On to Amanda’s, we join Amanda desperately trying to repair Jamie’s bike (and destroy the kitchen) with Dotty, Jamie and Phillip.
The bike wheel is totally bent.. Amanda can’t possibly repair that! I think it shows how desperate Amanda is here…in denial that she can fix this thing.. and save some money..
Phillip: Careful, mom, you don’t want anything else broken around here! [Grrrrrrr……Phillip is so rude! not helping!]
Dotty: Maybe we ought to take this to the bike shop and see if they can fix it.
Amanda: Well…
Phillip: Why don’t we just bring Jamie to a bike shop and have him pick out a new bike?
Amanda: Well, I think we can get this one fixed, sweetheart…. And-and then Jamie will never leave his bicycle in the driveway again, will you sweetheart?
[Poor Amanda, she is no doubt stressing about the expenses from this day! the bike, the muffler, helping Lee with the expense of the grill on the front..and maybe the tyres too… Aie.. Amanda needs a raise! ]
Jamie (apologetic): No.
Phillip: Yeah!! you’ve seen how mom drives!!!
Could Phillip be anymore annoying if he tried?! I wish it had been his bike! 
Actually: Amanda, let Phillip walk to school in the rain next time.. oh oh and let him walk home from school too.. don’t borrow an agency car to pick up this kid! tee heee..
Amanda: Phillip, why don’t you help us pull this apart or else next time I’ll run over something of yours.
Phillip [helping to brace it]: Yeah.
Doorbell rings. (Saved by the bell?! )
Mr Billet and Stevie are at the door to take Dotty and the boys to a movie- they say their goodbyes and Dotty wishes Amanda good luck with fixing the bike. (Going to watch Indiana Jones again Dotty?!)
I think Amanda is thinking- good luck? yeah.. I haven’t had any today that’s for sure!
Amanda: Ha! Thanks a lot.
Jaemie’s transcript says Amanda is annoyed- but for me? I’m not seeing it.. well.. not annoyed at Dotty leaving- I think Amanda is stressed about being able to fix the bike, and she knows she needs some luck to fix it because it’s basically a lost cause!
Amanda mumbles to herself after Dotty and the boys have left: …Okay. this is really….
Amanda hears a noise out the front (LOL wouldn’t she assume it was Dotty and the boys? they JUST left!) but no! She walks through the dining room…. AKA…..
… the ‘soviet embassy’…. and looks out the window: The 
car is back!!!! The Stratford is parked out the front???!!!!
What’s this?? Could Amanda have a bit of good luck after all???!!!!
Amanda looks soo excited as she calls Lee to tell him the good news, but gets Francine instead (man! Amanda’s day just keeps getting worse! 😉 )
Oh this is interesting! Francine answers the phone in the bullpen saying: Lee Stetson’s desk, may I help you?
Amanda responds: Ah Francine, it’s Amanda. Can I speak to Lee please? – Amanda recognises Francine from her voice! guess they are truly getting to know each other now huh!
Chirpy Francine: Amanda!!! Hello!
[Whoa..who are you? what have you done with the real Francine?! Is this another dead ringer? loosen your silly hairbow Francine! Oh wait.. what am I saying?? Wear it tighter Francine!!! 😆 ] No, Lee isn’t in right now. But listen, if this is one of those suburban gossip calls, would I do?
Wha??? Just what did Francine sprinkle on her cornflakes this morning??!! I’m guessing LSD..something mind bending.. Oh and… Francine thinks Lee listens to suburban gossip??
Amanda: Francine, I really need to speak to Lee. [I love this, very assertive of Amanda- go Amanda!]
Francine: Oh, it’s one of those calls. Okay, hold on a second. He’s in Interrogation [yes, he’s being interrogated by Mario! ], I’ll patch you through.
What do you make of this??? Is Francine just teasing Amanda? Is Francine accusing Lee and Amanda of not doing any work? and just gossiping? Chatty Francine is disconcerting!!
Eventually Amanda gets Lee on the phone down at interrogation…
Lee: Hello?
Amanda: Uh, Lee! You’ll never guess what just happened. [I love how Amanda doesn’t tell him who it is!! 
]
Lee: Hah, I’m not even gonna ask!.…..
….What is it?
[ROFL!!! What dialogue!!! He’s not going to ask..and then he asks??! tee hee- Lee must be out of sorts due to being interrogated by Mario! How wonderful is it though to see Lee in a relaxed mood, happy to hear from Amanda?!! ]
Amanda: The car is sitting right out in front of my house!
[Amanda is such an optimist, she thinks her luck is changing!]
Lee: What?
Amanda: The car, it’s sitting right out in front of my house.
Lee: Amanda, are you sure?
Amanda: Yes, I’m sure. I’m positive.
Lee (wary): Look, ah, don’t go anywhere in it. Is it safe for me to swing by and check it out?
Amanda: Yeah, mother and the boys are at a movie. [Amanda said exactly the same thing in Brunettes when she suggested they go and check the laundry for the microdot! Her family see a lot of movies- such a convenience for the suburban mom (mum!!) who spies!!]
Lee: Okay, okay. Tell you what, go out and check for dents and things. [Noooooo!!!!] Make sure it’s the same one… ….. I’ll be by in a few minutes.
Amanda: Right.
Umm Lee- they dropped it at Amanda’s house???? Hello??!!!! How do they know where Amanda lives?? I mean doesn’t that worry you?
Lee is thinking: whooooo now we can search the car and find out what Mario smuggled.. and Amanda knows nothing of the other case Lee is working on- so he should know better than Amanda that something is not right. Lee underestimates the baddies here IMHO and puts Amanda in danger (like he did taking the car in the first place!) Amanda knows the same baddies were after the car twice, and about Mario’s attempted getaway at the border- so she could also have guessed this is too good to be true – I think Amanda overlooks any danger because she is so happy to have the car back and avoid getting Lee into any trouble with Gino!
[The agency is only a few minutes from Amanda’s home? what luck!]
Lee heads straight back into his interrogation, to give Mario another agency update!
Lee: Okay, Mario, we just found the missing link.
Mario: What’re you talkin about?
Lee: We have the car back. And I’m gonna go over 
that car inch by inch, and you know what, Mario? If I find anything in that vehicle that even looks like it didn’t come from the manufacturer, you’re gonna become a looong time resident in this joint.
ROFLMBO… Lee is happy, and still so very helpful to Flunky Mario: keeping him up to date with current events! whahahaaaa!! He doesn’t even ask Mario to confess now before they find whatever it is that is hidden or anything.. too funny!
Yo! Amanda heads out to the car, to make sure it’s the same car, when she just told Lee she was sure that it was the same car, but then he asked her to check it was the same car, LOL… confused? I am! 
Check out the front of the car here- to me it looks obvious the front grill is an add-on to the car – and not part of the actual hood! I bet they swapped it depending on the type of prop car they needed..
Amanda is too cute as she heads out to check out the car- all excited at it’s return: like it’s Christmas!
uh oh.. behind her are the two baddies once again..
Love the look on Amanda’s face!
Poor Amanda!
It’s like she is thinking- ugh!!!! What was I thinking.. I have no luck today! this day just keeps getting worse and worse!
[And it’s all the tiny space creature’s fault?!]
Weren’t you just yelling at the TV – Amanda!!! check the back seat before you hop in!! Doh!! At least they didn’t pull a bendy knife on her like the guy did who surprised Lee from the back seat in Remembrance of things past!
Well I shall finish there for the moment.. hope you are all well – I’m loving reading your thoughts!! Byeeee!!!!
"Just walk with me.." 
I think Amanda needs to be a little firmer with those boys, or they’re going to give her a run for her money when they’re teenagers. Of course, by then she’ll have Stepdad Lee to lay down the law …
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Hahaha! That’s kind of funny, kgmohror….I don’t really see Stepdad Lee as the laying down the law type.
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I’m all for trying to fix things and save money, but it really bothers me that they show her trying to fix Jamie’s bike with a hand tool. The frame and rims are bent! I think it makes her look like an idiot. Although I love what she said to Phillip about running over something of his (I would have said the same thing to my kids….), he is right when he says that they need to just get Jamie a new bike. Why do they have to make Amanda act the way Francine thinks she is even when she’s at home which is her area of expertise???
Speaking of Francine, I really am starting to ‘get’ her character and can almost say I like her or maybe I just feel sorry for her. I’m not talking about now, but by the end of the series. Ahhh, I’m getting way ahead of the game. But here, I think she is just being typical snobby Francine with her comment about suburban gossip to Amanda. She’s just trying to get in another dig. That feckin’ Shirley Temple bow (thanks, Jenbo ) is making her act like the child it makes her look like. Maybe that’s revenge for Amanda looking idiotic (IMHO) with the bike scene??
Yep, that is a huge miss with Lee and that car. I think someone put something in his corn flakes that morning. The past few mornings. He’s still reeling from the fact that he let it slip to Amanda that she is important to him. It’s messing with his mind….
Ok, I thought they had the grill fixed? But in the picture it’s still dented. I guess the Tireless Tyre guy took too long and they couldn’t fix the grill before Amanda had to get her mother and the boys? I agree iwsod and Cindy, this episode is confusing and makes swiss cheese look solid.
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Oh dear thieves steal a car and then deliver it. Back to my home. Erm does no one in SMK land see the danger here?!!! I can’t believe it doesn’t occur to Lee or Amanda that if the car is back then so are the bad guys!
Francine…….please stop with the big hair bows. It makes you look like Shirley Temple!
Good on Amanda for trying to repair Jamie’s bike. Make do and mend, that’s the spirit 🙂 I am also impressed with the fact that the bike was in fact still on the drive and had not in fact been nicked 😉
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I really enjoy the bike scene. It actually makes me a bit nostalgic. Her penny-pinching ways remind me of my mom extending the ground beef with soy filler, mixing the real milk with powdered milk, and eating at picnic tables on vacations rather than McD’s. My mother was always finding ways to save money. I can very much relate to Amanda’s desperation to save a little mone, especially as you point out, Iwsod, in the face of such an expensive day already. And her line to Phillip to help or next time she’ll run over something of his is brilliant 🙂 I could never be such a calm parent, but that line sets the standard for me!
It does seem weird that Lee would be so clueless about the car and its reappearance. Amanda too. I would have definitely stayed far away from that car until backup (Lee) arrived, and Lee certainly should have picked up on the danger of the situation and warned Amanda to stay in the house. However, several minutes of Amanda watching out the window of her home would not be nearly as entertaining on film as watching her kick the tires, settle in behind the wheel, and get kidnapped by over-the-top baddies. And this episode does definitely play up the silly part of SMK, I think deliberately, based on Mario and the baddies.
And I think Francine is all cattiness here and very much in character. How could she miss an opportunity to remind Amanda that she is a lowly gossipy suburban housewife? She gets her daily dig into Amanda by this implication that she could not possibly have any real business reason to call Lee and the agency. Francine knows that’s not exactly true, but that’s not the card she’ll play in front of Amanda. However, she switches to professional mode quickly, which to me is an implicit acknowledgement of Amanda’s growing professional role at the agency. (She did not try to do a power play by making Amanda leave a message or stay on hold.) So this is Francine being Francine for the sake of her own personal amusement at Amanda’s expense. It’s not terribly funny, but it is in character (especially if before Playing Possum and LOTParty) and shows how that relationship is still also under development.
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Nor much moer I can add to this raffie except I would have gone into immediate lecture mode when Philip made the comment about going to the store to buy Jamie a new bike. (my girls watched that scene and said “Oh man, Mom, if we said that you would have ranted for an hour”.)
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ROFL yes
Several minutes of Amanda watching out the window is not entertaining 😉 I am very grateful that Lee and Amanda didn’t think these things through! 🙂
Raffie, as always it is wonderful to hear from you!! I’m thinking your thoughts on Francine sound spot on!!! 🙂
Cattiness is such a great word! and it’s delicious when Francine has the little girl hair going on too!!! haaaa!
Hi Cindy – I’m with you.. I wanted someone to tell Phillip money doesnt grow on trees!!! [and apparently neither does Rubber! 😉 ]
Hi everyone! hope you are all well!!
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