In a nutshell
The Good: Episodes with far out plots.
The Bad: Castle gets fatter and fatter.
I enjoy Castle, especially the episodes with the far-out plots. Ordinary crime plots you can get from any of a dozen cop shows; Castle gives you something those other shows do not, however, when it decides to weave in an alternate universe or time travel; and it always somehow inexplicably does this without the ridiculous ambiance of a sci-fi show. So in this particular niche of the far out cop show plot, it is unique in all ways. It needs to press that advantage and leave episodes with more ordinary crime show plots behind.
Now for the negative: Nathan Fillion has officially entered William Shatner territory. That is, I can no longer see Shatner as Captain Kirk. He looks so different at age 83 than he did in his early 30s on Star Trek. Duh, you say. He's an old man now. But surprisingly it's not the age so much as it is how fat he's become. It took Shatner 50 years. But in a mere decade, just 10 years, Nathan Fillion has let himself go to the point where - having watched a Firefly episode recently - I just can't view that guy in Firefly as the same person I see on Castle. In the first couple of seasons of Castle it most certainly was the same guy. But Nathan is just so fat now, it's not a pretty sight. It's disappointing and sad. Meanwhile Stana Katic looks the same as when she started the show. In fact all the people who have been on the show from day one look the same, except the girl who plays Castle's daughter, but that's because she was a kid when the show started. But Nathan is not growing up, he's grown out, way way out. At least Orson Welles could direct.
I feel a little like I did as I watched Jeremy Brett fall apart as Sherlock Holmes season to season. It gets to where you want to stop watching because it's too disturbing, especially when you realize it's gotten to the point where the cameramen are shooting strategically to avoid showing how fat Nathan is. DUDE. Being on TV and being rich is all well and good, but money cannot compensate for being unfit and at risk for diabetes and a heart attack. Spend some of those millions on coaches to get you in shape!!!
As shows age, they tend to fall into a rut. That's somewhat true of "Castle." While I'm happy that our heroes finally got their happy ending, the show has been a bit predictable in its seventh season. It might be time to think about an exit strategy while the show's still going strong.
Ever since its heyday back in seasons two and three Castle has steadily been in decline. It's hard to pinpoint exactly when it happened but a show I once found pretty entertaining, even if it was always a little formulaic, now holds little to no interest for me. Time to put this show to rest and move on I think.
It's really time to bring the show to a graceful end. It was pretty good once, but it's fallen off badly in a lot of ways. The cast looks painfully disinterested at times, and clearly Nathan Fillion's health continues to be an issue.
But worse than that, the writing (on a show about a writer) has gone off a cliff. Some would say that finally putting the happy couple together killed the tension, but I think it's more that the serialized plotlines were all wrapped up.
The season started with a complete soap opera turn where Castle disappeared for no reason, which went nowhere until finally recurring and hijacking an episode to create a meaningless explanation for why he had to go do something and then get his memory erased. The season ended with some out of nowhere BS about some important childhood events of Castle's that we've not heard of during the first six seasons but which now completely define his character. Ugh. Intermediate episodes were dumb too. Alternate realities? Terrorism episodes we know aren't going anywhere serious? The Instagram killer? Sheesh.
At its best, the show combined entertainingly grotesque (if completely unrealistic) cases with a light dose of serialized menace and a hefty dose of romantic comedy. Every one of those elements is now failing. Time to write an ending for this show.
Renewed for a seventh season? This is one of the worst shows on television. For seven years its been formulaic, tedious and poorly acted. I continue to be amazed that this show has a solid fan base.