The episode opens with a guy stumbling along the footpath err sidewalk for Americans 
, he walks along clutching a tissue to stem the flow of blood, and something else we can’t see.. He walks past a 
blue parked car – and we see inside two men who identify the bleeding man as Hadj. They say they put two bullets in him earlier and they had been looking for him.. They wonder if he ‘still has the book’ and say it wouldn’t be smart to go into the shop and take 
the book- errr guys! He hasn’t gone into the shop yet!! LOL.. editing people!!!! naughty naughty.. errr ok guys.. you shot him, want the book and then just let him walk past your car, stand there in front of you for a while, then make his way into the bookshop? why not just grab the guy now? ( ohhhh right!! if they did that we would have no episode! 
) Love the moustaches guys.. I wonder where they rate on the moustache scale.. check it out! http://www.nowthatsnifty.com/2011/11/moustaches-and-crime.html
I thought this moustache scale was a hoot!! It immediately reminded me of this episode!
Anyway, so next thing we see Dotty is in the bookshop.. oh dear.. you don’t think she could somehow get involved in all this intrigue do you? why.. such an smk coincidence! Dotty is ecstatic! Her quest for the book ‘Sky chief rides again’ has come to an end!! whoo hoo!! Love her exclamation ‘ Oh My Gosh!!!’ Love how Dotty just 
starts chatting away to the lady being served at the cash register about how excited she is to find the book.. LOL.. I don’t think she’s interested Dotty!
Hadj finally makes his way into the bookstore, Keene’s nervousness increases as he presses some buzzer and has to listen to Dotty prattle on about books and Dotty’s favourite gifts to give.. Some 
guy with a moustache ( must be a baddie!) makes an appearance when Hadj arrives.. Hadj basically collapses onto the counter next to Dotty – she asks if he is alright and then oblivious she leaves the store as Hadj goes crashing to the ground taking everything on the counter with him.. Yes.. Dotty is deaf!
Keene hands over the book in a bag to the new 
baddie, only to discover Dotty took the wrong book- and he still hasn’t sold his copy of spy chief errr I mean sky chief rides again! The baddie mumbles that maybe it is deliberate that Dotty took the wrong book.. and he rushes out the door after her.
The baddies with two bad moustaches and bad timing see the moustached baddie (sensing a pattern here?) exit the bookshop.. Jamile Carlo?? I’ll go with Carlo..
The two moustaches say they knew they should have followed Hadj in there! Noooo you should have just not let him go in there.. but.. whatever..
Carlo sees Dotty get in a taxi and he follows her in his car.. whooo seems Carlo has taken off his 
waiting for the book tie and put on his chasing down the book stripey tie.. such dedication.. so refined.. I bet he drinks tea! Ahh the 2 moustaches think Carlo has the book so they follow him..
Dotty arrives at a tea room and Carlo follows her inside.. ( LOL.. bet the baddie will have tea!) Ahh and here is Amanda! Amanda and Dotty are going over their plans for Phillip’s birthday party.. Call me crazy.. but Phillip gets three presents? wow.. I thought Amanda was a single mother working on a part time agency wage.. he’s a lucky boy – this party sounds epic! Dotty has come through for Phillip and his most wished for present- Captain Galaxy!!!
Dotty: Toy Town, the last one in the city.
Amanda: Oh, Mother!
Dotty: The clerk said he was glad they were gone. I 
mean, with every shipment, there has been near riots.
Amanda: Oh, Mother, Phillip will go into orbit himself. [I love that line!!]
So, is Captain Galaxy real?? and.. even more importantly- does he have a moustache????
Dotty tells Amanda about the book she has as a surprise.. Amanda loved it when she was Phillip’s 
age.. Amanda can’t think what it is though..yet. So funny how Dotty gets all excited and yells no no noo!! When Amanda was trying to sneak a peak! she’s so excitable! ( I guess yelling like that over looking at the book would make Carlo think she is in on it! I hadn’t thought about that.. oops..)
Whoo in comes one half of the moustache gang.. to get the book off Carlo… whahahahahaa!! Ohhh my goodness.. I nearly fell on the floor with Laughter- he walks over to join Carlo, and finds him: Sipping tea!!! whahahahaa!!!
Moustache guy: I want that book Carlo. I killed for it once. I don’t mind doing it again.
Carlo: Please don’t make me nervous. You see, I have a pistol pointed at your belly. ( Hope your tea is camomile Carlo.. you need to relax )
Dotty and Amanda get up to leave..
Amanda: All right, now, there’s still a lot to do, so if it’s all right with you, I’m going to drop you at the market and then I’m going to deliver this typing and then I’ll pick you up at the market, is that okay?
Dotty: Amanda, I don’t know why you work for a company that won’t give you office space. I mean, you’re never going to meet anyone working at home.
Amanda: Mother, I don’t want to meet anyone right now.
Dotty: Amanda, that doesn’t make sense! How can you not want to meet someone you’ve never even seen?
Too funny! Love how Amanda just chuckles at Dotty here.. there is no response to that is there Amanda, but to laugh!! A fabulous Dotty-ism!
Ok, so at the moment.. Dotty knows Amanda does typing for a company.. It is a little confusing sometimes working out what Dotty knows around this time.. so far, there is no mention of Amanda working for a film company, but I think it is coming up soon..
Oh dear, the deafness is contagious! This time, repeating her departure from Keene’s bookstore, the moustache baddie tumbles onto the floor as Dotty and Amanda leave – and neither of them hear a thing – Love Dotty’s comment to Amanda as they leave!
Dotty: This used to be such a wonderful place to eat until they started serving wine.
LOL.. again all the bystanders just look shocked and do nothing!!!!
[Hey did you see Amanda was wearing blue sneakers in the tea room!! then.. once they are out on the street she is wearing white heels! go check it out!! ]
Dotty and Amanda stop for flowers- flowers for a little boy’s party? Ohhh kaaay…Amanda holds Dotty’s bags for her while she chooses flowers.. and uh oh Carlo decides to make his move.. He 
doesn’t seem to go for the bags LOL.. he just picks up Amanda and throws her on the road ( err i mean her stuntwoman.. poor lady she landed right on her handbag- ouch!) It didn’t look like he tried to steal Phillip’s presents to me.. I think there should have been a line in there about people doing anything to get there hands on a Captain Galaxy!
Love the close up on Amanda’s torn trousers…
Amanda: Look at my new slacks, they’re ruined! 
suddenly she is no longer standing in the middle of the road ahh this episode is a doozie! the 
lighting is all wrong and it is clearly inside! tee heee.. oh what a lovely man that guy is helping Amanda up and patiently waiting for her.. good man! hurray! finally a Washington DC citizen who does something when someone is in distress!!
Carlo heads back to the car, his partner asks where’s the book..
Carlo: She still has it.
Partner: Why didn’t you just tell her you made a mistake?
Carlo: Because I don’t know it’s a mistake.
Partner: What?
Carlo: Hey, you know, we’re not the only people looking for that book. She could be intelligence, she could be counterintelligence, I don’t know.
I keep forgetting here that he is not talking about Amanda.. he is talking about Dotty- being in intelligence work? LOL! she could be working for counterintelligence? teee heee.. Clumsy Carlo is a pretty inept bag snatcher! Off the baddies drive.. and we see the other moustache guy is still on their tail.. and feeling all alone..
Ahh ok so Carlo calls Keene.. Keene’s got to be one of the most annoying baddies or people or whatever in the whole 
entire show of smk.. everytime he was on I thought- get off! you bug me!! (and he has a moustache: a perpetual sweat moustache!)Hey he is Bernie in weekend at Bernie’s!!!! ha haaaa!!! – Another moustache!! Still doesn’t make Keene any less annoying to me!
Love to hear any thoughts you have!!
byee for now!!
"Just walk with me.." 
This is one of my favorite episodes! I’m so excited for these posts!!
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From henceforth this episode shall be known as the Three Moustaches LOL Tea sipping AND all with facial hair, too funny! I am sniggering at Keene being Bernie, with a moustache. I guess he just couldn’t escape the facial hair!!! I am rather glad you have put a name to his face as it was bugging me where I’d seen him before.
Dear me if you’re going to snatch a bag isn’t it better to actually snatch the bag rather than push someone in front of a car?! Methinks Karlo needs some mugging lessons.
The dead baddie catching flies in the restaurant is hilarious. Love that Dotty and Amanda assume he’s drunk, he looked pretty dead to me LOL
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Am I the only one who thinks Dead Man in Tea Shop looks like media mogul Ted Turner?
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Kgmohror.. that is too funny!! yes he does!!!! 🙂 though not because he is dead, or in a tea shop 😉
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Hah, as I read this write-up, I couldn’t wait to comment on Keene, but I see others have beat me to it! Keene is one of my very favorite SMK baddies. He’s so oily figuratively and the actor then makes the character oily literally. Slime personified, although for some reason I end up feeling a very slight soft spot for him, don’t know why! But he makes me smile every time he’s in the scene. He has taken groveling to a whole new level!
Your comment about Dotty striking up a conversation to the lady next to her made me think. I think that’s a regional thing in the US and I’m curious how that plays out globally. I grew up in the midwest and wouldn’t think anything of striking up an excited chat like that with the person next to me in line (well, at least a woman). But my daughter, who is an northeasterner through and through would be aghast at the thought.
Love the mustache exploratory! And didn’t it look like Carlo was fighting the urge to hold out his pinkie as he sipped his tea? Great screencap of Dotty,and Amanda looking at the dead dude as they left the restaurant. It’s the silliness like that that makes me love this episode. It’s definitely a little “out there” from the believability angle, but that’s part of the fun 🙂
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Yippeeee! Hello Patty! so lovely to hear from you!! I hope you are well!!
Ahh it is amazing how we can have such a different reaction to a character – although I suspect given a different mood my reaction to Keene would be different all over again!
I agree he does a fabulous job this actor of playing Keene .. snivelling little weasel that he is!
for me, I can’t wait till he is off the screen – but it makes me feel better to watch himn knowing others enjoy him! 🙂
Yes! Carlo did look like he really wanted to life his pinky tee hee! good one!
It is an unusual episode isn’t it – a lovely departure from the formula – although with a few of the usual inclusions ( ridiculous coincidences for eg! 🙂 ) which- we love smk for!! 🙂
So true Patty, it’s all part of the fun! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
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Oh, I think you’re right, TC. Christopher Lloyd, lol! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7MyDqYMzg0&feature=related
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Does Keene remind anyone else of Christopher Lloyd, or it it just me?
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By the way, Captain Galaxy, the survival training camp episode and the dishwasher wire scene where the only storylines I really could recall in detail from the time I first watched the show as a student. I still love Captain Galaxy and the dishwasher wire scene, but the survival training episode was not nearly as nice as I remembered it.
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Hi Julia, I know exactly what you mean- I feel this way about If thoughts could kill – one of the only eps I remember from watching very young.. I’m glad two of your remembered episodes has stood the test of time 🙂 haaa..
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This is my favourite episode of season 1. I just love Dotty and all the unbelievable things that keep happening to her. I love how they try to make the birthday extra special. I adore Captain Galaxy. If you think three presents a lot I will not mention how many my children usually get. I always thought that Dotty probably is helping out with money on a big scale. And I always wondered, if she moved in after the divorce to help out because otherwise Amanda could not hold the house and have the luxury to spilt her time between family, part time job and charity work.
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Extra special is spot on Julia! 🙂 It is wonderful to see a mum and grandma loving the their kids so much!
Unbelievable things keep happening to Dotty? hmmm.. now who else does that sound like? 😉 haaaaa!
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I’ve been waiting for you to get to this episode, it’s my all time favourite. I love Dotty, she just cheerfully charges through life, she’s such a hoot. This ep is well written as well, it makes a nice change of pace moving the action out of the Russia/USA spy rings. I love it. I particularly love how being under a hairdryer at the salon makes Dotty oblivious to a full on fist fight! BTW Is ‘Sky Cheif Rides Again’ a real book? 🙂
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Hi Cosybookworm! great to hear from you!! I hope as we work out way through the episode you will share any of your insights into this episode – I hope it was worth the wait 🙂
Yeah it is different tone this episode isn’t it.. you’re right it is a nice change from russian spies.. I was very struck by Lee’s comments in the bullpen.. their significance may be better understood by things later in the episode though so I will get back to that – I try to take the episode as it comes and then consider the episode as a whole ( try.. I don’t always succeed 😉 )
Is Sky Chief Rides again a real book? I don’t know.. I am thinking not.. I did a search and only found smk references. do you know how to find these things out Cosybookworm?
You can see in the bookstore it says on the cover it is written by S. Brown – and there is a sylised horse on the cover ( I thought it ironic it was Amanda’s favourite considering how much she was suppose to dislike horses!)..
I kept going to call it spy chief though as I wrote about it.. haaaaa.
Do you have any thoughts on what the title ‘ Fearless Dotty’ could be a play on?
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I looked for the book but couldn’t find info about it. They probably just made it up, I guess they couldn’t use a real title coz they would be easier to find. I always assumed ‘Fearless Dotty’ was just referring to the fact that Dotty never realises she should be worried. For someone who seems to worry a lot in every other episode she just boldly goes about her business in this one. It makes me laugh. I do wish they’d got a better stunt double for Lee though! I like Beverly Garland, I wish she’d been featured more in more of the episodes.
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Sorry cosybookworm I got the author’s name wrong!!! It’s S.Gross on the cover.. my bad!
Let me know if you find it! – Or maybe it is a play on words and refers to another book that is well known?
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I watched this with my husband the other day, and he finds Keene a riot. Says he’s acting like Bob Newhart, playing up the tittering straight-man role. I like to think this is SMK at its campy, implausible best. Keene with Billy later is hilarious…but I digress. Ahem…How about those flowers? Can’t have a little boy’s birthday bash without Captain Galaxy and some begonias.
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Bob Newhart eh?! Yeah.. not a fan! but.. I know alot of people love him! I always thought that jack in the box in Rememberance of things past looked like bob newhart.. maybe there is an ongoig theme here! 🙂
Your husband was watching smk with you? awesome!! any other insights?? (btw I love chicago!!! have always wanted to visit it again!!)
Do you (or anyone) think ‘Fearless Dotty’ is a play on something??? (like waiting for Godorsky is a play on waiting for Godot) because I wouldn’t call Dotty ‘fearless’ in this episode – more clueless.. did Bob Newhart do anymovies?!;)
I was thinking maybe something like Curious George or something?? Hmm I’ll have to pose this question in one of the episode’s posts!
Would love to hear anyone’s ideas on this one!
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