Castle - Crossfire

After eight seasons and 173 episodes Castle comes to a close not with a bang but a whimper. "Crossfire" offers fans of the show the conclusion of the LOCKSAT storyline (the same storyline that's derailed much of the show's final two seasons). With Castle (Nathan Fillion) and Beckett (Stana Katic) separated again for much of the episode, Castle is abducted by one of LOCKSAT's minions (Michael Teh) while LOCKSAT himself (Gerald McRaney) attempts to lure Kate into a similar trap.

"Crossfire" is a fitting, if disappointing, end to a season where the show lost its core self while providing glimmers here and there of better days. A super-spy thriller far removed from the show's core of Beckett and Castle falling for each other while solving murders, the finale goes for the big shoot-out and master villain where all we really want is to see Kate and Rick together. The final scene of the episode teases dark days for the couple, while likely setting up the circumstances of a Beckett-less Ninth Season. The final coda of happy days in the future for Caskett may be a nice touch, but is such a huge tonal shift from Beckett and Castle getting shot it gave me whiplash. Given the show's firm cancellation from ABC, I'm actually surprised the shooting sequence made it into the episode's final cut as it is just one final example of things the show got wrong this year.