Christy Spratlin: Nowadays our TVs are full of badass leading ladies. It’s pretty much a must have on any new TV show coming out now. But eight years ago that wasn’t the case. Kate Beckett helped pave the way for all of these badass characters that we know and love now.
I think what attracted me to Beckett at first wasn’t just that she was badass but also that she had faults. She had strengths but she also had weaknesses. She was damaged but she managed to rise above it. She gave women watching the show a person to look up to. Look at this woman. She has faced unimaginable tragedy in her life and look at what she has managed to accomplish. She really was an excellent role model.
Yes, Kate Beckett did put up a wall around herself to get to where she was, but that wall wasn’t the be-all-end-all. It was a wall that could be broken. And it was broken, by one Richard Castle. Castle is the one who opened up her world. Piece by piece, he broke down her wall and eventually she let him in. The breaking down of that wall is what made this show magical. These two developed an amazing, incomparable on screen chemistry.
Seasons five and six were probably my favorites of all the seasons. We got to see this great team, in and out of the precinct, working together to solve interesting and often intense cases. The writing was good and the seasons were a perfect mix of funny and intense episodes. Sure, there were problems, but they could be forgiven because everything else was so great.
The season six finale is where it went downhill for me. All of the sudden this amazingly strong and poignant character was being taken for granted, mocked even. And we’re not even going to get started on that botched wedding. I mean, what a disaster. Let’s push it like crazy, get the fans all excited about it, and then throw it back in their faces.
Really, the show never worked for me again after that. Gone was the sexy banter, the great cases that you could really get invested in, the continuity throughout the seasons, and the badass Kate Beckett that we had come to love so much. All of that was replaced with confusing Castle-centric storylines, Castle constantly making a fool of himself, and awkward – even cheesy – Caskett “romantic” scenes. Beckett was left to be the one to clean up the mess that Castle left behind. None of it worked, at all.
I’m not sure why, but I kept watching. I guess I hoped it would get better. Hoped that maybe, just maybe, it could claw its way back to its former greatness. But I was wrong, so very wrong. This week it was announced that ABC, in an attempt to cut costs, decided not to renew Stana Katic’s contract. Somehow, they seem to believe that the show could continue without her.
Beckett made this show. Sure, Castle played a pretty big role in it as well, but without Beckett there would have been, and now will be, no show. Without that damaged badass female lead and the amazing chemistry and relationship that developed between her and Castle over the years, there would have been no show.
Who in their right mind would want to watch a show with just Castle in it? All there is to the show without Beckett is an immature writer, bouncing around places that he doesn’t belong. It’s not even funny anymore. It’s just silly.
All I can hope for now is that ABC decides to end the show and the writers can bring it to a proper ending. An ending with a little dignity. Because Kate Beckett deserves that. The fans deserve that.
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