In "Fool Me Once," Alexis gets one after she drags her father into the police interview room and chastises him severely. Castle is visibly shaken afterward.
Ryan in the whole of Kick the Ballistics when his stolen weapon is used to kill someone and he hunts the murderer down.
"Kill the Messenger" is an entire episode of this for Captain Montgomery. The highlight: Rich Guy Blake Wellesley shows up to tell the Capt. he needs to start scheduling police interviews with Wellesley family members in advance rather than just showing up. The Captain says, basically, "screw you" and sends him out.
Wellesley: I can get the commissioner on the phone in a second. Captain: Tell him I said hi - and that I really could use a raise. Castle: (giddy) That was awesome! Awesome!
Beckett: Hell of a shot. Castle: I was aiming for his head.
At the climax of the Season 3 opener, Castle actually drops a suspect with one shot, thereby saving Beckett's life. The even more awesome part? Beckett did the same for him simultaneously.
In "3XK", Castle discovers the real killer and exposes him, but the killer gets the drop on Detective Ryan and knocks him out, tying them both up while he gets his things to blow town. Castle then proceeds to stand up to the killer and analyze his backstory without an ounce of fear, and then answers a phone call from his mother and alerts her to something being wrong by only saying "I love you." Castle's utter fearlessness in the face of death makes this one of his most awesome moments in the show's run.
Season 5's "Probable Cause" only increases the awesome: the 3XK reveals to Castle that the only thing that separated him from disappearing and be able to commit more murders was Castle exposing him.
In "Poof, You're Dead," Beckett, who's had experience as an assistant to her magician grandfather, sees right through a suspect's attempt to poof away. She brings him out of his hiding place and says, "Alakazam, jackass." She says this wonderful One-Liner at the end again when she caught the Corrupt Corporate Executive that murdered the Body of the Week.
Judging by the reactions on Twitter and Tvtropes, this quote might reach Memetic Mutation levels. It's that awesome.
Several in a row in Knockdown:
Castle and Beckett's Fake-Out Make-Out (for some small value of "fake") to fool the Mook standing guard where Ryan and Esposito are being held.
Followed by Beckett's single-blow K.O. of said Mook with the butt of her gun.
Castle even commented that at least one of the previous two things was "amazing"; YMMV as to which one he really meant.
Both Ryan and Esposito, responding to a well trained and armed assassin, who has them restrained:
Hit man: Now, I'm gonna make you a deal: you tell me what I need to know, one pro to another, and I will put a bullet in your brain. You don't, you jerk me around, and you will be begging me to before this night is up. (Ryan and Esposito look at each other.) Esposito: I'm gonna have to go with option B. Ryan: Oh yeah, we're definitely going to jerk you around. (Cut to Ryan getting his head dumped in a tank of ice water.)
And later when Ryan is lifted out of the tank for a quick breather:
Ryan: Listen, ass-clown, I was in Catholic school for twelve years, hell, they used to do this to me for talking in cla— (He gets forced back into the water.)
And later, again, Ryan is thrashing in the tank:
Esposito: Okay! (Ryan is lifted out, coughing and spitting up water.) Ryan: Don't tell this jackhole anything. Esposito: I'm sorry bro, I can't watch this. (To Hit man) Listen to me. You're too late. The cops already know all about me and your mom.
Bear in mind as well that this was just a few episodes after Ryan proposed to Jenny and Esposito got serious with Lanie, so both of them had a heck of a lot to lose.
Possibly just reading into it too much, but it's even bigger for Ryan than Esposito. Esposito we know was in the army, looks visibly buff and clearly knows how to handle himself. Ryan dresses in sharp three piece suits to a normal day of work, and is pretty much the office Butt Monkey. So naturally you'd assume he'd be the one to break, and presumably the assassin did too, just by looking at him. So when we see that it's Ryan getting tortured and he's not breaking, it just shows that he can be badass too.
The very fact Ryan and Esposito finally had their chance to shine and crack the case in an episode can be considered a CMOA
Don't forget Castle jumping on the assassin who was about to headshot Beckett and punching the guy unconscious. Clearly not all writers are Non Action Guys.
One cool One-Liner from "Lucky Stiff" has Castle, Beckett, Ryan, and Esposito tracking down two suspects who knew the victim of the week. Cut to a scene of them doing an Ear Worm worthy rap called "Get on the Floor." Beckett interrupts the song and when the two rapper wannabes complain, Castle gets on the mike.
Castle: Three armed cops and a writer make four. You're under arrest, so get on the floor.
A small one during "Setup" when Beckett and Castle are kicked off the task force for contacting a witness with diplomatic immunity. The agent snarkily tells Castle that the governor has never heard of him as a Call Back to Castle's bluff to keep himself on the case and Castle gives him the best "fuck off" look just before leaving the office with Beckett.
There needs to be a next-step-up from CMOA just because of this scene. The way it's written on this page does not express how awesome this scene was on multiple levels.
Captain Montgomery exposing the District Attorney with absolute implacability, and a microphone behind his necktie.
Goes into minor Tear Jerker in the scene after where you can see the water in Roy's eyes over having to put away a long time friend who, legitimately, still did good things.
Ryan and Esposito are talking when they notice a door closing in the home of the victim of the week. Without skipping a beat, they continue their conversation while at the same time getting ready to ambush their attacker and using the conversation to plan their ambush. It's not often we get to see the two in fights so it's nice to see that when the show gives them the opportunity, it treats them as well as Beckett and Castle.
At the end of the very first episode, Beckett turns to see Castle, who has just manouevred himself onto the force, giving her the biggest, cheekiest, shit eating grin he's ever flashed. You just know the show's going to be fantastic after that.
Natalie Rhodes gets one at the end of "Nikki Heat" when talks down a suicidal suspect with the same lines she used in the movie she was in at the beginning of the episode -the same lines that Castle had been criticizing.
Castle:Guess that script wasn't so wacky after all.
Season 3 finale, "Knockout": Montgomery's final stand 'nuff said.
Kate's negotiation in "Cops and Robbers" has to be seen to be truly appreciated. Extra points for the part where Kate threatens to put a bullet through the hostage taker's skull.
In that same vein, about 99% of all of Castle's actions during the hostage situation count as this, particularly the brilliant move of using his mother's bracelet to communicate Morse code on the ceiling so the cops could see. He also gets a lot of smaller-scale moments where his calm, authoritative and level-headed approach to what's happening leads the other hostages to view him as something of a leader.
The cop at the end who delivers one hell of a line to the episode's villain: (Points gun at head) "Now think real hard about your next move."
Esposito's ice-cold recreation of a sniper's attack in Kill Shot.
Also, he predicts where the sniper will shoot from, gets in position and takes him down before he can kill Beckett.
Castle unleashing the murder victim's dog upon the murderer in An Embarrassment of Bitches.
Castle: Get 'im, Royal.
Also, the judo-flip that Esposito does to a fleeing suspect.
Beckett tackling a rogue CIA agent that nearly killed the daughter of an important Chinese businessman, an event that could have triggered World War III just before he did the dirty deed.
The team faking out the killer at the end of "Undead Again". The man literally committed the perfect murder, and yet he gets caught because Castle is that awesome.
A little one when Montgomery says that he allowed Castle to work at the station because he wanted to, not because the mayor pressured him into it. It just showed that Montgomery is willing to stand up to anyone who gets in the way of good police work, even his boss.
Beckett finally confronting SenatorBracken, the man responsible for not only her mother's murder but the attempt on her life, as well as all the psychological baggage that she bears as a result of both of those actions. She not only coldly dismisses his justification for his actions, but verbally beats him down, at the end revealing that even if he does kill her, she'll pull a Taking You with Me by exposing all of his crimes.
In "Probable Cause", the 3XK is holding Beckett and threatening to kill her in front of Castle, but Castle instead manages to get Beckett's gun and shoots the 3XK without hitting Beckett, then shoots him several more times until he drops to the river.
Beckett before the scene above returns the favor by doing almost the same thing.
All of "The Final Frontier." The entire episode is one big Shout Out to sci-fi in general, with a healthy serving of Fireflyreferences.
In "Under the Influence", Esposito goes to arrest a criminal in a bar. As the bartender requests his order, the criminal's massive bodyguard heads for Espo, who orders a bag of ice. As the bartender reacts in confusion, he knees the bodyguard in the groin, then explains: "It's for him." The next time they see each other, the bodyguard covers his groin and scurries off like a coward.
Another more dark - and to some, perhaps even crossing certain moral lines - sort of awesome comes at the denouement. When Javier returns one last final time to talk to a side criminal, he's not there to warn the guy. He's there to reveal a truth - if that criminal ever tries to use kids for his crimes again, Javier will find him and kill him while setting things up to look like it happened in self-defense. Jav even pulls out the gun he would plant on the criminal to do so.
One of Castle's Papa Wolf moments in "Target." Alexis has been kidnapped and their only suspect refuses to talk. Beckett gives Castle a moment alone with him followed by a Scream Discretion Shot.
In "Hunt", Rick's father manages to make a plan that takes down Volkov (the man who kidnapped Alexis) by exploiting the fact that Volkov was actually planning for an attack and that he was likely to get Rick and Alexis together, just so that the two can escape while he launches a frontal attack on the house. And he gets out of it alive, too!
Earlier in the same episode, Beckett is interrogating the girlfriend of one of the men who kidnapped Alexis, a woman who vehemently expresses her dislike of the police and coldly orders Beckett to bring her a lawyer. Cue Beckett kicking the chair out from under her, leaping up to loom over the now terrified woman and demanding that she tell her the location of her dead boyfriend, as it will hopefully lead to clues about where Alexis is being kept
Beckett: "Do you have any idea what this is about? Do you think I'm some beat cop busting you for possession? My partner's daughter is missing, and you...are in my way.
