Astronaut Tom Richwood is killed during a simulation for a mission to Mars. The operations director says that anyone needing to approach the body needs to wear spacesuits to access the area, with which Castle happily complies. The investigation reveals that someone tampered with the simulator's computer, which ultimately viewed Tom as a threat. A reboot refocuses the computer's wrath on the team.
Tropes that appear in this episode:
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: After the other astronauts sans Tom and Dankov tricked MIRA to serve them, they had her kill Tom to protect the mission followed by ordering her to delete herself in order to cover up their involvement.
- Asshole Victim: Tom was a Control Freak who would punish his teammates for the slightest error.
- Bait-and-Switch: There wasn't a murder in space but a murder in a space simulation.
- Batman Gambit: Castle fabricated a lie that Jansen had a black box prepared just in case MIRA unexpectedly crashed for some reason, so all her data would be sent to a safe location. He counted on the astronauts' paranoia and lack of trust to cause one of them to confess. He and Beckett were surprised that they snitched on each other immediately.
- The Butler Did It: Or as Castle put it, "The Rover did it."
- Cabin Fever: Spending 6 months in a closed structure with a Jerkass would lead to insanity sooner or later.
- Chekhov's Gun: Astronauts are not that versed in technology, which Castle banks on in his Batman Gambit.
- Closet Key: One of the astronauts implies the mission's captain was this for her, which was a factor in ending her marriage.
- Double-Meaning Title: On top of the reference, Wrong Stuff also refers to the ridiculousness of the premise of this episode, which Beckett lampshades; police detectives investigating the death of an astronaut in space, then it's revealed that it's just a simulation. The title also foreshadows how most of the astronauts had issues so that it was impossible for them to work together.
- Felony Misdemeanor: "You're playing laser tag? Without me?! IS THAT MY GEAR?" when Castle and Beckett walk in on Alexis playing laser tag with a boy.
- A God Am I: Part of the reason for Tom's murder is that the astronauts refused to let go of their "chance of immortality", as Castle puts it.
- Honest Corporate Executive: Jansen did obstruct the detectives' investigation a little due to not wanting to ruin the Mars simulation but he tried his best to help them any way he could to get it done. When it's clear that the astronauts committed murder, he allows the detectives to arrest them.
- It's All About Me: One of the killers dumped her husband through a "Dear John" Letter to continue working in the astronaut program, and when the police are snooping around the murder she helped commit, she doesn't hesitate to frame him for it.
- Laser-Guided Karma: The astronauts get arrested. And since one of them dumped her husband to live her dream, she will most likely spend time in a cell alone.
- Millionaire Playboy: One tried to steal Jansen's secret to build his own space program.
- The Mole: Dankov.
- Noodle Incident: Castle and Beckett applied as astronauts without the other aware because they were fighting at the time.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Ryan dislikes Jenny's grandmother.
- Oh, Crap!: Upon learning that there is a supposed black box having record of their misdeeds, the astronauts' smugness quickly dropped and they ratted against each other not long after.
- Revenge: A suspect, Granger, attempted to run over Tom, believing he sabotaged his test to get into the Mars program.
- Shout-Out:
- The episode's title is a reference to The Right Stuff.
- Castle references the Xenomorphs from Alien when he and Beckett are searching the basement.
- The Victim of the Week is a (Sergeant) Major whose first name is Tom.
- The program's learning AI is more like Siri than like HAL.
- We ARE Struggling Together: While Jansen picked the best of the best, he did not take into account their horrible personalities, which made them completely unable to work together. Trapping them inside his simulation merely brought that side out.
