Actually I feel like they need a new villain to get things fired up. They just potentially ended their biggest villain when Bracken was finally put behind bars. I think 3XK would be awesome to really focus on, but if they want to bring in a new awesome villain that’ll be cool too! As for Kate and Rick and their “normal” life: when have they ever been normal? I think the whole reason they bring people in is because of the dynamic they have from the out of the box situations they run into. They are going to end up together and this isn’t the end of their relationship obviously, it just adds more action and drama too it: a main component of their relationship. Honestly, the finale was okay, more like an average episode than the finale, but the end was epic and set up for an awesome season 7 premier! Everyone is like “This is the end of Castle. They suck now!” It was one episode and the rest of season 6 was great! I bet they are going to come back strong and everything will be fine. People just need to stop panicking for a moment and just get pumped for season 7!

I totally agree with you Phoebe. Just from the look Bracken gave Beckett in the second last episode, Veritas, I thought he might be back to stir up some chaos for the couple. I don’t think 3XK is responsible for the Castle crash in the season finale some others have suggested. So with him still in the picture, I do think that another recurring villain would be too many.
I really think Bracken pulled this off.

I’m as loyal a fan as any out there and don’t appreciate having that loyalty questioned because many of us TOTALLY DISAGREE with the season ending story. What was most frustrating for me about this episode is that CASTLE is so much more than a run of the mill procedural. The writing, direction, acting and production values are light years ahead of other shows of the same sort. I wasn’t disturbed in the least by the BONES finale because that sort of craziness is what I expect from that show. The same could be said for NCIS, NCISLA, CSI, GRIMM and THE MENTALIST. CASTLE is, or has been , SO MUCH BETTER that I’m truly baffled how a production team that gave us KNOCKOUT, ALWAYS and WATERSHED the last three seasons, could possibly think that FOR BETTER OR WORSE, with all it’s flaws would be blindly accepted by a sophisticated fan base. I will be back in Sept for 7X1, but will need to be totally BLOWN AWAY by the premiere. To this day, I cannot tolerate seeing any reference to FBOW including our beautiful KB in her wedding dress without feeling like throwing something against a wall. If you want blindly “TRUST IN MARLOWE”, be my guest, some loyal fans expect him to return the loyalty.