Tag time!!! And what a fabulous, rewarding tag it is! hooray!!!
Back to IFF, starting to get back to normal! Ms Walker is still patrolling it’s periphery with her all purpose red handbag.. and in the bullpen, things are beginning to look like a spy agency again! Billy sweeps into the room telling everyone he wants the place operational by the end of the day.. Amanda is the only one who answers him 
such respect these people have for Billy! LOL..
..and to think all you have to do is kidnap Billy and you can be IFF free and empty this room for a couple of days – how ridiculous! that’s all it takes to activate operation possum?? I think someone getting into files and deleting particular subjects would make more sense ( but even then it doesn’t.. ) What did you think of operation possum? Not that I cared that it didn’t make sense- the concept is interesting, and this is a fun episode!
Well, back to the episode.. We see Francine is in the distance fiddling with a lamp, –staring intently at it: Francine, it’s a lamp! 
and Lee is moving carrying some folders ( I guess to his desk). Amanda was sorting through a box of files – would they be Lee’s files? Or does she work more broadly now? She’s still wearing a Guest Pass.. It’s a little vague!
Anyway, focus iwsod! Amanda asks after Yuri.. not only did he get home alright, he also has been awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union Medal! whoo hooo! go Yuri!
Technically Lee and Amanda should also receive hero of the Soviet Union Medals too! 😉 not a bad way to ruin an American agent’s career! haaa!! I got curious and looked this medal up.. it’s for real! And.. they did give them to foreigners! ( hey Fidel Castro got one!) Don’t worry Lee and Amanda.. you can pick yourselves up a copy of a medal on ebay
Amanda asks if they’ll ever work together again.. Lee chuckles quietly,…
…then sounding regretful he tells her they are on opposite sides…
…I say never say never. You were on opposite sides at the beginning of the episode.. and you worked together!
Barkhov didn’t catch any plane! He’s staying in the US for a while, and then he’ll be tried for treason back in Russia.. (I guess it is the USSR at this point in history)
Suddenly the mood changes between them.. lol…. yes the exposition is over – time for the over the top cute ending!
Lee: you know… (Lee pauses a second here.. is he going to say it was a good thing Amanda was with him?? Noooooo!!! Not yet.. )
Lee continues: …it was a damn good thing that you were an easy subject for hypnosis.
[Aside from the connotation of ‘easy’ – I think this is interesting- Lee is pointing out that Amanda was central to wrapping up the case! oh and love how he is says ‘it’s a damn good thing’ – in other words: Lucky!!! Yep.. Amanda isssssss Lucky!!!! At least we got to see her contribute a few things which weren’t down to lucky. [like spotting the Odessa hearse and knowing formaldehyde]
Amanda looks down at her shoes: ahh gee I wasn’t so easy.
Lee: yes you were.
Amanda: no I wasn’t easy.
Lee: Amanda, you were very easy.
Amanda at the same time: I wasn’t so easy.
Francine: Lee
Amanda at the same time: alright it was easy.
I never thought I would hear Lee and Amanda argue about whether or not Amanda was easy!!! ( err at hypnosis!) Quite the double entendre huh! but.. very tame – it’s the 80s! LOL.. Amanda being easy might have had something to do with Yuri graduating from the University of Psychic studies! Ohh that still cracks me up!
Francine: excuse me. Lee, excuse me
…Umm I can’t seem to figure this thing out. This is.. [So call maintenance! Oh wait.. no we don’t want to miss out on Lee and Amanda’s private joke! )
Amanda smiles a little.. Lee looks at Amanda
Amanda: well, you- uh.
Lee: Try the blue wire. [whoa! as Lee says this, he winks at Francine!! And Amanda watches him: and licks her lips!!!! haaa!! hoo haaa! ]
Francine looks at the wires confused.
Lee and Amanda both start laughing.
There’s a lovely conspiratorial feel to these two here – fabulous!!
Love the little private joke they share here at the end about the lamp and the blue wire – Lee’s loyalties are starting to well and truly shift to Amanda.. sorry Francine.. you’re out of Luck!! 😉
For me, this episode is just an enjoyable, fun ride!
This pic above is the final frame – how fabulous to end the episode with this!!! Much much better than last week’s ‘she’s something!’ squeeee!!! It is wonderful to see Lee and Amanda’s relationship is a closer in this episode – finally an episode which feels like it should be after the game changer of an episode: Brunettes are In!!
What do you think? do you sense they are closer? do tell!!
IMHO this closeness was based on admiration, and respect.. nothing to do with the weird cover relationship that I blinked and missed.. but there were a few sentimental moments, that showed Amanda is different, special to Lee.. and he is beginning to realise it.. acknowledge it and demonstrate this in front of others!! woooot!!
Oh and how monumental – Amanda finally tells Dotty she is a spy- and Dotty doesn’t believe it!!! too funny!!! very well done!
Have any thoughts you’d like to share? what’s your overall impression of this episode? Anyone got a hero of the Soviet Union medal? byeee!! thanks for reading!!
"Just walk with me.." 
“L: You know it was a damn good thing that you were an easy subject for hypnosis.
A: ahh gee I wasn’t so easy.
L: Yes you were. [Dimples flaring; he’s up to mischief!]
A: No I wasn’t easy.
L: Amanda, you were very easy.
A: I wasn’t so easy.
A: alright it was easy.”
Just thinking … remember how Lee was VERY observant while Amanda was being hypnotized? Well, I’m thinking Lee is starting to “butter her up” (aka flatter her) because he wants Amanda’s permission to see if he can hypnotize her! His dimples alone could hypnotize me! Be strong, Amanda!
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Whoooo thanks for the reminder of this tag Nancy! I had totally forgotten this exchange!! 🙂
Yeah I think maybe it’s a good thing Lee started off being a bit of a brat… Amanda was able to develop a resistance to his charm that meant she could hold her own with him! 🙂
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I love that Billy is demanding they be put together and operational by the end of the day. I get that. Seems the guys hanging up the picture in the hallway are not putting first things first here. “We won’t be able to function until we get this picture of an eagle up on the wall!” Priorities!
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They are definitely closer here! Close enough to have a great time at a New Year’s party dancing together…
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The tag is so cute…..I loved the conspiratorial grins….they were totally leaving Francine out of the joke and for a change, she was the butt of the joke…..Amanda is so cute the way she wants to bust a gut but holds it in!!!!
This is something a couple would do, share an inside joke that only they knew …very cute
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I really love love love this episode and I completely had forgotten all about it. How could I?! It demonstrates how in sync they really are at this point. Oh swoon, thump! The looks, the smiles, the long looks. Total heaven! Well, I am truly back in the rabbit hole and not coming out till I have to! Nope, staying here with my iPad and my videos and marshmellows! Hah! (You all want to join me? You can, just bring the hot cocoa!)
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Hiya Jule! I am really enjoying hearing about your joy at rediscovering all the goodness in this episode!!! I forget a lot of it too!!! It’s great to just focus on an episode and savour the moments huh!
Protective Lee is so very swoony..
I can do hot cocoa! 🙂
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Deal ! Meet you through the vortex and down the rabbit hole with goodies in tow! I tell you iwsod, your blog and all the lovely people here have made a difficult time in my life a bit sweeter and enabled me to laugh when I should be crying, so thank you muchly! It’s a bit of heaven every day to find comment and posts in my inbox to revel in and relish. Grazie!
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Awhhhh thanks Jule! I am really thrilled you found your way here! Sometimes its the small joys in life that get us through ain’t it?!!! and that is not small thing 🙂
SMK is a lovely panacea for me too!!! I hear ya!!
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Yes, here’s to the little joys and being able to share them, Hear Hear!! Hope you get as much of delight out of all your hard work as we all do 🙂 Have a splendid day!
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It’s weird. I didn’t enjoy this tag half as much as I enjoyed the rest of the episode.
Their back and forth about Amanda being easy *sniggers* reminded me of Lost and Found when Lee is saying he’s bad tee hee.
It’s a nice private joke between them but a little bit too contrived for my taste and they do that thing where it looks like their laughing for an unnaturally long time lol
Overall though I’ve enjoyed this episode a whole heap more this time around. Can’t wait to get onto the next one…..
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Hi Jenbo – I’ve loved reading your comments as I had my morning coffee here! what a lovely way to start the day! 🙂 You’re right – it does look like they are laughing for an unnaturally long time! rofl!!! that is too funny!!! mind you I relished taking those caps of it though.. we’d waited a long time to see that kind of closeness 🙂 tee heee..
Hope you are well!
Hi everyone!
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Fun episode! And like Cindy I have a silly grin on my face. I love the tag, a L&A special moment 😉
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hi guys!! Sorry I’ve been a bit absent.. catching the flu while travelling.. is fun – not! 😉 oh well.. I’m on the mend.. so have a bit of fun smk time today! hooray!!
Yeah! I agree with you all.. smiley faces all around for Playing Possum.. I confess I am a little sad to be moving on from it – and on to Three Faces of Emily.. which for me is not such an easy episode to enjoy..
Debilyn, I love that you are wondering about the agents and agent passes also! Maybe together we can figure this out as we walk through the episodes – please remind me of this if anything comes up in relation to it.. It’s easy to overlook something!
I am in the middle of transcribing Murder Between Friends for Operation Sandstorm – and while transcribing a little last week I noticed Amanda comes to the agency to ‘hand in her ID’ – Hmmm!!! Interesting!!!I thought the pass was the ID..but I must be wrong..I guess ID is the bit you keep in your wallet? Amanda has ID?? I haven’t looked any further into it.. but I found it interesting.. I’m confused!!
Oh, and I do remember that the agent who stops by to talk to Billy and get a cover Identity at the beginning of You Only Die Twice ( accidentally taking Amanda’s Identity!) is wearing a guest pass – I remember this because it is a magic one – which jumps around throughout the scene 😉 Does anyone know when Amanda starts to wear her pass? I’m happy to just watch and learn as I go along.. but if anyone knows- feel free to fill us in 🙂
Raffie thanks for the well wishes – I’m on the road to recovery 🙂
The hearst chase is hilarious!!! I found an added dimension to this the other day..(while I was reading up on USSR history to do with Three faces of Emily)- apparently in the early 80s – the median age at the Politburo was 70!- wikipedia says there was a russian political joke at the time that the Russian’s enjoyed watching the new sport at the Kremlin: Hearse Racing!!!! – I think SMK may have been playing on this!! 🙂 and it makes me love Kreschenko in the back with his grenade even more.. and this highlights even more your insightful observation about how ridiculous it all looks!!! 🙂
well must go. and get my latest episode post published byeee for now!
So wonderful to hear from you all – happy 2013!!
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Maybe the ID is for their IFF cover. In ‘Utopia Now’ Sacker takes their IDs to check to she if they make documentaries. Then he gets a special line into the Agency.
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I agree this is a fun episode!!! Amanda is still wearing a guest pass in season 3, which seems odd to me.
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It seems that you either wear a guest pass or an “agent” pass. You would think they would have one for “employees,” but I guess every employee is an agent!?! Just another SMK-ism, which is part of what makes this show so much fun.
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So do you think people like the steno pool, the janitor, etc. would wear guest passes? Maybe I’ll see if I can see any badge on the big wigs sectary in ‘Spider Web’ or on the janitor in the ‘Tail of the Dancing Weasel’.
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I looked those scenes up and from what I can see all of their (agents, secratary, Janitor, and Mrs. Martson) badges say ‘Security Clearance Data’. So maybe you get those if you are full time and Amanda is only part-time until after ‘Stemwinder’.
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Could be. It would make sense that full-time employees would have something other than “guest.” We’ll have to keep an eye out for other badges to see what holds true. Oh my, another reason to watch. Gee…
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Thanks for checking that out Melissa! So is it in Stemwinder we see Amanda wearing her proper IFF badge and no longer a guest pass? Yes! Let’s keep an eye out for who is wearing these passes! 🙂
Haaa! Debilyn – yes like we needed another reason to watch smk!! 🙂
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Hope you are feeling better, Iwsod. Summer colds and flus really stink!
I love Playing Possum because it’s a sweet gentle ride. And it’s positioning after Class Act makes it a breath of fresh air, which probably heightens my enjoyment of it.
Overall, my favorite part is that the theme is one of collaboration and respect, both between Lee and Amanda, and between the US and USSR intelligence. I wish I remembered more about the political climate then to know how this concept fit into the bigger picture. I know US/USSR relationships were gradually improving, but I don’t remember to what degree.
And that station wagon/hearse chase is probably the scene that makes me laugh the most. Good old SMK, making fun of itself. I just love seeing the 4 adults sitting there in the car all serious and focused … the irony of the ludicrousness of the chase played against the seriousness of a nuclear bomb is classic SMK at its best!
Definitely a feels good episode!
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What a great episode! I have a huge silly grin on my face right now. This certainly seems like a turning point–and I can’t wait to see how this figures into the evolution of their relationship when I get your preferred viewing order for season 2. 😉
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