Finally.. no women hunting Tuxedo wearing Lee down.. we can get on with the business of meeting this contact!
Lee: Time is running out.
Amanda: I’m listening.
Lee: Follow her into the powder room, engage 
her in conversation. Ask her if she’s ever been to the Botanical Gardens. She will say no. Tell her not to miss the display 
of Camptosorus Rhizophyllus.
Amanda: What?
Lee: Camptosorus Rhizophyllus. Now, the display opens tomorrow at noon. You got that? Noon.
Asking a woman to remember that when you’re telling her in your tux? poor Amanda.. she looks panicked! I love how Lee repeats it like he just 
asked her to say the ‘green fern’! (I looked it up.. and that’s what it is.. this little guy right here!! SMK teaches me!)
Amanda and Lee head for the direction of the ladies, Amanda repeating her instructions to herself and they are stopped by a guy speaking a foreign language at Amanda! Thank goodness I have access to this script! Now this is where I am very grateful to Petra at smk-land for hosting it, and drprnces for her donation of the script for this episode – thank you both of you!!
The script tells me what he is saying.. Firstly – 
he is Polish! and he says to Amanda in polish: Excuse me, but didn’t we meet at the reception 
for Meyernik last Thursday night? I never forget a face. ( I know the scripting of these lines remains constant as a friend who speaks Polish told me he said this too) –Any polish speakers who would like to comment and confirm this?? I’d love to hear from you!!!
Amanda: I’m sorry. I don’t speak whatever it 
is you’re speaking.
Embassy parties are quite the pick up joint! Love that Lee just stares at the man without guise not quite believing this man is trying it on with him standing there ( He is soooo funny here!!!)
Lee gruffly tells the guy in his native tongue to get lost.. yep.. I’ll just bet Lee knows how to say that in about 50 languages.. that and – Hello gorgeous can I buy you a drink??? 😉 ( and maybe ‘ Just walk with me’ 
)
This little moment is interesting.. as there seems to be a bit of a theme happening here.. Amanda is picked by Billy to attend the party because – she is not known on the embassy circuit. The Italian guy tells her she looks just like a painting of a contessa, and this guy thinks he met Amanda last thursday at another party! yes.. she is unknown.. but everyone seems to think they know her haaa!! and this theme of mistaken identity and people having a ‘dead ringer’ is about to become even stronger!!
As Amanda finally heads for the powder room, Lee breathes a sigh of relief.. looks at the glass, and then has a drink – I Love this!!! why you 
ask? Seems ordinary.. but…. That is Amanda’s glass of champagne! She was holding it from the 
beginning of the episode, as they mingled through the crowd.. Then, she handed the glass to Lee when he first saw the woman heading for the ladies room!!! tee heeee.. Don’t mind swapping spit with Amanda eh Lee?! Haaaa…
So, finally after all this Amanda makes her way to the powder room. After getting over the shock of finding brunette, dark eyed Francine in the powder room, Amanda rambles on explaining how this lady and Francine are different!
Amanda: You know, I had always heard that everyone had a double somewhere in the world but I’d always thought it was just an old wives’ tale.
Finally, Amanda delivers the code, and tells her to visit the Camptosorus (Amanda should have called it Rhizophyllis!) Rhizophyllus at the botanical gardens like she is suppose to blah blah.. Well.. it seems this Francine look-a-like has a look-a-like personality to go with it.. cold as a fish..
Lee watches as the double leaves the ladies.. he doesn’t seem surprised by her resemblance to 
Francine.. Hmm this is confusing.. so he knew then? what was all that looking around for someone who vaguely looked like all women at the beginning of the episode? Lee was not acting like he knew what she looked like! Why would he lie? Did he lie? his behaviour makes no sense to me overall..
Amanda is all excited that the double is putting the exhibition on her agenda.. I love the smiles Lee and Amanda share as she tells Lee this! These two are just toooo cute!!! and very close wouldn’t you say??!!!
Lee!!! You should have warned Amanda that she looked just like Francine. 
You know how traumatic it would be for Amanda to find there are two Francine’s in the world!!!!! Arghhhh!!!!! (I have a nightmare like that sometimes.. )and if you knew she looked like her why were you wondering who it was earlier?? That just doesn’t make any sense.. Leave Amanda alone! Also, he told Amanda to engage her in conversation… that was Amanda’s version of conversation!
Love how Amanda describes the attendant in the powder room as medium height, but holds her hand up at her waist!
He says she shouldn’t ad lib.. well that is ridiculous.. that is one of her great skills! And it would have been fine if she had just been told this was to be expected and all part of the plan! ( I can only assume Lee is concerned the swap planned for the botanical gardens is already set- so they must know she looks like Francine.. )
I agree with Amanda, she had a need to know! Amanda is so sweet to be worried that she has ruined everything… when- It is Lee’s fault! 
hehehee.. (At least Lee is reassuring to her and not angry with her.. that’s an improvement!)
Lee: now I will find you a cab.
Amanda: you wha are we going home?
Lee: wh… this isn’t a date
Lee says this louder than he should have- oops! He looks and sees someone walking past could have heard him- oops.. he forgot his surroundings there for a moment! 
Amanda laughs at him …
and then Lee joins in! Go Amanda! 
Amanda: I know this isn’t a date, well of course this isn’t a date. I was just wondering 
what I’m going to tell my mother when I get back to the house a half 
an hour after I left for a party.. that’s all.
(Lee doesn’t need to worry about these things.. no one knows what he does he explains himself to no one…) Well I for one think Amanda should have hung around the party and chatted some interesting men! and find her own Cab.. I really don’t think Amanda was thinking it was a date.. not to me at least.. But interesting that that is what Lee immediately thinks she thinks.. She is not silly… she knows it’s work, but that doesn’t mean you can’t hang around have a few drinks and a couple of laughs, meet a few more people.. you know.. I think this is one of the reasons why she does what she does- so she can mix with people she wouldn’t ordinarily get to mix with..
As Amanda walks off and Lee ‘recovers’ from this little moment with Amanda.. you see that she affects him.. 
and he is thinking oh man! why did I say that? she was worried about what to tell her mother?? and I thought she would be thinking wrongly it was a date?? when she wasn’t thinking that at all? smooth Lee!!
You know, this episode has an awful lot of Lee and Amanda goodness in the first 7 minutes of this episode!! I had forgotten there was so much going on between them in this episode! I bet there is more ahead!
Back to the house and Amanda is worried her mother is mad that Amanda won’t tell her what is going on. 
Amanda is feeling terrible and has decided not to lie anymore.. so she has told Dotty she can’t say what she went out for.. Ok. I’ll go with that..
Dotty: I’m not angry, dear.
Amanda: Well, then you’re hurt, and that’s even worse. Mother, I know that I’ve lied to you before. In the past I have. But I don’t want to do it anymore, because it makes me feel just . . . awful.
Dotty: Of course it does. It’s totally against your nature. I mean, you were never a secretive child. You always came to me with your little confidences, and I always understood.
Amanda: I don’t think you’d understand this one.
Dotty: Oh, but I already do. I mean, he is married to an impossible woman! They have not lived under the same roof for at least eight months. Bud Marcher! ( Hey if Dotty is thinking Amanda is seeing Bud Marcher – that means at this point Dotty knows Dean is out of the picture! whoo hhooo!!! although, with Dotty’s new theory Amanda may be thinking she thought it couldn’t get worse than Dotty pressuring her about Dean – now.. Bud Marcher?!!)
Amanda: Bud Marcher?! Mother, Bud Marcher is a married man, do you think I went out with a married man tonight? This wasn’t a date, this was business! And I can’t say anything else about it. (Hurry up with that IFF cover, that was much more reasonable!)
Dotty: Amanda, I am not pressing you, am I? I mean, that’s just not my way! If you say it’s business, it’s business. (Dotty is soooo passive aggressive!!)
Amanda: I never dreamed things would get so complicated.
Dotty: Well, they usually do. I cannot find the vitamin C anywhere, so I am going to boil a grapefruit. That’s what your grandmother always did. (BANG! Dotty slams the saucepan down.. nooo she is not pressuring Amanda!! much..)
Amanda: Mother, what is dengue Fever? 
Dotty: Oh my God, is that going around? I thought I was just getting a little head cold.
Amanda: No, no, no. I don’t think it is, at least, I hope not, anyway. Well, I’m going to bed. I hope you feel better. I love you.
Dotty: Good night, love.Business. What kind of business is she in that she can’t tell me about?
I hope Amanda tells Lee it is his fault that her mother now thinks she is seeing a married man!!
Hmmm.. maybe we can add another mistaken identity to the list from this episode?? Adding Francine and her double.. but also.. Bud Marcher!! In reality.. Amanda was with Lee but Dotty is mistaken in which man Amanda was with
As always I am thrilled to hear any feedback you may have,or any thoughts at all you would like to share! Thanks for reading and byeee for now!
"Just walk with me.." 
LOL Dotty’s line about dengue fever and she thought she was only “getting a little head cold” is one of my favorite Dotty line!! And who books a grapefruit?
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Urge Lee you make me so mad ditching Amanda from the party 😦 I just know he was going to stay and wanted to happily go his own way while sending her home. Bad Lee.
As an aside it would have been much better for Amanda to be hit on by some super attractive mean rather than the more mature, hand kissing type.
I cannot fathom why Lee never explained properly the assignment, or the fact that Magda looked like brunette version of Francine. Of course anyone who knew Francine was going to be surprised…..sometimes I think it’s just Lee trying to play his little power games, keep Amanda out of the loop because she’s just a “civilian”.
Dotty as usual is hilarious and I totally agree she’s got passive aggressive down to a fine art! However she really doesn’t know Amanda if she thinks she would consider an affair with a married man!
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Amanda should have just stayed at the party after her job was finished. It was obvious that she could have gotten attention from other men 😉
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I’m with you on that last thought, Leanne! Oh my gosh, Cindy, I could never wait until May, knowing that S3 comes out on DVD the day after tomorrow. Couldn’t you convince your family that what you’d love most are the DVDs on March 20 and then a bouquet of tulips and perhaps a glass of champagne on May 13? Thanks for the mention of the alternate viewing order. I’ll have Petralit’s list clutched in my hot little fist as soon as those DVDs arrive.
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Unfortunately, I have to wait until mother’s day to get my hands on season 3 (and I can wait that long, because I am not obsessed, nope, not me. Not at all. *TWITCH*) I would really suggest you watch it in the alternate viewing order, rather than the aired order though.
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“I love that Lee drinks out of Amanda’s wine glass, though–such an intimate thing to do.” Maybe that’s how he caught Amanda’s cold 🙂
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This made me laugh, Cindy. There are worse ways of catching a cold–and better ones, too. (That’s coming up in S3 and S4, right?)
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I agree with all of you. Sharing a glass of champagne is a very intimate act! Love that Lee just does it so nonchalantly. And I can’t wait to see more intimacy between Lee & Amanda … 😀
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I love that Lee drinks out of Amanda’s wine glass, though–such an intimate thing to do. And he’s apparently unconscious that he’s even doing it. You’re smitten, Lee, and you don’t even realize it.
I’ve always found it interesting that Dotty is so often accepting of what she thinks of as Amanda’s “flings.” It’s a reversal of the stereotypical mother/daughter roles. Dotty is such a great character; she seems to want to live with zest, and IMO, Amanda’s new job adds a lot of intrigue to Dotty’s life, even though she doesn’t know what that job is. I can’t wait to see her reaction to Lee! That’s Season Four, though, right? (Drums fingers impatiently.
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SIGH! I guess I don’t have what it takes to be a spy. See, my first instinct would be to a) tell Amanda what the recognition codes were on the way to the party so she could get used to “Camptosorus Rhizophyllus” and b) if the resemblance between Magda and Francine was an integral part of the plan I would have warned Amanda not to comment on Magda’s appearance. But, then again, I am not a spy, so what do I know?
And Lee, yes, you are irresistible. Extremely irresistible. But sweetie, not that irresistible. You just informed Amanda that Billy wanted to use her as a messenger, so she has probably figured out that this is work related and not a date. Really. You don’t need to remind her – it’s insulting to her and makes you look narcissistic (Unless this is a case of “I think he doth protest too much”, then you are forgiven).
And Dotty’s head cold must be really affecting her if she thinks Amanda would be carrying on with a married man (although, she did think Amanda was having an affair in an earlier episode – Magic Bus?. Maybe Amanda was a real wild child in her youth. Or Dotty was). Poor Dotty – boiled grapefruit sounds awful and I am sure all the vitamin C would be destroyed by the heating.
“Amanda: Mother, what is dengue Fever? Dotty: Oh my God, is that going around? I thought I was just getting a little head cold.” That line cracks me up everytime!
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