Javier Esposito

### played by Jon Huertas

The former Special Forces soldier may have started in the ESU (Emergency Service Unit). Esposito worked the Organized Crime Task Force in the 54th Precinct with his partner Ike Thornton. After the apparent death of his partner, Esposito transferred into Homicide at the 12th.

Esposito’s best friend is his partner, Ryan. Not only do they get together outside the precinct to play video games, they also have their own handshakes. He was also a member of Ryan's wedding party. Esposito also appears to have a close friendship with his boss, Beckett, occasionally taking on the role of older brother and confidant. He secretly gives Beckett's mother's file to Castle and helps Beckett with her PTSD.

On a personal level, his longstanding flirtation with Lanie becomes a full-blown relationship in season three. Their steady relationship ends over the topic of marriage, Esposito being for it and Lanie against it. Lanie does make reference to "the occasional booty call" in season four, and they seem to come to terms in "Bad Santa" when Espo says they both deserve long-term commitment - but not with each other.

### Just the facts

* The last thing he wants to think about off-duty is fictionalised crime (1x01).
* Thinks the idea of 'road kill', picking furniture and such up off the street, is gross (1x04).
* Likes to play Madden (football video game) with Ryan (1x04).(But never again on Ryan's "road kill" sofa.)
* Esposito secretly gives Beckett's mother's file to Castle in 1x05.
* Ryan nicknames his partner 'Iceposito' (2x02).
* Ryan and Esposito have their own handshake - two quick, horizontal open-handed slaps (2x02).
* Ryan and Esposito are in a fantasy baseball league (Ryan's blog). Esposito picked Victor Cana three years running (2x15).
* Esposito was working robbery five years ago, at the 12th Precinct (1x07). BUT
* Three years ago (i.e. two years before the pilot), Esposito was still an officer, working the Organised Crime Task Force in the 54th Precinct. His partner was Ike Thornton. Until now, Esposito thought his partner had been killed during their investigation of Victor Racine's operation, after which he transferred into Homicide at the 12th (2x21). According to the NYPD page on Wikipedia, you must already be a detective to work Homicide. Officers assigned to a task force or other investigative detail are promoted to the rank of detective after 18 months, so this should be how Esposito earned his detective badge.
* Esposito has lived in his apartment for 8 years (2x14).
* He also seems to know more than a little about working vice (2x16).
* He once bought falafel from a stand every day for two months just so he could talk to the falafel girl (2x22).
* His badge number is 7049 (Terri Miller's Twitter [photo]).
* Esposito played varsity baseball for three years. He was also in the U. S. Army Special Forces and did the triathlon for two years. (3x07).
* As of 3x12 Lanie and Esposito are dating, and trying to keep it from the rest of the team, but everyone already knows, which Espo finds out in 3x14.
* If Esposito won the lottery he would buy a Ferrari. He always plays his 'firsts' - sex and combat - as his lottery numbers (3x14).
* Espo thinks that Lanie isn't into all the Valentine's Day stuff, but Ryan convinced him to show up with a gift just in case, so he buys her some jewelry "that girlfriends like" (3x15).
* Lanie and Esposito's relationship is apparently now public, as Lanie calls him 'baby' at a crime scene (3x16).
* Esposito tears up when he mentions a cop who survives a shootout only to get killed when writing a speeding ticket; it has to have happened to a partner or friend of his (3x20).
* Esposito and Ryan say it's Montgomery who brought them into homicide (3x24).
* Esposito has done at least one tour of duty in Iraq, presumably in the First Gulf War (4x04). He was a sniper who apparently came home with PTSD, and so is able to help Beckett with hers (4x09).
* Esposito might have been involved in ESU (Emergency Service Unit) sometime before the 54th and the 12th (4x07).
* Esposito and Lanie broke up after Jenny asked when they were getting married. They had a "mega" fight (4x06), but by Ryan's wedding have gotten over it enough to sit together (4x11).
* He has a six-foot female cousin who agreed to be his pity-date to Ryan's wedding. Fortunately, she and Lanie's plus-one (a gay friend) excused themselves so the two could make amends (4x11).
* Esposito played a crucial role in bringing about the death of Jerry Tyson (7x15).

### Spec

Have an idea about some of Javier Esposito's missing backstory? Have at it here...

### Defining episodes

* 2x02 - The Double Down
* 2x21 - Den of Thieves
* 3x12 - Poof! You're Dead.
* 4x06 - Demons
* 4x09 - Kill Shot
* 4x23 - Always - Espo backs up Beckett on her chase after the sniper and they both get suspended by Gates.
* 7x01 - Driven - Esposito assumes the worst when evidence seems to show Castle was responsible for his own disappearance. He's not openly hostile toward Castle, probably for Beckett's sake, but he doesn't seem to trust him.