I hope she didn't fake her own shooting at Montgomery's funeral. That would be just incredibly bad writing.

Faking her own death at the captain's funeral would be the worst thing to do. In front of his family and everyone who are already grieving. Would just be bad taste.

Still, I had a friend who said that she'll probably wake up and not remember being shot (thus not remembering Castle saying he loves her). The show can then continue to be driven by trying to find out who the shooter is.

They could even expand her memory loss and make it a big storyline itself.

Wouldn't it be odd to get memory loss from a gunshot wound to the chest?

Yes, it would. But she appeared to go into shock before passing out. Who knows. Definitely looking forward to next season.

I think the obvious two options are 1) bulletproof vest or 2) wounded. They're not going to kill her off. I don't think it was a set-up; if they faked it, obviously the Big Man they're after would know (I mean, if he didn't sanction it, who the hell would be trying to kill her?). Besides, they already pulled that trick on "Bones" in an early season. She may have been wearing a bulletproof vest on her own, but that wouldn't account for the tears or the "oh shit I'm dying" look on her face. (Unless it was a huge-caliber bullet that she hadn't planned on.) So I'll go with the "wounded" theory, which fits in nicely if they decide she doesn't remember Castle saying he loved her. (Or, actually, the way they write this show... she'll SAY she didn't remember it, but in reality she does.)

One thing that annoyed me is that they've already pulled the "Beckett's dead!" ruse (which is how this thread got started in the first place, with her apartment getting blown up). I think a much better ending would've been if Castle jumped in front of her and took the bullet, and then SHE told HIM she loves him (which would've dovetailed nicely with his speech to her earlier in the episode about how she's afraid of committing to a relationship). I think that would've worked much better, and they dropped the ball on this one.