Category Archives: G. Callen

Callen’s Corner: 50 Shades of Blue

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When I’m feeling blue, all I have to do
Is take a look at you, then I’m not so blue…

Lyrics from a well-known song and oh-so-true for many Callen fans out there (including the contributors to this post).

Tuxedo, uniform, checkered shirt, doctor’s outfit, polo shirt, swimming gear or plain shirt – Callen looks great in almost anything!
But there is one thing – or should we say one color – that suits him best.
It’s the one thing that highlights one of his most striking and beloved features – one that is mentioned in many fanfics, one that is reason for a lot of squeeing, one feature even G’s neighbor Elise blogged about: his striking blue eyes.
Surely there is no Callen fan who has not sighed, squeed and swooned over those eyes, especially in a certain lighting up in Ops…

…but before I start rambling about G’s gorgeous blue eyes let’s go back to what this post is supposed to be about – the one color that we love to see G Callen in most.

You all know what I am talking about: Callen wearing blue – light blue, dark blue, greyish blue, purplish blue, caribbean blue, midnight blue, blue check, blue under a jacket, blue under a doctor’s coat and many, many more…

So here we go – feast your eyes on “50 Shades of Blue”!

(We realize these are more than 50  but we thought you – as Callen fans – wouldn’t mind getting a little more G!)

Feel free to squee as much as you like!
(And yes, of course, you will find the Caribbean blue shirt in this collection as well, just keep watching!):

 

Thanks to Vicki, FanGCallen, Richtsje, justdreaming, Bee, Keviana and sindee for contributing to this post and squeeing with me! It has been a pleasure! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

[1/5/14: Original post; 11/2/15: Repost due to a “certain movie world premiere”… 🙂]

Callen’s Corner: Lowering The Walls (Stonewalling, Part 2)

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We’ve contemplated about Callen’s stonewalling tactics recently. Now we think it’s high time to take a closer look at those moments when G lowers his wall and lets us see a little of his innermost thoughts and feelings – those scenes that add an intriguing vulnerability to the otherwise badass agent.

Reznikov2

Despite his constant deflective behaviour when it comes to his private life, we‘ve managed to get some glimpses of Callen’s past. Just bits and pieces, often emotional ones, but they add to the mysterious puzzle that G Callen is and make us feel with him.
When questioning Alex Walder in S1x6, „Keepin’ it real“, he shared a story of his past as a foster kid – a rare moment.

Callen: There was this kid. Jason. He was a couple of years older than me, and I lived with him in a foster home. He looked out for me. Not for any other reason than it was just the right thing to do. He used to make up these, uh, “G” names for me: G-Money, G-Ride, G-Force… One night, our foster dad got drunk and he beat him to death. I felt bad ’cause I didn’t do anything to help him. I still do. Who killed Brandon, Alex?

Keepin it real
Agent Giordano thought he might have made that story up to get Walder talking – but when asking about it, Callen sidestepped her question and didn’t answer, the stonewalls were back up again.

Giordano: Wow. That was pretty damn cool, Callen. Any of it true?
Callen: Rick Pargo. You know him?

It is possible that this story is not real, that Callen only invented it, but I don’t think so. With a past like his I doubt that he would make a story like that up.

Callen’s stonewalling is a direct result of his trust issues and often leads to his going lone wolf again. On those rare occasions when Callen opens up it is mainly Sam who is on the receiving end – which is proof that Callen trusts Sam more than anyone else.

Search and Destroy, S1x4
Sam: You looking for someone?
Callen: One of my pit stops as a kid was a couple blocks from here. Wonder if I’m passing anyone I used to know. Not that it matters now.
Sam: If it didn’t matter, you wouldn’t have brought it up, G.

In S3x1, „Lange, H“, Callen revealed to Sam (and only Sam) what he remembered about his past in Romania – again, that scene is a huge sign of trust between the two partners. Despite his reluctance in the beginning, Callen shared his moving memories with Sam:

Sam: How do you know this place?
Callen: I was born here.
Sam: You got 30 minutes.
Callen: To do what?
Sam: To tell me what just happened on the beach.
[Callen glares at him]

 [Romania. Auto trade warehouse. Sam and Callen are checking their guns]
Sam: You gonna tell me what spooked you?
Callen: You said I had 30 minutes; it’s only been seven.
Sam: How long is it gonna take you to tell me?
Callen: About a minute.
Sam: Then you got 22 minutes.
Callen: Goooood. That’s the third time you’ve stripped that pistol. You’ll wear it out.
Sam: Yeah, just load your ammo, okay?

Lange, H 2
[Callen sighs, drops his weapon, stares at Sam and hesitates. Sam looks at him, waiting. Callen sits down and starts his tale]
Callen: Those memories I told you about–the guy giving me the toy soldier. I always just assumed that’s where it took place–on a local beach, kids playing.
[Callen reminds the football players on the beach]
Callen: I was making sand castles.
[He’s back on the beach; he has put the tin soldier on his castle; the day is very sunny – Callen shakes his head; he’s touched – He looks at his buddy]
Callen: This is where I’m from, Sam.
Sam: How can you be so sure?
Callen: I remembered…
[Words are not easy; tears appear in his eyes]
Callen: …a woman.
[At the beach, the woman with a large hat is laughing]
Callen: My mother.
[Little boy Callen is busy with his castle. Two men come; one of them stops in front of him; gun shots. The boy gets up at the sound: the 2nd man is lowering his gun, the woman is slumped in his armchair]
Callen: [Angrily] They shot her.
[The agents exchange a long look… Callen lips quiver…]

However, in the course of the five seasons of the show we have seen him starting to open up a little more towards Kensi and Deeks as well:

S5x4, Reznikov, N.
[Bullpen. Reinhardt’s ID on screen. Deeks stands up and gives G a photo]
Deeks: 1980.
Callen: I was ten years old.
Deeks: Bakersfield.
Callen: Oh, yeah, the McPhersons. They had a trucking company. They were my…tenth foster house.
Kensi: How long did you live there for?
Callen: Just a few weeks…I actually liked her. I used to help her with her gardening.
[He chuckles]
Deeks: What about him?
Callen: Not so much. Used to beat me with a broom handle.
[Deeks and Kensi exchange a look. G doesn’t look at them]
Kensi: Is that why they moved you?
Callen: They moved me because one day I took the broom handle out of his hand and I broke it over his head.

Reznikov N 2
Whether Callen shared this piece of information with Kensi and Deeks on purpose or he just let it slip accidentally while being caught up in his memories – it is proof that Callen (consciously so or not) is finally starting to open up and let the team members in, at least to a certain extent.

And then there were those few times when Callen shared memories and thoughts with people he somehow identified with and thus allowed himself to lower his external as well as his internal walls. The following scene with the boy Alex from S4x20, „Purity“ might be perceived as an act of stonewalling because G evaded answering the questions properly but for those who know about Callen’s past it sheds a little light on his days in foster care:

Purity
[Alex is on a swing in a garden, looking gloomy. A woman accompanies G out of the house, and leaves them. Both have a baseball glove]
Callen: Morning, Alex.
Alex: Didn’t think you’d come.
Callen: I said I would. Got a ball?
[He takes it]
Callen: Let’s toss it. What did you have for breakfast?
Alex: Pancakes.
Callen: Lucky. Pancakes?! Sheesh.
[They exchange balls]
Callen: How’d you sleep last night?
Alex: Okay, I guess.
Callen: If you sleep well the first night, it means you’re in a good place.
Alex: How do you know?
[Callen half-smiles, half-sighs]
Callen: I just do.
[♫ They keep playing…♫]

 Callen also let us have a glimpse into his inner life during his conversation with Walton Flynn in S1x4, „Search and Destroy“. Coming face to face with someone who is so much like him and whose life bears so many similarities to his, we became witnesses of one of those rare moments when Callen talked about things that could be, a possible future, a turn he maybe would like his life to take… thoughts he probably doesn’t allow himself to think under usual circumstances. Just a few sentences – but carrying a huge meaning…

Callen: DOD will do your intake locally, then they’ll ship you off to D.C. for protective custody until the trial’s over.
Flynn: Yeah, right. And one day, we’ll both live in the burbs, barbecue with our neighbours and coach little league.
Callen: I don’t know. Teaching your son how to play baseball sounds petty idyllic.
Flynn: Yeah, it does. But that’s why we do what we do, so others can live those lives.

Search and Destroy
It may be just my impression, but Callen’s character seems to have become a little lighter over the course of the past seasons. Having confirmation now that he once was part of loving family, the growing level of trust and comfort he seems to have around his NCIS „family“ and even his relationship with Joelle (wether still intact or not) might account for that.

The latest and one of the most touching moments of Callen lowering his walls was seen just recently in episode 6×12, „ Spiral“, and again, it’s Sam with whom he shares his feelings. Not only did we see a very emotional Callen thanking Sam for being there when he woke up but he also acknowledged his thoughts and regrets in the face of death, one among them standing out:

 G: „I regret giving up on believing that I might meet my dad someday.“

Spiral
However, as Sam stated, there is still time for Callen to make up for missed opportunities and lost time. Might this touching moment be a lead-in for some Callen-centric scenes and more revelations in the episodes to come? I sincerely hope so!

What about you other Callen fans out there? Have we mentioned your favorite scene? How do you think Callen’s behaviour has changed over the course of the seasons? And do you think Callen will meet his father someday? If so, what do you think will happen? Will his walls collapse entirely? Will he finally be able to trust and settle down? Looking forward to reading your thoughts on this topic!

As usual, thanks to Vicki,  justdreaming, Richtsje and B for their input and thoughts on the topic as well as ncis-los-angeles.hypnoweb.net for the transcripts and ncislosangelesfan for the screenshots! And last but not least thanks to sindee – for everything she does!

Callen’s Corner: Stonewalling

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„Stonewalling“: The act of stalling, evading, or filibustering, especially to avoid revealing politically embarrassing information.

„The act of stalling, evading or filibustering…“–well, that description certainly fits G Callen pretty well.

We all know that G Callen isn’t one to open up easily. He has outstanding stalling skills, is an expert of evading and first class in filibustering.

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Watching Callen avoiding questions about his private life and personal well-being is stonewalling in perfection. Throughout the last five seasons and the beginning of season 6 he’s made use of different ways and tactics to deflect anything he hasn’t wanted to share with others – which is almost everything that does not relate to his work (and sometimes not even that).

Let’s take a closer look at the „master of stonewalling“ and his various tactics:

1) The use of humour and/or sarcasm:

We saw him use this means in the very first episode of NCIS Los Angeles, S1x1, „Identity“. Nate tried to get Callen to talk about the drive-by shooting and its consequences. This was the first (and by far not the last) time that we’ll see Nate, the otherwise very skilled psychologist, getting the short end of the stick during an encounter with G.

 Nate: Get a note from your doctor?
Callen: You’re my doctor, Nate.
Nate: Yeah, I just get to play around inside your head, though. How’s the rest of you? Aches? Pains? Insomnia?
Callen: Yeah, all of that. Before I was shot.

Identity

In S1x12, „Past Lives“, Sam followed Callen to the house of Kristen Donelly and the two had a conversation about his alias Jason Tedrow. As soon as the talk turned to the personal topic of Callen having been involved with Kristen and possibly being the father of her son, G did the „stonewalling thing“ and started joking to distract from the subject. Sam, however, knowing his partner better than anyone else, did not give in and finally managed to make him admit the truth and reveal his feelings in the end – which is rare for G Callen.

Callen: Okay… So I got close to her. She doesn’t know my real name. The man she fell in love with doesn’t even exist.
Sam: What about the kid?
Callen: He was never a suspect, either, but he did seem a little shifty.
Sam: Who’s the kid’s father?
Callen: I don’t know.

Past Lives

2) Sidestepping

Evading an answer, attempting to change the subject entirely or using an obviously flimsy excuse to end a personal conversation – all these are different variations G uses for sidestepping a topic.

We find a classic situation of Callen stonewalling by sidestepping in the following conversation from S1x16, „Chinatown“– and this time Sam didn’t manage to squeeze an answer out of him – Callen’s private life remains… private.

Sam and Callen are coming into the office together.
Sam: If you tell me you’re picking me up at 9:00, 8:50 I’m curbside.
Callen: I got caught up in something.
Sam: What? You don’t have a TV. You don’t read the newspaper. You clearly don’t spend
any time getting ready.
Callen: Well, maybe I was working out.
Sam: (laughs) You don’t work out.
Callen: I run.
Sam: Yeah, when people are shooting at us.
Callen: Mm-hmm. All right, you know what? I slept in.
Sam: With who? You barely sleep.
Callen: There’s nobody. Come on.
Sam: I think it would be great for you to be in a relationship.
Callen: Sam, how many times are we going to have this conversation? You are my partner, not my mother.
Sam: (with motherly tone): I just want you to be happy and find a good girl.

Chinatown 2

In S5x11, „Iron Curtain Rising“ it is again Sam who saw through Callen’s stonewalling manveuer when he caught him crashing in the gym – only this time Callen is spared an answer by the arrival of „Hetty-Bot“.

Sam: You know you have a house now. You can sleep there. That’s what normal people do.
Callen: I sleep there. I do.
Sam: You’re like a cat that keeps going back to its old place, even though the owners moved.
Callen: What do you want me to say? I’m a creature of habit.
[Sam scoffs]
Sam: Yeah, you’re a creature, all right. Of bad habits.
Callen: What is your deal this morning? Did the kids eat your Cocoa Puffs again?
Sam: Don’t go trying to change the sub…
[Hetty clearing her throat over speaker interrupts him. They stare at..]
Sam: What the…?
[Hetty’s face is on a monitor moving on its own…]

Gym

In S5x16, „Fish Out Of The Water“ we saw a mixture of different tactics – first Callen tried to deflect Sam’s questions by joking and sidestepping and when this didn’t work, he continued with another soon-to-be-discussed tactic – refusing to answer at all:

Sam: So you guys wanna come over for dinner on Saturday night?
Callen: Who? Me and Deeks? … What?
Sam: Don’t “what” me. This is how you’re gonna play it?
Callen: Don’t know what you’re talking about.
Sam: Hope you’re a better liar next time we get in trouble.
Callen: Seriously – your lips are moving, words are coming out, they don’t make any sense. It’s like you had a stroke or something.
Sam: Fine. You can tell me or Jo can tell my wife, then she’ll tell me.
Callen: Ohh – this is about that.
Sam: Yeah, this is about that.
Callen: Well, that has nothing to do with this.
Sam: Oh, so it’s serious.
Callen: It’s not serious, it’s just personal.
Sam ( laughs): So we don’t share anymore?
Callen: Since when are you interested in my love life, huh?
Sam: Since you started having one.
Callen: Excuse me for wanting to keep some things private, okay.
Sam: Some things? You make Howard Hughes looking like an extrovert. I’m talking long hair, germaphobic, save his own urine Hughes.

S5x16
3) Open refusal to answer

As shown in the above quote („It’s not serious, it’s just personal.“ / „Excuse me for wanting to keep some things private.“) sometimes Callen doesn’t use any intricate maneuvers to deflect questions, instead he went for an open denial of answering.

In some cases he has a pretty plain attitude when it comes to not giving away anything of his innermost thoughts as can be seen in the following two quotes from Season 4:

S4x22, „Ravens and Swans“
[Callen is sitting in the armory looking at a file on Grace that Eric found for him]
Sam: “You hiding in here?”
Callen: “No!  Just looking for some quiet to concentrate.  You guys find Vandenberg?”
Sam: “Not yet.” [Sam walks closer to Callen]  “You good?”
Callen: “Do I seem good?”
Sam: “Just a little off your game.”
Callen: “Would you have made a different call at the hotel?”
Sam: “Maybe. But that doesn’t mean it would of been the right one.”
[Callen nods his head]
Sam: ” What’s going on?”
Callen [shakes his head]: “Nothing.”
Sam: “Worried about getting dressed up for the birthday party?”
Callen [laughs a little]: “Yeah that’s what it is.”  [Walks out of the armoury]
Sam: “Okay!  But when you’re ready, you let me know what it really is.”
Callen [turns to face Sam]: “There’s nothing to tell you.”
Sam: “Right!”
[Callen leaves the armory]

 S4x1, „Endgame“
The meeting with Vaziri at the beach where he refuses to talk to him:
Callen: Naseem Vaziri. I know who you are. [he doesn’t take his hand]
Vaziri: Then you know we have a mutual acquaintance. Or we did. Until you killed him. I’m intrigued, Agent Callen. Why you would do such a thing? Janvier must have found your weakness.
Callen: Got nothing to say to you.
Vaziri: Just listen, then. Janvier and I were engaged in a business transaction. He was going to give me a file.
Callen: I’m not Atley.
Vaziri: Atley had a price. Janvier had a price. We all have a price. I just need to find out what’s yours.

Endgame 2

Also, right at the beginning of „Endgame“ there’s a scene where G was stonewalling Sam rather harshly. Later we discovered that this was only a staged situation but Callen’s deflecting behaviour towards Sam is somewhat aggressive:

Endgame 1

This almost aggressive behaviour can also be seen in his encounters with Hunter – only then it is not a staged situation but a real one, revealing that Callen clearly had severe trust issues when it came to Hunter – even more so than usual – which led to Callen closing up entirely.
In S2x24, „Familia“ Callen goes so far as to ditching Hunter during an ongoing conversation.

Hunter: Hetty’s gone, Agent Callen. She told me herself she’s not coming back.
Callen: Well, she hasn’t told me, and since she’s not answering her phone…
Hunter: Then she mustn’t want to talk with you.
Callen: You don’t know Hetty.
Hunter: On the contrary. [Callen leaves her, goes away]
Hunter: Agent Callen? [He doesn’t stop. She calls louder]: Agent Callen! A word with you? — Oh, crap.

Hunter
A recent example for stonewalling by avoiding to answer at all could be seen in S6x04, Third Choir“: With Hetty being in danger Callen is in grave danger of going off the reservation again.

Sam: I hope you know what you’re doing.
Callen: I know exactly what I’m doing. I’m flushing him out.
Sam: Flushing him out. Even if it creates a mob of vigilantes? I want to get this guy, too. I just don’t want to set the city on fire to do it.

 When even Sam questions G’s methods of finding Mattias he simply decides to ignore him and gets in the car.

The most „physical“ example of Callen avoiding questions was also seen just recently in S6x03, „Praesidium“: Callen escaping the DOJ’s questioning by freeing himself from the handcuffs and leaving the boathouse through the trapdoor – choosing a rather wet way to escape.

I can easily say that this scene (swimming, wet Callen having freed himself from the handcuffs) and the reaction of the DOJ lady („Son of a bitch!“) might be one of my favorite Callen stonewalling scenes so far!

So here’s for all Callen fans to savour:

Praesidium2

Praesidium1

4) Turning the tables

My favorite stonewalling maneuver of Callen is „turning the tables“. He is so good at it that sometimes his counterpart doesn’t even realize that Callen has switched roles – much to the delight of the audience.

In S3x3, „Backstopped“ Hunter has switched the teams (much to Callen’s dismay) and Kensi is trying to get Callen to open up a little:

 [Kensi and G. are walking in a residence and run up external stairs]
Kensi: So what’s your favorite food?
Callen: Excuse me?
Kensi: Just breaking the ice.
Callen: Kensi, we’ve known each other for a long time.
Kensi: Yeah, but how much do we really know about each other? We’ve always had Sam and Deeks as these social buffers, and I know you don’t open up to anyone, but still…
Callen: You don’t exactly open up to anyone, either.
Kensi: Yeah, but I’m willing to try for the good of this partnership.
[G. stops and faces her]
Callen: Okay.
Kensi: Okay.
Callen: I’m listening.
Kensi: (chuckles)
[She hesitates, looks at him, smiles, hesitates again, and starts going up again]
Kensi: Just stick to the case.
Callen: Agreed.

Backstopped

I particularly enjoyed the following example of Callen turning the tables during his encounter with Nate in S4x12, „Paper Soldiers“ (sorry, Nate – but how could you EVER fall for Callen’s innocent „puppy dog eyes“? Really?):

Nate: Hey, Callen, wait up. You got a minute to check in? How are things?
Callen: Good. Good. How are…things with you, Nate?
Nate: Great. It’s really good being back. But, well, now that I’m not around so much anymore, I just wanted to make sure you had someone to… talk to.
Callen: You and me both.
Nate: So you do want someone to talk to.
Callen: You know what I really want? I want to meet somebody. How did you do it?
Nate: How…? Well, it’s not really my area of expertise, but, um…I like to lay a foundation first, you know? Get to know them as a friend.
Sam: That’s exactly what I told him.
Callen: But how long, you know, before you ask her out?
Nate: Oh, well, that depends.
Callen: Well, this time, for instance.
Nate: This one was tricky–it was, like…three years.
Sam: Mm-hmm.
Callen: Wow. I don’t think I’d really have the patience for that.
Sam: He really doesn’t. Three years?
Nate: When she’s the right one…you will.
Callen: That’s great. Nate, thanks for the talk.
Sam All right.
Nate: Thanks, guys.
[They leave him]
Sam: And the psychologist becomes the patient.
Callen: He never knew what hit him until it was already over.
[Sam laughs- Nate is grinning; his smile fades away]
Nate: I hate it when he does that.

Paper Soldiers1

But even Callen can’t beat the true master of stonewalling as this scene from S1x24, „Callen, G“ describes pretty well:

Callen had pressured Eric into giving him the address of a person of interest in a case that Hetty had taken him off of. He found that the CIA, specifically his old associate Trent Kort, was already on the scene. After Sam and Kensi arrived, Kort gave them a name of another suspect in the case, Karim Akbari. Callen had Sam call the name into Ops, explaining that Hetty had taken him off the case.

Hetty walks up next to the bullpen to find Callen casually looking through a file, as if he’d been there all along.
Hetty: I’d send you home, but I know that’d only move you from that chair, to that sofa.
Callen: I’m still looking for a place.
Hetty: I just got a rather officious phone call from a mid-level, timecard puncher at the CIA. He wanted to know why we had requested access to a classified file of an ongoing operation. Have you ever heard of, um, Karim Akbari?
Callen confidently looks her right in the eyes and declares: I don’t know anything about him.
Hetty, now looking a bit perturbed: That’s not what I asked you, Mr. Callen.
Sam walked in just in the nick of time, taking responsibility for the call to the CIA, taking the heat off his partner (for only a moment.)
And in that moment, Callen, stepped off into dangerous grounds, a bit too much smugness on his face and in his voice.
Callen: Sounds like the CIA is stonewalling us.
Hetty: I know a lot about stonewalling. (The smugness quickly vanished.) After I finished with the timecard puncher, I called the Director of the CIA who offered to brief us on Karim Akbari. The agent’s name is Trent Kort.

No longer able to withstand Hetty’s knowing stare, Callen looked down at his desk, trying his best to look nonchalant, and failing miserably. After all this time, it seems like G would have learned – Hetty knows. She ALWAYS knows. You can’t stonewall the master.

Callen G

Now, we’ve found numerous examples of Callen’s stonewalling tactics and this list is far from being complete.

However, there are also those moments where Callen lowers his walls and opens up (a little). We would like to shed some light on Callen opening up in a second part of this post which is to come soon.

In the meantime, feel free to share your favorite Callen stonewalling moments with us!

 

Thanks to Vicki,  justdreaming, Richtsje and B for their input and thoughts on the topic as well as ncis-los-angeles.hypnoweb.net for the transcripts and ncislosangelesfan for the screenshots! And last but not least thanks to sindee for taking over the tough job of looking for pictures of Callen coming out of the water – I’ll never put such a burden on you again 😉

Callen’s Corner: Callen And Romance

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Parts of NCISLA fandom were surprised with Callen’s revelation in episode “The Grey Man” that he “has a girlfriend”.

Due to the lack of references to her and the scoops we got regarding Callen and a “romantic arc” that’s in the store for him later in the season some fans were thinking Joelle is out of the game. There were already heavy speculations in place as to whom he might get involved with.

So let’s get our heads around this new information in a round table…

Mary: I am wondering if Joelle was just put in the storyline to make Callen seem “normal” in some sense. After all, over the past 5 years, he has turned down, or simply not pursued potential interests. And maybe there were some dates along the way. I agree that it is in his nature to keep his private life private. The most upset I was about the whole Joelle thing was when Sam was waaaaay to pushy, even discussing G’s personal life with other people. Just seemed out-of-character, and not cool. I tend to stand on the side that prefers Callen single and somewhat lonely. But I don’t want him to be sad and dark ALL of the time. As long as his love life doesn’t become the focus, I’ll just turn my head and “excuse” the writers. Lol.

Vicki: The storylines have been so intense so far in S6, there hasn’t been the time to mention his outside life. Like we don’t always hear about Sam’s family. We’ve been confused over the reference to kids and his daughter for a long time, and only now are we hearing about a son, Isaac and hearing his daughter talking to him on the cell.

ChrisDaisy: Even though I, like Mary, generally prefer Callen as single, I am ok with the fact that they gave Callen some love life in the form of Joelle, it makes the character more believable and „normal“, as Mary said. It just seemed a little inconsistent to not bring her up again all those months after they all „pushed“ him into dating her.
Anyway, I’ve said it before and I still stick to it: I don’t see Callen in a „happily ever after“ relationship. As much as he deserves to be happy, it just doesn’t fit, in my opinion.


He seems quite happy with Joelle, though, which is nice but I don’t think he is anywhere near committing himself entirely to a relationship even though he seems to be longing for it. But then, how can a relationship that is based on lies and secrets work out long-term? It is bound to fail at some point and Callen surely knows that. If this would be something serious he would have at least shown an interest in meeting her parents, I think. It’s a sweet, little romance which does him well (he is much lighter than he used to be) and that is fine – as long as they don’t make this a major part of the show.

B: “What I do know about it is the woman is related to someone that has a connection to Callen’s past, someone that we’ve seen before in episodes,” said actor Chris O’Donnell (Callen), according to TV Guide. “It’ll be fun to explore that part of Callen. He’s such a private guy and kind of a simple guy. … That personal relationship side of him we haven’t really explored that much.” (November 5, 2014)

So if it is Joelle (which it probably is since she’s going to be in the Christmas episode) who is she related to someone from Callen’s past? She could be related to Arkady or a Comescu? There’s also a possibility of Hetty since she was the one who has been watching over him and knew his Mother.

Vicki: Javier’s daughter would be too young – around 17 yo. It’s is someone we’ve seen on the show a few times – only one I can think of is Arkady. But Hetty is from Callen’s past and I wonder about Granger too. A relative of someone from his past does open up quite a puzzle to solve. A SURPRISE Romance, is probably a surprise, because he is still in the relationship with Joelle, although she’s referenced here and there, we don’t get to see her, like we didn’t for ages until the Sidorov case, Michelle. I doubt it would have anything to do with Kristin Donnelly, I noticed a few people brought that up on the comments to the recap. She told him he wasn’t the father, so I suppose everyone keeps wondering if that was true. Why didn’t Callen ask for a DNA test? Just to make sure. I think that Callen is holding back on his relationship with Joelle for many reasons. Who he is and his past. He’s not ready to commit, or perhaps there is no spark there. Which is why a romance will blossom somewhere down the track. Or things go bad with Joelle when she finds out the truth about him or something bad happens to her and Callen loses her. But then that still wouldn’t give him the time to get over her and be ready for a new romance.

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Richtsje: Well… Having heard and seen what we have heard and seen, I think it might simply be another Comescu who’s after Joelle?
Or – I love all this guessing, I do admit – it IS about Callen going to find out more about his father and someone is unexpectedly coming to help. What if he goes lone wolf, all the way back to Russia, and finds another agent coming to assist him? Keep guessing…

ChrisDaisy: My first thought after having read all the spoilers was that it is somehow related to Arkady – maybe a daughter, a niece, or something. Arkady was involved in Callen’s past anyway, he also had some knowledge about his father so this would make sense, in my opinion (plus, I like Arkady, he is one of my favorite recurring characters).

One other thought that came to my mind was Ilena Vadim. She might not be connected to Callen’s past directly but her family is – and very dramatically so. We know that she distanced herself from her family but maybe something comes up, a remnant from Alexa Comescu, a connection to Callen’s past and she therefore makes contact with him. Alexa Comescu did have some details about Callen’s past and his name after all… Maybe this is a little to far-fetched but then, maybe not…

Of course there are numerous possibilities – and let’s be honest, it’s a lot of fun to speculate and then be surprised with whatever the writer’s come up with!

sindee: Yeah, I was surprised (read: shocked) to hear that Joelle was still in the game. It’s not that I don’t see Callen in a relationship or that I don’t like Joelle but, like Mary said, the ‘how’ just didn’t work for me in this case. But, OK, she’s still there… What does that mean for Callen’s upcoming romantic arc? At first I thought with her being in the Christmas episode there would be a big break-up coming up and Callen would be ‘free’ for someone else… but maybe it just means that Callen gets more serious WITH HER… oh, the suspense…

ChrisDaisy: Addendum to the Joelle topic: Not only did Callen not show much interest in meeting with Joelle’s parents (maybe I am interpreting too much into that scene but at least that’s how I perceive it) – but he did paperwork instead. PAPERWORK! I mean, we’re talking about Callen here – he NEVER does paperwork… So what do I make of this?

sindee: ROFL Good point !! 🙂

B: How come he didn’t meet her parents? After dealing with the Grayman case and telling Kevin Turner that Goodsell was his father had been watching over him and trying to help him who was now dead probably had more of an impact than he thought. Not knowing who his father is and wondering if anyone (besides Hetty) had been watching over him growing up or even now.

Why hasn’t he mentioned her? Like Sam, Callen keeps his work and personal life separate. Remember we didn’t know that Sam was married until Season 3. Granger, Kensi and Deeks didn’t even know that Sam was married until season 4.

ChrisDaisy: Having rewatched that last scene I am thinking that maybe he was just looking for some alone time to collect his thoughts and to get his head clear after this for him highly emotional case…

sindee: That’s a nice thought… fits his character perfectly IMO…

Note on the side:

ChrisDaisy: I am really racking my brain on how this relationship is working practically. I mean, do they always stay at Joelle’s place? If so, wouldn’t she want to see his home? And if she’s been to his place – what does she make of the fact that his house is practically empty? That should have struck her as being weird, shouldn’t it?
Anyway – too much into detail, I know…still curious, though…

 
So… we know you have been waiting long for a new “Callen’s Corner” and we dive right into it with such an ’emotional’ topic…
Let us know what you think. What are your thoughts about Joelle? Who will Callen have his “romantic arc” with? Could it be Elise? Kristen Donnelly? Someone related to his parents? Or someone related to Arkady? Tracy? Or maybe the real Ilena Vadim? Another Comescu who is still alive? Questions upon questions…