Castle and Beckett are called in when two teenage girls witness a friend being killed by telekinesis during a video call. Meanwhile, the couple tries to find a song for their wedding.
- Agent Scully: From the outset, Beckett is adamant in her refutation of telekinesis where Ryan and Castle are more open, going as far as to directly accuse the "telekinetic" doctor of being a charlatan. As in previous episodes with a supernatural twist, it is left ambiguous whether or not there is a rational explanation.
- Alpha Bitch: Madison was a nasty piece of work who bullied—and stole from—her classmates.
- Asshole Victim: Madison, see above.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Turns out Lucas did the cafeteria incident because he wanted the girls to stop bullying Jordan. When she learns about this, she is so grateful to him that she asks him to dance with her at the winter formal.
- Book Safe: Madison stores her ill-gotten loot, including a million dollars in negotiable bearer bonds, inside War and Peace, knowing no one's going to check it out, especially not in the original Russian.
- Call-Back: Castle and Beckett pick "In My Veins" by Andrew Belle to be their wedding song - the same song that played in the scene when Beckett realized she wanted Castle in "Always".
- Daddy's Little Villain: Madison and her friends were a criminal gang, breaking into people's homes to steal small, expensive items and get some cash. She then forces Lucas to use his tech equipment to scare Chen into fleeing the country. The girl who killed her wanted out but Madison wouldn't let her, hence the murder, and makes it look like she was halfway across town when it happened by taking advantage of the video Madison forced Lucas to make.
- Dean Bitterman: Castle has a bad history with Principal Dunnan. See Noodle Incident below.
- Foreshadowing: Jordan looks terrified by what happens in the cafeteria, cluing us in that she has no knowledge of the prank.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: While Lucas explains he used special effects for the video and the cafeteria incident, Beckett claims they found nothing that could explain the psychic incident they saw when they went to arrest Lucas.
- Nom de Mom: Despite knowing Castle changed his surname, Dunnan prefers to call him his mother's maiden name. Once the mystery of Madison's murder is resolved, Dunnan calls Castle as "Mr. Castle" instead.
- Noodle Incident: Castle got in trouble with the principal for sneaking a cow onto the school roof, forcing Duncan to hire a crane to remove it. While his cohorts were all in trouble with him, Castle was the only one who got expelled. To this day, Dunnan has been haunted by the question "how did they get a cow?" Castle says they knew a guy.
- Parental Abandonment: Jordan lost her parents in an accident, and is raised by her aunt.
- Rags to Riches: Martha was a hard-working actress, but she didn't have a lot of money. Castle was a scholarship student, didn't have connections like his friends and was the only one who was expelled following a prank.
- Shout-Out:
- Castle makes many to Carrie and its author Stephen King, even mentioning that King won't believe that he's encountered a real-life Carrie.
- Also to Nirvana in the episode title, which shares its name with arguably their most famous song.
- Beckett compares the burglary ring Madison was running to The Bling Ring.
- The Starscream: Kris, a member of Madison's circle of "bitch" friends, murdered her because she wanted out of the stealing ring, but Madison wouldn't let her.
- Super Gullible: Lucas banked on everyone's gullibility to make them believe his special effects are psychic powers. Predictably, this happened to include Castle.
