When a police academy recruit is murdered, Beckett returns to her roots to find the killer. Meanwhile, Castle struggles to decide if he should tell Beckett his disappearance is related to LokSat.
Tropes that appear in this episode:
- The Ace: Most of the trophies on display at the academy belong to Beckett.
- Bad Liar: The victim gave his girlfriend/classmate Decker obviously false excuses for not being home.
- Blackmail: Decker was being blackmailed by her birth father to be a mole for the Irish mob or else her true lineage would be revealed.
- Cop Killer: The murder of a police cadet kicks off the plot.
- Dirty Cop: The team suspects the killer to be this.
- Disappeared Dad: Decker refers to her biological father as a “sperm donor” who only wanted a one night stand.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Instead of talking about Castle's confession about looking into Loksat, he and Beckett spend the rest of the night drinking.
- Eager Rookie: Academy recruit officer Decker.
- Heroic Bastard: Turns out Decker is the illegitimate daughter of Irish mobster Lucky Jack.
- Like Father, Like Son: Like Father, Like Daughter version, played for angst. Lucky Jack is a career criminal, while his daughter is pursuing a career as a police officer. When she orchestrates an assassination plot against her father and attempts to personally shoot him in his office, Lucky Jack observes from whom she had inherited that ruthless streak.
- Sins of Our Fathers: Lucky Jack threatened to ruin Decker's career by revealing his identity as her father, since no cop would ever be able to trust his child.
- Stealing from the Till: Bardot was killed when he discovered the academy commissioner was stealing money from the academy.
