Debating Deeks: What’s Going on With Densi, and Why Can’t We Tell?

Sure, most of us don’t like secrets, and in this case our favorite couple may be hiding a beaut from their friends, co-workers and the legions of Densi stalwarts who have been praying for the two to come clean and declare their love to the world. What’s been going on lately? Since Deeks decided to step back from the intensity of their relationship, something seems to have been brewing. Viewers have been picking up on little subtleties in the partnership that have been making people wonder if something is going on behind the scenes between these two. Diane and Karen P. decided to take the issue head on and discuss what Densi could be up to… 

Karen:  So I guess the question to start with is, what exactly is happening between Deeks and Kensi? Are they sleeping together? As in together, together? Ironically, that’s actually been my head canon since “Spoils of War,” more out of spite to the writers who won’t show us what’s really happening, and not because I’ve had any real reason to believe it. But I suppose if you look hard enough, you can see evidence that would support this version of events. Like the pointed innuendo in “The 3^rd Choir” about getting someone pregnant. That look on Deeks face when he told Kensi, “Not yet” certainly seemed telling. And discussing baby names? And Kensi letting slip to Granger that Deeks doesn’t always remember to wear underwear, then denying just a bit too hard that she really knows?

Diane: That scene made me realize that something was definitely going on that we are not privy to! And you can’t tell me otherwise! Something has changed between the two. There is just a different vibe surrounding them as well. This is a couple that has definitely begun to move on from the trauma they experienced and found each other waiting in the aftermath and they actually exude contentment. I don’t think I’m imagining it either.

Karen: I like your adjective there, “contentment.” I see it too. But I’m not convinced that the reason for it is an advancement in their status. If they are together together, what changed, and when? It seemed that Deeks returning Kensi’s knife in “Three Hearts” signified a clear retreat on his part from a relationship. Did we misinterpret this somehow, or might things have shifted since that time? I don’t know that we’ve seen any real reasons to believe that’s the case.

Diane: I also thought that after “Three Hearts” their thing had taken a break. I never felt it went very far because of that little smile Kensi gave towards the end as she was walking away. She knew Deeks would be back eventually and she didn’t look worried at all. Deeks was still following the Gurkha’s advice too… to take his time. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that something happened after the Talia vs Kensi catfight [in “Deep Trouble, Pt. II“]. She was jealous that Talia was making moves towards Deeks but towards the end of the episode they were BFFs. What would have made that whole mindset turn around like that… Perhaps the look Deeks gives her when he tells the restaurant owner Kensi would make a beautiful bride? He was serious and he meant it. Could the turnaround have happened then?

Karen: Sure, I could imagine any number of events since “Three Hearts” prompting some movement, and your theory could be exactly right. But I could also interpret what we’ve been seeing as them just living together. As in sleeping platonically on the sofa. Going back to post-“Spoils of War,” I never believed that Deeks would have left Kensi alone on their return from Afghanistan. I have to believe he was taking care of her and they just pretended to have not seen one another to keep the team and Hetty in the dark. The opening of “Praesidium” showed us that this has happened at least once (although doesn’t it feel like so many more times simply from all the fan fiction we read?). And the whole carpooling-going green-saving the planet stuttering response to Granger in “The 3^rd Choir” screamed of two people who are nervously covering something up. Kensi’s “Partners” question/statement in the post-DoJ interview boatshed scene in “Praesidium” felt to me like her frustration with wanting something more, with her wanting the word to mean a deeper type of partner than Deeks intended it.

Diane: I think they are outwardly trying to hide any indication that there is a love story going on here. Sam and Callen like to tease, Granger is not happy about it and who knows what Hetty’s view on the whole relationship is? Your guess is as good as mine. Once again, they have shared something very traumatic in common and perhaps they want to help each other in private get over the pain. In the course of doing so they resumed their physical relationship as well. It doesn’t surprise me that the two would go hand in hand.

Karen:I could definitely see that, but maybe the opening of “Praesidium” was just a freak, one-time occurrence. I think this is entirely possible, even though it contradicts all our previously discussed evidence. I wouldn’t put it past the writers to want to toy with us Densi fans and be deliberately misleading. Maybe it’s just what I want to believe, but my guess (wish) is that Deeks and Kensi have been hanging out platonically a lot, but Deeks has maintained his knife-returning, non-relationship position. All their pointed innuendos are just that- innuendos, not really any different from their usual banter.

Diane: No, there is something more than platonic going on here. If Deeks wasn’t ready for a permanent thing, I doubt if he would be asking her if she would want to move in together. Kensi’s still not sure yet, because that is a HUGE commitment on her part so she jokes with him… but I think she has got to be secretly happy about the prospect. I know a lot of people want to see proof something is going on but all I can say the devil is in the details if you are willing to look hard enough. But I love the subtleness of the whole thing. We have been demanding for the past five years to see a much more overt show of their affection but I love the fact that they are probably having this little affair right under our noses.

Karen: One viewer’s delightful subtlety is another’s continuing frustration. It’s no secret that it drives me nuts that we are spending any time at all having to guess what’s happening between these two. Anyone who read Gayle and my previous debate about keeping secrets knows that I’m not a fan of these types of mysteries. If anything is going on between these two, even regular platonic sleep-overs due to PTSD, I want to know about it. It seems I’m in the minority here, and that having to wonder and guess makes for entertaining speculation for many other fans. I just feel like I’m missing out on things that I’ll never get a chance to see. Like the first time they slept together for real pre-“The Frozen Lake.” Like heart-to-heart conversations about their trauma and their hopes and their thing. I know such personal storylines aren’t part of the formula of the show, but come on. You can’t build something up for more than four years and then just leave us wondering.

Diane: I too have expressed my frustration in the past over the progression of Densi’s relationship. Two people supposedly in love don’t act this way and I don’t care what profession they are in. Hormones and Mother Nature will eventually win out. But I get that a lot of things were thrown in the way to disrupt the relationship from flowing naturally… getting tortured can do that to a person. But things have settled down and they are back to the routine of everyday life and either they move on or they move in. I think they are on the verge of moving in. Whether that ever happens, I don’t know. But what I do know is that life isn’t going to be easy for these two. It’s going to take a long time before they ride off into the sunset together. Eric Christian Olsen mentioned in one of his interviews that the couple has stepped over the line because of the relationship and Deeks will be forced to go back to the LAPD. But this is what makes a love story great because they will fight to be together and Densi fans will demand a happy ending even if takes twelve years! As long as a real and loving relationship exists between the two as we go through the series, surely, they will always find a way back to each other.

Karen: The idea of waiting twelve years for a happy ending does not make me happy. Sadly, I can almost picture a series finale, season 12, where Callen finds out his first name is Gomer, and in the token Densi-focused scene, we find out they’ve actually been married for eight years and have adopted three kids. I watch the show to see Deeks’ and Kensi’s relationship evolve. If it’s evolving behind the scenes, there’s really no reason for me to watch. I’m better off sticking with fan fiction.

Why keep the audience on the outside? Why not let us in on the secret, so we can enjoy it with Densi while the rest of the team is clueless? Didn’t the writers’ mothers teach them that it’s rude to keep secrets? I guess I need to keep working on my patience, which I know is extremely lacking.

Diane: Gomer! Whoa! I still can’t get that image out of my mind!  But we digress…

Here is where we differ… as much as I don’t necessarily like secrets, if there is a relationship going on right beneath our very noses I have to take my hat off to the writers. They really caught me off guard!! I expected them to eventually declare their love in front of God and country. But instead I love the fact that these two are keeping their little tryst a secret from the world around them! Look at what happen the last time, Hetty sent Kensi off to the other side of the world for one thing! They have no intention of letting that happen again.

Whatever is (or isn’t) going on with Deeks and Kensi will someday be revealed. It may happen soon or it may take a while, but we’ll all be tuning in to find out. In the meantime, what do you think is happening? And how do you feel about the approach the writers are taking in telling Densi’s story?