Picking up right where we left off.. Skip’s taste is improving.. and Lee is going to tell Amanda where ‘skip’ comes from ‘later’! 
Lee takes a deep breath before broaching this next subject..
Lee: Sir I was ah.. well I’m very sorry about the court martial. …what happened?
[ Lee sounds genuine here to me.. what do you think? It’s dangerous to bring this up so quickly- but hey.. I guess this is a 45 minute tv show and we’ve gotta get a move on! ]
Colonel: well I wish I knew …one minute they’re in a 180 roll slipping over into an inside loop… Next minute they were gone.
[the Colonel sounds so matter of fact here- when it is anything but! Reminds me of Lee describing his non relationship with his uncle just before! (in post 3)]
Lee: Hmm I heard the manoeuvre was suppose to be very dangerous.
Col Clayton: Now that’s (slams his menu closed) a bunch of damned nonsense! I’ve flown it myself!
Amanda quickly: ohh would anybody like to split an appetiser? 
Amanda smiles at them both.. the Col. takes a deep breath and calms down..
A man who expresses his emotions as anger?? Hmm.. sound like anyone else we know??!!!
Lee and Amanda share a quick glance..
Lee nervously chuckles at Amanda..
Amanda looks around a bit –maybe a hint to the Colonel to keep his voice down?? Poor Lee he just got chewed out over nothing – I think the Colonel’s anger isn’t directed at Lee but it comes across that way. Given the stress the Colonel is under- he is not at his best I am guessing.. this also sounds like someone else we know?! I think there are many parallels between Lee and his uncle!
Col Clayton (now calm again): Barry Austin and I umm alternated as flight leaders….
… That could have been me out there and I wish it had been… [ahhh now we get a more emotionally honest response from the Colonel, for a man of pride this must be very hard] …when my men went down, I should have been with them.
[I don’t think the show goes there: but what a thing to say to your nephew who lost both his parents at a young age?! I think Lee would have been devastated had it been his uncle.. but maybe his uncle doesn’t know it yet]
Lee: who’s your attorney?
Col. Clayton: ahh well I talked it over with General Patterson and I decided to represent myself.
[oh boy- another red flag!! I don’t remember but I’m guessing Patterson is a baddie! he probably manipulated the colonel’s pride and self reliance so he would make this really dumb mistake!]
Lee struggles here.. how to respond to this carefully..
Lee quietly: ahhh excuse me Sir, but do you think that’s a wise decision? I mean you’re going to need help building your defence.
Col. Clayton: I don’t need a defence, I haven’t done anything wrong!
[whoo that sounds like something early Amanda would have said! The Col. is really not coping well]
Time for another cheery Amanda interruption: Stuffed Mushrooms look awfully good!
[anyone else reminded of Scotty in Filming Raul.
Scotty: Whoooo I love Mushrooms! do you like Mushrooms Raul?
Raul: Not anymore. 😆 ]
no luck Amanda!
Lee responds to the Col: No Sir, I’m sure you haven’t but err…
(Lee’s control here is slipping.. uh oh.. his starting with the finger pointing!)…people are getting very very upset about this.
Case in point- Col. Clayton (now furious): to hell with them!!
[they all look around and notice that they are drawing the attention of the other diners]
… I’m right and that’s all that’s important. 
I’d say this one line of the Colonel’s probably sums up his character nicely!
Lee quietly nods at this, biting his tongue, he’s calm again.. well done Lee! Awh!!! He’s all slouched in his seat here – poor Lee!!
Oh boy!!! It’s not just the mushrooms that are stuffed Amanda!
Col. Clayton: besides, Sergeant Ballard is checking out some information that he thinks will clear me.
Whoa.. Col. Clayton is accepting help from someone??
I think that gets Lee’s goat a little…
Lee: thinks will clear you?!…
(Lee’s anger begins to rise again) sounds like you are basing your hopes on a pretty flimsy possibility here!
[Wow.. The Colonel really needs Lee’s help.. just what does he think Lee does for a job?? Lee can help! Only.. I guess he doesn’t want to ask Lee for help 
]
Col. Clayton: I didn’t come here tonight to have you butt into my business.
[Oouuuuuccccchhhhhh!]
But Colonel! that’s what family does!!!! Man I wish they had used that line! 
Lee looks over to Amanda for moral support-awh!!
Feel free to disagree, but to me Lee looks more worried here for the Colonel than worried about his wounded pride or past resentments.. which I think speaks volumes about Lee’s care for his uncle. Well done Lee..
On Lee’s look, Amanda tries her best to ‘make things easier’ -Go Amanda!: Gee the ah.. the veal really looks very good.
Love Amanda’s huge smile here!
The Colonel looks at Amanda puzzled!!!
Col.Clayton: What?
Amanda (off camera): The veal.
Col. Clayton seems to realise he came for dinner!: Ohhh yes..
and he looks back at his menu again..
If you hadn’t heard anything about the Colonel before you actually saw him on screen, what would you think of him? He is an interesting character! Not one dimensional at all.. he s not at his best, making mistakes, being proud, dismissing Lee.. but he is also being very kind to Amanda, does give some indications that he is happy to see Lee.. and he is suffering the loss of his men – and under alot of pressure..
BTW the script has a few lines extra before this scene ends.. after The Col. tells Lee to butt out Lee says: “Why don’t you stop being so bull-headed and listen to me for once? We’re talking about your career here!
Col. Clayton: That’s right and keep it in mind, it’s my career, not yours!!”
Interesting they cut it out huh! I think Lee sums up well what’s going on here – but I am guessing the story works better if they hold off a little with Lee confronting his uncle like this!!!
I think Lee did a great job- knowing how he feels about his uncle- I think he managed to control his temper pretty well all things considered!
Love how Amanda inserts the praise of the menu! It’s great how she injects some humour here!
Uh oh… next thing we see is Sergeant Ballard in a dump of a hotel room.. alone.. drinking.. and on the phone telling Elise 
(who he loves) that he has to testify the next day and finally tell the truth he has been hiding?? oh dear…. the man just signed his death certificate!.. He’ll be dead in less than 10 seconds.. ha 
haa!! I’m gonna count.. he moves to the wide open balcony door to look at the view from his very high hotel room.. cue the scary 
music.. whooo close up on sneakily approaching baddie feet.. and…. whooooo… he’s a goner!! –it took about 20 seconds!..
Poor man..
Never ever have an attack of conscience alone in a dumpy hotel room! 
(hey maybe in the 80s that wasn’t a dump!!??)
Haaa.. did you see the guy do a stunt somersault as he was errr ‘ pushed’ out the win
dow?
Whoooo hoooooo!!!
Oh boy… I am evil! Okay.. well on that lovely whoo hooo I am going to finish up this post.. I wanted to quickly follow up the last post as I cut the one scene in two, soooo here is the second half! As always I am very excited to hear your thinking! byeeee for now!!
"Just walk with me.." 
#2019 rewatch
On the dinner scenes, I’m sure as an 20 year old, I found this a hilarious view into two bull headed men fighting at the dinner table. As a 55 year old, it is much more like revisiting those conversations you have with elderly parents where they get very bolshie about their health, their driving, their independence, etc. Give me another twenty years and I’m sure I’ll be entirely on the Colonel’s side!
On the death scene, all I can think is how this hotel must be about to pay a hefty amount in fines for Health and Safety violations because there is so much wrong with that window and lack of railing or balcony.
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OHS violations – I know right!?! Unless this is why we have better standards now.
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#2019rewatch
The question of 4 planes going down, yet there were 5 deaths, is answered here with the Colonel stating a flight leader was onboard one of the planes.
I think Amanda equated this officers club with upscale dining so she was very embarrassed by Colonel Clayton’s angry voice in public. Her efforts to diffuse the heated discussion did give us the opportunity to see a common “Lee expression” on the Colonel’s face when Amanda suggested the veal. That was funny!
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#2019rewatch
Soooooooo awkward for poor Amanda when Col Clayton raises his voice. Maybe there was a motive behind the Margaret Thatcher hair…it was going to take all the political savvy she had and a lot of hard work to establish diplomatic relations between these two parties ! 🤣
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The Colonel……yep the line “I am right” pretty much sums him up. In a sense I can’t blame him for having this attitude. He’s a career military man. The army et al aren’t exactly known for being a democracy. Those above you in the hierarchy are always right, even when they are wrong 😉 Problem with the Colonel is he can’t separate work from personal. Lee was always expected to toe the line and the friction now comes not only from past resentments but to an inability to accept that Lee is his own man with his own way of doing things. I agree that Lees look is of concern for his Uncle. They butt heads a great deal (as they are so alike) but the affection is there, it’s just repressed under a ton of alpha male ego.
Amanda’s comments don’t irritate me per se. I do feel they could have written better lines for her character but I assume since she didnt know the colonel she wouldn’t have been able to get too personal so stuck to inane comments about the veal. However she sure is able to grease the wheels between these two men. I dread to think what the meal would have been like had Amanda NOT been there!!!!
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I do think Amanda’s support means a lot to Lee. She’s an encourager by nature, and most people respond to that type of personality. Other than work, I don’t think he’s had that type of person in his life. I think his relationships with the other women in his life have mostly been fluff or work. Even his friendships with Billy and (spoiler} Paul have a work element in them. I don’t see Eva as particularly encouraging, and (spoiler) Dorothy was more about their working relationship growing deeper, IMHO.
Amanda is completely different and she’s genuine, too. That’s one reason he takes the relationship so slowly – a genuine friend is a rare gift. (Emily is one, but not in the same way as Amanda, obviously. His friendship with her is a fore-runner of his and Amanda’s.) He comes to rely on Amanda’s friendship in these type situations, so he’s more willing to try with his uncle here. I think his uncle’s approval of Amanda and her acceptance of his uncle is a big thing.
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Oops, this post should have been a reply to BJo.
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I have mentioned before, somewhere, about Lee compartmentalizing his life. As I read your last comment, “I think his uncle’s approval of Amanda and her acceptance of his uncle is a big thing,” it made me think that maybe this encounter between the three of them was a step for Lee in de-compartmentalizing. He can not separate his relationship with Amanda into the work vs personal boxes anymore. She has bled through those walls, and she continues to do so.
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I like what you are saying debilyn and Morley. I think Amanda and Emily are perhaps the only women in his life who offer their friendship with no romantic expectations. We are never told enough about Dorothy, so she could also be in that category perhaps? The big difference between Emily and Amanda (other than the obvious age difference) is that Emily is an agent and Lee has respect for her in that regard – not so with Amanda – in fact it is quite the opposite; Amanda needs Lee to protect and save her. Through all their experiences together on cases Amanda has managed to touch Lee’s heart and as a result, he is de-compartmentalizing because he can’t keep Amanda in just one box anymore.
I was wondering some more about why Lee’s uncle’s approval would be a big thing – because it seems like it should be. I wonder how many of Lee’s other girlfriends he’s met. As we saw in the last post, it really does look like Lee introduces Amanda with pride. So maybe Lee takes the colonel’s approval as “he agrees with me or I am right in what I think about Amanda.” That would mean a lot to him, as we see in this episode that that have very rarely happened in the past – Lee is always wrong and the colonel is always right. If the colonel approves, then that is really saying something!
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Bravo to Lee for bringing up the elephant in the room right away! These two men don’t seem like the type to engage in small talk with each other.
Barry Austin? Every time I watch this scene I think of the 6 Million Dollar Man – his name was Steve Austin. I think he was an astronaut or test pilot that almost died in a plane crash. I digress . Anyone else think the same thing?
We do see many parallels between Lee and his uncle in this scene and it is not surprising to me since he raised Lee. I’m sure it is eye-opening for Amanda. She probably can see BtB’s influence as plain as day. And I’m not sure I agree with Lee being devastated if it was his uncle that had died instead of the other flight leader. That seems a bit too strong of a word for me at this point – maybe in late S3 or S4 when we really see Lee open up his heart and admit his true feelings toward those he loves. Plus I think Lee understands what the colonel is saying. He isn’t trying to hurt Lee and he probably feels tremendous guilt just like Lee must feel about his former partner taking a bullet for him.
I may be naïve, but this scene and the relationship between these two men is not surprising and seems quite normal to me. I would expect Lee to be concerned about his uncle, I believe he loves him. And I think the colonel is extremely stressed and is grabbing onto the fact that he knows he hasn’t done anything wrong and is right. They are both more concerned with being right than they are in being supportive of one another. Hence the need for Amanda! She is there to help ‘make things easier’ for Lee and I think she is helping Lee to keep his temper and emotions under control. I don’t want to get ahead of the game, but I think the colonel doesn’t ask Lee for help because I don’t think he has much respect for ‘suits’ or a suit profession. He respects Lee as a person, but maybe not his career choice. I’m not sure that Uncle Bob realizes just how good Lee is at his job. They don’t communicate very much at all and Lee probably can’t tell his uncle very much about his work anyway.
Poor sergeant Ballard. Poor Elise!!!! And the colonel won’t even call her until the morning! I can’t imagine!
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I know this goes back to the other post when someone wrote that all three knows that Amands is not a pretend girlfriend, but I think this scene proves that. I don’t think that Lee would get to the heart of his concern for his uncle with any other woman there except Amanda. Nice that she tries to lighten the mood with pointing out menu items plus it adds some humor to the scene. My husband is one to try to lighten tense situations like that.
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I take my hat off to the actor who played the Colonel. In one brief table conversation we have learned so much why Lee Stetson behaves as he does. The way the Colonel speaks, responds to a difficult even emotional situation, layered with anger, confusion, loss and even being betrayed, the way he receives (or appears not to receive) an offer of help and concern gives us such and inside view to the home life of young Lee Stetson. And so now all of his abrupt and distant, even angry responses to difficult, scary or emotionally charges circumstances make sense. To us and to Amanda, and maybe even a bit to Lee. It is amazing how the love of a true friend can cause you to honest look at yourself and grow. I think both Lee and the Colonel are able to start that here at this dinner table because of the presence of that lady in white (notice how Amanda always wears white?)
And I continue to ask what Amanda is thinking and feeling about all of this…I know that she seems rock steady, I think she is very good at being like that and I think that Lee is really starting to rely on that part of her. And I do think that Lee is beginning to notice her as a woman and how it feels to have her by his side…but….he is still very compartmentalized, or he still wants to try to stay compartmentalized, I think it was how he got through life, and he hasn’t really learned any other way. I don’t know if that makes any sense?
But I do think that this visit with the Colonel is a remarkable one for both men. I am sure that they have never had an experience like this together and it is all because of Amanda’s presence.
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Hmmmm, I am probably the only one, but I was a little annoyed at Amanda trying to placate the boys with food. Lee and his Uncle do need to talk and while the situation and location is not the best, the talk is long overdue.
I don’t think it’s out of character for her and reveals her denial (?) mechanisms, but I was a little miffed all the same.
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I had just finished writing my post and I saw yours. And to be honest Amanda’s little menu interjections bother me too. And here I just wrote glowing things about her and so now I have confused myself… I feel like Amanda was scared of a major blow up. She knows Lee and I think she senses the presence of another Lee type and all she knows is that they are antagonistic and worst towards each other and deeply concerned at best. I think she is nervously trying to diffuse a situation. And I guess the part that makes this remarkable for these two men is that in all their dealings with one another I bet there haven’t been many caring women present and that can really affect the way men “discuss” things. And I am interested by your term “denial mechanism.” Amanda does have her own ways of dealing with complicated things doesn’t she?
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Ugh – Amanda in this scene. I wish she had had different lines although I have no idea what they should have been. I agree with the unfortunate hair comment – maybe we’re being prepped for the upcoming hair don’t – and I’m with Cindy and Morley on Amanda’s comments being annoying. She sounds like a bit of a ding dong here. I think she’s just trying to diffuse the figurative bomb between the two before it goes off and in that regard is successful, but I don’t like it all the same.
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Full disclosure here, I have the tendency to do the same thing to avoid conflict and maybe that is why her dialogue bugs me so much (I am assuming I would handle it less awkwardly than pointing out menu items :D). To me, it read as a nervous “let’s not have conflict” rather than “this is not the time or place, let’s wait until we are somewhere more private”.
I hope this doesn’t sound harsh, but I wonder if Amanda was like this in her marriage as well, avoiding conflict until it was too late to fix things.
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Hi Cindy! Awh – thanks for being so open with us! We watch the show with different eyes don’t we! Depending on our own experiences and views… what you say makes perfect sense!
For me, (shocking!) I did not find it annoying! 😉 I took it to mean Amanda was trying to nicely reduce the tension, by reminding them they are in a restaurant to eat food (and hey she did say she was very hungary so…. they can fight after they’ve eaten!) – I thought it was Amanda being indirect and nice – which IMHO she tends towards (Cindy that could at times be a way to avoid conflict I agree!) I thought it was a friendly – hey!! you two let’s order!! we’re in a restaurant here… other people are watching.. I didn’t see it as Amanda being dumb ( that always presses my buttons!)
I wondered about the conflict avoidance in her marriage too Cindy! When she says in Always look a gift horse: ‘When, when I was married and things weren’t going so well, I had this umm sexy nightgown…My ex-husband liked it so, things weren’t going so well, I’d put it on. And, uh, he had this uh, this concoction, this hot mulled wine, he’d make it and he would bring it to bed, and then things would just kind of get better.’ – I thought to myself.. look how that worked for ya?!!! She’s divorced now! Maybe Amanda does a little avoidance coping of her own! [heck.. we all do in one way or another!]
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Hi, Jan! Welcome to the blog. We have a lot of fun discussing things around here. Glad to have you join us.
I enjoy watching this first scene with the Colonel and Lee. You do see a lot of similarities in their personalities, and I think that is deliberate. Just as Lee wouldn’t automatically call the Colonel for help, so the Colonel is hesitant to ask Lee. I think Lee brings up the issue because he’s used to the Colonel dealing with unpleasant things right away. Lee is also eager to be of assistance, though he pretends otherwise initially with Amanda. I think he wanted to help as soon as he saw the story in the paper, but he was hesitant to offer it, as he wasn’t sure of the Colonel’s response. Amanda’s presence gives him the extra push to deal with it because he knows she values family relationships and also because of her earlier comment that “he’s really gonna need you now.”
One more note: I believe this is one of those eye-opening moments for Lee in his relationship with Amanda. How she deals with the Colonel, and the Colonel’s approval may have allowed Lee to consider the possibility of a deeper relationship with her. I think he begins to think seriously about how he feels from this moment forward. He’s not quite ready for the plunge, but he definitely is thinking about getting his feet wet, IMHO.
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I like what you say here, debilyn! I’m not sure Lee would admit it, but I think Amanda gives him a lot of courage to do things he might not normally do without her presence. If you can bear another Filming Raul reference, I think he does this in the tag of that ep when he offers Scotty a job. IMHO, I think he does that because of Amanda’s presence and don’t think he would have done that if Francine were there.
I never thought about how Amanda’s treatment of Lee’s uncle would allow Lee to think about pursuing a relationship with Amanda but it makes sense to me.
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