Back again!!! and we are all anxious to learn who the mystery bidder is!! Not! 
[LOL make that.. who the dumb mystery bidder is! I mean really – the bidder could have paid a third party to bid on their behalf – they let bidders stay anonymous all the time.. ridiculous! ahhh smk love ya!! 😉 ]
The bidder walks over to claim her wine case and pay.. [It looks funny to me that Lee stays up on the balcony and motions like that- why? Anyone??
Is he trying to tell Amanda to stay where she is? and she doesn’t notice?? Or is it him motioning to stop the baddie? what do you all make of this?]
The winning baddie bidder is intercepted by Billy.
Billy: I’m afraid you’ll have to come with us.
Billy shows her his ID (whoo and he has a badge!!)
Cecilia (if you haven’t guessed it’s her by now then you are maybe aged 5 years old and 
watching this for the first time?! )
isn’t going quietly, She grabs Amanda who is standing nearby and holds a gun on her.
Cecilia: Don’t anyone move. Or she’s dead.
Billy: Please stay calm… (long pause) …Everyone, stay calm… (Cecilia starts backing up.. gun still pointing at Amanda.. So good of her- yes this will help Lee to jump down and nab you nicely! thanks!!) …Don’t move. Do exactly as she says.
Someone in the crowd spooks Cecilia, she turns suddenly as a bunch of wine bottles gets knocked over – Amanda gives distracted Cecilia a shove and Lee seizes the opportunity and pounces! or flies.. take your pick.. I always giggle at a scarecrow behaving like a bird 😉
[Hey! Ceclilia!! that’s for making Amanda ‘volunteer’ back at Escoffier! ha!]
Whoo hoo!
Lee wrestles the gun away from her on the floor. 
hoo haaa.. Love Francine’s look as she watches Lee wrestling with Cecilia tee hee.. (I’d rather watch Lee wrestling with Amanda.. ahem..)
Francine: That’s Cecilia Kemper.
Lee (Pilgram Peach Puff) really hates cooking personalities!!! 
You look out Cecilia!! [oh dear and watch that gaping neckline!]
Lee: Come on!! [take that dirtbag downtown!]
So anyone shocked it was Cecilia?!!! whwhahahaha!
Back at Charity HQ, Francine and Billy lead cuffed Cecilia away – guess it’s their job to take her downtown (be afraid Cecilia, Francine really really really hates cooking personalities!) -I think she’s insulted Mrs Welch didn’t give her a cute historical American nickname 😉 Anyone want to have a go?!!
We find Amanda is talking on the phone as Lee looks at the ten bottles of Chateau Monet – yep.. the Auctioneer said there were ten! And Lee has missed it!
[I would have thought, given they know the bottles are deadly, that the moment Amanda worked out where they bottles were- they would have gone straight to Charity HQ to guard the wine.. or you know make sure no one takes any of the bottles and you know..like.. dies!!! ugh!! but nooo they just left them! and.. didn’t even count them.. but.. Lee does look really good in Blue.. aie! ]
Amanda: (on phone) Yes, sweetheart, put grandmother on the phone, will you?.. Yeah, put your grandma on the phone… Hi, Mother
…Yeah, I’ll be home in about an hour… You want me to?… Okay, I’ll stop off at the store and pick that up… Okay, Mother. Sure, I’ll hold on….
(to Lee) I should’ve known it was Cecilia.
Lee: Who could’ve known, huh? A respected chef on the board of Escoffier. Come on.
[Oi! Listen Pilgram Peach Puff, she’s a professional chef! on smk they are all evil no?! ]
Amanda: Leeeeee, She nearly fried her croutons to a crisp…
…She obviously had her mind on something-
Amanda is cut short when her mother starts talking to her on the phone again.
LOL! Again, Lee gives her one of those ‘what is she on about- wow she’s quite clever’ kind of looks he seems to be giving her a lot this episode!
Amanda: (on phone) Yes, Mother.
Lee (to himself): Croutons?!
Amanda: (on phone) Okay… Alright, I love you, too. Bye-bye.
Amanda hangs up the phone.
Uh oh.. here comes Jill!
[lol so does she know they are all agency now? Lee is not really a doctor?? after everything that has happened?! I mean she knew Amanda in real life.. that could get awkward no?!]
Jill: Well, that was certainly exciting. Wasn’t it?
Amanda: Huh.
[can I just pretend the next subplot doesn’t exist??!!!ugh..]
Lee: Yeah. I hope the auction made some money.
Jill: Oh, it was a fortune. Uh, but, the most fun was going to the White House.
Amanda: Oh!
Lee: The what?
Amanda: The White House?
Jill: Well, I thought it would be fun to take one bottle of wine from each donated case to the White House cellar. So I took some over myself.
Lee: Ten bottles… [whooo do Math Lee!] …McNeil drank one, and one is on the way to the White House?
Amanda: On the way to the White House.
Love the crazy eyes Amanda does when she realises what’s happened.. Lee: Come on.
Lee and Amanda rush off without so much as a goodbye for Jill- whahahaa!
Man.. this is one weird episode.. it has a different vibe.. It’s like it has 2 or 3 endings one after the other.. we’re off to the White House now too?? ohhhh kaaaayyy..
Jill: What did I say?
[Thank you wardrobe dept- that you didn’t put Amanda in that outfit!!!]
Next thing we see the corvette speeding toward The White House – because see, no one else could possibly stop the president from drinking the Chateau Monet ‘45 it just has to be Lee and Amanda! 
Lee: Dispatch. Patch me through to the White House. This is a Priority One emergency.
Lee calls the White House from the car?? so what’s the problem then! no need to go there Lee!!!..they’ll deal with it! they can read wine labels!!!! Why don’t you and Amanda go have a nice dinner somewhere instead, after all you are both all dressed up and lookin pretty! Afterwards…. maybe a bit of dancing…. no?
Gotta be Lee and Amanda at the end who personally save the day?…. Ok ok!
Next thing we see the White House Chef (whoo watch out for those chefs! )
Chef: Well, the dining room captain told, uh, the pastry chef who passed the buck to me… [this is what they do with a ‘priority 1 emergency’ in the White House?!.. hmm I think they might have a problem! whahahaaa!!] ….I’d only think about the wine cellar and then during the confusion the valet came for the President’s glass of wine… [oh purlease!!! it has to go down to the wire.. I’m surprised they don’t have Lee whipping the glass from President’s lips!] … (Lee and Amanda rush in, with Lee flashing his badge) …Well, no one tells the President’s valet what to do. [Yes not even when it might kill the President?!! whahahaha!! This subplot is so lame it’s funny!!]
Lee: Where is his valet?
Chef: Taking the President his nightly glass of wine. (how ironic that he whines as he says wine! )
Lee: Uh-huh. Come on!
Lee and Amanda rush out of there to personally stop the president’s valet. Oh boy.. utterly ridiculous!
Did you recognise the Whiny Chef?? Pretty sure I was naughty back in A Relative Situation and mentioned he had two smk appearances. (this was before I got my head around the whole not looking forward thing so forgive me!) but..
Here he was in A Relative Situation.
The White House chef seems to have worked his way up from Maitre d’ at the Officer’s club in A Relative Situation! 
Lee and Amanda intercept the Valet and the glass of red wine sitting on a lovely paper doiley – rofl!!!
Lee picks up the wine, while Amanda holds up Lee’s ID.. Do I have to cover this bit? I loathe it!!
Oh alright.. Debilyn has done all the lovely transcribing anyway! [sorry to put you through this Debilyn! 😉 ]
Lee: Hold it.
Valet: I beg your pardon.
Lee: Did this come from a bottle of Chateau Monet?
Valet: Apparently, you are unaware of our President’s roots. He only drinks California wine.
[boy.. that gag doesn’t really translate.. I’ve since been explained this one.. but for me it falls totally flat – anyone like it?!]
Amanda: Uh-huh. Oh, excuse us.
A security guy comes running up the stairs 
and tells Lee and Amanda: I found the Monet. It hasn’t been opened.
Lee: Ah. Wheew.
The security guy doesn’t hang around.. lol after all Lee and Amanda are suppose to save the day! Amanda continues to hold up the ID in some weird way!
Okay, soooo now that’s cleared up.. dinner???.. dancing??? !!!!
Ahhh a missed opportunity.. they really should have gone out to celebrate.. hmm but then again, Lee knows Amanda has to stop at the store for Dotty on the way home – could Lee have another way of ‘celebrating’ the (wine) case being closed?? errrr nailed down??!!! teee hee.. well, the tag is up next –
Then we’ll see!!!! and I’m sure we’ll Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
Soooo what ya thinkin about this section of the ep everyone?! byeeee!!!
"Just walk with me.." 
I always thought that Lee gesturing from the balcony was him telling Amanda to “stay put”, and of course Amanda is all gung ho to get the baddie LOL.
I love it when she does this, because it shows that she’s really growing into her role in the spy business and she’s getting more confident. Much to Lee’s Chagrin of course … haha 😉
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I wander, too, if there hadn’t been some sort of thing going on at the time with California wines, versus other wines? But I do like it that Amanda gets to go with lee to save the day in the White House. It shows that they are a team, together. And she is holding his badge. He even tells her to go with him. It isn’t like he rushes off n his own. They are tow halves of a whole now, at least in the work part of their relationship. I like that aspect of it. I do hope that the White House runs a bit of a tighter ship that this though.
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Back in the 70s there was a huge attitude about drinking French wines vs California one. A good movies about this is Bottle Shock (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0914797/). Now California wines have their own cache.
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I never really minded the wine plot as it seemed like a shout out to Ronald Reagan, who was from CA.
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I also think Lee’s gesturing is for Amanda. He always wants her to stay put when things start to get hairy. It’s always how interesting how Amanda picks up on those things that others miss. It’s also interesting how she holds onto the info until just the right moment. Her comment about Cecilia is almost like an “I told you so.”
Don’t even know what to think about the wine for the President subplot. I’m wondering if something was going on at the time or even mentioned in real life that led to that little subplot. Maybe it was just a bit of a shout out to the President.
Seeing Jill in that red dress just sort of underlines the issues of the 80s fashions. Those are the hardest ones to look back on. It underscores the issues we have with some of Amanda’s outfits. But just so much of it was true to the times.
In Northern Michigan we have this historic colonial fort as part of one of our state parks. Once when I visited they were making this Onion Quiche that smelled so wonderful. I bought the cookbook and checked out a few recipes that might fit Francine. Although, I do like your idea Jestress about Colonial Crab Cakes. I was thinking about Francine’s outfit in this episode when I came across the recipe Blueberry Flummery. I also thought of Francine when I came across Sour Milk Chocolate Cake. She does love chocolate and of course, the sour milk fits as well.
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We love Northern MI, especially the U.P. We’ve had a lot of vacations In MI, especially on Lake MI. It’s a beautiful state 🙂
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Love my Michigan as well! I hit Northern MI and the U.P. just about every summer! If I can ever figure out and get the time I will post some pics on Ned’s.
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I always took Lee’s gesturing from the balcony to be him trying to tell Amanda to wait and stay back (which, of course, she doesn’t). Cecilia made a grave mistake, picking on Amanda, though. 😉
As for Francine’s recipe nickname, how about Colonial Crab Cakes (for when she’s in one of her moods 😉 )?
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Colonial Crab Cakes!! That’s a good one 🙂
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I agree Jestress … I always saw Lee’s gesturing from the balcony as an attempt to stop Amanda as well. Trying to keep her out of the line of fire, that sort of thing.
I never gave much thought to the race-to-the-White House scene. I just saw it as adding to the whole “super spy” aspect of the show. After all, isn’t that what “super spies” do … save the day while gaining access to high-level places involving high-level people??? Didn’t seem odd to me that it was included. But, as a native Californian, I remember getting a kick out of the fact that they gave a “shout out” to our former Governor, turned President, as well as one of the state’s better-known industries. I always wondered if it was true that Ronald Reagan only drank California wines? Anyone know the answer?
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I had a bit of a look around to see if the airdate of this episode (28 October) had any significance re Ronald Reagan (a debate in 1980 a few days before he was first elected President) and wine. It seems that he largely (if not entirely) bought Californian wines. I’ll post the link at Neds in the ‘Daily chatter about anything’ thread.
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Thanks Learjet for checking that out!
While I still can’t say I’m a fan of the whole rush to the white house tangent – seeing it through the eyes of you guys who like it does help me to enjoy it a little more!! I think the fact that I’m not American means the whole Ronald Regan joke goes right over my head – and even once I was told the connection I still didn’t connect with it.
Plus, the whole idea that only Lee and Amanda can stop the president from getting that glass of wine is just utterly ridiculous.. that’s one that I just can’t go with!!
I watched the Lee on the balcony moment again last night.. because he looks soooo good.. (I’m thinking there’s a meme there.. watch the meme space on Neds!) .. but I noticed for the first time that Lee seems to mouth ‘Amanda’ while he is gesturing there.. so it’s all finally making some sense to me. and I agree with you guys who thought Lee was trying to get Amanda’s attention.
If you don’t hear much from me much over the next week or two – have no fear I’m still publishing the walk.. and still reading (and enjoying) hearing from you all.. but very short on time with lots of assignments due between now and the end of September.. thank goodness drooling over Lee.. and making silly memes is a great stress relief! (not much brain power required for that) – As always, feel free to chat amongst yourselves about the episode.. I’ll publish the Tag of Sour Grapes later today 🙂 byeee!
Oh well!
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ROFL @ Colonial Crab Cakes! That’s priceless.
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I agree.. for me Colonial Crab Cakes is a winner!
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Thanks! 🙂
The Sour Milk Chocolate Cake is an intriguing idea also, but for it to be a Mrs. Welch recipe, it’s got to have some kind of reference to American history in the title. Maybe it can be attributed to some famous person, like Martha Jefferson or Molly Pitcher. It wouldn’t matter whether or not the famous person ever had it because I doubt Mrs. Welch was really concerned about historical authenticity. I got curious about the crab cakes, though, and it turns out that they could be considered a Colonial dish:
http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodlobster.html#crabcakes
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I love flying from the balcony Lee. And clenched jaw Lee. And of course Lee in blue.
I may be the only person to actually find this extra White House plot quite sweet. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s just watching Lee and Amanda looking so “together” , rushing around a place as iconic as the White House. Just seems romantic (in the high adventure sense of the word) and fun.
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Did someone at SMK say, “Let’s just add one more subplot to make the whole plot a little more plotty.”?? It’s almost as if this was supposed to be the tag before they added the tag. Then again, this is one of those episodes that make you laugh at the whole tv-show genre. Maybe that was the purpose all along…
I do like the outfits on both Lee and Amanda. Beautiful couple here, despite all the silliness of chasing the wine.
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Maybe it was supposed to be the tag, or maybe who ever came up with the idea of Ronald Reagan only drinking California wines was so proud of themselves and that scene they couldn’t let it go even though it should have been cut (I have that problem when I am writing 🙂 )
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