A Turning Point for Both Brothers

A few more thoughts about how the past affected both Callen and Raymond. In the most recent episode, "If the Fates Allow," we see through the flashback sequences that the events that took place many years earlier were a turning point in Raymond's life. What he did in defense of Callen--beating up the boy bullying him--sent him on a path that eventually led him to prison. Fortunately, the innate decency that was always part of his character, prevailed and his life, in his own words, is blessed. But Raymond's life wasn't the only life affected by these events, and he wasn't the only one whose experience became more difficult because of them.

Callen had 37 foster placements. The placement with Jerry--when Raymond was his foster brother--seemed to be one of the more positive ones, but like all of his foster placements, it didn't last. We learn that he was sent away shortly after Raymond's actions. And this could easily be the beginning of the worst years of his foster experience.

In considering Callen's possible age in these flashback sequences, it's possible that the writers got the dates mixed up (it wouldn't be the first time a detail has been ignored or misidentified) and intended this flashback to be a precursor to his next foster placement with the McPhersons in Bakersfield. He mentions this experience in "Reznikov, N." and recounts that while he liked Mrs. McPherson, his feelings for Mr. McPherson were the opposite because he beat Callen regularly with a broom handle. When Kensi asks if that was the reason he was moved, Callen tells her simply that he was moved because one day he took the broom handle from McPherson and beat him with it.

Callen carried a heavy sense of guilt for the events when he and Raymond were foster brothers because he saw what happened to Raymond as his fault. Instead of recognizing that Raymond made the decision on his own, Callen felt that he "let" Raymond fight his battle for him. It's obvious that Raymond and Callen were close, and after seeing what happened to Raymond, I can't imagine Callen ever letting anyone else fight his battles for him. He would fight his own battles, no matter how big the foe he faced, and that determination seems a likely cause for the multitude of problems that he experienced and his willingness to fight as he grew older. Like Raymond, Callen had an innate sense of decency; also, like Raymond, Callen had an innate sense of responsibility. And like Raymond, Callen had no support system. Both had to survive in the system.

Raymond got caught up in illegal activity after his experience with Callen--possibly a result of his stint in juvenile hall--and eventually ended up in the prison system, serving several sentences. Callen continued being shuffled through the foster system, unable to put down roots or gain a sense of belonging and fighting battles on his own, ending up briefly in the juvenile system. Neither Raymond nor Callen were arrested for committing violent crimes: Raymond's crimes involved drug use and Callen's involved thefts. Callen could easily have ended up in prison not for committing violent crimes, but, like Raymond, for being disposable to the system. But he didn't because Hetty intervened. It could be argued that she should have intervened years earlier, but that point is moot; however, although Hetty gave Callen an opportunity, she didn't make him into the man he is. His innate qualities of decency, fairness, and responsibility were always part of him, just as they were always part of Raymond. Callen was, because of Hetty, given the opportunity earlier than Raymond was to let those better qualities that were instinctual to his character govern his actions. What Hetty gave him was a sense of security because he no longer had to worry about surviving. He finally had a support system. If Hetty hadn't seen those qualities in him, would she have intervened as she did? Perhaps, out of a sense of her own guilt feelings over Clara's death, but it's questionable whether she would have devoted much interest in training Callen to be the exceptional agent he is.

It seems that the episode brought these foster brothers full circle: when they were kids together, Raymond's action in defense of Callen made him determined to defend himself and not rely on other people, turning him even more into a "lone wolf," and now, when they're adults, seeing how Raymond has turned his life around and built a better life because of the love that he's let into it, may be just what Callen needs to "surrender" to his feelings for Anna and begin to build a life for himself that's grounded on love.