I also like to think there is something between groundbreaking and minimally acceptable. 
It's kind of funny how there are people who love Castle and think everything Stana does is Emmy worthy but the moment someone criticizes the show, they throw their hands up in the air and say "Castle's supposed to be fun and…

Oh boy, IMHO, this ep. was super awful, as in awfully directed, edited and written. 
So many bad scenes…including the long-awaited R&K real kiss - Castle needs more lamps!
Plus the rain w/ voice over…and so many other little things.

I really don't see how this episode can be classified as classic Castle (which for me includes most of season 1 and 2). Yes, it was silly, but it was beyond silly. A long time ago, Castle used to have fairly interesting cases and the fun of the show didn't relate to the case per se as it related to the path they went…

The only thing that was nice for me about this episode was the random high-five. Aside from that it seemed pretty damn bad as far as a pre-finale episode goes. I couldn't have cared less about the case, it was so beyond stupid that no amount of turning my brain off would make me enjoy it.  Everything just looked like…

This was an above-par episode indeed. It always is when Fillion gets the spotlight instead of the awful soap-opera drama the writers seem to love so much. As far as I'm concerned Castle would still be awesome if Beckett was no where to be seen or was even a guy.