Back at Brackin’s Import/Export…
Harris explains to Brackin how Amanda surprised him with the stick- and he wasn’t so nimble or quick… ahem..
Brackin: That’s real bright, Harris. You took your eyes off a trained agent.
[yeah she’s a pro!]
Jack: I’ve got a score to settle with her.
Brackin explains he is going to cut to the chase and contact Stetson himself.. and hints mysteriously that Amanda will have a ‘very important role to play in things.’ –uh oh! 
Muahahaha! [Uh oh.. this doesn’t sound good! Similar to Saviour here wouldn’t you say? Amanda’s connection with Lee pulls her into the situation anyway- even when she isn’t inserting herself into it!]
The next thing we see is Lee arriving at his apartment to 
find Brackin sitting on his couch waiting for him. Hmmm Lee’s apartment looks very clean and organised – for a man who is burned out! Did this lead Brackin to suspect maybe this was a set up? I don’t know, but at the same time- I don’t think Brackin is taking any chances..
No pleasantries here between these two men.
Lee you need to move house, too many baddies know where you live man! [and where you keep the good scotch apparently 
]
Lee: Brackin, what rock did you crawl out from under?
…Brackin: Hey, I know I can always get a good drink at your place.
Lee: …What are you doing here?
Brackin seems to have an interesting accent.. is that a Minnesota accent? Especially when he says ‘lately’! sounds cute! err for a bad guy. pha pha!
So Brackin gives Lee his pitch.. Lee’s having a hard time.. Brackin knows what it’s like..
Lee not keeping his baseball on the coffee table anymore after Amanda took it?
Lee does his indignant, I hate Billy Melrose act .. which is music to Brackin’s ears!
(oopsie, hope Lee put away that picture of Lee and Billy usually in his lounge room! LOL!)
Lee: You were in all kinds of trouble. You were on the take. You were dismissed from the service.
Brackin: Well, what do you think is going to happen to you? So they let me go for misconduct. They’ll find something else for you. It’s about time you woke up, my friend…
[I won’t include all this dialogue]
…I know exactly how you’re feeling right now. You’re angry. You’re hurt. Let me tell you something. Being let go by the agency is the best thing that ever happened to me. I just came by here today to cut you in on a little bit of my good fortune.
Lee: What, me work for you? What… haa
Brackin: Why not?
Lee: Because I don’t like you, Brackin. That’s why not.
Brackin: Well, how would you like to make a half 
million dollars?
Lee:What are you proposing?
Brackin: Why don’t we talk about that tomorrow morning. Just meet me at this address….
Brackin heads for the door.
Brackin: …Stetson, you won’t regret it.
LOL Lee doesn’t look too sure about that!
Ahem.. here is Brackin’s number BJo.. ahem.. you want to give him a call?!
whooo a close up of Lee’s thumb. LOL.. guessing that is not really BB’s hand. but for you hand fans you’ll be able to tell I’m sure!
On to IFF, and it’s time for another meeting between Lee and Billy in Billy’s office.. my goodness just how many times can they do this and have it be believable! Phew! the magic blinds are closed!
Soooo now Harris has led Lee to Brackin, Lee doesn’t need to continue with this anymore? now they know who is behind it?? Umm.. apparently not.. 
I guess they want to know what Brackin is wanting Lee to do. But if three other agents were recruited by Brackin to do stuff isn’t that enough? Hmm.. guess not!
Lee: I’ve got a meeting with Brackin tomorrow.
Billy: I’ve been doing some checking up on our old friend. His import/export business is a front. This is what he’s really into.
[Billy gives Lee some papers]
Lee: Ha. Now this is Brackin’s style. Recruiting mercenaries. But I can’t believe he’s willing to pay me half a million bucks to recruit mercenaries.
Ahhh both Lee and Billy are enjoying this.. they feel they are making headway.. and love catching bad guys!
Billy: No, I think he’s got other plans for you. Now there are two pieces of evidence which indicate that he’s into more. Much, much more! Swiss sources indicate banking activity by Brackin on three separate 
occasions recently. One was a week after we found Jamison dead here. The other two coincide with his telephone records and his travel bookings to, get ready for this, Munich and Mexico City.
Lee: Our three burn out agents.
Billy: And three agency operations which just fell apart.
Lee: We’ve got him, Billy…
If you’ve got him, bring him in. If you can’t bring him in? you haven’t got him yet! LOL.. I see Lee as being over invested in this assignment now. 
…Tomorrow afternoon I sign up with him and then we nail his hide to the wall. [Brackin said to be there tomorrow morning.. Afternoon? am I missing something?!]
Billy: All right. Now I want you to be fully backed up tomorrow. [oh hooray.. finally??] As a matter of fact, I think you should wear a wire.
Lee: No way. We’re dealing with a man who knows us as well as we know ourselves. Remember, he was agency.
Billy: Okay, have it your way. [Ugh.. no back up? *iwsod bangs head on desk*] …But don’t forget, one agent is dead and two are missing. [Yes these guys are killers!! so you don’t need back up..]
Lee: But they were the real burn outs, strung out and fragile. That’s my advantage. Brackin thinks I’m just 
like them. [Meh!]
Billy: Just be careful.
Lee: Yes sir.
[Ughhh!!!! It all sounds a bit hollow to me..]
Lee opens the door- so Billy automatically starts yelling: Stetson! Stetson! [Haaaaa okay that’s funny!]
Oh boy looking forward to hearing what you all think of this scene!
Finally a voice of reason here between Lee and Billy – Billy wants Lee to have back up. But Lee talks Billy out of it so easily! So what was the plan then? Lee shows up on his own, hears the evil plan. Passes the test of not having a wire and then Lee single-handedly arrests Brackin and Harris and stuffs them both into his vette and takes them to prison? Me confused..
Once again, IMHO Billy and Lee are making a big mistake by underestimating the baddies and overestimating Lee. Yes Lee is not a burn out, but he is still not flippin superman. Lee is willing to take this big risk, and Billy is willing to let him. I know the danger is part of the job ‘it’s what I do’ as Lee says (AABH)– but there is doing your job and there is being reckless. Lee is not a burn out. So what. That doesn’t mean Brackin and Harris are dumb.
I think again we see Lee over estimating how much control he has over the situation (though thankfully there is no more alcohol involved so he can use his melon more now!) – I think Lee has lost his perspective on this case and it looks like Billy doesn’t recognise it and is going to be no help! As an agent IMHO (because I am an expert in being an agent. rofl!! not!!) this is a dangerous place to be- agents should maintain their objectivity.. patience and control!
I’ll explore what’s going on here with Lee by referring to a little psychological theory [hooray, for once it is not Freudian!]. Skip this if you are not interested in looking at Lee’s over investment further! Don’t want to bore anyone!
I see Lee and Billy together having made this decision, to do Lee’s burn out cover – it was a huge commitment, and I am sure it was not taken lightly. Having made this commitment, and spent two weeks investing in this cover, making sacrifices, Lee even jeopardising his relationship with Amanda because of the slap – Lee is very invested in his decision to do this job and make this case a success. He really really wants to catch this bad guy – his excitement here in the office with Billy is pretty clear!
Lee is over confident that he is on top of this situation, even after having lost control momentarily with Amanda earlier. No back up???!!!! At all??? Not even a person in the car outside watching??
Okay no wire, but why is it a wire or nothing???!!!
To me, this hints that Lee is so committed to this case, that he is convincing himself all is well- Maybe due to cognitive dissonance- [where your thoughts, or actions are not in line with your beliefs] He knows he is taking a big risk here, but has invested so much now that he can’t give it up. Lee needs to justify to himself his dissonant [inconsistent] behaviour. Lee has to justify to himself slapping Amanda- which is so wrong and against Lee’s usual standards- by seeing this case through – Lee slapped Amanda for this case- he’s going to see this through- it’s not all going to be for nothing!! You know? The guy who came up with dissonance theory (Festinger) said: ‘Humans are not a rational animal, but a rationalizing one.’ -Yep… I think this sums up Lee here well! I love the writing in this episode 
Lee is so deep in it, he can’t see it. It’s what Billy should have provided here but fails to.. I think Amanda can be the voice of reason sometimes for Lee when he gets too invested also – she’s always pointing out to Lee the dangers! LOL!!! Wasn’t that why she became Lee’s ‘partner’ in the first place? Billy picked her because she would force Lee to be more careful (The First Time?) I think this shows how much Lee needs Amanda in his life and his work [Amanda’s the whole package! ]
Anyway, I shall leave it there for now, as always I would love to hear your thoughts on all this!!! byeee for now!
"Just walk with me.." 
Yes, Lee is invested in this case and is feeling way too cocky here. (Maybe he needs to borrow Booth’s belt buckle. LOL. I know, wrong show.) Billy is convinced they are close. I see Billy as invested in this case, too. They have literally put a lot on the line to solve this case. The momentum has reached a peak, the excitement is high, and they are riding it for all it is worth. Obviously, neither one is thinking clearly right now. A dose of Amanda is definitely needed here, but then, we’d lose some of the fun and goodness to come.
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Debilyn, I recently decided to go through SMK episodes and all the posts again. Your comment on Booth’s belt buckle just registered in my brain 💡. I only started watching Bones a couple years ago and bingewatched like a lunatic! Absolutely love the series and yes, Lee needs a belt bubble that says “Cocky” too.
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The first thing I noticed when I read this post was Brackin’s comment about Amanda being a :trained agent.” Then I noticed Iwsod’s comments about Lee and Billy underestimating the baddies and overestimating Lee. So we have baddies that mistake Amanda for a trained agent while Lee and Billy don’t think she should be included in the case. But she ends up being included because of the closeness of her relationship with Lee even though the baddies think the closeness is because of her position at the Agency. Lee underestimated the importance of that relationship when he began this mission, but at this point is now keenly aware of how important Amanda is to him (well almost keenly aware, more keenly aware than he has ever been before). Billy and Lee are still under estimating the baddies, still not including Amanda (but the baddies are making her a key player). Billy and Lee are still overestimating Lee who is now trying to overcompensate for how much he underestimated his value of Amanda and slapped her. Amanda? What are Amanda’s thoughts at this point? I am assuming she is still a bit jumbled and all over the map emotionally regarding Lee and the case especially after the “game changing gaze” Lee graced her with. But she knows that Lee is still the same old Lee, even though their relationship has gone though a ringer, I think she is believing that it is as it was if not even closer (I could hear her asking herself if that could be possible even though it appears to be this way) I do believe she has truly forgiven him and is maintaining her professionalism as she views the wrap up of what has been a very difficult case for her friend Lee. The perceptions of each person in the plot is really very interesting at this point in the episode, I think.
Poor Lee cognitive dissonance certainly makes sense. Unfortunately for Lee it isn’t over yet, there will be more inconsistent behavior required of him before it is all over I think.
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I’m a bit behind responding to comments on this post sorry! I got in a packing mood yesterday and well.. when that happens you have to go with it – I went like crazy! 😉
Hi Jule! Is that Lovely Avatar of yours one of your creations? gorgeous colours!
okay okay.. I won’t bang my head on my desk. I promise! Rofl.. yes the old don’t take back up or it ruins the drama dilemma! I agree it is a long standing problem with Lee LOL – that’s regularly highlighted by Amanda worrying about him, or chastising him for not taking any, or sneaking in and being his back up.. so in a way smk knows this is ridiculous and calls it.. at least in my view! [In our man in Tegernsee they used this knowledge to create suspense- we think Lee is stuck with no way out in the mill- when shockingly he had called in Volkenauer as back up – and Volkenauer comes in and saves the day!!! there’s one for the smk history books! haaa]
Here? In this episode, I highlight the zero back up (or plan) because I think it is more ridiculous than usual – plain reckless- and it is part of the episode’s story – not just a means to an end.. – for me part of the episode is about the job and what it demands of Lee, and that he really needs Amanda with him for his work to help him keep perspective- on a lot of things.. but we’ll get to that more in the final post. sorry to ramble on!
Oh thanks for the response Jule I really appreciate it! glad you found it made some sense! 🙂
Hi LASinLA– people are fascintating- agreed! and these characters are too huh!
Thanks for weighing in on the accent Kgmohror!
Hi BJo– lovely to hear your thoughts! What? you won’t call Brackin?? booo! 😉
Actually while I wouldn’t say Brackin is gorgeous like Lee, he does have very pretty eyes! 🙂 I’ll agree with you there!
Yes when Lee says “ I don’t like you” I think that was an understatement for the PG rating 😉
A plane in the sky? rofl BJo!! too funny!! yeah something- anything would be better!
Thanks for responding to my post and my thoughts on Lee and Billy and the case BJo- made my day!
Would they have listened to Amanda? Hmm.. great question! I think if Amanda was with him he would have thought more of the danger. and… Amanda has pointed out to Lee the danger before – Remember A Relative Situation?? ‘If you don’t call me in one hour I’ll come – I know the address- I found it!’ 🙂
Amanda would have gotten at least some kind of concession here from Lee towards his own safety. Just my 2 cents..
Hiya Cindy! Thanks for the feedback.. and rofl! Yep all us smk fans are very good at rationalising the time we spend on this show!!!! too funny!!! Good call !!!
Yes – we can’t all be crazy! 😉 and yes- I would worry about where you had gotten to! 🙂
Hey Jenbo! Lee ‘Reckless’ Stetson? Love it!!! You put it so well. yes why is there nooooo contingency plan- at all! Agreed! shame Billy! Shame!
Spot on Jenbo!!! – Brackin doesn’t trust Lee one bit..Brackin has contingency plans!!! He is well prepared for this to be a double cross on Lee’s part – maybe a bit like Ballon in Saviour – maybe a part of him thinks it’s possible it’s a set up so he uses Lee to get what he wants, knowing the whole time he has to keep him on a tight rein..
Oh rofl! Yeah I saw Lee grabbed ice from an ice bucket – I hadn’t pictured Brackin filling it for him – sooooo funny!!!! Good call!!
Maybe Brackin did fill it up… to errr encourage Lee’s drinking.. ?
KC! Thanks for responding to my thoughts on this post!
Amanda clean Lee’s apartment? Oh noo! say it ain’t so!!! 😉
Haaa you know I always think of you when we see the street in front of Lee’s apartment KC, and I look for the blue hatchback with the hatchback up! 🙂
Schmoozing time all day huh.. okay.. we can go with that! 😉
Oh yeah!!! Brackin and Harris tied in the boot (trunk) would have been much better! tied to the roof racks too maybe?
Yes Morley– once again the baddies see what the agency can’t.. doh!!! Amanda seems to be regularly mistaken for a highly trained agent by baddies haaaa.. We’ve seen before where Amanda has been drawn into a case, mistaken for a pro by baddies and saved the day..haven’t we?? Umm.. A class Act? Any others?
When will the agency learn! You’ve summed it up beautifully Morley- all that under and over estimating going on! 😉
Agreed Morley : I think Amanda is in a very confusing place in the show now – in her relationship with Lee, and in her work at the agency – the two are different, but they are interwoven.. and what affects Lee and Amanda professionally also affects them personally and vice versa.. in my view.. the agency confusion comes to a head in the next episode.. For now, I think Amanda just rides by the seat of her pants for the duration of this episode.. it’s all she has time for! [She literally rides by the seat of her pants when she takes a ride with Travis! haaaaa.. coming up soon!!! 🙂 ]
Yes ‘Poor Lee’ 😉 haaaa.. you said it again! cheeky Morley! 🙂
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*blushes* thanks iwsod! Yes, that’s one I just posted about. Finally figured how to do a gravatar. Yep, a bit slow on the uptake here! Glad you stopped banging your head since Lee’s concept about back up could send us all to the hospital with damaged brains 😉 Whatever would he do without Amanda to save the day?!
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Okay – just a few more comments here…
1- I gave in and called Brackin. No kidding. Verizon Wireless told me my call could not be placed as dialed. His printer must have made a mistake on his business card.
2- I’m glad someone agrees with me on Brackin’s eyes. 🙂 They are a pretty color! And I agree he’s nowhere near as hot as Lee – never have – but I do think he’s a pretty good lookin’ baddie. He is much much better than the likes of Bo Johnson, Bobby Bouchard and Ted Glazer!! C’mon people!
3- I agree – Amanda probably would have gotten some sort of concession out of Lee had she been there to help him think through the danger of what he was planning to do. She can do that where Billy can’t. Doh!
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BJo I can’t remember if I’ve responded to this – sorry there have been so many fabulous comments and I haven’t responded to half I wanted to!
You had me in stitches here girl!!! you called Brackin?!!!! whahaahahahaaaa!!!! The agency thanks you for the sacrifice 😉
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ROFLMAO!! Can’t believe you called that number. Surely it must have been a typo on the card..
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Tee hee! Hi Misty..
yes maybe Bjo didn’t give the correct code word so they didn’t transfer her call.. she went to the standard cover ‘error message’ Hmm what would Brackin’s code word be?
I’m signing off now.. been working long hours on transcribing Murder Between Friends.. just gotta get off the computer! byeee!
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BJo, he’s in federal prison now, can’t take calls from admirers! Lee on the other hand is fair game *giggles madly to herself while googling Lee Stetson in the white pages*
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Oh, that’s alright, Jule….I’ve moved on to Trucker Travis! I might try to reach him on the CB.
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Actually I do have major warmies for big guys, so I’ll give you trucker Travis and raise you a Nathan Fillion (same show different decade LOL!)
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“Hmmm Lee’s apartment looks very clean and organised – for a man who is burned out!”
Maybe Brackin figured that Amanda had been by to clean up. ROFL!
Love the view of Lee’s apartment building, with the same white Mercedes parked out front… it cracks me up every time.
Yeah, no… I think it’s definitely not BB’s hand. 😀 (His hands are more tanned, and he seems to always have an impeccable manicure–he wouldn’t have the rough skin/chewed nails that we see… then again, Lee is supposed to be burned out–maybe he started chewing his nails and stopped going to the salon. 😀 ) Uhhh… not that I’ve paid much attention to BB’s hands… really… 😀
“[Brackin said to be there tomorrow morning.. Afternoon? am I missing something?!]”
*putting on best innocent looking expression* Maybe Lee figured there’d be some schmoozing time before he actually signed up for anything –> afternoon. LOL.
Loving the idea of Lee stuffing Brackin and Harris into the back of the ‘Vette! 😀 Though, it would be more satisfying for him to have driven an Agency sedan and stuffed them into the boot (trunk) like he did Eva in Lost and Found… just sayin’. 😀
BTW I know Brackin has a moustache… and I loooooove me a good moustache… but he doesn’t do anything for me. (Probably ‘cos I know he’s a baddie. LOL!)
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Lee is your middle name “reckless”?! Am beginning to wonder. OK so wearing a wire is out of the question but really having no contingency plan? Shame on Billy for being such a pushover!!! I can understand Lee being heavily invested in this case and wanting to see it through (mind you isn’t he like this on every case?!) but he does tend to act like he’s superman. I wouldn’t say not being a burn out is much of an advantage when Brackin doesn’t trust him as far as he can throw him!
I do love the scene between him and Brackin (sorry BJo he ain’t got nothin’ in the way of hotness when sitting next to scruffy Lee ;)). He plays it with the right amount of disgust for Brackin, although he does seem to take it a little too in his stride that a criminal has broken into his apartment and is drinking all his best scotch.
I do LMAO at the idea of Brackin goes hunting for ice and fills up the ice bucket while he’s at it LOL
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‘Humans are not a rational animal, but a rationalizing one.’
Love it. See, I don’t have an unnatural obsession with SMK, look at all these other wonderful (smart witty) people on this blog. We can’t all be crazy. 😉 And if I suddenly stopped posting here, all these wonderful, smart, witty, obsessing-over-a-30-year-old-show-is-not-unusual-at-all people would start to worry something bad had happened to me.
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LOL Cindy, we’d wonder if the microwave exploded (TFT episode discussion)! And since we are all the epitome of folks with sterling mental health, no obsessions or insane need to escape reality with w good dose of Lee and Amanda, we’d know where to go looking for you: down the shared rabbit hole, wine and chocolate in tow!
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Oooh, love this scene with Lee and Brackin. And I may be the only one, but I like having two hotties to see at the same time. Lee wins on looks by a long shot – yes, a long shot, but Brackin’s got the better outfit here. I do like the color of his pretty blue eyes though.
Yes! Brackin’s #! Thank you for thinking of me, iwsod!
One of my favorite Lee lines are in this scene. “Cuz I don’t like you, Brackin, that’s why not!” Uh oh…guess if Lee doesn’t like Brackin then I can’t like Brackin. Guess I won’t be calling him after all…. Love Lee in this scene. He looks particularly handsome to me when he is serious and determined…squares his jaw and gets his masseter going.
I’m not sure if those are Lee’s hands or not. I see some similarities to other close-ups that I know are Lee, but it requires further study…oh well. 😉
Guess Lee really is a Superagent – needing no back-up at all. I’m surprised that Billy is letting Lee take this risk. It does seem like they should have someone on standby or some check-in procedure or something. A plane in the sky?
All that psychological stuff, iwsod, yup, what you said – I tend to rationalize a ton myself. And I get the whole Lee is going to make this case because damnit, he slapped Amanda for it! He’s due a little punishment for that action and maybe he’ll get it. Does that fit in with the psychological stuff or is that a different category?
Aww, like how you end it with Amanda being the voice of reason and that “she would force Lee to be more careful”. Very true! Love tie-backs like that! Although, would Lee and Billy have listened to her? I’m trying to remember if they’ve done that before – operational input. Maybe they would have after LOTP? I don’t that kind of thing happened until later in the series. But I’m just thinking off the top of my head here and don’t have time to go back and look.
And on Brackin’s accent…I’m thinking if not Minnesota-ish then perhaps near Chicago. Some of his O’s remind me of the way I’ve heard Chicagoans say it.
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I thought Brackin’s accent sounded a little south of Minnesota, although still Midwestern. I should know, you betcha, Minnesotan to the core myself. I looked up the actor, John Beck, and he was born in Chicago. Ha! BB was also born in Illinois.
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Hey thanks Happy Camper! hadn’t heard from you in a bit – hope you’ve had a great holiday period!
Thanks for clarifying that! It was a very cute accent 🙂 maybe that’s why BJo likes Brackin!
Do you ever hear BB say anything idiosyncratic to that region? if so- do let us know! 🙂
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Another Minnesotan weighing in. Re BB’s Midwestern dialect, I think Lee’s frequent use of “yeah” in place of yes is kind of a regional thing.
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Harris not so nimble or quick? Groan . . . 🙂
Lee having to see the case through because of the slap — very realistic. Aren’t people fascinating?
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No no no Iwsod, no more banging head on desk! You know where that leads: yep, to shaken and stirred brain cells and a baaad headache LOL! And if Lee had backup, there would be no reason for at least half of the episodes in the series. Heck, there’d be a ten minute show and 50 minutes of commercials each time. I was watching Covert Affairs last night and yelling the same thing at the screen, “bring back up, bring back up!” And the main character Annie’s only back up? An agent who is blind and can’t take out the bad guy without taking out random people and Annie, which of course wouldn’t be good, no? Didn’t think so. The visual of Lee stuffing Bracken and Harris into his Corvette? Perfectly hysterically funny! Seems like as good a plan to me as Lee and Billy’s!
And good analysis of Lee’s behavior, “Lee needs to justify to himself his dissonant [inconsistent] behaviour. Lee has to justify to himself slapping Amanda- which is so wrong and against Lee’s usual standards- by seeing this case through – Lee slapped Amanda for this case- he’s going to see this through- it’s not all going to be for nothing!!” Never thought of this but very astute, Iwsod! (I hope you had fun with your guests! Happy new year!)
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