Back to IFF, Senator Drake is on the TV talking about how he’ll never forget Hamilton Rawling (I thought it was Rawlings 
but.. 
whatever!) – hey isn’t that Billy’s map behind him? so that’s where it went.. looks the same..
Billy talks over the top of the broadcast. Billy off screen: every cabinet officer in town is going to be worried. Well, we’ve just got to make sure this isn’t part of a pattern! Let’s get right on this!
The shot widens to show Billy switching off the TV – 
Rofl! You can tell they originally filmed this scene with all of Senator Drake’s dialogue, but they’ve since dubbed it with Billy’s meaningless ramblings- the audio doesn’t even sound the same!
Billy: We have a level two alert.
Amanda: what’s that?
Lee: It’s an agency wide preparedness alert. We are to assume a conspiracy exists until it’s proven otherwise.
We can see here Amanda takes a huge breath and audibly lets it out.. she’s really feeling it right now..
Lee leans in closer to Amanda and asks her gently: Now, did that woman mention any other names?
[‘that woman’?! ugh.. no wonder Amanda is incensed here! but interesting that Lee is gentle in his tone with this enquiry- do you think he predicted Amanda would defend Elizabeth?]
Amanda quickly: Lee! She is a good person. Not a mad bomber
and if there is a conspiracy she isn’t in on it! Look!…
(we cut to Lee who sees he isn’t going to be able to stop Amanda from her rant, he takes a seat and quietly 
smiles to himself..) … she is a decent, hard working mother who is just trying to look out for her family! That’s all!!!! In the wide shot we see Lee is making hand gestures to placate Amanda.. 
and uh oh.. In walks Francine (oh yeah, that will placate her! not!) – a bit stunned to find Amanda speaking so firmly me thinks..
Francine: That’s enough! The most dangerous creature on God’s green earth. [and don’t you forget it Francine! though I confess, this is a cool quip.. if not a little unfortunate for Amanda with the timing! 
]
Amanda looks at Billy: Ohhh Francine!
Billy silently motions ugh! in response to Francine..
Francine sweetly: I’m just kidding!!!
She smiles and takes out the photos from the box to show everyone all the surveillance photos that were taken at the event.
We do see Lee kind of grimace behind Francine in response to her defence that she is just kidding.. what do you think Lee is thinking here??
I’ll have a go.. I think Lee is thinking: I don’t think Francine knows what ‘kidding’ means..
Love how Lee tilts his head to the side and gives Billy a ‘yeah right’ look.. but otherwise he still stays out of it.
Francine: alright, here we’ve got the photo surveillance of the rally.
Amanda: who took these?
Francine: Ohhh NSA, CIA, FBI…
Francine flaps her hands to say- whoever! hmm guess this means ‘the agency’ is neither of those three.. but.. gets it’s information from all three. hmm interesting! Anyone able to make some sense of this? Homeland Security? no idea! Anyone?
Amanda picks up a photo: would you look at that!
(she points to the photo, then turns it around to show it to Billy.) To Billy: Sir, this is Kurt Magnusson…
…I met him at the Save Our Bay office…
[Lee seems interested.. but he doesn’t say anything..]
…What is he doing with that baby carriage?
Amanda is fired up.. thinking she is on to something.. 
We cut to Billy who to me looks like he doesn’t really give a stuff.. love ya Billy, but sometimes you are just plain wrong!!
Billy responds: koochy cooing the baby.
he motions like.. isn’t it obvious?
Amanda: no sir. There is no baby in that carriage! Elizabeth had her baby with her.
Amanda is speaking very assertively here. This is no longer ‘the tentative, thanks so much for allowing me to sit in on your meeting even though I am a lowly nobody’ Amanda! whooo hoooo! Go Amanda!
Francine responds: Do we have a photograph of the woman holding the baby?
[wow.. you know, Francine doesn’t automatically tell Amanda to shut it.. she actually follows up Amanda’s observation. progress! Maybe Marlin is on Amanda’s side.. and threatened Francine to behave I think we need a fan fic where we find out Marlin was really a KGB agent in disguise..]
Amanda searches the photos: Yes right here.
She hands the photo to Francine.
But Billy doesn’t even let Amanda finish her sentence before he contradicts her here: yes yes.. but we don’t know the tiiiiiimiiiiing (me thinks Billy talks to Amanda here like he is doing a little koochy cooing of his own. Bletch!!!)
… what order were they shot?
oh sooo true Billy.. if only there had been someone actually there when the bombing took place, someone who could have told you what happened.. what a shame.. ahem.. Yes total sarcasm from iwsod here! I feel like Amanda must be dreaming this.. it’s so ridiculous!!! gosh.. maybe she wore an Amandaband too tight again..
Billy is silent a moment to let his earth shattering revelation about not knowing the order the photos were taken in sink in-
Yes Amanda.. Billy thinks you are a silly dingbat to actually think you saw what happened when you were there and saw what happened!
Billy continues: the most we can do is show it to the cops. (really?!)
Amanda: that’s it?
[wow.. Amanda is quite forceful with Billy here!]
Billy: you gave them a statement. I’ll have scarecrow 
look after things.
Oh great, so now Amanda can’t work on it, it’s turned over to scarecrow? but.. it’s really turned over to the police.. ugh.. so annoyed with Billy in this 
scene!
…but it’s police work now. They’re pros. Let them do their job Amanda.
Amanda: I’m sorry Sir, but that isn’t enough…
…I like Elizabeth Sullivan and I’m gonna try to help her. Excuse me sir.
Amanda gets up and leaves without waiting for a response from anyone. [I’m cheering!! can you hear me??!!! anyone else cheering??!!!!! I think I can hear some cheers! ]
They are all left quite stunned.
Lee kinda nervously 
chuckles and says: Amanda! calling after her..[like- ‘ah you enthused non agent who is very endearing’ me thinks!] he looks at Billy and Francine as if to say – I’ll deal with her.. and he chases after Amanda.. he catches up with her in the bullpen.
Before we get to that.. what do you all make of this scene? Brace yourselves for an iwsod rant! (whoo do go ahead and do some ranting of your own! )
Some may say Billy is right to just turn it over to the cops. I don’t see this scene that way myself.
Feel free to see things your own way and share it with us all!
I think what we see here is more of the underestimating and dismissing of Amanda that’s been going on (and I like that they don’t just forget this issue, it’s regularly seen IMHO)- it was on full display in Welcome to America Mr Brand. This works really well directly following that episode!
[Lovin the order Morley! ]
Amanda was actually there, at the rally!! Not only that but she was with Elizabeth at the Save our Bay office, accompanied her to the rally, was talking to her the whole time before Rawlings even arrived, and she even helped push the flippin baby carriage!!! She was with Elizabeth when she took her baby out of the baby carriage, and saw Elizabeth not put her baby back in there again.
If this was a member of the public who had seen and done all this – I half suspect they would have actually paid more attention! but with Amanda? well.. they can’t just believe it because she says so! I find this insulting.
Plus, this comes after Lee explains there is a level 2 alert- which assumes there is a conspiracy until it is proven otherwise.. gee how do you prove otherwise if you have just handed it over to the cops? and if you are treating it like a conspiracy, why would you be happy to just believe it was the save our bay lady working alone??!!!! it is more likely you would believe someone set her up – what bomber kills someone with her own baby’s baby carriage!!!! [ babies get heavy to carry all day long ]
This is just all plain stupid to me.
Then.. to really top it off.. we have photos.. lots of them.. evidence!! and.. they even back up what Amanda saw with her own eyes – but- that is still not enough! no Amanda still shouldn’t be listened to. I take this personally… and I wonder if Amanda takes this personally. She is certainly not going to just accept this. You go Amanda!!! This is a little reminiscent of Mr Brand no? All the evidence he had didn’t count for much because it was him who was the witness.. I’m having a rant because I don’t like it, but I think it’s great storytelling- and I love that in one episode it isn’t dealt with and forgotten.. Amanda earning her stripes is a process that takes time..IMHO too long! but.. that’s part of the story too! 🙂
I think there is a little bit of the agency forgetting the little people going on here.. Amanda is much more personally involved, especially given Elizabeth is someone just like herself – a mother trying to look after her family [isn’t this someone the agency should be working to protect?!]. The agency should not fob off Elizabeth like this.. I agree with Amanda!
You know what else? Amanda was with save our bay on official agency business. Doing spring cleaning for the agency. Why send Amanda to do that if what she reports back won’t be listened to anyway?!!! she was there, had done some background on Save Our Bay. The agency should listen to her, and they should update those federal files the cops refer to with Amanda’s information! ugh!!! I get so frustrated with this scene.. do you ?? I think Amanda does also.. maybe things at the agency have reached their limit too? – Maybe it’s time this relationship changed.. maybe it’s the last straw and it’s time for Amanda to be taken more seriously…. so while Amanda takes a stand for Elizabeth’s sake here, I believe she is also taking a stand for her own sake. She can’t get no respect!!!!! and.. she’s earned it!! time to set some limits and demand more.. right Amanda?? what do you all think??
I find this whole idea that the agency is happy to just forget Elizabeth Sullivan and ignore Amanda very interesting, when we consider Hamilton Rawlings’ final 
words.. Here again is what he said in his speech: …since we are a nation of laws and not the jungle, because we are a civilisation that cares what happens to our members, we must now and again pause and take stock of how we treat each other… in our personal relationships, in our businesses and in our government-
Apply this to how the agency is responding is fascinating! Because it seems to me the agency doesn’t care what happens to community members and maybe it’s time for them to take stock of how they treat each other! sometimes I get the feeling the agency treats the world like it’s the jungle.. I think this is a bit of a kick up the pants to the agency. but then.. maybe it’s just me seeing what I want.. there is that too.. but I like it.. it resonates with me, and I’m going with it! what do you all think?
Boy am I interested in hearing other’s thoughts!! I better finish up now – we’ll pick right up again with Lee catching up to Amanda in the bullpen! Busting to hear what you all think! byee for now.
"Just walk with me.." 
It occurred to me this morning that we’ve missed a whole conversation here. Lee drove Amanda to the agency, but they’ve been sitting here a while with this discussion. I think Billy and Lee have been listening to Amanda and asking questions for some time. She’s too worked up here to be right after the bombing. She’s been stewing a bit. I’m sure she feels left out. She knows the agency has more info, Francine has been sent to find pictures, after all. She’s frustrated with the slowness of the system. Billy is trying to calm her (not in a good way) and deal with the alert he’s just been given. He doesn’t react in his usual way – listening to her – so her frustration level has risen while she’s been here. How did Lee expect her to react? If he’d really been paying attention, instead of sleep deprived, he would have treated her a little differently here. His relief at finding her okay at the scene relaxed him a bit too much.
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LOL – the map! Is anyone hearing Dora’s map song in their head? I don’t even have anyone in my house who watches that show anymore and I can sing it word for word…ugh.
Ah, yes, iwsod, I do think Lee’s tone is because he knows exactly what Amanda is thinking with regard to Elizabeth Sullivan. I think he gave her a ride back to the Agency and they had a conversation in the car about it.
Amanda is good and pissed. Can I use that word on the blog? I hope so because it’s a good word for it, IMO. She is mad about the horrific bombing that she witnessed and felt and is not at all happy that Elizabeth is being blamed for it. The anger and hardening I think she went through in her thoughts at the bomb site before Lee showed up, just steeled her resolve to help figure this out. She absolutely, 100% does not believe ES had anything to do with this heinous act and she is going to do something about it. I’m glad to see her reacting here on her emotions rather than on her usual logical thought. Have we ever seen Amanda this ticked off before?
And this is one time I’m not happy with Francine and her little joke to Amanda. Normally I find Francine’s barbs to be quite funny, but not here. Here, I’m as mad as Amanda. I had to watch that gruesome scene on my TV too. Blech. Grrr.
“tiiiiiimiiiiing”?!?! ROFL! Love your sarcasm, iwsod! I was thinking the exact same thing! Actually, Billy, I bet if you look at the back of the photos, or call the FBI, NSA, CIA or whoever took them, that they could tell you the time and order they were shot in. Even in the 80’s.
Amanda’s instincts are going off like a bell here. She is perhaps seeing Billy for the first time as a suit who doesn’t know what he’s talking about but she does because she was there. Argh! Amanda is growing up professionally in this episode. She’s been around enough and seen enough to know that she has the ability to do something to help ES, and gosh darnit, she’s gonna do it whether Billy likes it or not! So there! Yes, I’m cheering!!
I like the idea of setting limits at the Agency and Amanda demanding more. I agree, she has earned it!
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Here I am, and with several days’ vacation to get all caught up on the blog posts and comments!
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Hope you’re having fun, happycamper! I’m doing the same! JWWM blog binging!
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Oh feisty Amanda is back!! Nice that she feels like she can do it without Agency back up…she’s feeling confident after her work with Brand or Pott 🙂
For me it doesn’t make sense for the cops to have jurisdiction if a Senator was killed and they think it’s a conspiracy, for it seems that would be The Agency!
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Excellent point, Melissa R.! Just like we saw in ALSALS, the Agency gets an automatic call on these sorts of things. I know Rawlings wasn’t a senator, but he was a Secretary. You’d think the Agency would get the call on that too.
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IWSOD I ranting along right there with you. Oh. My. Word. Even I can see there is no baby in the picture with Kurt. Billy needs an eye test URGENTLY! And you’re right, the police would treat Amanda’s eye witness statement as fact rather than brushing her off. Why are the Agency doing the opposite? She’s a trusted member of staff, so trusted she was given spring cleaning to do alone. But her information is just unilaterally dismissed. Urgh makes my blood boil. Don’t blame Amanda for reaching the end of her tether, I am right there with her.
I don’t understand why the group was included in spring cleaning, involved in a murder using explosives and they’re just sitting back and letting the police deal with it? Sheesh what does it take to get the Agency to take action?!
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Amanda is not in a mood to be trifled with at this point. I agree that she has reached her limit and enough is enough. Amanda’s demeanor indicates that she is going to do whatever she can, with or without Agency help or even permission. She is highly motivated to do something. She has had one heck of a day already. Being told it’s time for the gun range, Spring Cleaning with some pretty quirky people, Lee’s being peculiar and clueless, and a brush with a bomb and the day just seems to go on. We’ve seen Amanda swallow her frustrations before, she’s even done it with a smile, but as the title of the episode says, she is over the limit at this point. And helping Elizabeth Sullivan might just be thing to keep her from having to think about other things.
Lee at this point is starting to take clues about Amanda’s reactions to things. He is learning, at least from a work prospective, when to ease up or back off. Maybe he is remembering her earlier reaction so he is trying hard not to upset her. He has also learned that Amanda knows what she’s talking about and has become more appreciative of her abilities. You can see how he is just taking everything in that Amanda is saying. Francine’s comment sort of describes Amanda’s mood at this moment.
Billy seems to be all over the place. Of course the police are involved, but as was mentioned a bombing is not anything simple. Maybe they are all scrambling as to who has jurisdiction over what. Think about all the other agencies Francine listed who were taking pics. It’s not like this was such a popular or well-known committee that Rawlings was in charge of. Not sure why the other Senators would be nervous. Rawlings had been receiving some little messages/threats, like the fish hanging in his office. No one mentioned any other threats.
Billy’s mood has certainly taken a 180 turn from this morning when it was such a beautiful day.
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Like this Valerie.
I’ve re-watched this scene a few times. Amanda is more assertive and driven than we have ever seen her before I think. A big part of this is her closeness to this case, both because she was there and because she has obviously established a sympathy and understanding for Elizabeth Sullivan. Maybe she feels Billy (the Agency) isn’t taking her seriously because she is not an agent – if Lee or one of the other agents had been at this rally, might Billy be taking it a bit more seriously. Or would another agent have not gotten to grips with Elizabeth Sullivan and her organisation as quickly as Amanda did? Simply by being Amanda, by being genuinely interested in people and having an understanding of normal people and normal life that most agents don’t have, Amanda once again has unique insight into a case. Her instincts are telling her that this is a situation that the Agency needs to keep on investigating. You’d think Billy would have learned by now to listen to her. Still, he’s got a lot else to think about and I can see his reaction as to be expected.
I get the feeling here that Amanda is also extra driven here by a desire to keep busy today, to do the job of agent (since the Agency isn’t interested) and to do it well. And, yes, she’s taken a leaf out of Lee’s book by seemingly being prepared to buck the system (the Agency) and going it alone. She may not even recognise it as such but I think her drive here is partly a coping mechanism to avoid for now the unexpected personal turmoil she is feeling after events and conversations earlier in the day.
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Really like this, Valerie. I guess he doesn’t stick up for Amanda or get behind her because it’s not the Agency’s responsibility and perhaps he has plans later? I wish he would have, but I guess that’s one way of him saying that even though he is taking in what she is saying, he doesn’t feel the need to help and support her despite her strong beliefs? She does that for him but not the other way around?
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Your comments about the Agency treating the world like it is the jungle reminded me of that theme about the little people getting lost in Fearless Dotty. That is part of the whole journey for Lee isn’t it? To be able to see people as people? And in these scenes I don’t see Lee responding like Billy does. He seems to get Amanda’s response here, he knows how she is going to react and he seems to be a bit sympathetic with her. not that he is feeling the same way about Elizabeth Sullivan or the way Manny and Billy are handling it, but he is also understanding Amanda’s response. I have always found Lee’s response to Amanda in these type of circumstances in this episode endearing.
I like Francine’s comment here. I know it is meant as a dig, but, somehow it is flavored with a bit of respect??? But I also love that Amanda is feisty with her. Amanda comes right back and tells her to knock it off. It seems a bit like some mutual respect even while they are digging at each other.
And I do think Amanda is fed up and feisty. She has had enough and even though she can be a sweet patient woman, she has her limits and when they are reached she will let you know. And she has done so. Interesting. I also agree some of this may be personal. And he personal stuff just may have shortened her patience as well. No one has infinite patience…
I am so glad you reminded us of that quote. Now is a good time to pause and take stock of all those relationships, thing is, I think Amanda is too worked up on too many fronts to pause.
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Love your first paragraph, Morley! I see what you’re saying about Francine’s remark, but I don’t see any respect in it. I just see Francine being the usual Francine, getting in a dig at Amanda because that’s what she does. Sometimes Francine’s comments can be very poorly timed, just like that one in BAI about how often Billy changes his socks. If I were Amanda, I’d have thrown a name in there after the, “Oh, Francine…”
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Maybe Francine has been reading Rudyard Kiplings’ poem “The Female of the Species”. 🙂
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Yep, I think Amanda’s frustration level has been building for quite some time and while she has been incredibly patient with the agency and Lee she has reached the breaking point! Go Amanda!
I loved Francine’s comment about housewives being the most dangerous creature on Earth — it works on so many levels. At least she is not minimizing them anymore 😉
And I guess Amanda shouldn’t feel too bad that her eyewitness account wasn’t taken seriously — from the camera angles of the photos (and the fact they are stills, not video) I am assuming they are taken by people rather than automatically recorded. Obviously the photographers’ reports also weren’t taken seriously. And I love how Amanda blows off Billy here — I guess working with Lee all these years have rubbed off on her. Tee hee!
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Whoa! Iwsod, grab the wheel, you’re outta control!
Yeah, it is frustrating for Amanda and there are a lot of anomalies in this scene which you have pointed out. What is the Level 2 Alert about if the Police are handling the whole thing? I think the Police are probably handling what is, at the moment, a criminal case with SOB and in particular Elizabeth Sullivan as the prime suspect.
The wider repercussions of, “is there a conspiracy or something going on that constitutes a threat to other officials” is probably what the Agency will look into.
I think Billy is cognisant here that the Agency’s job is not to investigate criminal offences. The Agency’s is there to investigate matters, people, agencies, organisations, etc, that are a threat to national security. He also doesn’t have the budget to investigate matters that don’t fall into this category. At this stage, at least, it seems that the Elizabeth Sullivan case is purely a criminal matter. So I’m not feeling too aggrieved at Billy. He’s got the whole of Field Section to run and no doubt a whole lot else on his mind, so at this stage with the matter being fully investigated by the Police, I can understand why he’s not prepared to run with Amanda’s idea of staying on the case.
I do get the feeling in this scene that not only is Amanda concerned for Elizabeth Sullivan being wrongly accused, and her suspicion there is something more going on here that the Agency should be involved in, but that Amanda is also riled up generally and is maybe channelling some of her own personal frustrations of this day into this case. She does deserve to be listened to more and especially here where she has been *Johnny on the spot”, I agree with you Iwsod, but I think some of Amanda’s motivation here is more personal, even though she may not realise it right now.
No time to write more now, but will come back to this point later in the day. Looking forward to reading others’ take on Amanda’s attitude here.
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