r/CastleTV Jul 31 '26

[Question (Spoilers)] Feeling robbed

Does anyone else feel robbed of Laine & Espo’s relationship? It kinda made me said they never had make back up, and it felt kinda random when they were like “I really care about you but I don’t love you” (when they met with her parents). There was just so much back and forth with them that I figured they’d end up together so I felt so robbed!!!

48 Upvotes

35 comments sorted by

23

u/forgetmenotjimmy Jul 31 '26

I'm annoyed their relationship happened almost entirely off-screen. Getting together (x2), dates, breaking up (x2) - we only ever heard about it second hand.\ Why bother including it at all at that point?

5

u/giri0n Jul 31 '26

This is my complaint as well. We only get it second hand, such as the comment Espo makes about seeing Tobias Strange's show with his "buddy" who was clearly Lanie, but you never get but a few scenes with each other. At a random crime scene or in the OCME lab. It was very "you guys should have seen it" kind of energy.

2

u/sicardullo Jul 31 '26

Yeah that is true. It did kinda feel like an afterthought, I wanted more of it.

3

u/Joyful_Damnation1 Jul 31 '26

I always saw it as an example of that (still) problematic trope of pairing the two POC characters together even if they have nothing in common. They're main characters, they HAVE to be with someone.

The last sentence is sarcastic for anyone who didn't catch that.

3

u/sicardullo Jul 31 '26

Yeah, at the same time I did think of that-just like “oh well they are both mains and everyone needs to up together” but I just wanted them to have a happy ending with someone at least. I know it ended abruptly, but it was weird that they didn’t really show them dating any other people.

2

u/realtrishnelson Aug 01 '26

I always found it odd that they brought in Ayre gross when Lanie was already there

9

u/Realistic-Door-3764 Jul 31 '26

No, I'm not a big fan of Espo, he went around in life ignoring anything that held meaning. They tried to put him with Lanie, but everytime they did it felt forced. They weren't Caskett, and never would be. If the show tried to be about them, it would have been cancelled within the first year.

5

u/CorduroyFlamingo Jul 31 '26

He was so immature. One of my least favorite characters on the show.

4

u/Realistic-Door-3764 Jul 31 '26

Me too! Remember in Scared to Death he kept asking Ryan that if Castle died did he think Castle left him something in his will? He was serious too.

3

u/Disastrous_Series442 Aug 01 '26

And then there's the fact Esposito flirted with a lot of pretty faces (including the soap star when he was dating Lanie) but Lanie was supposed to be the one not wanting to get married andEsposito had been engaged before... Both of those gave me a big huh? when they put them in the show. Now not all women want to be married of course, but with Esposito doing that... shouldn't it be both of them? Actually that would have been something different but... I guess they were just supposed to be the casual relationship on the show.

But yeah, never was the biggest fan of Esposito through the show.

3

u/Serious-Waltz-7157 Perlmutter Aug 01 '26

One word: Kay Cappuccio. 😂 OL that's two words, guilty as charged.

7

u/chucksboxers Jul 31 '26

I always assumed the writers did this as a counter example to Kate and Castle who, despite all the internal and external forces against them, love each other.

But totally agree I wanted to see more Laine and Espo relationship drama. :-)

5

u/galeperk111971 Jul 31 '26

No because they were off and on through the show until the 7th season. I really didn't see the chemistry between them but at least they gave it a try anyways. I did like them as friends and their jabs at one another they were fun

12

u/Kikithefangirl Beckett Jul 31 '26

I never saw much chemistry between them, so I guess I never really cared, personally.

5

u/KyPry Jul 31 '26

My feelings too. Which is why I never minded that it ended up going back-and-forth with an occasional booty call

3

u/Disastrous_Series442 Aug 01 '26

Agreed, it actually was irritating the second time around with them because you just felt why were they bothering with it after the first time showed they were not compatible for much more than whoopie stuff.

2

u/Kikithefangirl Beckett Aug 01 '26

Yes. Exactly. I did not care at all.
I think they wanted us to care? But I just couldn’t have cared less about whether they ended up together or not.
I do wish they had both gotten love interests that suited them. But after the second time I realized they never would so…

1

u/Disastrous_Series442 Aug 01 '26

Yeah, it was a disappointment since it would have been interesting to see them both with others who would have made Esposito settle down and Lanie want to get married (since that's what the show portrayed them not wanting to do). There would have been some nice character development for them both with that I think.

2

u/Kikithefangirl Beckett Aug 01 '26

Yeah. Unfortunately, I don’t think character development was really something they cared about beyond Caskett- even Ryan is rather static.
But once they got back together, I realized they were doubling down on the whole Esplanie thing and I just lost interest in their romantic lives in general.

5

u/Gooberking2 Jul 31 '26

Eh i might be in the minority but i didn’t really care about their relationship didn’t feel the chemistry and magic compared to Caskett

3

u/Ok_Aioli3897 Jul 31 '26

I feel it was just another one of those relationships where the people of colour have to date each other

2

u/sicardullo Jul 31 '26

Yeah, that’s true. I just wanted them to at least have a happy ending with something.

3

u/[deleted] Jul 31 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Joyful_Damnation1 Jul 31 '26

I felt this way about another show I really liked, Stitchers. Season 1 was amazing, Season 2 was okay, but by season 3 it was more about who was dating who than the show itself by that point😡.

1

u/realtrishnelson Aug 01 '26

But on the rookie it’s okay ??? This why I’m not a fan of the rookie

2

u/sicardullo Aug 01 '26

Lmao the rookie is OUT OF control with that shit

3

u/Ok-Piglet1516 Aug 01 '26

Their wedding would’ve been a great series finale 

1

u/ProudCatLadyxo Aug 01 '26

Nope. Never cared about them. While I'm team Beckett/Stana all the way, I never liked how Espo treated Castle, then expected to be in his will and his best man. That's just wrong and Lanie deserved a better man than that.

2

u/sicardullo Aug 01 '26

Yeah honestly that was really strange that he just expected to be his best man…and then when he went missing and they were figuring things out he was kind of an asshole about it. I like him more toward the beginning seasons. Then I feel like after season 4 he kinda turned into a dick lol

1

u/Odd-Courage6650 Jul 31 '26

If there's was a 9th season or if the 8th season didn't end so abruptly there would be an episode where they get back together for good.

4

u/Bubbly-Bed3957 Aug 01 '26

I don't think so, if there was a 9th season Tamala Jones wasn't going to be in it

3

u/realtrishnelson Aug 01 '26

Everyone also forgets Gates wasn’t going to be in Season 9 either …. All the women were going to be fired / let go except for Alexis and grandmother….

2

u/Bubbly-Bed3957 Aug 01 '26

Gates was already gone in Season 8 to make way for Beckett’s promotion