With the first half of the season behind us - and as we brace for Meredith's return in "Significant Others" on January 7 - let's take a look back at Castle Season 5 so far, shall we?

We've already submitted midseason reports for Once Upon a Time and The Mentalist, so read on and see if you agree with our grade for Castle thus far this year...

Best Episode: This category was quite difficult as we've had some wonderful episodes this season but the winner was "Secret's Safe With Me." Castle dropping Alexis off at college was incredibly sweet and Castle and Beckett shared one of the most sexy, romantic handshakes in TV history. Runners up: The great drama in "Probable Cause" and the scifi, campy fun of "Final Frontier."

Worst Episode: "Swan Song." I know some fans enjoyed the unique documentary style format but I hated it. The inside joke of characters either overacting or becoming wallflowers in front of the camera ran it's course rather quickly. It's one of the few Castle episodes that I was grateful to see end.

Biggest Improvement: Duh. Definitely Castle and Beckett finally becoming a couple. I don't think the show could have survived another season of the Will they?/Won't they? without frustrating it's fans past their tolerance levels. Now we are blessed with a fun, sexy, romance to go along with our weekly dose of whodunit.

Biggest Disappointment: Surprisingly there haven't been any huge disappointments this season but there were a couple of small ones. I wished the morning after scene in "After the Storm" could have given us a minute or two more of bliss before the real world…and Martha came crashing in. And all of the interruptions to Castle and Beckett's first romantic weekend getaway in "Murder, He Wrote" started to test my patience in an otherwise solid outing.

Hopes for 2013:

• I'm dying for the past to resurface and have Kate admit to Castle that she almost went to the Hamptons with him at the end of Castle season 2… before he sauntered off with ex-wife Gina.
• How did Beckett start reading Castle's books? Will we and Richard Castle ever know?
• More girl time. Alexis and Kate, Kate and Lanie. And most especially Kate and Martha. There hasn't been nearly enough of these two strong but very different woman and since I'm a huge fan of Susan Sullivan I really want to see more.
• Can Capt. Gates and Castle get trapped in an elevator and be forced to actually talk to one another?  I'm not sure what they'd say but I know I want to be a fly on the wall for that conversation.
• More romance! A Castle crime mystery is always fun but after waiting five seasons for some lovin', there can't possibly be enough to satisfy.

Overall Grade:  A-

Now it's your turn, Castle fans. Give us your grade for this season of Castle.

C. Orlando was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.