Castle has long been a favorite show of mine. Around season 3 it became a ‘can’t miss, must be home at 10pm Monday nights, do NOT call me’. After last season (6) I found my love affair with the show wavering, but had high hopes going into season 7 with a new show runner. Most of those hopes came crashing down to earth with this season premiere.

Yet again, second year in a row, the premiere opened where we left off with last seasons finale. Castle’s body is not in the fiery car wreck (big surprise …) and for some interesting reason his mother and daughter are not quite as distraught as his fiancée. Seriously?

Through a course of bizarre events, Castle is found adrift in a boat. Not before Kate gathers all the evidence and creates a Joanna Beckett-esque murder board in her apartment. I’m sorry, HER apartment?! Isn’t she marrying Castle? Why does she still have her own place?

My biggest issue with this episode was how much Kate doubts Castle. After everything they have been trough, the miles she has come since they started dating, they do this? Come on, guys. I know we don’t have the answers and don’t know where he has been … and the evidence points toward him having a hand in it all, but … come on!

Ultimately we are left off with Castle not knowing what happened, his seemingly unfazed family welcoming him home, Kate crying in his arms and the promise that next week we might find out another nugget of information to a mystery that I predict will last all season. If this is how the season continues, I am uncertain just how long I can stoke the embers.