Espo Has a Crazy Ex Girlfriend on ABC’s CASTLE

Sonia Reveals So Much More Than Espo’s Romantic Past

This episode was billed as a chance to look into some of the reasons why Esposito has been less than lucky in love. But the truth is, fans got quite a bit more than that:

We learn that Esposito’s greatest wish was to be a cop, a dream he almost threw away to help Sonia escape. But in the end, he did the right thing and turned her in, because, he said, had he turned his back on what he believed in, he could never have been worthy of her. That says much about the man he is, but even more so the fact that he never told his family what had happened, choosing instead to tell them that Sonia had broken up with him, because they loved her, and he didn’t want them to think ill of her.

That sort of loyalty to the people he cares about is not a new trait for Esposito – he ultimately stood by his ex partner, even though he struggled with the secrets that Ike had kept from him, including that the other man had faked his death. But these two events in his life tell us more about another thing fans may long have speculated over: his cynical distrust of Castle’s disappearance, and for that matter, why he reacted so strongly to Ryan’s undercover past.

Now we know that Espo has been betrayed by both the woman he loved and his former partner — two people who were closest to him in the world, who made choices that left him out in the cold. Any wonder then that he could see that happening to Beckett as well? I’m sure the reveal of Montgomery’s past, the man who had mentored the whole team, didn’t help there, either. Who do you trust when you can’t trust the people you once were closest to?

Well, Ryan for one. He came to his partner’s rescue more than once, even trying to keep Espo’s little AWOL trip with Sonia hushed up so he didn’t incur the wrath of Captain Beckett. But there was also his family. We meet his grandmother, cousin and aunt, briefly, when he and Sonia stop by for family dinner night. The family even knows Ryan well when he drops in to help look for an escaped Sonia. It’s a bit of a rewrite for the character that spent Christmas with strangers because he had no plans a few years back, but it’s delightful and that helps, a lot.

NEXT: Linus and Lucy