1. Who would kill an ice cream man? This week’s episode seems to be following the trend started in “Clear & Present Danger,” with little mention of Castle’s disappearance and a very case–heavy narrative. The mystery in question? The murder of an ice cream man, found shot inside his own vehicle. How are all the kids in the neighborhood going to satisfy their sweet tooth now? Speaking of little kids, the case only gets more interesting with the realization that there may have been a child witness.
2. “I’m 90% kid anyway.” When initial questioning yields no answers, Castle decides to go undercover in Mrs. Ruiz’s class to try and figure out which child may have witnessed the murder by gaining their trust. The scenes in which Castle hangs with these little ones are some of the cutest in recent “Castle” memory. Castle is adorably inept and ends up the target of many of their pranks, but at the same time makes some sweet connections with one little girl who coerces him into participating in good, old–fashioned tea time.
3. Connect the dots Meanwhile, Beckett, Ryan, and Espo discover that our friendly ice cream man was a young Russian named Anton who attended graphic design classes at night. After his teacher leads them to an ex–cop, they realize that the ex–cop was murdered the same day as Anton. More clues then lead them to a third victim named Dmitri, who they initially think was tortured, but it turns out, he was doing the torturing instead—clearly the person he strapped into a chair was not so pleased.
4. Standing up for yourself doesn’t always end up well Remember that girl Castle played with? She ends up punching the class bully, Jason, after Castle encouraged her to stand up for herself, and Castle is subsequently fired. But after saying goodbye to the kids, Castle finds a drawing of an ice cream truck inside his jacket, which he assumes was left by our young witness. The drawing turns out to be Jason’s, except Jason isn’t the witness—it’s his half sister and Anton’s graphic design instructor, Natalie. (No, we don’t now how she hid in a drawer in the ice cream truck.)
5. Passports and immigrants are not–so–surprisingly involved Natalie reveals that Anton was in the graphic design class to forge passports for illegal Russian immigrants, who were being mistreated. Dmitri and the ex–cop were both helping him and Natalie with the project. However, they ended up receiving a photo of a Russian war criminal famous for being unidentifiable. Dmitri, the ex–cop and Anton were all killed in the pursuit of this photograph, which is now in Jason’s desk at school. Beckett and Castle return to the elementary school to retrieve the photo but end up getting attacked by the perp. Fortunately, they are able to apprehend the war criminal using some techniques Castle learned from his time in the classroom. Looks like someone got schooled (yes, pun intended and necessary).
Missed our other “Castle” season 7 recaps? Read them now.
"Montreal" (Aired on 10.06.2014)
"Driven" (Aired on 9.29.2014)
