Outside, we see Lee and Amanda turning the corner of a busy street downtown- like they just left Auggie.. wait a minute.. that street looks like the downtown shopping area! Don’t tell me Auggie’s bar is in the heart of the shopping district?! LOL! Anyway.. Lee is in a good mood
suddenly.. and Amanda’s face is suddenly mud free (and thoroughly cleansed.. those mud packs do wonders!) nice of Lee to let Amanda stop off and put herself back together again.. Amanda is too cute with him here- She takes the envelope knowing that he will say she 
doesn’t have a need to know..but she does 
.. he is acting all gruff, and she is all charm – he doesn’t 
fool her, she knows he’ll let her do what she wants. They’re so couple-y here!! Or is it just me? Lee lets Amanda talk him into letting her peek at the 
book! I love the little smile and finger point he gives her when he 
says she can peek (notice only when she has her back to him does he smile at her!) .. like a man indulging someone precious… awh!
They’re too cute!!
Amanda is very playful here.. I love that she knows Lee is a pushover! 
how nice is it to see Lee smiling and enjoying Amanda’s company?!!
Amanda: Well. We’re going to take these pages 
back to the Agency, right? And they’re gonna read ’em and be sure this is the right manuscript, and 
then they’re gonna make some kind of a deal to get the whole thing back, right?
Lee: Yeah, something like that.
Amanda: It’s not a very good deal.
Lee: For once I agree with you, Amanda, but it’s out of our hands. Billy will have to make that decision.
Amanda: No, I mean, these aren’t the pages. This is fiction. This stuff is from one of Harriman’s novels.
Lee: What??!!!!!
Lee slams on the brakes.. I love that we see the glimpse of a smile from Amanda as Lee reacts, thinking: aren’t you glad you let me read em??!
Back to the baddies.. turns out Harriman’s literary agent didn’t recognise one of his novels he sold! LOL!! Moustache Baddie has a brain..he’s actually read Harriman’s novels.. and he points out the scenario is straight out of one of Harriman’s novels – one called ‘Burial in Munich’ ( Munich?!! cool!! Love Munich! )- the baddies are on the trail – and it’s something from his novels..
Next thing, we see Lee and Amanda trying to figure out what to do next.. if they can figure out where the real manuscript is, maybe they can get there before the baddies do!
Amanda: I wonder if he could possibly have hidden it where the- … No. I don’t think he really could possibly have done 
that. [Love the HUH?? look Lee give her as Amanda has this two way conversation with herself! ]
Lee: Amanda, right now we are not exactly overwhelmed with options.
Amanda: Well, in one of Mr Harriman’s books — it was either A Burial in Munich or 
The Dishonored Student, I’m not sure which one. Anyway, the hero had just fallen in love with a double agent-[whoooo a reference to the title!]
Lee: Oh, Amanda…
Too cute!!! All things considered.. Lee is pretty measured in his response to her ramblings! These two are soooo couple-y! That’s all he has to say and Amanda responds: I’m sorry! [and bam! her mind is sharp!] –Did anyone check Mr Harriman’s apartment? [hang in there Lee! ]
Amanda explains to Lee about the plot of one of the novels having a false panel in the microwave.. Love how Lee doesn’t question it, the moment Amanda finishes that thought- he straight away declares: ‘ Come on!’ and off they go in a hurry to Harriman’s home in the hopes of arriving before the baddies! ( LOL! on the wideshot we see they’re parked on the old Warner’s backlot.. man.. that building is in every second episode!)
I wonder if it crossed Lee’s mind that Amanda had had fantasies about secret agents!! since she seems to be enjoying reading spy novels!
As far as I can tell- this is the only ‘double agent’ reference in the whole episode which goes by this title.. Harriman wasn’t a double agent really.. he was just a traitor.. wasn’t he? hmm.. maybe the title is a pun on something else.. you know how SMK loves to do that with it’s titles?? Any ideas anyone? Any famous movies about blackmail or something?? Double anything?
Soooo given I posted about Charity begins at home ( episode 2.05) being actually the final episode of season one- you would be right to wonder what’s going on? how could I have forgotten this episode with the porsche in it? well.. they’ve tried to trick us with a similar porsche!
Season One Porsche:
And.. in this episode only:
See! Different! I think they destroyed Lee’s car in Charity begins at home, rethought the ending of season one..delaying the destruction of the porsche.. and for whatever reason, they wanted this episode to show before Charity so they found a replacement similar porsche.. why? who knows!! They do some weird things don’t they!
Back to the episode! Uh oh.. the baddies get to the manuscript first, we see the baddie flipping through the pages of the manuscript. wow! You can tell they had noooo concept that we would be able to freeze frame and read that stuff! It says things that are really strange!
all about capital punishment.. and blue sky mining! LOL! (I was hoping it would tell us something about operation sandstorm! )the heading ‘ The Suburban Spy’ fits.. but the rest of it is weird – and as he flips through the pages you can see – every single one of those pages says exactly the same thing! Rofl!!! now that really isn’t a good deal! tee heeee!! Ahh these small ridiculous things amuse me!
We see Lee and Amanda pull up out the front of the apartment.. Amanda opens her door to get out but Lee stops her-
Lee: Uh, Amanda.
Amanda: Um-hmm?
Lee: Why don’t you be a lookout? You know, in case we need a quick getaway.
Amanda: Okay.
In the past, I have ( and I know other fans have also) wondered why Lee told Amanda to be lookout.. when we know from Filming Raul that Amanda strips the gears and can’t drive the porsche! I figured it was a continuity boo boo..
However! Now I have watched this episode again, and now that I have lovely clear quality, I can see more detail in Lee and Amanda’s behaviour.. and I think what is going on here is that Lee wants Amanda to stay in the car and not come with him to check the microwave, they know the baddies are also on their way.. and it could be dangerous. Lee also knows ‘Stay in the Car!’ just doesn’t work with Amanda!! So I think he is trying a new tactic here!– It is pretty subtle, but it makes sense..
[We see Lee do this again in Bromfield Hall – he gives Amanda another job to do to keep her out of his perfect hair and out of danger -in that episode he tells her to do very important research in the library and later he admits that had been what he was doing! ]
Amanda has totally bought Lee’s diversion here and even gives Lee a thumbs up as he leaves!! LOL! and Lee gives her one in return- too funny! I didn’t see that in my old blurry version!
Lee heads up to the apartment.. while the moustache baddie signals the other baddie that he has company- Lee’s lucky he doesn’t get shot! The baddie gets away via the fire escape..
Lee runs to the car in pursuit of the baddies.. Amanda at the ready with the job Lee gave her (LOL) starts the car and tries to move.. but..
ohhhh yeah!! She can’t drive a stick! ( we call them a manual in Australia..)I swear BB is struggling to not laugh here!
I think the fact that Lee told Amanda to be the lookout and all that – explains why Lee is actually not very cranky with her here as she grinds the gears on his car. He realises that was a bad idea! He’s only got himself to blame!
I think so much grinding of gears is suppose to be for laughs..but it makes the two of them look a bit ridiculous because it goes on for so long.. Hmm.. let’s call this a traumatic response to watching the manuscript that could separate them zoom off into the distance.. and I’ll move on from that!
Amanda: You know I don’t know how to drive a stick shift.
Lee ( calmly) : Oh I know. ( pause) .. next time, I’ll drive?!
Such a contrast to how cranky Lee was when 
Amanda was grinding gears while the baddie got away in Filming Raul!!
Well I shall leave it there for now! Thanks so much for reading – as always- I do love to hear your thoughts, feedback.. any insights.. suggestions.. gripes about the episode? Questions? feel free!! I’ll be back with more when I can ( the next 3 weeks are VERY busy.. then lots and lots of time for smk!! whooo hooo!! ) but I’ll do my best to post as often as I can – I’ll try to respond to comments when I can but reading and enjoying them no fail byeeeeee!
"Just walk with me.." 
Silliness of sitting in the driver’s seat of a car you can’t even drive and the possibility of it just being one of SMKs plot holes/inconsistencies aside, I like to think of this part as being rather telling and kind of monumental: Lee doesn’t want others to drive his car – which BTW I totally get with regard to the Porsche 😉 – and doesn’t even let the valet park it in “the first time”. Putting Amanda in the driver’s seat and letting her grind away for this long is more than a little indulgent IMO. So even though I’m rather positive that it was not written with that in mind, I kind of like my version and stick with it.
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I completely missed the sneaky Porsche swap! Good call IWSOD.
I love how sneaky Lee is by asking Amanda to be look out. It’s all about how you present things 😉
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Greetings from sunny but cold Colorado!! Thank you IWSOD for the snapshots of the two different Porsches. I never noticed until it was mentioned in a previous post. But you can definitely tell from the pics.
Another good fanfiction regarding SMK cars is: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8151144/1/Car-Shopping
I also like TIff’s Tagalong for “Charity Begins at Home”.
http://amberstockton.com/fanfic_smk.html
Enjoy!
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Hi smkfan! looks like this comment went into moderation.. Ahhh I think because you put two links it in – which is fine.. I try and check daily for comments to moderate – so feel free to post comments with links – just don’t worry if it goes into moderation 🙂
Yes tiff’s tagalogues are really interesting! they are the one fan fic I read regularly.. they take less than 2 minutes to read – often add something to the episode.. and sometimes she offers interesting interpretations of what had taken place in the episode!
It ‘s very kind of Amber to keep them available to all us smk fans.
I think I like my fan fic short and funny! LOL! 🙂
Glad you found the two porsches there to compare helpful! Its very vague but I think I found out about the tricky switch through fandom.. but I had only seen the episode as a child once at that stage.. I was surprised they were pretty brazen! ( and I didn’t notice! LOL!)
Byeee
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Seems that Lee is getting a soft spot with Amanda…I noticed it in last episode too!!! I like nice, teasing Lee better 🙂
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All right, here’s the link. I do recommend this one, though, because this author is just such a joy to read. She has a much longer piece called “A Sixth of a Second” that’ll rip your heart out. Don’t read it unless you’ve seen “Mission of Gold.” Anyway, here’s the link for the shorter, funny piece with no spoilers.
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/835319/1/Drivers-Seat
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Thanks alot Paula!
Short and funny is just what I need right now!
Any others you can recommend that relate to the show up to early season 2 and which stay true to the characters? ie no alt universe stories..
Thanks!
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Awwwwww! Too cute!
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Which is supposed to be a response to Paula’s fanfiction link. SIGH.
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Hi Cindy have you read that story too? what did you think of it? do tell! 🙂
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It was good, kept them in character (hooray!) and gave me a lesson in how to drive a standard transmission (I tried once, with my ex-bf 3/4 ton truck and nearly took out his mom’s gas barbeque and side of her house. What a jerk!).
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That just gave me an awesome visual. ROFL!
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Though I would love to see Lee teach Amanda drive a stick shift, I do not like this scene at all. Maybe it is different, if you are from a country, where there is a larger amount of automatic cars and people who really can not drive a stick shift. I personally know nobody who can’t (if they have a license, I know people who do not have a license).
And usually logic does not need to be very thourough in movies for me, but sit in the drivers seat of a car you can not drive is just too silly. Also that the actors can not remember to have done sort of the same scene in the past is all is too brainless for me.
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Welcome Julia – I think we already have two people here called Julia- so forive us it we get confused! but it is great to hear from you! (can we call you Julia from the uk? 🙂 )
Sound like you may need to read that fan fic Paula suggested..
Lee’s ploy to keep Amanda in the car doesn’t completely explain the grinding for so long.. and why Amanda fell for it.. but.. I love that he tried – so I forgive the silliness of it all – err just a little 😉
It is one of those moments where you just scratch your head and think – do they really want Amanda to look that dumb?! [Cindy, I know you love those moments too!! and there are a few particularly dumb moments coming up in season two.. lol.. we can get narky together and defend Amanda’s character! 🙂 ]
Everyone please feel free to welcome Julia! 🙂 byeeeeee
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Just a little background–it’s very common for people in the US to have no experience with driving a stick shift car. The great majority of cars have automatic transmissions, with some sports cars (like Lee’s) and trucks having manual transmissions. This would’ve been the case in the 80s, too. I spent about a half hour in my high school drivers’ education course with a stick shift car, and then it was back to automatic transmission cars from that day to this one. I’ve always thought that if Lee wants Amanda to be able to drive his car, he should have someone at the Agency (not Francine) teach her. What does he expect her to do, pay for lessons to drive a stick shift out of her own pocket?
By the way, I read that someone asked BB if the Corvette was an automatic or a stick shift, and he said it was an automatic. I think that Lee chose it on purpose so that Amanda could easily drive his car!
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I remember thinking that the Corvette was automatic was significant even as a kid. When he got it and Amanda could drive it, I swooned that he had bought a car she could drive like he really did want her to be part of his life!
Now that I know about this weird second Porsche and the continuity issues, in my mind I reconcile this by thinking maybe he actually got a second Porsche when the first one was destroyed and then after this episode decided to trade it in for a car his “partner” could drive. I know there’s no real evidence for this but there’s nothing that says it can’t be true and it is an answer to the continuity issue that works for my brain and is swoony to boot so I’m sticking with it! 🤣😁
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That is really sweet.
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I really like this too, although I have my suspicions that are nowhere near as sweet. I think Charity Begins at Home was filmed at the last episode in S1, but held back for reasons I got into elsewhere. So they started S2, thinking this would be the first one we saw with Lee’s car in it and they gave him a more modern Porsche, only to have the CBS powers-that-be come down and say “He needs to drive an American car”, thus the Corvette.
There are two elements that make me say this: when they filmed the series “24”, the studio marketing guys actually did make an agreement with Ford that all the good guys would drive Fords and all the bad guys would drive Anything-but-Fords. Secondly, one of the SMK production guys was at the reunion last year and said that they had to get rid of the original Porsche because Bruce kept stalling out and stripping the gears, so they probably didn’t want to give him another standard. 😂
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I have no idea you’re right about why it actually happened! 😁
My story is just for why it happened in the Lee/Amanda universe, not in real-life.
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I also live in that universe and he DEFINITELY got an automatic for Amanda.
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I laughed so hard when I read this on the Mrs. King’s Chronicles recap. I can’t watch the two scenes with Amanda and the Porsche with a straight face anymore. Especially when on this one Amanda says “I can’t drive a stick shift” and Lee says “I know,” because we know BB knows about this issue firsthand! Love it.
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Oh yes! I just LOVE when they dumb down Amanda. Hooray!( /end sarcasm font.) I think the reason I preferred Remington Steele to Scarecrow and Mrs. King at first run when I was a young teen was because the character of Laura Holt was so strong and Amanda’s character seemed to lose her way end of season 1 and most of season 2. It seemed the writers transformed her character into someone bumbling, silly and fawning rather than play her strengths and her knowledge from her world (I hold up “There Goes the Neighborhood” as an example of what could have been.) I wonder if the powers that be thought Amanda was too strong or making Lee and the agents look too inept). Now, I prefer SMK because the manufactered angst of RS gets a bit much to take and the chemistry between Bruce and Kate is amazing.
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Welcome, Julia!
Let’s review Amanda’s accomplishments in this episode. It’s true that she grinds the Porsche’s gears. She also realizes that the pages they’ve received are not from the right manuscript, deduces correctly where the correct manuscript has been hidden, deals with a raft of threatening villains even after they take away the tracking device and the wire that were supposed to protect her, and opens three pairs of handcuffs with the hardware from a belt while the highly trained agent looks on. For me, one of the main themes of SMK is that this untrained civilian is smarter, more innovative, and more effective than most of her professional counterparts. She’s a great partner for Lee from “The First Time On,” and although he’s too stubborn to admit it for a long time, handing her that package in the train station is the best decision he’s ever made. : )
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RedGold I hear you and agree, but there are cringe worthy moments (IMHO), end of season 1/season 2 (don’t even get me started on Class Act). I am glad she found herself again in season 3 😛
And welcome to the fray, Julia!!
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So sorry!! I am awfully sorry for the confusion I caused by using another computer and not remembering which Email address I used to comment so far. I am afraid I am still the old Julia without link. But I am glad to be back to this great exchange after the holiday period, although I missed the opportunity for commenting on one of the european episodes during high frequency time for the episode (I know, it is never too late).
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tee hee!! Don’t worry Julia you are still very welcome! Hope you feel welcomed 😉 ha!
Are you in the uk? or germany?
It is lovely to have you back! 🙂 I will be a bit slow in posting the next few weeks.. got lots of real life commitments- but after that should pick up again.. so you can catch up between now and then maybe! and yes you are absoutely correct – they are always open! 🙂
I love the European episodes too.. and am looking forward to getting back there! ( doing double agent at the moment, then back to salzburg- squeeee!) bye!
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iwsod, I am from Germany but live in UK. Mainly because of the fantastic weather (failed attempt at britisch humor).
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I agree with you Julia- to sit in the drivers sear of a car you know you can’t drive is too silly. It always bothered me that Lee asked her to be ready for a ‘quick getaway’ when he KNEW from before she couldn’t drive his car. And she knew that he knew!
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Serves him right that she ground the gears.
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I’m Canadian and I’ve never driven a stick shift either. The only person who had one that I knew of was Baba, my grandmother, and she first tried to intimidate me by saying it would be too hard to drive and then when I asked her to teach me admitted she just got nervous about what would happen with her insurance. So I’ve never learned. (Of course, I’ve also never gotten beyond my Learner’s Permit with an automatic either, and with the way Alberta has changed their driving manual to the driver’s equivalent of nuclear physics, I don’t see it ever happening!)
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That is so funny, how Lee is becoming shrewd enough to give Amanda an “assignment” instead of just ordering her to stay clear. Smart man! A little tangential, but for a very funny read in conjunction with this episode, a writer named Amilyn on fanfiction.net wrote a little story called “Driving Lesson” where Lee is finally teaching Amanda to drive a stick shift.
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No, I stand corrected. It’s called “Driver’s Seat.” 🙂
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hiya Paula! 3 weeks- and I’ll have lots of time for SMK – yep at the moment I am very busy! but.. I would love it if you could provide a link for this fan fic.. one of the things that stops me from reading them is time! time I don’t have to spend hunting for them.. and I don’t want to spend my time reading something only to find I don’t like it! I’m much more inclined to read one someone has recommended! – but.. not for another 3 weeks! 🙂
Thanks!
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