Did tonight’s Castle prove why Castle is the great father that he is? Find out below!

It’s family dinner time you guys! Alexis is acting kinda weird and Kate doesn’t think that she is handling her dad’s disappearance well. Castle, not one who turns away from attention, isn’t concerned. They are all called away to the crime scene of a body found in an ice cream truck. Talk about loss of appetite.

Our victim, Anton, went to graphic design class at night and when the boys go to look at his portfolio, it’s been wiped from the system. His teacher said that in the last class he attended he got really upset and got in a car with a guy. That guy turns out to be an ex-cop who was also murdered previously that day before Anton.

Back at the crime scene, CSU found something of interest. Someone witnessed the murder, and it was a second grader from a Mrs. Ruiz’ class. Poor kid. However, the youth cop and Mrs. Ruiz can’t get anyone to tell them what they saw. Kate has the brilliant idea to send Rick undercover because he’s such a kid at heart. Obviously.

Castle not only has to win over the 20 second graders but their teacher Mrs. Ruiz who doesn’t see the point in him trying to talk to the kids. His idea? Have the kids write down a story and from that he can potentially glean clues as to who has recently witnessed a trauma. Not his worst idea.

The first kid who Castle befriends wrote about a giant with a gun so Castle goes and plays army with young Jack, and it’s adorable. However, Jack got his inspiration from a movie that his older brother was watching. After an afternoon playing fairy princesses and tea with Emily, he learns she didn’t witness the crime but is suffering from a bully, obnoxious Jason. Castle tells her to stand up with her inner strength and she does by punching Jason the next time he bullies her. Castle is no longer allowed to continue his experiment.

(Via Tumblr)

Meanwhile, Kate and the boys discover that Anton and the ex-cop were using a PO Box as a drop and that potentially the Russian mob is involved. Yikes! They end up tracking the Russian caller to a house where he unfortunately has been tortured to death. Wait, scratch that, Dmitri wasn’t tortured but he’s still dead and the person he potentially tortured got away AND Dmitri has been dead before the other two murders but by the same shooter.

As Castle is saying his goodbyes to his new friends he notices a drawing stuck in his jacket. The team also gets a gift from Anton’s dad, a packet of blank passports, and he also knows Dmitri from when they lived in the old country. Kate goes back to the school and they search the kids desk. Turns out our mystery drawer is bratty Jason! And Jason doesn’t like Castle, so Kate gets him to talk.

Jason, it turns out isn’t our witness, but rather his half-sister and Anton’s graphic design teacher Natalie. (There is no way she was able to hide in the truck, FYI.) Long story short, the fake passports were supposed to get exploited Russian immigrants passports to go back to Russia after coming here and being forced to work in horrible conditions.

The problem is that Anton got a picture of a Russian war criminal from his past and having the picture to ID him, killed anyone who had seen it. Where is the picture now? At Jason’s desk at school. Guess who is at the school when they get the photo? Our Russian! Castle uses the same trick on our killer that Jason used on him previously, marbles, to fell our villain.

Alexis hilariously put a tracker app on her dad’s phone and it’s time to have a talk. It’s been a while since we’ve had a classic Alexis/Castle moment. Best Dad award goes to Rick as he got them matching scooters! Adorable.

Side Notes and Quotes:

– Nathan Fillion’s physical comedy was a bit smaller this week but still hilarious.

– Now who wants to build an ice castle? Me!

– Seeing Rick with his daughter is like a glimpse into the past with Alexis. So sweet.

-Castle knowing all the kids names after probably 24 hours is amazing. And incredibly sweet.

– Emily asking if Kate plays princess with Castle is awesome.

-“You’ve been here for a day and you already have a nemesis?”

– Jerkface. Frog breath. Enough said.

What did you think of ‘Castle’ season 7, episode 4?

Next week looks to have a bit of a thriller vibe going as the show takes on cyber stalking. Have a great week and look for news on episode 5 of Castle later in the week!