The words flow easily from his mouth when he’s in a sticky situation.
Explanations.
Fabrications.
Truths reimagined for the greater good.
The deadlier the situation, the heavier the weight of his words.
It’s silky, listening to them, watching the way he can talk himself through almost any situation in the world, save one…
His coworkers/ friends/ surrogate family.
Ever noticed that when it comes to them, and them alone, he has a tendency to keep his mouth shut?
Sure. The occasional barb thrown about a burrito, a comment about tea, a question to gain deeper insight to his team, but on the norm, Callen is watching, calculating, in short, being silent. Stonewalling.
Where the heck did this come from?
Deeks has no problem with words, and, as #TeamDeeks knows, sometimes he has an issue turning them off.
Sam is the ever-present partial-guru of wisdom spoken on the layman’s level. Always quits while he’s ahead. (Or, once he’s achieved “ahead” status.)
Kensi doesn’t hesitate to share her thoughts, only rarely having to backtrack.
So, what’s up with our Team Leader? What is going on in that fuzzy head that brings about the need to stop speaking?
Pick three episodes at random. Odds are, there will be examples of Callen holding his peace in at least two of them.
I picked “Chinatown” from Season One, “Black Widow” from Season Two, and “Backstopped” from Season Three. Not delving in as deep as I normally would, here are the few that peeked out at me.
“Chinatown” – Callen stays silent after Sam tells him he does things, breaks things, but doesn’t dabble. Perfect place for a retort, in my book.
“Black Widow” – Easiest mention is how Callen confidently kills the last remaining shooter: silently. But, there’s also the touching scene when Sam goes protective on G and tells him, “I know this is the only way, but it doesn’t mean I gotta like it.” G’s response? You guessed it.
“Backstopped” – Besides the carsick moments where it’s obvious Callen would rather not be speaking, there’s silence with Kensi whenever she’s trying to get to know him. (His reasoning made sense to her in the end, but it was stonewalling, so I’m counting it.)
Three out of three episodes.
Apparently, to G Callen, silence is golden. Or, stonewalling is essential. Or, keeping your mouth shut makes you look wise.
Or, at least, it keeps one out of a lot of messes…
Yeah, we’ll go with that.
#CallenSilence
I think he keeps his mouth shut because he cares and he’s scared…one wrong word and he might lose them,and they are too important to lose so he keeps silent.
I could be wrong…but hey!
Hmmm. This one sure got me to thinking. So this rambling comment is all Keviana’s fault.
You’re right. Callen seems to run his mouth (and does that quite well) when trying to get out of, or into a situation, while undercover. And we hear a lot from him when he’s picking at his partner about something (or just generally trying to get on Sam’s last nerve.) And sometimes, instead of bantering with Sam, he just chooses to remain silent.
We know he thinks and feels deeply. But he holds back so much. Remember in “Tin Solder” where Sam has pulled G over and is letting him have it about not being there to help with Moe? I still remember the look on his face, and the silence.
He has a lot of information that the other team members do not have access to (with the exception of Hetty who know everything.) And he doesn’t feel the need to blab. He knew Sam had “kids.” And he figured out where Nate was going for his new assignment.
The man is certainly NOT an open book. There have been at least two times when he has shared some personal information with “suspects”: What it felt like when his foster brother was killed by his foster dad, and then what it was like being a scared little kid being passed around from home to home. And both times, he leaves the interrogation room, no eye contact, and mouth closed.
Alright. I’ll hush now. Unlike G Callen, I share waaaay too much.