History Castle / TropesMToP

* NotInFrontOfTheKid: One episode of brought Castle's daughter, Alexis, into the precinct and subverted this.

--> '''Javier Esposito:''' B I T C H.

** Westside Wally, a homeless guy who insists on being called "Westside", introduced in "The Blue Butterfly". He returns in the episode "47 Seconds", reintroduced by Esposito:

** In "Headhunters", Castle punches Detective Slaughter when the latter comments "that girl got an ass."

** 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".

* 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.

* PrettyInMink: Martha buys a fur coat in "Lucky Stiff", [[ItsFakeFurItsFine but states it's fake]]. And in "The Blue Butterfly", a mob boss's girlfriend in a flashback wears a huge white fox wrap.

** 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]].

** Another common theme in the show is where one situation a character is involved in subtly parallels another scenario with a different character. One example is in the season 3 premiere; while Castle is having trouble getting the cops to forgive him for not calling Beckett throughout the summer, Alexis is having trouble getting over her summer boyfriend not calling her after their summer program ended. Castle tries justifying the guy's intentions to Alexis, which makes her wonder, "Why are you defending him?" Season 4 also has a lot of allusions to the increasing tension between Castle and Beckett, which they incessantly talk their way around [[spoiler:until the finale]].

** Also subverted with 'Dr. Death', who is in fact a rather mild and pleasant little man who only has that nickname because he's one of New York's top coroners.

** Castle's second wife returns to close the second season, [[spoiler:and they pick back up where they left off.]]

* {{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...

** Introduced in "Punked", Ashley, Alexis' boyfriend, is accidentally [[TwerpSweating Twerp Sweated]] by Castle in what was, for a while, his only on-screen appearance.

* 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''.

* 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).

** 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."

** "Caskett" for Castle and Beckett

* ThePowerOfLegacy: Beckett decides to do this for [[spoiler:Captain Montgomery]], and the rest of the cast agrees.

* PrettyInMink: Martha buys a fur coat, [[ItsFakeFurItsFine but states it's fake]]. A mob boss's girlfriend in a flashback wears a huge white fox wrap.

** 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 Lyle Lovett.

** Near the end of "Always", [[spoiler:it's a toss-up whether Castle is looking at Beckett's scar from her shooting or her provocative underwear when he stops kissing her for a moment to unbutton her jacket - at least, until he touches the scar]].
* 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 ends up blowing 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]].

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Debated endlessly in "He's Dead, She'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.]]

* 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 (well, at least in a target range). Beckett is clearly the more cool one under fire and among other exploits [[spoiler: manages to land several shots on a helicopter flying away, later allowing it to be identified.]]

--< ''[Alexis gives him a scathing look]''

** Also no-one raised in the East End of London could be educated at Eton. It's where the poor people live. Eton is where the poshest boys go. Equally, an Etonian would be an unlikely candidate to become a police detective. Prime minister, maybe.

** Near the end of "Always", [[spoiler:it's a toss-up whether Castle is looking at Beckett's scar from her shooting or her provocative underwear when he stops kissing her for a moment to unbutton her jacket - at least, until his hands reach for the scar]].

* MadArtist: Introduced in "Tick, Tick, Tick..."[=/=]"Boom!", Scott Dunn, [[spoiler:a serial killer who writes novels based on his murders.]]

** Near the end of "Always", [[spoiler:it's a toss-up whether Castle is looking at Beckett's scar from her shooting or her provocative underwear when he stops kissing her for a moment to unbutton her jacket - at least, until he lightly touches the scar]].

** Sophia Turner, introduced in the season 4 two-parter "Pandora"[=/=]"Linchpin", one of Castle's earlier muses.

** "An Embarrassment of Bitches" features a very famous woman with "no discernible talent", that carries a dog with her wherever she goes. Kay Cappuccio an obvious "Homage" to Kim Kardashian. (And to a degree superficially Creator/ParisHilton)

** The old guy in "Nanny [=McDead=]" who shouts after Castle and Beckett when they conclude that he couldn't have been the one that the victim wanted to have sex with, "Seventy-seven ain't beyond the realm of possibility, you know!"

** In "Headhunters", Castle punches Detective Slaughter when the latter comments that "she got an ass."

* 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, 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.)]]

** 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]].

** 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.]]

** 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.

* MysteryWriterDetective: Castle

* 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}}''.

** 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.]]

** 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 ladies man where Ryan is in a relationship and is 'whipped', etc.

* 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.

* 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.

** 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.

* OntologicalMystery / YouWakeUpInARoom: In "Cuffed", Beckett and Castle wake up together in a bed handcuffed to each other with no idea how they got there.

** Hans von Manschaft, a stripper, in "Almost Famous". He immediately drops the accent when he hears his rival has been murdered

--->'''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.

* PopCulturalOsmosisFailure: Much to Castle's chagrin, neither Beckett nor Lanie gets his ''{{Jaws}}'' reference in "Last Call."

* 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.)]]

'''[Beckett and Lanie stare at him blankly]''\\

-->'''Beckett:''' Any chance he [the VictimOfTheWeek] went overboard?
-->'''Lanie:''' Classic indicators point to deliberate blunt force, so I’d say no. This was no boating accident.
-->'''Castle:''' Then we'd better close the beaches.
-->''[Beckett and Lanie stare at him blankly]''
-->'''Castle:''' No boating accident? Chief Brody? Hooper?
-->''[They still don't get it]''
-->'''Castle:''' Seriously?

** 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.

* [[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.

** Both lead actors have occasional moments of Canadianness

** Hans von Manschaft, a stripper,in "Almost Famous". He immediately drops the accent when he hears his rival has been murdered

** "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."

** "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."

** "Double Down" starts with Castle eating popcorn and watching people around the precinct.
** Castle likes this trope: from "One Man's Treasure":

**"Esplanie" for Esposito and Lanie, mentioned on-screen in "One Life To Lose."[[invoked]]
**"Caskett" for Castle and Beckett

** 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.

* MadArtist: Scott Dunn [[spoiler:a serial killer who writes novels based on his murders.]]

* 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.

** He doesn't actually cry, but in "Always" Castle is clearly holding back tears when he all but begs Beckett to drop her crusade for her mother's killer.
* 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.]]

* 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.

** 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:

* MexicanStandoff: near the end of "Under the Gun", Beckett, Ryan, and Esposito get into one with three separate people all after the same treasure.

* 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. Well, in a target range. Beckett is clearly the more cool one under fire and among other exploits [[spoiler: manages to land several shots on a helicopter flying away, later allowing it to be identified.]]

* 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'.

'''Beckett''' / '''Castle''': *at the same time* No. / Yes.

** "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!

** The end of "When The Bough Breaks" goes from TearJerker territory as the murderer is revealed and the murderer's motives are revealed, shattering his family [[spoiler: he'd switched babies with another family upon learning that his son had a rare and fatal disorder that would most likely kill him before the age of five]], bittersweet heartwarming as a father is reunited with the son he'd thought he'd lost and Castle and Beckett, believing their partnership to be over, ruefully say their goodbyes to each other, to comedy as the two learn, much to their surprise (and Beckett's annoyance) that their partnership has been extended longer than either of them thought. This all happens over about five minutes.

* 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".

* 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.

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** 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.]]

** "An Embarrassment of Bitches" features a very famous woman with "no discernable talent", that carries a dog with her wherever she goes. Kay Cappuccio an obvious "Homage" to Kim Kardashian. (And to a degree superficially Creator/ParisHilton)

** 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."

** 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.

** "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.]]

** Another example in "Kill Shot" takes place between [[spoiler:Beckett and the sniper]]

* 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.

** The end of "When The Bough Breaks" goes from TearJerker territory as the murderer is revealed and the murderer's motives are revealed, shattering his family [[spoiler: he'd switched babies with another family upon learning that his son had a rare and fatal disorder that would most likely kill him before the age of five]], bittersweet heartwarming as a father is reunited with the son he'd thought he'd lost and Castle and Beckett, believing their partnership to be over, ruefully say their goodbyes to each other, to comedy as the two learn, much to their surprise (and Beckett's annoyance) that their partnership has been extended longer than either of them thought. This all happens over about five minutes.

** The end of "He Said, She Said" goes from TearJerker territory as the murderer is revealed and the murderer's motives are revealed, shattering his family [[spoiler: he'd switched babies with another family upon learning that his son had a rare and fatal disorder that would most likely kill him before the age of five]], bittersweet heartwarming as a father is reunited with the son he'd thought he'd lost and Castle and Beckett, believing their partnership to be over, ruefully say their goodbyes to each other, to comedy as the two learn, much to their surprise (and Beckett's annoyance) that their partnership has been extended longer than either of them thought. This all happens over about five minutes.

* 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.

** 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.

** 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]].

* 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]].

* 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.

* MeddlingParents:

* 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.

* MomentKiller:

* MoodDissonance :

* MoodWhiplash:

''(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]].

* 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.

* NewOldFlame:

** Beckett has a few too- FBI Agent Sorenson in the first season, ex-cop Royce in the third.

** "An Embarrassment of Bitches" features a very famous woman with "no discernable talent", that carries a dog with her wherever she goes. Kay Cappuccio an obvious "Homage" to Kim Kardashian. (And to a degree superficially ParisHilton)

* NoodleIncident:

* 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:

* 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:

* 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:

* OnceMoreWithClarity:

* [[OohMeAccentsSlipping Ooh Me Accent's Slipping]]:
** Both lead actors have occasional moments of Canadianness

* 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.)

* PairTheSpares:

* PassThePopcorn:

** Castle likes this trope: from "One Man's Treasure":

* 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.

* PortmanteauCoupleName:
**"Esplanie" for Esposito and Lanie, mentioned on-screen in "One Life To Lose."[[invoked]]
**"Caskett" for Castle and Beckett
* ThePowerOfActing:
** Natalie Rhodes.

* PreviouslyOn:

* PutDownYourGunAndStepAway:

* PortmanteauCoupleName: **"Esplanie" for Esposito and Lanie, mentioned on-screen in "One Life To Lose."[[invoked]]

* PortmanteauCoupleName: *"Esplanie" for Esposito and Lanie, mentioned on-screen in "One Life To Lose."[[invoked]]
* "Caskett" for Castle and Beckett

* PortmanteauCoupleName: "Esplanie" for Esposito and Lanie, mentioned on-screen in "One Life To Lose."[[invoked]]