Welcome to Season Two!! 
LOL.. Yep! Men we don’t know chasing someone we don’t know and killing people we don’t know in a way we don’t know?? What a boring start to what is actually a pretty good episode! and Eek! even worse.. what a start to season two!!
The episode opens alongside a London canal, with an englishman talking into the collar of his 
jacket [ I tried talking to my collar but no one answered]. The white ear plug hanging out of his ear is 
ohhhhh so subtle.. What baddie could miss that??!! LOL.. there’s another guy doing the same thing! An old guy gets on a boat, where someone is wearing a wire to record a deal which is about to go down..
Three men are inside- they ask the guy’s name and he replies that people who know his name don’t tend to live very long- the old guy is buying diamonds from these men.. only he double crosses them all in the blink of an eye, he shoots all three of them before they have a clue what’s going on (or can even make a sound for the wire to pick up-LOL!) The baddie tells Inspector Keaton to come in and ‘collect his rubbish’.. uh oh.. he seems to have brought underwater breathing apparatus 
with him.. so he jumps into the canal and makes his successful getaway leaving a calling card: ‘The Mongoose’
Inspector Keaton: My God! It’s him! Duh duh duuuuhh…
Ok guys, how does the Mongoose manages to shoot the three men one after the other without one of these men managing to pull out a gun or even a word in reaction?.. this was a tense hand over, surely they would have been ready for action? weird..
I’m thinking maybe this mongoose is not that clever and cunning, the agents are just incompetent! 😆
On to New Scotland yard..
Hoooo Haaaa! What an entrance Lee Stetson makes to Season two!!!
After waiting 5 months for the premier of season two, it must have been heart stoppingly good to see this sight again! We find Lee looking gorgeous as ever – [no thanks to the disappearance of the side part!!! UK Immigration refused it entry on the grounds of Human dignity..] Does anyone reading remember this season starting???
Lee is talking to Billy on the phone about the mongoose.. Let’s just take a moment and check out that view!!…..
Oh yeah.. and the view out the window of London isn’t bad either 
Calling all readers in the UK! – I know you are out there!! 
Where geographically is New Scotland yard? Is it on the opposite side of the thames to the houses of Parliament?? With views of it across the way like that?
Oops.. so one of those men who was killed was an American agent (named ‘DeMarco’) who accidentally became involved with the mongoose.. thus why Lee is there I guess..
So, Mel Stewart earns his keep this week as a voice on the telephone a couple of times- not a bad gig if you can get it
Seems a piece of paper with the name ‘ Conrad Walter Barnhill’ was found at the murder scene 
along with the calling card, and a casino chip.. LOL Lee makes it sound like their new lead on the mongoose is all down to this one american agent, DeMarco and all his ‘legwork’.. oh dear.. yes the british couldn’t have contributed anything? LOL..
Billy says they have a lead on this name.. someone who knows Conrad Walter Barnhill will be arriving that morning to help identify him.. Love how Billy tells Lee the flight this person will be arriving on- and hangs up without telling Lee who it is 🙂 I can just imagine Billy having a big grin on his face as he hung up on Lee!!
Doesn’t Lee look all determined and tough [but fashionable and very well groomed 😉 ] on the phone? Love how he gets so worked up pointing he makes the lamp on the desk wobble. hehehe..
Next thing we cut to Amanda- Amanda: Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. [I think the joke here is – this kind of thing always happens to Amanda!! You can just
tell Lee is thinking- want a bet?! ] Amanda and Lee are sitting on the 
top of a double decker bus.. ( and going by all the sights – this looks like one of those tourist buses that goes on a loop lol! )
Amanda: I mean, I got to the airport, I went to the baggage claim, I picked up my bags, or at least what I thought were my bags. I mean, they looked like my bags, they’re brown with a stripe.
Lee can’t believe it.. just can’t believe it.. of all the people… It’s amazing that Mr Tough Guy Lee can deal with Russian double agents, and hit men..but surprise him with Amanda in a tiss and he gets so worked up !!! She really gets to him in a way no one else does.. I bet he finds that really unsettling!
His reaction is very interesting!! Why do you think he reacts this way? I think there is more than one reason and a few clues…
Amanda: I went through customs, I got on the bus, I opened my small bag to 
get my hairbrush out, and look what came out.
Lee: Whoo! career girl!…. 
Amanda: Now look. These things belong to a Miss, um, Trixie Berlinger. (Trixie?.. ROFL!!) I’ve got to get her clothes back to her.
Lee: (Lee lets out a big sigh..) Ahhh.. Sure you want to give up this stuff? could be a whole new you! 
Hoo haa!! like to see Amanda in that red number would you Lee??!! Well.. it’s a good sign Lee’s distracted by the sexy outfit and forgets to be grumpy about Amanda’s arrival – just enough to tease Amanda about it.. Amanda’s look of horror as she realises others can see it and tries to quickly stuff it back into the bag is sooo funny!
Amanda: Lee, I’m serious. I feel terrible about this.
Lee: Amanda, I know you are sorry. You can just bet Trixie is sorry. I know I’m sorry. So do you think 
that we might be able to put all this sorrow behind us and get back to work, huh?
I think Lee was all excited to have a lead on the Mongoose.. only to find- uh oh.. he has to deal with Amanda and all the drama that comes with her ( drama: including his own reactions to her!) – I think he would have preferred not to deal with it.. Lee just wants to get on with the job without all of Amanda’s complications..
Amanda: I’m sorry — I mean —
It’s just that I’ve been in 
the same clothes for twelve hours and —
Lee: Only twelve?
Amanda: — London is such a beautiful — What do you mean “only twelve”?
Lee: ahh… Nothing, nothing. I can’t believe — You are the one who knows Conrad Walter Barnhill? [LOL poor Lee it is taking a while for him to grasp this isn’t it??!!]
Amanda: Yes. Connie Barnhill. We went to high school together. But I don’t want to see any old friends in clothes that I’ve been in for twelve hours!
Lee: Amanda, this business with Barnhill is not going to be some class reunion! He —
[Oh my.. I think Lee doesn’t seem to want Amanda worrying about what she looks like for another man!! ]
Amanda: Lee.
Lee: What?
Amanda: I have nothing to wear!!
Lee: Oookay. Okay, I will contact TWA, [plug plug!!] they’re very good [plug plug!!], and they will help you figure out this whole luggage problem. Then I will take you shopping. [Whooo hooo!]
Amanda: Oh, no.. you don’t . . . you don’t have to do that.
Lee: I insist. I can’t believe I’m insisting, but I am.
Amanda: Well, let’s just remember that this is an honest mistake. It could happen to anyone!
Lee bites his tongue here and just gives her a glare.. nooooo!!! this would not happen to just anyone!! This has Amanda King written all over it! I think Lee is cross that once again he is doing 
something he can’t believe he is doing for Amanda.. she gets him to do things like no one else can Shopping!!!! While he is trying to catch the mongoose?? Lee is in work mode!! LOL!! But.. she manages to get him to do it Is it 
just me or did anyone else regret there wasn’t a scene of them actually shopping together? I 
would have preferred that to the boring set up of the mongoose we started with! LOL.. the 
scene ends with another plug for TWA.. did they sponsor the smk cast and crew to come to the UK or something??!!
I shall finish there.. Lee and Amanda off to do some shopping.. Lee looking after Amanda, Lee can’t help himself.. he tries to be grumpy with Amanda.. but he just can’t quite make it stick!
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this reaction of Lee’s to Amanda’s arrival!! byeee
"Just walk with me.." 
#2019 rewatch
I have been missing out on all the fun. Working full time and going to grad school. Anyway, I think the pictures of Lee with his hair not perfectly in place are really cute. Some of the faces Iwsod caught with the pics are really funny, too. Love it!
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#2019rewatch
Hey Audra!!! So glad you are jumping in! Kids and family and church have presented a busier than unusual start to the year for me, also, and my comments haven’t been as numerous as usual. But clagjanet picked a great episode for our Feb rewalk! Looking forward to reading your other comments!
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#2019rewatch
First off: The talking into the collars had me ROFL!! 😂 Especially the guy that’s raking or whatever and he keeps doing that while talking into his collar!! Sir, I’m sorry- I think people are going to notice the talking into the collar. You can stop fake-raking.😂
Now, secondly…whether you think season 1 ends with Lee & Amanda on the Princess’ back porch in WFG or, in revised order, with them celebrating the new Porsche on Amanda’s back porch as in CBAH, this first glimpse at them on the bus in Season 2 is quite an interesting contrast. I feel like there is a bit of a pattern in these European episodes: a Lee attempting to be distant and less-than-enthused at the beginning, but by the end moving back towards that pull and connection with Amanda. Maybe TPTB did that so they could play with the airing order, but from a character development standpoint, it is an interesting cycle for Lee. Isn’t it interesting to ponder whether Lee felt overseas assignments might help him get back into professional agent mode away from what his new, uncharted and indefinable work environment was becoming with Amanda in the US?
It’s also interesting that in this particular episode that was chosen to be the first of this season is one that contains no other regular cast members (aside from Billy’s brief voice moment), which really gives a lot more screen time for Lee & Amanda and focuses in on the two of them working together without the rest of their agency team.
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#2019rewatch
In other words, Lee adopted the credo: out of sight, out of mind.
Yet Billy wasted no time eviscerating that plan. “Poor” Lee, he just can’t catch a break because he’s stuck like glue to Amanda!
Welcome back!
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#2019rewatch
Thanks for the welcome back, Nancy! I’m at a slight pause in real life craziness, and have been dying to get caught up on my JWWM rewalk time!
Out of sight out of mind definitely seems like it could be what Lee was aiming for!!
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#2019rewatch
The photo in the canal boat cracks me up. I’m sure it seemed like a good idea to film it somewhere intriguing and terribly terribly British like a canal boat, but it’s also obvious that the ceiling is too low for anyone to stand up straight and impossible to film. So what they end up with looks exactly like a bunch of guys lounging around an opium den – probably not the image the show was aiming for.
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#2019rewatch
S&MK was ahead of its time utilizing a canal boat, but didn’t exactly have the details squared away. Nowadays, canal boat and river barge cruises are all the rage even though headspace is an issue! Your comment made me take a closer look and I realized they must have shrunk the two men leaning against the wall because there’s a stark contrast in body size versus The Mongoose and the man sitting on the end of the bed.
You picked an awesome episode, Janet!
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#2019rewatch
The image iwsod captured of Lee sitting on the London bus … facing forward … eyes closed … fingers intertwined … he appears to be praying!
The burning question in my mind: what would Lee be praying for?
That he doesn’t murder Billy Melrose next time he sees him?
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#2019rewatch I think he is praying that he will see Amanda in that bustier! (Just kidding – it’s too early for that).
I always wondered why not one of the 3 police officers on the boat had a weapon at the ready. They had to know how dangerous this guy was and it’s not unheard of for unsavory types to be armed so it wouldn’t blow their cover.
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#2019rewatch
Well, Lee is a virile, red-blooded male and a man can fantasize … can’t he? Lee Stetson: “Well you never know. Maybe one day … “
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Watching Lee and Amanda while shopping in London would have been gorgeous. 😀
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I wish we had gotten to see Lee’s face when Amanda stepped off the plane at Heathrow. Might he have been a little glad to see her? I think so, though he’d try hard to hide it. As for the luggage mix-up, I get that it was a joke, but I’m sorry that Amanda was the butt of it – as you note, Lee’s reaction seems to say, “This kind of thing happens to you all the time” (ie, he’s not surprised she would pick up somebody else’s suitcase, because she’s a ditz). But although Amanda sometimes has trouble operating in Lee’s world, because it’s an alien one to her, she is extremely competent in her own sphere. There’s nothing ditzy about this lady, who manages a household, raises kids and even maintains a secret other life as a part-time spy.
Picking up the wrong suitcase is a mistake that could happen to anyone (that’s why there are all those signs at the airport reminding you to check carefully). I think Mrs. King was perhaps a little distracted at the thought of seeing Lee again – or perhaps he was standing off to the side of the baggage carousel, impatiently looking at his watch and grumbling as she waited for her luggage to come down the line, so she grabbed the first one that looked familiar.
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Aha Season Two how glad I am to see you. I think season two is my favourite looking Lee, not too many dodgy jackets (we shall not mention the hideous turtleneck of Broomfield Hall) and his hair isn’t too long. I shall savour every moment 😉
I agree the opening bit with the Mongoose is a bit too slow, especially for a season opener. Don’t envy the Mongoose swimming in canal water urgh!!!
I am not a Londoner, only been there as a tourist myself but am pretty sure they are on a tourist bus, London buses are not generally open topped from what I’ve seen. Loving Lee’s reaction to the red basque, very risqué for a family show. He is totally imagining Amanda wearing it 😉 I can understand Amanda being worried about not having clothes to wear but I just don’t get the whole issue of wearing clothes for 12 hours?! What does she normally do? Change twice a day?
For some reason the insistence as keep calling him Conrad Walter Barnhill really bugs me. I mean his middle name is Walter presumably. So why keep referring to it? And Connie? Not sure how it translates in the US but over here it’s a girls name. And every time she calls him that I hear the song A Boy Named Sue in my head LOL
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The european episodes are great, the bus scene is hillarious. But I can not wait until they start to speak some german 😉 I am very much looking forward to read how this works for non-speakers.
I changed an long standing addiction for a forum I have outgrown to a new addiction to your blog and am much happier with it. Thank you! You make my day.
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Agreed!!! Not only are the locations gorgeous, Lee’s never looked better 😉 haaaa..
I am excited to hear your thoughts on the upcoming german -related episodes – Hmmm you want to write a post about how they use german in the episodes Julia? or do you have another idea you think could be fun?? Your addicted to my blog? haaa me too! glad it’s not just me.. smk is my hobbie LOL!
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I’m glad that it is your hobby!! 😉
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I remember very well seeing this episode for the first time because that viewing was only in March of last year. I had had to wait six whole weeks for S2 to be released on DVD after watching the last episode of S1, and it FELT like five months! As an Anglophile who’s been to England quite a few times, I had the double thrill of seeing a new SMK (at last!) as well as an episode set in London. Paula, my husband and I did the same thing that you and yours did–“Look, that’s the Embankment! Remember, we walked to Covent Garden!” I really love these European episodes.
The scene on the bus is great; Lee just can’t believe that this woman who has infiltrated his work life in Washington so thoroughly is now showing up on his overseas assignments, too! I think that on some level, he’s glad to see her, though; he jokes about Trixie’s clothes and makes funny faces throughout the whole ride. As you say, Paula, that line of Amanda’s about having nothing to wear is just like a spouse’s to a spouse, and so is Lee’s resignation about taking her shopping. (That will serve him right for not being more welcoming!) I think he’s annoyed by this talk of “Connie” Barnhill; after all, Amanda has a history with this man, no matter how innocent it is, and that’s irritating to Lee. All of the references to “normal” high school life probably grate on him, too, because of his rootlessness. You’re right, though, IWSOD–“he tries to be grumpy with Amanda… but he just can’t make it stick.” And I would love to see Amanda shopping with Lee–asking him for his opinion on clothing choices, perhaps? LOL!
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Tell me the truth, Lee, does this blouse do strange things to my face?
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LOL Paula! he would probably give that look like he did when Amanda asked if he had any orange lip gloss! 🙂
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https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=new+scotland+yard&hl=en&ll=51.498698,-0.126686&spn=0.006572,0.021136&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=6.387522,21.643066&hq=new+scotland+yard&radius=15000&t=m&z=16
Here ya go, a link to the map
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Thanks Anne that is really clear! they really did play with the location! I am surprised they included any scotland yard at all – after all.. this is an american show, which must have the americans be the heroes alone.. the uk law enforcement are just bumblers! – maybe MI5 put their collective foot down and said no!! you can’t make us look dumb.. film it so you are working with scotland yard! haaa!
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Well I’m English but I don’t know London
I just looked it up on Google maps, though, and while New Scotland Yard isn’t too far from the Houses of Parliament, it’s on the same side of the river and quite a few streets further ‘inland’ from it. 🙂
I’d have thought with this being an intelligence inter-agency thing, MI5 would have been handling it and not the Met police? Although if the Mongoose is killing people in London, fair enough. I don’t know if this is explained in the episode, I haven’t rewatched it yet 🙂
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I just love that scene where Amanda is trying to get Lee to understand her need to freshen up, and he’s being so dense! Such a man. That line and the way she delivers it: “Lee, I have nothing to wear!” Makes me laugh every time. I think I’ve used that tone on my husband a few times.
It was especially fun watching this again because I honeymooned in London since the last time I saw it. So now I’m looking at the sights and calling to hubby, “Oh look! There’s Kensington Street, where we picked up the Underground. Hey, see where Barnhill’s holding Amanda at gunpoint? That’s the Royal Albert, where we saw Handel’s Messiah! Sure wish I realized that at the time we were standing RIGHT THERE!
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