Castle/Recap/S2 E14 The Third Man

A middle-class family returns home from a vacation to find a man's body on their daughter's bed. The initial investigation leads the team to believe either the man or the killer was a squatter: There's a camera in the living room with pictures of the apartment's furniture to put it back just as it was left. More pictures from the camera lead them to the New York Ledger, where a paperboy who was using knowledge of vacation holds to squat is apprehended. He spins a wild and unbelievable tale of three men chasing him from one apartment to another. They don't believe him until a check of the other apartment yields another dead body. The search for the mysterious third man leads them to a pet shop below the first apartment owned by a South African, who just received a shipment that included snakes from his home country. The story is that the three men were going to steal the snakes for the smuggled diamonds in them, but the deal went south and the third man killed the other two, which leads them to the third man: The first victim's brother-in-law, who worked at the airport and had known about the suspicious shipments.

Meanwhile, Castle is featured in the Ledger for being New York's ninth most eligible bachelor, a fact that he's proud of until it's pointed out that the article also links him romantically with Beckett. He tries desperately to hide the info from her, but a witness to the case spills the beans. While at the Ledger, Castle gets the number of (and then subsequently scores a date with) New York's third most eligible bachelorette, mostly to quell the Beckett rumors. Beckett, jealous at this, gets Lanie to hook her up with a hot New York firefighter for a date. The pair end up choosing the same restaurant to take their dates: a very high-end restaurant that you have to know someone to get in. Their dates are derailed by the case, however, and after everything is said and done, Castle and Beckett head to Remy's for burgers instead.

Tropes
"Beckett: They always put the really hot guys in the summer months."
 * Camp Straight: As Castle is admiring the 19th century apartment he's in, Beckett calls him a metrosexual.
 * Double Date: Unintentionally; but by the end of the night, they've abandoned their dates for the case.
 * Everyone Can See It: Especially the Most Eligible Bachelors reporter, who hasn't even met Beckett. Lampshaded later by Ryan: "Do they know they're finishing each other's sentences?"
 * Firemen Are Hot: Brad Dekker, Beckett's date, was Mr. July in FDNY's latest calendar.


 * Good Scars, Evil Scars: Anton Francis (the second dead man) has a crescent-shaped scar on his cheek: "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..."
 * Grammar Nazi: Zig-zagged. After complimenting Ryan on the correct use of irony, he uses "you and I" in the predicate of the next sentence.
 * Impersonating an Officer: "I...sometimes forget I'm not actually a cop."
 * Pair the Spares: Castle's and Beckett's dates hook up as Caskett are leaving the restaurant.
 * Screams Like a Little Girl: Castle lets one out after the second body tumbles out of the fridge. Surprisingly, no one comments on it.
 * Screw the Rules, I Have Connections: Beckett pulls some strings to get into the high-end restaurant, surprising Castle, who didn't expect she had the kinds of connections to get her in. (He, of course, has plenty.)
 * She Cleans Up Nicely: Her dress at the restaurant.
 * She Is Not My Girlfriend: This is what Castle insists to the reporter that thought so. She thought he and Beckett were romantically involved because he couldn't stop talking about her (the previous year, all he talked about was himself.)
 * Shout-Out: "Why are you so obsessed with some motherfreakin' snakes on a motherfreakin' plane?
 * Shown Their Work: The first victim was killed by being injected with an overdose of ketamine, better known as an animal tranquilizer, but sold illegally as a hallucinogen. Turns out the trio were going to use the drug for its intended purpose.
 * SoCalization: In Alexis's 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.