On to the memory test!! We learned in Episode 1 (The First 
Time), Amanda has a brilliant memory..(‘Phillip has a great memory, he gets it from me!’ ) and notices the details. Amanda should ace this!!! After all, everything up till now has been demonstrating how Amanda doesn’t really have the brawn of an agent, that is not her strength.. what is her strength? her intellect! Sooo surely they aren’t going to screw around with this big fact about Amanda and turn her into a bubble brain as well as an inept bumbler?!!
The recruits are given items to look at for 10 seconds, and then they are to recall as many as possible..
(Are you guys impressed? Francine can count to 10!! Backwards!!!! whoooo!! 😆 )
Considering how small the items are, and err how far away these recruits are sitting?? It seems they are also testing the recruit’s eyesight!! They give us a close up.. but the recruits don’t get one! 
Anyone with Spidey-vision?
Lee seems to be mentally acing it, and Amanda is concentrating very hard…
They cover the items again. Francine asks for a volunteer who could go first. No one volunteers.. Why do the other recruits look at Amanda like they think she should?? Do they hate her? ( I can understand why Lila would!)
Ah feel the Amanda love.. Not.. ( more for me to be happy about in this ep! Everyone hating Amanda? doesn’t work for me!! not funny..) So to increase the Amanda hating going on.. Francine volunteers Amanda to recall the items first.
Amanda actually says no! LOL that’s pretty rare!
Francine with glee won’t let her off though..
Francine: Go ahead! You’ll be fine! Just do your best and be as specific as possible.
How do you think Francine thought Amanda would go at this??
I remember the first time seeing this I was thinking – yes!! Amanda will show Francine what she is really made of here! this is where her true talent shines!
Amanda: alright ahem.. Ah..
a pair of scissors,
some nuts, a needle, ring, rocks… Ummm…a little Umm ahhh (we see Lee here watching Amanda with a quiet smile – and he lowers his head.. another one of those ‘ Oh Amanda’ looks.. which can be 
charming but now I am just getting annoyed at all this ohh Amanda she is so hopeless stuff! and Lee’s reaction and Amanda’s umms and ahhhs are just excruciating for me to watch! )
..ahhh a blue thing. A wood thing painted blue. (Don’t even get me started on that guy who is once again sitting behind Amanda and scowling at her..grrr!!! ) 
Amanda falls silent, and we cut to Francine looking condescendingly at Amanda.
Well.. I am devastated!!! Of all the character trait assassinations possible, this one is one of the worst!!! Amanda, smiling nervously shrugs as if to say: that’s all I’ve got.
Patronising Francine: err thank you Mrs King. (followed by a fake smile.. or is that a smile of genuine happiness that Amanda has been proven to be as useless as Francine thought she was??!!!! ARGH!) Amanda bumbles the memory test.. the inept bumbler bumbles it. How did Kate Jackson put up with this rubbish?!! I’d say this moment is in the top 5 worst smk moments – and I haven’t seen it in years – and don’t intend to watch it again for another few years! Well.. it seems we have Amanda the inept bumbler, who is a bit dim, in lousy shape, who has a terrible memory.. but she’s lucky! ARGH!! Just what does she have to offer Lee as a partner?? and the agency?? Luck?? ( okay, and enthusiasm and tenacity..but what good is that when you are stupid?! 😉 ) Man I am glad that she gets her brain back after this episode! bad SMK writer!! and bad SMK producers!!! grrrr..
Dr Floyd has a turn: From left to right, 2 walnuts, a 
fountain pen, gold, a wingnut, six coins, quarter, 
two dimes, nickel, two pennies, totalling fifty-two cents. A pair of barber shears, a hyper-dermic needle ( we see here Amanda gapping at him, I can imagine she is now thinking he is the burglar because he did 
something well.. Aie..) a class ring , one blue golf tee, three uncut gems, two diamonds and a ruby, and an airline ticket, dated yesterday, destination Detroit. [Dr Floyd has AMAZING eyesight to be able to get that off this board from sooo far away!!! Me thinks he cheated! I’m not surprised Amanda called the blue golf tee a little wooden thing painted blue! it’s so tiny!! ]
I think the less I say about this the better. Only I will note that in response to Dr Floyd’s outstanding performance, Francine was speechless – didn’t congratulate him.. and just eventually, quietly said: Thank you.
Soooo it goes to show, Francine doesn’t reward brilliance very easily
The next moment, we see the group walking along the road.. Peggy is walking along with Dr Floyd.. and as usual, Lee and Amanda are walking together!
Sure enough.. the first thing out of Amanda’s mouth: There goes our guy! ( Pointing at Dr Floyd) This running gag is really awful, when combined with all the other stupid things she is doing. In a normal episode it wouldn’t have been so annoying but in this episode? it piles on the stupidity!
Whoo but this is interesting.. Amanda and Lee get pretty close together while walking and whispering over who is the burglar…!!
Amanda: Anybody who can memorise all that stuff in 10 seconds could memorise everything in those files in 10 minutes.
Lee gives Amanda a little ‘ oh bless her heart’ kind of look..
Lee: Amanda, the guy has a photographic memory isn’t necessarily guilty of breaking and entering.
Amanda puts her finger over her mouth, motioning to Lee to lower his voice.. Yes do Lee.. it’s gorgeous when you do that
Lee continues: someone could have smuggled a camera into the office.
Amanda nods and mouthes: okay.
Lee ( gently): Look,
I appreciate your help,
I really do. But please, stop playing detective.
Amanda nods: I’ll try.
And she walks off.. Haa well at least she doesn’t pretend that she might not be able to stop!
You know, I’m surprised we don’t see any level of annoyance from Lee here at Amanda’s interfering! It feels off.. or is it just me?
We see it is still daylight, but someone dressed in all 
black carrying a candle puts it down next to an identical candle- and a picture of Phillip and Jamie!! uh oh.. sooo this is the 
bomb!!! and they are taking away Amanda’s other candle! Oh nooooes! but hey.. isn’t it hilarious that the burglar is dressed in all black to do the deed.. when it is daylight – how suspicious would that look?! haaaa!
Okay, night falls.. and we see Amanda sitting on her bed writing something when the lights go out ( thanks to the Pavlova turning off the electricity) – so Amanda is forced to use her candle.. Uh oh..
I’ll finish up there for now.. what are your thoughts about the memory test? What did you think the first time you saw it?
Back with more soon! Love to walk and talk with you!! Whenever it is you stop by!! Feel free to share your thoughts byeeeee!
"Just walk with me.." 
I totally get everyone’s annoyance now that we’re walking through this together, but this never bothered me before! 🤦🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️ I always thought it was just showing that Amanda’s memory and logical skills are for real-life situations that actually matter, not for these little games. I watched the series in high school and Amanda always made me think of my friends who were hopeless at word problems in math class but were fabulous real-life problem solvers – it’s often not the same skill set and I thought this series showed that a lot by contrasting “by the book” spy tactics with Amanda’s common sense.
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That makes sense. Plus the effect of it being a test?
My aunt and I tried Kim’s Game when they had it on another show and we both found it hard just because that clock puts way more pressure. But if you’re asking me to remember SMK stuff, well that’s no problem whatsoever! Just like when when I was in elementary school, our teacher would test our math skills by doing what she called “Mad Minutes” where you had a minute to do a basic worksheet of addiction, subtraction, or multiplication. Math was my best class but there were several times I didn’t get my full worksheet done. (I wasn’t the only one, thankfully!)
I do like the idea that Amanda is nervous and it’s showing. Maybe it would have been easier for her if Billy and especially Francine weren’t there. (I don’t know about Lee — he’s acting so supportive and they seem closer now that I’m guessing his support is actually a help.)
I just love too many of the moments on this ep to not want to find some reasons for it to make sense!
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I’m telling ya. That’s it. We don’t see it, but Mrs. Marsden was really standing behind the picture of the 10 items. And I think her portrait is really everywhere at Station 1. This explains ALL of the issues in this episode.
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Random German dub boo boo: ZDF made the golf tee into a golf club! I couldn’t see it, and I needed the original version to understand what had happened.
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I really CBA to discuss the complete anihilation of Amanda’s imposter….sorry character but the memory game is along the lines of something we played in Brownies and Girl Guides called Kim’s Game. According to Wiki it is based on Rudyard Kiplings book Kim and Kim plays this game……wait for it……whilst training to be a spy bwhahahahaha!!! Coincidence? Methinks not 😉
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim's_Game
I have pretty much spent much of the screen caps studying BBs hands. He has nice long fingers……
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“isn’t it hilarious that the burglar is dressed in all black to do the deed.. when it is daylight – how suspicious would that look?!”
Not suspicious at all… everyone would just think it was Francine out to pull another ninja move on Amanda… 😀
Yep–I’m hating the Amanda-who-isn’t-anything-like-Amanda in this episode. 😦 Amanda is such a gem, and she’s coming off as completely incompetent and moronic. 😦
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My problem about Amanda is her suspecting everyone. She usually sees the good in people and doesn’t want to believe that they are bad…that’s usually Lee!!!
I agree that Amanda definitely should have done better on the memory test because she has shown us over the past year how great her memory is (Filming Raul and the mushrooms). I guess we take comfort in that it is not only Amanda out of character but Lee also (all the niceness, but I like a nicer Lee. Glad that it won’t be to genuinely far away!!!). Can’t wait for them to start acting like best friends 🙂
So glad for your post yesterday and getting a smile…after hearing the news in the US where a gunman went to an elementary school and killed 20 kids from ages 5-10 (the ages of my four) and killed 6 adults including himself. Sure made me hug mine closer and to be reminded of what the book of James from the Bible says, “That our life is but a vapor, here for a little while and then vanishes away!”
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I also have real problems with Amanda jumping to conclusions and suspecting everyone as well. Very out of character for her (she is usually such a good judge of people!) . And yet another thing to add to the cringeworthiness of this episode.
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Hate the memory test for all the reasons you so eloquently stated, Iwsod. Thanks for pointing out that Amanda’s great memory was touted in The First Time … I’d forgotten about that, and of course it just adds to the ludicrousness of this whole scene.
As for Lee’s indulgent tolerance of Amanda, I guess that falls into the “be careful what you wish for” category! 😉
OK, I have been holding off on this so as not to shamelessly plug my vids, but I feel like this is a good time to interrupt this regularly scheduled broadcast for a little bit of “Oh Amanda” that is not quite so pathetic, to remind us that SMK usually does this Amanda stuff right. It’s (I think) affectionate and mildly humorous … and maybe gentle therapy on the morning after a rough day.
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You can plug your vids all you’d like, Raffie! This one is really cute. I’ve seen it a few times.
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Thanks, Paula! 🙂
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Hi everyone! Hope you are enjoying your weekend! Is it very cold where you are? Here it is a very hot day! ugh!!
Thanks goodness your kids like blackouts Julia – it would be so much worse if they didn’t huh!!
Hi Raffie, thanks for commenting – your solidarity is very encouraging! 🙂 Yes LOL.. ‘careful what you wish for is it alright! ‘ although, I didn’t wish for his niceness to be in response to Amanda being completely out of character – I wanted him to be nice to the real Amanda.. not this doppelganger! 😉 You know what though, if Lee was being awful to Amanda in this episode, I really really don’t think I could stand to watch it – it would just be sooo soo bad! At least his niceness balances out all of Amanda’s woes in this episode! 😉 whether it makes sense or not! ha!
Hey.. plug away Raffie! I don’t tend to watch many fan vids- I get overwhelmed by how many are out there so it is great to have them pointed out to me – that way I don’t miss out!
Btw Love your rationale Raffie.. something to restore the balance is just what the doctor ordered! this is why I have been watching some season 4 lately!! Will watch it now..your timing is impeccible.. it has been a rough day..
How do you solve a problem like Amanda?? [ hooray! another sound of music reference!! ]
LOL!! you started with the hilarious rope slide? I love it!
‘Oh Raffie’ what a fantastic idea I love it!! I am pausing to comment here..
I am so excited to see which bits are coming up next!
Loved the clown/ use of DOA Amanda!
Lee really is quite a frustrated bunny isn’t he?!
whooo that hold of Amanda in the golf buggy? swoon!!!! Lovely and gentle.. it matches the music beautifully Raffie! For all of Lee’s frustration, he can be very gentle with our Amanda 🙂
Lee confused by his first kiss with Amanda? Genius!!
Love the panda and the ‘child’ lyric.. very endearing!
She’s a giiiirll!!! so kiss her !!!! 😉 haaaa..
Are you looking forward to having all those season 4 (non specific here for Redgold!) swoony moments in clear picture for your vids??!!
Thanks Raffie!!.. I agree with Paula.. a Great, fun vid.. thanks for bring back my good smk mood!!! Great Job!!!
Hi Melissa, yes I did hear about the shooting, it is big news in Australia also. Unbelieveable. Thanks for the lovely bible verse.. James knows how to cut to the chase huh – we had a mass shooting near where I grew up when I was in school and it changes communities forever. We actually banned semi and fully automatic weapons – I hope that some kind of limits can be put on these things so tragedies like this are no longer possible.. Yes, it does remind us of what’s really important in this life doesn’t it!!
Still, I hope smk is a little panacea for you Melissa, and everyone dealing with life’s struggles.. I know I enjoy immersing myself in the world of smk.. where life is simple, nice people have good luck 😉 and the bad guy always gets caught.. oh and let’s not forget the added perk of a certain gorgeous spy in a tuxedo.. or black jumpsuit!! 😉
Hi Cindy! Yes!!! It is hard to believe that the jumping to conclusions, suspecting everyone and sneaking into everyone’s cabins was suppose to be funny. I truly think Shel Willens was writing for another show! 😉 yes!! Cringeworthiness to add to the rest of the cringeworthiness! Very true! And Lee is so reasonable in response to Amanda’s doing this!! it’s weird! 😉 hope you are enjoying your new computer Cindy! Byeeee!
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Thanks for your encouragement, Iwsod! No one can stay down when you’re around 🙂 Yeah, I’m looking forward to having clear S4 clips. I’d love to redo my favorites once S4 comes out so that they don’t have any fuzzy parts anymore, but I’m quite sure I won’t have the time or the patience!
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That is a fabulous video, raffie5! Love it!!!
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Well, I have something funny to contribute, I actually had over an hour of power cut myself today. So my life follows along the blog 😉
Other then that, I agree it is terrible, especially, why did this guy not volunteer to have a go in the first place, this is as illogical as the rest.
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hiya Julia! LOL! I hope you are not following the happenings of this episode too closely! that means you then lit a candle and had it blow up!! 😉 tee hee.. over an hour power cut is a long time! Is that normal?
Yeah that’s true.. I hadn’t thought of that.. he is a pretty big know it all.. why didn’t he volunteer first? Hmm.. err… maybe he assumed all the other recruits would be super clever – but then when Amanda gave her answer he realised he need not have been worried about the competition 😉 so he decided to speak up and put everyone out of their misery 😉 LOL!
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Well, I put up a lot of candlles but fortunately not one blew up. Lucky me.
Over one hours is a long time, and no, this is not normal for UK, but the infrastructure here has seen its best time decades ago. So you never know, if this might become normal.
The children loved it though.
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