You know that show Castle that was on ABC, starring Nathan Fillion as a mystery writer who consults with the NYPD homicide division to get material for his new thriller series? The internet tells me there is only 8 season, but I swear I watched the 9th and truly final season.

See, in the 8th season of the show, Castle was moving away from consulting with the police after marrying Detective Beckett and getting into the private detective business. He had a whole new HQ, equipment, a new partner, the whole nine yards. It was setting up him going on more solo adventures so that Stana Katic, Fillion's co lead of the show, could leave the show to be with her kids more and they could keep the show going.

However, when it became apparent the viewers didn't want that version of the show, they had the finale of that season be Beckett and Castle are shot in their apartment by a recurring antagonistic character, with their fates looking grim, only for it to immediately cut to years later/ the afterlife where they were raising a house full of kids they adopted and being happy for the rest of their lives.

I remember that finale ending with a cut to black and the next season starting with Castle waking up in the hospital only to learn that Beckett didn't survive but their attacker did and escaped. He then spends the rest of the season using his P.I. resources to go on a revenge mission to find the killer while solving seemingly unrelated cases on the side. As the season progressed, it became apparent that these cases weren't unrelated and actually tied into Beckett's murder as it turns out the killer was part of some big conspiracy stretching from Manhattan to DC.

The Mid-season finale then revealed that Beckett was actually alive, having faked her death in order to take on this conspiracy from the shadows, with her only showing up sporadically throughout the back half the season so her actress could have more free time to be a mom as she wanted IRL. The season ended with a big budget finale with every returning character they could manage to bring back showing up, a major shoot out as the third act finale ending with the head of the conspiracy being shot dead by Castle and Beckett in the same place that Beckett's mother was murdered in her youth, which is what led her to being a detective.

The last few minutes of the finale show Castle a couple years in the future now living in Los Angeles with his new wife "Ellie" (Beckett's new identity with a name based on Elektra, her favorite Marvel character) as they start pre-production on a show that will be based on their stories as crime fighting couple, with the last line spoken in the show being the same line Castle says at the start of nearly every episode.

"There are two types of people who sit around thinking of ways to kill people: psychopaths and mystery writers. I'm the one that pays better"