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** A subtle one in "Always". [[spoiler: In "Knockdown", Castle kisses Beckett, Beckett breaks it in surprise and then she kisses him with more intensity. In "Always", Beckett kisses Castle, Castle breaks it in surprise and then he kisses her with more intensity.]]
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** "Always". Good God, "Always". [[spoiler:Alexis graduates high school, and Beckett confronts her mother's killer, resigns from the police force, and tells Castle that the only thing she wants is him.]] Every constant this show has has just been turned upside down.
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** "Always". Good God, "Always". [[spoiler:Alexis graduates high school, and Beckett confronts her mother's killer, the man who shot her, resigns from the police force, and tells Castle that the only thing she wants is him.]] Every constant this show has has just been turned upside down.
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* [[spoiler:BreakingTheFellowship: At the end of "Always", Esposito is on admimistrative leave and not talking to Ryan anymore since he went to Gates over his objections; Beckett resigns rather than joins Esposito; this leaves Ryan the only member of the core cast still on the force...and miserable; and Castle is ready to move on with his life without Beckett...until she shows up at his door and TheyDo.]]
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** [[spoiler:They finally get together in "Always".]]
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** The Season Four premier episode had one, surprisingly, and did a recap of the season three finale [[spoiler:to lead as an opener for why Beckett is being gurneyed down a hospital wing.]]
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** The Season Four premier episode had one, surprisingly, and did a recap of the season three finale [[spoiler:to lead as an opener for why Beckett is being gurneyed down a hospital wing.]] ]]
** The Season 4 finale has another one.
** The Season 4 finale has another one.
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* RealLifeRelative: Seamus Dever (Ryan)'s wife Juliana has a recurring role as Jenny, Ryan's girlfriend [[spoiler:and later, fiancée]].
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* RealLifeRelative: Seamus Dever (Ryan)'s wife Juliana has a recurring role as Jenny, Ryan's girlfriend [[spoiler:and later, fiancée]].fiancée, and much later, wife]].
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** In "The Limey", Castle hooks up with a flight attendant some time after hearing [[spoiler:Kate say that she remembers everything that happened after she was shot]]. Colin, the British policeman, becomes this for Kate.
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** The cliffhanger for the season 4 finale, where [[spoiler:Beckett resigns, finally tells Castle that she loves him, and the man that shot Beckett tells the misterious man that told Castle to keep her off the case that, as soon as he gets the information Roy sent the latter, he will kill Beckett.]]
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--> [[spoiler: '''Castle''': Beckett! What do you want?]]
[[spoiler: '''Beckett''': You. ''She kisses him'']]
[[spoiler: '''Beckett''': You. ''She kisses him'']]
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--> [[spoiler: '''Castle''': Beckett! What do you want?]]
want?]]\\
[[spoiler: '''Beckett''': You. ''She kisseshim'']]him'']]\\
[[spoiler: '''Beckett''': You. ''She kisses
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** [[spoiler: As of "Always", [[TheyDo anchors have been raised]].]]
--> [[spoiler: '''Castle''': Beckett! What do you want?]]
[[spoiler: '''Beckett''': You. ''She kisses him'']]
[[spoiler: '''Beckett''': ''(whispering)'' I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, Castle.]]
--> [[spoiler: '''Castle''': Beckett! What do you want?]]
[[spoiler: '''Beckett''': You. ''She kisses him'']]
[[spoiler: '''Beckett''': ''(whispering)'' I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, Castle.]]
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[[caption-width-right:250:Richard Castle and Kate Beckett. Not pictured: intense UnresolvedSexualTension.]]
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[[caption-width-right:250:Richard Castle and Kate Beckett. Not pictured: intense UnresolvedSexualTension.UnresolvedSexualTension [[hottip:*:[[spoiler:As of "Always", it is finally resolved.]].]]
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'''Castle''': ''[Haltingly]]'' I'm... I'm going to erase that image from my mind with a bottle of scotch.
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'''Castle''': ''[Haltingly]]'' ''(Haltingly)'' I'm... I'm going to erase that image from my mind with a bottle of scotch.
** At the end of "Always", [[spoiler: [[TheyDo Beckett and Castle are finally together]]. And then the guy that shot Beckett finds the man who had all the information about the conspiracy and says that, now that he has found him, he will kill Kate.]]
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** And again in 47 Seconds, where she tells a suspect that claims to have amnesia that she [[spoiler:was shot "and remembers every second about it"]], with Castle listening behind the one-way mirror, in a moment of self-inflicted EngineeredPublicConfession. Castle goes on Passive-Aggressive mode the rest of the episode, as a result.
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** And again in 47 Seconds, where she tells a suspect that claims to have amnesia that she [[spoiler:was shot "and remembers every second about it"]], with Castle listening behind the one-way mirror, in a moment of self-inflicted EngineeredPublicConfession. Castle goes on Passive-Aggressive mode the rest of the episode, as a result. result.
** "Always". [[spoiler:"What do you want?" "You."]]
** "Always". [[spoiler:"What do you want?" "You."]]
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** In [[spoiler: Always, they did.]]
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** In [[spoiler: Always, [[spoiler:In "Always", they did.]]
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** [[spoiler:And again in "Always"...as TheyDo.]]
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** In "Kill Shot," Beckett calls Esposito "Javi" when he's trying to help her past her PTSD. She also calls him "Espo".
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** In "Kill Shot," Beckett calls Esposito "Javi" when he's trying to help her past her PTSD. She also calls him "Espo"."Espo".
** In "Always," Ryan and Esposito call each other Javier and Kevin when Detective Ryan expresses concern that the team is following the wrong course of action.
** In "Always," Ryan and Esposito call each other Javier and Kevin when Detective Ryan expresses concern that the team is following the wrong course of action.
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*** [[spoiler: The murderer in "Demons" also played a major demon on {{Supernatural}}...coincidence?]]
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*** [[spoiler: The murderer in "Demons" also played a major demon on {{Supernatural}}...Series/{{Supernatural}}...coincidence?]]
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*** A deconstruction of this in the S4 finale. [[spoiler:Ryan's actions saved Beckett. Unfortunately, those actions were what Esposito didn't want him to do: Tell Gates about the case and get a real squad on the case. As a result, Espo and Beckett are suspended (and Beckett resigns), and Espo thinks Ryan is a traitor.]]
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** In [[spoiler: Always, they did.]
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** In [[spoiler: Always, they did.]]]
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** In[[spoiler: Always, they did.]
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** In[[spoiler: In [[spoiler: Always, they did.]
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* LoveConfession: [[spoiler:Beckett]] gives us one of the greatest in television history.
-->[[spoiler:'''Beckett''']]: [[spoiler:[My mother's killer] got away, and I didn't care. I almost died, and the only thing I could think about was you.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Beckett''']]: [[spoiler:[My mother's killer] got away, and I didn't care. I almost died, and the only thing I could think about was you.]]
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** "Always". Good God, "Always". [[spoiler:Alexis graduates high school, and Beckett confronts her mother's killer, resigns from the police force, and tells Castle that the only thing she wants is him.]] Every constant this show has has just been turned upside down.
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** In the episode "Always" [[spoiler:Gates has Esposito and Beckett turn in the badged for withholding evidence and lying to her. Beckett tells her to keep it as she's resigning.]]
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** Castle says that this is pretty much what lots and lots money does to people.
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** Castle says that this is pretty much what lots and lots of money does to people.
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* EnforcedMethodActing: In the pilot, a scene was originally written where Beckett would question Captain Montgomery's wisdom in allowing Castle to be part of the investigation. When filming, the producers decided to subvert this by having Montgomery bluntly shoot down Beckett's request to talk to him ("''Nope''.")... but didn't inform Stana Katic, who's look of annoyed astonishment is real.
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* EnforcedMethodActing: In the pilot, a scene was originally written where Beckett would question Captain Montgomery's wisdom in allowing Castle to be part of the investigation. When filming, the producers decided to subvert this by having Montgomery bluntly shoot down Beckett's request to talk to him ("''Nope''.")... but didn't inform Stana Katic, who's whose look of annoyed astonishment is real.
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** Stana Katic got to impersonate a Russian/accent; one of several Slavic languages she actually speaks in real life.
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** Stana Katic got to impersonate a Russian/accent; Russian accent; one of several Slavic languages she actually speaks in real life.
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---> '''Beckett:'''Bondage cuffs, custom made. Looks like our killer liked public play.\\
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---> '''Beckett:'''Bondage '''Beckett:''' Bondage cuffs, custom made. Looks like our killer liked public play.\\
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--->'''Lanie:''' I can do the chocolate, I'll even do the whipped cream bikini, but caramel? I prefer slippery to sticky."\\
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--->'''Lanie:''' I can do the chocolate, I'll even do the whipped cream bikini, but caramel? I prefer slippery to sticky."\\\\
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** In "Undead Again" he admits to Ryan that the reason he does this is to annoy Beckett, not that he actually believes it.
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** In "Undead Again" he admits to Ryan that the reason he does this is to annoy Beckett, not that he actually believes it.it (at least with regards to zombies in this case).
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** In "Undead Again" he admits to Ryan that the reason he does this is to annoy Beckett, not that he actually believes it.
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** "An Embarrassment of Bitches" features a very famous woman with "no discernable talent", that carries a dog with her wherever she goes. A pretty good mashup of Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian, perhaps?
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** "An Embarrassment of Bitches" features a very famous woman with "no discernable talent", that carries a dog with her wherever she goes. A pretty good mashup of Paris Hilton and Kay Cappuccio an obvious "Homage" to Kim Kardashian, perhaps?Kardashian. (And to a degree superficially ParisHilton)
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** Alexis wears them while playing laser tag with her dad in "Undead Again."
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Adding Not A Wiki Word markup to a couple redlinks
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** "Nanny McDead:" Castle reminisces about the nannies Martha had watch over him back when he had yet to discover his talents for the art of writing, for whom he bestowed a wonderful range of other identities, one of them being 'completely irresponsibly middle aged women who instead of looking after me while you were acting like they were supposed to, instead watched daytime television.' The upside of it all was that he "got the plot of (his) first novel by watching [[OneLifeToLive One Life To Live]]". Nathan Fillion's first TV role was [[SoapOperaRapidAgingSyndrome Joey Buchanan]] on the soap opera One Life To Live. Subtly reprised by the episode, "One Life to Lose".
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** "Nanny McDead:" [=McDead=]:" Castle reminisces about the nannies Martha had watch over him back when he had yet to discover his talents for the art of writing, for whom he bestowed a wonderful range of other identities, one of them being 'completely irresponsibly middle aged women who instead of looking after me while you were acting like they were supposed to, instead watched daytime television.' The upside of it all was that he "got the plot of (his) first novel by watching [[OneLifeToLive One Life To Live]]". Nathan Fillion's first TV role was [[SoapOperaRapidAgingSyndrome Joey Buchanan]] on the soap opera One Life To Live. Subtly reprised by the episode, "One Life to Lose".
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** And Nurse McClintock in "Anatomy of a Murder". \\
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** And Nurse McClintock [=McClintock=] in "Anatomy of a Murder". \\
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* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: In ''The Limey'', the title character spends some time talking about [[IAmVeryBritish how amazingly English he is]], raised in the East End of London and educated at Eton -- unfortunately he does so in the broadest Australian accent this side of ''{{Neighbours}}''.
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** He also calls himself "Mulder" in "Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind", which revolves around aliens.
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** "Headhunters" opens with Castle playing with action figures, the exact same way the pilot of {{Firefly}} did, with Wash. Notably, this is the episode guest-starring other {{Firefly}} alumni Adam Baldwin as--what else?--a gun-toting, ruthless gang cop.
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Moved from main namespace.
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[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/CastleDerpHerp_53.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250:Richard Castle and Kate Beckett. Not pictured: intense UnresolvedSexualTension.]]
->''"I often say that'' Castle ''is'' {{Moonlighting}} ''[[XMeetsY meets]]'' MurderSheWrote ''having not really remembered ''Moonlighting'' and [[{{Dissimile}} never having actually seen]] ''Murder She Wrote''."''\\
--NathanFillion as quoted [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQKZ5r4QIak&NR=1#t=00m49s here]]
''{{Castle}}'' is a PoliceProcedural {{dramedy}} starring NathanFillion and Stana Katic.
Fillion plays mystery novelist Richard Castle, who is consulted by Detective Kate Beckett (Katic) of the NYPD after a killer begins copying murder scenes from Castle's books. When an obsessive fan is caught too quickly, it bothers his [[GenreSavvy writer's sensibilities]]; the capture was [[AllTooEasy too easy]]. Castle realizes that the man the police have arrested was framed, and helps to capture the real murderer. Enamored with the idea of solving crimes -- and a bit more enamored of working with his beautiful "muse" -- Castle calls in some favors and gets permission to do some [[ItsForABook research]] for his new series of books, starring a character based on Beckett. Together, TheyFightCrime! [[ChivalrousPervert Castle]] and [[BytheBookCop Beckett]] have some excellent on-screen chemistry going.
An interview with Fillion providing a lot of relevant information can be found [[http://tvblog.ugo.com/index.php/tvblog/more/nathan_fillion_talks_castle_and_a_little_itty_bit_of_whedon/ here.]]
----
Has a [[Recap/{{Castle}} recap]] page.
----
!!This series provides examples of:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder: A-D]]
* AbsenteeActor:
** Lanie is absent in a few episodes, replaced by the grumpy male ME Pearlmutter.
** Averted, somewhat, by the fact that Perlmutter appeared quite regularly in Season 2, and once each in Seasons 3 and 4. Including one episode, "The Double Down", where Lanie and Perlmutter work together on a case. Also by the fact that New York City has more than one medical examiner.
** Both Lanie and Captain Montgomery were missed in "Nikki Heat", presumably to make way for the big guest star.
** Captain Gates has been missing for swaths of episodes at a time in the 4th season. There's [[TyrantTakesTheHelm hating your boss]] so much you avoid her at every opportunity, and then there's ''this''.
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: "Last Call" comments on the New York sewer system (including the "alligators in the sewers" myth), making a sewer system near one of Castle old haunts (called, well, The Old Haunt) a perfect access to the storeroom for a speakeasy, which houses whiskey made by Mayor "Beau James" Walker.
* AbsurdlySharpBlade: "Heroes and Villains" opens with someone cutting someone in half head to groin.
* AccidentalAimingSkills: Castle in "Boom!", with appropriate ''{{Firefly}}'' ShoutOut ("I was aiming for his head!"). Although Castle ''had'' proved himself a good shot in an earlier episode (albeit against a stationary target and not against another person in the field).
** This discrepancy is usually explained by Castle being a crack shot on the gun range, but bad when under the influence of large amounts of adrenaline. [[ShownTheirWork As many people are]].
* ActionGirl: Kate Beckett
* ActorAllusion: The writers are excited to make {{shout out}}s to Nathan Fillion's ''{{Firefly}}'' days and he has no problem obliging their requests, even adding in little ones himself when appropriate. See the [[Trivia/{{Castle}} Trivia]] page for examples.
%% Please keep all other Firefly allusions to the Trivia page, and make sure it's not already there!
--> '''Alexis''': Didn't you wear that, like [[TooGoodToLast five years ago]]?\\
'''Castle''': So?\\
'''Alexis''': So, don't you think you should move on?\\
'''Castle''': I ''like'' it.
** In one episode, a minor character jokingly refers to Castle as "Jason Bateman". Castle retorts that their similar looks got him out of a traffic ticket once. This actually happened to Nathan Fillion [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwQ5PbuKdoE in real life]].
** A similar joke is made in "An Embarrassment of Bitches."
** "Nanny McDead:" Castle reminisces about the nannies Martha had watch over him back when he had yet to discover his talents for the art of writing, for whom he bestowed a wonderful range of other identities, one of them being 'completely irresponsibly middle aged women who instead of looking after me while you were acting like they were supposed to, instead watched daytime television.' The upside of it all was that he "got the plot of (his) first novel by watching [[OneLifeToLive One Life To Live]]". Nathan Fillion's first TV role was [[SoapOperaRapidAgingSyndrome Joey Buchanan]] on the soap opera One Life To Live. Subtly reprised by the episode, "One Life to Lose".
* {{Adorkable}}: Most prominently, Castle and Ryan. Castle, because he often gets giddy for the dorkiest reasons, and Ryan in general, because he's awkward, but in a cute way.
* AdultChild: Castle. Laser Tag. Radio hijinks. A Kevlar vest stenciled "WRITER" instead of "POLICE". Property on the moon, bought "last month."
** "One Man's Treasure" opens with him flying a remote-control toy helicopter around his loft, making the appropriate police narration and sound effects. Martha is not amused.
** He even calls himself out on it in "Lucky Stiff".
** In "Heroes and Villains", he notes that when he asked for an ET costume from his mom for Halloween, she claimed not to know how to sew. Plus, he was 31 when he asked.
* AffablyEvil: Lockwood. For a ruthless hired assassin he certainly seems quite courteous and considerate, taking a moment to genuinely complement Ryan and Esposito on their work in "Knockdown" and allowing the man he's about to kill a moment to prepare himself in "Knockout".
** Detective Ethan Slaughter, though YMMV.
* AffectionateParody: Kay Capuccio in "An Embarrassment of Bitches" is a good-natured parody of "celebrity bimbos" who appear to have gotten incredibly rich and famous for doing little of note; she's essentially depicted as being a bit of TheDitz, but [[SpoiledSweet sweet]], vulnerable, good-natured and a bit more intelligent than you'd expect under it all.
* AffectionatePickpocket:
** Alexis to her father as he was BoundAndGagged to a chair in Ep "A Rose Forever After". She says he wouldn't respect her otherwise.
** Beckett picks Castle's phone in ep "Poof! You're Dead"
-->'''Castle:''' "You had your hand in my pocket and I didn't even feel it? Do it again"
* AgentMulder / AgentScully: Whenever a case takes on a supernatural, paranormal and / or unusual edge, expect Castle to eagerly and credulously buy into the far-out explanation and Beckett to be the voice of pragmatic down-to-earth skepticism. In the beta duo, Ryan's usually the believer and Esposito the skeptic.
--> '''Castle:''' Law of averages says I'll eventually be right.
** In "He's Dead, She's Dead," Castle actually ''[[ShoutOut calls]]'' Beckett "Scully" when she keeps finding logical explanations for a so-called psychic's visions.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys:
** Played with in 'Food To Die For' and the bad boy chef who is the victim of the week: [[spoiler: He was in love with his adoptive brother's girlfriend and got her pregnant, but she ultimately rejected him because if she couldn't trust him as a man, she couldn't trust him as a father; this inspired him to change his ways and to propose to her.]] It's hinted that their relationship shares some parallels with how Castle and Beckett's seem to be developing.
** A closer examination of the Castle / Beckett dynamic, however, would suggest a subversion or an inversion; while Castle might have the surface reputation and appearance of a 'bad-boy' playboy and ladykiller, closer examination reveals him to be genuinely generous and kind-hearted, a devoted father and son, a loyal friend and partner and overall a good and decent man -- not quite the 'bad boy' we're initially lead to expect. The more we learn about Beckett, however, suggests there's more of a 'bad girl' to her nature than the surface suggests; as well as some of the wilder HiddenDepths she's hinted to have, the fallout over her mother's murder suggests a more broken and much darker character than just the upright police officer.
* AmericansAreCowboys: Scotland Yard detective Colin Hunt seems to be under this impression when he impersonates an American Homeland Security agent.
* AmicablyDivorced:
** Castle genuinely likes Alexis’ mother Meredith; he just doesn't particularly want to be married to her. They appear to have a quite cordial relationship and very little custody friction.
** Similarly with Castle and his second wife, Gina. She's still his publicist. However, they do fight whenever they try to start dating again.
* AnalogyBackfire[=/=]InsultBackfire:
** In "Little Girl Lost," Will, the FBI Guy calls Castle "NancyDrew."
-->'''Castle:''' "Is that supposed to be an insult? Because NancyDrew solved every one of her cases."
** Inverted in one scene which was put into the opening montage.
-->'''Castle:''' "Do I look like a killer to you?"\\
'''Beckett:''' "Yes, you kill my patience."
** And this:
-->'''Castle:''' "After 30 years of marriage, you still don't know what to get her?"\\
'''Montgomery:''' "It gets kind of difficult to stay original after the first ten." (Noting that Castle has been married twice for very short periods)
* AnchoredShip: [[spoiler: Castle]] and [[spoiler: Beckett,]] due to [[spoiler: Beckett not being able to have the kind of relationship she wants until she catches her mother's killer.]] Firmly cemented by the episode' Eye of the Beholder'. Type 1 ending is expected.
--> [[spoiler: '''Alexis''']]: Does she make you happy?\\
[[spoiler: '''Castle''']]: Yeah, she does.\\
[[spoiler: '''Alexis''']]: And is that enough?\\
[[spoiler: '''Castle''']]: It's enough for now.
* AndThatsTerrible: The reaction that Castle and Beckett have in "Famous Last Words" to [[spoiler: Ian having raped Haley and later killed her]] can be considered this.
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler: Castle to Beckett in the Season 3 finale, after she is shot.]]
* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler: Captain Montgomery in the Season 3 finale.]]
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: In Season 4, Kate's therapist generally asks her these as a means of getting her to realize her true feelings.
* ArcWords: "Always."
** Season 4, ep 23 is named "Always." Gee, wonder what ''that'' will be about...
* AreYouPonderingWhatImPondering: Beckett and Castle realize that their victim was afraid of change. They muse for a few seconds.
-->'''Castle:''' ''[claps hands]'' [[CrowningMomentOfFunny She hated]] [[BarackObama Obama]]!\\
'''Beckett:''' (ignores him)
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: This incident from "An Embarrassment of Bitches."
--->'''Kay Cappuchio:''' He could have seen me in the shower! He could have seen me in bed with Reggie! He could have seen me without my makeup!
* ArtisticLicenseAstronomy: The episode with the "alien abductions" features a radio astronomer involved with SETI. One plot point is that the victim was following an anomalous signal that turns out to have been a [[spoiler:Chinese spy]] satellite and thinks it might be an alien signal. Radio astronomers have to be careful to eliminate satellites first thing and have a number of ways to do ''just that''. No professional astronomer would be confused, titillated, or even momentarily stymied by a satellite. Well, maybe titillated. For giggles. [[spoiler: The plot did also involve her being subject to various mind-games, truth drugs and fake abduction techniques, however, which might have explained her disorientation and confusion.]]
* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Ashley's pet rat is stated to be five years old. This is ''technically'' possible, but the rat seen on the show must be ''far'' younger to be that active.
* [[AscendedFanboy Ascended Fangirl]]: Kate Beckett is secretly a big fan of Castle’s and Nikki Heat, the main character in his new books, is based on her. So much so that people mistook her for a character actress when she showed up for a book premiere. This gets to be problematic when an obsessed serial killer [[spoiler: stages his murders in order to test Nikki Heat.]]
* AscendedMeme: As of "One Life To Lose," the {{Portmanteau Couple Name}} "Esplanie" has been made canon.
* AsHimself:
** The other TV and mystery writers that Castle plays poker with are actual writers, including (the late) StephenJCannell, MichaelConnelly, JamesPatterson, and now DennisLehane.
--->"Ah! Oh, um... ({{beat}}) [[EmptyChairMemorial That's Cannell's seat.]]"
** Joe Torre, a baseball player and manager. Castle is fairly nonchalant, having met Joe before and not being overly interested in the game anyway, but Beckett can barely keep from {{Squee}}ing and immediately rushes off to call her dad to gloat. Torre asks Castle to say hi to Castle's mom for him.
** Chef Rocco Dispirito appeared in "Food to Die For" during Castle’s date with Beckett's high school BFF.
** Gene Simmons shows up in "To Love and Die in L.A." Castle finds this creepy because he was Simmons once for Halloween. Beckett does as well, for the same reason.
* AsideGlance: Twice, thus far, once when Martha asks him [[ActorAllusion if he's ever heard of the Serenity,]] although that was a FourthWallPsych at Alexis, and once more when Alexis was being evasive about her trip to Brooklyn.
* TheAtoner: As revealed at the end of season three, [[spoiler:Captain Roy Montgomery]].
* AudioErotica: In "Cops and Robbers", Trapper John describes Beckett as having a 'bedroom voice.'
* AutopsySnackTime: The Medical Examiner (Perlmutter) occasionally takes a meal in the mortuary.
* AwesomeButImpractical: Castle’s opinion of his Ferrari. He doesn't seem to mind it when Beckett gets behind the wheel, however.
-->'''Castle''': You know, I have one; not as cool as you'd think.\\
'''Esposito''': Yeah, but they're hella fast.\\
'''Castle''': As fast as any other car in rush hour traffic.
* BackForTheDead: [[spoiler:Mike Royce]] in "To Love and Die in L.A."
* BadassBoast: In "Knockdown", from ''Ryan'', of all people.
--> Ryan, [[spoiler: while being tortured in ice water]]: "Listen, assclown. I went to Catholic school for twelve years. Hell, they use to do this to me for talking in class."
* BadLiar:
** In "Poof, You're Dead", Esposito turns into this in order to conceal his big secret [[spoiler: namely, his relationship with Lanie]]:
--> '''Esposito''': Saw him perform a couple of weeks ago. Awesome, awesome show. We loved it.\\
'''Castle''': 'We'?\\
'''Esposito''': ''[Cornered]'' Yeah... me and my buddy... Ray.\\
'''Ryan''': [[PullTheThread You have a buddy named 'Ray' who you went with to a magic show?]]\\
'''Esposito''': Yeah. What about it?
** Both Ryan and Esposito are called out on this by Montgomery in "To Love and Die in L.A." when they are covering for Beckett.
* BaitAndSwitchGunshot: [[spoiler: A double-dose of StabTheScorpion variety at the end of "A Deadly Affair", as Castle and Beckett apparently point guns at each other, then each take out one-half of a husband and wife team of counterfeiters standing behind them both.]]
** [[spoiler:In Linchpin, Sophia is about to shoot Castle on the back of the head when a gunshot is heard... and Sophia falls to the floor, having been shot by Danberg.]]
* BaitAndSwitchTyrant: Captain Montgomery's replacement after his retirement [[spoiler:and death.]] Where Montgomery was happy to go along with the Mayor's request to let Castle hang around the bullpen and go on ride-alongs with Beckett because he was both amused by Castle's antics and impressed by his intelligence [[spoiler:as well as feeling sorry for getting Beckett's mother killed]], the new girl wastes no time in telling Castle he's no longer welcome and is on thin ice -- one screw-up and he won't just be ejected from the precinct, he'll be ''arrested.'' [[DefrostingIceQueen She warms up to him]], though. Slowly.
* BatmanColdOpen: "Heroes & Villains", appropriately, opens with a vigilante superhero intervening in an attempted rape. By cleaving the attempted rapist in two.
* BeautifulAllAlong: Trina, the model who woos Castle in "Inventing The Girl" and who's advances Castle is keen to encourage until he realizes that she's actually Alexis’ old babysitter and not that much older than she is, apparently did this; Castle remembers her as Katrina, "a gangly girl with stringy hair and braces", hence why he didn't initially recognize her:
--> '''Alexis''': She did the whole 'ugly duckling became a swan' thing, shortened her name and became a model.
* BedmateReveal: In the ColdOpen of "Poof, You're Dead", [[spoiler:Lanie and Esposito]].
* BelligerentSexualTension: [[LadykillerInLove Castle]] and [[BrokenBird Beckett]]. Oh so much.
* BenevolentBoss:
** [[BaldBlackLeaderGuy Captain Montgomery]] is made of awesome. One of his many highlights is a [[OneSceneWonder one-scene wonder]] in season premiere "A Deadly Affair". [[spoiler: He offers to keep Castle locked up for not calling Beckett after the summer break. This isn't him offering a favor or because he dislikes Castle or anything like that. He's just that nice (well, okay so locking someone up isn't nice but you know what we mean) of a guy who truly worries about his officers.]]
** In the Season 3 finale. It is discovered that [[spoiler:he is the missing 'third cop' who ransomed gangsters in the case of Beckett's mother. Lockwood threatens that he will kill his family unless he lures Beckett into a trap. Seemingly, he does, and Beckett falls into it, but he was actually luring Lockwood into a trap. He takes Lockwood's crew by surprise and kills three of them, before being fatally shot by Lockwood. And he still manages to take Lockwood out with him.]]
-->[[spoiler:This is where I make my stand.]]
* BetaCouple: Ryan and Jenny. Their relationship has been completely devoid of anything more than the usual misunderstandings, in complete contrast to Castle and Beckett's ups and downs.
* TheBigBoard:
** The police put one together for every case. Castle also has an electronic one in his office which he uses to plot his mysteries. The FBI brings in a fancy electronic smart board in "Tick, Tick, Tick" which Beckett shuns in favor of her old-fashioned whiteboard. In "Knockdown", Beckett reveals she's been keeping a big board on her mother's murder since the summer [[spoiler:(since any board she might have had before then was blown up with her old apartment).]] Also, Castle [[spoiler:reproduces the precinct Big Board]] at home in "Set Up", using a camera phone picture of it, a projector and a bed sheet. Beckett comments it smells nicer.
** Beckett also somehow manages to get a Big Board whilst in a fancy hotel in LA from Maurice the magical concierge.
** In "Rise", Castle has repurposed the board he had used to plot his novels to investigate who shot Beckett's mother.
* BigBrotherInstinct: "A Deadly Affair" has Ryan and Esposito act like this (in regards to Beckett) crossed with a woman scorned (themselves) in response to Castle’s return.
* BigDamnHeroes: Esposito and Ryan for Beckett and Castle in "Cuffed".
* BigSecret: In "A Deadly Game," a suspect lies to Beckett's face about killing a guy. [[spoiler:He didn't do it because he was having sex with the deceased's wife at the time.]] This is the go-to trope for many episodes of Castle.
* BitterAlmonds: In "[[ShoutOut Law]] [[Series/LawAndOrder and Murder]]."
* BlackBestFriend: Medical examiner Lanie Parish, Kate's only friend seen in the show, is a sassy black woman.
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in "Under The Gun," where Ryan jokes that Esposito would be the first to die in a horror movie as he was cocky ''and'' Hispanic. [[spoiler:Happens for real, when Montgomery is the first (and so far only) member of the main cast to die.]]
* BlandNameProduct:
** "Kill the Messenger" subtly [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this; Alexis is helping her grandmother create what the grandmother refers to as a [[MySpace My]][[FaceBook Face]] account. Alexis then neatly obscures the "real" name of the networking site:
-->'''Castle''': Don't you mean a --\\
'''Alexis''': Save your breath, I've been correcting her all morning.
** During "Suicide Squeeze", they never had licensing from Major League Baseball or any affiliate organization, so they used Joe Torre and an oblique mention of "The Big Move" (Joe Torre, at the time of the airing, had recently moved from the New York Yankees to the LA Dodgers) to sell the episode, though they kinda gave it away with "World Championship" instead of "World Series."
** The numerous "Ray's" pizza joints in NYC are renamed to "Nick's."
** Occupy Wall Street becomes Take Over Wall Street.
* BlatantLies:
** The drug-dealer in "Sucker Punch" (Trucho) who, after Beckett and Castle literally walk in on him having the shit kicked out of him by a rather angry member of the Irish Mob, blithely attempts to persuade them that he fell. And hit his badly-battered eye on a door. And put his hand on a grate to steady his fall.
-->'''Castle''': Well. Thanks for keeping it real.
** And then there is the character Random in the episode "Under the Gun":
-->'''Random''': I wasn't running away. I was jogging.\\
'''Beckett''': So what were you doing climbing down the side of a building?\\
'''Random''': Cross training. Better cardio-vascular workout.
** [[spoiler:Beckett herself lies to Castle and presumably everyone else in "Rise" what she remembers about the shooting, but finally admits to her shrink at the end, "I remember everything".]]
* BluffTheImpostor: In "Heroes and Villains", Beckett's about to get a confession off of a guy for a murder by a masked superhero when Castle tips her off to something, so she asks him about the murder and slips a detail out of whack. When the guy answers without correcting the slip, she knows he's not the killer.
* BluffingTheMurderer:
** In "One Life To Lose" [[spoiler: the murderer is exposed via a scene Castle has written for the soap opera that she and the victim wrote for, which exposes her motive -- an act of plagiarism -- via the characters on the show.]]
** In "Poof! You're Dead" [[spoiler: the murderer is exposed by the twin brother of the victim making a ghostly appearance while Castle and Beckett are sweating the suspect]]
* BodyOfTheWeek: Naturally for a murder mystery.
* BookEnds:
** The opening of "A Deadly Affair"
** "Setup" begins and ends with Castle and Beckett, locked together in an isolated room [[spoiler: (quarantine chamber, freezer)]], staring at each other in horror after making an unpleasant discovery.
** The two photos of Jane the victim that Ryan hands to Ben Lee in "Kick the Ballistics."
* BondOneLiner: At the end of "Always Buy Retail", [[spoiler:Castle distracts a baddie with a champagne bottle so Beckett can get the drop on him. After he's laid out, Castle goes "I think that deserves a toast!" and drinks.]] Castle’s quick to approve when the other characters do this:
--> '''Ryan''': ''[[spoiler: To a political campaign manager arrested for murder]]'' You can stop running, bro. The campaign's over.\\
'''Castle''': ''[Looks at Ryan approvingly]'' Ooh! Yes!\\
'''Beckett''' Go ahead, I need the practice.
* BrainBleach
-->'''Martha''': Honey, you know I've always loved younger men, they have so much energy, enough to keep up with me... Most of the time.\\
'''Castle''': ''[Haltingly]]'' I'm... I'm going to erase that image from my mind with a bottle of scotch.
* BrandX: Castle purchases a coffee machine labeled "Espresso Intenso", which is actually ''La Spaziale S5 Compact Ek''.
* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Alexis is a wonderful aversion of this {{trope}}. Her few almost-bratty moments have usually been inspired by Castle’s immaturity / over-protectiveness rather than teenage bitchiness. She displays the attitude mostly towards her mother... her mother that used the dead relative excuse (of someone who's been dead for six years already) to get her out of school to go shopping, which caused her to miss a Calculus test she studied a week for. At least her mom didn't take her out of the country again.
** It's at times hinted that Beckett herself went through one of these stages as a teenager; whenever Castle approaches her for advice with an issue he's got with Alexis, Beckett often seems to advice him directly from the perspective of someone who knows first hand what a Bratty Teenage Daughter can be like. It can be safely assumed that even if she hadn't grown out of it by then the death of her mother put a rather brutal end to this stage, however.
* BreakTheCutie: "3xk" does a number on Castle and leaves him with a few cracks. [[spoiler: Normally, even serial killers don't rattle Castle that much. He knows them very well. But the Triple Killer not only [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy out-Castles Castle]], but leaves him alive knowing that Castle couldn't stop him and because Castle couldn't stop him, the Triple Killer will resume killing.]]
* BreatherEpisode:
** "Almost Famous," which aired after "3XK," [[spoiler: in which the bad guy got away in the end]].
** "One Life to Lose" after the tense two-parter "Setup" & "Countdown" [[spoiler: In which Castle disarms the dirty TimeBomb]]
** The episodes after episodes on Beckett's mother are breather eps. ("The Third Man" after "Sucker Punch", "Lucky Stiff" after "Knockdown", "Heroes and Villains" after "Knockout" and "Rise")
* BrickJoke: "Honey milk." Also the correct meaning and use of irony.
* BrokenBird: Kate. To put it in perspective, in most shows, her brokenness would be a background plot point and the underlying cause of some sort of wackiness that everyone just puts up with. Here... [[spoiler: while her mom dies before the start of the series, her other two mentors in life die on screen in equally violent ways.]]
* BrokenPedestal:
** Beckett's former partner turned bounty hunter Mike Royce in "Under the Gun" throws it all away for a rumored buried treasure. [[spoiler:Still, when he turns up murdered in "To Love and Die in L.A.", she chases the guy who killed him across the country.]]
** Castle faces this in "The Final Nail" when his old school friend Damian Westlake -- who, years before, had supported and encouraged him in his writing -- is the prime suspect in the brutal murder of his wife. [[spoiler: Double subverted -- Westlake didn't murder his wife, but he ''did'' hire another old classmate to murder his father years before.]]
** Surprisingly averted with [[spoiler: Captain Montgomery.]] After explaining how and why he did what he did, and that his entire career has been an attempt to atone for his actions, he performs a HeroicSacrifice in order to TakeAThirdOption, and the only people who know his past decide to keep it quiet in honor of the man he became.
** Another one for Castle--[[spoiler:Sophia, the inspiration for Derrick Storm's Clara Strike character, as revealed in "Linchpin."]]
** Following his discovery in "47 Seconds" that Beckett remembered her entire gunshot ordeal, including Castle's admission that he loved her, Castle came away very hurt that his partner and love interest could have deceived him about it as long as she did. This has led him to pull away from her, which everyone at the precinct seems to notice (except for Gates, who likely doesn't give a damn.) In "The Limey" Lanie appropriately calls her on her BS before it becomes apparent (read: Castle pulling up to a crime scene in a sports car with a hot blonde) that Beckett has missed her window. (Note: most of this info appears in the promos for the episodes, so spoilers don't apply.)
* TheButlerDidIt:
** The victim in "Lucky Stiff" employed a butler. As it's the first time they've ever encountered one, Castle is ''desperate'' for it to be him. [[spoiler: It wasn't, but the butler ''was'' ripping the victim off.]]
** He [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it in "Famous Last Words" as who he'd pick as the murderer in a particularly tricky part of solving the case. The victim here didn't even ''have'' one.
** Averted in "A Dance with Death". Surprisingly, the trope is not brought up at all by Castle this time.
* BumblingDad: As often as this gets played straight, it gets averted a few memorable times, most notably when Castle’s [[DaddysGirl daughter]] is at a party with spiked punch, and her friend got drunk, and he acts exactly as how every parent in the world would hope to.
** It's mostly subverted: [[PapaWolf Castle is looking out for his daughter]] and knows how to handle most situations like a responsible adult, but his AdultChild side carries over into his parenting.
* BulletproofVest: Castle gets himself a custom one that says "WRITER". Subverted, however, as he's not shot or even shot at while wearing it. He wears it in subsequent seasons, and it's included in the opening montage. Yay for continuity!
* TheButcher: Of Benin, in "Always Buy Retail".
** And Tony TheButcher in "Heroes and Villains".
** Variation: as if running around with the name Ethan Slaughter or being played by Adam Baldwin isn't badass enough, his nickname is The Widowmaker, for the three partners who've been KIA'd while working with him. Two on their first day.
* ButtMonkey:
** Ryan seems to be the member of the team who usually gets everything dumped on him. He and Esposito sometimes manage to turn the tables, though.
** Esposito fills the role in "Punked", thanks to the increasing amount of slapstick physical encounters -- and resulting injuries -- he's subject to.
* CaliforniaDoubling: ''Castle'' is not filmed in New York, but Los Angeles. If you're someone who lives in Southern California (or knows the general L.A. area), then you can easily spot an orange Los Angeles Metro Bus just driving by in the background once in a while.
* CallBack:
** In "Sucker Punch", the senior coroner Lanie calls to confirm her suspicions about the murder (namely, that the guy who did it also killed Beckett's mother) is the same "Dr. Death" Castle regularly consults with, including in "A Death in the Family" to review Beckett's mother's case file.
** In "Little Girl Lost", Beckett and Castle have a conversation in an elevator about Beckett’s ex-boyfriend which begins with Beckett preempting Castle’s curious question about him. They have pretty much the same conversation in "A Rose For Everafter", except with the roles switched and Castle’s ex-girlfriend the subject. ("I didn't ask." "Yes, you were 'not asking' very loudly.")
** "Almost Famous": "Do you have any brochures? I'm looking for an apartment. Mine blew up."
** "Countdown": [[spoiler: The final scene, where Castle appears to be on the verge of asking Beckett out only to lose his nerve upon seeing her boyfriend Josh, mirrors the end of "A Deadly Game" where the roles were reversed and Beckett was in the exact same position as Castle, only for Gina to show up.]]
** "One Life to Live": Remember the Old Haunt, the bar Castle brought? It's brought up in this episode when Ryan mentions to Esposito and Castle that he found a quicker route to the place and mentions he knows the owner.
*** It is mentioned again at the end of "Cops and Robbers" when Beckett asked Castle if he wants to go there after they saved the day.
*** In "Law & Murder" the DA offered Montgomery a red bottle of 1875 scotch. Those could only have come from the old cache that was found under the Old Haunt.
** "Law & Murder": "Can we stop at Remy's for burgers on the way?" Remy's is the burger joint they went to after wrapping up the case in "The Third Man".
** Natalie Rhodes is not on set because she went back into rehab in "To Love and Die in L.A.".
** The pilot: "My safe word is apples." A few episodes later: Beckett grabs him by the nose, "Apples! Apples!" Season two: They visit a dominatrix club. "My safe word is apples."
** In "Rise", it turns out that Beckett has not called Castle in the whole summer. Pretty much like Castle did the year before.
** In "Pretty Dead", one suspect claims as his alibi, "I was with Councilman Bollinger." Bollinger was the man running in the election from season 1's "Hell Hath No Fury."
* CallingMeALogarithm: After a safe deposit box belonging to a mob figure is broken into, the mobster claims it contained his stamp collection. One of the cops asks him how long he has been a philatelist. His response is "Hey! I don't roll that way!".
* CampStraight: Castle was called a metrosexual in "The Third Man," though he's a pretty mild example. He has a fine appreciation for good interior decorating and fashion.
* CannotSpitItOut: Both Castle ''and'' Beckett.
** It happened twice for Castle: first, in "When the Bough Breaks" at the launch party after Beckett read the sweet dedication he made to her in ''Heat Wave'' and rather than telling her how he felt about her, he launched into a theory about the Killer of the Week, giving Beckett MoodWhiplash; second, in the same episode at the end when he thought they had worked their last case and instead of confessing his feelings he offered her an awkward handshake. Sigh. Oh, Castle.
** Beckett suffered from a small version of this in "A Deadly Game" in a couple different occasions because Castle is apparently ObliviousToLove. The end of the episode resulted in her becoming TheWoobie as she watched him walk away with his ex-wife not knowing how she felt. Sigh. Oh, Beckett.
** When they're not mucking things up themselves, small events and bad timing seems to add to the confusion. Sigh. Oh, you two.
** A darker version in "Knockdown"; Detective John Raglan, with vital information to pass on to Beckett about her mother's case, instead nervously rambles on about coffee and Jacob Marley from ''AChristmasCarol'' for a few moments. This, naturally, gives the sinister conspiracy behind her mother's death ample opportunity to ensure [[HisNameIs Raglan never reveals anything to anyone ever again]].
** Also, in "Knockdown", When Castle shows up at Beckett's apartment, and she asks him "Why do you keep coming back, Rick?", the answer is all over his face, but not coming out of his mouth.
** Castle also gets a heartbreaking moment in "Knockout"
---> '''Castle:''' If, if ''anything'' happens to her... It...*sighs*\\
'''Martha:''' Go on.\\
'''Castle:''' I-I...\\
'''Martha:''' Oh, Richard, Richard. For a man who makes a living with words, you sure have a hell of a time finding them when it counts.
** [[spoiler: Finally averted on Castle's end in the Season 3 finale. He confesses his love to Beckett as she's lying on the ground, losing consciousness, having just been shot in the chest by a sniper.]]
** In "Eye of the Beholder", Kate's therapist asks her why the thought of Castle liking another woman bothers her and she responds, "Because he's supposed to be..." and stops before she can say what she really means, instead settling for "my partner."
** In "47 Seconds", after thinking about how short life is after a bomb explodes in the middle of a protest, Castle is ready to tell Beckett his feelings for her, but he gets interrupted several times... and later he accidentally discovers that [[spoiler:Kate remembers what happened after she was shot]]. This makes him stop trying to tell her.
* TheCastShowoff: Castle [[WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog finally sings]] along with the other cast members (minus Lanie) as they head out for a drink at the end of "Last Call."
** While not necessarily the normal definition of a cast showoff, "Kill Shot" gives Jon Huertas (Esposito) an opportunity to show off his military training and knowledge.
** And in "Blue Butterfly", Lanie (well, a fictional version, sorta; let's just say Tamala Jones and end it at that) does a few song numbers. And wow, she's pretty darn good.
** Stana Katic got to impersonate a Russian/accent; one of several Slavic languages she actually speaks in real life.
* CasualKink:
** Beckett loves [[FetishFuel teasing]] Castle with this, by delivering the quotes listed in CoolBike and HeadTiltinglyKinky without blinking.
** Just about all of "The Mistress Always Spanks Twice" but especially...
---> '''Beckett:'''Bondage cuffs, custom made. Looks like our killer liked public play.\\
'''Castle:''' How can you tell the difference between custom and regular?\\
'''Beckett:''' The leather is too high quality to be mass produced and it's hand stitched.\\
'''Castle:''' No, I mean how can ''you'' tell the difference?
** And...
--->'''Lanie:''' I can do the chocolate, I'll even do the whipped cream bikini, but caramel? I prefer slippery to sticky."\\
'''Castle:''' Does she know we can hear her?
** In "Poof! You're Dead:"
--->'''Castle''': I never pegged you for a magic fan. You know any good tricks?\\
'''Beckett''': I do have this one thing with ice cubes.\\
'''Castle''': (''steadies himself against a display window'')
** For a non-Beckett example, see DidIJustSayThatOutLoud.
** Also, Castle has offhandedly mentioned that his safe word is "apples." [[ContinuityNod Twice thus far.]]
** At the end of "Cuffed", Beckett suggests the possibility that she might be amenable to [[spoiler:cuffing herself to Castle]]. Castle's face says everything.
* CelebrityEndorsement: Castle apparently makes his up without reading the books.
* CelebrityIsOverrated: Played with; although Castle is overall quite happy being a famous, successful novelist, he was clearly getting a bit bored with the whole thing by the pilot, which is partly why he enjoys hanging out with the down-to-earth Beckett and solving mysteries with the other cops.
* CelebrityParadox:
** Martha would just be in all the roles Susan Sullivan has had.
** And, in fact, there's at least one scene of Martha watching an old role of hers--Susan Sullivan in an episode of ''The Incredible Hulk''.
** Since Castle seems to be familiar with ''DesperateHousewives'', it would be interesting to know who played [[NathanFillion Adam]] and [[DanaDelany Katherine]] Mayfair in this universe.
* CensorshipBySpelling: {{Lampshaded}} when Esposito, nervously looking at Alexis who happens to be in the squad room, spells out B-I-T-C-H. Alexis and her father give each other a disgusted look.
-->'''Castle''': She can spell, Detective.\\
'''Ryan''': Probably better than you!
* CerebusSyndrome: There has been a noticable shift towards more hard hitting, emotionally engaging storylines roughly starting with the second season's two-part episode special '''Tick, Tick, Tick... Boom'''. The enjoyable light comedy is still there, but episodes focusing on Beckett's overall StoryArc tend to be darker in tone.
** Executive Producer Andrew Marlowe has said that if Castle is renewed for a fifth season, that it will be a return to the lighter, funnier tone of the early seasons.
* ChainedHeat: Castle and Beckett wake up handcuffed together and LockedInARoom in "Cuffed". This trope is lampshaded by Esposito and Ryan when discussing how a relationship can have a make-or-break moment when two people are stuck together in close proximity. Castle and Beckett pass with flying colours of course.
** Anybody think that ChainedHeat could be a great title for a Nikki Heat novel?
* CharacterBlog:
** Richard Castle [[http://twitter.com/WriteRCastle has a Twitter]].
** And his own [[http://www.richardcastle.net/ web site]].
** Not to mention three novels.
* CharityBall: In one episode, the main cast goes to a charity ball in order to track down the murderer of the week.
* TheCharmer: Castle is ''very'' popular with the ladies.
* TheCheerleader: Played with in "The Mistress Always Spanks Twice" where Alexis considers trying out for the team but decides she doesn't want to devote the time and effort it would take away from her other activities.
-->'''Castle''': [[AnAesop Well, we both learned a valuable lesson today]]. You learned you can expand your horizons and grow. ''I'' learned that [[OverprotectiveDad if that involves short skirts and boys]] ''[[SpoofAesop I'm not gonna like it]]''.
* TheChessmaster: Alexis spends most of "Under The Gun" trying to get Castle to get her a scooter. In the end, she tells her dad that she no longer wants one after realizing she would have to sell a childhood memento to do so. Castle is much relieved and though he will not buy her a scooter, he will buy himself a scooter and maybe she can borrow it. To which she happily accepts and adds a:
-->'''Alexis''': ...and when you're using the scooter, I can borrow the car!
* ChekhovsGun:
** In "Vampire Weekend", the grave that Castle notices before they find the body turns out to be [[spoiler:the grave of the deceased's mother, who was murdered by the nanny, who then murdered the deceased when he confronted her about it...in front of her grave.]]
** In "The Fifth Bullet", when Castle arrives at the crime scene he is enamored by a dog that had been tied up near the crime scene. It turns out that the dog belongs to the amnesiac in the episode, thus helping to identify Jay.
** In "Murder Most Fowl", the circuit breakers invented by the victim are critical to apprehending his killers.
** "Knockout": [[spoiler:The Captain]] is seen loading his Colt Detective Special, and a two-shot derringer. Which makes the subsequent fight DramaticIrony, since even viewers unfamiliar with the CG concept are likely counting the bullets fired from the revolver and waiting for the derringer to come out.
** "Rise": [[spoiler:Castle's [[TheBigBoard Big Board]] which he used to plot his mysteries, is now co-opted for Johanna Beckett's murder.]]
** "Heroes and Villains": [[spoiler:Castle points out that the "hero" they're after based his costume on various comic-book heroes with dead parents, indicating they lost one or both of their parents. He's right.]]
** "Kick The Ballistics": [[spoiler: The gun that 3XK takes from Detective Ryan while escaping police custody.]]
** "Blue Butterfly": The brick that falls off the wall when Joe is thrown from the bar.
* ChekhovsGunman: Another go-to trope for writers of the series. For example, the deceased art gallery's owner's assistant in "The Fifth Bullet", Darius. Not only did he do it, but he's not Darius (he used his roommate's identity to get the job.)
** In "Heroes and Villains", we get a very specific shot [[spoiler:of the officer who discovered the body of a "superhero"'s victim. Guess who turns out to be the superhero? But she actually didn't do it]].
* TheChewToy: Esposito's injuries in "Punked" is played for laughs...and he gets some of it back in the end.
* ChinaTakesOverTheWorld: In "Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind," the killer was working for a Chinese intelligence agent looking to obtain U.S. military secrets.
** In the two-parter "Pandora"/"Linchpin", a Chinese official is the intended ''victim''... but only because the villains have discovered that [[spoiler:China has the power to destroy American pre-eminence forever with a stroke of the pen.]]
* ChivalrousPervert: Castle.
** "Love Me Dead" has Castle and Beckett enlisting the help of a call girl to solve the case. At first Castle reacts as you'd expect -- "[When she gets here] tell her to wear something sexy!" -- but when she shows up beaten in his house, his first instinct is to get her medical help, [[AboveTheInfluence even when she tries to kiss him]]. Quite reminiscent of [[{{Firefly}} a previous role]], in fact.
** In "Tick, Tick, Tick," [[ThoseTwoGuys the other cops]] show up at Beckett's apartment to find Castle making her pancakes at 7:00 in the morning. When they jump to the (mistaken) obvious conclusion, Castle is quick to correct them instead of going along with it.
* CliffHanger: ''Tick... Tick... Tick...''. [[spoiler:Beckett's apartment explodes just as Castle tells her that the killer is still alive. [[strike:Most people]] EVERYONE knows that her PlotArmor will protect her, but still.]] [[YouBastard Those bastards!]]
** The other two-parters have usually had a similar cliffhanger. In Season 3, it was that Castle and Beckett [[spoiler:are locked in a freezer, slowly dying of hypothermia]]. In Season 4, Castle and Beckett were [[spoiler:in a car that was pushed into the Hudson River]].
** The cliffhanger for the season 3 finale, where Beckett is [[spoiler: shot by a sniper and in critical condition]].
* CombatStilettos:
** "Home is Where The Heart Stops" has a [[FootFocus close-up]] of Beckett's [[FetishFuel high-heeled boots crushing a suspect's hand]], though they're not stilettos.
** "A Deadly Affair" has Beckett's introduction be a low-to-the-ground shot of her stilettos. While not a combat situation, it's certainly sticks out.
** In episode 2x18, near the end Special Agent Jordan Shaw catches the serial killers gun with some pretty deadly heels!
** Lampshaded by her former training officer to which Beckett plays a straight answer.
** Further lampshaded in "Nikki Heat" in which the actress (in-universe) playing Nikki Heat notices them and notes they must be hard to run in and that Beckett must use them to get a authority from the height advantage. Beckett acknowledges that it helps, but she mainly wears them because she likes them.
** Lampshaded again in "Cuffed" when Beckett asks Castle to take off her boots. "How do you run in these things?"
* ColdOpen: Every episode, except season and midseason finales, which have a PreviouslyOn.
* ContinuityNod:
** Remember kids, Castle's bondage SafeWord is "apples". First mentioned in the pilot and again in the bondage themed episode "The Mistress Always Spanks Twice." (2x16)
** At the beginning of "Boom!", Beckett asks if anyone has seen her father's watch. Castle ducks out of the building saying, hastily "It's not in the hall". Turns out [[spoiler: whether or not it was actually in the hall, Castle did find it, but it was broken, and you can see him tucking it into his pocket in that scene so that he can have it repaired before giving it back to Beckett.]]
** During the cold open of the Season 3 opener, Ryan sees a cardboard cutout of Castle and says, [[EvenTheGuysWantHim Wow, he really is ruggedly handsome]].
** 3x10, they find a cache of Prohibition era liquor which they turn over to the city. Nine episodes later the DA asks someone to celebrate with him, because he just got a bottle of it.
** In "Dead Pool" Ryan and Esposito tell a young writer Castle is mentoring about a previous case, which was "Knockdown".
** "Kick the Ballistics" has [[spoiler: 3XK]] come back into focus.
** 4x07, "Cops and Robbers": Castle has apparently been keeping track of the many times he's saved Beckett's life (9 to be exact) and when she dares him to recount these incidents, he specifically mentions distracting the gunman in the Season 1 episode "Always Buy Retail" with a champagne bottle and the Season 2 episode "Tick, Tick, Tick" when he [[spoiler: warns her about the bomb in her apartment.]]
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment:
** In "Sucker Punch", Castle's proposed strategy for getting Johnny Vong to talk is "force him to watch Paris Hilton videos".
** In "Home Is Where The Heart Stops" Castle reconnects with Powell, a retired cat-burglar who was forced to retire because Castle, using him as a source for a book, ended up blowing his cover. Powell gets his revenge... by crashing a high-society benefit which Castle and Beckett have infiltrated. And bringing Martha along. Castle suddenly finds himself the subject of an impromptu one-man bachelor auction.
--->'''Powell''': ''[smugly]'' Now we're even.
* CoolBike: Beckett owns a Harley softail. Also counts as FetishFuel since Beckett teases Castle with:
-->'''Castle''': Why don't you show me a picture of the bike?\\
'''Beckett''': Because I don't think you could handle the sight of ''[[FetishFuel me straddling it in tight black leather]].''
* CoolGun: "Under The Gun" in the climactic scene, Beckett and Ryan have their usual service pistols. Esposito? He has a [=M4A1=] Carbine with combat grip and some other attachments.
* TheCoroner: ME Lanie Parish, who is also Beckett's BlackBestFriend. Also, a different, grumpy coroner named Perlmutter was introduced in "The Double Down." He appeared several times in Season 2 and once or twice in every season since.
* CorruptPolitician: A mild example in a DA willing to subvert the justice system and convict an innocent man to make sure he has funding for re-election. Okay, not that mild.
** Subverted in "Dial 'M' for Mayor" -- We are led to suspect the Mayor has embezzled funds and tried to cover it with a murder. He claims he is being framed by a conspiracy. It turns out that he is right.
%%
%% Let's leave the Crowning stuff to the crowning pages/crowners
%%
* CowboyCop: Deconstructed. It's revealed that a group of cowboy cops [[spoiler:killed an undercover FBI agent investigating a mobster and set into motion the events that led to Johanna Beckett's murder.]]
** Det. Slaughter (played by Adam Baldwin) in "Headhunters" plays this for laughs, it's exactly what would happen if Jayne Cobb got made detective.
* CyanidePill:
** Subverted in "Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind" when Castle stops the Chinese agent from this:
-->'''Castle:''' Cyanide Capsule!. (sweeps item from man's mouth) Eww, Gum.
** Played absolutely straight in "Head Case" [[spoiler: when a murderer commits suicide by this method in order to join her husband in death/cryonic freezing after killing him.]]
* DaddysGirl: Alexis Castle, Castle's daughter.
* TheDandy: Castle is ''such'' a metrosexual. He's starting to influence Ryan and Esposito, amusingly enough.
-->'''Castle''': (searching an apartment) You see this moulding? That's the original wood. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt6XDPQZrj8 Gorgeous!]] I bet the bathrooms have marble wainscoting.
* DangerTakesABackSeat: Happens in "Boom" to Special Agent Shaw of all people.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Though the show tends towards being a lighthearted comedy, episodes about [[MythArc Beckett's mother's murder]] and two-parter half season finales have a tendency to be very dark.
* DawsonCasting:
** Averted. Both Alexis and Molly Quinn are 15 (at the start of the show).
** Played straight with some guest stars, though: In "Suicide Squeeze", a 17-year-old was played by a 4-foot-10 30-year-old actress. The actress did not really look at all like a 17 year old... just like a short adult.
* ADayInTheLimelight:
** Esposito gets much more of a focus than usual in "Den of Thieves."
** Ryan's time comes in "Kick the Ballistics."
* DeadManWriting: Mike Royce's letter to Beckett in "To Love and Die in L.A." It's also a VoiceoverLetter at the end, revealing [[spoiler:[[EveryoneCanSeeIt Mike sees that she has something special with Castle]]]]
* DeadPartner: Used as Esposito's backstory for "Den of Thieves." [[spoiler:Except it turns out he's not quite dead after all, and in fact is the suspect for the killing of the BodyOfTheWeek.]]
* DeadpanSnarker: Beckett to Castle mostly.
* DeathByLookingUp: The VictimOfTheWeek in "Wrapped Up In Death". Cause of Death: Falling Gargoyle.
* DeathByOriginStory: Beckett's mother.
* DeathEqualsRedemption:
** When Detective Raglan realizes he is dying, he contacts Beckett and tries to tell her about his role in her mother's death.
** [[spoiler:Captain Montgomery]]
* DeathGlare:
** Beckett has one and it is almost ''always'' aimed at [[FunPersonified Castle.]]
** Castle, in turn, aims one at Beckett when she agrees to spend time with Alex Conrad, the writer he's mentoring.
** Lampshaded in "Demons" when ''Ryan'' gets one from Beckett after offering to help Castle investigate the so-called "haunted house":
-->'''Castle:''' Ooh, that's a look.\\
'''Ryan:''' Yeah.\\
'''Castle:''' I get these a lot. Just start walking. ''Faster''. ''[They scurry off]''
* DeceasedFallGuyGambit:
** What the real killer was trying to do in the pilot, though the patsy is insane, not dead. He might have gotten away with it had Castle not had the first of his many YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle realizations.
** In "Tick, Tick, Tick..." the perp kills another guy in view of Castle and Beckett and makes it look as though it was a suicide. Castle has another such realization and is able to warn Beckett just before [[spoiler:the perp blows apartment up with her in it.]]
** The perps in [[spoiler: "Setup"[=/=]"Countdown"]] were ''planning'' on this, but didn't count on one of their planned patsies getting suspicious and stumbling on their plan early, forcing them to off him ahead of schedule. [[spoiler: Didn't stop them planning on doing the same to his wife, however.]]
* DeconstructorFleet: A quick scan of this page will show you how many tropes are [[SubvertedTrope subverted]], [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] and otherwise [[PlayingWithATrope played with]] -- as befits a PoliceProcedural where the title character is a [[GenreSavvy mystery writer]].
* {{Defictionalization}}:
** ''[[http://abc.go.com/shows/castle/heat-wave Heat Wave]]'', the first Nikki Heat novel made it onto the Times bestseller list as did ''[[http://abc.go.com/shows/castle/naked-heat Naked Heat]]'' and ''[[http://abc.go.com/shows/castle/heat-rises Heat Rises]]''.
** ''[[http://www.richardcastle.net/news/storm-graphic-novel Deadly Storm]]'' is a graphic novel "adaptation" of the first Derrick Storm novel. ''Storm Rises'' has also been announced.
* DepravedBisexual: Averted in "Vampire Weekend". Crow is bisexual and, as a member of a vampire cult, very strange, but he's the victim, not the villain. The killer hoped to take advantage of this trope to pin the murder on his freaky friends.
* DidIJustSayThatOutLoud:
** Det. Ryan in "The Double Down" after "So much for my famous warm honeymilk with Jenny tonight." This is mentioned in a subsequent episode when Ryan is introduced to a Vice cop that Esposito knows, and right after the introduction the Vice cops asks Esposito "Honeymilk?"
** Also in "Sucker Punch", when the team is investigating a late night infomercial host who's "I'll make you rich!" program -- which Ryan has been slightly suckered into -- is a front for heroin smuggling:
---> '''Beckett''': Someone on this end had to know which boxes contained the drugs.\\
'''Ryan''': ''[Absently]'' And which boxes contained the secret path to financial independence.''[Everyone looks at him; he realizes]'' ... What?
** Inverted in "The Mistress Always Spanks Twice" when, over the body of a young woman found in her underwear covered in caramel sauce, Lanie matter-of-factly discusses her own [[IncrediblyLamePun tastes]] in this area, much to Castle and Ryan's interest:
--> '''Lanie''': I can do the chocolate, I'll even do the whipped cream bikini, but caramel? I prefer slippery to sticky.\\
'''Castle''': ... Does she know we can hear her?
** Upon seeing Natalie Rhodes enter the room wearing a wig and a suit to make her look like the double of Beckett:
--> '''Castle''': ''[wondering]'' Just like I dreamed it! ''[Beckett stares at him]'' DidISayThatOutLoud?
* DieForOurShip: Parodied in "One Life To Lose" though it's a writer, not a character, that the shippers want dead. The shipper didn't kill the writer, but she was quite happy about her death. {{invoked}}
* DisappearedDad: Castle doesn't know who his father is. Unlike many other examples of the trope, however, he seems quite free from bitterness or {{Wangst}} over this fact (as he says, it gives him the chance to imagine his father as whatever he wants to think). It probably goes some way towards explaining both why he's a bit of a ManChild and so devoted to Alexis, however.
** [[spoiler:Something Sophia said at the end of Linchpin may indicate that Castle's father worked at the CIA. However, given that she was a USSR double agent, it might have just been a bunch of BlatantLies.]]
* DisneyDogFight: Parodied at the end of "An Embarrassment of Bitches". Castle vs. Beckett, winner: Kay Capuccio!
* DistractedByMyOwnSexy: During an investigation, our hero sees himself on an electronics store camera and remarks "I really am ruggedly handsome.' Of course, he is played by NathanFillion. This actually an aversion... he had actually gone over there to see if any footage of the killer might be available.
* DistressedDamsel / DistressedDude: Both Beckett and Castle seem to have a knack of getting into distressing situations requiring the other to rescue them. In "Cops and Robbers" we learn that Castle has apparently been keeping score and that by his count he's saved Beckett's life nine times while she's only saved his eight in return. Beckett is less-than-impressed by either revelation.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:
** Would be a [[StockVisualMetaphors Stock Visual Metaphor]] but for the "Stock" bit. In the opening scene of "Wrapped Up in Death," we see a gargoyle plummet towards the soon-to-be-BodyOfTheWeek, and just before [[YourHeadAsplode his head ends up being splatted much like a tomato by a hammer]], we cut to a scene of a tomato getting splatted by a hammer (as wielded by Alexis).
** In "Heroes And Villains", Castle and Beckett watch another writer and his muse (an attractive female cop driven by the death of her parent) leave the office. Castle invokes this trope...only to watch the other two kiss (as they are a couple). Cue an awkward exit, stage left by Castle.
*** At the start of the episode, we see the victim of the week getting split in silhouette, cut to Castle chopping vegetables with a cleaver.
** The "let's try to push the freezer" scene of "Cuffed" purposely invokes the sexual version of trope for [[ShipTease ship teasing purposes.]] It is incredibly effective. Also, hilariously lampshaded:
-->'''Beckett''': ''(with her back pressed to Castle's front before they push)'' You better not be--
-->'''Castle''': --enjoying this? I'll let you know in a minute.
** "Headhunters" has Castle work with another detective while Beckett's busy in court. While what it might mean for the Castle-Beckett not-relationship is explicitly discussed by Beckett and her psychiatrist, Esposito and Ryan are both miffed, and Ryan openly says it feels like Castle's "cheating" on them.
* [[DontCallMeSir Don't Call Me Ma'am]]: Captain Gates insists on being called "sir".
* DoubleDate: In "The Third Man"; they're too busy talking about the case to enjoy their dates...and by the end they both step out, leaving their dates to hook up.
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:"3XK" .]] (Just saying the episode name is a spoiler.)
* {{Dualvertisement}}: Tom Bergeron plays a [[spoiler:murdered]] talk show host in one episode. Not so coincidentally, Bergeron is the host of ''DancingWithTheStars'', which airs right before ''Castle''. Later, Castle did an episode with a BrandX version of Dancing With The Stars.
* DudeNotIronic: Inverted; Castle is very pleased when other characters ''correctly'' identify irony.
* DumbBlonde: Subverted with Natalie Rhodes in "Nikki Heat". She looks like standard a B-movie horror actress at first, and then the team get to meet her and find out she's smart, a good actress, very perceptive, and extremely dedicated to her art. The rumor about her [[SeriousBusiness living in a crawlspace for a week]] for a horror movie about a crawlspace wasn't true, though. [[spoiler:It was actually a month.]]
* DyeingForYourArt: In addition to the spoiler above, Natalie Rhodes used a complete makeover to "come closer" to Beckett's style, including using a wig to change her hair from blonde to brunette (''neither'' of which happens to be Laura Prepon's natural hair color).
* DyingDeclarationOfLove: The final scene of the third season. [[spoiler:Except that she doesn't, you know, actually die or anything.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder: E-H]]
* EasyAmnesia: {{Averted}} in "The Fifth Bullet", esp. with the easy recall that comes with it. It's lampshaded:
-->'''"J":''' Is this the point where I start getting all those flashes of memory until it all clicks into place?\\
'''Ryan:''' You've watched too many movies. \\
'''"J":''' That I can't remember. \\
'''Ryan:''' Wow, kind of a chicken-n-egg situation, isn't it?\\
'''"J":''' Welcome to my world.
* EggSitting: in "Vampire Weekend". His name was [[IncrediblyLamePun F]]''[[IncrediblyLamePun egg]]''[[IncrediblyLamePun an]] and was murdered by Alexis' friend after she called her dad after her friend drank too much from a spiked punchbowl.
* TheElevatorFromIpanema: Esposito, Ryan, and a SWAT team ride in one in "Eye of the Beholder".
* ElvisImpersonator: Castle, Ryan, and Esposito dress up in full regalia in order to sneak into a casino after being kicked out in "Heartbreak Hotel".
* EmbarrassingNickname: One of Alexis' new friends, Buttons. Even worse when you pair it with her last name, Dutton.
-->'''Alexis''': What's so wrong with that?\\
'''Castle''': C'mon! It'd be like calling you Rassle or Tassle or...No Hassle Castle.
* EmptyChairMemorial:
** As a tribute to the late Stephen J. Cannell, in "The Dead Pool" it's revealed that his chair in the writers poker game Castle hosts will remain empty for one year.
-->'''Castle''': "That's Cannell's seat."
** [[spoiler: Also occurs at Montgomery's funeral where the ceremonial riderless horse precedes the casket.]]
* EnforcedMethodActing: In the pilot, a scene was originally written where Beckett would question Captain Montgomery's wisdom in allowing Castle to be part of the investigation. When filming, the producers decided to subvert this by having Montgomery bluntly shoot down Beckett's request to talk to him ("''Nope''.")... but didn't inform Stana Katic, who's look of annoyed astonishment is real.
* EnhanceButton:
** Subverted twice, in successive episodes. Beckett even [[DiscussedTrope talks about]] it in ''Murder Most Fowl'' and Castle's protest is a ShownTheirWork on why it wouldn't work:
-->'''Castle:''' ''(examining a zoomed-in photograph that they told the photo tech to "enhance")'' The enhancement only increased the pixelation on these. You can't even see there's a side-view mirror!\\
'''Beckett:''' It's not like on ''24'', Castle. [[ThisIsReality In the real world]], even zoom-and-enhance can only get us so far.
** The one or two times that it does work, the information they get from the photos are realistic details such as [[spoiler: how sweaty someone is due to the brightness of the pixels]] versus something like a full facial reconstruction.
*** Likewise, it only works in "Kill Shot" because the object they were looking at (a coffee cup) was a fairly large part of the image, facing the camera basically dead on, being held still for a good amount of time, and the thing on the cup they were looking at was very simple and bold. And even then, Ryan has to squint and pause to make out the text.
* EurekaMoment:
** Usually with Castle, and usually inspired by his daughter. In several cases, Castle and Beckett have had a Eureka Moment at the exact same time, or almost the exact same time, which [[ShipperOnDeck Lanie]] later comments on, saying how cute it is that they finish each other sentences. [[LampshadeHanging Hell, even Esposito and Ryan notice that they do it often.]] [[HeterosexualLifePartners But then, they'd know.]]
** Lampshaded again in "3xk" when Beckett calls Castle. He notes that usually he gets a call because they (the police) have news but this time, there is no updates and he thinks she's calling because he might have had one of these. The scene just prior to this one is a RedHerring EurekaMoment to boot.
** The trope is often parodied/deconstructed in that Castle will usually make several wild, obviously incorrect guesses before the right one. Sometimes, they'll even come across a strange piece of evidence that seems to agree with one of his wild guesses before a rational explanation can be found.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: As seen in "Sucker Punch", the Irish mob might steal, extort and kill, but they do '''not''' sell drugs.
* EveryManHasHisPrice: A comically harmless version. The few cops that find Castle annoying for hanging around the bullpen change their tune when Castle buys [[MustHaveCaffeine a quality espresso machine]], no less than a [[http://buckheadcoffeestore.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=187 La Spaziale S5 Compact]]. Castle has good taste in machines. Even Beckett (eventually) partakes.
* EveryoneCanSeeIt:
** Only Beckett is determinedly oblivious. Or [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation she's having just as much fun toying with Castle as we are watching her]]. (See {{UST}} below.)
** Lanie drops this line verbatim during [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CudcJeCDC0 "A Rose For Everafter" about Castle and Beckett]]:
--->'''Lanie:''' I can see it. ''(Talking to the corpse)'' You may not, but I do.
** Castle's NewOldFlame, after deciding that she's going to marry her fiancee, kisses Castle on the cheek, walks up to Detective Beckett, and says, "He's all yours."
** Even more {{squee}} at the end of "The Third Man":
---> '''Ryan''': Do they ''know'' they're finishing each others sentences?
** Another moment from Ryan:
---> '''Ryan:''' Chances are this book guy that [[RomanticFalseLead Demming's]] got in the lock up did it.\\
'''Castle:''' Don't say that.\\
'''Ryan:''' What? ''Ohhhhh''. *grinning* You wanna be the one to crack it, not Demming, right?\\
'''Castle:''' Well, the guy is not even homicide. Doesn't that bug you, just a little?\\
'''Ryan:''' Maybe a little. But that's not why it bugs ''you,'' [[GreenEyedMonster is it]]?
** This even extends to people who've never met one of the pair, it's that obvious. The journalist who writes the article that causes most of the fuss in "The Third Man" alludes to a relationship between the two, having just assumed it was the case because Castle couldn't stop talking about how incredible Beckett was (with his favorite subject in previous interviews being Richard Castle). In the same episode, one of the witnesses for the murder of the week immediately pegged Beckett as "the detective girlfriend"...which was bad for Castle, who was desperately trying to hide the article from Beckett.
** The FBI profiler Jordan Shaw does the same in "Tick Tick Tick". You know, the sort of person who does that sort of thing for a living is 'fooled' into thinking the two are, at the very least, sleeping together.
** As does actress Natalie Rhodes in the episode ''Nikki Heat''
** The alternative interpretation is given credit in "A Deadly Affair" as Beckett seems aware (as is Castle) of the various emotions, feelings, and expressions she makes due to Castle (and vice versa). Though as always, circumstances mean it doesn't quite get through to the other.
** This extends to Federal Agent Mark Fallon, who said that when he first met Castle and Beckett, he thought they were together.
** Mike Royce, Beckett's old training officer wrote a letter to her saying [[spoiler: "It's clear you and Castle have something real"]], which she read at the end of the episode "To Love and Die in L.A.".
** As of the season 3 finale, it's pretty clear that [[spoiler:both Beckett and Castle]] can see it too.
** [[WordOfGod Andrew Marlowe]] has mentioned in an interview that in the conversation where [[spoiler: [[OffScreenBreakup Beckett broke up with Josh]]]], she tried not to mention Castle- but [[RomanticFalseLead Josh]] himself [[GenreSavvy kept on insistently bringing him up]].
** And after a week of trying to woo him, art "recovery" expert Serena Kaye sees it, too:
--> '''Serena''': It's like I said: I don't steal things that belong to someone else.
** In "Cops and Robbers," the leader of the bank robbery team quickly pegs Castle and Beckett as boyfriend and girlfriend after talking to her over the phone. After about the third time he asserts this, Castle finally speaks up.
--> '''Trapper John''': Your girlfriend is a hellcat!\\
'''Castle''': Well, she's not my girlfriend.\\
'''Trapper John''': She too much woman for you?\\
'''Castle''': Ha.
* EveryoneKnowsMorse: In "Cops and Robbers", Castle is one of the hostages at the bank robbery. With no other communication link to the outside, he sends a message with his mother's bracelet by covering the reflected light into a Morse signal.
* EvilBrit: In "Last Call", a pompous British auction house owner shows up. [[spoiler: Guess who the killer is.]]
* EvilLaugh:
** Castle tries one in "Vampire Weekend", but then breaks into a coughing fit.
** He does it again successfully in "Food to Die For," complete with a [[WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog Dr. Horrible]] ShoutOut.
* EvilSoundsDeep: The drug dealer they suspect of having a hand in the death of Beckett's mother in the third season. Like wow.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Subverted in "Sucker Punch", as we find out just who Beckett's mother's killer is, [[spoiler:and she kills him when he takes Castle hostage]]. The failure, however, is transferred to who hired him to kill her.
* FairCop:
** Beckett. Esposito and Ryan aren't that hard on the eyes either.
** Lampshaded in "To Love and Die in LA" when the directer of the Nikki Heat movie tells Beckett she could be an actress.
* FakeAmerican: Both lead characters are played by Canadian actors.
* FakeOutMakeOut: [[spoiler: Castle and Beckett indulge in this trope during "Knockdown" in order to distract a Mook so they can run in and save the kidnapped Ryan and Esposito.]] As anticipated, it is an '''incredibly hot''' scene. (It's also pretty clear that [[spoiler:Castle's just using the situation as an excuse to kiss the ''hell'' out of Beckett, and equally clear that she's using the situation to kiss right back]].) {{And the fandom rejoiced}}.
* FalseFlagOperation: what [[spoiler:Tony The Butcher]] does in "Heroes & Villains" to pin on vigilante Lone Vengeance the killing of Faris.
* FandomNod: "One Life to Lose" is partially about the rabid shipping community surrounding a fictional soap opera. Many a PortmanteauCoupleName is used.
* {{Fauxreigner}}:
** Johnny Vong in "Sucker Punch" is a Harvard MBA from California who provides legitimately profitable real estate investment advice, but pretends to be a simple Laotian immigrant on {{Infomercial}}s because RagsToRiches stories sell better. [[hottip:*:RealityIsUnrealistic: who's more likely to come up with good investment advice -- an immigrant or an MBA?]]
-->'''Video!Vong:''' I come to this country on a boat-\\
'''Vong, Castle, and Esposito:''' [[CrowningMomentOfFunny now, I OWN A BOAT!]]
** Also, Hans von Manschaft (why yes, he is a stripper, why do you ask?) in "Almost Famous". He immediately drops the accent when he hears his rival has been murdered, and Castle, of course, lampshades OohMeAccentsSlipping.
** Beckett herself. She pretends to be Russian to save Castle in the Season 2 premiere and says she used to enjoy going to heavily Russian areas and pretending to be from Moscow.
* FictionalCounterpart: Castle's New York has the "Nick's" (Terrific, Authentic, Authentic Terrific, etc.) pizzeria lines just as the real New York has the "Ray's" (Original, Famous, Famous Original, etc.) pizzerias. This despite the fact that earlier episodes had established both that Ray's exists in the Castle world and is just as ubiquitous. The rivalry among the "Nick's" is far more deadly than the one in ours.
* FilmNoir: The flashbacks in "The Blue Butterfly" are deliberately done in this style.
* FingertipDrugAnalysis:
** In "Sucker Punch", Beckett finds a stash, sticks her finger in, tastes it, and pronounces "heroin". [[FacePalm Palms met faces nationwide.]]
** Played with when Castle tastes a bird feather and declares it a "Bird of Prey." It actually was a red hawk feather, to boot.
* [[FinishingEachOthersSentences Finishing Each Other's Sentences]]: Castle and Beckett do this a ''lot'', especially when struck by an EurekaMoment. Lampshaded repeatedly.
-->'''Esposito:''' So, do you guys practice doing that when we're not around?
* FiremenAreHot: Beckett's date in "The Third Man", FDNY's Mr. July.
* FirstKiss: Finally happens in "Knockdown".
* FirstNameBasis: Castle has been calling Beckett 'Kate' a lot in season 4. For example, in "Kill Shot", he just called out 'Kate!' to her in the hallways, no YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious moment in sight. [[ShipTease The shippers are delighted]].
* FiveManBand
** TheHero: Beckett actually.
** TheLancer: Castle.
** TheBigGuy: Esposito, with his military background and [=M4A1=]
** TheSmartGuy[=/=]TheChick: Ryan and Lanie share aspects of both these roles, with Ryan as both the go-to techie and the [[SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan Sensitive Guy]] to Esposito's Manly Man and with Lanie as both the no-nonsense ME and the SassyBlackWoman.
* {{Flanderization}}: Castle's wacky theories get increasingly outlandish through the first half of Season 3, to the point of making him look like a buffoon. This seems to have been corrected more recently.
** An in-universe example occurs in "To Love and Die in L.A.", when Castle visits the set of the movie of his book "Heat Wave" and meets the actors playing Ryan and Esposito.
** Castle says that this is pretty much what lots and lots money does to people.
* ForWantOfANail: Basically what Martin Blakely did for the CIA, as told in "Pandora"[=/=]"Linchpin": he looked at the current situation, he looked at the desired result, and he determined a small event that would eventually cause the desired result. [[spoiler:It turns out that Blakely determined that the assassination of a Chinese businessman's daughter at the hands of rogue CIA agents would eventually cause World War III, which the United States would lose after 27 million Americans die.]]
* ForcedToWatch: [[spoiler: Esposito has to watch Ryan's torture in "Knockdown."]]
* ForeignMoneyIsProofOfGuilt: A victim is suspected to be a spy involved in something highly questionable when his car is discovered with a large quantity of Euros in the trunk. [[spoiler: It's subverted; the victim was actually on a 'spy vacation' and the Euros were part of the game.]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** In "Nanny [=McDead=]", campaign posters for the politician who will wind up dead in "Hell Hath No Fury" and his opponent show up.
** At least once in "Vampire Weekend", the sister of the first victim shows up in a sweater with the words "Haley Blue" on it, the name of a fictitious celebrity who happens to be the victim in the very next episode.
** Officer Hastings shows up in "Rise" to give Beckett information at the crime scene. [[spoiler: Establishing her before she is featured as a key character in the next episode "Heroes and Villains"]].
** In "Rise", Beckett freezes and has a minor panic attack when a suspect points a gun at her. This foreshadows the full-blown [=PTSD=] breakdown she experiences in "Kill Shot".
** Of all things, the blurb on Castle's website for ''[[http://www.richardcastle.net/books?page=3 Storm Fall]]'' foreshadows "Linchpin": [[spoiler: specifically, the bit where it suggests that Agent Clara Strike, the character based on Sophia Turner, might have gone rogue...]]
* FoundTheKillerLostTheMurderer: This happens [[spoiler:not once, not twice, but ''three times'']] with Becket's mother's murderer. [[spoiler:The first time, Castle and Beckett find the man who murdered Beckett's mother and learn that he's a hired killer, but Beckett has to shoot him in order to get Castle out of a hostage situation. The second time, Beckett manages to capture another hired killer, a sniper, who was hired by the same person(s) who ordered her mother's murder. This sniper is still alive by the end of the episode, but indicates with a stone-faced glare that he'll never inform on his clients. The third time involves a key person involved(really, really complicated) with her mother's murder- '''''Captain Montgomery!''''' She gets to talk to him uninterrupted, and he knows who the mastermind behind the conspiracy is, but [[SubvertedTrope refuses]] to [[HisNameIs say the name]] anyway, saying that [[DoWeHaveThisOne the mastermind is so rich and powerful]] that giving her his name would get her killed as certainly as if he'd shot her himself. He dies minutes later. Beckett manages to get out of that scrape alive, but is shot during his funeral, presumably by the people from whom he was trying to protect her.]]
* FreudianSlip: In "The Blue Butterfly" Castle is narrating a scene from an old diary of a tryst between private detective Joe and gun moll Vera. Picturing Vera as Beckett and Joe as himself, he accidentally refers to her as Kate. He insists that he actually said "[[VerbalBackspace fate]]."
* FridgeLogic: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] occasionally by Castle and Alexis. In several episodes ("A Chill Runs Through Her Veins" and "A Deadly Affair", for example), facing logical puzzles or romantic dilemmas, they open the refrigerator and hang mournfully on the door, staring inside. Castle at one point comments, "What is it about the refrigerator? Is it the cold? The light? Or some combination of the two?"
* FriendsRentControl: Det. Beckett's apartment.
* GameOfNerds: Both straight and averted in "Suicide Squeeze". Beckett is a noted fangirl of the Mets (and especially Joe Torre), and both Esposito and Ryan were able to identify the baseball player victim on sight. However, Castle only knows the victim by reputation, is matter-of-fact when he and Beckett meet Torre (having met the man previously through his mother) and is notably uncoordinated and largely uninterested in the fine art (as noted in the ending with Alexis).
* GeekyTurnOn:
** From "Vampire Weekend":
--->'''Castle'''(on some art drawn by the VictimOfTheWeek): Reminds me of early FrankMiller.\\
'''Beckett''': Which Frank? Epic comic or Dark Horse years?\\
'''Castle''': Oh my god, that is the sexiest thing I've ever heard you say.
** From "Suicide Squeeze":
--->'''Castle:''' Did you just use the word 'veritable'?\\
'''Beckett:''' Yes.\\
'''Castle:''' Sexy!\\
'''Beckett:''' You should hear me say "[[GettingCrapPastTheRadar fallacious]]".
* GenderBlenderName: Alexis' new boyfriend Ashley. She takes advantage of this fact to get her dad to agree to have him over. Unfortunately, this backfires on her when Castle accidentally surprises them in the act of making out... [[TwerpSweating while holding a pistol]]. An awkward situation ensues for all concerned.
* GeneHuntInterrogationTechnique: Slaughter's ''modus operandi.'' It is hilarious.
* GenreSavvy:
** Castle, being a mystery novelist who does his research, is a force to be reckoned with in this department.
--->'''Beckett''': What are you basing that on?\\
'''Castle''': I'm basing that on...it would make a better story.
** One of the suspects in "Famous Last Words" defends an earlier lie about not meeting the victim of the week the night of her murder with the excuse that "I watch cop shows -- those are the little details that help get you convicted." A flaw in his logic[=/=]savviness is then highlighted when Castle immediately points out that in those shows, lying to the police ''also'' helps get you convicted.
** In the same episode, Castle jokingly suggests Alexis as a possible suspect for Haley Blue's murder when the team is all out of ideas: "It's perfect! She's peripheral to the case, we don't suspect her, she has no alibi..."
** In "Boom!" Castle sees through a trap that fools the other FBI agents and police officers. Why? Because that's how he would write it.
** A SmugSnake who narrates each section of his interrogation rather than answering questions.
** In "Cops and Robbers" Castle uses his skills and love of ''Film/DieHard'' to get information about the bank hostage situation.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** In "Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind": Beckett says "Let's just stick it in and get it over with", referring to an unlabeled DVD.
** In "The Late Shaft": Esposito says "Holy Shift!" in reference to the Bugatti Veyron.
** [[PrecisionFStrike Shut the front door!]]
** "Cuffed" has quite a few moments. Some are ShipTease, others... not so much. [[spoiler: For instance, when the two of them are attempting to push the metal crate the first time, it looks and sounds an awful lot like the two having sex.]]
** Season 4, episode 13 is titled "An Embarrassment of Bitches". It's about dogs. And a NoCelebritiesWereHarmed version of KimKardashian (and [[ParisHilton other]] [[TheHills celebrities]]).
* GirlOfTheWeek: Three for Castle;,
** Alyssa Milano's character in "A Rose For Everafter." Too bad for Castle she's getting married to someone else.
** Also happened on "The Late Shaft." Ellie Monroe, a guest on Bobby Mann's talk show, got to hook up with Castle [[RuleofThree 3 times in one episode]].
** Jacinda, the blonde flight attendant Castle meets on his way back from Las Vegas, [[spoiler:after discovering that Kate knows what he feels for her but kept silent about it.]]
** Averted in "Love Me Dead", where a call girl tries to be the GirlOfTheWeek but is rebuffed by Castle.
* GirlShowGhetto: InUniverse. Castle is ''not'' happy about having to read and review a ChickLit novel written by one of his mother's friends.
** It seemed, in the episode, to be less about the genre than it was about being a writer asked (most likely ''again'') to review someone's book, as well as the size of the thing (which looked to be well over 800 pages)
* TheGhost:
** In the second season, Martha gets a NewOldFlame, "Chet," who has yet to appear onscreen. [[spoiler:And, tragically, never will. Which makes him [[IncrediblyLamePun an actual ghost.]]]]
** Beckett's father held that role for nearly thirty episodes (leading some to suspect that he was going to be someone famous).
** Ryan's girlfriend Jenny was mentioned several times before he introduced her to the team.
** Averted with Alexis' new boyfriend [[GenderBlenderName Ashley]], who's seen in the first ep he was talked about...being terrorized by Castle with an old-timey pistol.
* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: It's hinted that both Castle and Beckett have at least slightly kinky tastes in the bedroom.
* GoodScarsEvilScars: regarding Anton Francis in "The Third Man": "Mr. Francis here, not one to waste such a sinister looking scar, decided to round out the stereotype with a laundry list of criminal activity..."
* GotMeDoingIt: "The Final Nail" Beckett accidentally mimics a witness' accent before catching herself. This was actually a mistake by Stana. The producers decided to ThrowItIn.
* GrammarNazi:
** Castle in "The Double Down" gets irked when a killer mixes up "your" and "you're," and spends the rest of the episode policing everyone's grammar.
-->"I'm just saying -- whoever murdered her also murdered the English language"
** In "The Third Man," even after complimenting Ryan on the correct use of irony, he uses "you and I" in the predicate of the next sentence.
* GreenEyedEpiphany: Implied in "Eye Of The Beholder" when Beckett gets jealous over Castle getting close to Serena the insurance investigator[[spoiler:-slash-former art thief]], who doesn't [[EveryoneCanSeeIt steal things that belong to others.]]
* GreenEyedMonster: In "Eye of the Beholder", Beckett spends most of the episode seething with badly-concealed jealousy over Serena Kaye's obvious interest in Castle.
** After [[RomanticFalseLead Demming]] shows up, Castle is stuck in a very bad mood.
---> '''Esposito:''' I bought a falafel from the stand every day for two months just so I could talk to the falafel girl.\\
'''Ryan:''' Yeah, you mean like [[RomanticFalseLead Demming]] showing up every morning for coffee just to run into Beckett? *turns to Castle, chuckling*\\
'''Castle:''' *[[GreenEyedMonster strange look]] on his face* \\
'''Ryan:''' *[[GenreBlind grin freezing, turns back to look at Esposito]]*\\
'''Esposito:''' *[[GenreSavvy shaking his head and mouthing no]]*
* GroinAttack: in "Suicide Squeeze", when a baseball player is beaten to death with a baseball bat, his assailant starts at his groin.
* GuiltyPleasures: episode "Always Buy Retail". Castle compares having sex with his ex-wife to a deep-fried Twinkie.
-->Ryan: A deep-fried Twinkie?\\
Castle: Yeah, the guilty pleasure that you know is bad for you, so you only do it once, maybe twice a year for the novelty.
* GutFeeling:
** Subverted in one episode when Castle asks the coroner what his gut is saying.
-->'''Coroner:''' [[SubvertedTrope It's saying I'm hungry.]] My ''years of forensic experience'', however...
** Lampshaded in "He'd Dead, She's Dead"
--> Beckett: My gut says it’s not him. But we still have to look into his alibi.\\
Castle: Oh, so you don’t believe in fate, yet your gut has magical properties. That’s cool. Scully. \\
* HalfArcSeason
* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: the victim's death in "Heroes & Villains". Castle says this word by word to a suspect, following it with a HurricaneOfPuns.
* AHandfulForAnEye: In "Under the Gun", Castle is being forced to dig up buried loot from a grave as part of a MexicanStandoff between the cops and the various criminals after the loot. He calls out that he's found it and, when the criminals peer greedily into the grave, he flings a shoveful of dirt into their faces.
* HandshakeSubstitute: More of a high five substitute. Castle and Esposito's trademark high five which is referred to, in a blooper reel, as "feeding the birds."
* HannibalLecture: Castle and the killer exchange these on "3XK", with Castle starting his in reaction to the killer's "Then you don't know me at all."
* HappilyMarried: [[spoiler:Joe Flynn and Vera Mulqueen, from "The Blue Butterfly". They threw away the titular prize because of it's supposed curse and not once did they consider going back for it because they're more than happy with each other.]]
* HauntedHouse: "Demons" has the BodyOfTheWeek be found in one. Although there's ultimately [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane a mundane explanation for that case, it's still left up in the air whether the house actually is haunted]].
* HeadTiltinglyKinky:
** In "The Mistress Always Spanks Twice", Ryan, Esposito, and Castle are investigating BDSM on the Internet. This trope ensues, with all three of them essentially saying, "Is it even possible to get in that position?" In a CrowningMomentOfFunny, Beckett strolls in and casually says,
-->'''Beckett:''' [[FetishFuel Oh, it's possible.]]
** In "Set Up", Beckett holds up a large pair of bolt cutters (in a rather flirty pose) prior to trying a storage unit door. Castle comments, for reasons he won't explain, that looks quite hot.
* TheHeart: Ryan is perhaps the emotional center of the team. He's the one that tends to have the most visible emotional reactions and take things the hardest.
* HeroInsurance: Beckett and Castle only get a dressing down from Montgomery for breaking and entering an apartment in Los Angeles.
* HeroWorshipper: Ryan definitely has a bit of a hero worshiping thing going on with regards to Castle; he tends to take fashion cues from him, has been known to imitate him at times and consulted him on the best way to propose to his girlfriend Jenny.
* HeroesWantRedheads:
** Played with in that quite a few of the women in Castle's lives are redheads (including his first ex-wife), but a succession of love interests shown since are not (Kyra Blaine, Ellie Monroe and of course Beckett are all brunettes (although Beckett was sort of auburn in the first season), while his second ex-wife Gina is a blonde).
* HeroicBSOD:
** Beckett in "Sucker Punch" [[spoiler: upon learning that the killer of the BodyOfTheWeek was also the man who killed her mother.]]
** A minor version occurs in "A Deadly Game" [[spoiler: when Castle informs Beckett that he's leaving the precinct and that this is their last case together. She's visibly shaken to her core by the news, unusually distracted and uninterested when Ryan and Esposito try to tell her what they've discovered about the case, and it takes her a few moments to get her usual poise back.]]
** Not quite full BSOD but when Ryan and Esposito [[spoiler: discover that Montgomery is the 3rd cop, neither one of them takes it very well.]]
** In "Rise" (4x01), Beckett spends most of the episode suffering a slow-burning one, until it breaks the surface [[spoiler:when a suspect points a gun at her and she is unable to raise hers to point back at the suspect]]. From this point on, she begins to act increasingly out-of-control, ranting irrationally at a potential suspect connected to her mother's case, nearly suffering a complete emotional breakdown at the prospect of having no leads in her mother's case, and it takes Castle persuading her to step back from the case to get her back on something resembling an even keel.
** Beckett again during "Kill Shot", when hunting a muderous sniper brings to the fore all of her unconfronted issues regarding her own shooting. Esposito helps her past it.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Ryan and Esposito. Castle and Beckett are also pretty close to the two, but [[{{UST}} closer to each other]]. Discussing lotto numbers:
-->'''Esposito''': I play my firsts: sex and combat.\\
'''Ryan''': I play his firsts, too. *everyone stares* What? That way we both win, and it's not awkward.
* HiddenDepths: Both Castle and Beckett:
** There's lots of layers to the 'Beckett onion', which both Castle and the audience are frequently surprised to uncover, suggesting a more fun-loving, light-hearted and even somewhat wilder personality than the seemingly no-nonsense workaholic cop front she projects; among others, she owns a motorbike, alludes to interests in comic books, magic tricks and soap operas, piercings and tattoos, etc. Of course, several of these may may also be intended specifically to [[MindScrew mess with Castle's head]] or [[TheTease tease his obvious attraction to her]].
** Castle on the surface is just a superficial AdultChild playboy, but is frequently shown to be a lot more mature, responsible, intelligent and caring than first appearances would suggest.
** In "An Embarrassment of Bitches" the seemingly vapid "celebrity bimbo" Kay Capuccio turns out to be more intelligent (if still somewhat ditzy), sensitive and lonely than expected.
* HilariousOuttakes:[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEpxa6EXrOw For]][[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naRN5GEbngk each]] [[http://youtu.be/uej8JbkV1kE season.]]
* HisNameIs: [[spoiler:In "Knockdown", John Raglan -- the lead detective on Beckett's mother's murder -- arranges to meet Beckett to pass on important information about her mother's case. Naturally, [[CanNotSpitItOut he rambles a bit before revealing all]], giving the sniper in a nearby building enough time to shoot and kill Raglan before he can pass the information on.]]
* HoistByHisOwnPetard
** Called by name in the episode "Pretty Dead".
** A tragic one in "47 Seconds". The bomb had been planted by one of the leaders of the [=TakeOver=] Wall Street movement, in collaboration with a TV reporter. The idea was that the explosion would gather further support for the move, but it was going to happen somewhere where it would not cause victims, while the TV reporter would activate it in the perfect moment to have a chance to improve her position. However, a pickpocketer took the bag where the bomb was in and moved it somewhere else, and the leader tried to call the reporter, but she was distracted and activated the bomb. The leader took the explosion head on.
* HoldingHands: Castle and Beckett as they watch Martha perform her one-woman play. Very sweet.
* HollywoodSilencer:
** Averted in "Tick, tick, tick..." when Beckett theorizes that the killer not only used a silencer, he waited for a train to pull in so it would cover the noise the gun made.
** Played straight in "One Man's Treasure", where the murderer used a plastic bottle as an impromptu "poor man's silencer" and the neighbors on the same floor didn't hear the gunshot (also the gun is later shown to have been a revolver, which makes it doubly wrong).
** Possibly also in "Home Is Where the Heart Stops," where a feather pillow is used for the same function, although without the implication of it actually working.
* HollywoodVoodoo: totally subverted, since Castle talked to an actual expert on the subject, who comes off as a normal person who isn't off raising zombies. And lampshaded, in that the woman was less than amused that Castle had ditched his research and gone with a HollywoodVoodoo portrayal of her religion.
* HospitalHottie: Beckett's boyfriend, Dr. Motorcycle Boy. Also known as Josh.
** And Nurse McClintock in "Anatomy of a Murder". \\
* HotScientist: Lanie Parish
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%%% HoYay goes on the HoYay pages, not here.
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* HowWeGotHere: What Beckett and Castle have to figure out when they wake up handcuffed together and LockedInARoom in "Cuffed". The flashbacks are [[JustifiedTrope justified]] via the fact they've been drugged and have hazy memories.
* HypocriticalHumor: Castle says to his daughter that she shouldn't be at her boyfriend's beck and call, then right in the middle of this speech, he gets a call from Beckett, and heads out immediately.
** [[{{UST}} Castle and Beckett]] talking about [[MakeUpOrBreakUp Esposito and Lanie]]. Break out the [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]].
---> '''Beckett:''' They both wanna be together but neither of them wants to admit to it.\\
'''Castle:''' Ugh. Why do people do that to themselves?\\
'''Beckett:''' Maybe they just don't see it.\\
'''Castle:''' How could they not? [[EveryoneCanSeeIt It's so obvious.]]
** Esposito averts this in "Under The Gun". Then again, Jon Huertas use to be in the military so one would hope he practices good gun habits.
** How a young woman died in [[spoiler: Law and Murder]].
** Castle does this in "Nikki Heat" when Natalie Rhodes wants to shadow Beckett in order to [[IJustWantToBeYou really "become" Nikki Heat]].
--->'''Castle''': She's a civilian! I mean, aren't you afraid she's gonna get in the way and mess up the case?
--->'''Beckett''': [[LampshadeHanging You're kidding, right?]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder: I-L]]
* IdenticalGrandson: Lampshaded in "The Blue Butterfly," where a 40's mobster (Tom Dempsey) and his grandson (Tom Dempsey III) are both played by Mark Pellegrino. Who, hilariously enough, use to play a vampire on Being Human - a vampire that probably was a 40's mobster at some point.
--> '''Dempsey III''': It's DNA. It's not ''magic''.
* IJustWantToBeYou[=/=]IrritationIsTheSincerestFormOfFlattery: In the episode ''Nikki Heat'', the actress who is going to play Nikki Heat in the ''Heat Wave'' movie shadows Beckett for "character research", and becomes more and more like her as the episode progresses, causing Beckett great annoyance (and a certain amount of identity-crisis consternation).
* IKnowAGuy: Castle has lots of connections from the research he does for his books. Lampshaded in "Fool Me Once":
-->'''Beckett''': Who are you calling?\\
'''Castle''': My guy in the CIA.\\
'''Beckett''': You have a guy in the CIA?\\
'''Castle''': When are you gonna learn? I've got a guy everywhere.
* ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou:
** Castle and Beckett's developing relationship seems to work on this principle. Rather than just him trying to find a way to 'win' her, however, it's suggested that part of the appeal is that ''she'' can control ''him''.
** Called attention to in "Mistress Always Spanks Twice." Castle comments "Well I ''would'' drive if you would let me." to point out that Beckett isn't dominating him. He immediately notes aloud that that does not actually prove his point. Beckett just has a smirk on her face.
** His relationship with the other women in his life tend to be pretty similar too. Heck, his daughter has to order him to order her to stay home for the weekend so she can study (which she wants to do) as oppose to go on a weekend roadtrip.
* INeedToGoIronMyDog:
** In "Deep in Death", Ryan and Esposito are in the coffee room with Beckett when Castle (having royally upset Beckett) peeks his head in:
--->'''Castle''': Hey.\\
(''Beckett takes one, unwavering DeathGlare at him'')\\
'''Ryan''': Oh, hey, uh, don't we have that thing?\\
'''Esposito''': (''not getting it'') ...no?\\
'''Ryan''': (''as Beckett focuses her gaze on Esposito'') Yeah! You know, that thing with the guy?\\
'''Esposito''': OH! Yeah, that thing with the guy!\\
'''Ryan''': Yeah, excuse us. (''they leave'')
** In "Nikki Heat" Beckett finds herself embroiled in a teeth-grindingly awkward conversation (from her point of view) with Natalie Rhodes, the actress portraying the character based on her, about how Rhodes needs to sleep with Castle because of the relationship Castle wrote between Beckett's character and his own AuthorAvatar. It gets to the point where Rhodes has completely deconstructed the [[EveryoneCanSeeIt relationship between Beckett and Castle]] and is begging Beckett to give Castle 'permission' to sleep with her that Beckett feels the need to flee:
--> '''Beckett''': I need to go. Over there. ''[Points at random and scurries off]''.
* INeverSaidItWasPoison: Used to implicate [[spoiler:the killer of both the BodyOfTheWeek and Beckett's mother]] in "Sucker Punch." [[spoiler:It's only realized belatedly, and it goes by so quickly that it's understandable why they didn't catch it when it actually happened.]]
* IWasYoungAndNeededTheMoney: Beckett on her brief career as a teenage model.
* ImpersonatingAnOfficer: The only thing Castle doesn't get to do is actually make arrests.
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in "The Third Man" when Castle, in EurekaMoment over-eagerness, calls up a newspaper requesting subscriber information, only to falter when they ask him who he actually is and why, y'know, he wants this information, at which point he promptly hands the phone to Beckett:
--> '''Castle''': I... sometimes forget I'm not ''actually'' a cop.
** Averted (slightly) in "Headhunters". Det. Slaughter gives Castle a gun and tells him to raid a bar. Castle, clearly uncomfortable, has no idea what he's doing, says "NPYD" instead of "NYPD", and awkwardly adds, "associate civilian investigator!" Needless to say, the patrons are ''not'' impressed.
** Played especially straight in the pilot, "Home is Where the Heart Stops", "Boom!", and "Knockdown", where Castle resorts to fisticuffs to take down dangerous perps. Often accompanied by his 70's-vintage "action theme song".
** ''Beckett'' does this in "To Love and Die in L.A.", where she's out of her jurisdiction and therefore not a cop, despite acting as if she were one. She's caught and chewed out, though plot immunity and the thin blue line saves her from criminal charges. Castle points out that he isn't a cop ''anywhere'' and happily goes along. Just to make the example as extreme as possible, the cast of the Nikki Heat movie gets into the action as well; Castle and Beckett use the studio set to interrogate a real subject; all the other cops are actors.
** Averted in "Deep in Death", "Love Me Dead" and others, where Castle's status as a civilian actually ''helps'' him.
* InsultBackfire: Beckett quips in "3xk" that Castle's job is menial and unimportant. He quips back that "Just for that, my next book will be about Esposito." Beckett gets a rather shocked look on her face.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Castle in "Boom!" [[spoiler:When complimented on shooting the gun out of the perp's hand, he says, "[[ShoutOut I was aiming for his]] [[{{Firefly}} head!]]"]]
** It was established in an earlier episode (See ObfuscatingStupidity, below) that Castle ''is'' a very good shot with a handgun, at least when shooting at paper targets.
** Averted in "Punked", wherein one of the big reasons they know the person who thinks he murdered the vic didn't do it is because the flintlock guns they used in their duel were hilariously inaccurate. Castle, Beckett, and a teed-off officer use every steadying method in the book, and even a laser sight, but not one bullet hit the targets they aimed for (one did knock off the number of the aforementioned officer's target, which is why he got involved).
* IncrediblyLamePun: This show makes these an art. Castle himself seems to love these and tends to encourage the others to do so as well.
** When Ryan mentions a previous relationship with a member of a vampire coven
--->'''Esposito''':"What happened, did the relationship suck?"
** In the premiere of Season Two, after seeing a victim who's organs had been tampered with and removed.
--->'''Castle''':"Somebody hated his guts."
** From "When the Bough Breaks":
--->'''Castle''': "I almost bought a Russian bride once. You know, a [[TabletopGame/{{Chess}} Czech-mate]]?"
** In "Vampire Weekend", Castle is dressed up like EdgarAllanPoe carrying a raven. Beckett manages to successfully scare Castle.
--->'''Castle''': "I'm giving you the bird"
** Oh, hell, it's quicker just to say that Castle loves the ''hell'' out of these: however, another one from "Hell Hath No Fury", after a councilman has been found wrapped up in a piece of carpet (AND wearing a toupee):
--->'''Castle''': What turned you off; the fact that he was wearing a rug? ''[Beckett gives him a look]'' TooSoon?
** One memorable lame pun in "Food to Die For" includes Castle (after [[EvilLaugh laughing like a maniac]]) realizes that he's late for his date with [[GirlOfTheWeek Madison]] and accidentally drops his watch into a bowl of liquid nitrogen.
--->''Castle''': "Hey look. [[WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog I froze time.]]"
** In "Slice of Death," after finding a body in a pizza oven.
--->''Capt. Montgomery'': "I didn't want to tell [my wife] that [her favorite pizza] now came in full-bodied flavor."
* {{Infomercial}}: How Johnny Vong made his money in "Sucker Punch". Well, that and [[spoiler:the heroin trade.]]
* InformedAbility: Played with; while Castle is a bestselling novelist who can obviously spin a great yarn, it's frequently made clear (usually via snarky comments from other characters) that he's 'not exactly Shakespeare', meaning that the viewer isn't surprised if, on the few occasions his prose appears, it's exactly not the greatest they've ever experienced. Alternatively, his work may actually be very good, but is considered inferior because he is a pulp/genre writer, which is usually what comments like "not exactly Shakespeare" are about. For what it's worth, however, [[{{Defictionalization}} the 'Nikki Heat' novels have made the bestseller lists in the real world]], so someone is obviously doing ''something'' right.
** While the writing may not be high art, he does have the skill to back his success up; in only the second episode, when throwing around ideas as to how or why a nanny was murdered, Castle proceeds to monologue a chilling narrative that visibly catches Beckett and the others. He immediately starts to speak normally again, saying "that's how I'd write it" and it takes everyone a beat to shake themselves back to focus.
* InnocentCohabitation: Beckett's apartment is [[spoiler:blown up by a serial killer]]. This exchange occurs.
-->'''Beckett''': I don't ''have'' a home!\\
'''Castle''': (calmly) [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Yes you do]]. It's a secure building with an extra bedroom with [[YouAreNotAlone people who care about you.]] With a federal detail on the door, it's the safest place in the city.\\
'''Beckett''': Thank you, Castle, but I couldn't.\\
'''Castle''': You can and you will.
* InterdisciplinarySleuth: Castle.
* TheIrishMob: The Westies.
* IronicEchoCut: "Eye of the Beholder" features a scene intercut between a conversation with Castle and Martha where Castle is singing the praises of the insurance investigator who's temporarily joined their investigation, and Beckett ranting [[GreenEyedMonster jealously]] about the same woman to her therapist.
-->'''Castle:''' I find her... impressive.\\
'''Martha:''' So, what's she like?\\
''[Cut to Beckett]''\\
'''Beckett:''' She's an uncooperative, cocky, ''stubborn'' know-it-all.
* IrrevocableOrder: At the end of the third season of, a major blow is dealt to [[spoiler: whoever ordered Beckett's mother]] killed when his favorite hired gun is killed. The one who did that killing sent off a bunch of info to a fourth party so that there would be no retaliation against [[spoiler: Beckett]]. Unfortunately, that mail arrived too late to prevent a sniper taking a shot at her.
* ItsForABook: Pretty much the excuse for Castle to get to hang around and investigate murders.
** It's invoked by Castle to get info from the bad guys in episodes "Home is Where the Heart Stops" and "Deep in Death".
* ItsPersonal: In "Kick The Ballistics", it's discovered that the gun used in the murder of a college student was the same gun that the 3XK Killer stole from Ryan in the previous season. When he learns this, Ryan takes it hard.
** In "Cops and Robbers", when Castle and his mother are caught in a hostage situation.
--->'''Ryan''': Since when do we do bank robberies?\\
'''Beckett''': Castle's there.\\
[Ryan and Esposito get moving]
* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: Late in season three, the gang are chasing the guy who killed Beckett's mentor. After shooting one of the guy's involved (not fatally) Ryan and Esposito question him about the situation, threatening not to call 911 until he spills. Then Esposito shoves the still hot barrel of his gun into one of the bullet wounds.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold:
** Castle often comes off as a typically self-centered, thoughtless and narcissistic playboy, but he deeply loves his daughter and his mother, and is revealed to have HiddenDepths of caring and niceness. While he's not shy about flirting with Beckett it's also made abundantly clear that he genuinely cares for and respects her rather than simply viewing her as a potential conquest.
** Mark Fallon comes off as a total douche who is quick to use harsh interrogation methods and resort to racial profiling, but the other characters see that he only does those to get his job done as quick and as right as possible, a job which Castle thinks is extremely harsh given that Fallon has to do it every day. His FreudianExcuse for the racial profiling is because his wife died in 9/11.
-->'''Fallon''': Listen, uh... what I do is not who I am. It's just how I have to be. I hope you understand that.
* JerkassHasAPoint: In "Kick the Ballistics", Seth Carver makes the rather belligerent assessment that Ryan was stupid to let his piece get out on the street the way he did. After a bit of cooling off, Ryan agrees.
-->'''Ryan''': Carver is a jerk...but he's got a point.
** Also in "Little Girl Lost," when it's revealed that it was the [[spoiler: mother who "kidnapped" the daughter, she says it is because her husband was a bad father. While her actions may have been overly drastic, she is correct in how he's a jobless painter who let his daughter get kidnapped WHILE he was in the house and didn't even realize it.]]
* JugglingLoadedGuns: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVKgw6qzm-o This]] hilarious scene from "Punked".
* JurisdictionFriction:
** Subverted in "Tick, Tick, Tick" / "Boom!"; the FBI and the NYPD cooperate remarkably well, and most of the tension stems from Beckett's ill-hidden jealousy of Castle's attention being distracted by the FBI gadgets and his chemistry with the lead profiler.
** Agent Fallon creates a bit more tension in "Setup" when he shows up, but again the NYPD cooperate well with him. [[spoiler: The fact that it's looking increasingly like terrorists have a dirty bomb and are planning to detonate it in New York helps.]]
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Captain Montgomery in "Knockout."]]
* KissOfDistraction: In "Eye Of The Beholder", Castle lays one on Serena to let Beckett and Esposito get away. Subverted when instead they interrupt and arrest Serena. Bonus points of making Beckett jealous.
* LadykillerInLove: As of "Overkill", we can safely place Castle squarely in this category.
* LanternJawOfJustice: No few cops are square-faced manly men. Played with by Castle, who probably has the squarest jaw in the cast and works for justice as well, but is neither a cop nor, truth be told, much of a manly man.
* LastNameBasis: Castle and Beckett. To the point that they only say each other's first name when it's a ''[[YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious really big deal]]''. Same goes for everyone else in the police station.
** Castle, at least, has gradually become a lot more comfortable referring to Beckett by her first name more frequently and casually over the course of the third and fourth seasons. This, not coincidentally, has coincided with a gradual awakening and deepening of his feelings towards her. He uses her first name mostly when he's being serious and affectionate.
** Beckett actually calls Castle by his first name ''less often'' in later seasons as she did in seasons one and two. She invariably uses it as a term of mockery or ridicule.
** Ditto Ryan and Esposito, who only rarely get called "Kevin" or "Javier." That one's probably more about workplace professionalism, though.
** Beckett calls Esposito "Javi" when [[spoiler: he's confronting her about her sniper issues]]. She calls him "Javi" again after [[spoiler:she nearly dies at the bottom of the Hudson River and gets saved by Castle shooting down her seatbelt and the windows in the last second.]]
* TheLawOfConservationOfDetail: In "47 Seconds", the characters are inundated with an overabundance of detail. Trope averted, because while most of it does not reach the viewer, enough irrelevant material appears to give the viewer the sense of information overload.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In "The Late Shaft," Castle lampshades the show's tagline, often seen in the promos,
-->'''Castle''': "We should have a signature line. She's armed, he's dangerous! Or how about 'A new chapter in crime solving.'"
** The end of Season 2:
-->'''Beckett''': "See you in the fall?"\\
'''Castle''': "See you in the fall."
** "The Blue Butterfly"
-->'''Castle:''' "Why am I ''narrating''?"
** In "A Deadly Affair", Castle doesn't appear until well into the first segment of the show. Characters, commenting on his absence, suddenly see... a cardboard standee of him, with the label "coming soon" on the front.
* LetMeGetThisStraight: Quoted almost word for word by Beckett when a psychic comes into the office, claiming to know who is responsible for a murder.
* LighterAndSofter: The show is something of a throwback to the romantic comedy detective genre ala ''{{Moonlighting}}''. For that matter, the first season is considerably darker than the second and third season; several of the perpetrators in the first season had understandable motives, mental and emotional breakdowns, or sympathetic backgrounds.
* LikeAnOldMarriedCouple: This observation has been made about Castle and Beckett.
** Parodied in "A Chill Goes Through Her Veins", in which Castle suggests that they role-play as a married couple (the husband of whom killed the wife) to go through a crime scene. Beckett objects, and in the process they begin arguing like an old married couple about ''being'' a married couple. The guy who owns the apartment they're in even takes note.
-->'''Castle''': Okay. So you and I are married.\\
'''Beckett''': We are not married.\\
'''Castle''': Relax, it's just pretend.\\
'''Beckett''': Well, I don't wanna pretend.\\
'''Castle''': Scared you'll like it?\\
'''Beckett''': Okay. If we're married, ''I'' want a divorce.\\
'''Apartment owner''': Are you two like this all the time?\\
'''Castle''' and '''Becket''': ''[In unison]'' Yes.
** In "Countdown", Beckett and Castle are racing through the streets to reach their destination [[spoiler: where a bomb will explode]] with great urgency... and in the process have an argument about the best route to take as if he were a husband irritating his wife by offering passenger-seat-driver advice
-->'''Beckett''': Don't tell me how to drive!\\
'''Castle''': I'm not ''telling'' you how to drive!\\
'''Beckett''': You ''are'' telling me how to drive!
** They also have the 'so in tune with each other's thoughts they finish each other's sentences' part of the equation, much to the amusement of everyone around them.
** In the episode after Beckett finds out about [[spoiler: Castle poking through her mother's murder]] she is really ticked off. After they're called to investigating a corpse in a tree, the following conversation takes place.
--> '''Lanie:''' Castle, what are ''you'' doing here?\\
'''Beckett:''' Don't worry, we're still mad at him.\\
'''Ryan:''' Guy in a tree, mom and dad bickering. Seems like old times.\\
'''Esposito:''' Mmm-hmm.
** Again, in 'the last nail', when Castle's old friend is the prime suspect in a murder investigation, he and Beckett have a little spat.
--->'''Ryan:''' What's going on?\\
'''Esposito:''' Mom and dad are fighting.\\
'''Ryan:''' ...Who's winning?
* LoanShark: Several murder suspects throughout the series, most of them {{red herring}}s who quickly point out that it's hard to get new customers with that kind of reputation, and even harder to get money from a dead man. Sometimes subverted in that their debtors paid them back in full, often leading to new clues if they were able to get a lot of money in a short time.
* LockedInAFreezer: [[spoiler:Castle and Beckett at the end of "Setup".]]
* LockedInARoom: And [[ChainedHeat handcuffed together]] in "Cuffed". [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in a parallel conversation in which Esposito explains to Ryan that canoeing is often used by women as a relationship test by putting two people together in a small space where there's no escape, allowing them to address issues with their relationships and test their ability to work together.
* LongDistanceRelationship: The prospect of one (he wants to go to Stanford, leaving her behind in New York for her senior year) causes Alexis and Ashley to have many a crisis. [[spoiler: First, she breaks up with him. Then, they get back together with Alexis deciding to graduate early so she can go to Stanford with him. However, when her application to Stanform is rejected, although they try the LongDistanceRelationship route, the time differences and lack of time together ultimately ends with Alexis breaking up with him again.]]
** And ''now'' [[spoiler: Alexis is reconsidering her decision]]...
* {{Lunacy}}: "The Double Down" opens with the station being flooded by crazies on the night of a full moon. And Castle sitting at Beckett's desk with [[PassThePopCorn a bowl of popcorn.]]
* LyingToThePerp: ...and ends by the tried and true "Divide and lie about the other one cracking" method.
** Beckett also lied to a car part fencer to get info out of him in "Setup". Except that it turned out that her bluff was true; the fencer ''had'' actually seen someone there, and assumed it was the "witness" Beckett referred to.
** Interesting twist in "To Love And Die in L.A.": They don't have jurisdiction in Los Angeles. But they can use the actors playing the detectives in the ''Heat Wave'' movie, a prop police car, and a set of an interrogation room to make a perp ''believe'' that they do.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: M-P]]
* MadArtist: Scott Dunn [[spoiler:a serial killer who writes novels based on his murders.]]
* MagicalDatabase:
** Taken to the EXTREME in the "Tick...Tick...Tick...Boom!" two-parter, including a ViewerFriendlyInterface straight out of ''MinorityReport''. But also played with, as only the FBI gets the nice shiny toys, and they take them back after the episode is over.
** Subverted with the missing persons' database, which is just several stacks of old files.
** Also subverted in the pilot when Beckett says that a fingerprint takes weeks to identify. Strangely, played straight in later episodes, especially with fingerprint identification.
** Played straight in the "Pandora"/"Linchpin" two-parter by the CIA. And in "Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind" by... the unnamed agency that hired [[ThatGuy Lyle Lovett]].
* MakeUpOrBreakUp: This is the current situation with [[spoiler: Esposito and Lanie]] as of 'Demons'. They [[spoiler:broke up, except for the occasional booty call.]]
* MaleGaze: Castle very unsubtlely stares at Beckett's butt in the club scene of "Lucky Stiff" and she catches him. He looked at her butt again in "Deep in Death", when she man-handles a perp to the ground wearing just a jacket over her underwear. Of course, [[FemaleGaze Beckett herself]] stared at his earlier in the series in "Wrapped Up in Death."
* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Castle's first ex-wife, Meredith. An ongoing {{deconstruction}} and {{reconstruction}}. Fun-loving and fun to be around, but too scatterbrained to be a good wife ''or'' mother. Castle divorced her after she slept with her producer, but always ends up sleeping with her whenever she's in town. Alexis tries to keep a wide berth, but can't help but blow off tests she's spent days cramming for when she shows up to take her shopping. Castle's verdict: Such people are [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twinkie#Deep-fried_Twinkie Deep-fried twinkies]] -- [[GuiltyPleasure things you know are bad for you but you occasionally partake of anyway just for the sheer joy of it]].
** I wouldn't say Alexis couldn't help it. Her mother was the one who pulled her out of school and she couldn't go back without saying her mother was a liar.
* ManipulativeBastard: 3XK
* ManlyTears: Castle finally cries in "Knockout". It is [[TearJerker heartbreaking]]. Ryan cries a SingleTear [[spoiler:after Montgomery's death]].
* MayDecemberRomance: In "Inventing the Girl", Castle connects with Trina, an attractive young model who's clearly nursing something of a crush on him -- until he realizes that she's actually ''Ka''trina, Alexis' old babysitter (and not that much older than Alexis herself). Everyone accuses him of trying this on when he nevertheless keeps in contact with her; averted when he reveals that he's ''actually'' putting her back in contact with Alexis.
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Debated endlessly in "She's Dead, He's Dead," regarding a psychic--and in particular, a letter she wrote in which she foresaw her death. [[spoiler:Although not ''definitive'' definitive, it leans heavily towards the "Magic" side of the argument.]]
** Again in the conclusion of ''Demons'' when the team investigates a supposedly haunted house. Beckett finds an important lead due to what might be a ContrivedCoincidence or, as Castle suggests, aid from the victim's ghost. There is also no explanation as to why all the previous murders in the house were attributed to demons.
* MeaningfulEcho: At two points in "Knockout" a character informs another character that "you can't hide [someone] from me," with the other character replying "you got that ass-backwards; you can't hide from ''him / me''." The first is Beckett trying to psych out Lockwood about the identity of his employer, with Lockwood turning it back on her; [[spoiler: the second is Captain Montgomery, moments before making his RedemptionEqualsDeath HeroicSacrifice, turning Lockwood's assertion that he can't hide Beckett back on him.]]
** The show will often do this; several episodes have subtle {{Call Back}}s to previous episodes which echo significant moments, often with roles reversed and usually to underscore how the relationships between the characters has evolved since the earlier moment.
* MeddlingParents:
** Castle's mother is constantly telling people things he wishes she wouldn't. Castle has his moments of overprotectiveness with Alexis, too, but after the chewing-out mentioned above, he's gotten a lot better. From "Vampire Weekend," when Alexis asks to go to a party thrown by high school seniors:
--->'''Castle''': This is one of those crossroads moments, isn't it?\\
'''Martha''': Oh, let her go. She's far more responsible than you ever were.
** ''Inverted'' in "Food to Die For", when Alexis is ''hoping'' her dad will intervene on her decision of whether or not to go camping with her friends when she should probably spend the weekend studying. He finally does at the very end. And only because she has to tell him to do so, so that she can tell her friends she really wants to go with them but her father won't let her.
* MexicanStandoff: near the end of "Under the Gun", Beckett, Ryan, and Esposito get into one with three separate people all after the same treasure.
* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: "Kill the Messenger", "Murder Most Fowl", "Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind", "Set Up"[=/=]"Countdown", "Pandora"[=/=]"Linchpin".
* MinoredInAsskicking: Castle, being a civilian, usually leaves the dirty work to his detective friends. But we are occasionally reminded that he is, in fact, a better shot than Beckett.
* MirandaRights: Invoked in an example of LyingToThePerp in "Sucker Punch". Castle and Beckett play on the pervasive Hollywood myth that reading the Miranda rights is somehow required for an arrest to be legal, when in fact it only affects the admissibility of a suspect's statements in court.
* MissingMom: Only in this case, as much as they care about her Castle and Alexis are kind of glad that Meredith isn't permanently around.
* TheMissusAndTheEx: "Pandora" and "Linchpin" introduce Sophia, a member of the CIA, and Castle's previous "muse". Oddly, Castle doesn't seem too bothered about it all. Beckett, however, is, and their conversation is filled with unintentional double entendres about his relationship with Sophia until he flat out asks Beckett if she's jealous they had a relationship.
* MistakenForCheating: The victim in "Suicide Squeeze". His wife eventually learns it's not a girlfriend in Cuba he got killed over...it's ''his daughter''. It's also established that the victim's wife was at one point MistakenForCheating by the victim, when in fact she was upset over his 'cheating'.
* MomentKiller:
** Gina (Castle's ex-wife) in the second season finale. So, ''so'' much. [[spoiler:Beckett is ''just about to tell Castle she loves him'' when Gina shows up and reveals that they "talked on the phone for hours.... just like old times" the night before. At which point Stana Katic breaks every viewer's heart with her expression.]]
** Ryan and Esposito in "Vampire Weekend", with hilarious consequences:
-->'''Ryan''': Are we...interrupting?\\
'''Beckett''' / '''Castle''': *at the same time* No. / Yes.
** In 'Set Up', Castle and Beckett are isolated due to radiation exposure, unsure whether they're sick or not. To change the subject, Beckett about her problems with her boyfriend. In describing what she wants out of a relationship, she pretty much describes her relationship with Castle. As Castle opens his mouth to respond to this, the isolation tent is unzipped and they're told they're fine. Castle clearly reacts with a 'just a minute' hand gesture that he wanted more time.
** In the latter half of season three especially, several warm-and-fuzzy moments between Castle and Beckett have been interrupted in some way or another (in person in "Countdown", by telephone in "One Life To Lose") by Beckett's boyfriend Josh, resulting in an awkward conclusion to the moment.
** "Cops and Robbers": "He's not the only one here, you know." Damnit, Martha!
** "47 Seconds": Esposito tells Castle and Beckett that Gates has called for them all, just before Castle is about to tell Beckett about his feelings. Damnit, Espo!
* MoodDissonance :
** Castle and Beckett seem to be having a warm fuzzy moment at his book launch during "When The Bough Breaks..." when Castle suddenly brings up a thought he had about the current murder they're working on.
** And at the end of "Always Buy Retail"
--> '''Castle''': I saved your life; that means you have to do what I want. And you know what I want. [[spoiler: Never. Call me. Kitten.]]
* MoodWhiplash:
** In "Sucker Punch", Castle does this to try to cheer Beckett up, who's understandably a bit grim as she's [[spoiler: close to finding the man who murdered her mother]].
-->'''Beckett''': What if I let her down?\\
'''Castle''': ''[pauses]'' Do you know why I chose you as my inspiration as Nikki Heat?\\
'''Beckett''': No. Why?\\
'''Castle''': 'Cause you're tall. ''[Beckett breaks into a small grin]'' [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Now go in there and do your job.]]\\
''(Beckett squares her shoulders and walks into the interrogation room)''
** In "He's Dead, She's Dead", the plot seems to be LighterAndSofter than normal as Castle tries to convince Beckett that the murdered woman was indeed a psychic. All seems to be going fine until halfway through the episode, [[spoiler: Chet dies]].
* MotiveRant: Played with in "Hedgefund Homeboys", where Castle was able to read the suspect's motives so well that he did the rant for the perp -- thus getting a confession from him, when the suspect gets caught up enough to confirm the rant with "exactly".
* MrExposition: Subverted in "Food to Die For." Castle tries to talk about topics that happen to get brought up... only to sputter out when he realizes that his audience doesn't care.
* TheMuse: Beckett, to Castle.
* MuseAbuse: Played with; Beckett is not entirely happy at being the inspiration for Nikki Heat, suggests that she has faced a lot of grief because of it and is definitely less-than-impressed at how Heat is "kinda slutty", but seems to accept it over time, and on the whole no one appears to have had any reason to complain about how Castle has depicted the characters based on them in his books so far.
* MysteryWriterDetective: Castle
* MythArc: The murder of Beckett's mother seems to be developing into one.
* NakedInMink: Occurs offscreen in "One Life to Lose" when Peter is describing Mandy's method of "persuasion."
-->'''Peter''': She showed up at my apartment last night. She was wearing a fur coat.
-->'''Beckett''': So?
-->'''Peter''': ''Just'' a fur coat.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in "The Late Shaft" about a suspect, Zach Robinson.
-->'''Castle''': Ooh! Good bad-guy name! Snaky 'Z.' Hard 'K.' Even has 'Rob' in it.
** Subverted, however; while he's a bit of a creep, he turns out to have had nothing to do with the murder.
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%%% Narm goes on the Narm pages, not here.
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* NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead: Beckett never hesitates to call Castle out when he gets too irreverent. See also TreacheryCoverUp.
* NeverSuicide: In "Hedge Fund Homeboys", [[spoiler: the teen who committed suicide was really murdered by another teen, a ''{{Dexter}}'' wannabe who also planned another friend's murder]].
* NewOldFlame:
** Kyra is this for Castle in "A Rose For Everafter".
** Chet is this for Martha throughout the second season [[spoiler:to the point where she moves in with him]]. [[spoiler: As of "He's Dead, She's Dead," he is now dead.]]
** Castle's second wife returns to close the second season, [[spoiler:and they pick back up where they left off.]]
** Beckett has a few too- FBI Agent Sorenson in the first season, ex-cop Royce in the third.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Castle and Beckett in "Setup" when searching for a dirty bomb in van. They found a van in a location they knew the suspected terrorists visited... and go in [[spoiler: alone, instead of getting the hell out and calling the bomb squad and are now locked in a freezing container with the bomb gone.]]
* NobleShoplifter: Alexis is so noble that she pays when her ''friends'' shoplift.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: In "Pretty Dead", [[LaverneAndShirley Michael]] [[ThisIsSpinalTap McKean]] plays Victor Baron, a thinly veiled Donald Trump clone, complete with comb-over.
** "An Embarrassment of Bitches" features a very famous woman with "no discernable talent", that carries a dog with her wherever she goes. A pretty good mashup of Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian, perhaps?
* NoirEpisode: "The Blue Butterfly", at least in the flashbacks.
* NoodleIncident:
** Castle has a tendency to start launching into anecdotes about something that once happened to him ("There was this one time...") only to quickly wrap things up when Beckett glares at him to shut up ("... Story for another time."), usually because they're at the crime scene or in an interrogation and Castle's anecdote is tangential at best.
** Beckett gets one in "Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind" when she refers to the time when she was six and got a Lego stuck up her nose. All Castle can do is look very incredulous and let out a FlatWhat.
** From the pilot episode, when Castle finds Alexis doing homework at a book premier party, he starts recounting a "When I was your age" story, only to conclude with "I can't even tell that story because it's wildly inappropriate."
* TheNotSecret:
** In "Poof, You're Dead", it turns out that everyone already knows about the big secret -- [[spoiler: that Esposito and Lanie are in a relationship]] -- but have just decided to play along to give the secret holders some privacy (and no doubt enjoy watching them squirm [[PullTheThread whenever it's brought up]]).
** In "'Til Death Do Us Part", when Castle, Beckett and Esposito are trying to tell Ryan that Jenny had slept with a pick-up artist a month after they started dating, he nonchalantly reveals that he knew all along and wasn't bothered because they hadn't been exclusive at the time.
* NotSoDifferent:
** "There are two kinds of folk who sit around and think of ways to kill people -- psychopaths and mystery writers..." In "Boom!" it's explicitly noted that both Castle and the killer 'kill people for a living' and share certain similarities -- except Castle only does it in his books. [[spoiler: Then it's revealed that the killer is an amateur writer who distances himself from his crimes by writing them up as fictionalized manuscripts.]]
** Castle gets another one in "3XK" when he has an AwesomeByAnalysis-off with a serial killer.
** A slightly more friendly one happens in "Heroes & Villains": one of the suspects is a woman officer called Hastings who joined the police force after her father was killed in his shop by a junkie, and later became a vigilante called Lone Vengeance. Beckett interrogates her, and Hastings states she holds Beckett as a role model and professes that Beckett is not so different when compared with her, because both of them joined the academy in order to solve a parent's assassination. [[HypocriticalHumor Beckett tells her to stop letting the past define her. Fandom hopes she will listen to her own advice.]]
** Another example in "Kill Shot" takes place between [[spoiler:Beckett and the sniper]]
--> [[spoiler: '''Beckett''']]: If you're gonna shoot me, you look at me in the eyes. Okay? And you look hard. Because I am not your enemy, I can't be. ''You and I have too much in common.''
* NotWhatItLooksLike: Okay, it's exactly what it looks like. But [[ICanExplain he can explain]]...
* NotWithTheSafetyOnYouWont: The perp in the pilot holds Castle hostage, but with a safety'd gun, allowing NathanFillion to subvert PutDownYourGunAndStepAway in yet ''another'' badass way.
* ObfuscatingDisability: In "Under the Gun", one of their suspects is an aging ex-con who needs a walker to get around... until he has to get away, at which point he ditches the walker and makes a run for it.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: In "Home is Where the Heart Stops," Beckett offers Castle access to some evidence, but only if he can get a bulls-eye at the shooting range after already having seen him miss badly three times. Castle plugs all three of his next shots through the 10-ring. Also: GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
-->'''Castle:''' Wow! Shot too soon.\\
'''Beckett:''' Ah well. You know we could always just cuddle, Castle.
* OscarBait: Alluded to in "One Life To Lose"; one of the soap actors has been cast in a Coen Brothers movie "as Matt Damon's half-wit Dad; role of a lifetime, has nominations written all over it."
* OddCouple:
** Castle and Beckett, of course.
** Esposito and Ryan also have a bit of an 'Odd Couple' vibe going on as well; Esposito appears to be more fastidious, athletic and suave, whereas Ryan seems ever-so-slightly slovenly, dorky and clumsy, Esposito's a bit of a lady's man where Ryan is in a relationship and is 'whipped', etc.
* OfficialCouple: Castle and Beckett. We're still waiting, but it's only a matter of time. To the extent that in interviews, the actors have pretty much admitted that yeah, they'll get together eventually -- the fun part is in watching ''how''.
* OldShame: In the pilot, one of the first things that clues Castle into the fact that things aren't what they seem with the copycat killings and gets him interested in solving the mystery is that the killer is staging them based off his self-described 'lesser works'. In a later episode, it comes out that Beckett was a teen model. She is not happy to see a picture of her from then floating around the precinct.
* {{Omniglot}}: When the cast was running after a couple of suspects in Chinatown, Castle revealed that he could speak Chinese, apparently fluidly, as he talks to a pair of terrified bystanders. When asked, [[{{Firefly}} he claims to have learned it]] [[ShoutOut from a TV show]]. Most examples of the trope know more than one other language, but under the circumstances...
* OnceMoreWithClarity:
** Done in the season three premiere.
** Also in "Setup"
* OneSceneWonder: Several witnesses, suspects, and other minor characters have their moments.
** There's a GenreSavvy SmugSnake suspect in "Knockdown."
** A carpenter with an Eastern European accent that [[GotMeDoingIt gets Beckett to accidentally mimic his accent]].
** Ashley, Alexis' boyfriend, is accidentally [[TwerpSweating Twerp Sweated]] by Castle in what was, for a while, his only on-screen appearance.
* [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Woman]]: Between Castle, Esposito and Ryan, Beckett looks like the most serious person on the series. Alternatively, Alexis Castle. Despite being around 15 at the start of the series.
* OntologicalMystery / YouWakeUpInARoom: In "Cuffed", Beckett and Castle wake up together in a bed handcuffed to each other with no idea how they got there.
* [[OohMeAccentsSlipping Ooh Me Accent's Slipping]]:
** Both lead actors have occasional moments of Canadianness
** Johnny Vong from "Sucker Punch" is an InUniverse example, upon hearing that Jack Coonan was killed.
** Hans von Manschaft, a stripper,in "Almost Famous". He immediately drops the accent when he hears his rival has been murdered
* OpenMindedParent: Of the three generations in the Castle household, the fifteen-year old Alexis is far and away the most responsible. (In fairness, Castle ''is'' a responsible parent; it's just that he's completely irresponsible about everything ''else''.) And in "Home is Where the Heart Stops," Castle explains that his ex, Alexis's mother, is ''even worse''.
-->'''Castle:''' "Sad, isn't it?"
* OpeningNarration:
** "There are two kinds of folk who sit around and think about how to kill people -- psychopaths and mystery writers. I'm the kind that pays better."
** As of early Season 3, the narration is MIA, as is the opening theme song (the opening credits are simply overlaid onto the scenes immediately after the first commercial break.)
* OrSoIHeard:
** In "Inventing the Girl:"
---> '''Beckett''': "Nobody got murdered in {{Showgirls}}. ''[A {{beat}}]'' I hear."
** In "Nikki Heat," Alexis [[RunningGag repeatedly]] discusses certain qualities of schlock horror movies, and after Castle eyes her, follows up each statement with, "[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial ...if I'd seen it, which I haven't.]]"
** Appears again in "One Life To Lose," where Beckett denies being a faithful watcher of ''Temptation Lane'', the soap where the murder of the week happened. Also played with since Castle shows an equal knowledge (if not fandom) of soap operas and yet there are no jokes about a guy liking or watching soap operas.
** "Dial M For Mayor", when a sex-line call girl explains to them that it's not just about sex, Castle immedciately says "It's therapy"...then quickly adds "...or...so I've...been told."
* OverprotectiveDad: Castle, though Alexis usually shuts him down before it goes too far.
* PairTheSpares:
** In "Poof! You're Dead" we are given [[spoiler:Lanie/Esposito]] pretty much out of left field. Unless you had read ''Naked Heat'' beforehand, in which [[spoiler:Nikki observes Lauren and Ochoa getting into a cab together.]]
** Also happens to Castle and Beckett's dates at a restaurant when the two get too wrapped up in solving a murder in "The Third Man".
* ParentalSubstitute: Castle asks Beckett to be this to Alexis, if anything should ever happen to him (he got paranoid about being under a Mayan curse).
* PassThePopcorn:
** "Double Down" starts with Castle eating popcorn and watching people around the precinct.
** Castle likes this trope: from "One Man's Treasure":
--->'''Castle''': A wife-and-fiancee catfight? ''Please'' tell me we can stop for popcorn on the way!
** Also from "The Mistress Always Spanks Twice", referring to a suspect:
--->'''Castle''': "Sam-I-Am...in a box...with a fox? We're so gonna need some popcorn."
* PhantomThief: Falco, the art thief. [[spoiler: Also Serena used to be one.]]
** Powell, a retired jewel thief that Castle consulted for a novel.
* PlatonicProstitution: In "Hell Hath No Fury", Castle hires a HighClassCallGirl the victim consorted with solely because it's an easier way of finding her than the police department's time consuming method of tracking her via her offshore based website.
* PointyHairedBoss: Captain Gates is shaping up to be a mild one of these; she does seem to be okay at her job, but her relationships with the main characters are not exactly cordial, and she tends to dismiss Castle's contributions -- however valid -- out of hand simply because he's the one giving them. More recently, she's begun to take Castle's contributions more seriously as long as he's not being wacky about it. But conversely, she's also been pushing for Beckett to try to grow beyond relying on Castle.
* PoolScene: In "To Love And Die in L.A.", including [[FanService Beckett in a clingy swimsuit getting out of a pool in slow motion]]. Justified in that she's trying to catch the eye of a suspect.
* PoorMansSubstitute: Played with in "Nikki Heat" when Natalie Rhodes implies that for Castle, writing about Nikki Heat is the poor man's substitute of being in a relationship with Beckett. She even goes so far as to call his writing "verbal masturbation."
* PortmanteauCoupleName: "Esplanie" for Esposito and Lanie, mentioned on-screen in "One Life To Lose."[[invoked]]
* ThePowerOfActing:
** Natalie Rhodes.
** Also used in "Poof! You're Dead" though with stage magic rather than acting.
** Used again in "One Life To Lose."
* ThePowerOfLegacy: Beckett decides to do this for [[spoiler:Captain Montgomery]], and the rest of the cast agrees.
* [[PrecisionFStrike Precision B Strike]]: First Alexis, then Castle, call one of Alexis's friends a "Bitch" when she reveals her AlphaBitch credentials.
* PregnantHostage: Played with. In a bank robbery, there ''is'' a pregnant hostage, but she doesn't go into labor or have health problems. She ''is'', however, the one of the first people the police bargain to get out, and Castle [[spoiler:uses her as an excuse to fetch a pillow located near a window, where he can signal Beckett.)]]
* PreviouslyOn:
** After the OpeningNarration was killed close to the beginning of Season 3, one of these was used in "Knockdown", with clips from "A Death in the Family" and "Sucker Punch"...the other two Castle eps which dwell heavily on Beckett's mother's murder.
** Similarly, "To Love and Die in L.A." features one which is exclusively clips from "Under the Gun", the episode with Beckett's old partner Mike Royce. [[spoiler:He's dead within a minute of the montage.]]
** The Season Four premier episode had one, surprisingly, and did a recap of the season three finale [[spoiler:to lead as an opener for why Beckett is being gurneyed down a hospital wing.]]
* ProductPlacement: Microsoft products are featured prominently in "Kill Shot." Hulu even had a video dedicated entirely to the product placement.
* {{Protectorate}}: Castle is sometimes a HeroicNeutral, but can be talked into helping by the words "what if it was Alexis in {that situation}?"
** During a nuclear threat, he tries to gets her and his mother to go away from town.
** This tendency actually provokes him into freeing a ''tiger'' from the other side of a wall [[spoiler: mistakenly thinking that the criminals are slave trading]].
* PutDownYourGunAndStepAway:
** Subverted in the pilot: Castle's the hostage, but he's able to break free, ''and'' get the perp's gun. "Tell me you ''saw'' that!" Also, see above.
** In season two Castle gets stuck in the same position and decides to headbutt the hostage taker instead, [[spoiler: who is then shot by Beckett]].
** It actually works for once in "Linchpin", when a suspected [[spoiler:CIA [[TheMole mole]] takes a hostage and backs into an elevator. Turns out he's not the mole.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Q-T]]
* QuipToBlack: Castle, on a regular basis. Nobody else is amused. Beckett also gets to play sometimes.
* {{Qurac}}: Played with in the second season finale. Beckett swallows the existence of a threat to the Banking Minister of the Republic of Luvania even though she had never heard of the country before, until Castle points out that it doesn't exist.
* RaceAgainstTheClock: As the title indicates this happens in "Countdown". [[spoiler: Partially subverted since the clock actually reaches 0, but Castle still manages to prevent the bomb from blowing up.]]
* RealLifeRelative: Seamus Dever (Ryan)'s wife Juliana has a recurring role as Jenny, Ryan's girlfriend [[spoiler:and later, fiancée]].
** The cast and crew have utilized it to very cute and very meta ends--such as creating a wedding website for Jenny and Ryan with the Devers' pictures.
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: In Seamus Dever's Episode Commentary for "Wrapped Up In Death", he says he broke his ankle three weeks before taping, encouraging the viewer to see how well he hides his limp. In the climax, the perp runs right past Ryan and Esposito, but instead of chasing after him, they just wave at him (the better to hide Dever's injury).
* ReallyGetsAround: When Castle's mother says that he "never had a father figure", his reply is that he had dozens of them. Castle himself has a lot of female groupies. Lampshaded by Esposito in "Suicide Squeeze" when he jokingly comments on how active Martha probably was during the 1970s. Probably a mistake to say this directly to Castle, however, who is less-than-amused.
* {{Recycled IN SPACE}}: [[MurderSheWrote Jessica Fletcher]] [[AC: as a hot middle-aged guy!]] Alternatively, ''MurderSheWrote'' [[XMeetsY meets]] ''{{Moonlighting}}'' and/or ''Series/RemingtonSteele''. Except that, unlike in ''MurderSheWrote'', [[WMG/MurderSheWrote Castle isn't the killer]]. Or ''TheThinMan'', only they're not married ([[{{UST}} yet]]) and she's the detective.
* RedHerring: {{Lampshaded}}.
** One of the biggest happens in "Pandora"[=/=]"Linchpin". [[spoiler:It happens twice: the two times they think they have found TheMole, it turns out that they are [[RedHerring Red Herrings]] laid out by the real mole, Sophia Turner.]]
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Montgomery was the officer with [=McCallister=] and Raglan at the initial incident that led to Beckett's mother's murder. He dies killing Lockwood and his cronies.]]
* RemonstratingWithAGun: Castle in the season 3 premiere.
* {{Retirony}}: [[spoiler:At the end of "Pretty Dead", Captain Montgomery's anniversary gift to his wife is his intention to retire from the force. Although it's waved off as typical Montgomery talk ("He retires every six months", Beckett says), he's dead by the end of the next ep, "Knockout".]]
* TheReveal: Castle's real name is finally dropped in "He's Dead, She's Dead". It's [[spoiler: Richard Alexander Rodgers,]] which is incredibly amusing considering the daughter of a murdered psychic told Beckett that a man named [[spoiler: Alexander]] [[{{Foreshadowing}} would be very important to her...]]
* RevealingCoverup: The most common way Castle and Beckett figure out whodunit.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The plot of "The Late Shaft" has a lot of similarities to the Jay Leno[=/=]ConanOBrien ''TheTonightShow'' controversy, as well as elements of DavidLetterman's recent affair scandal.
* RomanticFalseLead:
** Two of them, each a date brought by Castle and Beckett to the same restaurant unawares. It lasts for all of 30 seconds before they're both making excuses to conspire about the case. Also a case of PairTheSpares because Beckett's date starts talking to Castle's date as Beckett and Castle leave the restaurant.
** Detective Tom Demming appears to be shaping up to be one of these for Castle, regarding their mutual interest in Beckett. [[spoiler: He certainly provided a rude awakening for the GenreSavvy shippers who noted his tendencies and [[DieForOurShip pegged him as the killer]] because he was the first one not of the main cast to talk to one of the main cast, and because he had connections to the victim. He wasn't.]]
** As of "Overkill", [[spoiler: he is definitely the RomanticFalseLead. Everyone fire up your computers; it's time for DieForOurShip]]. Alexis even does some LeaningOnTheFourthWall at the beginning of the episode, when Castle asks her to criticize a portion of his next Nikki Heat book, which, in case you've forgotten, is loosely based on what he does with Beckett.
--->'''Alexis:''' [[LampshadeHanging Who's this new guy? It seems like he came out of nowhere.]]\\
'''Castle:''' He ''did'', didn't he?
** In the third season, Gina and Josh take these roles for Castle and Beckett respectively, but were mostly TheFaceless throughout the first half of the series. [[spoiler: After "Poof You're Dead", Gina is out of the picture. And in the first half of "Rise", the fourth season opener, Josh is too.]])
* RoomFullOfCrazy
* RuleOfFunny: In "Heartbreak Hotel," Castle, Esposito, and Ryan get thrown out of an Atlantic City hotel because they're out of their jurisdiction. Do they call the Atlantic City PD for help? No, they sneak in by ''dressing up in Elvis costumes''. And it's hilarious.
* RunningGag:
** Very frequently will someone catch Beckett and Castle in a highly {{UST}}-charged relationship moment or situation and / or will allude to them being [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend in a relationship]], prompting Beckett and Castle to respond unanimously -- with completely different responses (usually with Beckett hotly denying it and Castle cheerfully confirming it). Often something along these lines:
-->'''Ryan''': Are we interrupting something?\\
'''Beckett''': [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend No!]]\\
'''Castle''': ''[At the same time]'' [[GenreSavvy Yes!]]\\
''[Beckett {{Death Glare}}s Castle]''\\
'''Ryan''': ... Okay.
** In the first couple of seasons, whenever Castle mentioned who he was and his previous character, Derrick Storm (who was killed off in his most recent book before meeting Beckett), the person he's talking to would immediately enthuse "Derrick Storm? I love that guy! Why'd you kill him?"
** Castle's GrammarNazi tendencies and minor BerserkButton over people misusing {{Irony}}.
** Castle and Beckett completing each other's sentences, usually leading to a breakthrough in the case.
* TheSadisticChoice: [[spoiler: Lockwood comes to Captain Montgomery and demands that he lure Beckett into a trap so they can kill her or else he'll kill Montgomery's family. Being a noble and great man, he TakesAThirdOption, sacrificing himself to kill Lockwood and his crew.]]
* SafeWord: Castle's is 'apples', as he repeatedly mentions to Beckett.
* SaltAndPepper: Ryan and Esposito. Beckett and Parrish.
* SamusIsAGirl: [[spoiler: the (original) Lone Vengeance. ]]
* SayingTooMuch: In the pilot the brother of one of the victims, when questioned for an alibi, helpfully provides alibis for all three of the murders. While Castle is downhearted, Beckett immediately pegs that while it's plausible he'd know his alibi for his sister's murder, the fact that he was instantly prepared for one for ''all three murders'' is more than a wee bit suspicious. [[spoiler: Yep, he did it.]]
* ScaryBlackMan: In Law and Murder
* ScaryMinoritySuspect: Several. Usually WronglyAccused.
* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl:
** In "The Third Man", [[spoiler: Castle does one when he opens a refrigerator and an unexpected body falls out. Surprisingly, no one calls him out on it.]] Presumably a second occurrence happened just offscreen in that episode, as Castle was menaced by a big hairy spider.
** Also he does a small one in "Tick, Tick, Tick...", when [[spoiler: Beckett opens the door for him with a gun in her hand, thinking it´s the killer. ]]
** Parodied in the [[HilariousOuttakes outtakes]] when Stana opens a file and Nathan glances over at the picture before letting out a high-pitched, girly scream that startles the woman standing next to him and causes the rest of the set to crack up.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections:
** A non-villainous example would be Castle himself, who has the mayor on speed dial and can thus convince the NYPD to let him shadow Kate around indefinitely.
*** Captain Montgomery ultimately subverts this. He later reveals to Beckett that he could have gotten rid of Castle at any time ("The mayor doesn't run this place, I do"), but only kept him around because he thought it would be good for her.
*** Also subverted by the fact that the mayor is not merely doing Castle a favor, but is using his fame as a bestselling author to improve the police's reputation... as well as his [[SlaveToPR chances to get reelected]]
** Castle does the same thing when he learns that the fingerprints normally take a week to process and also to learn if a dead body is a CIA agent.
** By the second season, the NYPD has basically said "screw the rules, you're actually incredibly helpful," and after resolving that rather uncomfortable tension with Beckett in "Deep In Death," the two are getting along fine, though they still exchange plenty of wit and snark. So now Castle just keeps helping with the cases, ostensibly still under the guise of novel research, but more because both he and the NYPD like having him around. As of S2 E5, 'When the Bough Breaks', he's on contract to write three more Nikki Heat books, meaning he's still fulfilling his original purpose.
** In "The Third Man", Beckett does this to get into a high-end New York restaurant, surprising Castle, who didn't expect she had those kinds of connections. (He, of course, has plenty.)
** In "Den of Thieves", Montgomery pulls a few strings to expedite a police report that could reveal a mole in a mob investigation from another precinct (which Esposito used to cover.)
** Also, in "Kill the Messenger", Montgomery pulls more strings to smoke out a corrupted prison guard. Later subverted when a rich suspect threatens to call the police commissioner, Montgomery replies "Tell him I said hi. [[RefugeinAudacity And that I could use a raise.]]"
** In "Setup", Castle offhandedly mentions that he's friends with the state governor in order to prevent Agent Fallon from kicking him off the case. [[spoiler: Later subverted; when Fallon eventually ''does'' kick Castle (and Beckett) off the case he comments that he's asked the governor about Castle -- and the governor's never even heard of him.]]
** In "Rise", Castle uses this again on Captain Gates, [[spoiler: Montgomery's successor. Raising the question of whether Montgomery could indeed have gotten rid of Castle if he wanted to or not.]]
*** Though it could also be [[spoiler:Gates would rather keep her position by kowtowing to the mayor than lose it by doing something technically within her power, but...]]
* SecondLove: Beckett for Castle. His first real love was Kyra Blaine, introduced in "A Rose For Everafter." It's entirely possible there's some more out there, as we don't know who else he dedicated his books to (not to mention his two ex-wives).
** He gets another before-Beckett love in Sophia Turner in "Pandora" and "Linchpin". Too bad she's never really left her FirstLove: [[spoiler:The USSR.]]
* SecretKeeper: In season 4 "Cops and Robbers" [[spoiler:a priest plays SecretKeeper to the exact location of an abused wife who faked her and her son's death to hide from the powerful, and connected husband. Thankfully, the priest was more than willing to tell Kate and Castle the location of the two when he learns the abusive father has learned of them.]]
* SelfInsertFic: What Castle essentially turns his narration of the Blue Butterfly case into, as he visualises what the detective wrote, but overwrote relevant persons with himself and his friends. He even tries to get Ryan to say "Boyo" a few times (Ryan plays the role of an Irish thug in the narration), and flubs his narration and accidentally says Kate's name in place of Vera's (the detective's LoveInterest).
* SerialKillingsSpecificTarget: In the pilot, the killer [[spoiler: murders his sister for her money, then stages the murder to look like something out of one of Castle's books and commits two similar murders so it'll look like one of her clients — who's obsessed with the books — did it.]]
* SeriousBusiness: In "A Deadly Affair" the entire precinct seems pissed off that Castle didn't call them at all during the Summer off -- Esposito said he should've [[spoiler: let Ryan shoot him when they caught Castle in a murder victim's apartment or at least locked him up out of spite because of it. Montgomery offers to do just that.]]
** It's less that he didn't call them and more that he didn't call Beckett, who was hurt by it.
* SexWithTheEx: Castle sleeps with his first ex-wife when she rolls into town for a short time. He compares it to a guilty pleasure. More seriously he re-kindles a romance with his second ex-wife when he thinks Beckett is serious with Demming.
* SharpDressedMan: Castle has some ''really'' nice suits. Ryan also has a penchant for wearing three-piece suits to work.
* SheCleansUpNicely:
** Beckett in "Home Is Where The Heart Stops" ''and'' in "When The Bough Breaks." Said literally to her, too.
** And "The Third Man", of course.
** "The Final Nail" club scene.
* [[HesBack She Is Back]]: in "Rise", after having suffered a HeroicBSOD when [[spoiler:a suspect pointed a gun at her]], Beckett has to face the actual killer, who [[spoiler:is pointing a shotgun at her]]. She seems to be on the throes of a BSOD again, but Castle talks to her and she manages to pull through.
* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend:
** Brought to a head in "The Third Man" thanks to a newspaper article saying they're romantically involved.
** "Kill the Messenger." Goes approximately like this:
--->'''Beckett''': No.\\
'''Castle''': ''[Simultaneously]'' Not yet.\\
'''Beckett''': *[[DeathGlare glare]]*
** Comes up again in "Cops and Robbers," this time said word for word.
* SherlockScan: Castle pulls this on Beckett in the pilot, as a sort of attempted LetsGetDangerous moment to prove that he can actually help. It's played with in that Castle realizes as he's doing it that he's hurting Beckett and digging up painful memories for her, and apologetically stops without taking any satisfaction in being correct.
* {{Shipping}}: Beckett gives a dictionary definition InUniverse of this in "One Life to Lose" along with the {{Portmanteau Couple Name}} of "Fox Can." The first suspect was also suffering a bad case of {{Die For Our Ship}} for "Can Fonso."
** In the same episode, Castle works out the {{Portmanteau Couple Name}} for Esposito and Lanie, "Esplanie". "Which is perfect, because they're always esplaining things!" Shippers for these two have used the term ever since.
* ShipTease: The entire point of the scene where [[ItWasHisSled Castle and Beckett kiss]] in "Knockdown". Well, that and [[spoiler:to have a guard let down his guard long enough for Beckett to pwn him.]]
** Find an episode that doesn't tease Castle and Beckett. Go ahead. We'll wait.
** Possibly the most blatant ShipTease so far was Ryan's wedding, where the show closes with Castle and Beckett walking down the aisle, hand in hand.
** "Embarrassment Of Bitches" unexpectedly teases Esposito and Kay Capuccio.
* ShipperOnDeck: Lanie is the most obvious, but close behind her are Ryan, Esposito, Alexis, Martha, Montgomery...hell, it'd be easier to list who ''doesn't'' ship Castle and Beckett during the course of the show. Such as Gates. Notably, however, [[NewOldFlame Kyra Blaine]], Castle's first love, is ''also'' this. She pretty much explicitly gives Beckett her permission-slash-blessing!
** And then, when beta (or gamma) offscreen couple [[spoiler:Esplanie]] is revealed, everyone else is fully in favor.
* ShoutOut:
** A great many (some mentioned above) to several of the actors' previous works. See the ActorAllusions entry under Trivia for more details.
%%% ActorAllusions (anything involving references to, for example, Nathan Fillion's role as Mal) should be posted to the Trivia page.
** A couple to AlfredHitchcock. The plot of "Double Down" is based on Hitchcock's ''Strangers on a Train'', with both the film and the novel getting a mention. In "Tick, Tick, Tick," taxidermy is referred to as Norman Bates' favorite pastime.
** "Little Girl Lost". Castle is asked why, with twenty-six bestsellers, he feels the need to shadow a cop. He points out that the ones on TV [[CSIMiami seem oddly fixated on their sunglasses]].
** When asked what they call perps, some of the names that the officers answer with are [[TheDarkCrystal Skeksis]] and [[Series/LandOfTheLost Sleestak]].
** In "Ghosts", they mention an old oil tanker bombing that crippled the captain. Who was the captain? Why, one [[StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Captain Pike]].
** In "Deep In Death", Beckett discusses how she sometimes visits Little Odessa (Brighton Beach, Brooklyn). When she was Hana Gitelman on ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', she tended to be in Odessa, Texas.
** From the same episode, Castle grants Alexis permission to see ''{{Fame}}'' with her boyfriend "but I have dibs on ''AChristmasCarol''." Alexis' actor, Molly Quinn, did voicework for the film.
** In the season 2 premiere, Castle asks the coroner if she wants some music, because she's [[spoiler: taking a fingerprint from the inside of a glove]] and he says that in ''{{CSI}}'' they do it to music.
** Anyone who follows NathanFillion on Twitter probably squealed with pleasure when in "The Double Down", he slipped in his catch phrase "Bam, said the lady", and again when he made the puntacular offshoot "Blam, said the lady" in "Last Call".
** "Vampire Weekend" is full of [[Trivia/{{Castle}} Actor Allusions]]. Check that page for a list.
*** Castle references ''Film/{{Underworld}}'' when talking about the body.
*** The episode itself is named after a popular indie rock band.
** In "A Rose For Everafter," the name of Castle's NewOldFlame is a ShoutOut to ''{{Casablanca}}'' (Kyra '''Blaine'''), as are the resolution of the [[LoveTriangle Love Quadrangle]] and this quote:
---> '''Kyra''': Out of all the murders at all the weddings in all the cities in the world, you walk into mine.
** Quite a few to ''{{Casablanca}}'', actually. In one episode, Castle is considering starting up his own bar, and trying to think up a name. His mother suggests "Rick's Cafe Americain". Castle says "That's much better than my idea: [[IncrediblyLamePun 'Castle-blanca']]"
** In "Den of Thieves", upon walking on Castle's poker lesson for Alexis, Castle's mom references ''{{Casablanca}}'' with a [[HypocriticalHumor similar joke]]:
--->'''Martha:''' "I am shocked, shocked, to find gambling going on in this establishment! ''[Pause]'' Deal me in."
** In "The Third Man" Esposito asks Castle and Beckett "why are you so obsessed with some motherfreaking snakes on a motherfreaking plane." [[SnakesonaPlane Sound familiar?]]
** Though probably not a shout-out per se, the baseball-themed episode "Suicide Squeeze" was written by Jose Molina...which happens to also be the name of a baseball player who most recently played for the New York Yankees.
** In "Wrapped Up in Death", Castle finds a familiar looking [[IndianaJones brown fedora and whip]], donning the fedora as he examines a sarcophagus. The episode title itself sounds like yet another murder mystery/bestseller reference, this time to the "InDeath" series by J.D. Robb.
** Three ScoobyDoo references: Castle compared Beckett to Daphne and tells the villain "This is the part where you say 'And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for YouMeddlingKids!" and Beckett said the infamous "Ruh roh" towards the end of the episode after they find the killer.
** You might notice a certain [[ConanOBrien red hair talkshow host's]] Dwight Eisenhower mug in "The Late Shaft".
** When Castle mentions a gun that shoots ice bullets, he's likely referring to a Dan Brown novel that involves this (at least in the first act).
** BreakingBad gets a shout-out in "A Deadly Affair," mentioned as "that cable show" about a high school chemistry teacher cooking meth, thought to be mirrored by the current case. The same episode gets a shoutout to TheManWithTheGoldenGun with Castle in the hall of mirrors in a pistol fight.
** Castle gets to slip in a Double Rainbow reference while grilling Beckett over her lack of belief in psychics in "He's Dead, She's Dead".
** It also makes references to the following famous time-travel works: TheTimeMachine, BackToTheFuture, and TimeAndAgain.
** Castle has a custom ringtone for calls from Beckett -- an OminousPipeOrgan; he likes to say "[[ISeeDeadPeople I Hear Dead People]]" whenever it sounds.
** "Anatomy of a Murder" has plenty of pretty blatant {{Shout Out}}s to ''GreysAnatomy.'' It's also the title of a court drama movie starring Jimmy Stewart.
** In "Famous Last Words," the murder victim led a band called [[Literature/AliceInWonderland Blue Pill]].
** The same episode also contains a [[JerseyShore Jersey Shore]] reference where the names Sammy, Ronnie and Pauly are mentioned by a rather fake-tanned woman with a poof...
** "Strange Encounters of the Murderous Kind" was one long [[XFiles The X-Files]] reference, complete with Castle as an AgentMulder referring to Beckett as AgentScully. Castle even whistles the theme tune at the crime scene.
** Two suspects in "Countdown" are named [[TwentyFour Evan Bauer and Jack Cochran]]. In addition to the obvious reference, Robert Cochran and Evan Katz helped write, create, and produce the series.
** In ''Pretty Dead,'' Beckett recalls that her beauty-pageant-contestant roommate made their apartment into their "own personal Vietnam." Castle responds with [[ApocalypseNow "I love the smell of hairspray in the morning. It smells like... victory."]]
** "Heroes and Villains" is full of {{Shout Out}}s to comic-books including SpiderMan, IronMan, {{Daredevil}}, and {{Deadpool}}, as well as a ''GameOfThrones'' reference. And {{Shakespeare}}.
** "Demons" has Castle pleading with Beckett to say it -- she [[{{Ghostbusters}} "ain't afraid of no ghost"]].
*** [[spoiler: The murderer in "Demons" also played a major demon on {{Supernatural}}...coincidence?]]
** In "Cops and Robbers" the robbers use the aliases [[DoogieHowserMD Dr. Howser]], [[DrQuinnMedicineWoman Dr. Quinn]], [[TheCosbyShow Dr. Huxtable]], and [[{{MASH}} Trapper John]]. There's also a mention of Film/DieHard, [[Series/{{House}} Dr. House]], [[Series/{{Lost}} Dr. Shephard]], and DrPhil.
** In "The Blue Butterfly", besides the general Noir style, Castle makes an explicit reference at the end, calling the titular Blue Butterfly [[TheMalteseFalcon "the stuff that dreams are made of"]]. This also references the fact that [[spoiler: the butterfly is a fake]].
** In "Once Upon a Crime", an episode about fairy tale-related crime, Beckett asks Esposito to look into a victim's bank account. He responds with, [[ThePrincessBride "As you wish"]].
** In the episode "Eye of the Beholder" there's a thief named Serena Kaye, a reference to Cat Woman aka Selina Kyle
** From the other direction: sister ABC show "Missing" featured a former CIA agent who became a successful writer of spy thrillers in the episode "Tell Me No Lies". [[http://castletv.net/richard-castle-cameo-in-missing/12782 One of the characters tacks a glance at the back cover, which has a recommendation quote by Richard Castle]]. Apparently, he's a fan.
* ShowWithinaShow:
** "The Late Shaft" - Bobby Mann Live is a mashup of the Letterman/Leno/Fallon late night TV shows, where the host Bobby Mann (played by Tom Bergeron) is the Victim of the Week
** "One Life to Lose" - Temptation Lane is a shoutout to daytime soaps.
* ShowerScene: Beckett gets one in Tick Tick Tick. The scene has many variants of the trope; the shower silhouette, the in-shower cam, the leg washing, the stepping into a towel, etc. [[IncrediblyLamePun It gets hot.]]
* ShownTheirWork:
** Castle researches the material in his books before he writes them so as to present an accurate depiction of the subject matter. However that doesn't stop him from taking ArtisticLicense with [[HollywoodVoodoo certain subjects]].
** In one episode, a killer was said to have been synthesizing [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RDX cyclonite (AKA RDX)]] from formaldehyde. While formaldehyde is not a directly used in the synthesis, it is used to manufacture of the reagents used in synthesis. A sort of pre-precursor if you will. It was pleasantly surprising that the writers bothered to give a plausible method.
** In "Wrapped Up In Death", the producers used a bio lab tech to show that they know what Carbon-14 dating is ([[Series/{{CSI}} unlike some other shows]]), and why it would work on mummies...and why it wouldn't work with the mummy in question. [[spoiler:It's only a 4-month-old mummy.]]
** In "The Late Shaft," Lanie gets a chance to explain MAO Inhibitors, and that you shouldn't take anything fermented with it (especially not balsamic vinegar).
** In the season 2 finale, a bullet fragment is said to have been fired through a polygonal rifled barrel, such as those found in Glocks. Not only would it actually be possible to discern that from a bullet fragment, Glocks actually are one of the most common handguns to use polygonal rifling.
** In "Punked" the writers managed to accurately portray SteamPunk, actually contracting many professional Steampunk costumers for the club scene and having Castle deliver a very accurate summation of the philosophy of the subculture. This was especially rewarding after the DidNotDoTheResearch equivalent in ''NCISLosAngeles''.
** "Last Call" gives us a pretty detailed history of New York during Prohibition, where there were a lot of speakeasies, supposedly because Mayor Jimmy Walker was an opponent of Prohibition.
* SingleTear: [[TheCutie Ryan]] is the only one crying when they meet in "Knockout", [[spoiler: after Captain Montgomery's death.]] A perfect single tear rolls down his face.
* SleepCute: Episode "Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind" Rick Castle and Detective Beckett wake up in her police car after they were taken, interrogated then drugged by mysterious government agents. Later they are asked "Are those hickeys?" "They're from the injectors" he answers.
** And again at the very beginning of "Cuffed", before they realize that they were--yet again--kidnapped and drugged.
* SlutShaming: Beckett is happy to shame the show's resident slut, Castle, who shrugs it off with good grace. See also: UrbanLegendLoveLife.
* SmugSnake:
** The killer, [[spoiler: Scott Dunn]], in "Tick... Tick... Tick... / Boom!" -- he clearly ''wants'' to be a MagnificentBastard and spends most of the multipart episode one step ahead of the police and the FBI, but this is more than balanced out by his tendency towards {{Villainous Breakdown}}s whenever things go against him and his general slimy, arrogant know-it-all demeanour.
** Simmons, the drug lord Beckett brings in to ask about her mother's murderer in "Knockdown". [[spoiler: He actually gets her angry enough to throw him against the interrogation mirror and cracks the hell out of it, not to mention nearly goading Castle to a fistfight.]]
** The little bastard from "Hedge Fund Homeboys". Both Castle and Beckett really, really want to take that punk down.
* SniffSniffNom: In "Murder Most Fowl" Castle finds a feather in the victims pocket, sniffs it, licks it and then declares that it's from a bird of prey. He also concludes that therefore, the man must have been killed by the nefarious [[EpilepticTrees "Falcon Killer"]].
-->'''Castle:''' Struck down by a killer with the speed and cunning of a bird of prey.\\
'''Everyone else:''' (incredulous look)\\
'''Beckett:''' Don't ask.
* SoCalization: In "The Third Man", in Alexis' jealousy over her father's attention, she mentions that her classmate wants him. She then says that she's seventeen, "but she'll be legal in three months!" The age of consent in New York is seventeen.
* SomethingTheyWouldNeverSay:
** "3XK": Castle tells his mother he loves her while being held at gunpoint. Five minutes later, he's rescued.
** Inverted in 'Countdown' -- [[spoiler: Alexis alerts the precinct when her dad was out of contact and didn't leave her a message. Turns out, she was right.]]
* SortingAlgorithmOfMortality: Lampshaded by Ryan to Esposito in "Under The Gun" who comments that because Esposito is snarky and Hispanic, he'll definitely die first. Castle tries to lampshade it but Beckett cuts him off.
* SoundtrackDissonance: In quite a few intros where the camera pans down to a corpse, relatively light music can be heard playing the background. Especially dissonant in the intro to "Home is Where the Heart Stops" with that cheery little pop playing as the camera slowly pans to the body.
* SpecialEditionTitle: "Countdown"'s title sequence is simply the logo, unanimated and tinted blue, to prevent MoodWhiplash.
** "Kick the Ballistics" has the logo in normal colors, but no cheery music, again to prevent whiplash.
** "Demons" has a Halloween special version of the intro, with the piano music played via {{Ominous Pipe Organ}} and wolves howling.
** "Blue Butterfly" has the tune played in sax, jazz style.
* SpecialGuest:
** Joe Torre, a baseball player and manager. Castle is fairly nonchalant, having met Joe before and not being overly interested in the game anyway, but Beckett can barely keep from {{Squee}}ing and immediately rushes off to call her dad to gloat.
** Chef Rocco Dispirito appeared in "Food to Die For" during Castle’s date with Beckett's high school BFF.
* SpitTake: In ''Nikki Heat'', Beckett sprays her coffee in reaction to Natalie's question [[spoiler: "Is Castle gay?"]]
* {{Squee}}: What Beckett tries (and partially succeeds) at holding in when she meets "Joe Frickin' Torre" in "Suicide Squeeze".
---> '''Beckett''': I gotta call my dad! ''[disappears offscreen]''
* StabTheScorpion: A double StabTheScorpion. Beckett and Castle are facing each other, both apparently pointing guns at the other. They fire simultaneously, and both hit a bad guy that was sneaking up to take the other unawares.
* StalkerShrine:
** Castle's obsessive fan in "Flowers For Your Grave" possesses one of these, which goes a long way towards putting the nails in his coffin when it comes to his guilt. [[spoiler: Subverted, in that he actually ''didn't'' do it.]]
** [[strike:Beckett]] Nikki Heat's obsessive fan in "Boom!" has one as well, complete with creepy [[strike:Beckett]] Heat collage and manuscripts about killing [[strike:Beckett]] Heat.
** In "Inventing the Girl" the victim's stalker does ''not'' have one of those, [[spoiler: since he was not an actual obsessive stalker, but just pretending, in order to scare the victim into dropping out of the competition]].
* StartToCorpse:
** Zero in season 1 (the first shot of each episode was the corpse); not too much longer after (with a ''Series/LawAndOrder'' cold open to start each ep)
** Slightly extended in "Wrapped Up in Death," the first Castle episode to show the victim [[strike:shortly before his murder]] actually being murdered by a sawed-off gargoyle head, then cut away to Castle's home antics, then back to the crime scene.
** Extended a bit longer in "The Late Shaft", wherein the opening is Rick Castle going on a late night talk show, then the next morning finding out the host is dead. [[spoiler:In fact, it's ruled natural causes at first, but the host told Castle that someone was trying to kill him the night before, so he insisted Lanie take a look at it.]]
* StealthHiBye:
** "Home is Where The Heart Stops" [[spoiler:Powell pulls one while standing about a foot away from Castle.]] Spoilered not to ruin the awesome.
** In "Fool Me Once", the scary CIA agent does the same.
** In "Knockout", [[spoiler: Castle does this to Beckett on request from Montgomery.]]
* {{Steampunk}}: Castle and Beckett visit a Steampunk club in Season 3's "Punked." And it's ''awesome''.
* StrangersOnATrainPlotMurder: "The Double Down." Both the movie and the original book are referenced. In this case, the strangers were on a boat.
* StuntCasting:
** NewOldFlame Kyra Blaine, played by Alyssa Milano. Oh, and Sophia Turner, played by Jennifer Beal.
** The two-episode arc, ''Tick, Tick, Tick'' and ''Boom'' has ''DesperateHousewives''' Dana Delaney as a federal agent. NathanFillion previously played Delaney's husband on that show.
** "The Late Shaft" features Tom Bergeron, who just happens to host ''DancingWithTheStars'', ''Castle'''s lead-in.
** Averted with Beckett's dad, who's just a regular character actor and even matches the photo shown in passing during the first-season.
** Lyle Lovett as a member of TheMenInBlack in "Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind".
** Adam Baldwin in "Headhunters". The ABC press release prior to the episode made gratuitous mention of his past in Firefly, the beloved but short-lived show with Nathan Fillion. Baldwin also did numerous interviews promoting his one-episode part before the show aired.
* SupportingProtagonist: Despite being the eponymous character, Castle is clearly this to Beckett. Looking at the tropes, ''he'' is the zany sidekick and ''she'' is the hardboiled detective who'd be the star of any other show. And the SherlockHolmes comparisons abound: Castle finds Beckett, realises that she's a brilliant detective, all but attaches himself to her hip and then writes about their adventures in crime-solving.
** However, the show operates on two levels. In addition to crime-fighting, the relentless UST between Castle and Beckett also prompts major character development from Castle. Even as he's the plucky sidekick in the cases, he's the main character in his transformation from playboy to heroic figure.
* SureLetsGoWithThat: Seemingly played straight in one episode where Beckett accuses Castle of messing with her chair while Castle thinks she's talking about him seeing the suspect behind her back. Castle thinks he's in the clear when Beckett shows that she knows about that too.
* SwitchedAtBirth: [[spoiler:The ending to "When the Bough Breaks." And it's a TearJerker.]]
* [[TagAlongActor Tag Along Author]]:
** The premise of the show, with Castle shadowing Beckett for research and inspiration for his Nikki Heat novels.
** Also invoked in-universe with an actual actor when Natalie Rhodes spends a case shadowing Beckett.
** Invoked again, when writer Alex Conrad (Castle's protege) starts meeting with Beckett in "The Dead Pool".
** And yet ''again'', in "Heroes and Villains", when Paul Whittaker turns out to be a journalist shadowing costumed superhero Lone Vengeance. [[spoiler:Except that he's also her lover.]]
** Averted in "Ghosts". Ghostwriter Lee Wax tried to arrange an all-access pass with Castle. But when Castle figured out that [[spoiler: Lee Wax had intentionally leaked the identity of the subject of her book, hoping that her arrest would be good PR for her book and giver her artistic freedom to write it her way,]] her all-access pass was ''revoked''.
* TagalongKid: Sometimes Alexis. She's smart and mature and all that, but still unquestionably a kid. And on those occasions when she shows up at the precinct, everyone's on their best behavior.
** She gets to do a lot more tagging along now that she works for Lanie.
* {{Tagline}}: In-universe example in the episode "The Late Shaft", Castle decides he and Beckett need one. He first tries "She's armed, ''he's'' dangerous" without success, then...
-->'''Castle''': How about: "A whole new ''chapter'' in crime-solving". [[IncrediblyLamePun "Chapter"]], [[DontExplainTheJoke get it?]]\\
'''Beckett''': Ooh! ... No.
* TakeAThirdOption: A dog, of all things, gets to do this in "An Embarrassment of Bitches" when, given the choice of living with Castle or Beckett, who have been sharing responsibility of taking care of him, [[spoiler: he instead chooses to live with Kay Capuccio, much to their mutual disappointment.]]
* TakeThat:
** In the episode "Wrapped up in Death" a archeologist at a museum is killed and an ancient Mayan mummy curse is blamed. Not much later this happens:
-->'''Castle:''' This guy is like IndianaJones but with space age technology. Oh, which would have been such a better movie than that last one.
** In "Sucker Punch", Beckett mentions that the Captain's post-incident evaluation [[spoiler:where they confront the guy who killed her mom]] has Castle come off like StevenSeagal.
---> '''Castle''': Should I be flattered or insulted?\\
'''Beckett''': {chuckle} Both.
** In "Little Girl Lost", we have this exchange between Beckett's ex-boyfriend and Castle.
---> '''Sorenson''': Why the sudden need to shadow a real detective ? \\
'''Castle''': Well the ones on TV seem [[CSIMiami mighty fixated on their sunglasses]].
* TakingYouWithMe: How [[spoiler:Captain Montgomery]] ends season three.
* TemptingFate: a hilarious one on Chapter 1, nonetheless. Castle is talking to Alexis, telling her he wishes for someone to come to him and say something new. When Beckett appears and tells him she wants to question him about the killings by someone who is making his killings look like Castle's books, Alexis [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] the whole thing.
* TenMinuteRetirement: "Sucker Punch", of a sort; [[spoiler: when Beckett discovers that the murderer of the week was the same person who killed her mother, pretty much her first impulse is to flee the station.]]
* TenPacesAndTurn: "Punked"
* ThatCameOutWrong:
** One slightly different instance comes in "Almost Famous". Castle talks about pumping Manschaft until he pops. There are very quick cuts showing reaction shots before the scene moves on. Though from Castle's tone, it's more a matter of GettingCrapPastTheRadar.
** This brief pip from "The Final Nail":
-->'''Castle''': Do I see two guys going out on a hot workman-related case? That sounded dirtier than I thought.
* TheTease: Beckett takes great amusement in leading on Castle's obvious attraction to her, only to bluntly shoot him down. Lampshaded in "The Mistress Only Spanks Twice":
-->'''Castle:''' You should really moonlight [as a dominatrix]. Trust me -- you would make a ''fortune''. Come on, isn't there anything you would like to do with your handcuffs besides arresting criminals?\\
'''Beckett:''' No...''[seductively]'' but there is one hot, wild, ''kinky'' thing that I do like doing...\\
''[Castle's elbow slips off the table as he stares at her earnestly]''\\
'''Beckett:''' ''[Flatly]'' Putting killers behind bars.\\
'''Castle:''' ''[Disappointed]'' See, you're already a tease—you're halfway there.
** Turns against her when he [[spoiler:eventually believes that it really is all just a joke to her.]]
* ThemeTuneCameo:
** In "Home is Where The Heart Stops", Castle is [[WaitHere sitting alone in the car]] humming ''his own'' action-scene {{Leitmotif}}. When the bad guy shows up to hijack the car and drags Castle into a fistfight, he stops humming and the leitmotif [[{{Funny/Castle}} starts playing over the scene]].
** When Castle walks into the The Old Haunt in "Last Call", the bar's piano player starts playing that leitmotif again. Castle even thanks the piano player for remembering and tips him.
* TheyFightCrime! He's a lecherous mystery novel writer! She's an uptight police detective!
* ThoseTwoGuys: NYPD detectives Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan that Kate works with. It wasn't until "When the Bough Breaks" (the fifteenth episode) that we saw those two apart for even a ''moment''.
** Not quite true -- since Ryan wasn't originally supposed to be a character, there are some moments in the pilot when Esposito is walking around with some other random detective. Ryan's absence is VERY noticeable when you rewatch it after a few other episodes.
** In "The Blue Butterfly", they play ThoseTwoBadGuys in the flashbacks (Castle's imagination as he reads a diary from the 1940s).
* TimeBomb: [[spoiler:"Countdown" has a dirty bomb with a timer set to go off in New York. Castle and Beckett find the bomb with less than 2 minutes. They send a cell phone picture of the bomb to an expert, but he can't get the pictures in time on his cell. Castle and Beckett brace for the explosion, only for Castle to yank all the wires with the timer reaching 0. No boom.]]
* TitleDrop: Episode titles are dropped quite often, because they either would make great names for Castle novels, or already are great names for Castle novels.
* [[spoiler:TokenMinorityCouple: Lanie and Esposito as of "Poof! You're Dead."]] Except for an offhand lewd remark in one episode, there is no buildup to this which is lampshaded by several jokes in the vein of "Can you believe they still think we don't know?"
* TonightSomeoneDies: Promos for "Knockout" used a Castle line "One of them is gonna die." [[spoiler:Though it's only a tangential line, Captain Montgomery ends up going out in a blaze of glory.]]
* TragicKeepsake: "A Chill Goes Through Her Veins" reveals that Beckett wears her mother's wedding ring as a reminder of "the life I lost". Also inverted, in that she ''also'' wears her father's watch to remind her of 'the life I saved'; she helped him recover from alcoholism and grief after her mother's death broke him. Because the latter's more visible (and unusual), Castle mistakes it for the former.
* TreacheryCoverUp: The team agrees to hide [[spoiler:Captain Montgomery's]] shameful past after [[NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead his]] [[HeroicSacrifice death]] at the end of the third season.
* TheTriadsAndTheTongs: The team's investigation of 3xK leads them to a tong. Beckett mentions that most tongs are legitimate merchant organizations but a few are involved in criminal activity.
* TriangRelations: It starts with a Type 5 in "Den of Thieves," [[spoiler: Type 4 with Castle being A and Beckett and Demming taking up B and C at the end of "Overkill"]], and either Type 4 [[spoiler: with Beckett being A, Castle being B and Gina being C]] or Type 10 [[spoiler: with Gina being A, Castle being B, and Beckett being C]] at the end of the Season Two finale.
* {{Trouser Space}}/[[VictoriasSecretCompartment Victoria's Secret Compartment]]: In "Home Is Where The Heart Stops", Beckett has to make an arrest while at a black-tie event, wearing a rather [[{{Fanservice}} skimpy]] dress.
-->'''Castle:''' Where was the badge?\\
'''Beckett:''' Don't ask.
* TrueCompanions: Settled in the third season finale:
-->'''Beckett, to Ryan, Esposito, and Castle''': No one — no one outside of this immediate family, ever needs to know about this.
* TurnInYourBadge:
** Though no actual badge-turning occurs, Montgomery sends Beckett home after she roughs up a witness in "Knockdown". Then he sends Castle home, too.
** Fallon does something similar in "Setup."
* TwerpSweating:
** Averted in "A Death In The Family" -- Castle wants to scare Alexis' date with a fake severed head, but she cuts him off at the pass. Lampshaded in the same episode when Castle and Ryan reminisce about the ways the fathers of their prom dates had done this, leaving the previously clueless Beckett to come to the dawning realisation that this was what her dad was doing when she was upstairs getting ready for her prom.
--->'''Beckett:''' Now that you mention it, he looked ''terrified''. And this whole time I thought he was scared of ''me''.
** Castle later pulls this off pretty well, mostly by accident, in "Punked." He [[spoiler:storms in with an antique dueling pistol and demands to know who is sullying his honor. Unbeknownst to him, Alexis and her boyfriend are making out at the time.]]
** A deleted scene from season 3 has Jim Beckett inadvertently do this to Castle. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPUnxxZ2L4s And it is magnificent.]]
* TwinThreesomeFantasy: An actress who has been studying Beckett in order to better portray Nikki Heat (in the episode of the same name) gets a delivery that's "supposed to help with [her] research," then goes to change. A couple of scenes later...
-->'''Beckett:''' I contacted other precincts to find out who else is investigating her and for what.\\
'''Rhodes:''' (''walks into the room with Beckett-styled wig and pantsuit'') Talk to enough people, something usually shakes out.\\
'''Castle:''' (''[[DropWhatYouAreDoing pencil falls out of hand]], as Beckett stares at Rhodes'') Just like I dreamed it...!\\
'''Beckett:''' (''[[DeathGlare GLARES at Castle]]'')\\
'''Castle:''' ...[[DidIJustSayThatOutLoud Did I say that out loud?]]
* TwoLinesNoWaiting:
** Subverted in "The Double Down", it seems as though two investigations are going on at the same time, but then [[WorkingTheSameCase they turn out to be connected]].
** "The Fifth Bullet", as well, although it takes all of five minutes for them to connect [[strike:Riley]] Amnesia Guy to the murder.
* TyrantTakesTheHelm: In comparison to Montgomery, Victoria "Iron" Gates fits this trope to a T.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: U-Z]]
* UnclePennybags: Though used variously in the earlier seasons where Castle would use his wealth and influence to do something, as of the later seasons, this aspect of his character has been heavily downplayed. Likely due to the show really hitting it's stride and not needing such exaggeration.
** Still referenced in Season 4; when Castle first reads the bill for his actions during "Eye of the Beholder", his only response is to say it's "a good thing he's rich".
* UndercoverModel: Kate Beckett does this impromptu-ly around Russian mobsters. More specifically: she ditches all clothing bar (bright red) underwear and a trench coat.
* UndyingLoyalty: "Knockdown" makes this almost painfully clear.
* UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo: Seems like every third episode, now. Just as Beckett gets over Demming, here comes Castle's ex-wife. And just as Castle's done with his ex-wife, here comes MartyStu Josh.
* UrbanLegendLoveLife: Despite the claims of his {{Casanova}} charms, Castle has only been shown to be having sex with three women, two of whom were ex-wives (and one of those ex-wives is also his editor.) Probably because the writers want to get him together with Kate and they can't do that if he's sleeping around a lot. Probably also because while Castle may enjoy the flirting and the dating, he actually doesn't seem too interested in the sexing part unless it's actually with someone he connects with.
** Conversely, Beckett is shown or mentioned to have dated a number of men; more than Castle has dated women. While this doesn't necessarily translate into a love life (since it's also mentioned she doesn't really connect with people well), it's suggested that she intentionally self-sabotages relationships by dating for the short term and dating people she knows aren't ultimately compatible. Refreshingly though the show makes no comment on the matter of sex and romance for a female lead and simply treats it as the activities of a normal adult.
* {{UST}}:
** The show manages to up the ante on shows like ''TheNanny'' and ''{{Bones}}'' by having Castle more or less repeatedly go to Beckett "So! When are we sleeping together?"
** In 2x13, "Sucker Punch", Beckett refers to Castle "pulling her pigtails" [[spoiler:and admits that she likes it.]]
** In 2x14, "The Third Man", ends with Castle and Beckett walking out of the police station arm-in-arm to head to a burger joint after their fancy dates (with other people) fall-through due to the case-of-the-week. As they walk, [[{{Squee}} Beckett is playfully twirling her hair with her finger, something that Castle had noticed her doing earlier while talking to her date on the phone.]]
** 3x05, "Anatomy of a Murder", had Castle comments to Esposito about how true friends will help you break out of jail. Beckett casually walks by and comments that she'd spring him, and the look on Castle's face is absolutely ''priceless''. Also, the LoveLetterLunacy played for epic amounts of ShipTease in the same episode...GAH!
*** Castle's reaction to Beckett's comment is much bigger than what it looks like, because his mother told him before that breaking a loved one out of jail was an act of pure love.
** 3x11, "Nikki Heat", has a WithThisRing moment where Castle casually offers an engagement ring [[spoiler:belonging to Ryan]] to Beckett and asks her to marry him. Subsequently, an actress studying Beckett to portray Nikki Heat [[LampshadeHanging hangs the biggest lampshade ever]] as she spells it out, word-for-word, to Beckett:
--->'''Rhodes:''' I don't get it. He's into you, but [[{{Tsundere}} you're determined not to give into these feelings]] [[EveryoneCanSeeIt that you clearly have for him]], so he [[AuthorAppeal fantasizes about you through his writing]]. It's ''literally'' verbal masturbation.
** 3x13, "Knockdown". The guys bring a GenreSavvy SmugSnake into the interrogation room. Aside from being entirely unflappable, he figures out Castle likes Beckett within ''seconds''.
--->He's sweet on you. Makes him brave.
** 3x21, "The Dead Pool". Castle confesses his jealousy when Beckett [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything starts spending time with another writer]].
--->'''Castle''': Yes. Fine, it's true. I'm jealous. There, I said it. I-I want you all to myself, and to have you spending time with another writer? That upsets me! And if that makes me petty, so be it. Guilty as charged.\\
'''Beckett''' (smiling) : Actually, I kinda think it's sweet.\\
'''Castle''': You do?\\
'''Beckett''': I do. And that's why you don't have to worry about me hanging around with Conrad anymore. From now on I'm a "one writer" girl.
* VanityPlate: In a rather touching tribute, the show used the late StephenJCannell's VanityPlate at the end of "Punked".
* VigilanteMan: Seemingly, the murderer in "Heroes and Villains" [[spoiler: but subverted when it turns out that it was a mob boss impersonating the vigilante in order to kill two birds with one stone- offing his traitor and getting the vigilante arrested. [[SamusIsAGirl Also the vigilante is not a man.]]]]
* VoiceoverLetter: See DeadManWriting.
* WackyParentSeriousChild: Richard to Alexis, and to a slighter extent, Martha to Richard.
* WaitHere:
** Castle, natch. Happens so frequently that it borders on RunningGag. The few times where Castle listens and does stay, the bad guy runs by him or otherwise gets Castle involved anyway.
--->'''Kate''': You're staying here.\\
'''Castle''': Yes, we've seen how well ''that'' works out.
** There's also the time in the pilot when Beckett ''handcuffs'' him to the squad car, and he gets hijacked by the suspect.
** Subverted in "Boom!", in which Kate hands Castle a gun as they go to bust the killer, and Castle just stands there in disbelief for a second.
** Earlier in "Boom!", ''Beckett'' is told to wait in the van (since the killer is specifically looking for her):
--->'''Castle''': Now you know what it's like for me.
* WesternTerrorists: In [[spoiler:"Setup/Countdown" the villains turn out to be WesternTerrorists after teasing that they were Muslim extremists.]]
** In "47 Seconds" the chief suspect in the bombing of a [[BlandProductName Takeover Wall Street]] protest was a right-wing activist. [[spoiler: Turns out it was a reporter who wanted to use the bombing for fame, and a left-wing protester seeking to gain sympathy for his movement.]]
* WhamEpisode:
** "Sucker Punch", where [[spoiler: Beckett arrests, then has to fatally shoot her mother's hitman, destroying the best chance she had of finding out who ordered the hit.]]
** "Knockdown", where [[spoiler: The head officer on Beckett's mom's case is shot, Ryan ends up getting tortured by drowning and almost by a shot to the kneecaps, and the shooter (who is deeply involved with the crime ring that shot Beckett's mom) is incarcerated where Beckett can get to him.]]
** "Knockout", where [[spoiler: Lockwood escapes and murders the other cop implicated in Beckett's mother's murder, Captain Montgomery is revealed to have been with them as well and knows who TheManBehindTheMan is, both he and Lockwood kill each other, and at Montgomery's funeral Beckett is shot. Oh, and Castle finally tells her that he loves her. As she's slipping out of consciousness.]]
* WhamLine: In "Rise", Beckett tells Castle that she doesn't remember anything about season 3 ending. At the end of the episode, she tells her psychologist that she actually remembers everything that happened.
** In "Linchpin", "Your father will be very proud." [[spoiler:Said by the turncoat Sophia, to ''Castle''. Of course, since she'd just revealed herself to be a Russian double agent, it's probably all BlatantLies.]]
** And again in 47 Seconds, where she tells a suspect that claims to have amnesia that she [[spoiler:was shot "and remembers every second about it"]], with Castle listening behind the one-way mirror, in a moment of self-inflicted EngineeredPublicConfession. Castle goes on Passive-Aggressive mode the rest of the episode, as a result.
* WhatTheHellHero: Martha deals one of these to Castle in "Knockdown," during a rare MamaBear moment.
-->'''Martha''': Richard, this isn't one of your books. You don't ''know'' the ending. You were just ''lucky'' yesterday.\\
'''Castle''': You're overreacting, mother. Where is this coming from?\\
'''Martha''': (''incredulous stare, tearing up'') How the Hell can you ask me something like that? Think about how much you love Alexis and ''that'' is how much I love you and don't you ''dare'' ask me where this is coming from! (''calming down'') You have gotten through most of your life on your wit and your charm and no small amount of talent, but [[NotAGame that is the real world out there]]. And you can't ''charm'' your way out of a bullet.
** Again in "Knockout" with Castle calling Beckett out for her WillTheyOrWontThey behavior:
-->'''Castle:''' Alright, y'know what? I don't know ''what'' we are. We kiss and then we never talk about it. We nearly die frozen in each others' arms but we ''never talk about it''. So no, I got no ''clue'' what we are.
** Lanie calls Beckett out in "The Limey" for not telling Castle what she feels for him, and about the fact that she knows he loves her.
* WhiteDwarfStarlet: Castle's mother.
* WhiteGangBangers: The Westies, an Irish gang in NYC, make multiple appearances.
* WildTeenParty: In "Heartbreak Hotel", Alexis watches in slowly growing horror as one of these takes place in her own home. In a variation, she acknowledges that her father probably won't care, but the problem is that ''she'' does.
* WillTheyOrWontThey: Definitely: Leaning towards "they will". And doesn't Castle know it. During one case they get asked if they're together, to which Beckett responds "No." Castle's simultaneous response? "Not yet."
* WireDilemma: [[spoiler:Averted in "Countdown". Facing a dirty bomb with literally no time on it and nothing else to lose, Castle just [[CuttingTheKnot rips all the wires out of the triggering device]]. It works.]]
* WomenAreWiser: played with; Alexis is a lot more grounded and mature than her father is, but compared to his ex-wives and to a (slightly) lesser extent his mother, Castle himself is a bedrock of maturity, common sense and selflessness.
* WontTakeYesForAnAnswer:
** Variation in "Law and Murder": Captain Montgomery pulls Beckett and Castle in asking them why they pulled the DA's secretary in without the DA's knowledge. Beckett starts to apologize, but Montgomery cuts her off...with "Smart move." [[spoiler:Since the DA could have just called to demand his secretary back, but came personally to stop the questioning...which means he's probably hiding something.]]
** In “Knockout” Beckett goes to Captain Montgomery to tell him [[spoiler:she wants Castle gone]], fully expecting to hear that it isn’t possible because of [[spoiler:his friendship with the mayor]], and starts vehemently arguing her case only to realize he agreed.
* WorkingTheSameCase: "The Double Down"...which does nothing to dull the wager on whether Castle & Beckett or Ryan & Esposito will solve their case first.
* WoundedGazelleGambit:
** Done to Castle in "Love Me Dead". He finds it discomforting that someone could tell him a story and make him believe it and that someone was able to take advantage of his hidden heart of gold. Especially since the person doing the gambit [[spoiler: had killed two people.]]
** Also in "The Late Shaft", he floats Beckett's suspicion that an actress is only sleeping with him to get the Nikki Heat part in the ''Heat Wave'' movie, and she breaks down in tears. [[spoiler:She was (as well as doing the same with the head of Bobby Mann's network), but he still recommends her to the producers because she made him believe the gambit.]]
** Perhaps a BrickJoke as of "Nikki Heat" when we meet the actress who plays Nikki Heat in the movies. [[spoiler: It isn't the same actress. On the other head, she also doesn't get to sleep with Castle.]]
** [[spoiler:In "Cops and Robbers", one of the hostages fakes an epileptic seizure to be taken out of the bank before the C4 bomb goes off. In truth, he was the one who planned the whole thing as part of a ploy to learn where his wife and son were hiding.]]
** In "Cuffed", one of the criminals [[spoiler:pretends to lock herself in a cage to lull Castle and Beckett into complacency before she can tranquilize them.]]
* WriteWhoYouKnow:
** Castle's new main character, "Nikki Heat," is Beckett. To the point that when Beckett showed up at his launch event, the photographers said "It's Nikki!" In the actual ''Heat Wave'', "Nikki" has ThoseTwoGuys on her team: Raley and Ochoa, usually combined to "Roach." And she's being shadowed by a writer (this time, a reporter) who pulled strings with the mayor's office to get himself attached to her. Named ''Jameson Rook''. Except Nikki and "Rook" had sex in the book -- Castle has less patience than his show's writers, it seems.
** In the episode "Boom", where the FBI and NYPD teams find an autographed copy of ''Heat Wave'' that says, ''"To Scott: Write what you know."'' "What he knows" turns out to be [[spoiler: murders. Lots and lots of murders.]] The same guy [[spoiler:also turns out to be the killer.]]
* WrongGenreSavvy: Played for laughs.
** Castle likes to latch onto unusual facets of the case and build absurd plots out of them, when the truth is inevitably more straightforward:
** Castle spends the first few minutes of "Vampire Weekend" running around as if he's actually in a vampire movie.
** "Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind": Every single one of his theories points to aliens, and almost gets Beckett to believe it, too. [[spoiler:In actuality, it's a murder to cover up espionage]].
** In "Poof! You're Dead" Castle constantly -- and incorrectly -- assumes that various 'magic story' twists are in effect. [[spoiler: Such as his assumption that, on discovering that the victim had a twin brother, they've stumbled into an EvilTwin situation where one twin has murdered the other to steal his life (he hasn't), that a suspect in a wheelchair is faking his condition to cover up the crime (he isn't) or that a magician murdered the victim to prevent his tricks from being revealed (he didn't).]]
** In "One Life To Lose", a murder on the set of a soap opera leads Castle to come up with an endless list of over-the-top soap opera style plots as potential theories behind the crime. Which leads to this moment when he comes up with a more plausible one for once:
-->'''Beckett''': Wow, Castle, that's... a refreshingly down-to-earth theory.\\
'''Castle''': Just trying to keep you on your toes.
** In "A Deadly Game", when "Hans Rowr" is arrested, he claims he'll soon be bailed out by powerful superiors to escape as a KarmaHoudini [[spoiler: because he's actually just a regular guy taking a 'spy vacation' and thinks the arrest is part of it. When he realizes he's actually blundered into a PoliceProcedural [=Murder-Of-The-Week=], he's... a bit teary.]]
* {{Yandere}}:
** In 1x02, "Nanny [=McDead=]", the killer ended up being [[spoiler:Chloe, who killed her friend because she was sleeping with Ian, and they were in love. Supposedly.]]
** In 2x16, "The Mistress Always Spanks Twice", the killer turned out to be [[spoiler: the codependent roommate, who didn't want the victim getting married (to someone else).]]
** In 3x12, "The Final Nail", the killer was [[spoiler:Simon Campbell's new girlfriend, who didn't want anyone getting in the way of her and her boyfriend's love.]]
* YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious: Castle hardly ''ever'' calls Beckett by her first name; it's warranted only for a special, dramatic occasions.
** Once in "Sucker Punch," [[spoiler: when Beckett is fleeing the station after discovering the current case is linked to her mother's murder]].
** The second and third time happen during the two parter "Tick, Tick, Tick..." and "Boom!", [[spoiler: when Castle calls her to warn her moments before her apartment explodes]] and [[spoiler: as he searches for her in the flaming wreckage]], respectively. He also calls out her name a few more times (five more times, if you want to be precise).
** Once more in "Knockdown," [[spoiler: when Beckett leaves the department in a huff after Captain Montgomery dismisses her from a case linked to her mother's murder]].
** Beckett also calls Castle 'Rick' [[spoiler: in "Knockdown". As with the above examples, it's a serious moment where they're letting their guard down and before something particularly dangerous.]]
** And Castle calls Beckett 'Kate' [[spoiler: in 'Countdown' when she is passing out from the cold and they both might die.]]
** The 'Kate' and 'Rick' quotient is upped in "Knockout", culminating in [[spoiler:"I love you, Kate"...as she's in shock after taking a bullet from a sniper.]]
** Also occurs with... [[spoiler: Kate calling Captain Montegomery 'Roy' before his LastStand. It's significant because her other mentor, Mike Royce never gets called on a personal first name basis. Only her mother, father, and Castle get that treatment.]]
** During Rise, Castle ONLY calls Beckett 'Kate'. [[spoiler: Considering that he is still dealing with the fact that he confessed his love to her, it isn't surprising that he's acting emotionally familiar towards her.]]
** In "Kick the Ballistics", Castle calls Ryan by his first name once... at the end of the episode, when he is reassuring him about how he did the right thing.
** In "Kill Shot," Beckett calls Esposito "Javi" when he's trying to help her past her PTSD. She also calls him "Espo".
* YouDoNotWantToKnow: Inverted in "Heartbreak Hotel." Ryan and Esposito try to explain why they're wearing Elvis costumes, but Beckett decides she doesn't want to know.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: In "Cops and Robbers" [[spoiler: the bad guy of the week sabotages the C-4 of his mercenaries once their job was completed.]]
* YourMom:
** During the outtakes, Jon Huertas apparently screwed up his line and this happened:
-->'''Nathan Fillion''': You've got ''one'' line.\\
'''Jon Huertas''': Your momma has one line.
** Comes up again in "Knockdown", when [[spoiler: Ryan is being tortured and Esposito [[ForcedToWatch has to watch]]]]:
-->'''Esposito:''' OKAY!\\
'''Ryan:''' [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Don't tell this jackhole anything.]]\\
'''Esposito:''' I'm sorry, bro, I can't watch this. (''to interrogator'') Listen to me! You're too late--the cops already know all about... [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome me and]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny your mom]].
* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: One of Castle's main skills appears to be spotting where these moments are coming up.
** He keeps investigating the case in the pilot precisely because his writer's sensibilities are offended by the 'easy' solution to the mystery ("the reader would never buy it!"). This occurs exactly half-way through the episode.
** In "The Mistress Always Spanks Twice," [[spoiler:it happens in the last 5 minutes of the episode.]]
** In "Boom!", he's able to sniff out a trap due to this very reasoning.
** In "Setup", Castle is pretty much the only one who believes that [[spoiler: the supposed Syrian terrorists are in fact innocent scapegoats being set up by a third party]], and Beckett the only one who'll hear him out. He turns out to be right.
** In "Slice of Death", [[spoiler:the drug kingpin behind all the murders is only caught at the last second as she leaves the police station.]]
* ZanyScheme: Castle comes up with a fairly straightforward one in ''Heartbreak Hotel.'' Results in Castle, Ryan, and Esposito [[spoiler: sneaking into a casino from which they'd been barred]] in ''Elvis impersonator costumes.''
** Averted (kind of) in "The Limey". Castle's plan is outlandish even for Castle, but Beckett cuts him off with a ZanyScheme of her own. She'll get the fingerprints the easy way... by gatecrashing an exclusive dinner reception at the British Embassy.
* ZorroMark: In "Heroes & Villains", the vigilante Lone Justice carves an 'L' into the butt cheek of a mobster with a sword.
[[/folder]]
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[[caption-width-right:250:Richard Castle and Kate Beckett. Not pictured: intense UnresolvedSexualTension.]]
->''"I often say that'' Castle ''is'' {{Moonlighting}} ''[[XMeetsY meets]]'' MurderSheWrote ''having not really remembered ''Moonlighting'' and [[{{Dissimile}} never having actually seen]] ''Murder She Wrote''."''\\
--NathanFillion as quoted [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQKZ5r4QIak&NR=1#t=00m49s here]]
''{{Castle}}'' is a PoliceProcedural {{dramedy}} starring NathanFillion and Stana Katic.
Fillion plays mystery novelist Richard Castle, who is consulted by Detective Kate Beckett (Katic) of the NYPD after a killer begins copying murder scenes from Castle's books. When an obsessive fan is caught too quickly, it bothers his [[GenreSavvy writer's sensibilities]]; the capture was [[AllTooEasy too easy]]. Castle realizes that the man the police have arrested was framed, and helps to capture the real murderer. Enamored with the idea of solving crimes -- and a bit more enamored of working with his beautiful "muse" -- Castle calls in some favors and gets permission to do some [[ItsForABook research]] for his new series of books, starring a character based on Beckett. Together, TheyFightCrime! [[ChivalrousPervert Castle]] and [[BytheBookCop Beckett]] have some excellent on-screen chemistry going.
An interview with Fillion providing a lot of relevant information can be found [[http://tvblog.ugo.com/index.php/tvblog/more/nathan_fillion_talks_castle_and_a_little_itty_bit_of_whedon/ here.]]
----
Has a [[Recap/{{Castle}} recap]] page.
----
!!This series provides examples of:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder: A-D]]
* AbsenteeActor:
** Lanie is absent in a few episodes, replaced by the grumpy male ME Pearlmutter.
** Averted, somewhat, by the fact that Perlmutter appeared quite regularly in Season 2, and once each in Seasons 3 and 4. Including one episode, "The Double Down", where Lanie and Perlmutter work together on a case. Also by the fact that New York City has more than one medical examiner.
** Both Lanie and Captain Montgomery were missed in "Nikki Heat", presumably to make way for the big guest star.
** Captain Gates has been missing for swaths of episodes at a time in the 4th season. There's [[TyrantTakesTheHelm hating your boss]] so much you avoid her at every opportunity, and then there's ''this''.
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: "Last Call" comments on the New York sewer system (including the "alligators in the sewers" myth), making a sewer system near one of Castle old haunts (called, well, The Old Haunt) a perfect access to the storeroom for a speakeasy, which houses whiskey made by Mayor "Beau James" Walker.
* AbsurdlySharpBlade: "Heroes and Villains" opens with someone cutting someone in half head to groin.
* AccidentalAimingSkills: Castle in "Boom!", with appropriate ''{{Firefly}}'' ShoutOut ("I was aiming for his head!"). Although Castle ''had'' proved himself a good shot in an earlier episode (albeit against a stationary target and not against another person in the field).
** This discrepancy is usually explained by Castle being a crack shot on the gun range, but bad when under the influence of large amounts of adrenaline. [[ShownTheirWork As many people are]].
* ActionGirl: Kate Beckett
* ActorAllusion: The writers are excited to make {{shout out}}s to Nathan Fillion's ''{{Firefly}}'' days and he has no problem obliging their requests, even adding in little ones himself when appropriate. See the [[Trivia/{{Castle}} Trivia]] page for examples.
%% Please keep all other Firefly allusions to the Trivia page, and make sure it's not already there!
--> '''Alexis''': Didn't you wear that, like [[TooGoodToLast five years ago]]?\\
'''Castle''': So?\\
'''Alexis''': So, don't you think you should move on?\\
'''Castle''': I ''like'' it.
** In one episode, a minor character jokingly refers to Castle as "Jason Bateman". Castle retorts that their similar looks got him out of a traffic ticket once. This actually happened to Nathan Fillion [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwQ5PbuKdoE in real life]].
** A similar joke is made in "An Embarrassment of Bitches."
** "Nanny McDead:" Castle reminisces about the nannies Martha had watch over him back when he had yet to discover his talents for the art of writing, for whom he bestowed a wonderful range of other identities, one of them being 'completely irresponsibly middle aged women who instead of looking after me while you were acting like they were supposed to, instead watched daytime television.' The upside of it all was that he "got the plot of (his) first novel by watching [[OneLifeToLive One Life To Live]]". Nathan Fillion's first TV role was [[SoapOperaRapidAgingSyndrome Joey Buchanan]] on the soap opera One Life To Live. Subtly reprised by the episode, "One Life to Lose".
* {{Adorkable}}: Most prominently, Castle and Ryan. Castle, because he often gets giddy for the dorkiest reasons, and Ryan in general, because he's awkward, but in a cute way.
* AdultChild: Castle. Laser Tag. Radio hijinks. A Kevlar vest stenciled "WRITER" instead of "POLICE". Property on the moon, bought "last month."
** "One Man's Treasure" opens with him flying a remote-control toy helicopter around his loft, making the appropriate police narration and sound effects. Martha is not amused.
** He even calls himself out on it in "Lucky Stiff".
** In "Heroes and Villains", he notes that when he asked for an ET costume from his mom for Halloween, she claimed not to know how to sew. Plus, he was 31 when he asked.
* AffablyEvil: Lockwood. For a ruthless hired assassin he certainly seems quite courteous and considerate, taking a moment to genuinely complement Ryan and Esposito on their work in "Knockdown" and allowing the man he's about to kill a moment to prepare himself in "Knockout".
** Detective Ethan Slaughter, though YMMV.
* AffectionateParody: Kay Capuccio in "An Embarrassment of Bitches" is a good-natured parody of "celebrity bimbos" who appear to have gotten incredibly rich and famous for doing little of note; she's essentially depicted as being a bit of TheDitz, but [[SpoiledSweet sweet]], vulnerable, good-natured and a bit more intelligent than you'd expect under it all.
* AffectionatePickpocket:
** Alexis to her father as he was BoundAndGagged to a chair in Ep "A Rose Forever After". She says he wouldn't respect her otherwise.
** Beckett picks Castle's phone in ep "Poof! You're Dead"
-->'''Castle:''' "You had your hand in my pocket and I didn't even feel it? Do it again"
* AgentMulder / AgentScully: Whenever a case takes on a supernatural, paranormal and / or unusual edge, expect Castle to eagerly and credulously buy into the far-out explanation and Beckett to be the voice of pragmatic down-to-earth skepticism. In the beta duo, Ryan's usually the believer and Esposito the skeptic.
--> '''Castle:''' Law of averages says I'll eventually be right.
** In "He's Dead, She's Dead," Castle actually ''[[ShoutOut calls]]'' Beckett "Scully" when she keeps finding logical explanations for a so-called psychic's visions.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys:
** Played with in 'Food To Die For' and the bad boy chef who is the victim of the week: [[spoiler: He was in love with his adoptive brother's girlfriend and got her pregnant, but she ultimately rejected him because if she couldn't trust him as a man, she couldn't trust him as a father; this inspired him to change his ways and to propose to her.]] It's hinted that their relationship shares some parallels with how Castle and Beckett's seem to be developing.
** A closer examination of the Castle / Beckett dynamic, however, would suggest a subversion or an inversion; while Castle might have the surface reputation and appearance of a 'bad-boy' playboy and ladykiller, closer examination reveals him to be genuinely generous and kind-hearted, a devoted father and son, a loyal friend and partner and overall a good and decent man -- not quite the 'bad boy' we're initially lead to expect. The more we learn about Beckett, however, suggests there's more of a 'bad girl' to her nature than the surface suggests; as well as some of the wilder HiddenDepths she's hinted to have, the fallout over her mother's murder suggests a more broken and much darker character than just the upright police officer.
* AmericansAreCowboys: Scotland Yard detective Colin Hunt seems to be under this impression when he impersonates an American Homeland Security agent.
* AmicablyDivorced:
** Castle genuinely likes Alexis’ mother Meredith; he just doesn't particularly want to be married to her. They appear to have a quite cordial relationship and very little custody friction.
** Similarly with Castle and his second wife, Gina. She's still his publicist. However, they do fight whenever they try to start dating again.
* AnalogyBackfire[=/=]InsultBackfire:
** In "Little Girl Lost," Will, the FBI Guy calls Castle "NancyDrew."
-->'''Castle:''' "Is that supposed to be an insult? Because NancyDrew solved every one of her cases."
** Inverted in one scene which was put into the opening montage.
-->'''Castle:''' "Do I look like a killer to you?"\\
'''Beckett:''' "Yes, you kill my patience."
** And this:
-->'''Castle:''' "After 30 years of marriage, you still don't know what to get her?"\\
'''Montgomery:''' "It gets kind of difficult to stay original after the first ten." (Noting that Castle has been married twice for very short periods)
* AnchoredShip: [[spoiler: Castle]] and [[spoiler: Beckett,]] due to [[spoiler: Beckett not being able to have the kind of relationship she wants until she catches her mother's killer.]] Firmly cemented by the episode' Eye of the Beholder'. Type 1 ending is expected.
--> [[spoiler: '''Alexis''']]: Does she make you happy?\\
[[spoiler: '''Castle''']]: Yeah, she does.\\
[[spoiler: '''Alexis''']]: And is that enough?\\
[[spoiler: '''Castle''']]: It's enough for now.
* AndThatsTerrible: The reaction that Castle and Beckett have in "Famous Last Words" to [[spoiler: Ian having raped Haley and later killed her]] can be considered this.
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler: Castle to Beckett in the Season 3 finale, after she is shot.]]
* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler: Captain Montgomery in the Season 3 finale.]]
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: In Season 4, Kate's therapist generally asks her these as a means of getting her to realize her true feelings.
* ArcWords: "Always."
** Season 4, ep 23 is named "Always." Gee, wonder what ''that'' will be about...
* AreYouPonderingWhatImPondering: Beckett and Castle realize that their victim was afraid of change. They muse for a few seconds.
-->'''Castle:''' ''[claps hands]'' [[CrowningMomentOfFunny She hated]] [[BarackObama Obama]]!\\
'''Beckett:''' (ignores him)
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: This incident from "An Embarrassment of Bitches."
--->'''Kay Cappuchio:''' He could have seen me in the shower! He could have seen me in bed with Reggie! He could have seen me without my makeup!
* ArtisticLicenseAstronomy: The episode with the "alien abductions" features a radio astronomer involved with SETI. One plot point is that the victim was following an anomalous signal that turns out to have been a [[spoiler:Chinese spy]] satellite and thinks it might be an alien signal. Radio astronomers have to be careful to eliminate satellites first thing and have a number of ways to do ''just that''. No professional astronomer would be confused, titillated, or even momentarily stymied by a satellite. Well, maybe titillated. For giggles. [[spoiler: The plot did also involve her being subject to various mind-games, truth drugs and fake abduction techniques, however, which might have explained her disorientation and confusion.]]
* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Ashley's pet rat is stated to be five years old. This is ''technically'' possible, but the rat seen on the show must be ''far'' younger to be that active.
* [[AscendedFanboy Ascended Fangirl]]: Kate Beckett is secretly a big fan of Castle’s and Nikki Heat, the main character in his new books, is based on her. So much so that people mistook her for a character actress when she showed up for a book premiere. This gets to be problematic when an obsessed serial killer [[spoiler: stages his murders in order to test Nikki Heat.]]
* AscendedMeme: As of "One Life To Lose," the {{Portmanteau Couple Name}} "Esplanie" has been made canon.
* AsHimself:
** The other TV and mystery writers that Castle plays poker with are actual writers, including (the late) StephenJCannell, MichaelConnelly, JamesPatterson, and now DennisLehane.
--->"Ah! Oh, um... ({{beat}}) [[EmptyChairMemorial That's Cannell's seat.]]"
** Joe Torre, a baseball player and manager. Castle is fairly nonchalant, having met Joe before and not being overly interested in the game anyway, but Beckett can barely keep from {{Squee}}ing and immediately rushes off to call her dad to gloat. Torre asks Castle to say hi to Castle's mom for him.
** Chef Rocco Dispirito appeared in "Food to Die For" during Castle’s date with Beckett's high school BFF.
** Gene Simmons shows up in "To Love and Die in L.A." Castle finds this creepy because he was Simmons once for Halloween. Beckett does as well, for the same reason.
* AsideGlance: Twice, thus far, once when Martha asks him [[ActorAllusion if he's ever heard of the Serenity,]] although that was a FourthWallPsych at Alexis, and once more when Alexis was being evasive about her trip to Brooklyn.
* TheAtoner: As revealed at the end of season three, [[spoiler:Captain Roy Montgomery]].
* AudioErotica: In "Cops and Robbers", Trapper John describes Beckett as having a 'bedroom voice.'
* AutopsySnackTime: The Medical Examiner (Perlmutter) occasionally takes a meal in the mortuary.
* AwesomeButImpractical: Castle’s opinion of his Ferrari. He doesn't seem to mind it when Beckett gets behind the wheel, however.
-->'''Castle''': You know, I have one; not as cool as you'd think.\\
'''Esposito''': Yeah, but they're hella fast.\\
'''Castle''': As fast as any other car in rush hour traffic.
* BackForTheDead: [[spoiler:Mike Royce]] in "To Love and Die in L.A."
* BadassBoast: In "Knockdown", from ''Ryan'', of all people.
--> Ryan, [[spoiler: while being tortured in ice water]]: "Listen, assclown. I went to Catholic school for twelve years. Hell, they use to do this to me for talking in class."
* BadLiar:
** In "Poof, You're Dead", Esposito turns into this in order to conceal his big secret [[spoiler: namely, his relationship with Lanie]]:
--> '''Esposito''': Saw him perform a couple of weeks ago. Awesome, awesome show. We loved it.\\
'''Castle''': 'We'?\\
'''Esposito''': ''[Cornered]'' Yeah... me and my buddy... Ray.\\
'''Ryan''': [[PullTheThread You have a buddy named 'Ray' who you went with to a magic show?]]\\
'''Esposito''': Yeah. What about it?
** Both Ryan and Esposito are called out on this by Montgomery in "To Love and Die in L.A." when they are covering for Beckett.
* BaitAndSwitchGunshot: [[spoiler: A double-dose of StabTheScorpion variety at the end of "A Deadly Affair", as Castle and Beckett apparently point guns at each other, then each take out one-half of a husband and wife team of counterfeiters standing behind them both.]]
** [[spoiler:In Linchpin, Sophia is about to shoot Castle on the back of the head when a gunshot is heard... and Sophia falls to the floor, having been shot by Danberg.]]
* BaitAndSwitchTyrant: Captain Montgomery's replacement after his retirement [[spoiler:and death.]] Where Montgomery was happy to go along with the Mayor's request to let Castle hang around the bullpen and go on ride-alongs with Beckett because he was both amused by Castle's antics and impressed by his intelligence [[spoiler:as well as feeling sorry for getting Beckett's mother killed]], the new girl wastes no time in telling Castle he's no longer welcome and is on thin ice -- one screw-up and he won't just be ejected from the precinct, he'll be ''arrested.'' [[DefrostingIceQueen She warms up to him]], though. Slowly.
* BatmanColdOpen: "Heroes & Villains", appropriately, opens with a vigilante superhero intervening in an attempted rape. By cleaving the attempted rapist in two.
* BeautifulAllAlong: Trina, the model who woos Castle in "Inventing The Girl" and who's advances Castle is keen to encourage until he realizes that she's actually Alexis’ old babysitter and not that much older than she is, apparently did this; Castle remembers her as Katrina, "a gangly girl with stringy hair and braces", hence why he didn't initially recognize her:
--> '''Alexis''': She did the whole 'ugly duckling became a swan' thing, shortened her name and became a model.
* BedmateReveal: In the ColdOpen of "Poof, You're Dead", [[spoiler:Lanie and Esposito]].
* BelligerentSexualTension: [[LadykillerInLove Castle]] and [[BrokenBird Beckett]]. Oh so much.
* BenevolentBoss:
** [[BaldBlackLeaderGuy Captain Montgomery]] is made of awesome. One of his many highlights is a [[OneSceneWonder one-scene wonder]] in season premiere "A Deadly Affair". [[spoiler: He offers to keep Castle locked up for not calling Beckett after the summer break. This isn't him offering a favor or because he dislikes Castle or anything like that. He's just that nice (well, okay so locking someone up isn't nice but you know what we mean) of a guy who truly worries about his officers.]]
** In the Season 3 finale. It is discovered that [[spoiler:he is the missing 'third cop' who ransomed gangsters in the case of Beckett's mother. Lockwood threatens that he will kill his family unless he lures Beckett into a trap. Seemingly, he does, and Beckett falls into it, but he was actually luring Lockwood into a trap. He takes Lockwood's crew by surprise and kills three of them, before being fatally shot by Lockwood. And he still manages to take Lockwood out with him.]]
-->[[spoiler:This is where I make my stand.]]
* BetaCouple: Ryan and Jenny. Their relationship has been completely devoid of anything more than the usual misunderstandings, in complete contrast to Castle and Beckett's ups and downs.
* TheBigBoard:
** The police put one together for every case. Castle also has an electronic one in his office which he uses to plot his mysteries. The FBI brings in a fancy electronic smart board in "Tick, Tick, Tick" which Beckett shuns in favor of her old-fashioned whiteboard. In "Knockdown", Beckett reveals she's been keeping a big board on her mother's murder since the summer [[spoiler:(since any board she might have had before then was blown up with her old apartment).]] Also, Castle [[spoiler:reproduces the precinct Big Board]] at home in "Set Up", using a camera phone picture of it, a projector and a bed sheet. Beckett comments it smells nicer.
** Beckett also somehow manages to get a Big Board whilst in a fancy hotel in LA from Maurice the magical concierge.
** In "Rise", Castle has repurposed the board he had used to plot his novels to investigate who shot Beckett's mother.
* BigBrotherInstinct: "A Deadly Affair" has Ryan and Esposito act like this (in regards to Beckett) crossed with a woman scorned (themselves) in response to Castle’s return.
* BigDamnHeroes: Esposito and Ryan for Beckett and Castle in "Cuffed".
* BigSecret: In "A Deadly Game," a suspect lies to Beckett's face about killing a guy. [[spoiler:He didn't do it because he was having sex with the deceased's wife at the time.]] This is the go-to trope for many episodes of Castle.
* BitterAlmonds: In "[[ShoutOut Law]] [[Series/LawAndOrder and Murder]]."
* BlackBestFriend: Medical examiner Lanie Parish, Kate's only friend seen in the show, is a sassy black woman.
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in "Under The Gun," where Ryan jokes that Esposito would be the first to die in a horror movie as he was cocky ''and'' Hispanic. [[spoiler:Happens for real, when Montgomery is the first (and so far only) member of the main cast to die.]]
* BlandNameProduct:
** "Kill the Messenger" subtly [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this; Alexis is helping her grandmother create what the grandmother refers to as a [[MySpace My]][[FaceBook Face]] account. Alexis then neatly obscures the "real" name of the networking site:
-->'''Castle''': Don't you mean a --\\
'''Alexis''': Save your breath, I've been correcting her all morning.
** During "Suicide Squeeze", they never had licensing from Major League Baseball or any affiliate organization, so they used Joe Torre and an oblique mention of "The Big Move" (Joe Torre, at the time of the airing, had recently moved from the New York Yankees to the LA Dodgers) to sell the episode, though they kinda gave it away with "World Championship" instead of "World Series."
** The numerous "Ray's" pizza joints in NYC are renamed to "Nick's."
** Occupy Wall Street becomes Take Over Wall Street.
* BlatantLies:
** The drug-dealer in "Sucker Punch" (Trucho) who, after Beckett and Castle literally walk in on him having the shit kicked out of him by a rather angry member of the Irish Mob, blithely attempts to persuade them that he fell. And hit his badly-battered eye on a door. And put his hand on a grate to steady his fall.
-->'''Castle''': Well. Thanks for keeping it real.
** And then there is the character Random in the episode "Under the Gun":
-->'''Random''': I wasn't running away. I was jogging.\\
'''Beckett''': So what were you doing climbing down the side of a building?\\
'''Random''': Cross training. Better cardio-vascular workout.
** [[spoiler:Beckett herself lies to Castle and presumably everyone else in "Rise" what she remembers about the shooting, but finally admits to her shrink at the end, "I remember everything".]]
* BluffTheImpostor: In "Heroes and Villains", Beckett's about to get a confession off of a guy for a murder by a masked superhero when Castle tips her off to something, so she asks him about the murder and slips a detail out of whack. When the guy answers without correcting the slip, she knows he's not the killer.
* BluffingTheMurderer:
** In "One Life To Lose" [[spoiler: the murderer is exposed via a scene Castle has written for the soap opera that she and the victim wrote for, which exposes her motive -- an act of plagiarism -- via the characters on the show.]]
** In "Poof! You're Dead" [[spoiler: the murderer is exposed by the twin brother of the victim making a ghostly appearance while Castle and Beckett are sweating the suspect]]
* BodyOfTheWeek: Naturally for a murder mystery.
* BookEnds:
** The opening of "A Deadly Affair"
** "Setup" begins and ends with Castle and Beckett, locked together in an isolated room [[spoiler: (quarantine chamber, freezer)]], staring at each other in horror after making an unpleasant discovery.
** The two photos of Jane the victim that Ryan hands to Ben Lee in "Kick the Ballistics."
* BondOneLiner: At the end of "Always Buy Retail", [[spoiler:Castle distracts a baddie with a champagne bottle so Beckett can get the drop on him. After he's laid out, Castle goes "I think that deserves a toast!" and drinks.]] Castle’s quick to approve when the other characters do this:
--> '''Ryan''': ''[[spoiler: To a political campaign manager arrested for murder]]'' You can stop running, bro. The campaign's over.\\
'''Castle''': ''[Looks at Ryan approvingly]'' Ooh! Yes!\\
'''Beckett''' Go ahead, I need the practice.
* BrainBleach
-->'''Martha''': Honey, you know I've always loved younger men, they have so much energy, enough to keep up with me... Most of the time.\\
'''Castle''': ''[Haltingly]]'' I'm... I'm going to erase that image from my mind with a bottle of scotch.
* BrandX: Castle purchases a coffee machine labeled "Espresso Intenso", which is actually ''La Spaziale S5 Compact Ek''.
* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Alexis is a wonderful aversion of this {{trope}}. Her few almost-bratty moments have usually been inspired by Castle’s immaturity / over-protectiveness rather than teenage bitchiness. She displays the attitude mostly towards her mother... her mother that used the dead relative excuse (of someone who's been dead for six years already) to get her out of school to go shopping, which caused her to miss a Calculus test she studied a week for. At least her mom didn't take her out of the country again.
** It's at times hinted that Beckett herself went through one of these stages as a teenager; whenever Castle approaches her for advice with an issue he's got with Alexis, Beckett often seems to advice him directly from the perspective of someone who knows first hand what a Bratty Teenage Daughter can be like. It can be safely assumed that even if she hadn't grown out of it by then the death of her mother put a rather brutal end to this stage, however.
* BreakTheCutie: "3xk" does a number on Castle and leaves him with a few cracks. [[spoiler: Normally, even serial killers don't rattle Castle that much. He knows them very well. But the Triple Killer not only [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy out-Castles Castle]], but leaves him alive knowing that Castle couldn't stop him and because Castle couldn't stop him, the Triple Killer will resume killing.]]
* BreatherEpisode:
** "Almost Famous," which aired after "3XK," [[spoiler: in which the bad guy got away in the end]].
** "One Life to Lose" after the tense two-parter "Setup" & "Countdown" [[spoiler: In which Castle disarms the dirty TimeBomb]]
** The episodes after episodes on Beckett's mother are breather eps. ("The Third Man" after "Sucker Punch", "Lucky Stiff" after "Knockdown", "Heroes and Villains" after "Knockout" and "Rise")
* BrickJoke: "Honey milk." Also the correct meaning and use of irony.
* BrokenBird: Kate. To put it in perspective, in most shows, her brokenness would be a background plot point and the underlying cause of some sort of wackiness that everyone just puts up with. Here... [[spoiler: while her mom dies before the start of the series, her other two mentors in life die on screen in equally violent ways.]]
* BrokenPedestal:
** Beckett's former partner turned bounty hunter Mike Royce in "Under the Gun" throws it all away for a rumored buried treasure. [[spoiler:Still, when he turns up murdered in "To Love and Die in L.A.", she chases the guy who killed him across the country.]]
** Castle faces this in "The Final Nail" when his old school friend Damian Westlake -- who, years before, had supported and encouraged him in his writing -- is the prime suspect in the brutal murder of his wife. [[spoiler: Double subverted -- Westlake didn't murder his wife, but he ''did'' hire another old classmate to murder his father years before.]]
** Surprisingly averted with [[spoiler: Captain Montgomery.]] After explaining how and why he did what he did, and that his entire career has been an attempt to atone for his actions, he performs a HeroicSacrifice in order to TakeAThirdOption, and the only people who know his past decide to keep it quiet in honor of the man he became.
** Another one for Castle--[[spoiler:Sophia, the inspiration for Derrick Storm's Clara Strike character, as revealed in "Linchpin."]]
** Following his discovery in "47 Seconds" that Beckett remembered her entire gunshot ordeal, including Castle's admission that he loved her, Castle came away very hurt that his partner and love interest could have deceived him about it as long as she did. This has led him to pull away from her, which everyone at the precinct seems to notice (except for Gates, who likely doesn't give a damn.) In "The Limey" Lanie appropriately calls her on her BS before it becomes apparent (read: Castle pulling up to a crime scene in a sports car with a hot blonde) that Beckett has missed her window. (Note: most of this info appears in the promos for the episodes, so spoilers don't apply.)
* TheButlerDidIt:
** The victim in "Lucky Stiff" employed a butler. As it's the first time they've ever encountered one, Castle is ''desperate'' for it to be him. [[spoiler: It wasn't, but the butler ''was'' ripping the victim off.]]
** He [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it in "Famous Last Words" as who he'd pick as the murderer in a particularly tricky part of solving the case. The victim here didn't even ''have'' one.
** Averted in "A Dance with Death". Surprisingly, the trope is not brought up at all by Castle this time.
* BumblingDad: As often as this gets played straight, it gets averted a few memorable times, most notably when Castle’s [[DaddysGirl daughter]] is at a party with spiked punch, and her friend got drunk, and he acts exactly as how every parent in the world would hope to.
** It's mostly subverted: [[PapaWolf Castle is looking out for his daughter]] and knows how to handle most situations like a responsible adult, but his AdultChild side carries over into his parenting.
* BulletproofVest: Castle gets himself a custom one that says "WRITER". Subverted, however, as he's not shot or even shot at while wearing it. He wears it in subsequent seasons, and it's included in the opening montage. Yay for continuity!
* TheButcher: Of Benin, in "Always Buy Retail".
** And Tony TheButcher in "Heroes and Villains".
** Variation: as if running around with the name Ethan Slaughter or being played by Adam Baldwin isn't badass enough, his nickname is The Widowmaker, for the three partners who've been KIA'd while working with him. Two on their first day.
* ButtMonkey:
** Ryan seems to be the member of the team who usually gets everything dumped on him. He and Esposito sometimes manage to turn the tables, though.
** Esposito fills the role in "Punked", thanks to the increasing amount of slapstick physical encounters -- and resulting injuries -- he's subject to.
* CaliforniaDoubling: ''Castle'' is not filmed in New York, but Los Angeles. If you're someone who lives in Southern California (or knows the general L.A. area), then you can easily spot an orange Los Angeles Metro Bus just driving by in the background once in a while.
* CallBack:
** In "Sucker Punch", the senior coroner Lanie calls to confirm her suspicions about the murder (namely, that the guy who did it also killed Beckett's mother) is the same "Dr. Death" Castle regularly consults with, including in "A Death in the Family" to review Beckett's mother's case file.
** In "Little Girl Lost", Beckett and Castle have a conversation in an elevator about Beckett’s ex-boyfriend which begins with Beckett preempting Castle’s curious question about him. They have pretty much the same conversation in "A Rose For Everafter", except with the roles switched and Castle’s ex-girlfriend the subject. ("I didn't ask." "Yes, you were 'not asking' very loudly.")
** "Almost Famous": "Do you have any brochures? I'm looking for an apartment. Mine blew up."
** "Countdown": [[spoiler: The final scene, where Castle appears to be on the verge of asking Beckett out only to lose his nerve upon seeing her boyfriend Josh, mirrors the end of "A Deadly Game" where the roles were reversed and Beckett was in the exact same position as Castle, only for Gina to show up.]]
** "One Life to Live": Remember the Old Haunt, the bar Castle brought? It's brought up in this episode when Ryan mentions to Esposito and Castle that he found a quicker route to the place and mentions he knows the owner.
*** It is mentioned again at the end of "Cops and Robbers" when Beckett asked Castle if he wants to go there after they saved the day.
*** In "Law & Murder" the DA offered Montgomery a red bottle of 1875 scotch. Those could only have come from the old cache that was found under the Old Haunt.
** "Law & Murder": "Can we stop at Remy's for burgers on the way?" Remy's is the burger joint they went to after wrapping up the case in "The Third Man".
** Natalie Rhodes is not on set because she went back into rehab in "To Love and Die in L.A.".
** The pilot: "My safe word is apples." A few episodes later: Beckett grabs him by the nose, "Apples! Apples!" Season two: They visit a dominatrix club. "My safe word is apples."
** In "Rise", it turns out that Beckett has not called Castle in the whole summer. Pretty much like Castle did the year before.
** In "Pretty Dead", one suspect claims as his alibi, "I was with Councilman Bollinger." Bollinger was the man running in the election from season 1's "Hell Hath No Fury."
* CallingMeALogarithm: After a safe deposit box belonging to a mob figure is broken into, the mobster claims it contained his stamp collection. One of the cops asks him how long he has been a philatelist. His response is "Hey! I don't roll that way!".
* CampStraight: Castle was called a metrosexual in "The Third Man," though he's a pretty mild example. He has a fine appreciation for good interior decorating and fashion.
* CannotSpitItOut: Both Castle ''and'' Beckett.
** It happened twice for Castle: first, in "When the Bough Breaks" at the launch party after Beckett read the sweet dedication he made to her in ''Heat Wave'' and rather than telling her how he felt about her, he launched into a theory about the Killer of the Week, giving Beckett MoodWhiplash; second, in the same episode at the end when he thought they had worked their last case and instead of confessing his feelings he offered her an awkward handshake. Sigh. Oh, Castle.
** Beckett suffered from a small version of this in "A Deadly Game" in a couple different occasions because Castle is apparently ObliviousToLove. The end of the episode resulted in her becoming TheWoobie as she watched him walk away with his ex-wife not knowing how she felt. Sigh. Oh, Beckett.
** When they're not mucking things up themselves, small events and bad timing seems to add to the confusion. Sigh. Oh, you two.
** A darker version in "Knockdown"; Detective John Raglan, with vital information to pass on to Beckett about her mother's case, instead nervously rambles on about coffee and Jacob Marley from ''AChristmasCarol'' for a few moments. This, naturally, gives the sinister conspiracy behind her mother's death ample opportunity to ensure [[HisNameIs Raglan never reveals anything to anyone ever again]].
** Also, in "Knockdown", When Castle shows up at Beckett's apartment, and she asks him "Why do you keep coming back, Rick?", the answer is all over his face, but not coming out of his mouth.
** Castle also gets a heartbreaking moment in "Knockout"
---> '''Castle:''' If, if ''anything'' happens to her... It...*sighs*\\
'''Martha:''' Go on.\\
'''Castle:''' I-I...\\
'''Martha:''' Oh, Richard, Richard. For a man who makes a living with words, you sure have a hell of a time finding them when it counts.
** [[spoiler: Finally averted on Castle's end in the Season 3 finale. He confesses his love to Beckett as she's lying on the ground, losing consciousness, having just been shot in the chest by a sniper.]]
** In "Eye of the Beholder", Kate's therapist asks her why the thought of Castle liking another woman bothers her and she responds, "Because he's supposed to be..." and stops before she can say what she really means, instead settling for "my partner."
** In "47 Seconds", after thinking about how short life is after a bomb explodes in the middle of a protest, Castle is ready to tell Beckett his feelings for her, but he gets interrupted several times... and later he accidentally discovers that [[spoiler:Kate remembers what happened after she was shot]]. This makes him stop trying to tell her.
* TheCastShowoff: Castle [[WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog finally sings]] along with the other cast members (minus Lanie) as they head out for a drink at the end of "Last Call."
** While not necessarily the normal definition of a cast showoff, "Kill Shot" gives Jon Huertas (Esposito) an opportunity to show off his military training and knowledge.
** And in "Blue Butterfly", Lanie (well, a fictional version, sorta; let's just say Tamala Jones and end it at that) does a few song numbers. And wow, she's pretty darn good.
** Stana Katic got to impersonate a Russian/accent; one of several Slavic languages she actually speaks in real life.
* CasualKink:
** Beckett loves [[FetishFuel teasing]] Castle with this, by delivering the quotes listed in CoolBike and HeadTiltinglyKinky without blinking.
** Just about all of "The Mistress Always Spanks Twice" but especially...
---> '''Beckett:'''Bondage cuffs, custom made. Looks like our killer liked public play.\\
'''Castle:''' How can you tell the difference between custom and regular?\\
'''Beckett:''' The leather is too high quality to be mass produced and it's hand stitched.\\
'''Castle:''' No, I mean how can ''you'' tell the difference?
** And...
--->'''Lanie:''' I can do the chocolate, I'll even do the whipped cream bikini, but caramel? I prefer slippery to sticky."\\
'''Castle:''' Does she know we can hear her?
** In "Poof! You're Dead:"
--->'''Castle''': I never pegged you for a magic fan. You know any good tricks?\\
'''Beckett''': I do have this one thing with ice cubes.\\
'''Castle''': (''steadies himself against a display window'')
** For a non-Beckett example, see DidIJustSayThatOutLoud.
** Also, Castle has offhandedly mentioned that his safe word is "apples." [[ContinuityNod Twice thus far.]]
** At the end of "Cuffed", Beckett suggests the possibility that she might be amenable to [[spoiler:cuffing herself to Castle]]. Castle's face says everything.
* CelebrityEndorsement: Castle apparently makes his up without reading the books.
* CelebrityIsOverrated: Played with; although Castle is overall quite happy being a famous, successful novelist, he was clearly getting a bit bored with the whole thing by the pilot, which is partly why he enjoys hanging out with the down-to-earth Beckett and solving mysteries with the other cops.
* CelebrityParadox:
** Martha would just be in all the roles Susan Sullivan has had.
** And, in fact, there's at least one scene of Martha watching an old role of hers--Susan Sullivan in an episode of ''The Incredible Hulk''.
** Since Castle seems to be familiar with ''DesperateHousewives'', it would be interesting to know who played [[NathanFillion Adam]] and [[DanaDelany Katherine]] Mayfair in this universe.
* CensorshipBySpelling: {{Lampshaded}} when Esposito, nervously looking at Alexis who happens to be in the squad room, spells out B-I-T-C-H. Alexis and her father give each other a disgusted look.
-->'''Castle''': She can spell, Detective.\\
'''Ryan''': Probably better than you!
* CerebusSyndrome: There has been a noticable shift towards more hard hitting, emotionally engaging storylines roughly starting with the second season's two-part episode special '''Tick, Tick, Tick... Boom'''. The enjoyable light comedy is still there, but episodes focusing on Beckett's overall StoryArc tend to be darker in tone.
** Executive Producer Andrew Marlowe has said that if Castle is renewed for a fifth season, that it will be a return to the lighter, funnier tone of the early seasons.
* ChainedHeat: Castle and Beckett wake up handcuffed together and LockedInARoom in "Cuffed". This trope is lampshaded by Esposito and Ryan when discussing how a relationship can have a make-or-break moment when two people are stuck together in close proximity. Castle and Beckett pass with flying colours of course.
** Anybody think that ChainedHeat could be a great title for a Nikki Heat novel?
* CharacterBlog:
** Richard Castle [[http://twitter.com/WriteRCastle has a Twitter]].
** And his own [[http://www.richardcastle.net/ web site]].
** Not to mention three novels.
* CharityBall: In one episode, the main cast goes to a charity ball in order to track down the murderer of the week.
* TheCharmer: Castle is ''very'' popular with the ladies.
* TheCheerleader: Played with in "The Mistress Always Spanks Twice" where Alexis considers trying out for the team but decides she doesn't want to devote the time and effort it would take away from her other activities.
-->'''Castle''': [[AnAesop Well, we both learned a valuable lesson today]]. You learned you can expand your horizons and grow. ''I'' learned that [[OverprotectiveDad if that involves short skirts and boys]] ''[[SpoofAesop I'm not gonna like it]]''.
* TheChessmaster: Alexis spends most of "Under The Gun" trying to get Castle to get her a scooter. In the end, she tells her dad that she no longer wants one after realizing she would have to sell a childhood memento to do so. Castle is much relieved and though he will not buy her a scooter, he will buy himself a scooter and maybe she can borrow it. To which she happily accepts and adds a:
-->'''Alexis''': ...and when you're using the scooter, I can borrow the car!
* ChekhovsGun:
** In "Vampire Weekend", the grave that Castle notices before they find the body turns out to be [[spoiler:the grave of the deceased's mother, who was murdered by the nanny, who then murdered the deceased when he confronted her about it...in front of her grave.]]
** In "The Fifth Bullet", when Castle arrives at the crime scene he is enamored by a dog that had been tied up near the crime scene. It turns out that the dog belongs to the amnesiac in the episode, thus helping to identify Jay.
** In "Murder Most Fowl", the circuit breakers invented by the victim are critical to apprehending his killers.
** "Knockout": [[spoiler:The Captain]] is seen loading his Colt Detective Special, and a two-shot derringer. Which makes the subsequent fight DramaticIrony, since even viewers unfamiliar with the CG concept are likely counting the bullets fired from the revolver and waiting for the derringer to come out.
** "Rise": [[spoiler:Castle's [[TheBigBoard Big Board]] which he used to plot his mysteries, is now co-opted for Johanna Beckett's murder.]]
** "Heroes and Villains": [[spoiler:Castle points out that the "hero" they're after based his costume on various comic-book heroes with dead parents, indicating they lost one or both of their parents. He's right.]]
** "Kick The Ballistics": [[spoiler: The gun that 3XK takes from Detective Ryan while escaping police custody.]]
** "Blue Butterfly": The brick that falls off the wall when Joe is thrown from the bar.
* ChekhovsGunman: Another go-to trope for writers of the series. For example, the deceased art gallery's owner's assistant in "The Fifth Bullet", Darius. Not only did he do it, but he's not Darius (he used his roommate's identity to get the job.)
** In "Heroes and Villains", we get a very specific shot [[spoiler:of the officer who discovered the body of a "superhero"'s victim. Guess who turns out to be the superhero? But she actually didn't do it]].
* TheChewToy: Esposito's injuries in "Punked" is played for laughs...and he gets some of it back in the end.
* ChinaTakesOverTheWorld: In "Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind," the killer was working for a Chinese intelligence agent looking to obtain U.S. military secrets.
** In the two-parter "Pandora"/"Linchpin", a Chinese official is the intended ''victim''... but only because the villains have discovered that [[spoiler:China has the power to destroy American pre-eminence forever with a stroke of the pen.]]
* ChivalrousPervert: Castle.
** "Love Me Dead" has Castle and Beckett enlisting the help of a call girl to solve the case. At first Castle reacts as you'd expect -- "[When she gets here] tell her to wear something sexy!" -- but when she shows up beaten in his house, his first instinct is to get her medical help, [[AboveTheInfluence even when she tries to kiss him]]. Quite reminiscent of [[{{Firefly}} a previous role]], in fact.
** In "Tick, Tick, Tick," [[ThoseTwoGuys the other cops]] show up at Beckett's apartment to find Castle making her pancakes at 7:00 in the morning. When they jump to the (mistaken) obvious conclusion, Castle is quick to correct them instead of going along with it.
* CliffHanger: ''Tick... Tick... Tick...''. [[spoiler:Beckett's apartment explodes just as Castle tells her that the killer is still alive. [[strike:Most people]] EVERYONE knows that her PlotArmor will protect her, but still.]] [[YouBastard Those bastards!]]
** The other two-parters have usually had a similar cliffhanger. In Season 3, it was that Castle and Beckett [[spoiler:are locked in a freezer, slowly dying of hypothermia]]. In Season 4, Castle and Beckett were [[spoiler:in a car that was pushed into the Hudson River]].
** The cliffhanger for the season 3 finale, where Beckett is [[spoiler: shot by a sniper and in critical condition]].
* CombatStilettos:
** "Home is Where The Heart Stops" has a [[FootFocus close-up]] of Beckett's [[FetishFuel high-heeled boots crushing a suspect's hand]], though they're not stilettos.
** "A Deadly Affair" has Beckett's introduction be a low-to-the-ground shot of her stilettos. While not a combat situation, it's certainly sticks out.
** In episode 2x18, near the end Special Agent Jordan Shaw catches the serial killers gun with some pretty deadly heels!
** Lampshaded by her former training officer to which Beckett plays a straight answer.
** Further lampshaded in "Nikki Heat" in which the actress (in-universe) playing Nikki Heat notices them and notes they must be hard to run in and that Beckett must use them to get a authority from the height advantage. Beckett acknowledges that it helps, but she mainly wears them because she likes them.
** Lampshaded again in "Cuffed" when Beckett asks Castle to take off her boots. "How do you run in these things?"
* ColdOpen: Every episode, except season and midseason finales, which have a PreviouslyOn.
* ContinuityNod:
** Remember kids, Castle's bondage SafeWord is "apples". First mentioned in the pilot and again in the bondage themed episode "The Mistress Always Spanks Twice." (2x16)
** At the beginning of "Boom!", Beckett asks if anyone has seen her father's watch. Castle ducks out of the building saying, hastily "It's not in the hall". Turns out [[spoiler: whether or not it was actually in the hall, Castle did find it, but it was broken, and you can see him tucking it into his pocket in that scene so that he can have it repaired before giving it back to Beckett.]]
** During the cold open of the Season 3 opener, Ryan sees a cardboard cutout of Castle and says, [[EvenTheGuysWantHim Wow, he really is ruggedly handsome]].
** 3x10, they find a cache of Prohibition era liquor which they turn over to the city. Nine episodes later the DA asks someone to celebrate with him, because he just got a bottle of it.
** In "Dead Pool" Ryan and Esposito tell a young writer Castle is mentoring about a previous case, which was "Knockdown".
** "Kick the Ballistics" has [[spoiler: 3XK]] come back into focus.
** 4x07, "Cops and Robbers": Castle has apparently been keeping track of the many times he's saved Beckett's life (9 to be exact) and when she dares him to recount these incidents, he specifically mentions distracting the gunman in the Season 1 episode "Always Buy Retail" with a champagne bottle and the Season 2 episode "Tick, Tick, Tick" when he [[spoiler: warns her about the bomb in her apartment.]]
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment:
** In "Sucker Punch", Castle's proposed strategy for getting Johnny Vong to talk is "force him to watch Paris Hilton videos".
** In "Home Is Where The Heart Stops" Castle reconnects with Powell, a retired cat-burglar who was forced to retire because Castle, using him as a source for a book, ended up blowing his cover. Powell gets his revenge... by crashing a high-society benefit which Castle and Beckett have infiltrated. And bringing Martha along. Castle suddenly finds himself the subject of an impromptu one-man bachelor auction.
--->'''Powell''': ''[smugly]'' Now we're even.
* CoolBike: Beckett owns a Harley softail. Also counts as FetishFuel since Beckett teases Castle with:
-->'''Castle''': Why don't you show me a picture of the bike?\\
'''Beckett''': Because I don't think you could handle the sight of ''[[FetishFuel me straddling it in tight black leather]].''
* CoolGun: "Under The Gun" in the climactic scene, Beckett and Ryan have their usual service pistols. Esposito? He has a [=M4A1=] Carbine with combat grip and some other attachments.
* TheCoroner: ME Lanie Parish, who is also Beckett's BlackBestFriend. Also, a different, grumpy coroner named Perlmutter was introduced in "The Double Down." He appeared several times in Season 2 and once or twice in every season since.
* CorruptPolitician: A mild example in a DA willing to subvert the justice system and convict an innocent man to make sure he has funding for re-election. Okay, not that mild.
** Subverted in "Dial 'M' for Mayor" -- We are led to suspect the Mayor has embezzled funds and tried to cover it with a murder. He claims he is being framed by a conspiracy. It turns out that he is right.
%%
%% Let's leave the Crowning stuff to the crowning pages/crowners
%%
* CowboyCop: Deconstructed. It's revealed that a group of cowboy cops [[spoiler:killed an undercover FBI agent investigating a mobster and set into motion the events that led to Johanna Beckett's murder.]]
** Det. Slaughter (played by Adam Baldwin) in "Headhunters" plays this for laughs, it's exactly what would happen if Jayne Cobb got made detective.
* CyanidePill:
** Subverted in "Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind" when Castle stops the Chinese agent from this:
-->'''Castle:''' Cyanide Capsule!. (sweeps item from man's mouth) Eww, Gum.
** Played absolutely straight in "Head Case" [[spoiler: when a murderer commits suicide by this method in order to join her husband in death/cryonic freezing after killing him.]]
* DaddysGirl: Alexis Castle, Castle's daughter.
* TheDandy: Castle is ''such'' a metrosexual. He's starting to influence Ryan and Esposito, amusingly enough.
-->'''Castle''': (searching an apartment) You see this moulding? That's the original wood. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt6XDPQZrj8 Gorgeous!]] I bet the bathrooms have marble wainscoting.
* DangerTakesABackSeat: Happens in "Boom" to Special Agent Shaw of all people.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Though the show tends towards being a lighthearted comedy, episodes about [[MythArc Beckett's mother's murder]] and two-parter half season finales have a tendency to be very dark.
* DawsonCasting:
** Averted. Both Alexis and Molly Quinn are 15 (at the start of the show).
** Played straight with some guest stars, though: In "Suicide Squeeze", a 17-year-old was played by a 4-foot-10 30-year-old actress. The actress did not really look at all like a 17 year old... just like a short adult.
* ADayInTheLimelight:
** Esposito gets much more of a focus than usual in "Den of Thieves."
** Ryan's time comes in "Kick the Ballistics."
* DeadManWriting: Mike Royce's letter to Beckett in "To Love and Die in L.A." It's also a VoiceoverLetter at the end, revealing [[spoiler:[[EveryoneCanSeeIt Mike sees that she has something special with Castle]]]]
* DeadPartner: Used as Esposito's backstory for "Den of Thieves." [[spoiler:Except it turns out he's not quite dead after all, and in fact is the suspect for the killing of the BodyOfTheWeek.]]
* DeadpanSnarker: Beckett to Castle mostly.
* DeathByLookingUp: The VictimOfTheWeek in "Wrapped Up In Death". Cause of Death: Falling Gargoyle.
* DeathByOriginStory: Beckett's mother.
* DeathEqualsRedemption:
** When Detective Raglan realizes he is dying, he contacts Beckett and tries to tell her about his role in her mother's death.
** [[spoiler:Captain Montgomery]]
* DeathGlare:
** Beckett has one and it is almost ''always'' aimed at [[FunPersonified Castle.]]
** Castle, in turn, aims one at Beckett when she agrees to spend time with Alex Conrad, the writer he's mentoring.
** Lampshaded in "Demons" when ''Ryan'' gets one from Beckett after offering to help Castle investigate the so-called "haunted house":
-->'''Castle:''' Ooh, that's a look.\\
'''Ryan:''' Yeah.\\
'''Castle:''' I get these a lot. Just start walking. ''Faster''. ''[They scurry off]''
* DeceasedFallGuyGambit:
** What the real killer was trying to do in the pilot, though the patsy is insane, not dead. He might have gotten away with it had Castle not had the first of his many YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle realizations.
** In "Tick, Tick, Tick..." the perp kills another guy in view of Castle and Beckett and makes it look as though it was a suicide. Castle has another such realization and is able to warn Beckett just before [[spoiler:the perp blows apartment up with her in it.]]
** The perps in [[spoiler: "Setup"[=/=]"Countdown"]] were ''planning'' on this, but didn't count on one of their planned patsies getting suspicious and stumbling on their plan early, forcing them to off him ahead of schedule. [[spoiler: Didn't stop them planning on doing the same to his wife, however.]]
* DeconstructorFleet: A quick scan of this page will show you how many tropes are [[SubvertedTrope subverted]], [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] and otherwise [[PlayingWithATrope played with]] -- as befits a PoliceProcedural where the title character is a [[GenreSavvy mystery writer]].
* {{Defictionalization}}:
** ''[[http://abc.go.com/shows/castle/heat-wave Heat Wave]]'', the first Nikki Heat novel made it onto the Times bestseller list as did ''[[http://abc.go.com/shows/castle/naked-heat Naked Heat]]'' and ''[[http://abc.go.com/shows/castle/heat-rises Heat Rises]]''.
** ''[[http://www.richardcastle.net/news/storm-graphic-novel Deadly Storm]]'' is a graphic novel "adaptation" of the first Derrick Storm novel. ''Storm Rises'' has also been announced.
* DepravedBisexual: Averted in "Vampire Weekend". Crow is bisexual and, as a member of a vampire cult, very strange, but he's the victim, not the villain. The killer hoped to take advantage of this trope to pin the murder on his freaky friends.
* DidIJustSayThatOutLoud:
** Det. Ryan in "The Double Down" after "So much for my famous warm honeymilk with Jenny tonight." This is mentioned in a subsequent episode when Ryan is introduced to a Vice cop that Esposito knows, and right after the introduction the Vice cops asks Esposito "Honeymilk?"
** Also in "Sucker Punch", when the team is investigating a late night infomercial host who's "I'll make you rich!" program -- which Ryan has been slightly suckered into -- is a front for heroin smuggling:
---> '''Beckett''': Someone on this end had to know which boxes contained the drugs.\\
'''Ryan''': ''[Absently]'' And which boxes contained the secret path to financial independence.''[Everyone looks at him; he realizes]'' ... What?
** Inverted in "The Mistress Always Spanks Twice" when, over the body of a young woman found in her underwear covered in caramel sauce, Lanie matter-of-factly discusses her own [[IncrediblyLamePun tastes]] in this area, much to Castle and Ryan's interest:
--> '''Lanie''': I can do the chocolate, I'll even do the whipped cream bikini, but caramel? I prefer slippery to sticky.\\
'''Castle''': ... Does she know we can hear her?
** Upon seeing Natalie Rhodes enter the room wearing a wig and a suit to make her look like the double of Beckett:
--> '''Castle''': ''[wondering]'' Just like I dreamed it! ''[Beckett stares at him]'' DidISayThatOutLoud?
* DieForOurShip: Parodied in "One Life To Lose" though it's a writer, not a character, that the shippers want dead. The shipper didn't kill the writer, but she was quite happy about her death. {{invoked}}
* DisappearedDad: Castle doesn't know who his father is. Unlike many other examples of the trope, however, he seems quite free from bitterness or {{Wangst}} over this fact (as he says, it gives him the chance to imagine his father as whatever he wants to think). It probably goes some way towards explaining both why he's a bit of a ManChild and so devoted to Alexis, however.
** [[spoiler:Something Sophia said at the end of Linchpin may indicate that Castle's father worked at the CIA. However, given that she was a USSR double agent, it might have just been a bunch of BlatantLies.]]
* DisneyDogFight: Parodied at the end of "An Embarrassment of Bitches". Castle vs. Beckett, winner: Kay Capuccio!
* DistractedByMyOwnSexy: During an investigation, our hero sees himself on an electronics store camera and remarks "I really am ruggedly handsome.' Of course, he is played by NathanFillion. This actually an aversion... he had actually gone over there to see if any footage of the killer might be available.
* DistressedDamsel / DistressedDude: Both Beckett and Castle seem to have a knack of getting into distressing situations requiring the other to rescue them. In "Cops and Robbers" we learn that Castle has apparently been keeping score and that by his count he's saved Beckett's life nine times while she's only saved his eight in return. Beckett is less-than-impressed by either revelation.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:
** Would be a [[StockVisualMetaphors Stock Visual Metaphor]] but for the "Stock" bit. In the opening scene of "Wrapped Up in Death," we see a gargoyle plummet towards the soon-to-be-BodyOfTheWeek, and just before [[YourHeadAsplode his head ends up being splatted much like a tomato by a hammer]], we cut to a scene of a tomato getting splatted by a hammer (as wielded by Alexis).
** In "Heroes And Villains", Castle and Beckett watch another writer and his muse (an attractive female cop driven by the death of her parent) leave the office. Castle invokes this trope...only to watch the other two kiss (as they are a couple). Cue an awkward exit, stage left by Castle.
*** At the start of the episode, we see the victim of the week getting split in silhouette, cut to Castle chopping vegetables with a cleaver.
** The "let's try to push the freezer" scene of "Cuffed" purposely invokes the sexual version of trope for [[ShipTease ship teasing purposes.]] It is incredibly effective. Also, hilariously lampshaded:
-->'''Beckett''': ''(with her back pressed to Castle's front before they push)'' You better not be--
-->'''Castle''': --enjoying this? I'll let you know in a minute.
** "Headhunters" has Castle work with another detective while Beckett's busy in court. While what it might mean for the Castle-Beckett not-relationship is explicitly discussed by Beckett and her psychiatrist, Esposito and Ryan are both miffed, and Ryan openly says it feels like Castle's "cheating" on them.
* [[DontCallMeSir Don't Call Me Ma'am]]: Captain Gates insists on being called "sir".
* DoubleDate: In "The Third Man"; they're too busy talking about the case to enjoy their dates...and by the end they both step out, leaving their dates to hook up.
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:"3XK" .]] (Just saying the episode name is a spoiler.)
* {{Dualvertisement}}: Tom Bergeron plays a [[spoiler:murdered]] talk show host in one episode. Not so coincidentally, Bergeron is the host of ''DancingWithTheStars'', which airs right before ''Castle''. Later, Castle did an episode with a BrandX version of Dancing With The Stars.
* DudeNotIronic: Inverted; Castle is very pleased when other characters ''correctly'' identify irony.
* DumbBlonde: Subverted with Natalie Rhodes in "Nikki Heat". She looks like standard a B-movie horror actress at first, and then the team get to meet her and find out she's smart, a good actress, very perceptive, and extremely dedicated to her art. The rumor about her [[SeriousBusiness living in a crawlspace for a week]] for a horror movie about a crawlspace wasn't true, though. [[spoiler:It was actually a month.]]
* DyeingForYourArt: In addition to the spoiler above, Natalie Rhodes used a complete makeover to "come closer" to Beckett's style, including using a wig to change her hair from blonde to brunette (''neither'' of which happens to be Laura Prepon's natural hair color).
* DyingDeclarationOfLove: The final scene of the third season. [[spoiler:Except that she doesn't, you know, actually die or anything.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder: E-H]]
* EasyAmnesia: {{Averted}} in "The Fifth Bullet", esp. with the easy recall that comes with it. It's lampshaded:
-->'''"J":''' Is this the point where I start getting all those flashes of memory until it all clicks into place?\\
'''Ryan:''' You've watched too many movies. \\
'''"J":''' That I can't remember. \\
'''Ryan:''' Wow, kind of a chicken-n-egg situation, isn't it?\\
'''"J":''' Welcome to my world.
* EggSitting: in "Vampire Weekend". His name was [[IncrediblyLamePun F]]''[[IncrediblyLamePun egg]]''[[IncrediblyLamePun an]] and was murdered by Alexis' friend after she called her dad after her friend drank too much from a spiked punchbowl.
* TheElevatorFromIpanema: Esposito, Ryan, and a SWAT team ride in one in "Eye of the Beholder".
* ElvisImpersonator: Castle, Ryan, and Esposito dress up in full regalia in order to sneak into a casino after being kicked out in "Heartbreak Hotel".
* EmbarrassingNickname: One of Alexis' new friends, Buttons. Even worse when you pair it with her last name, Dutton.
-->'''Alexis''': What's so wrong with that?\\
'''Castle''': C'mon! It'd be like calling you Rassle or Tassle or...No Hassle Castle.
* EmptyChairMemorial:
** As a tribute to the late Stephen J. Cannell, in "The Dead Pool" it's revealed that his chair in the writers poker game Castle hosts will remain empty for one year.
-->'''Castle''': "That's Cannell's seat."
** [[spoiler: Also occurs at Montgomery's funeral where the ceremonial riderless horse precedes the casket.]]
* EnforcedMethodActing: In the pilot, a scene was originally written where Beckett would question Captain Montgomery's wisdom in allowing Castle to be part of the investigation. When filming, the producers decided to subvert this by having Montgomery bluntly shoot down Beckett's request to talk to him ("''Nope''.")... but didn't inform Stana Katic, who's look of annoyed astonishment is real.
* EnhanceButton:
** Subverted twice, in successive episodes. Beckett even [[DiscussedTrope talks about]] it in ''Murder Most Fowl'' and Castle's protest is a ShownTheirWork on why it wouldn't work:
-->'''Castle:''' ''(examining a zoomed-in photograph that they told the photo tech to "enhance")'' The enhancement only increased the pixelation on these. You can't even see there's a side-view mirror!\\
'''Beckett:''' It's not like on ''24'', Castle. [[ThisIsReality In the real world]], even zoom-and-enhance can only get us so far.
** The one or two times that it does work, the information they get from the photos are realistic details such as [[spoiler: how sweaty someone is due to the brightness of the pixels]] versus something like a full facial reconstruction.
*** Likewise, it only works in "Kill Shot" because the object they were looking at (a coffee cup) was a fairly large part of the image, facing the camera basically dead on, being held still for a good amount of time, and the thing on the cup they were looking at was very simple and bold. And even then, Ryan has to squint and pause to make out the text.
* EurekaMoment:
** Usually with Castle, and usually inspired by his daughter. In several cases, Castle and Beckett have had a Eureka Moment at the exact same time, or almost the exact same time, which [[ShipperOnDeck Lanie]] later comments on, saying how cute it is that they finish each other sentences. [[LampshadeHanging Hell, even Esposito and Ryan notice that they do it often.]] [[HeterosexualLifePartners But then, they'd know.]]
** Lampshaded again in "3xk" when Beckett calls Castle. He notes that usually he gets a call because they (the police) have news but this time, there is no updates and he thinks she's calling because he might have had one of these. The scene just prior to this one is a RedHerring EurekaMoment to boot.
** The trope is often parodied/deconstructed in that Castle will usually make several wild, obviously incorrect guesses before the right one. Sometimes, they'll even come across a strange piece of evidence that seems to agree with one of his wild guesses before a rational explanation can be found.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: As seen in "Sucker Punch", the Irish mob might steal, extort and kill, but they do '''not''' sell drugs.
* EveryManHasHisPrice: A comically harmless version. The few cops that find Castle annoying for hanging around the bullpen change their tune when Castle buys [[MustHaveCaffeine a quality espresso machine]], no less than a [[http://buckheadcoffeestore.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=187 La Spaziale S5 Compact]]. Castle has good taste in machines. Even Beckett (eventually) partakes.
* EveryoneCanSeeIt:
** Only Beckett is determinedly oblivious. Or [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation she's having just as much fun toying with Castle as we are watching her]]. (See {{UST}} below.)
** Lanie drops this line verbatim during [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CudcJeCDC0 "A Rose For Everafter" about Castle and Beckett]]:
--->'''Lanie:''' I can see it. ''(Talking to the corpse)'' You may not, but I do.
** Castle's NewOldFlame, after deciding that she's going to marry her fiancee, kisses Castle on the cheek, walks up to Detective Beckett, and says, "He's all yours."
** Even more {{squee}} at the end of "The Third Man":
---> '''Ryan''': Do they ''know'' they're finishing each others sentences?
** Another moment from Ryan:
---> '''Ryan:''' Chances are this book guy that [[RomanticFalseLead Demming's]] got in the lock up did it.\\
'''Castle:''' Don't say that.\\
'''Ryan:''' What? ''Ohhhhh''. *grinning* You wanna be the one to crack it, not Demming, right?\\
'''Castle:''' Well, the guy is not even homicide. Doesn't that bug you, just a little?\\
'''Ryan:''' Maybe a little. But that's not why it bugs ''you,'' [[GreenEyedMonster is it]]?
** This even extends to people who've never met one of the pair, it's that obvious. The journalist who writes the article that causes most of the fuss in "The Third Man" alludes to a relationship between the two, having just assumed it was the case because Castle couldn't stop talking about how incredible Beckett was (with his favorite subject in previous interviews being Richard Castle). In the same episode, one of the witnesses for the murder of the week immediately pegged Beckett as "the detective girlfriend"...which was bad for Castle, who was desperately trying to hide the article from Beckett.
** The FBI profiler Jordan Shaw does the same in "Tick Tick Tick". You know, the sort of person who does that sort of thing for a living is 'fooled' into thinking the two are, at the very least, sleeping together.
** As does actress Natalie Rhodes in the episode ''Nikki Heat''
** The alternative interpretation is given credit in "A Deadly Affair" as Beckett seems aware (as is Castle) of the various emotions, feelings, and expressions she makes due to Castle (and vice versa). Though as always, circumstances mean it doesn't quite get through to the other.
** This extends to Federal Agent Mark Fallon, who said that when he first met Castle and Beckett, he thought they were together.
** Mike Royce, Beckett's old training officer wrote a letter to her saying [[spoiler: "It's clear you and Castle have something real"]], which she read at the end of the episode "To Love and Die in L.A.".
** As of the season 3 finale, it's pretty clear that [[spoiler:both Beckett and Castle]] can see it too.
** [[WordOfGod Andrew Marlowe]] has mentioned in an interview that in the conversation where [[spoiler: [[OffScreenBreakup Beckett broke up with Josh]]]], she tried not to mention Castle- but [[RomanticFalseLead Josh]] himself [[GenreSavvy kept on insistently bringing him up]].
** And after a week of trying to woo him, art "recovery" expert Serena Kaye sees it, too:
--> '''Serena''': It's like I said: I don't steal things that belong to someone else.
** In "Cops and Robbers," the leader of the bank robbery team quickly pegs Castle and Beckett as boyfriend and girlfriend after talking to her over the phone. After about the third time he asserts this, Castle finally speaks up.
--> '''Trapper John''': Your girlfriend is a hellcat!\\
'''Castle''': Well, she's not my girlfriend.\\
'''Trapper John''': She too much woman for you?\\
'''Castle''': Ha.
* EveryoneKnowsMorse: In "Cops and Robbers", Castle is one of the hostages at the bank robbery. With no other communication link to the outside, he sends a message with his mother's bracelet by covering the reflected light into a Morse signal.
* EvilBrit: In "Last Call", a pompous British auction house owner shows up. [[spoiler: Guess who the killer is.]]
* EvilLaugh:
** Castle tries one in "Vampire Weekend", but then breaks into a coughing fit.
** He does it again successfully in "Food to Die For," complete with a [[WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog Dr. Horrible]] ShoutOut.
* EvilSoundsDeep: The drug dealer they suspect of having a hand in the death of Beckett's mother in the third season. Like wow.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Subverted in "Sucker Punch", as we find out just who Beckett's mother's killer is, [[spoiler:and she kills him when he takes Castle hostage]]. The failure, however, is transferred to who hired him to kill her.
* FairCop:
** Beckett. Esposito and Ryan aren't that hard on the eyes either.
** Lampshaded in "To Love and Die in LA" when the directer of the Nikki Heat movie tells Beckett she could be an actress.
* FakeAmerican: Both lead characters are played by Canadian actors.
* FakeOutMakeOut: [[spoiler: Castle and Beckett indulge in this trope during "Knockdown" in order to distract a Mook so they can run in and save the kidnapped Ryan and Esposito.]] As anticipated, it is an '''incredibly hot''' scene. (It's also pretty clear that [[spoiler:Castle's just using the situation as an excuse to kiss the ''hell'' out of Beckett, and equally clear that she's using the situation to kiss right back]].) {{And the fandom rejoiced}}.
* FalseFlagOperation: what [[spoiler:Tony The Butcher]] does in "Heroes & Villains" to pin on vigilante Lone Vengeance the killing of Faris.
* FandomNod: "One Life to Lose" is partially about the rabid shipping community surrounding a fictional soap opera. Many a PortmanteauCoupleName is used.
* {{Fauxreigner}}:
** Johnny Vong in "Sucker Punch" is a Harvard MBA from California who provides legitimately profitable real estate investment advice, but pretends to be a simple Laotian immigrant on {{Infomercial}}s because RagsToRiches stories sell better. [[hottip:*:RealityIsUnrealistic: who's more likely to come up with good investment advice -- an immigrant or an MBA?]]
-->'''Video!Vong:''' I come to this country on a boat-\\
'''Vong, Castle, and Esposito:''' [[CrowningMomentOfFunny now, I OWN A BOAT!]]
** Also, Hans von Manschaft (why yes, he is a stripper, why do you ask?) in "Almost Famous". He immediately drops the accent when he hears his rival has been murdered, and Castle, of course, lampshades OohMeAccentsSlipping.
** Beckett herself. She pretends to be Russian to save Castle in the Season 2 premiere and says she used to enjoy going to heavily Russian areas and pretending to be from Moscow.
* FictionalCounterpart: Castle's New York has the "Nick's" (Terrific, Authentic, Authentic Terrific, etc.) pizzeria lines just as the real New York has the "Ray's" (Original, Famous, Famous Original, etc.) pizzerias. This despite the fact that earlier episodes had established both that Ray's exists in the Castle world and is just as ubiquitous. The rivalry among the "Nick's" is far more deadly than the one in ours.
* FilmNoir: The flashbacks in "The Blue Butterfly" are deliberately done in this style.
* FingertipDrugAnalysis:
** In "Sucker Punch", Beckett finds a stash, sticks her finger in, tastes it, and pronounces "heroin". [[FacePalm Palms met faces nationwide.]]
** Played with when Castle tastes a bird feather and declares it a "Bird of Prey." It actually was a red hawk feather, to boot.
* [[FinishingEachOthersSentences Finishing Each Other's Sentences]]: Castle and Beckett do this a ''lot'', especially when struck by an EurekaMoment. Lampshaded repeatedly.
-->'''Esposito:''' So, do you guys practice doing that when we're not around?
* FiremenAreHot: Beckett's date in "The Third Man", FDNY's Mr. July.
* FirstKiss: Finally happens in "Knockdown".
* FirstNameBasis: Castle has been calling Beckett 'Kate' a lot in season 4. For example, in "Kill Shot", he just called out 'Kate!' to her in the hallways, no YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious moment in sight. [[ShipTease The shippers are delighted]].
* FiveManBand
** TheHero: Beckett actually.
** TheLancer: Castle.
** TheBigGuy: Esposito, with his military background and [=M4A1=]
** TheSmartGuy[=/=]TheChick: Ryan and Lanie share aspects of both these roles, with Ryan as both the go-to techie and the [[SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan Sensitive Guy]] to Esposito's Manly Man and with Lanie as both the no-nonsense ME and the SassyBlackWoman.
* {{Flanderization}}: Castle's wacky theories get increasingly outlandish through the first half of Season 3, to the point of making him look like a buffoon. This seems to have been corrected more recently.
** An in-universe example occurs in "To Love and Die in L.A.", when Castle visits the set of the movie of his book "Heat Wave" and meets the actors playing Ryan and Esposito.
** Castle says that this is pretty much what lots and lots money does to people.
* ForWantOfANail: Basically what Martin Blakely did for the CIA, as told in "Pandora"[=/=]"Linchpin": he looked at the current situation, he looked at the desired result, and he determined a small event that would eventually cause the desired result. [[spoiler:It turns out that Blakely determined that the assassination of a Chinese businessman's daughter at the hands of rogue CIA agents would eventually cause World War III, which the United States would lose after 27 million Americans die.]]
* ForcedToWatch: [[spoiler: Esposito has to watch Ryan's torture in "Knockdown."]]
* ForeignMoneyIsProofOfGuilt: A victim is suspected to be a spy involved in something highly questionable when his car is discovered with a large quantity of Euros in the trunk. [[spoiler: It's subverted; the victim was actually on a 'spy vacation' and the Euros were part of the game.]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** In "Nanny [=McDead=]", campaign posters for the politician who will wind up dead in "Hell Hath No Fury" and his opponent show up.
** At least once in "Vampire Weekend", the sister of the first victim shows up in a sweater with the words "Haley Blue" on it, the name of a fictitious celebrity who happens to be the victim in the very next episode.
** Officer Hastings shows up in "Rise" to give Beckett information at the crime scene. [[spoiler: Establishing her before she is featured as a key character in the next episode "Heroes and Villains"]].
** In "Rise", Beckett freezes and has a minor panic attack when a suspect points a gun at her. This foreshadows the full-blown [=PTSD=] breakdown she experiences in "Kill Shot".
** Of all things, the blurb on Castle's website for ''[[http://www.richardcastle.net/books?page=3 Storm Fall]]'' foreshadows "Linchpin": [[spoiler: specifically, the bit where it suggests that Agent Clara Strike, the character based on Sophia Turner, might have gone rogue...]]
* FoundTheKillerLostTheMurderer: This happens [[spoiler:not once, not twice, but ''three times'']] with Becket's mother's murderer. [[spoiler:The first time, Castle and Beckett find the man who murdered Beckett's mother and learn that he's a hired killer, but Beckett has to shoot him in order to get Castle out of a hostage situation. The second time, Beckett manages to capture another hired killer, a sniper, who was hired by the same person(s) who ordered her mother's murder. This sniper is still alive by the end of the episode, but indicates with a stone-faced glare that he'll never inform on his clients. The third time involves a key person involved(really, really complicated) with her mother's murder- '''''Captain Montgomery!''''' She gets to talk to him uninterrupted, and he knows who the mastermind behind the conspiracy is, but [[SubvertedTrope refuses]] to [[HisNameIs say the name]] anyway, saying that [[DoWeHaveThisOne the mastermind is so rich and powerful]] that giving her his name would get her killed as certainly as if he'd shot her himself. He dies minutes later. Beckett manages to get out of that scrape alive, but is shot during his funeral, presumably by the people from whom he was trying to protect her.]]
* FreudianSlip: In "The Blue Butterfly" Castle is narrating a scene from an old diary of a tryst between private detective Joe and gun moll Vera. Picturing Vera as Beckett and Joe as himself, he accidentally refers to her as Kate. He insists that he actually said "[[VerbalBackspace fate]]."
* FridgeLogic: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] occasionally by Castle and Alexis. In several episodes ("A Chill Runs Through Her Veins" and "A Deadly Affair", for example), facing logical puzzles or romantic dilemmas, they open the refrigerator and hang mournfully on the door, staring inside. Castle at one point comments, "What is it about the refrigerator? Is it the cold? The light? Or some combination of the two?"
* FriendsRentControl: Det. Beckett's apartment.
* GameOfNerds: Both straight and averted in "Suicide Squeeze". Beckett is a noted fangirl of the Mets (and especially Joe Torre), and both Esposito and Ryan were able to identify the baseball player victim on sight. However, Castle only knows the victim by reputation, is matter-of-fact when he and Beckett meet Torre (having met the man previously through his mother) and is notably uncoordinated and largely uninterested in the fine art (as noted in the ending with Alexis).
* GeekyTurnOn:
** From "Vampire Weekend":
--->'''Castle'''(on some art drawn by the VictimOfTheWeek): Reminds me of early FrankMiller.\\
'''Beckett''': Which Frank? Epic comic or Dark Horse years?\\
'''Castle''': Oh my god, that is the sexiest thing I've ever heard you say.
** From "Suicide Squeeze":
--->'''Castle:''' Did you just use the word 'veritable'?\\
'''Beckett:''' Yes.\\
'''Castle:''' Sexy!\\
'''Beckett:''' You should hear me say "[[GettingCrapPastTheRadar fallacious]]".
* GenderBlenderName: Alexis' new boyfriend Ashley. She takes advantage of this fact to get her dad to agree to have him over. Unfortunately, this backfires on her when Castle accidentally surprises them in the act of making out... [[TwerpSweating while holding a pistol]]. An awkward situation ensues for all concerned.
* GeneHuntInterrogationTechnique: Slaughter's ''modus operandi.'' It is hilarious.
* GenreSavvy:
** Castle, being a mystery novelist who does his research, is a force to be reckoned with in this department.
--->'''Beckett''': What are you basing that on?\\
'''Castle''': I'm basing that on...it would make a better story.
** One of the suspects in "Famous Last Words" defends an earlier lie about not meeting the victim of the week the night of her murder with the excuse that "I watch cop shows -- those are the little details that help get you convicted." A flaw in his logic[=/=]savviness is then highlighted when Castle immediately points out that in those shows, lying to the police ''also'' helps get you convicted.
** In the same episode, Castle jokingly suggests Alexis as a possible suspect for Haley Blue's murder when the team is all out of ideas: "It's perfect! She's peripheral to the case, we don't suspect her, she has no alibi..."
** In "Boom!" Castle sees through a trap that fools the other FBI agents and police officers. Why? Because that's how he would write it.
** A SmugSnake who narrates each section of his interrogation rather than answering questions.
** In "Cops and Robbers" Castle uses his skills and love of ''Film/DieHard'' to get information about the bank hostage situation.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** In "Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind": Beckett says "Let's just stick it in and get it over with", referring to an unlabeled DVD.
** In "The Late Shaft": Esposito says "Holy Shift!" in reference to the Bugatti Veyron.
** [[PrecisionFStrike Shut the front door!]]
** "Cuffed" has quite a few moments. Some are ShipTease, others... not so much. [[spoiler: For instance, when the two of them are attempting to push the metal crate the first time, it looks and sounds an awful lot like the two having sex.]]
** Season 4, episode 13 is titled "An Embarrassment of Bitches". It's about dogs. And a NoCelebritiesWereHarmed version of KimKardashian (and [[ParisHilton other]] [[TheHills celebrities]]).
* GirlOfTheWeek: Three for Castle;,
** Alyssa Milano's character in "A Rose For Everafter." Too bad for Castle she's getting married to someone else.
** Also happened on "The Late Shaft." Ellie Monroe, a guest on Bobby Mann's talk show, got to hook up with Castle [[RuleofThree 3 times in one episode]].
** Jacinda, the blonde flight attendant Castle meets on his way back from Las Vegas, [[spoiler:after discovering that Kate knows what he feels for her but kept silent about it.]]
** Averted in "Love Me Dead", where a call girl tries to be the GirlOfTheWeek but is rebuffed by Castle.
* GirlShowGhetto: InUniverse. Castle is ''not'' happy about having to read and review a ChickLit novel written by one of his mother's friends.
** It seemed, in the episode, to be less about the genre than it was about being a writer asked (most likely ''again'') to review someone's book, as well as the size of the thing (which looked to be well over 800 pages)
* TheGhost:
** In the second season, Martha gets a NewOldFlame, "Chet," who has yet to appear onscreen. [[spoiler:And, tragically, never will. Which makes him [[IncrediblyLamePun an actual ghost.]]]]
** Beckett's father held that role for nearly thirty episodes (leading some to suspect that he was going to be someone famous).
** Ryan's girlfriend Jenny was mentioned several times before he introduced her to the team.
** Averted with Alexis' new boyfriend [[GenderBlenderName Ashley]], who's seen in the first ep he was talked about...being terrorized by Castle with an old-timey pistol.
* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: It's hinted that both Castle and Beckett have at least slightly kinky tastes in the bedroom.
* GoodScarsEvilScars: regarding Anton Francis in "The Third Man": "Mr. Francis here, not one to waste such a sinister looking scar, decided to round out the stereotype with a laundry list of criminal activity..."
* GotMeDoingIt: "The Final Nail" Beckett accidentally mimics a witness' accent before catching herself. This was actually a mistake by Stana. The producers decided to ThrowItIn.
* GrammarNazi:
** Castle in "The Double Down" gets irked when a killer mixes up "your" and "you're," and spends the rest of the episode policing everyone's grammar.
-->"I'm just saying -- whoever murdered her also murdered the English language"
** In "The Third Man," even after complimenting Ryan on the correct use of irony, he uses "you and I" in the predicate of the next sentence.
* GreenEyedEpiphany: Implied in "Eye Of The Beholder" when Beckett gets jealous over Castle getting close to Serena the insurance investigator[[spoiler:-slash-former art thief]], who doesn't [[EveryoneCanSeeIt steal things that belong to others.]]
* GreenEyedMonster: In "Eye of the Beholder", Beckett spends most of the episode seething with badly-concealed jealousy over Serena Kaye's obvious interest in Castle.
** After [[RomanticFalseLead Demming]] shows up, Castle is stuck in a very bad mood.
---> '''Esposito:''' I bought a falafel from the stand every day for two months just so I could talk to the falafel girl.\\
'''Ryan:''' Yeah, you mean like [[RomanticFalseLead Demming]] showing up every morning for coffee just to run into Beckett? *turns to Castle, chuckling*\\
'''Castle:''' *[[GreenEyedMonster strange look]] on his face* \\
'''Ryan:''' *[[GenreBlind grin freezing, turns back to look at Esposito]]*\\
'''Esposito:''' *[[GenreSavvy shaking his head and mouthing no]]*
* GroinAttack: in "Suicide Squeeze", when a baseball player is beaten to death with a baseball bat, his assailant starts at his groin.
* GuiltyPleasures: episode "Always Buy Retail". Castle compares having sex with his ex-wife to a deep-fried Twinkie.
-->Ryan: A deep-fried Twinkie?\\
Castle: Yeah, the guilty pleasure that you know is bad for you, so you only do it once, maybe twice a year for the novelty.
* GutFeeling:
** Subverted in one episode when Castle asks the coroner what his gut is saying.
-->'''Coroner:''' [[SubvertedTrope It's saying I'm hungry.]] My ''years of forensic experience'', however...
** Lampshaded in "He'd Dead, She's Dead"
--> Beckett: My gut says it’s not him. But we still have to look into his alibi.\\
Castle: Oh, so you don’t believe in fate, yet your gut has magical properties. That’s cool. Scully. \\
* HalfArcSeason
* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: the victim's death in "Heroes & Villains". Castle says this word by word to a suspect, following it with a HurricaneOfPuns.
* AHandfulForAnEye: In "Under the Gun", Castle is being forced to dig up buried loot from a grave as part of a MexicanStandoff between the cops and the various criminals after the loot. He calls out that he's found it and, when the criminals peer greedily into the grave, he flings a shoveful of dirt into their faces.
* HandshakeSubstitute: More of a high five substitute. Castle and Esposito's trademark high five which is referred to, in a blooper reel, as "feeding the birds."
* HannibalLecture: Castle and the killer exchange these on "3XK", with Castle starting his in reaction to the killer's "Then you don't know me at all."
* HappilyMarried: [[spoiler:Joe Flynn and Vera Mulqueen, from "The Blue Butterfly". They threw away the titular prize because of it's supposed curse and not once did they consider going back for it because they're more than happy with each other.]]
* HauntedHouse: "Demons" has the BodyOfTheWeek be found in one. Although there's ultimately [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane a mundane explanation for that case, it's still left up in the air whether the house actually is haunted]].
* HeadTiltinglyKinky:
** In "The Mistress Always Spanks Twice", Ryan, Esposito, and Castle are investigating BDSM on the Internet. This trope ensues, with all three of them essentially saying, "Is it even possible to get in that position?" In a CrowningMomentOfFunny, Beckett strolls in and casually says,
-->'''Beckett:''' [[FetishFuel Oh, it's possible.]]
** In "Set Up", Beckett holds up a large pair of bolt cutters (in a rather flirty pose) prior to trying a storage unit door. Castle comments, for reasons he won't explain, that looks quite hot.
* TheHeart: Ryan is perhaps the emotional center of the team. He's the one that tends to have the most visible emotional reactions and take things the hardest.
* HeroInsurance: Beckett and Castle only get a dressing down from Montgomery for breaking and entering an apartment in Los Angeles.
* HeroWorshipper: Ryan definitely has a bit of a hero worshiping thing going on with regards to Castle; he tends to take fashion cues from him, has been known to imitate him at times and consulted him on the best way to propose to his girlfriend Jenny.
* HeroesWantRedheads:
** Played with in that quite a few of the women in Castle's lives are redheads (including his first ex-wife), but a succession of love interests shown since are not (Kyra Blaine, Ellie Monroe and of course Beckett are all brunettes (although Beckett was sort of auburn in the first season), while his second ex-wife Gina is a blonde).
* HeroicBSOD:
** Beckett in "Sucker Punch" [[spoiler: upon learning that the killer of the BodyOfTheWeek was also the man who killed her mother.]]
** A minor version occurs in "A Deadly Game" [[spoiler: when Castle informs Beckett that he's leaving the precinct and that this is their last case together. She's visibly shaken to her core by the news, unusually distracted and uninterested when Ryan and Esposito try to tell her what they've discovered about the case, and it takes her a few moments to get her usual poise back.]]
** Not quite full BSOD but when Ryan and Esposito [[spoiler: discover that Montgomery is the 3rd cop, neither one of them takes it very well.]]
** In "Rise" (4x01), Beckett spends most of the episode suffering a slow-burning one, until it breaks the surface [[spoiler:when a suspect points a gun at her and she is unable to raise hers to point back at the suspect]]. From this point on, she begins to act increasingly out-of-control, ranting irrationally at a potential suspect connected to her mother's case, nearly suffering a complete emotional breakdown at the prospect of having no leads in her mother's case, and it takes Castle persuading her to step back from the case to get her back on something resembling an even keel.
** Beckett again during "Kill Shot", when hunting a muderous sniper brings to the fore all of her unconfronted issues regarding her own shooting. Esposito helps her past it.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Ryan and Esposito. Castle and Beckett are also pretty close to the two, but [[{{UST}} closer to each other]]. Discussing lotto numbers:
-->'''Esposito''': I play my firsts: sex and combat.\\
'''Ryan''': I play his firsts, too. *everyone stares* What? That way we both win, and it's not awkward.
* HiddenDepths: Both Castle and Beckett:
** There's lots of layers to the 'Beckett onion', which both Castle and the audience are frequently surprised to uncover, suggesting a more fun-loving, light-hearted and even somewhat wilder personality than the seemingly no-nonsense workaholic cop front she projects; among others, she owns a motorbike, alludes to interests in comic books, magic tricks and soap operas, piercings and tattoos, etc. Of course, several of these may may also be intended specifically to [[MindScrew mess with Castle's head]] or [[TheTease tease his obvious attraction to her]].
** Castle on the surface is just a superficial AdultChild playboy, but is frequently shown to be a lot more mature, responsible, intelligent and caring than first appearances would suggest.
** In "An Embarrassment of Bitches" the seemingly vapid "celebrity bimbo" Kay Capuccio turns out to be more intelligent (if still somewhat ditzy), sensitive and lonely than expected.
* HilariousOuttakes:[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEpxa6EXrOw For]][[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naRN5GEbngk each]] [[http://youtu.be/uej8JbkV1kE season.]]
* HisNameIs: [[spoiler:In "Knockdown", John Raglan -- the lead detective on Beckett's mother's murder -- arranges to meet Beckett to pass on important information about her mother's case. Naturally, [[CanNotSpitItOut he rambles a bit before revealing all]], giving the sniper in a nearby building enough time to shoot and kill Raglan before he can pass the information on.]]
* HoistByHisOwnPetard
** Called by name in the episode "Pretty Dead".
** A tragic one in "47 Seconds". The bomb had been planted by one of the leaders of the [=TakeOver=] Wall Street movement, in collaboration with a TV reporter. The idea was that the explosion would gather further support for the move, but it was going to happen somewhere where it would not cause victims, while the TV reporter would activate it in the perfect moment to have a chance to improve her position. However, a pickpocketer took the bag where the bomb was in and moved it somewhere else, and the leader tried to call the reporter, but she was distracted and activated the bomb. The leader took the explosion head on.
* HoldingHands: Castle and Beckett as they watch Martha perform her one-woman play. Very sweet.
* HollywoodSilencer:
** Averted in "Tick, tick, tick..." when Beckett theorizes that the killer not only used a silencer, he waited for a train to pull in so it would cover the noise the gun made.
** Played straight in "One Man's Treasure", where the murderer used a plastic bottle as an impromptu "poor man's silencer" and the neighbors on the same floor didn't hear the gunshot (also the gun is later shown to have been a revolver, which makes it doubly wrong).
** Possibly also in "Home Is Where the Heart Stops," where a feather pillow is used for the same function, although without the implication of it actually working.
* HollywoodVoodoo: totally subverted, since Castle talked to an actual expert on the subject, who comes off as a normal person who isn't off raising zombies. And lampshaded, in that the woman was less than amused that Castle had ditched his research and gone with a HollywoodVoodoo portrayal of her religion.
* HospitalHottie: Beckett's boyfriend, Dr. Motorcycle Boy. Also known as Josh.
** And Nurse McClintock in "Anatomy of a Murder". \\
* HotScientist: Lanie Parish
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%%% HoYay goes on the HoYay pages, not here.
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* HowWeGotHere: What Beckett and Castle have to figure out when they wake up handcuffed together and LockedInARoom in "Cuffed". The flashbacks are [[JustifiedTrope justified]] via the fact they've been drugged and have hazy memories.
* HypocriticalHumor: Castle says to his daughter that she shouldn't be at her boyfriend's beck and call, then right in the middle of this speech, he gets a call from Beckett, and heads out immediately.
** [[{{UST}} Castle and Beckett]] talking about [[MakeUpOrBreakUp Esposito and Lanie]]. Break out the [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]].
---> '''Beckett:''' They both wanna be together but neither of them wants to admit to it.\\
'''Castle:''' Ugh. Why do people do that to themselves?\\
'''Beckett:''' Maybe they just don't see it.\\
'''Castle:''' How could they not? [[EveryoneCanSeeIt It's so obvious.]]
** Esposito averts this in "Under The Gun". Then again, Jon Huertas use to be in the military so one would hope he practices good gun habits.
** How a young woman died in [[spoiler: Law and Murder]].
** Castle does this in "Nikki Heat" when Natalie Rhodes wants to shadow Beckett in order to [[IJustWantToBeYou really "become" Nikki Heat]].
--->'''Castle''': She's a civilian! I mean, aren't you afraid she's gonna get in the way and mess up the case?
--->'''Beckett''': [[LampshadeHanging You're kidding, right?]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder: I-L]]
* IdenticalGrandson: Lampshaded in "The Blue Butterfly," where a 40's mobster (Tom Dempsey) and his grandson (Tom Dempsey III) are both played by Mark Pellegrino. Who, hilariously enough, use to play a vampire on Being Human - a vampire that probably was a 40's mobster at some point.
--> '''Dempsey III''': It's DNA. It's not ''magic''.
* IJustWantToBeYou[=/=]IrritationIsTheSincerestFormOfFlattery: In the episode ''Nikki Heat'', the actress who is going to play Nikki Heat in the ''Heat Wave'' movie shadows Beckett for "character research", and becomes more and more like her as the episode progresses, causing Beckett great annoyance (and a certain amount of identity-crisis consternation).
* IKnowAGuy: Castle has lots of connections from the research he does for his books. Lampshaded in "Fool Me Once":
-->'''Beckett''': Who are you calling?\\
'''Castle''': My guy in the CIA.\\
'''Beckett''': You have a guy in the CIA?\\
'''Castle''': When are you gonna learn? I've got a guy everywhere.
* ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou:
** Castle and Beckett's developing relationship seems to work on this principle. Rather than just him trying to find a way to 'win' her, however, it's suggested that part of the appeal is that ''she'' can control ''him''.
** Called attention to in "Mistress Always Spanks Twice." Castle comments "Well I ''would'' drive if you would let me." to point out that Beckett isn't dominating him. He immediately notes aloud that that does not actually prove his point. Beckett just has a smirk on her face.
** His relationship with the other women in his life tend to be pretty similar too. Heck, his daughter has to order him to order her to stay home for the weekend so she can study (which she wants to do) as oppose to go on a weekend roadtrip.
* INeedToGoIronMyDog:
** In "Deep in Death", Ryan and Esposito are in the coffee room with Beckett when Castle (having royally upset Beckett) peeks his head in:
--->'''Castle''': Hey.\\
(''Beckett takes one, unwavering DeathGlare at him'')\\
'''Ryan''': Oh, hey, uh, don't we have that thing?\\
'''Esposito''': (''not getting it'') ...no?\\
'''Ryan''': (''as Beckett focuses her gaze on Esposito'') Yeah! You know, that thing with the guy?\\
'''Esposito''': OH! Yeah, that thing with the guy!\\
'''Ryan''': Yeah, excuse us. (''they leave'')
** In "Nikki Heat" Beckett finds herself embroiled in a teeth-grindingly awkward conversation (from her point of view) with Natalie Rhodes, the actress portraying the character based on her, about how Rhodes needs to sleep with Castle because of the relationship Castle wrote between Beckett's character and his own AuthorAvatar. It gets to the point where Rhodes has completely deconstructed the [[EveryoneCanSeeIt relationship between Beckett and Castle]] and is begging Beckett to give Castle 'permission' to sleep with her that Beckett feels the need to flee:
--> '''Beckett''': I need to go. Over there. ''[Points at random and scurries off]''.
* INeverSaidItWasPoison: Used to implicate [[spoiler:the killer of both the BodyOfTheWeek and Beckett's mother]] in "Sucker Punch." [[spoiler:It's only realized belatedly, and it goes by so quickly that it's understandable why they didn't catch it when it actually happened.]]
* IWasYoungAndNeededTheMoney: Beckett on her brief career as a teenage model.
* ImpersonatingAnOfficer: The only thing Castle doesn't get to do is actually make arrests.
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in "The Third Man" when Castle, in EurekaMoment over-eagerness, calls up a newspaper requesting subscriber information, only to falter when they ask him who he actually is and why, y'know, he wants this information, at which point he promptly hands the phone to Beckett:
--> '''Castle''': I... sometimes forget I'm not ''actually'' a cop.
** Averted (slightly) in "Headhunters". Det. Slaughter gives Castle a gun and tells him to raid a bar. Castle, clearly uncomfortable, has no idea what he's doing, says "NPYD" instead of "NYPD", and awkwardly adds, "associate civilian investigator!" Needless to say, the patrons are ''not'' impressed.
** Played especially straight in the pilot, "Home is Where the Heart Stops", "Boom!", and "Knockdown", where Castle resorts to fisticuffs to take down dangerous perps. Often accompanied by his 70's-vintage "action theme song".
** ''Beckett'' does this in "To Love and Die in L.A.", where she's out of her jurisdiction and therefore not a cop, despite acting as if she were one. She's caught and chewed out, though plot immunity and the thin blue line saves her from criminal charges. Castle points out that he isn't a cop ''anywhere'' and happily goes along. Just to make the example as extreme as possible, the cast of the Nikki Heat movie gets into the action as well; Castle and Beckett use the studio set to interrogate a real subject; all the other cops are actors.
** Averted in "Deep in Death", "Love Me Dead" and others, where Castle's status as a civilian actually ''helps'' him.
* InsultBackfire: Beckett quips in "3xk" that Castle's job is menial and unimportant. He quips back that "Just for that, my next book will be about Esposito." Beckett gets a rather shocked look on her face.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Castle in "Boom!" [[spoiler:When complimented on shooting the gun out of the perp's hand, he says, "[[ShoutOut I was aiming for his]] [[{{Firefly}} head!]]"]]
** It was established in an earlier episode (See ObfuscatingStupidity, below) that Castle ''is'' a very good shot with a handgun, at least when shooting at paper targets.
** Averted in "Punked", wherein one of the big reasons they know the person who thinks he murdered the vic didn't do it is because the flintlock guns they used in their duel were hilariously inaccurate. Castle, Beckett, and a teed-off officer use every steadying method in the book, and even a laser sight, but not one bullet hit the targets they aimed for (one did knock off the number of the aforementioned officer's target, which is why he got involved).
* IncrediblyLamePun: This show makes these an art. Castle himself seems to love these and tends to encourage the others to do so as well.
** When Ryan mentions a previous relationship with a member of a vampire coven
--->'''Esposito''':"What happened, did the relationship suck?"
** In the premiere of Season Two, after seeing a victim who's organs had been tampered with and removed.
--->'''Castle''':"Somebody hated his guts."
** From "When the Bough Breaks":
--->'''Castle''': "I almost bought a Russian bride once. You know, a [[TabletopGame/{{Chess}} Czech-mate]]?"
** In "Vampire Weekend", Castle is dressed up like EdgarAllanPoe carrying a raven. Beckett manages to successfully scare Castle.
--->'''Castle''': "I'm giving you the bird"
** Oh, hell, it's quicker just to say that Castle loves the ''hell'' out of these: however, another one from "Hell Hath No Fury", after a councilman has been found wrapped up in a piece of carpet (AND wearing a toupee):
--->'''Castle''': What turned you off; the fact that he was wearing a rug? ''[Beckett gives him a look]'' TooSoon?
** One memorable lame pun in "Food to Die For" includes Castle (after [[EvilLaugh laughing like a maniac]]) realizes that he's late for his date with [[GirlOfTheWeek Madison]] and accidentally drops his watch into a bowl of liquid nitrogen.
--->''Castle''': "Hey look. [[WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog I froze time.]]"
** In "Slice of Death," after finding a body in a pizza oven.
--->''Capt. Montgomery'': "I didn't want to tell [my wife] that [her favorite pizza] now came in full-bodied flavor."
* {{Infomercial}}: How Johnny Vong made his money in "Sucker Punch". Well, that and [[spoiler:the heroin trade.]]
* InformedAbility: Played with; while Castle is a bestselling novelist who can obviously spin a great yarn, it's frequently made clear (usually via snarky comments from other characters) that he's 'not exactly Shakespeare', meaning that the viewer isn't surprised if, on the few occasions his prose appears, it's exactly not the greatest they've ever experienced. Alternatively, his work may actually be very good, but is considered inferior because he is a pulp/genre writer, which is usually what comments like "not exactly Shakespeare" are about. For what it's worth, however, [[{{Defictionalization}} the 'Nikki Heat' novels have made the bestseller lists in the real world]], so someone is obviously doing ''something'' right.
** While the writing may not be high art, he does have the skill to back his success up; in only the second episode, when throwing around ideas as to how or why a nanny was murdered, Castle proceeds to monologue a chilling narrative that visibly catches Beckett and the others. He immediately starts to speak normally again, saying "that's how I'd write it" and it takes everyone a beat to shake themselves back to focus.
* InnocentCohabitation: Beckett's apartment is [[spoiler:blown up by a serial killer]]. This exchange occurs.
-->'''Beckett''': I don't ''have'' a home!\\
'''Castle''': (calmly) [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Yes you do]]. It's a secure building with an extra bedroom with [[YouAreNotAlone people who care about you.]] With a federal detail on the door, it's the safest place in the city.\\
'''Beckett''': Thank you, Castle, but I couldn't.\\
'''Castle''': You can and you will.
* InterdisciplinarySleuth: Castle.
* TheIrishMob: The Westies.
* IronicEchoCut: "Eye of the Beholder" features a scene intercut between a conversation with Castle and Martha where Castle is singing the praises of the insurance investigator who's temporarily joined their investigation, and Beckett ranting [[GreenEyedMonster jealously]] about the same woman to her therapist.
-->'''Castle:''' I find her... impressive.\\
'''Martha:''' So, what's she like?\\
''[Cut to Beckett]''\\
'''Beckett:''' She's an uncooperative, cocky, ''stubborn'' know-it-all.
* IrrevocableOrder: At the end of the third season of, a major blow is dealt to [[spoiler: whoever ordered Beckett's mother]] killed when his favorite hired gun is killed. The one who did that killing sent off a bunch of info to a fourth party so that there would be no retaliation against [[spoiler: Beckett]]. Unfortunately, that mail arrived too late to prevent a sniper taking a shot at her.
* ItsForABook: Pretty much the excuse for Castle to get to hang around and investigate murders.
** It's invoked by Castle to get info from the bad guys in episodes "Home is Where the Heart Stops" and "Deep in Death".
* ItsPersonal: In "Kick The Ballistics", it's discovered that the gun used in the murder of a college student was the same gun that the 3XK Killer stole from Ryan in the previous season. When he learns this, Ryan takes it hard.
** In "Cops and Robbers", when Castle and his mother are caught in a hostage situation.
--->'''Ryan''': Since when do we do bank robberies?\\
'''Beckett''': Castle's there.\\
[Ryan and Esposito get moving]
* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: Late in season three, the gang are chasing the guy who killed Beckett's mentor. After shooting one of the guy's involved (not fatally) Ryan and Esposito question him about the situation, threatening not to call 911 until he spills. Then Esposito shoves the still hot barrel of his gun into one of the bullet wounds.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold:
** Castle often comes off as a typically self-centered, thoughtless and narcissistic playboy, but he deeply loves his daughter and his mother, and is revealed to have HiddenDepths of caring and niceness. While he's not shy about flirting with Beckett it's also made abundantly clear that he genuinely cares for and respects her rather than simply viewing her as a potential conquest.
** Mark Fallon comes off as a total douche who is quick to use harsh interrogation methods and resort to racial profiling, but the other characters see that he only does those to get his job done as quick and as right as possible, a job which Castle thinks is extremely harsh given that Fallon has to do it every day. His FreudianExcuse for the racial profiling is because his wife died in 9/11.
-->'''Fallon''': Listen, uh... what I do is not who I am. It's just how I have to be. I hope you understand that.
* JerkassHasAPoint: In "Kick the Ballistics", Seth Carver makes the rather belligerent assessment that Ryan was stupid to let his piece get out on the street the way he did. After a bit of cooling off, Ryan agrees.
-->'''Ryan''': Carver is a jerk...but he's got a point.
** Also in "Little Girl Lost," when it's revealed that it was the [[spoiler: mother who "kidnapped" the daughter, she says it is because her husband was a bad father. While her actions may have been overly drastic, she is correct in how he's a jobless painter who let his daughter get kidnapped WHILE he was in the house and didn't even realize it.]]
* JugglingLoadedGuns: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVKgw6qzm-o This]] hilarious scene from "Punked".
* JurisdictionFriction:
** Subverted in "Tick, Tick, Tick" / "Boom!"; the FBI and the NYPD cooperate remarkably well, and most of the tension stems from Beckett's ill-hidden jealousy of Castle's attention being distracted by the FBI gadgets and his chemistry with the lead profiler.
** Agent Fallon creates a bit more tension in "Setup" when he shows up, but again the NYPD cooperate well with him. [[spoiler: The fact that it's looking increasingly like terrorists have a dirty bomb and are planning to detonate it in New York helps.]]
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Captain Montgomery in "Knockout."]]
* KissOfDistraction: In "Eye Of The Beholder", Castle lays one on Serena to let Beckett and Esposito get away. Subverted when instead they interrupt and arrest Serena. Bonus points of making Beckett jealous.
* LadykillerInLove: As of "Overkill", we can safely place Castle squarely in this category.
* LanternJawOfJustice: No few cops are square-faced manly men. Played with by Castle, who probably has the squarest jaw in the cast and works for justice as well, but is neither a cop nor, truth be told, much of a manly man.
* LastNameBasis: Castle and Beckett. To the point that they only say each other's first name when it's a ''[[YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious really big deal]]''. Same goes for everyone else in the police station.
** Castle, at least, has gradually become a lot more comfortable referring to Beckett by her first name more frequently and casually over the course of the third and fourth seasons. This, not coincidentally, has coincided with a gradual awakening and deepening of his feelings towards her. He uses her first name mostly when he's being serious and affectionate.
** Beckett actually calls Castle by his first name ''less often'' in later seasons as she did in seasons one and two. She invariably uses it as a term of mockery or ridicule.
** Ditto Ryan and Esposito, who only rarely get called "Kevin" or "Javier." That one's probably more about workplace professionalism, though.
** Beckett calls Esposito "Javi" when [[spoiler: he's confronting her about her sniper issues]]. She calls him "Javi" again after [[spoiler:she nearly dies at the bottom of the Hudson River and gets saved by Castle shooting down her seatbelt and the windows in the last second.]]
* TheLawOfConservationOfDetail: In "47 Seconds", the characters are inundated with an overabundance of detail. Trope averted, because while most of it does not reach the viewer, enough irrelevant material appears to give the viewer the sense of information overload.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In "The Late Shaft," Castle lampshades the show's tagline, often seen in the promos,
-->'''Castle''': "We should have a signature line. She's armed, he's dangerous! Or how about 'A new chapter in crime solving.'"
** The end of Season 2:
-->'''Beckett''': "See you in the fall?"\\
'''Castle''': "See you in the fall."
** "The Blue Butterfly"
-->'''Castle:''' "Why am I ''narrating''?"
** In "A Deadly Affair", Castle doesn't appear until well into the first segment of the show. Characters, commenting on his absence, suddenly see... a cardboard standee of him, with the label "coming soon" on the front.
* LetMeGetThisStraight: Quoted almost word for word by Beckett when a psychic comes into the office, claiming to know who is responsible for a murder.
* LighterAndSofter: The show is something of a throwback to the romantic comedy detective genre ala ''{{Moonlighting}}''. For that matter, the first season is considerably darker than the second and third season; several of the perpetrators in the first season had understandable motives, mental and emotional breakdowns, or sympathetic backgrounds.
* LikeAnOldMarriedCouple: This observation has been made about Castle and Beckett.
** Parodied in "A Chill Goes Through Her Veins", in which Castle suggests that they role-play as a married couple (the husband of whom killed the wife) to go through a crime scene. Beckett objects, and in the process they begin arguing like an old married couple about ''being'' a married couple. The guy who owns the apartment they're in even takes note.
-->'''Castle''': Okay. So you and I are married.\\
'''Beckett''': We are not married.\\
'''Castle''': Relax, it's just pretend.\\
'''Beckett''': Well, I don't wanna pretend.\\
'''Castle''': Scared you'll like it?\\
'''Beckett''': Okay. If we're married, ''I'' want a divorce.\\
'''Apartment owner''': Are you two like this all the time?\\
'''Castle''' and '''Becket''': ''[In unison]'' Yes.
** In "Countdown", Beckett and Castle are racing through the streets to reach their destination [[spoiler: where a bomb will explode]] with great urgency... and in the process have an argument about the best route to take as if he were a husband irritating his wife by offering passenger-seat-driver advice
-->'''Beckett''': Don't tell me how to drive!\\
'''Castle''': I'm not ''telling'' you how to drive!\\
'''Beckett''': You ''are'' telling me how to drive!
** They also have the 'so in tune with each other's thoughts they finish each other's sentences' part of the equation, much to the amusement of everyone around them.
** In the episode after Beckett finds out about [[spoiler: Castle poking through her mother's murder]] she is really ticked off. After they're called to investigating a corpse in a tree, the following conversation takes place.
--> '''Lanie:''' Castle, what are ''you'' doing here?\\
'''Beckett:''' Don't worry, we're still mad at him.\\
'''Ryan:''' Guy in a tree, mom and dad bickering. Seems like old times.\\
'''Esposito:''' Mmm-hmm.
** Again, in 'the last nail', when Castle's old friend is the prime suspect in a murder investigation, he and Beckett have a little spat.
--->'''Ryan:''' What's going on?\\
'''Esposito:''' Mom and dad are fighting.\\
'''Ryan:''' ...Who's winning?
* LoanShark: Several murder suspects throughout the series, most of them {{red herring}}s who quickly point out that it's hard to get new customers with that kind of reputation, and even harder to get money from a dead man. Sometimes subverted in that their debtors paid them back in full, often leading to new clues if they were able to get a lot of money in a short time.
* LockedInAFreezer: [[spoiler:Castle and Beckett at the end of "Setup".]]
* LockedInARoom: And [[ChainedHeat handcuffed together]] in "Cuffed". [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in a parallel conversation in which Esposito explains to Ryan that canoeing is often used by women as a relationship test by putting two people together in a small space where there's no escape, allowing them to address issues with their relationships and test their ability to work together.
* LongDistanceRelationship: The prospect of one (he wants to go to Stanford, leaving her behind in New York for her senior year) causes Alexis and Ashley to have many a crisis. [[spoiler: First, she breaks up with him. Then, they get back together with Alexis deciding to graduate early so she can go to Stanford with him. However, when her application to Stanform is rejected, although they try the LongDistanceRelationship route, the time differences and lack of time together ultimately ends with Alexis breaking up with him again.]]
** And ''now'' [[spoiler: Alexis is reconsidering her decision]]...
* {{Lunacy}}: "The Double Down" opens with the station being flooded by crazies on the night of a full moon. And Castle sitting at Beckett's desk with [[PassThePopCorn a bowl of popcorn.]]
* LyingToThePerp: ...and ends by the tried and true "Divide and lie about the other one cracking" method.
** Beckett also lied to a car part fencer to get info out of him in "Setup". Except that it turned out that her bluff was true; the fencer ''had'' actually seen someone there, and assumed it was the "witness" Beckett referred to.
** Interesting twist in "To Love And Die in L.A.": They don't have jurisdiction in Los Angeles. But they can use the actors playing the detectives in the ''Heat Wave'' movie, a prop police car, and a set of an interrogation room to make a perp ''believe'' that they do.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: M-P]]
* MadArtist: Scott Dunn [[spoiler:a serial killer who writes novels based on his murders.]]
* MagicalDatabase:
** Taken to the EXTREME in the "Tick...Tick...Tick...Boom!" two-parter, including a ViewerFriendlyInterface straight out of ''MinorityReport''. But also played with, as only the FBI gets the nice shiny toys, and they take them back after the episode is over.
** Subverted with the missing persons' database, which is just several stacks of old files.
** Also subverted in the pilot when Beckett says that a fingerprint takes weeks to identify. Strangely, played straight in later episodes, especially with fingerprint identification.
** Played straight in the "Pandora"/"Linchpin" two-parter by the CIA. And in "Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind" by... the unnamed agency that hired [[ThatGuy Lyle Lovett]].
* MakeUpOrBreakUp: This is the current situation with [[spoiler: Esposito and Lanie]] as of 'Demons'. They [[spoiler:broke up, except for the occasional booty call.]]
* MaleGaze: Castle very unsubtlely stares at Beckett's butt in the club scene of "Lucky Stiff" and she catches him. He looked at her butt again in "Deep in Death", when she man-handles a perp to the ground wearing just a jacket over her underwear. Of course, [[FemaleGaze Beckett herself]] stared at his earlier in the series in "Wrapped Up in Death."
* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Castle's first ex-wife, Meredith. An ongoing {{deconstruction}} and {{reconstruction}}. Fun-loving and fun to be around, but too scatterbrained to be a good wife ''or'' mother. Castle divorced her after she slept with her producer, but always ends up sleeping with her whenever she's in town. Alexis tries to keep a wide berth, but can't help but blow off tests she's spent days cramming for when she shows up to take her shopping. Castle's verdict: Such people are [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twinkie#Deep-fried_Twinkie Deep-fried twinkies]] -- [[GuiltyPleasure things you know are bad for you but you occasionally partake of anyway just for the sheer joy of it]].
** I wouldn't say Alexis couldn't help it. Her mother was the one who pulled her out of school and she couldn't go back without saying her mother was a liar.
* ManipulativeBastard: 3XK
* ManlyTears: Castle finally cries in "Knockout". It is [[TearJerker heartbreaking]]. Ryan cries a SingleTear [[spoiler:after Montgomery's death]].
* MayDecemberRomance: In "Inventing the Girl", Castle connects with Trina, an attractive young model who's clearly nursing something of a crush on him -- until he realizes that she's actually ''Ka''trina, Alexis' old babysitter (and not that much older than Alexis herself). Everyone accuses him of trying this on when he nevertheless keeps in contact with her; averted when he reveals that he's ''actually'' putting her back in contact with Alexis.
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Debated endlessly in "She's Dead, He's Dead," regarding a psychic--and in particular, a letter she wrote in which she foresaw her death. [[spoiler:Although not ''definitive'' definitive, it leans heavily towards the "Magic" side of the argument.]]
** Again in the conclusion of ''Demons'' when the team investigates a supposedly haunted house. Beckett finds an important lead due to what might be a ContrivedCoincidence or, as Castle suggests, aid from the victim's ghost. There is also no explanation as to why all the previous murders in the house were attributed to demons.
* MeaningfulEcho: At two points in "Knockout" a character informs another character that "you can't hide [someone] from me," with the other character replying "you got that ass-backwards; you can't hide from ''him / me''." The first is Beckett trying to psych out Lockwood about the identity of his employer, with Lockwood turning it back on her; [[spoiler: the second is Captain Montgomery, moments before making his RedemptionEqualsDeath HeroicSacrifice, turning Lockwood's assertion that he can't hide Beckett back on him.]]
** The show will often do this; several episodes have subtle {{Call Back}}s to previous episodes which echo significant moments, often with roles reversed and usually to underscore how the relationships between the characters has evolved since the earlier moment.
* MeddlingParents:
** Castle's mother is constantly telling people things he wishes she wouldn't. Castle has his moments of overprotectiveness with Alexis, too, but after the chewing-out mentioned above, he's gotten a lot better. From "Vampire Weekend," when Alexis asks to go to a party thrown by high school seniors:
--->'''Castle''': This is one of those crossroads moments, isn't it?\\
'''Martha''': Oh, let her go. She's far more responsible than you ever were.
** ''Inverted'' in "Food to Die For", when Alexis is ''hoping'' her dad will intervene on her decision of whether or not to go camping with her friends when she should probably spend the weekend studying. He finally does at the very end. And only because she has to tell him to do so, so that she can tell her friends she really wants to go with them but her father won't let her.
* MexicanStandoff: near the end of "Under the Gun", Beckett, Ryan, and Esposito get into one with three separate people all after the same treasure.
* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: "Kill the Messenger", "Murder Most Fowl", "Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind", "Set Up"[=/=]"Countdown", "Pandora"[=/=]"Linchpin".
* MinoredInAsskicking: Castle, being a civilian, usually leaves the dirty work to his detective friends. But we are occasionally reminded that he is, in fact, a better shot than Beckett.
* MirandaRights: Invoked in an example of LyingToThePerp in "Sucker Punch". Castle and Beckett play on the pervasive Hollywood myth that reading the Miranda rights is somehow required for an arrest to be legal, when in fact it only affects the admissibility of a suspect's statements in court.
* MissingMom: Only in this case, as much as they care about her Castle and Alexis are kind of glad that Meredith isn't permanently around.
* TheMissusAndTheEx: "Pandora" and "Linchpin" introduce Sophia, a member of the CIA, and Castle's previous "muse". Oddly, Castle doesn't seem too bothered about it all. Beckett, however, is, and their conversation is filled with unintentional double entendres about his relationship with Sophia until he flat out asks Beckett if she's jealous they had a relationship.
* MistakenForCheating: The victim in "Suicide Squeeze". His wife eventually learns it's not a girlfriend in Cuba he got killed over...it's ''his daughter''. It's also established that the victim's wife was at one point MistakenForCheating by the victim, when in fact she was upset over his 'cheating'.
* MomentKiller:
** Gina (Castle's ex-wife) in the second season finale. So, ''so'' much. [[spoiler:Beckett is ''just about to tell Castle she loves him'' when Gina shows up and reveals that they "talked on the phone for hours.... just like old times" the night before. At which point Stana Katic breaks every viewer's heart with her expression.]]
** Ryan and Esposito in "Vampire Weekend", with hilarious consequences:
-->'''Ryan''': Are we...interrupting?\\
'''Beckett''' / '''Castle''': *at the same time* No. / Yes.
** In 'Set Up', Castle and Beckett are isolated due to radiation exposure, unsure whether they're sick or not. To change the subject, Beckett about her problems with her boyfriend. In describing what she wants out of a relationship, she pretty much describes her relationship with Castle. As Castle opens his mouth to respond to this, the isolation tent is unzipped and they're told they're fine. Castle clearly reacts with a 'just a minute' hand gesture that he wanted more time.
** In the latter half of season three especially, several warm-and-fuzzy moments between Castle and Beckett have been interrupted in some way or another (in person in "Countdown", by telephone in "One Life To Lose") by Beckett's boyfriend Josh, resulting in an awkward conclusion to the moment.
** "Cops and Robbers": "He's not the only one here, you know." Damnit, Martha!
** "47 Seconds": Esposito tells Castle and Beckett that Gates has called for them all, just before Castle is about to tell Beckett about his feelings. Damnit, Espo!
* MoodDissonance :
** Castle and Beckett seem to be having a warm fuzzy moment at his book launch during "When The Bough Breaks..." when Castle suddenly brings up a thought he had about the current murder they're working on.
** And at the end of "Always Buy Retail"
--> '''Castle''': I saved your life; that means you have to do what I want. And you know what I want. [[spoiler: Never. Call me. Kitten.]]
* MoodWhiplash:
** In "Sucker Punch", Castle does this to try to cheer Beckett up, who's understandably a bit grim as she's [[spoiler: close to finding the man who murdered her mother]].
-->'''Beckett''': What if I let her down?\\
'''Castle''': ''[pauses]'' Do you know why I chose you as my inspiration as Nikki Heat?\\
'''Beckett''': No. Why?\\
'''Castle''': 'Cause you're tall. ''[Beckett breaks into a small grin]'' [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Now go in there and do your job.]]\\
''(Beckett squares her shoulders and walks into the interrogation room)''
** In "He's Dead, She's Dead", the plot seems to be LighterAndSofter than normal as Castle tries to convince Beckett that the murdered woman was indeed a psychic. All seems to be going fine until halfway through the episode, [[spoiler: Chet dies]].
* MotiveRant: Played with in "Hedgefund Homeboys", where Castle was able to read the suspect's motives so well that he did the rant for the perp -- thus getting a confession from him, when the suspect gets caught up enough to confirm the rant with "exactly".
* MrExposition: Subverted in "Food to Die For." Castle tries to talk about topics that happen to get brought up... only to sputter out when he realizes that his audience doesn't care.
* TheMuse: Beckett, to Castle.
* MuseAbuse: Played with; Beckett is not entirely happy at being the inspiration for Nikki Heat, suggests that she has faced a lot of grief because of it and is definitely less-than-impressed at how Heat is "kinda slutty", but seems to accept it over time, and on the whole no one appears to have had any reason to complain about how Castle has depicted the characters based on them in his books so far.
* MysteryWriterDetective: Castle
* MythArc: The murder of Beckett's mother seems to be developing into one.
* NakedInMink: Occurs offscreen in "One Life to Lose" when Peter is describing Mandy's method of "persuasion."
-->'''Peter''': She showed up at my apartment last night. She was wearing a fur coat.
-->'''Beckett''': So?
-->'''Peter''': ''Just'' a fur coat.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in "The Late Shaft" about a suspect, Zach Robinson.
-->'''Castle''': Ooh! Good bad-guy name! Snaky 'Z.' Hard 'K.' Even has 'Rob' in it.
** Subverted, however; while he's a bit of a creep, he turns out to have had nothing to do with the murder.
%%%
%%% Narm goes on the Narm pages, not here.
%%%
* NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead: Beckett never hesitates to call Castle out when he gets too irreverent. See also TreacheryCoverUp.
* NeverSuicide: In "Hedge Fund Homeboys", [[spoiler: the teen who committed suicide was really murdered by another teen, a ''{{Dexter}}'' wannabe who also planned another friend's murder]].
* NewOldFlame:
** Kyra is this for Castle in "A Rose For Everafter".
** Chet is this for Martha throughout the second season [[spoiler:to the point where she moves in with him]]. [[spoiler: As of "He's Dead, She's Dead," he is now dead.]]
** Castle's second wife returns to close the second season, [[spoiler:and they pick back up where they left off.]]
** Beckett has a few too- FBI Agent Sorenson in the first season, ex-cop Royce in the third.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Castle and Beckett in "Setup" when searching for a dirty bomb in van. They found a van in a location they knew the suspected terrorists visited... and go in [[spoiler: alone, instead of getting the hell out and calling the bomb squad and are now locked in a freezing container with the bomb gone.]]
* NobleShoplifter: Alexis is so noble that she pays when her ''friends'' shoplift.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: In "Pretty Dead", [[LaverneAndShirley Michael]] [[ThisIsSpinalTap McKean]] plays Victor Baron, a thinly veiled Donald Trump clone, complete with comb-over.
** "An Embarrassment of Bitches" features a very famous woman with "no discernable talent", that carries a dog with her wherever she goes. A pretty good mashup of Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian, perhaps?
* NoirEpisode: "The Blue Butterfly", at least in the flashbacks.
* NoodleIncident:
** Castle has a tendency to start launching into anecdotes about something that once happened to him ("There was this one time...") only to quickly wrap things up when Beckett glares at him to shut up ("... Story for another time."), usually because they're at the crime scene or in an interrogation and Castle's anecdote is tangential at best.
** Beckett gets one in "Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind" when she refers to the time when she was six and got a Lego stuck up her nose. All Castle can do is look very incredulous and let out a FlatWhat.
** From the pilot episode, when Castle finds Alexis doing homework at a book premier party, he starts recounting a "When I was your age" story, only to conclude with "I can't even tell that story because it's wildly inappropriate."
* TheNotSecret:
** In "Poof, You're Dead", it turns out that everyone already knows about the big secret -- [[spoiler: that Esposito and Lanie are in a relationship]] -- but have just decided to play along to give the secret holders some privacy (and no doubt enjoy watching them squirm [[PullTheThread whenever it's brought up]]).
** In "'Til Death Do Us Part", when Castle, Beckett and Esposito are trying to tell Ryan that Jenny had slept with a pick-up artist a month after they started dating, he nonchalantly reveals that he knew all along and wasn't bothered because they hadn't been exclusive at the time.
* NotSoDifferent:
** "There are two kinds of folk who sit around and think of ways to kill people -- psychopaths and mystery writers..." In "Boom!" it's explicitly noted that both Castle and the killer 'kill people for a living' and share certain similarities -- except Castle only does it in his books. [[spoiler: Then it's revealed that the killer is an amateur writer who distances himself from his crimes by writing them up as fictionalized manuscripts.]]
** Castle gets another one in "3XK" when he has an AwesomeByAnalysis-off with a serial killer.
** A slightly more friendly one happens in "Heroes & Villains": one of the suspects is a woman officer called Hastings who joined the police force after her father was killed in his shop by a junkie, and later became a vigilante called Lone Vengeance. Beckett interrogates her, and Hastings states she holds Beckett as a role model and professes that Beckett is not so different when compared with her, because both of them joined the academy in order to solve a parent's assassination. [[HypocriticalHumor Beckett tells her to stop letting the past define her. Fandom hopes she will listen to her own advice.]]
** Another example in "Kill Shot" takes place between [[spoiler:Beckett and the sniper]]
--> [[spoiler: '''Beckett''']]: If you're gonna shoot me, you look at me in the eyes. Okay? And you look hard. Because I am not your enemy, I can't be. ''You and I have too much in common.''
* NotWhatItLooksLike: Okay, it's exactly what it looks like. But [[ICanExplain he can explain]]...
* NotWithTheSafetyOnYouWont: The perp in the pilot holds Castle hostage, but with a safety'd gun, allowing NathanFillion to subvert PutDownYourGunAndStepAway in yet ''another'' badass way.
* ObfuscatingDisability: In "Under the Gun", one of their suspects is an aging ex-con who needs a walker to get around... until he has to get away, at which point he ditches the walker and makes a run for it.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: In "Home is Where the Heart Stops," Beckett offers Castle access to some evidence, but only if he can get a bulls-eye at the shooting range after already having seen him miss badly three times. Castle plugs all three of his next shots through the 10-ring. Also: GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
-->'''Castle:''' Wow! Shot too soon.\\
'''Beckett:''' Ah well. You know we could always just cuddle, Castle.
* OscarBait: Alluded to in "One Life To Lose"; one of the soap actors has been cast in a Coen Brothers movie "as Matt Damon's half-wit Dad; role of a lifetime, has nominations written all over it."
* OddCouple:
** Castle and Beckett, of course.
** Esposito and Ryan also have a bit of an 'Odd Couple' vibe going on as well; Esposito appears to be more fastidious, athletic and suave, whereas Ryan seems ever-so-slightly slovenly, dorky and clumsy, Esposito's a bit of a lady's man where Ryan is in a relationship and is 'whipped', etc.
* OfficialCouple: Castle and Beckett. We're still waiting, but it's only a matter of time. To the extent that in interviews, the actors have pretty much admitted that yeah, they'll get together eventually -- the fun part is in watching ''how''.
* OldShame: In the pilot, one of the first things that clues Castle into the fact that things aren't what they seem with the copycat killings and gets him interested in solving the mystery is that the killer is staging them based off his self-described 'lesser works'. In a later episode, it comes out that Beckett was a teen model. She is not happy to see a picture of her from then floating around the precinct.
* {{Omniglot}}: When the cast was running after a couple of suspects in Chinatown, Castle revealed that he could speak Chinese, apparently fluidly, as he talks to a pair of terrified bystanders. When asked, [[{{Firefly}} he claims to have learned it]] [[ShoutOut from a TV show]]. Most examples of the trope know more than one other language, but under the circumstances...
* OnceMoreWithClarity:
** Done in the season three premiere.
** Also in "Setup"
* OneSceneWonder: Several witnesses, suspects, and other minor characters have their moments.
** There's a GenreSavvy SmugSnake suspect in "Knockdown."
** A carpenter with an Eastern European accent that [[GotMeDoingIt gets Beckett to accidentally mimic his accent]].
** Ashley, Alexis' boyfriend, is accidentally [[TwerpSweating Twerp Sweated]] by Castle in what was, for a while, his only on-screen appearance.
* [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Woman]]: Between Castle, Esposito and Ryan, Beckett looks like the most serious person on the series. Alternatively, Alexis Castle. Despite being around 15 at the start of the series.
* OntologicalMystery / YouWakeUpInARoom: In "Cuffed", Beckett and Castle wake up together in a bed handcuffed to each other with no idea how they got there.
* [[OohMeAccentsSlipping Ooh Me Accent's Slipping]]:
** Both lead actors have occasional moments of Canadianness
** Johnny Vong from "Sucker Punch" is an InUniverse example, upon hearing that Jack Coonan was killed.
** Hans von Manschaft, a stripper,in "Almost Famous". He immediately drops the accent when he hears his rival has been murdered
* OpenMindedParent: Of the three generations in the Castle household, the fifteen-year old Alexis is far and away the most responsible. (In fairness, Castle ''is'' a responsible parent; it's just that he's completely irresponsible about everything ''else''.) And in "Home is Where the Heart Stops," Castle explains that his ex, Alexis's mother, is ''even worse''.
-->'''Castle:''' "Sad, isn't it?"
* OpeningNarration:
** "There are two kinds of folk who sit around and think about how to kill people -- psychopaths and mystery writers. I'm the kind that pays better."
** As of early Season 3, the narration is MIA, as is the opening theme song (the opening credits are simply overlaid onto the scenes immediately after the first commercial break.)
* OrSoIHeard:
** In "Inventing the Girl:"
---> '''Beckett''': "Nobody got murdered in {{Showgirls}}. ''[A {{beat}}]'' I hear."
** In "Nikki Heat," Alexis [[RunningGag repeatedly]] discusses certain qualities of schlock horror movies, and after Castle eyes her, follows up each statement with, "[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial ...if I'd seen it, which I haven't.]]"
** Appears again in "One Life To Lose," where Beckett denies being a faithful watcher of ''Temptation Lane'', the soap where the murder of the week happened. Also played with since Castle shows an equal knowledge (if not fandom) of soap operas and yet there are no jokes about a guy liking or watching soap operas.
** "Dial M For Mayor", when a sex-line call girl explains to them that it's not just about sex, Castle immedciately says "It's therapy"...then quickly adds "...or...so I've...been told."
* OverprotectiveDad: Castle, though Alexis usually shuts him down before it goes too far.
* PairTheSpares:
** In "Poof! You're Dead" we are given [[spoiler:Lanie/Esposito]] pretty much out of left field. Unless you had read ''Naked Heat'' beforehand, in which [[spoiler:Nikki observes Lauren and Ochoa getting into a cab together.]]
** Also happens to Castle and Beckett's dates at a restaurant when the two get too wrapped up in solving a murder in "The Third Man".
* ParentalSubstitute: Castle asks Beckett to be this to Alexis, if anything should ever happen to him (he got paranoid about being under a Mayan curse).
* PassThePopcorn:
** "Double Down" starts with Castle eating popcorn and watching people around the precinct.
** Castle likes this trope: from "One Man's Treasure":
--->'''Castle''': A wife-and-fiancee catfight? ''Please'' tell me we can stop for popcorn on the way!
** Also from "The Mistress Always Spanks Twice", referring to a suspect:
--->'''Castle''': "Sam-I-Am...in a box...with a fox? We're so gonna need some popcorn."
* PhantomThief: Falco, the art thief. [[spoiler: Also Serena used to be one.]]
** Powell, a retired jewel thief that Castle consulted for a novel.
* PlatonicProstitution: In "Hell Hath No Fury", Castle hires a HighClassCallGirl the victim consorted with solely because it's an easier way of finding her than the police department's time consuming method of tracking her via her offshore based website.
* PointyHairedBoss: Captain Gates is shaping up to be a mild one of these; she does seem to be okay at her job, but her relationships with the main characters are not exactly cordial, and she tends to dismiss Castle's contributions -- however valid -- out of hand simply because he's the one giving them. More recently, she's begun to take Castle's contributions more seriously as long as he's not being wacky about it. But conversely, she's also been pushing for Beckett to try to grow beyond relying on Castle.
* PoolScene: In "To Love And Die in L.A.", including [[FanService Beckett in a clingy swimsuit getting out of a pool in slow motion]]. Justified in that she's trying to catch the eye of a suspect.
* PoorMansSubstitute: Played with in "Nikki Heat" when Natalie Rhodes implies that for Castle, writing about Nikki Heat is the poor man's substitute of being in a relationship with Beckett. She even goes so far as to call his writing "verbal masturbation."
* PortmanteauCoupleName: "Esplanie" for Esposito and Lanie, mentioned on-screen in "One Life To Lose."[[invoked]]
* ThePowerOfActing:
** Natalie Rhodes.
** Also used in "Poof! You're Dead" though with stage magic rather than acting.
** Used again in "One Life To Lose."
* ThePowerOfLegacy: Beckett decides to do this for [[spoiler:Captain Montgomery]], and the rest of the cast agrees.
* [[PrecisionFStrike Precision B Strike]]: First Alexis, then Castle, call one of Alexis's friends a "Bitch" when she reveals her AlphaBitch credentials.
* PregnantHostage: Played with. In a bank robbery, there ''is'' a pregnant hostage, but she doesn't go into labor or have health problems. She ''is'', however, the one of the first people the police bargain to get out, and Castle [[spoiler:uses her as an excuse to fetch a pillow located near a window, where he can signal Beckett.)]]
* PreviouslyOn:
** After the OpeningNarration was killed close to the beginning of Season 3, one of these was used in "Knockdown", with clips from "A Death in the Family" and "Sucker Punch"...the other two Castle eps which dwell heavily on Beckett's mother's murder.
** Similarly, "To Love and Die in L.A." features one which is exclusively clips from "Under the Gun", the episode with Beckett's old partner Mike Royce. [[spoiler:He's dead within a minute of the montage.]]
** The Season Four premier episode had one, surprisingly, and did a recap of the season three finale [[spoiler:to lead as an opener for why Beckett is being gurneyed down a hospital wing.]]
* ProductPlacement: Microsoft products are featured prominently in "Kill Shot." Hulu even had a video dedicated entirely to the product placement.
* {{Protectorate}}: Castle is sometimes a HeroicNeutral, but can be talked into helping by the words "what if it was Alexis in {that situation}?"
** During a nuclear threat, he tries to gets her and his mother to go away from town.
** This tendency actually provokes him into freeing a ''tiger'' from the other side of a wall [[spoiler: mistakenly thinking that the criminals are slave trading]].
* PutDownYourGunAndStepAway:
** Subverted in the pilot: Castle's the hostage, but he's able to break free, ''and'' get the perp's gun. "Tell me you ''saw'' that!" Also, see above.
** In season two Castle gets stuck in the same position and decides to headbutt the hostage taker instead, [[spoiler: who is then shot by Beckett]].
** It actually works for once in "Linchpin", when a suspected [[spoiler:CIA [[TheMole mole]] takes a hostage and backs into an elevator. Turns out he's not the mole.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Q-T]]
* QuipToBlack: Castle, on a regular basis. Nobody else is amused. Beckett also gets to play sometimes.
* {{Qurac}}: Played with in the second season finale. Beckett swallows the existence of a threat to the Banking Minister of the Republic of Luvania even though she had never heard of the country before, until Castle points out that it doesn't exist.
* RaceAgainstTheClock: As the title indicates this happens in "Countdown". [[spoiler: Partially subverted since the clock actually reaches 0, but Castle still manages to prevent the bomb from blowing up.]]
* RealLifeRelative: Seamus Dever (Ryan)'s wife Juliana has a recurring role as Jenny, Ryan's girlfriend [[spoiler:and later, fiancée]].
** The cast and crew have utilized it to very cute and very meta ends--such as creating a wedding website for Jenny and Ryan with the Devers' pictures.
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: In Seamus Dever's Episode Commentary for "Wrapped Up In Death", he says he broke his ankle three weeks before taping, encouraging the viewer to see how well he hides his limp. In the climax, the perp runs right past Ryan and Esposito, but instead of chasing after him, they just wave at him (the better to hide Dever's injury).
* ReallyGetsAround: When Castle's mother says that he "never had a father figure", his reply is that he had dozens of them. Castle himself has a lot of female groupies. Lampshaded by Esposito in "Suicide Squeeze" when he jokingly comments on how active Martha probably was during the 1970s. Probably a mistake to say this directly to Castle, however, who is less-than-amused.
* {{Recycled IN SPACE}}: [[MurderSheWrote Jessica Fletcher]] [[AC: as a hot middle-aged guy!]] Alternatively, ''MurderSheWrote'' [[XMeetsY meets]] ''{{Moonlighting}}'' and/or ''Series/RemingtonSteele''. Except that, unlike in ''MurderSheWrote'', [[WMG/MurderSheWrote Castle isn't the killer]]. Or ''TheThinMan'', only they're not married ([[{{UST}} yet]]) and she's the detective.
* RedHerring: {{Lampshaded}}.
** One of the biggest happens in "Pandora"[=/=]"Linchpin". [[spoiler:It happens twice: the two times they think they have found TheMole, it turns out that they are [[RedHerring Red Herrings]] laid out by the real mole, Sophia Turner.]]
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Montgomery was the officer with [=McCallister=] and Raglan at the initial incident that led to Beckett's mother's murder. He dies killing Lockwood and his cronies.]]
* RemonstratingWithAGun: Castle in the season 3 premiere.
* {{Retirony}}: [[spoiler:At the end of "Pretty Dead", Captain Montgomery's anniversary gift to his wife is his intention to retire from the force. Although it's waved off as typical Montgomery talk ("He retires every six months", Beckett says), he's dead by the end of the next ep, "Knockout".]]
* TheReveal: Castle's real name is finally dropped in "He's Dead, She's Dead". It's [[spoiler: Richard Alexander Rodgers,]] which is incredibly amusing considering the daughter of a murdered psychic told Beckett that a man named [[spoiler: Alexander]] [[{{Foreshadowing}} would be very important to her...]]
* RevealingCoverup: The most common way Castle and Beckett figure out whodunit.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The plot of "The Late Shaft" has a lot of similarities to the Jay Leno[=/=]ConanOBrien ''TheTonightShow'' controversy, as well as elements of DavidLetterman's recent affair scandal.
* RomanticFalseLead:
** Two of them, each a date brought by Castle and Beckett to the same restaurant unawares. It lasts for all of 30 seconds before they're both making excuses to conspire about the case. Also a case of PairTheSpares because Beckett's date starts talking to Castle's date as Beckett and Castle leave the restaurant.
** Detective Tom Demming appears to be shaping up to be one of these for Castle, regarding their mutual interest in Beckett. [[spoiler: He certainly provided a rude awakening for the GenreSavvy shippers who noted his tendencies and [[DieForOurShip pegged him as the killer]] because he was the first one not of the main cast to talk to one of the main cast, and because he had connections to the victim. He wasn't.]]
** As of "Overkill", [[spoiler: he is definitely the RomanticFalseLead. Everyone fire up your computers; it's time for DieForOurShip]]. Alexis even does some LeaningOnTheFourthWall at the beginning of the episode, when Castle asks her to criticize a portion of his next Nikki Heat book, which, in case you've forgotten, is loosely based on what he does with Beckett.
--->'''Alexis:''' [[LampshadeHanging Who's this new guy? It seems like he came out of nowhere.]]\\
'''Castle:''' He ''did'', didn't he?
** In the third season, Gina and Josh take these roles for Castle and Beckett respectively, but were mostly TheFaceless throughout the first half of the series. [[spoiler: After "Poof You're Dead", Gina is out of the picture. And in the first half of "Rise", the fourth season opener, Josh is too.]])
* RoomFullOfCrazy
* RuleOfFunny: In "Heartbreak Hotel," Castle, Esposito, and Ryan get thrown out of an Atlantic City hotel because they're out of their jurisdiction. Do they call the Atlantic City PD for help? No, they sneak in by ''dressing up in Elvis costumes''. And it's hilarious.
* RunningGag:
** Very frequently will someone catch Beckett and Castle in a highly {{UST}}-charged relationship moment or situation and / or will allude to them being [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend in a relationship]], prompting Beckett and Castle to respond unanimously -- with completely different responses (usually with Beckett hotly denying it and Castle cheerfully confirming it). Often something along these lines:
-->'''Ryan''': Are we interrupting something?\\
'''Beckett''': [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend No!]]\\
'''Castle''': ''[At the same time]'' [[GenreSavvy Yes!]]\\
''[Beckett {{Death Glare}}s Castle]''\\
'''Ryan''': ... Okay.
** In the first couple of seasons, whenever Castle mentioned who he was and his previous character, Derrick Storm (who was killed off in his most recent book before meeting Beckett), the person he's talking to would immediately enthuse "Derrick Storm? I love that guy! Why'd you kill him?"
** Castle's GrammarNazi tendencies and minor BerserkButton over people misusing {{Irony}}.
** Castle and Beckett completing each other's sentences, usually leading to a breakthrough in the case.
* TheSadisticChoice: [[spoiler: Lockwood comes to Captain Montgomery and demands that he lure Beckett into a trap so they can kill her or else he'll kill Montgomery's family. Being a noble and great man, he TakesAThirdOption, sacrificing himself to kill Lockwood and his crew.]]
* SafeWord: Castle's is 'apples', as he repeatedly mentions to Beckett.
* SaltAndPepper: Ryan and Esposito. Beckett and Parrish.
* SamusIsAGirl: [[spoiler: the (original) Lone Vengeance. ]]
* SayingTooMuch: In the pilot the brother of one of the victims, when questioned for an alibi, helpfully provides alibis for all three of the murders. While Castle is downhearted, Beckett immediately pegs that while it's plausible he'd know his alibi for his sister's murder, the fact that he was instantly prepared for one for ''all three murders'' is more than a wee bit suspicious. [[spoiler: Yep, he did it.]]
* ScaryBlackMan: In Law and Murder
* ScaryMinoritySuspect: Several. Usually WronglyAccused.
* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl:
** In "The Third Man", [[spoiler: Castle does one when he opens a refrigerator and an unexpected body falls out. Surprisingly, no one calls him out on it.]] Presumably a second occurrence happened just offscreen in that episode, as Castle was menaced by a big hairy spider.
** Also he does a small one in "Tick, Tick, Tick...", when [[spoiler: Beckett opens the door for him with a gun in her hand, thinking it´s the killer. ]]
** Parodied in the [[HilariousOuttakes outtakes]] when Stana opens a file and Nathan glances over at the picture before letting out a high-pitched, girly scream that startles the woman standing next to him and causes the rest of the set to crack up.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections:
** A non-villainous example would be Castle himself, who has the mayor on speed dial and can thus convince the NYPD to let him shadow Kate around indefinitely.
*** Captain Montgomery ultimately subverts this. He later reveals to Beckett that he could have gotten rid of Castle at any time ("The mayor doesn't run this place, I do"), but only kept him around because he thought it would be good for her.
*** Also subverted by the fact that the mayor is not merely doing Castle a favor, but is using his fame as a bestselling author to improve the police's reputation... as well as his [[SlaveToPR chances to get reelected]]
** Castle does the same thing when he learns that the fingerprints normally take a week to process and also to learn if a dead body is a CIA agent.
** By the second season, the NYPD has basically said "screw the rules, you're actually incredibly helpful," and after resolving that rather uncomfortable tension with Beckett in "Deep In Death," the two are getting along fine, though they still exchange plenty of wit and snark. So now Castle just keeps helping with the cases, ostensibly still under the guise of novel research, but more because both he and the NYPD like having him around. As of S2 E5, 'When the Bough Breaks', he's on contract to write three more Nikki Heat books, meaning he's still fulfilling his original purpose.
** In "The Third Man", Beckett does this to get into a high-end New York restaurant, surprising Castle, who didn't expect she had those kinds of connections. (He, of course, has plenty.)
** In "Den of Thieves", Montgomery pulls a few strings to expedite a police report that could reveal a mole in a mob investigation from another precinct (which Esposito used to cover.)
** Also, in "Kill the Messenger", Montgomery pulls more strings to smoke out a corrupted prison guard. Later subverted when a rich suspect threatens to call the police commissioner, Montgomery replies "Tell him I said hi. [[RefugeinAudacity And that I could use a raise.]]"
** In "Setup", Castle offhandedly mentions that he's friends with the state governor in order to prevent Agent Fallon from kicking him off the case. [[spoiler: Later subverted; when Fallon eventually ''does'' kick Castle (and Beckett) off the case he comments that he's asked the governor about Castle -- and the governor's never even heard of him.]]
** In "Rise", Castle uses this again on Captain Gates, [[spoiler: Montgomery's successor. Raising the question of whether Montgomery could indeed have gotten rid of Castle if he wanted to or not.]]
*** Though it could also be [[spoiler:Gates would rather keep her position by kowtowing to the mayor than lose it by doing something technically within her power, but...]]
* SecondLove: Beckett for Castle. His first real love was Kyra Blaine, introduced in "A Rose For Everafter." It's entirely possible there's some more out there, as we don't know who else he dedicated his books to (not to mention his two ex-wives).
** He gets another before-Beckett love in Sophia Turner in "Pandora" and "Linchpin". Too bad she's never really left her FirstLove: [[spoiler:The USSR.]]
* SecretKeeper: In season 4 "Cops and Robbers" [[spoiler:a priest plays SecretKeeper to the exact location of an abused wife who faked her and her son's death to hide from the powerful, and connected husband. Thankfully, the priest was more than willing to tell Kate and Castle the location of the two when he learns the abusive father has learned of them.]]
* SelfInsertFic: What Castle essentially turns his narration of the Blue Butterfly case into, as he visualises what the detective wrote, but overwrote relevant persons with himself and his friends. He even tries to get Ryan to say "Boyo" a few times (Ryan plays the role of an Irish thug in the narration), and flubs his narration and accidentally says Kate's name in place of Vera's (the detective's LoveInterest).
* SerialKillingsSpecificTarget: In the pilot, the killer [[spoiler: murders his sister for her money, then stages the murder to look like something out of one of Castle's books and commits two similar murders so it'll look like one of her clients — who's obsessed with the books — did it.]]
* SeriousBusiness: In "A Deadly Affair" the entire precinct seems pissed off that Castle didn't call them at all during the Summer off -- Esposito said he should've [[spoiler: let Ryan shoot him when they caught Castle in a murder victim's apartment or at least locked him up out of spite because of it. Montgomery offers to do just that.]]
** It's less that he didn't call them and more that he didn't call Beckett, who was hurt by it.
* SexWithTheEx: Castle sleeps with his first ex-wife when she rolls into town for a short time. He compares it to a guilty pleasure. More seriously he re-kindles a romance with his second ex-wife when he thinks Beckett is serious with Demming.
* SharpDressedMan: Castle has some ''really'' nice suits. Ryan also has a penchant for wearing three-piece suits to work.
* SheCleansUpNicely:
** Beckett in "Home Is Where The Heart Stops" ''and'' in "When The Bough Breaks." Said literally to her, too.
** And "The Third Man", of course.
** "The Final Nail" club scene.
* [[HesBack She Is Back]]: in "Rise", after having suffered a HeroicBSOD when [[spoiler:a suspect pointed a gun at her]], Beckett has to face the actual killer, who [[spoiler:is pointing a shotgun at her]]. She seems to be on the throes of a BSOD again, but Castle talks to her and she manages to pull through.
* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend:
** Brought to a head in "The Third Man" thanks to a newspaper article saying they're romantically involved.
** "Kill the Messenger." Goes approximately like this:
--->'''Beckett''': No.\\
'''Castle''': ''[Simultaneously]'' Not yet.\\
'''Beckett''': *[[DeathGlare glare]]*
** Comes up again in "Cops and Robbers," this time said word for word.
* SherlockScan: Castle pulls this on Beckett in the pilot, as a sort of attempted LetsGetDangerous moment to prove that he can actually help. It's played with in that Castle realizes as he's doing it that he's hurting Beckett and digging up painful memories for her, and apologetically stops without taking any satisfaction in being correct.
* {{Shipping}}: Beckett gives a dictionary definition InUniverse of this in "One Life to Lose" along with the {{Portmanteau Couple Name}} of "Fox Can." The first suspect was also suffering a bad case of {{Die For Our Ship}} for "Can Fonso."
** In the same episode, Castle works out the {{Portmanteau Couple Name}} for Esposito and Lanie, "Esplanie". "Which is perfect, because they're always esplaining things!" Shippers for these two have used the term ever since.
* ShipTease: The entire point of the scene where [[ItWasHisSled Castle and Beckett kiss]] in "Knockdown". Well, that and [[spoiler:to have a guard let down his guard long enough for Beckett to pwn him.]]
** Find an episode that doesn't tease Castle and Beckett. Go ahead. We'll wait.
** Possibly the most blatant ShipTease so far was Ryan's wedding, where the show closes with Castle and Beckett walking down the aisle, hand in hand.
** "Embarrassment Of Bitches" unexpectedly teases Esposito and Kay Capuccio.
* ShipperOnDeck: Lanie is the most obvious, but close behind her are Ryan, Esposito, Alexis, Martha, Montgomery...hell, it'd be easier to list who ''doesn't'' ship Castle and Beckett during the course of the show. Such as Gates. Notably, however, [[NewOldFlame Kyra Blaine]], Castle's first love, is ''also'' this. She pretty much explicitly gives Beckett her permission-slash-blessing!
** And then, when beta (or gamma) offscreen couple [[spoiler:Esplanie]] is revealed, everyone else is fully in favor.
* ShoutOut:
** A great many (some mentioned above) to several of the actors' previous works. See the ActorAllusions entry under Trivia for more details.
%%% ActorAllusions (anything involving references to, for example, Nathan Fillion's role as Mal) should be posted to the Trivia page.
** A couple to AlfredHitchcock. The plot of "Double Down" is based on Hitchcock's ''Strangers on a Train'', with both the film and the novel getting a mention. In "Tick, Tick, Tick," taxidermy is referred to as Norman Bates' favorite pastime.
** "Little Girl Lost". Castle is asked why, with twenty-six bestsellers, he feels the need to shadow a cop. He points out that the ones on TV [[CSIMiami seem oddly fixated on their sunglasses]].
** When asked what they call perps, some of the names that the officers answer with are [[TheDarkCrystal Skeksis]] and [[Series/LandOfTheLost Sleestak]].
** In "Ghosts", they mention an old oil tanker bombing that crippled the captain. Who was the captain? Why, one [[StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Captain Pike]].
** In "Deep In Death", Beckett discusses how she sometimes visits Little Odessa (Brighton Beach, Brooklyn). When she was Hana Gitelman on ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', she tended to be in Odessa, Texas.
** From the same episode, Castle grants Alexis permission to see ''{{Fame}}'' with her boyfriend "but I have dibs on ''AChristmasCarol''." Alexis' actor, Molly Quinn, did voicework for the film.
** In the season 2 premiere, Castle asks the coroner if she wants some music, because she's [[spoiler: taking a fingerprint from the inside of a glove]] and he says that in ''{{CSI}}'' they do it to music.
** Anyone who follows NathanFillion on Twitter probably squealed with pleasure when in "The Double Down", he slipped in his catch phrase "Bam, said the lady", and again when he made the puntacular offshoot "Blam, said the lady" in "Last Call".
** "Vampire Weekend" is full of [[Trivia/{{Castle}} Actor Allusions]]. Check that page for a list.
*** Castle references ''Film/{{Underworld}}'' when talking about the body.
*** The episode itself is named after a popular indie rock band.
** In "A Rose For Everafter," the name of Castle's NewOldFlame is a ShoutOut to ''{{Casablanca}}'' (Kyra '''Blaine'''), as are the resolution of the [[LoveTriangle Love Quadrangle]] and this quote:
---> '''Kyra''': Out of all the murders at all the weddings in all the cities in the world, you walk into mine.
** Quite a few to ''{{Casablanca}}'', actually. In one episode, Castle is considering starting up his own bar, and trying to think up a name. His mother suggests "Rick's Cafe Americain". Castle says "That's much better than my idea: [[IncrediblyLamePun 'Castle-blanca']]"
** In "Den of Thieves", upon walking on Castle's poker lesson for Alexis, Castle's mom references ''{{Casablanca}}'' with a [[HypocriticalHumor similar joke]]:
--->'''Martha:''' "I am shocked, shocked, to find gambling going on in this establishment! ''[Pause]'' Deal me in."
** In "The Third Man" Esposito asks Castle and Beckett "why are you so obsessed with some motherfreaking snakes on a motherfreaking plane." [[SnakesonaPlane Sound familiar?]]
** Though probably not a shout-out per se, the baseball-themed episode "Suicide Squeeze" was written by Jose Molina...which happens to also be the name of a baseball player who most recently played for the New York Yankees.
** In "Wrapped Up in Death", Castle finds a familiar looking [[IndianaJones brown fedora and whip]], donning the fedora as he examines a sarcophagus. The episode title itself sounds like yet another murder mystery/bestseller reference, this time to the "InDeath" series by J.D. Robb.
** Three ScoobyDoo references: Castle compared Beckett to Daphne and tells the villain "This is the part where you say 'And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for YouMeddlingKids!" and Beckett said the infamous "Ruh roh" towards the end of the episode after they find the killer.
** You might notice a certain [[ConanOBrien red hair talkshow host's]] Dwight Eisenhower mug in "The Late Shaft".
** When Castle mentions a gun that shoots ice bullets, he's likely referring to a Dan Brown novel that involves this (at least in the first act).
** BreakingBad gets a shout-out in "A Deadly Affair," mentioned as "that cable show" about a high school chemistry teacher cooking meth, thought to be mirrored by the current case. The same episode gets a shoutout to TheManWithTheGoldenGun with Castle in the hall of mirrors in a pistol fight.
** Castle gets to slip in a Double Rainbow reference while grilling Beckett over her lack of belief in psychics in "He's Dead, She's Dead".
** It also makes references to the following famous time-travel works: TheTimeMachine, BackToTheFuture, and TimeAndAgain.
** Castle has a custom ringtone for calls from Beckett -- an OminousPipeOrgan; he likes to say "[[ISeeDeadPeople I Hear Dead People]]" whenever it sounds.
** "Anatomy of a Murder" has plenty of pretty blatant {{Shout Out}}s to ''GreysAnatomy.'' It's also the title of a court drama movie starring Jimmy Stewart.
** In "Famous Last Words," the murder victim led a band called [[Literature/AliceInWonderland Blue Pill]].
** The same episode also contains a [[JerseyShore Jersey Shore]] reference where the names Sammy, Ronnie and Pauly are mentioned by a rather fake-tanned woman with a poof...
** "Strange Encounters of the Murderous Kind" was one long [[XFiles The X-Files]] reference, complete with Castle as an AgentMulder referring to Beckett as AgentScully. Castle even whistles the theme tune at the crime scene.
** Two suspects in "Countdown" are named [[TwentyFour Evan Bauer and Jack Cochran]]. In addition to the obvious reference, Robert Cochran and Evan Katz helped write, create, and produce the series.
** In ''Pretty Dead,'' Beckett recalls that her beauty-pageant-contestant roommate made their apartment into their "own personal Vietnam." Castle responds with [[ApocalypseNow "I love the smell of hairspray in the morning. It smells like... victory."]]
** "Heroes and Villains" is full of {{Shout Out}}s to comic-books including SpiderMan, IronMan, {{Daredevil}}, and {{Deadpool}}, as well as a ''GameOfThrones'' reference. And {{Shakespeare}}.
** "Demons" has Castle pleading with Beckett to say it -- she [[{{Ghostbusters}} "ain't afraid of no ghost"]].
*** [[spoiler: The murderer in "Demons" also played a major demon on {{Supernatural}}...coincidence?]]
** In "Cops and Robbers" the robbers use the aliases [[DoogieHowserMD Dr. Howser]], [[DrQuinnMedicineWoman Dr. Quinn]], [[TheCosbyShow Dr. Huxtable]], and [[{{MASH}} Trapper John]]. There's also a mention of Film/DieHard, [[Series/{{House}} Dr. House]], [[Series/{{Lost}} Dr. Shephard]], and DrPhil.
** In "The Blue Butterfly", besides the general Noir style, Castle makes an explicit reference at the end, calling the titular Blue Butterfly [[TheMalteseFalcon "the stuff that dreams are made of"]]. This also references the fact that [[spoiler: the butterfly is a fake]].
** In "Once Upon a Crime", an episode about fairy tale-related crime, Beckett asks Esposito to look into a victim's bank account. He responds with, [[ThePrincessBride "As you wish"]].
** In the episode "Eye of the Beholder" there's a thief named Serena Kaye, a reference to Cat Woman aka Selina Kyle
** From the other direction: sister ABC show "Missing" featured a former CIA agent who became a successful writer of spy thrillers in the episode "Tell Me No Lies". [[http://castletv.net/richard-castle-cameo-in-missing/12782 One of the characters tacks a glance at the back cover, which has a recommendation quote by Richard Castle]]. Apparently, he's a fan.
* ShowWithinaShow:
** "The Late Shaft" - Bobby Mann Live is a mashup of the Letterman/Leno/Fallon late night TV shows, where the host Bobby Mann (played by Tom Bergeron) is the Victim of the Week
** "One Life to Lose" - Temptation Lane is a shoutout to daytime soaps.
* ShowerScene: Beckett gets one in Tick Tick Tick. The scene has many variants of the trope; the shower silhouette, the in-shower cam, the leg washing, the stepping into a towel, etc. [[IncrediblyLamePun It gets hot.]]
* ShownTheirWork:
** Castle researches the material in his books before he writes them so as to present an accurate depiction of the subject matter. However that doesn't stop him from taking ArtisticLicense with [[HollywoodVoodoo certain subjects]].
** In one episode, a killer was said to have been synthesizing [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RDX cyclonite (AKA RDX)]] from formaldehyde. While formaldehyde is not a directly used in the synthesis, it is used to manufacture of the reagents used in synthesis. A sort of pre-precursor if you will. It was pleasantly surprising that the writers bothered to give a plausible method.
** In "Wrapped Up In Death", the producers used a bio lab tech to show that they know what Carbon-14 dating is ([[Series/{{CSI}} unlike some other shows]]), and why it would work on mummies...and why it wouldn't work with the mummy in question. [[spoiler:It's only a 4-month-old mummy.]]
** In "The Late Shaft," Lanie gets a chance to explain MAO Inhibitors, and that you shouldn't take anything fermented with it (especially not balsamic vinegar).
** In the season 2 finale, a bullet fragment is said to have been fired through a polygonal rifled barrel, such as those found in Glocks. Not only would it actually be possible to discern that from a bullet fragment, Glocks actually are one of the most common handguns to use polygonal rifling.
** In "Punked" the writers managed to accurately portray SteamPunk, actually contracting many professional Steampunk costumers for the club scene and having Castle deliver a very accurate summation of the philosophy of the subculture. This was especially rewarding after the DidNotDoTheResearch equivalent in ''NCISLosAngeles''.
** "Last Call" gives us a pretty detailed history of New York during Prohibition, where there were a lot of speakeasies, supposedly because Mayor Jimmy Walker was an opponent of Prohibition.
* SingleTear: [[TheCutie Ryan]] is the only one crying when they meet in "Knockout", [[spoiler: after Captain Montgomery's death.]] A perfect single tear rolls down his face.
* SleepCute: Episode "Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind" Rick Castle and Detective Beckett wake up in her police car after they were taken, interrogated then drugged by mysterious government agents. Later they are asked "Are those hickeys?" "They're from the injectors" he answers.
** And again at the very beginning of "Cuffed", before they realize that they were--yet again--kidnapped and drugged.
* SlutShaming: Beckett is happy to shame the show's resident slut, Castle, who shrugs it off with good grace. See also: UrbanLegendLoveLife.
* SmugSnake:
** The killer, [[spoiler: Scott Dunn]], in "Tick... Tick... Tick... / Boom!" -- he clearly ''wants'' to be a MagnificentBastard and spends most of the multipart episode one step ahead of the police and the FBI, but this is more than balanced out by his tendency towards {{Villainous Breakdown}}s whenever things go against him and his general slimy, arrogant know-it-all demeanour.
** Simmons, the drug lord Beckett brings in to ask about her mother's murderer in "Knockdown". [[spoiler: He actually gets her angry enough to throw him against the interrogation mirror and cracks the hell out of it, not to mention nearly goading Castle to a fistfight.]]
** The little bastard from "Hedge Fund Homeboys". Both Castle and Beckett really, really want to take that punk down.
* SniffSniffNom: In "Murder Most Fowl" Castle finds a feather in the victims pocket, sniffs it, licks it and then declares that it's from a bird of prey. He also concludes that therefore, the man must have been killed by the nefarious [[EpilepticTrees "Falcon Killer"]].
-->'''Castle:''' Struck down by a killer with the speed and cunning of a bird of prey.\\
'''Everyone else:''' (incredulous look)\\
'''Beckett:''' Don't ask.
* SoCalization: In "The Third Man", in Alexis' jealousy over her father's attention, she mentions that her classmate wants him. She then says that she's seventeen, "but she'll be legal in three months!" The age of consent in New York is seventeen.
* SomethingTheyWouldNeverSay:
** "3XK": Castle tells his mother he loves her while being held at gunpoint. Five minutes later, he's rescued.
** Inverted in 'Countdown' -- [[spoiler: Alexis alerts the precinct when her dad was out of contact and didn't leave her a message. Turns out, she was right.]]
* SortingAlgorithmOfMortality: Lampshaded by Ryan to Esposito in "Under The Gun" who comments that because Esposito is snarky and Hispanic, he'll definitely die first. Castle tries to lampshade it but Beckett cuts him off.
* SoundtrackDissonance: In quite a few intros where the camera pans down to a corpse, relatively light music can be heard playing the background. Especially dissonant in the intro to "Home is Where the Heart Stops" with that cheery little pop playing as the camera slowly pans to the body.
* SpecialEditionTitle: "Countdown"'s title sequence is simply the logo, unanimated and tinted blue, to prevent MoodWhiplash.
** "Kick the Ballistics" has the logo in normal colors, but no cheery music, again to prevent whiplash.
** "Demons" has a Halloween special version of the intro, with the piano music played via {{Ominous Pipe Organ}} and wolves howling.
** "Blue Butterfly" has the tune played in sax, jazz style.
* SpecialGuest:
** Joe Torre, a baseball player and manager. Castle is fairly nonchalant, having met Joe before and not being overly interested in the game anyway, but Beckett can barely keep from {{Squee}}ing and immediately rushes off to call her dad to gloat.
** Chef Rocco Dispirito appeared in "Food to Die For" during Castle’s date with Beckett's high school BFF.
* SpitTake: In ''Nikki Heat'', Beckett sprays her coffee in reaction to Natalie's question [[spoiler: "Is Castle gay?"]]
* {{Squee}}: What Beckett tries (and partially succeeds) at holding in when she meets "Joe Frickin' Torre" in "Suicide Squeeze".
---> '''Beckett''': I gotta call my dad! ''[disappears offscreen]''
* StabTheScorpion: A double StabTheScorpion. Beckett and Castle are facing each other, both apparently pointing guns at the other. They fire simultaneously, and both hit a bad guy that was sneaking up to take the other unawares.
* StalkerShrine:
** Castle's obsessive fan in "Flowers For Your Grave" possesses one of these, which goes a long way towards putting the nails in his coffin when it comes to his guilt. [[spoiler: Subverted, in that he actually ''didn't'' do it.]]
** [[strike:Beckett]] Nikki Heat's obsessive fan in "Boom!" has one as well, complete with creepy [[strike:Beckett]] Heat collage and manuscripts about killing [[strike:Beckett]] Heat.
** In "Inventing the Girl" the victim's stalker does ''not'' have one of those, [[spoiler: since he was not an actual obsessive stalker, but just pretending, in order to scare the victim into dropping out of the competition]].
* StartToCorpse:
** Zero in season 1 (the first shot of each episode was the corpse); not too much longer after (with a ''Series/LawAndOrder'' cold open to start each ep)
** Slightly extended in "Wrapped Up in Death," the first Castle episode to show the victim [[strike:shortly before his murder]] actually being murdered by a sawed-off gargoyle head, then cut away to Castle's home antics, then back to the crime scene.
** Extended a bit longer in "The Late Shaft", wherein the opening is Rick Castle going on a late night talk show, then the next morning finding out the host is dead. [[spoiler:In fact, it's ruled natural causes at first, but the host told Castle that someone was trying to kill him the night before, so he insisted Lanie take a look at it.]]
* StealthHiBye:
** "Home is Where The Heart Stops" [[spoiler:Powell pulls one while standing about a foot away from Castle.]] Spoilered not to ruin the awesome.
** In "Fool Me Once", the scary CIA agent does the same.
** In "Knockout", [[spoiler: Castle does this to Beckett on request from Montgomery.]]
* {{Steampunk}}: Castle and Beckett visit a Steampunk club in Season 3's "Punked." And it's ''awesome''.
* StrangersOnATrainPlotMurder: "The Double Down." Both the movie and the original book are referenced. In this case, the strangers were on a boat.
* StuntCasting:
** NewOldFlame Kyra Blaine, played by Alyssa Milano. Oh, and Sophia Turner, played by Jennifer Beal.
** The two-episode arc, ''Tick, Tick, Tick'' and ''Boom'' has ''DesperateHousewives''' Dana Delaney as a federal agent. NathanFillion previously played Delaney's husband on that show.
** "The Late Shaft" features Tom Bergeron, who just happens to host ''DancingWithTheStars'', ''Castle'''s lead-in.
** Averted with Beckett's dad, who's just a regular character actor and even matches the photo shown in passing during the first-season.
** Lyle Lovett as a member of TheMenInBlack in "Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind".
** Adam Baldwin in "Headhunters". The ABC press release prior to the episode made gratuitous mention of his past in Firefly, the beloved but short-lived show with Nathan Fillion. Baldwin also did numerous interviews promoting his one-episode part before the show aired.
* SupportingProtagonist: Despite being the eponymous character, Castle is clearly this to Beckett. Looking at the tropes, ''he'' is the zany sidekick and ''she'' is the hardboiled detective who'd be the star of any other show. And the SherlockHolmes comparisons abound: Castle finds Beckett, realises that she's a brilliant detective, all but attaches himself to her hip and then writes about their adventures in crime-solving.
** However, the show operates on two levels. In addition to crime-fighting, the relentless UST between Castle and Beckett also prompts major character development from Castle. Even as he's the plucky sidekick in the cases, he's the main character in his transformation from playboy to heroic figure.
* SureLetsGoWithThat: Seemingly played straight in one episode where Beckett accuses Castle of messing with her chair while Castle thinks she's talking about him seeing the suspect behind her back. Castle thinks he's in the clear when Beckett shows that she knows about that too.
* SwitchedAtBirth: [[spoiler:The ending to "When the Bough Breaks." And it's a TearJerker.]]
* [[TagAlongActor Tag Along Author]]:
** The premise of the show, with Castle shadowing Beckett for research and inspiration for his Nikki Heat novels.
** Also invoked in-universe with an actual actor when Natalie Rhodes spends a case shadowing Beckett.
** Invoked again, when writer Alex Conrad (Castle's protege) starts meeting with Beckett in "The Dead Pool".
** And yet ''again'', in "Heroes and Villains", when Paul Whittaker turns out to be a journalist shadowing costumed superhero Lone Vengeance. [[spoiler:Except that he's also her lover.]]
** Averted in "Ghosts". Ghostwriter Lee Wax tried to arrange an all-access pass with Castle. But when Castle figured out that [[spoiler: Lee Wax had intentionally leaked the identity of the subject of her book, hoping that her arrest would be good PR for her book and giver her artistic freedom to write it her way,]] her all-access pass was ''revoked''.
* TagalongKid: Sometimes Alexis. She's smart and mature and all that, but still unquestionably a kid. And on those occasions when she shows up at the precinct, everyone's on their best behavior.
** She gets to do a lot more tagging along now that she works for Lanie.
* {{Tagline}}: In-universe example in the episode "The Late Shaft", Castle decides he and Beckett need one. He first tries "She's armed, ''he's'' dangerous" without success, then...
-->'''Castle''': How about: "A whole new ''chapter'' in crime-solving". [[IncrediblyLamePun "Chapter"]], [[DontExplainTheJoke get it?]]\\
'''Beckett''': Ooh! ... No.
* TakeAThirdOption: A dog, of all things, gets to do this in "An Embarrassment of Bitches" when, given the choice of living with Castle or Beckett, who have been sharing responsibility of taking care of him, [[spoiler: he instead chooses to live with Kay Capuccio, much to their mutual disappointment.]]
* TakeThat:
** In the episode "Wrapped up in Death" a archeologist at a museum is killed and an ancient Mayan mummy curse is blamed. Not much later this happens:
-->'''Castle:''' This guy is like IndianaJones but with space age technology. Oh, which would have been such a better movie than that last one.
** In "Sucker Punch", Beckett mentions that the Captain's post-incident evaluation [[spoiler:where they confront the guy who killed her mom]] has Castle come off like StevenSeagal.
---> '''Castle''': Should I be flattered or insulted?\\
'''Beckett''': {chuckle} Both.
** In "Little Girl Lost", we have this exchange between Beckett's ex-boyfriend and Castle.
---> '''Sorenson''': Why the sudden need to shadow a real detective ? \\
'''Castle''': Well the ones on TV seem [[CSIMiami mighty fixated on their sunglasses]].
* TakingYouWithMe: How [[spoiler:Captain Montgomery]] ends season three.
* TemptingFate: a hilarious one on Chapter 1, nonetheless. Castle is talking to Alexis, telling her he wishes for someone to come to him and say something new. When Beckett appears and tells him she wants to question him about the killings by someone who is making his killings look like Castle's books, Alexis [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] the whole thing.
* TenMinuteRetirement: "Sucker Punch", of a sort; [[spoiler: when Beckett discovers that the murderer of the week was the same person who killed her mother, pretty much her first impulse is to flee the station.]]
* TenPacesAndTurn: "Punked"
* ThatCameOutWrong:
** One slightly different instance comes in "Almost Famous". Castle talks about pumping Manschaft until he pops. There are very quick cuts showing reaction shots before the scene moves on. Though from Castle's tone, it's more a matter of GettingCrapPastTheRadar.
** This brief pip from "The Final Nail":
-->'''Castle''': Do I see two guys going out on a hot workman-related case? That sounded dirtier than I thought.
* TheTease: Beckett takes great amusement in leading on Castle's obvious attraction to her, only to bluntly shoot him down. Lampshaded in "The Mistress Only Spanks Twice":
-->'''Castle:''' You should really moonlight [as a dominatrix]. Trust me -- you would make a ''fortune''. Come on, isn't there anything you would like to do with your handcuffs besides arresting criminals?\\
'''Beckett:''' No...''[seductively]'' but there is one hot, wild, ''kinky'' thing that I do like doing...\\
''[Castle's elbow slips off the table as he stares at her earnestly]''\\
'''Beckett:''' ''[Flatly]'' Putting killers behind bars.\\
'''Castle:''' ''[Disappointed]'' See, you're already a tease—you're halfway there.
** Turns against her when he [[spoiler:eventually believes that it really is all just a joke to her.]]
* ThemeTuneCameo:
** In "Home is Where The Heart Stops", Castle is [[WaitHere sitting alone in the car]] humming ''his own'' action-scene {{Leitmotif}}. When the bad guy shows up to hijack the car and drags Castle into a fistfight, he stops humming and the leitmotif [[{{Funny/Castle}} starts playing over the scene]].
** When Castle walks into the The Old Haunt in "Last Call", the bar's piano player starts playing that leitmotif again. Castle even thanks the piano player for remembering and tips him.
* TheyFightCrime! He's a lecherous mystery novel writer! She's an uptight police detective!
* ThoseTwoGuys: NYPD detectives Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan that Kate works with. It wasn't until "When the Bough Breaks" (the fifteenth episode) that we saw those two apart for even a ''moment''.
** Not quite true -- since Ryan wasn't originally supposed to be a character, there are some moments in the pilot when Esposito is walking around with some other random detective. Ryan's absence is VERY noticeable when you rewatch it after a few other episodes.
** In "The Blue Butterfly", they play ThoseTwoBadGuys in the flashbacks (Castle's imagination as he reads a diary from the 1940s).
* TimeBomb: [[spoiler:"Countdown" has a dirty bomb with a timer set to go off in New York. Castle and Beckett find the bomb with less than 2 minutes. They send a cell phone picture of the bomb to an expert, but he can't get the pictures in time on his cell. Castle and Beckett brace for the explosion, only for Castle to yank all the wires with the timer reaching 0. No boom.]]
* TitleDrop: Episode titles are dropped quite often, because they either would make great names for Castle novels, or already are great names for Castle novels.
* [[spoiler:TokenMinorityCouple: Lanie and Esposito as of "Poof! You're Dead."]] Except for an offhand lewd remark in one episode, there is no buildup to this which is lampshaded by several jokes in the vein of "Can you believe they still think we don't know?"
* TonightSomeoneDies: Promos for "Knockout" used a Castle line "One of them is gonna die." [[spoiler:Though it's only a tangential line, Captain Montgomery ends up going out in a blaze of glory.]]
* TragicKeepsake: "A Chill Goes Through Her Veins" reveals that Beckett wears her mother's wedding ring as a reminder of "the life I lost". Also inverted, in that she ''also'' wears her father's watch to remind her of 'the life I saved'; she helped him recover from alcoholism and grief after her mother's death broke him. Because the latter's more visible (and unusual), Castle mistakes it for the former.
* TreacheryCoverUp: The team agrees to hide [[spoiler:Captain Montgomery's]] shameful past after [[NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead his]] [[HeroicSacrifice death]] at the end of the third season.
* TheTriadsAndTheTongs: The team's investigation of 3xK leads them to a tong. Beckett mentions that most tongs are legitimate merchant organizations but a few are involved in criminal activity.
* TriangRelations: It starts with a Type 5 in "Den of Thieves," [[spoiler: Type 4 with Castle being A and Beckett and Demming taking up B and C at the end of "Overkill"]], and either Type 4 [[spoiler: with Beckett being A, Castle being B and Gina being C]] or Type 10 [[spoiler: with Gina being A, Castle being B, and Beckett being C]] at the end of the Season Two finale.
* {{Trouser Space}}/[[VictoriasSecretCompartment Victoria's Secret Compartment]]: In "Home Is Where The Heart Stops", Beckett has to make an arrest while at a black-tie event, wearing a rather [[{{Fanservice}} skimpy]] dress.
-->'''Castle:''' Where was the badge?\\
'''Beckett:''' Don't ask.
* TrueCompanions: Settled in the third season finale:
-->'''Beckett, to Ryan, Esposito, and Castle''': No one — no one outside of this immediate family, ever needs to know about this.
* TurnInYourBadge:
** Though no actual badge-turning occurs, Montgomery sends Beckett home after she roughs up a witness in "Knockdown". Then he sends Castle home, too.
** Fallon does something similar in "Setup."
* TwerpSweating:
** Averted in "A Death In The Family" -- Castle wants to scare Alexis' date with a fake severed head, but she cuts him off at the pass. Lampshaded in the same episode when Castle and Ryan reminisce about the ways the fathers of their prom dates had done this, leaving the previously clueless Beckett to come to the dawning realisation that this was what her dad was doing when she was upstairs getting ready for her prom.
--->'''Beckett:''' Now that you mention it, he looked ''terrified''. And this whole time I thought he was scared of ''me''.
** Castle later pulls this off pretty well, mostly by accident, in "Punked." He [[spoiler:storms in with an antique dueling pistol and demands to know who is sullying his honor. Unbeknownst to him, Alexis and her boyfriend are making out at the time.]]
** A deleted scene from season 3 has Jim Beckett inadvertently do this to Castle. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPUnxxZ2L4s And it is magnificent.]]
* TwinThreesomeFantasy: An actress who has been studying Beckett in order to better portray Nikki Heat (in the episode of the same name) gets a delivery that's "supposed to help with [her] research," then goes to change. A couple of scenes later...
-->'''Beckett:''' I contacted other precincts to find out who else is investigating her and for what.\\
'''Rhodes:''' (''walks into the room with Beckett-styled wig and pantsuit'') Talk to enough people, something usually shakes out.\\
'''Castle:''' (''[[DropWhatYouAreDoing pencil falls out of hand]], as Beckett stares at Rhodes'') Just like I dreamed it...!\\
'''Beckett:''' (''[[DeathGlare GLARES at Castle]]'')\\
'''Castle:''' ...[[DidIJustSayThatOutLoud Did I say that out loud?]]
* TwoLinesNoWaiting:
** Subverted in "The Double Down", it seems as though two investigations are going on at the same time, but then [[WorkingTheSameCase they turn out to be connected]].
** "The Fifth Bullet", as well, although it takes all of five minutes for them to connect [[strike:Riley]] Amnesia Guy to the murder.
* TyrantTakesTheHelm: In comparison to Montgomery, Victoria "Iron" Gates fits this trope to a T.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: U-Z]]
* UnclePennybags: Though used variously in the earlier seasons where Castle would use his wealth and influence to do something, as of the later seasons, this aspect of his character has been heavily downplayed. Likely due to the show really hitting it's stride and not needing such exaggeration.
** Still referenced in Season 4; when Castle first reads the bill for his actions during "Eye of the Beholder", his only response is to say it's "a good thing he's rich".
* UndercoverModel: Kate Beckett does this impromptu-ly around Russian mobsters. More specifically: she ditches all clothing bar (bright red) underwear and a trench coat.
* UndyingLoyalty: "Knockdown" makes this almost painfully clear.
* UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo: Seems like every third episode, now. Just as Beckett gets over Demming, here comes Castle's ex-wife. And just as Castle's done with his ex-wife, here comes MartyStu Josh.
* UrbanLegendLoveLife: Despite the claims of his {{Casanova}} charms, Castle has only been shown to be having sex with three women, two of whom were ex-wives (and one of those ex-wives is also his editor.) Probably because the writers want to get him together with Kate and they can't do that if he's sleeping around a lot. Probably also because while Castle may enjoy the flirting and the dating, he actually doesn't seem too interested in the sexing part unless it's actually with someone he connects with.
** Conversely, Beckett is shown or mentioned to have dated a number of men; more than Castle has dated women. While this doesn't necessarily translate into a love life (since it's also mentioned she doesn't really connect with people well), it's suggested that she intentionally self-sabotages relationships by dating for the short term and dating people she knows aren't ultimately compatible. Refreshingly though the show makes no comment on the matter of sex and romance for a female lead and simply treats it as the activities of a normal adult.
* {{UST}}:
** The show manages to up the ante on shows like ''TheNanny'' and ''{{Bones}}'' by having Castle more or less repeatedly go to Beckett "So! When are we sleeping together?"
** In 2x13, "Sucker Punch", Beckett refers to Castle "pulling her pigtails" [[spoiler:and admits that she likes it.]]
** In 2x14, "The Third Man", ends with Castle and Beckett walking out of the police station arm-in-arm to head to a burger joint after their fancy dates (with other people) fall-through due to the case-of-the-week. As they walk, [[{{Squee}} Beckett is playfully twirling her hair with her finger, something that Castle had noticed her doing earlier while talking to her date on the phone.]]
** 3x05, "Anatomy of a Murder", had Castle comments to Esposito about how true friends will help you break out of jail. Beckett casually walks by and comments that she'd spring him, and the look on Castle's face is absolutely ''priceless''. Also, the LoveLetterLunacy played for epic amounts of ShipTease in the same episode...GAH!
*** Castle's reaction to Beckett's comment is much bigger than what it looks like, because his mother told him before that breaking a loved one out of jail was an act of pure love.
** 3x11, "Nikki Heat", has a WithThisRing moment where Castle casually offers an engagement ring [[spoiler:belonging to Ryan]] to Beckett and asks her to marry him. Subsequently, an actress studying Beckett to portray Nikki Heat [[LampshadeHanging hangs the biggest lampshade ever]] as she spells it out, word-for-word, to Beckett:
--->'''Rhodes:''' I don't get it. He's into you, but [[{{Tsundere}} you're determined not to give into these feelings]] [[EveryoneCanSeeIt that you clearly have for him]], so he [[AuthorAppeal fantasizes about you through his writing]]. It's ''literally'' verbal masturbation.
** 3x13, "Knockdown". The guys bring a GenreSavvy SmugSnake into the interrogation room. Aside from being entirely unflappable, he figures out Castle likes Beckett within ''seconds''.
--->He's sweet on you. Makes him brave.
** 3x21, "The Dead Pool". Castle confesses his jealousy when Beckett [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything starts spending time with another writer]].
--->'''Castle''': Yes. Fine, it's true. I'm jealous. There, I said it. I-I want you all to myself, and to have you spending time with another writer? That upsets me! And if that makes me petty, so be it. Guilty as charged.\\
'''Beckett''' (smiling) : Actually, I kinda think it's sweet.\\
'''Castle''': You do?\\
'''Beckett''': I do. And that's why you don't have to worry about me hanging around with Conrad anymore. From now on I'm a "one writer" girl.
* VanityPlate: In a rather touching tribute, the show used the late StephenJCannell's VanityPlate at the end of "Punked".
* VigilanteMan: Seemingly, the murderer in "Heroes and Villains" [[spoiler: but subverted when it turns out that it was a mob boss impersonating the vigilante in order to kill two birds with one stone- offing his traitor and getting the vigilante arrested. [[SamusIsAGirl Also the vigilante is not a man.]]]]
* VoiceoverLetter: See DeadManWriting.
* WackyParentSeriousChild: Richard to Alexis, and to a slighter extent, Martha to Richard.
* WaitHere:
** Castle, natch. Happens so frequently that it borders on RunningGag. The few times where Castle listens and does stay, the bad guy runs by him or otherwise gets Castle involved anyway.
--->'''Kate''': You're staying here.\\
'''Castle''': Yes, we've seen how well ''that'' works out.
** There's also the time in the pilot when Beckett ''handcuffs'' him to the squad car, and he gets hijacked by the suspect.
** Subverted in "Boom!", in which Kate hands Castle a gun as they go to bust the killer, and Castle just stands there in disbelief for a second.
** Earlier in "Boom!", ''Beckett'' is told to wait in the van (since the killer is specifically looking for her):
--->'''Castle''': Now you know what it's like for me.
* WesternTerrorists: In [[spoiler:"Setup/Countdown" the villains turn out to be WesternTerrorists after teasing that they were Muslim extremists.]]
** In "47 Seconds" the chief suspect in the bombing of a [[BlandProductName Takeover Wall Street]] protest was a right-wing activist. [[spoiler: Turns out it was a reporter who wanted to use the bombing for fame, and a left-wing protester seeking to gain sympathy for his movement.]]
* WhamEpisode:
** "Sucker Punch", where [[spoiler: Beckett arrests, then has to fatally shoot her mother's hitman, destroying the best chance she had of finding out who ordered the hit.]]
** "Knockdown", where [[spoiler: The head officer on Beckett's mom's case is shot, Ryan ends up getting tortured by drowning and almost by a shot to the kneecaps, and the shooter (who is deeply involved with the crime ring that shot Beckett's mom) is incarcerated where Beckett can get to him.]]
** "Knockout", where [[spoiler: Lockwood escapes and murders the other cop implicated in Beckett's mother's murder, Captain Montgomery is revealed to have been with them as well and knows who TheManBehindTheMan is, both he and Lockwood kill each other, and at Montgomery's funeral Beckett is shot. Oh, and Castle finally tells her that he loves her. As she's slipping out of consciousness.]]
* WhamLine: In "Rise", Beckett tells Castle that she doesn't remember anything about season 3 ending. At the end of the episode, she tells her psychologist that she actually remembers everything that happened.
** In "Linchpin", "Your father will be very proud." [[spoiler:Said by the turncoat Sophia, to ''Castle''. Of course, since she'd just revealed herself to be a Russian double agent, it's probably all BlatantLies.]]
** And again in 47 Seconds, where she tells a suspect that claims to have amnesia that she [[spoiler:was shot "and remembers every second about it"]], with Castle listening behind the one-way mirror, in a moment of self-inflicted EngineeredPublicConfession. Castle goes on Passive-Aggressive mode the rest of the episode, as a result.
* WhatTheHellHero: Martha deals one of these to Castle in "Knockdown," during a rare MamaBear moment.
-->'''Martha''': Richard, this isn't one of your books. You don't ''know'' the ending. You were just ''lucky'' yesterday.\\
'''Castle''': You're overreacting, mother. Where is this coming from?\\
'''Martha''': (''incredulous stare, tearing up'') How the Hell can you ask me something like that? Think about how much you love Alexis and ''that'' is how much I love you and don't you ''dare'' ask me where this is coming from! (''calming down'') You have gotten through most of your life on your wit and your charm and no small amount of talent, but [[NotAGame that is the real world out there]]. And you can't ''charm'' your way out of a bullet.
** Again in "Knockout" with Castle calling Beckett out for her WillTheyOrWontThey behavior:
-->'''Castle:''' Alright, y'know what? I don't know ''what'' we are. We kiss and then we never talk about it. We nearly die frozen in each others' arms but we ''never talk about it''. So no, I got no ''clue'' what we are.
** Lanie calls Beckett out in "The Limey" for not telling Castle what she feels for him, and about the fact that she knows he loves her.
* WhiteDwarfStarlet: Castle's mother.
* WhiteGangBangers: The Westies, an Irish gang in NYC, make multiple appearances.
* WildTeenParty: In "Heartbreak Hotel", Alexis watches in slowly growing horror as one of these takes place in her own home. In a variation, she acknowledges that her father probably won't care, but the problem is that ''she'' does.
* WillTheyOrWontThey: Definitely: Leaning towards "they will". And doesn't Castle know it. During one case they get asked if they're together, to which Beckett responds "No." Castle's simultaneous response? "Not yet."
* WireDilemma: [[spoiler:Averted in "Countdown". Facing a dirty bomb with literally no time on it and nothing else to lose, Castle just [[CuttingTheKnot rips all the wires out of the triggering device]]. It works.]]
* WomenAreWiser: played with; Alexis is a lot more grounded and mature than her father is, but compared to his ex-wives and to a (slightly) lesser extent his mother, Castle himself is a bedrock of maturity, common sense and selflessness.
* WontTakeYesForAnAnswer:
** Variation in "Law and Murder": Captain Montgomery pulls Beckett and Castle in asking them why they pulled the DA's secretary in without the DA's knowledge. Beckett starts to apologize, but Montgomery cuts her off...with "Smart move." [[spoiler:Since the DA could have just called to demand his secretary back, but came personally to stop the questioning...which means he's probably hiding something.]]
** In “Knockout” Beckett goes to Captain Montgomery to tell him [[spoiler:she wants Castle gone]], fully expecting to hear that it isn’t possible because of [[spoiler:his friendship with the mayor]], and starts vehemently arguing her case only to realize he agreed.
* WorkingTheSameCase: "The Double Down"...which does nothing to dull the wager on whether Castle & Beckett or Ryan & Esposito will solve their case first.
* WoundedGazelleGambit:
** Done to Castle in "Love Me Dead". He finds it discomforting that someone could tell him a story and make him believe it and that someone was able to take advantage of his hidden heart of gold. Especially since the person doing the gambit [[spoiler: had killed two people.]]
** Also in "The Late Shaft", he floats Beckett's suspicion that an actress is only sleeping with him to get the Nikki Heat part in the ''Heat Wave'' movie, and she breaks down in tears. [[spoiler:She was (as well as doing the same with the head of Bobby Mann's network), but he still recommends her to the producers because she made him believe the gambit.]]
** Perhaps a BrickJoke as of "Nikki Heat" when we meet the actress who plays Nikki Heat in the movies. [[spoiler: It isn't the same actress. On the other head, she also doesn't get to sleep with Castle.]]
** [[spoiler:In "Cops and Robbers", one of the hostages fakes an epileptic seizure to be taken out of the bank before the C4 bomb goes off. In truth, he was the one who planned the whole thing as part of a ploy to learn where his wife and son were hiding.]]
** In "Cuffed", one of the criminals [[spoiler:pretends to lock herself in a cage to lull Castle and Beckett into complacency before she can tranquilize them.]]
* WriteWhoYouKnow:
** Castle's new main character, "Nikki Heat," is Beckett. To the point that when Beckett showed up at his launch event, the photographers said "It's Nikki!" In the actual ''Heat Wave'', "Nikki" has ThoseTwoGuys on her team: Raley and Ochoa, usually combined to "Roach." And she's being shadowed by a writer (this time, a reporter) who pulled strings with the mayor's office to get himself attached to her. Named ''Jameson Rook''. Except Nikki and "Rook" had sex in the book -- Castle has less patience than his show's writers, it seems.
** In the episode "Boom", where the FBI and NYPD teams find an autographed copy of ''Heat Wave'' that says, ''"To Scott: Write what you know."'' "What he knows" turns out to be [[spoiler: murders. Lots and lots of murders.]] The same guy [[spoiler:also turns out to be the killer.]]
* WrongGenreSavvy: Played for laughs.
** Castle likes to latch onto unusual facets of the case and build absurd plots out of them, when the truth is inevitably more straightforward:
** Castle spends the first few minutes of "Vampire Weekend" running around as if he's actually in a vampire movie.
** "Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind": Every single one of his theories points to aliens, and almost gets Beckett to believe it, too. [[spoiler:In actuality, it's a murder to cover up espionage]].
** In "Poof! You're Dead" Castle constantly -- and incorrectly -- assumes that various 'magic story' twists are in effect. [[spoiler: Such as his assumption that, on discovering that the victim had a twin brother, they've stumbled into an EvilTwin situation where one twin has murdered the other to steal his life (he hasn't), that a suspect in a wheelchair is faking his condition to cover up the crime (he isn't) or that a magician murdered the victim to prevent his tricks from being revealed (he didn't).]]
** In "One Life To Lose", a murder on the set of a soap opera leads Castle to come up with an endless list of over-the-top soap opera style plots as potential theories behind the crime. Which leads to this moment when he comes up with a more plausible one for once:
-->'''Beckett''': Wow, Castle, that's... a refreshingly down-to-earth theory.\\
'''Castle''': Just trying to keep you on your toes.
** In "A Deadly Game", when "Hans Rowr" is arrested, he claims he'll soon be bailed out by powerful superiors to escape as a KarmaHoudini [[spoiler: because he's actually just a regular guy taking a 'spy vacation' and thinks the arrest is part of it. When he realizes he's actually blundered into a PoliceProcedural [=Murder-Of-The-Week=], he's... a bit teary.]]
* {{Yandere}}:
** In 1x02, "Nanny [=McDead=]", the killer ended up being [[spoiler:Chloe, who killed her friend because she was sleeping with Ian, and they were in love. Supposedly.]]
** In 2x16, "The Mistress Always Spanks Twice", the killer turned out to be [[spoiler: the codependent roommate, who didn't want the victim getting married (to someone else).]]
** In 3x12, "The Final Nail", the killer was [[spoiler:Simon Campbell's new girlfriend, who didn't want anyone getting in the way of her and her boyfriend's love.]]
* YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious: Castle hardly ''ever'' calls Beckett by her first name; it's warranted only for a special, dramatic occasions.
** Once in "Sucker Punch," [[spoiler: when Beckett is fleeing the station after discovering the current case is linked to her mother's murder]].
** The second and third time happen during the two parter "Tick, Tick, Tick..." and "Boom!", [[spoiler: when Castle calls her to warn her moments before her apartment explodes]] and [[spoiler: as he searches for her in the flaming wreckage]], respectively. He also calls out her name a few more times (five more times, if you want to be precise).
** Once more in "Knockdown," [[spoiler: when Beckett leaves the department in a huff after Captain Montgomery dismisses her from a case linked to her mother's murder]].
** Beckett also calls Castle 'Rick' [[spoiler: in "Knockdown". As with the above examples, it's a serious moment where they're letting their guard down and before something particularly dangerous.]]
** And Castle calls Beckett 'Kate' [[spoiler: in 'Countdown' when she is passing out from the cold and they both might die.]]
** The 'Kate' and 'Rick' quotient is upped in "Knockout", culminating in [[spoiler:"I love you, Kate"...as she's in shock after taking a bullet from a sniper.]]
** Also occurs with... [[spoiler: Kate calling Captain Montegomery 'Roy' before his LastStand. It's significant because her other mentor, Mike Royce never gets called on a personal first name basis. Only her mother, father, and Castle get that treatment.]]
** During Rise, Castle ONLY calls Beckett 'Kate'. [[spoiler: Considering that he is still dealing with the fact that he confessed his love to her, it isn't surprising that he's acting emotionally familiar towards her.]]
** In "Kick the Ballistics", Castle calls Ryan by his first name once... at the end of the episode, when he is reassuring him about how he did the right thing.
** In "Kill Shot," Beckett calls Esposito "Javi" when he's trying to help her past her PTSD. She also calls him "Espo".
* YouDoNotWantToKnow: Inverted in "Heartbreak Hotel." Ryan and Esposito try to explain why they're wearing Elvis costumes, but Beckett decides she doesn't want to know.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: In "Cops and Robbers" [[spoiler: the bad guy of the week sabotages the C-4 of his mercenaries once their job was completed.]]
* YourMom:
** During the outtakes, Jon Huertas apparently screwed up his line and this happened:
-->'''Nathan Fillion''': You've got ''one'' line.\\
'''Jon Huertas''': Your momma has one line.
** Comes up again in "Knockdown", when [[spoiler: Ryan is being tortured and Esposito [[ForcedToWatch has to watch]]]]:
-->'''Esposito:''' OKAY!\\
'''Ryan:''' [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Don't tell this jackhole anything.]]\\
'''Esposito:''' I'm sorry, bro, I can't watch this. (''to interrogator'') Listen to me! You're too late--the cops already know all about... [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome me and]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny your mom]].
* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: One of Castle's main skills appears to be spotting where these moments are coming up.
** He keeps investigating the case in the pilot precisely because his writer's sensibilities are offended by the 'easy' solution to the mystery ("the reader would never buy it!"). This occurs exactly half-way through the episode.
** In "The Mistress Always Spanks Twice," [[spoiler:it happens in the last 5 minutes of the episode.]]
** In "Boom!", he's able to sniff out a trap due to this very reasoning.
** In "Setup", Castle is pretty much the only one who believes that [[spoiler: the supposed Syrian terrorists are in fact innocent scapegoats being set up by a third party]], and Beckett the only one who'll hear him out. He turns out to be right.
** In "Slice of Death", [[spoiler:the drug kingpin behind all the murders is only caught at the last second as she leaves the police station.]]
* ZanyScheme: Castle comes up with a fairly straightforward one in ''Heartbreak Hotel.'' Results in Castle, Ryan, and Esposito [[spoiler: sneaking into a casino from which they'd been barred]] in ''Elvis impersonator costumes.''
** Averted (kind of) in "The Limey". Castle's plan is outlandish even for Castle, but Beckett cuts him off with a ZanyScheme of her own. She'll get the fingerprints the easy way... by gatecrashing an exclusive dinner reception at the British Embassy.
* ZorroMark: In "Heroes & Villains", the vigilante Lone Justice carves an 'L' into the butt cheek of a mobster with a sword.
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