Castle Episode 7.17 Hong Kong Hustle

Beckett feels as though she's falling behind career-wise when a former colleague gets a big promotion. Fortunately, there's been a murder to take her mind off things. Henry Graham's body is found in a park. Ryan and Esposito find the prime suspect at the victim's ransacked apartment. She gets the drop on them. Fortunately, the suspect is also on the job. Her name is Chief Inspector Zhang of the Hong Kong P.D.

Henry Graham was an ex-con who became a repo man. His boss says he was shaken up after a lunch meeting the day earlier. Chief Inspector Zhang was his friend. She found Henry dead in the park and launched her own investigation. Captain Gates suggests Zhang, who is a supercop, work with Beckett and Castle on the case.

The new investigative threesome check out the restaurant Henry frequented. Beckett allows Zhang to take the lead. She's impressed by her resume. Castle hopes his wife isn't comparing herself to Zhang. Beckett does, indeed, believe the Chief Inspector is just like her-only better.

Despite some advice he gets from Ryan and Espo, Castle fears Beckett's night out with Zhang will turn into a competition. It does for a spell, but Zhang has some sound thoughts on how to achieve balance in life. She explains that Henry stood up for her when she was bullied in school. They never stopped being friends. Again, Beckett is impressed. The fact that Castle believes that Zhang is gorgeous makes her even more insecure.

The victim argued with an FBI agent named Michael Glassman before he was killed. In other news, Henry was kidnapped by a bad man named Billy Hicks before he was killed. Zhang says this man is the reason Henry went down a bad road. It's possible that Hicks killed Henry when he found out he was meeting with the Feds, who order Beckett to back off. Zhang is not happy.

Zhang goes after Hicks solo. She takes down his muscle man at his boxing gym. Beckett arrives in the scene to see that she's taken out everyone else in the place as well. She stops Zhang from inflicting even more harm on Hicks, who denies killing her friend. The guy said Henry was looking to score some cocaine to help a friend.

Zhang isn't the supercop Beckett thought she was. Her life is a bit of a mess. She's mad at herself for not taking an initial call from Henry for help. She was too busy. She feels like she's always too busy for what really matters. That's why she has to solve his murder. After Beckett takes the heat for Zhang's error in judgment with Hicks, the two supercops get back to working the case.

Jeffrey Wadlow is a wealthy property developer who was found with cocaine in his car. He claims he didn't know Henry, but a lot of people stand to gain if he goes to prison. One such person is Mimi Tan, the owner of Henry's favorite restaurant. She's been linked to human trafficking and used Henry to frame Wadlow to close property deals.

When Beckett and Zhang confront Mimi Tan, they learn that Henry came to the restaurant because he was in love with a waitress. The two of them were hoping to start a new life together. Henry was looking to pay his true love's debt so she could finally be free. The killer, however, is the waitress's friend, who couldn't bear to have her taken away from her. Case closed.

Beckett wishes Chief Inspector Zhang the best of luck in finding her balance. At home, she writes a list of priorities for her future. Whatever comes next, she never wants to leave behind what matters most. Castle says, "You cannot leave behind what is always at your side." Nice.