ABCWell, nobody (important) died in the Castle finale!
Castle (Nathan Fillion), Beckett (Stana Katic), Ryan (Seamus Dever), Esposito (Jon Huertas), Lanie (Tamala Jones), Martha (Susan Sullivan), Alexis (Molly Quinn) and Hayley (Toks Olagundoye) were all safe and sound, living happily ever after.
While there was a bit of a cliffhanger in which both Castle and Beckett were shot and appeared to be dying, an epilogue found them perfectly alive, perfectly together, and the parents of multiple adorable children. So there's that! Everything is just fine.
As for the LokSat business, it was all rather convoluted.
During their investigation, Castle and Beckett found themselves in a trap, filled with guns. They realized that Caleb, the guy who had been helping them, was now dead, having been revealed as a traitor by LokSat himself. They were rescued by Castle's Los Angeles friend, Mason, in a Korean barbecue taco truck. They then kept following what they thought were leads, but LokSat was always one step ahead.
Castle and Beckett headed back to the precinct, and they let everyone in on the situation—Ryan, Esposito, Alexis, Susan, and Hayley. After Castle and Beckett had gotten themselves separated and promised each other to stay where they were (his office and the precinct, respectively), Castle got in a cab, and of course it was driven by someone evil who called himself Mr. Flynn. He strapped Castle into a nice and creepy torture chair, and gave Castle an IV of truth serum.
Then, Mr. Flynn introduced Castle to his boss, LokSat, also known as…the dude who saved them earlier with a Korean barbecue taco truck. Of course, his biggest questions for Castle were who knew about his existence, and Castle was forced to tell him.
After LokSat left and Flynn returned, and just after he had given Castle a new IV of death serum, Ryan and Espo showed up, guns blazing. Meanwhile, Mason picked up Beckett and had every intention of killing her until Castle showed up and distracted Mason long enough for Kate to take him down.
They greeted all their friends and family members, hugged, and rejoiced that it was all over, before Castle and Beckett headed back to their apartment. Then, Caleb showed up. He wasn't dead! He shot Castle in the chest, then he and Beckett shot each other at the same time, then he went down, and she went down too. She and Castle looked like they were dying, hand in hand.
But then surprise! It was seven years later, Castle and Beckett had three kids together, and they were still holding hands.
That all felt…fast. That epilogue, while pleasant and necessary, was obviously just tacked on there at the end when the series was canceled, but we guess that's to be expected.
It's truly a shame that this is how the show had to go out—rushed, following months of drama, with all of us knowing that there was about to be a world in which Kate didn't survive that gun shot. This wasn't ideal, but at least it was a thousand times better than that scenario would have been.
So thank you, ABC, for cancelling Castle. We're all happier because of it.
What did you think of the finale? Vote in the poll below!