is actually why his memory was wiped.
Fans of the show got piqued with the latest pronouncements from one of the showrunners. They have been slamming the decision of the showrunners to continuously put twists in the lives of Rick and Kate that often it becomes overkill.
One was even quoted as saying that the show creators are having more chances to poorly handle every lame story arc and even try to combine them all into one, details Design & Trend.
Another obviously annoyed fan wrote that it is really bizarre for the showrunners to talk about something they have not nailed down yet. The fan also added that it is not like the showrunners still have time to do it considering that the TV series only have about 15 or 16 episodes, and there are only 7 or 8 remaining to be shown when it returns to ABC on February 1, 2016 for its episode 9.
No longer a surprise
Some fans, however, look to the revelation of Alexi Hawley more objectively. It no longer came as a surprise to most of them since they already speculated that Kate may have known something about Rick’s whereabouts when he disappeared in Season 7, notes the Christian Post.
But it is not clear as to what extent the upcoming episodes will reveal about Kate’s involvement in Rick’s disappearance, but the decision to fill in some of the holes in the story would be a great idea to boost the interest of the fans after a hiatus.
It would be interesting if the showrunners would make the adjustment on the plotline after they digest the fan feedbacks regarding their ideas.
I know that the show runners consider that the story line of Castle’s disappearance is still open and needs closure but I do not. The story line is still open because it was dead on arrival. The disappearance was supposed to be of primary importance but lack of attention and continuance caused the fans to become bored and disinterested (or at least I did). I finally forgot about it and would need a summary of what it was all about (about two or three sentences should suffice considering the lack of activity).
The Castle “missing” storyline was ill conceived, planned and executed. It really died in birth but no one wanted to admit it. Instead it was essentially ignored for months and even years. So long, in fact, that most fans will probably have to have a summary to get caught up with things. As far as I am concerned it is a dead issue because I do not believe that you can make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
I have noticed that they are playing around again with the plot lines , I guess they haven’t learned their lessons . I was an avid fan now I only DVR it so I can get by the lame story lines and see how much time they actually spend together on screen (NOT MUCH) i GUESS THEY REALLY DON’T CARE ABOUT THE FANDOM.
Regarding not nailing down the story on addressing the disappearance. Perhaps it is a good thing for them to get feedback from the fans before proceeding with “nailing it down” (if they do listen to the fans they would just forget the whole thing). Regarding anything about Beckett, she either had her greatest acting job in her career to not give away any involvement or it was something she did that she has forgotten or gave it no importance (like her first wedding). Keep the fans happy – there is no reason to involve Beckett so do not do it. If they involve Beckett it is a no-win situation and they should know this by now.
Cneale, it appears that the writers are totally in the dark as to how to move LokSat along so in 4 months they have done nothing. Castle’s disappearance began in 6×23 and it is now 8×08+ with essentially no movement forward on his disappearance. As usual the show runners and writers are now going to go backward to revive the disappearance dog to use up air time foolishly until they can get some help from somebody that knows how to move a story along. The current Castle writer must all hav writer’s block.
The things that will do is give her more air time and him less.Some of things I have read and believe is she personaly does not like him,and they would spent less time together on set.When you see tgether less. less time in the loft, He can’t come into the 12th. My opion is she looking to be the lead person on the show. when you read a lot of these comments you start to get a different view of how Kate really feels.Remember before she sign a one year contract, She said she had a long talk with the show runners and felt her role in the was safe. so now the is about her and the of the cast has figth for time. just my opin