Castle: The Complete Eighth and Final Season

The eighth and final season of this lighthearted TV mystery series adds a new character—former British special agent turned private contractor Hayley Shipton (Toks Olagundoye)—to give mystery writer Castle (Nathan Fillion) someone to work with, since Stana Katic, who plays his wife and crime-solving partner Captain Kate Beckett, took a smaller role in the show. That makes for a weaker season, as the witty banter and romantic chemistry between Castle and Beckett is the main draw. The storyline has Beckett separated from Castle to protect him from her secret investigations, and Castle working on cases in his private detective business, which his daughter Alexis (Molly C. Quinn) runs with the help of Hayley. Although the separation is short lived, the pair keep up the pretense, which only fools their colleagues Javier (Jon Huertas) and Kevin (Seamus Dever) for so long. As with past seasons, the best episodes offer Castle the opportunity to let his creative side go wild, but the show wraps with a rather abrupt conclusion that was tacked on at the last minute when the series was cancelled. Castle was a breezy, self-aware, fun series, but its final season is inconsistent and comes up short on the character chemistry that made it so successful. Compiling all 22 episodes from the 2015-16 eighth season, extras include episode commentaries, behind-the-scene featurettes, deleted scenes, and bloopers. A strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)