Castle (TV series)/Tropes E to L

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Easy Amnesia: 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.

  • Egg Sitting: in "Vampire Weekend". His name was Feggan and was murdered by Alexis' friend after she called her dad after her friend drank too much from a spiked punchbowl.
  • The Elevator From Ipanema: Esposito, Ryan, and a SWAT team ride in one in "Eye of the Beholder".
  • Elvis Impersonator: Castle, Ryan, and Esposito dress up in full regalia in order to sneak into a casino after being kicked out in "Heartbreak Hotel".
  • Embarrassing Nickname: One of Alexis' new friends, Buttons. Even worse when you pair it with her last name, Dutton. Pointing this out backfires on Castle, though:

Alexis: What's so wrong with that?
Castle: C'mon! It'd be like calling you Rassle or Tassle or...
Castle's phone rings and he picks it up.
Castle: ...No Hassle Castle. Hey. ... No, I was just making a point. ... Please don't call me that.

  • Empty Chair Memorial:
    • 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."

    • Also occurs at Montgomery's funeral where the ceremonial riderless horse precedes the casket.
  • Enforced Method Acting: 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, whose look of annoyed astonishment is real.
  • Enhance Button:
    • Subverted twice, in successive episodes. Beckett even talks about it in Murder Most Fowl and Castle's protest is a Shown Their Work 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. 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 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.
  • Epiphany Comeback: Played with; Beckett's fight with the sniper who shot her in "Always" certainly triggers an epiphany -- but it's got nothing to do with winning the fight. Indeed, she gets her ass kicked. The epiphany is instead about how she is in love with Castle and doesn't want to throw her life away chasing her mother's murderer, but wants to make a life with him.
  • Eureka Moment:
    • 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 Lanie later comments on, saying how cute it is that they finish each other sentences. Hell, even Esposito and Ryan notice that they do it often. 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 Red Herring Eureka Moment 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.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: As seen in "Sucker Punch", the Irish mob might steal, extort and kill, but they do not sell drugs.
  • Every Man Has His Price: A comically harmless version. The few cops that find Castle annoying for hanging around the bullpen change their tune when Castle buys a quality espresso machine, no less than a La Spaziale S5 Compact. Castle has good taste in machines. Even Beckett (eventually) partakes.
  • Everyone Can See It:

Lanie: I can see it. (Talking to the corpse) You may not, but I do.

    • Castle's New Old Flame, 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 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, 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 "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.".
    • Andrew Marlowe has mentioned in an interview that in the conversation where Beckett broke up with Josh, she tried not to mention Castle- but Josh himself 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.

    • As of the season 3 finale, it's pretty clear that both Beckett and Castle can see it too.
  • Everyone Knows Morse: 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.
  • Evil Brit: In "Last Call", a pompous British auction house owner shows up. Guess who the killer is.
  • Evil Laugh:
    • 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 Dr. Horrible Shout-Out.
  • Evil Plan: Each episode is driven by a murder caused by the criminal of the week. On a bigger scale, unraveling the one that killed Beckett's mother ties the seasons together.
  • Evil Sounds Deep: The drug dealer they suspect of having a hand in the death of Beckett's mother in the third season. Like wow.
  • Failure Is the Only Option: Subverted in "Sucker Punch", as we find out just who Beckett's mother's killer is, and she kills him when he takes Castle hostage. The failure, however, is transferred to who hired him to kill her.
  • Fair Cop:
    • 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.
  • Fake American: Both lead characters are played by Canadian actors.
  • Fake-Out Make-Out: 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 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.
  • False-Flag Operation: what Tony The Butcher does in "Heroes & Villains" to pin on vigilante Lone Vengeance the killing of Faris.
  • Fandom Nod: "One Life to Lose" is partially about the rabid shipping community surrounding a fictional soap opera. Many a Portmanteau Couple Name 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 Infomercials because Rags to Riches stories sell better. [1]

Video!Vong: I come to this country on a boat-
Vong, Castle, and Esposito: 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 Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping.
    • 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.
  • Fictional Counterpart: 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.
  • Film Noir: The flashbacks in "The Blue Butterfly" are deliberately done in this style.
  • Fingertip Drug Analysis:
    • In "Sucker Punch", Beckett finds a stash, sticks her finger in, tastes it, and pronounces "heroin". 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.
  • Finishing Each Other's Sentences: Castle and Beckett do this a lot, especially when struck by an Eureka Moment. Lampshaded repeatedly.

Esposito: So, do you guys practice doing that when we're not around?

  • Firemen Are Hot: Beckett's date in "The Third Man", FDNY's Mr. July.
  • First Kiss: Finally happens in "Knockdown".
  • First-Name Basis: 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 You Called Me "X" - It Must Be Serious moment in sight. The shippers are delighted.
  • Five-Man Band
  • 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 of money does to people.
  • For Want of a Nail: 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. 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.
  • Forced to Watch: Esposito has to watch Ryan's torture in "Knockdown."
  • Foreign Money Is Proof of Guilt: 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. 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. 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 Storm Fall foreshadows "Linchpin": specifically, the bit where it suggests that Agent Clara Strike, the character based on Sophia Turner, might have gone rogue...
  • Found the Killer, Lost the Murderer: This happens not once, not twice, but three times with Becket's mother's murderer. 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 refuses to say the name anyway, saying that 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.
  • Funny Background Event: While on the set for Naked Heat, some nuns with guns can be seen in the background.
  • Freudian Slip: 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 "fate."
  • Fridge Logic: 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?"
  • Friends Rent Control: Det. Beckett's apartment.
  • Game of Nerds: 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).
  • Geeky Turn On:
    • From "Vampire Weekend":

Castle(on some art drawn by the Victim of the Week): Reminds me of early Frank Miller.
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 "fallacious".

  • Gender Blender Name: 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... while holding a pistol. An awkward situation ensues for all concerned.
  • Gene Hunt Interrogation Technique: Slaughter's modus operandi. It is hilarious.
  • Genre Savvy:
    • 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 Smug Snake who narrates each section of his interrogation rather than answering questions.
    • In "Cops and Robbers" Castle uses his skills and love of Die Hard to get information about the bank hostage situation.
    • Beckett called Castle about the case in the hopes it would lead to a Eureka Moment because she was stumped and three-quarters into the episode. Castle in the same scene because he calls her out on it. Borders on Lampshade Hanging.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar:
    • 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.
    • Shut the front door!
    • "Cuffed" has quite a few moments. Some are Ship Tease, others... not so much. 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 No Celebrities Were Harmed version of Kim Kardashian (and other celebrities).
  • Girl of the Week: 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 3 times in one episode.
    • Jacinda, the blonde flight attendant Castle meets on his way back from Las Vegas, 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 Girl of the Week but is rebuffed by Castle.
  • Girl Show Ghetto: In-Universe. Castle is not happy about having to read and review a Chick Lit 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); a common point of contention from established and well-known writers is that being bombarded with requests from first-time novelists to read their novel and 'tell me what you think' gets old quick.
  • The Ghost:
    • In the second season, Martha gets a New Old Flame, "Chet," who has yet to appear onscreen. And, tragically, never will. Which makes him 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 Ashley, who's seen in the first ep he was talked about...being terrorized by Castle with an old-timey pistol.
  • Good People Have Good Sex: It's hinted that both Castle and Beckett have at least slightly kinky tastes in the bedroom.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: 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..."
  • Got Me Doing It: "The Final Nail" Beckett accidentally mimics a witness' accent before catching herself. This was actually a mistake by Stana. The producers decided to Throw It In.
  • Grammar Nazi:
    • 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.
  • Green-Eyed Epiphany: Implied in "Eye Of The Beholder" when Beckett gets jealous over Castle getting close to Serena the insurance investigator-slash-former art thief, who doesn't steal things that belong to others.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: 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 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 Demming showing up every morning for coffee just to run into Beckett? *turns to Castle, chuckling*

Castle: *strange look on his face*

Ryan: *grin freezing, turns back to look at Esposito*

Esposito: *shaking his head and mouthing no*

  • Groin Attack: in "Suicide Squeeze", when a baseball player is beaten to death with a baseball bat, his assailant starts at his groin.
  • Guilty Pleasures: 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.

  • Gut Feeling:
    • Subverted in one episode when Castle asks the coroner what his gut is saying.

Coroner: 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. \\

Beckett: 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.
  • The Heart: 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.
  • Hero Insurance: Beckett and Castle only get a dressing down from Montgomery for breaking and entering an apartment in Los Angeles.
  • Hero Worshipper: 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.
  • Heroes Want Redheads:
    • 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).
  • Heroic BSOD:
    • Beckett in "Sucker Punch" upon learning that the killer of the Body of the Week was also the man who killed her mother.
    • A minor version occurs in "A Deadly Game" 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 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 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.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: Ryan and Esposito. Castle and Beckett are also pretty close to the two, but 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.

  • Hidden Depths: 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, claims to have piercings and tattoos, etc. Of course, several of these may may also be intended specifically to mess with Castle's head or tease his obvious attraction to her. Several of them are also implied to have been part of her personality before her mother's murder caused her to become a lot harder and more serious, some of which having gradually revived the more time she's spent with Castle.
    • Castle on the surface is just a superficial Adult Child 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.
  • Hilarious Outtakes:Foreach season.
  • His Name Is--: 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, 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.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard
    • 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.
  • Holding Hands: Castle and Beckett as they watch Martha perform her one-woman play. Very sweet.
    • And again in "Always", briefly, as he reassures her about the progress of the investigation. Then later as They Do.
    • First time at the end of 3XK.
  • Hollywood Silencer:
    • 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.
    • Justified in "Kill Shot". While the sniper's shot is seen to be effectively silent from the point of view of the victim and he is revealed to be using a suppressor, he also takes all of his shots from inside the buildings where his perches are, which would further muffle the sound. This is a real-life sniping tactic.
  • Hollywood Voodoo: 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 Hollywood Voodoo portrayal of her religion.
  • Hospital Hottie: Beckett's boyfriend, Dr. Motorcycle Boy. Also known as Josh.
    • And Nurse McClintock in "Anatomy of a Murder". \\
  • Hot Scientist: Lanie Parish
  • How We Got Here: What Beckett and Castle have to figure out when they wake up handcuffed together and Locked in a Room in "Cuffed". The flashbacks are justified via the fact they've been drugged and have hazy memories.
  • Hypocritical Humor: 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.

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? 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 Law and Murder.
    • Castle does this in "Nikki Heat" when Natalie Rhodes wants to shadow Beckett in order to 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: You're kidding, right?

  • Identical Grandson: 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.

  • I Just Want to Be You/Irritation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery: 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).
  • I Know a Guy: 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.

  • I Love You Because I Can't Control You:
    • 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.
    • There might also be an element of this to a lesser extent for Beckett as well; while she's definitely more of an authority figure than he's ever had in his life and thus is able to exert a great deal of influence over him, and he's more or less happy for her to do so, he's still remarkably free-spirited and independent for a noted Control Freak like her, and Castle even accuses her at one point of intentionally throwing herself into go-nowhere relationships with men she doesn't love rather than risk opening her heart up to someone she genuinely loves (i.e. him) and risk the ensuing uncertainty. Ultimately, it appears to be something of a give-and-take situation between them; they're both increasingly willing to let the other take over things if necessary while still being willing to put their foot down and take the lead when they have to, rather than one completely dominating the other... just like a healthy relationship should be.
  • I Need to Go Iron My Dog:
    • 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 Death Glare 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 Author Avatar. It gets to the point where Rhodes has completely deconstructed the 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].

  • I Never Said It Was Poison: Used to implicate the killer of both the Body of the Week and Beckett's mother in "Sucker Punch." 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.
  • I Was Young and Needed the Money: Beckett on her brief career as a teenage model.
  • Impersonating an Officer: The only thing Castle doesn't get to do is actually make arrests.
    • Lampshaded in "The Third Man" when Castle, in Eureka Moment 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.
  • Insult Backfire: 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.
  • Improbable Aiming Skills: Castle in "Boom!" When complimented on shooting the gun out of the perp's hand, he says, "I was aiming for his head!"
    • It was established in an earlier episode (See Obfuscating Stupidity, 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).
  • Incredibly Lame Pun: 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 Czech-mate?"

    • In "Vampire Weekend", Castle is dressed up like Edgar Allan Poe 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] Too Soon?

    • One memorable lame pun in "Food to Die For" includes Castle (after laughing like a maniac) realizes that he's late for his date with Madison and accidentally drops his watch into a bowl of liquid nitrogen.

Castle': "Hey look. 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 the heroin trade.
  • Informed Ability: 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, 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.
  • Innocent Cohabitation: Beckett's apartment is blown up by a serial killer. This exchange occurs.

Beckett: I don't have a home!
Castle: (calmly) Yes you do. It's a secure building with an extra bedroom with 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.

  • Interdisciplinary Sleuth: Castle.
  • The Irish Mob: The Westies.
  • Ironic Echo Cut: "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 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.

  • Irrevocable Order: At the end of the third season of, a major blow is dealt to 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 Beckett. Unfortunately, that mail arrived too late to prevent a sniper taking a shot at her.
  • It's for a Book: 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".
  • It's Personal: 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]

  • Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: 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.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
    • 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 Hidden Depths 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 Freudian Excuse 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.

  • Jerkass Has a Point: 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 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.
  • Juggling Loaded Guns: This hilarious scene from "Punked".
  • Jurisdiction Friction:
    • 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. The fact that it's looking increasingly like terrorists have a dirty bomb and are planning to detonate it in New York helps.
  • Killed Off for Real: Captain Montgomery in "Knockout."
  • Kiss of Distraction: 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.
  • Ladykiller in Love: As of "Overkill", we can safely place Castle squarely in this category.
  • Lantern Jaw of Justice: 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.
  • Last-Name Basis: Castle and Beckett. To the point that they only say each other's first name when it's a 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 he's confronting her about her sniper issues. She calls him "Javi" again after 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.
  • The Law of Conservation of Detail: 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.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: 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.
  • Let Me Get This Straight...: Quoted almost word for word by Beckett when a psychic comes into the office, claiming to know who is responsible for a murder.
  • Lighter and Softer: 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.
  • Like an Old Married Couple: 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 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 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?

  • Literal Cliff Hanger: Beckett in "Always." Results in a Take My Hand.
  • Loan Shark: Several murder suspects throughout the series, most of them red herrings 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.
  • Locked in a Freezer: Castle and Beckett at the end of "Setup".
  • Locked in a Room: And handcuffed together in "Cuffed". 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.
  • Long-Distance Relationship: 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. 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 Long-Distance Relationship route, the time differences and lack of time together ultimately ends with Alexis breaking up with him again.
    • And now 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 a bowl of popcorn.
  • Love Confession: Beckett gives us one of the greatest in television history.

Beckett: [My mother's killer] got away, and I didn't care. I almost died, and the only thing I could think about was you.

    • What? No mention of Castle's previous?: Because of everything we've been through together! Four years I've been right here! Four years just waiting for you to open your eyes to see that I'm right here! And that I'm more than a partner... Every morning I bring a cup of coffee just so that I can see a smile on your face because I think you are the most... Remarkable... Maddening... Challenging... Frustrating person I've ever met... And I love you Kate and... if that means anything to you, if you care about me at all, just don't do this
  • Lying to the Perp: ...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.
Back to Castle (TV series)
  1. ↑ Reality Is Unrealistic: who's more likely to come up with good investment advice -- an immigrant or an MBA?
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