Castle, Beckett and the team at the 12th investigate when Richie “The Pitbull” Falco a personal injury attorney with catchy commercials that everyone loves is murdered. First they find video of Derek “Lightning” Bolt, a former NFL running back pulling Richie into his car the night he was killed but apparently it was for a case and Derek has an alibi.

When Ritchie’s office is ransacked and all of his case files are stolen, CSU finds a secret compartment in the wall containing a bag filled with rope, duct tape, gloves, rags and chloroform. He also had alarm schematics and glow sticks that had been used in the last 48 hours. 

With Tori’s help, Castle and Beckett follow Ritchie’s trail to the woods outside the city and find where he buried a body bag but before they can open it a masked gunman stops them. He takes the bag, leaving Castle and Beckett behind. Later, video footage leads the team to Mike Sampson, a P.I. that Ritchie used. Sampson stole the body bag but inside there isn’t a body. It’s a dummy that has three holes int he chest. 

Turns out that Ritchie was working to get justice for a woman hurt by her car’s airbags. Years earlier he had worked in corporate law for the car company and had stolen the dummy from a locker they kept to store their prior research and development. But Ritchie’s nemesis and competition The Savannah Hammer killed him when he realized that Ritchie was only out for justice and wasn’t going to cash in on the money this case could bring. 

At the precinct, Esposito and Ryan hone their act for the Policeman’s Benevolent Association Talent Show. They’ve won it the last two years. When Jimmy Kimmel drops out as MC, Castle is asked to step in and says he will do so if he and Beckett can compete in the talent show as well, even though he isn’t a cop. Gates agrees and Castle and Espo and Ryan place a wager on which team will win. 

Kate is mortified. She shares with Martha that she has a horrible case of stage fright and wants to back out but she doesn’t want to let Rick down. When Castle learns the truth he convinces Jimmy Kimmel to step back in, therefore he is no longer needed and cannot participate in the talent show. Esposito and Ryan win for the third straight year with their rendition of Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky?