Castle and Beckett uncover the bizarre case of a safety inspector, Alan Masters, who keeps surviving attempts on his life even after being repeated declared dead (to Lanie’s frustration), with Castle becoming convinced the man is a superhero and hoping to become his mentor.
Tropes:
- Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: Dave, the guy Alan fired left a voicemail filled with these threats, beginning with “I’m gonna stab you with a rusty spoon and strangle you with your own intestines.” Alan thinks that Dave is a bit irritated.
- Do I Really Sound Like That?: When Alan and Lanie have a Castle and Beckett moment:Beckett: Oh my God, is that what we sound like?Castle: I certainly hope not. I mean, it was cute but just overly cute.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Dave Barton seems easygoing and apologetic a lot, but it doesn't take much to get him to describe violent fantasies towards people who agitate him (something he blames on living with his mother-in-law).
- Insistent Terminology: Castle is pretty disapproving of Alan referring to his notes about his daily life as a diary instead of a journal, feeling that the latter sounds more mature and cool.
- Love-Interest Traitor: Alan's love interest Gwen was the one running the synthetic heroin operation at the lab on behalf of her actual boyfriend Horatio, and was also responsible for the attempts on his life.
- Made of Iron: Despite several injuries, Alan just won't die. He is pronounced dead several times, only to revive within minutes. He survived poisoning, an explosion, and being shot in the forehead.
- Magical Asian: Invoked. The owner of a triad front comes across as a Blind Seer able to catch falling things by sound and claiming to sense the presence of someone immortal when Alan is near him. But he’s really just trying to stall them while the other crooks escape out the back with drugs and its unclear if he’s even really blind.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: It’s never revealed exactly how Alan keeps surviving near-death experiences while being declared as dead.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Twice. After it seems Alan has been killed for real, Castle mourns that it’s his fault for focusing fantasies on him and not paying proper attention to things that could save Alan’s life.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Both Beckett and a whistleblower at a place Alan inspected think the mob is after Alan because he threatens to expose improper toxic waste procedures. The mob is after him, but actually it’s because He Knows Too Much due to having seen chemicals being used in drug manufacturing at a different place he inspected.
- Why Won't You Die?: Practically spoken word for word when Alan's attempted murderer sees that he survived the third attempt on his life.
