10/15 Season Three, Episode 8: Reach for the Sky-Scarecrow and Mrs King

31 thoughts on “10/15 Season Three, Episode 8: Reach for the Sky-Scarecrow and Mrs King”

1. That floor looked circular to me, so whatever way they went they were going to end up hitting all the doors eventually.

   That scene in the meeting room gave me the creeps, especially with Daisy killing that guy. Not sure if any of you have read Left Behind, but it reminded me of the scene where Carpathia shoots a man in cold blood in front of everyone and says, “It was so horrible to see someone go off the deep end and kill himself like that,” and then everyone just goes along with it and agrees “I never would have expected him to shoot himself like that.” The villains are equally cold and calculating — they just accept the guy getting his neck broken like it’s routine. I’m so glad I never saw this episode when I watched as a ten-year-old or I think I’d have had nightmares for a week!

   It does raise an interesting question — Lee isn’t allowed to shoot the bad guys because of keeping things family-friendly, but it’s okay to break a guy’s neck, even if we don’t actually the entire action? CBS had some weird ideas of what was acceptable back then. (Of course I will take it over what we see on CSI & Criminal Minds in a heartbeat.)

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2. I am really enjoying the partnership that Lee and Amanda have in this scene. From luring the security guard into the elevator (complete with slapping 5) to the Amanda as prisoner “schtick”, they are getting the job done. It’s sooo entertaining. I love that Amanda calls Lee a “turkey”, a “bozo”, and “buster”… SUCH Amanda names! LOL

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3. I totally get your point about the “Amanda being lucky” storyline getting old and being overused in this series, iwsod, but oddly enough, this is the one place I actually liked it! When Lee asked her which way, I saw it as a rare bit of lovely continuity in SMK. It not only went back to their agreement that he’d get them onto the hidden floor and she would provide the intuition, but it also immediately made me think of Harry V Thornton’s comment that Lee said he would follow her blind through a blizzard. They are kind of in a blizzard of bad stuff – Billy’s about to be gassed, they are in Cyclop’s lair, a billion dollars are about to stolen, etc and they are blind as to where Billy is and how to stop the bad guys. Lee’s asking her to lead here was downright swoony for me.

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4. Love this post, iwsod! Well, I love all your posts, but I think Lee in uniform has made me especially happy today. I think their little fake captive scene here is quite cute and warms my heat. There is all kind of touching and playing around going on here. And they are working amazingly well here. I’m guessing they only even needed to have a 10 second conversation to figure out how they were going to play it. I think Amanda is thoroughly enjoying this role.

   Worse than a brownie?? Love it! Chewie? Love it!

   As far as Amanda and the luck thing, I agree – I’m not crazy about how it’s done here. Is there anyone out there who didn’t expect Amanda to look left and then point to the right with her finger when deciding which way to go???

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5. Here the script description of Amanda’s reaction to Miss Daisy “rubbing out” Zorbel. Amanda’s reaction I think is what we all thought it should be :
   Daisy steps forward and with lightening speed clamps one hand around Zorbel’s neck. Without the slightest sign of strain or discomfort, she kills him. Quickly. The men are impressed. Amanda, wide-eyed with horror, turns away.

   The men are impressed? Wahahahahaha XD. They should all be bloody scared I reckon! 😯

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6. OK I have been debating about adding my opinion. Not that I did not want to, but life has been a bit crazy and I had to try to find time to put my thoughts into words. So here goes, hope it makes sense. I do think that season 3 was a challenge for the writers. (I am not trying to jump to future episodes.) Season 1 & 2 seemed to deal with Amanda, a suburban housewife trying to become a spy and solving cases based on “luck.” There was a silliness, quirkiness of the show. I am not sure if those are the right words. It was not to be taken as a deep spy drama. Then we get to season 3 and Amanda is maturing into a “spy” and proving her skills are not based on luck. Added to that, we are starting to see a new relationship develop between Lee and Amanda. So the writers are left with the challenge of having Lee and Amanda mature, but still have the lightness of the show. That is why I think we might have seen Lee getting his but kick by Daisy.

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   1. Interesting point, Jo. I remember that BB apparently said that they weren’t sure what they were doing with Lee’s character in season one and so the character was a bit all over the place. Often characters in other shows seem to change quite dramatically between the pilot and the next episode. So maybe this is what’s happened again in the first half of the third season of SMK – the producers have changed, the characters are changing but the writers are still trying to maintain continuity with ‘less mature’ characters from the earlier seasons. It feels a bit contradictory at times and doesn’t always work. Other times, it’s spot on.

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   2. Hear hear Jo!!! this all sounds good to me!!! Thanks for reassuring me you are not intending to jump ahead with this discussion.. not jumping ahead sometimes has it’s downside.. and it means as we notice these sorts of things we can’t comment about future happenings.. I find this tempting, but at the same time – since I haven’t watched ahead in a long time I only have vague recollections of what’s ahead.

      At this point – I can totally agree with you – the writing in this episode is trying to explore new areas, give a slightly different slant on things – for me some of it works.. some of it doesn’t..

      I enjoyed your insights on Amanda’s progressing character and how the show has to find other ways to lighten the vibe of the show.. (give me flirty interactions that will lighten things nicely 😉 )
      I’m not a fiction writer at all.. and don’t claim to be and don’t think I could do a better job than smk writers! but.. I do enjoy exploring what the writers attempt.. what works.. what doesn’t.. I think the writing can be a little hit and miss – patchy!
      I suspect this episode has had a few re-writes at the last minute.. some we’ve together picked up on and are fabulous improvements – some leave things a little confusing..
      The whole dotty conversation from earlier seems to be a departure in the normal tone of Amanda and dotty’s relationship but there is a scene coming up with Dotty again where I guess we can probably talk about that more fully.

      It is a bit of a tricky time.. I’m glad Amanda is not the bumbling beginner anymore.. but I agree it’s requiring a rethink on how her character is written..
      I’m looking forward to seeing what the next episode is like.. J edgar’s ghost..
      Especially because at this point I’m really open to this episode being before Sour Grapes – I’m totally undecided on this and want to see what Amanda is like in JEG and then look at the bigger picture.. for now – that one is ‘pending’ 🙂

      Oopsie.. I’ve gone and rambled.. your comments Jo were just so interesting and got me thinking!
      So glad you could stop by and share 🙂

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7. Here’s another angle on the “luck and intuition” debate. (I’m a little late to the party; hope I’m not repeating anyone here.) I’m not offended by Lee’s comments in the least. We certainly can’t deny that Amanda has a good deal of both. We also can’t deny that Lee has a good deal of both as well. I think that Lee was trying to make the point that luck and intuition by themselves are not enough to keep an agent alive. Skill, experience, training and, sometimes, the wisdom to not get in too far over your head are essential, too. Amanda is learning quickly and adds a lot of value, however she’s still a rookie agent–and gets enthused–so he’s worried for her. He also realizes that his instinct and responsibility to protect her (which he has to do since she really can’t defend herself or Lee by any traditional means) may compromise his ability to be effective in a dangerous situation. This could easily get one or both of them killed. I think the luck and intuition scene could certainly have been written better, but I can fill in enough of the gaps to be OK with it.

   I’m glad some of you brought up the issue of whether Amanda has actually witnessed someone being killed before. I was trying to remember this. She did see the senator get blown up in OTL and that certainly affected her. She saw Sacker, too, and she was shocked by that. (BTW, I’m in the camp that Lee shot at and probably hit Sacker but it was the rocket launcher that sealed the deal.) As brutal as Daisy’s bare-handed dispatching of Zorbel was, Amanda didn’t seem to react much to that. I wonder why?

   Love the whole Bozo-Buster scene! 🙂

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   1. Oh yes, I forgot about the senator in OTL. Amanda has seen her fair share of carnage but she seems to be able to deal with it more professionally at this point.

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   2. Oh yeah!!! I forgot the poor guy in Over the Limit… Amanda was really shaken by it – and the blast.. literally!!
      Yep she needed a hug from Lee 🙂

      I completely see what you mean here 2Golden.. and everyone’s ways of explaining it all make a lot of sense and are probably much better than how I’m seeing it – I’m looking at this luck thing in a very broad context – not really about specific scenes.. but about the writing and this whole concept in general..

      I agree with you 2Golden! I felt seeing the daisy dispatch should have been very upsetting to Amanda – but Amanda doesn’t react! I guess again – I took a broader perspective on this and figured the editing was rubbish..it’s like they filmed Lee and Amanda watching the monitor and then spliced it in to whatever (except for the bit where Lee says he knows that woman! tee hee!) lol it’s no wonder I am not a huge fan of this episode.. For me there are aspects in this ep that are a real dog’s breakfast.. or they just don’t resonate with me..
      but it’s fun to hear what others think and to discuss all this!

      Actually now I think about it, it’s strange Lee doesn’t react to Daisy’s brutality more strongly.. she was capable of that – and he lived to tell the tale.. he’s a very ‘lucky’ guy indeed 😉

      The whole educated guess slant on this is fine with me.. and I felt that was more of the tone used in Weasel with Harry’s raising a couple of times Amanda’s instincts – here it just felt off to me.. and didn’t resonate.. but hey I’m glad it was fine for others!

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      1. Iwsod, I totally agree with you about the broader context. Despite all of the fun we all have in coming up with explanations, motives and intentions, the fact remains that the writing and especially the editing of certain scenes in this episode leave a lot to be desired.

         And, BTW, two paws up for you from my golden retrievers for your use of the term “dog’s breakfast”. 😉

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8. I’ve been thinking about this whole “luck” comment and maybe it’s just a question of semantics. When Lee says to Amanda that she’s lucky there is a bit of a pause there. He continues with the comment about guessing and intuition. Maybe his lucky comment was more related to the fact that she was lucky because she has this gift of intuition and a 6th sense, not that she was lucky in solving cases. This came up today at school where one student told another that they were so lucky to have gotten some new gizmo and that the first student was “so jealous”. And as far as the guessing there are such things as educated guesses. Either way it’s a great thing that KJ and BB did get to know their characters so well that they could ad lib things in and I guess some writing issues just didn’t get fixed in edits and rewrites.

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9. I didn’t see Lee asking Amanda which way to go as a reference to her “luck”, either on his part or that of the writers. The reason why, is that it doesn’t seem to be much of a lucky guess at all. They didn’t simply march in and find Billy exactly where Amanda pointed — instead, here they are, sneaking through corridors and trying door handles in a very conventional way. No, I don’t think Amanda is telling Lee which doors to open — they went for the first unlocked one they found. I will keep my eye open as we go into the next post, to see if I can tell how far they had to go to find Billy. Maybe someone with better spacial relations can help figure out where they went on the map. Of course, there’s a very real possibility that the set bears no relationship whatever to the map 🙂

   I think Lee lets Amanda make the decision because this is an important step in her journey as an agent, and he knows she’s ready for it. A split second, life-or-death decision with no real information to go on. Amanda is scared for Billy here, she almost starts to panic with the idea that he could be anywhere and they don’t know how to find him, and Lee snaps her out of it, forces her to call their next move. Another reason why I don’t think this choice was intended to show luck on Amanda’s part — it looks like she picked the opposite direction to the one they came from. She used the only bit of information they have to go on — they have already been down a good part of that section, and while they weren’t trying doors, they didn’t notice anything that might be a clue. It really was a logical move, not guesswork.

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   1. Hi guys wish I had more time to respond to you all but this will have to do – for now!
      I agree with the thoughts that Lee sees there is more to Amanda than luck.
      my gripe is directed at the writing..and this idea of Amanda being gifted with luck – especially at this stage of the show.
      A lot is made of the hurry.. and all the rooms.. and come on!! choose!! so yeah I see the writers as wanting to demonstrate Amanda’s ‘luck’ there’s a lot of rooms and they are running out of time I think is the foundation on which Lee is rushing Amanda to choose..
      btw- the map was totally lame and had no relation to anything you can even see there is not elevators marked on it.. too funny.. but all the pointing at it and confusion is to show they are in a tricky spot here in this race against time (time!) to get to Billy – before the tetra weird mononxoide does!

      I like others ideas on what this could all mean.. but this is an ongoing issue I have with the writing.. I am hopeful that they’ll pull back on this in the story as we continue into the next episode. I don’t expect others to agree with me – and am glad that you guys have different views and know you can share them.
      I’m also equally glad to read that it’s not just me that has an issue with the whole luck thing!

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10. I still think was revering back to using the language that he was used to using earlier on, but I don’t think he believes that language anymore. He is relying heavily on Amanda’s intuition and ability to discern things here, if he truly believed that she was just lucky he wouldn’t do that no matter how hard and fast he was falling in love with her. I wonder if he will begin to change the words he uses to describe Amanda’s skills from here on out?

    Does it look to anyone else as if Lee is reaching for her hand after Amanda decides what direction to go in?

    I like the question of whether or not this is the first time she has seen anybody killed like that. She held the waitress in LODG as she died, but she didn’t see the shooting, she was there when Lee was shooting in WOTSTW but he assured her that they were rubber bullets. Have we really gotten through 2+ season without Amanda seeing any body killed? That seems odd? I must be overlooking something. Has she seen Lee kill anybody? Yet??? (as of this post ;))

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    1. Like this Morley. I think Lee is well aware that Amanda isn’t just lucky, that she has layers of intuition and a deeper understanding of human nature than he has (although he is learning fast from her). His comments earlier about her being “lucky” were really more about him wanting to keep her safe. Maybe he is beginning to realise now that he needs to let her spread her wings, and that his selfish concern for her well-being could ultimately stifle their special friendship and developing intimacy.
       Amanda saw him kill Sacker in UN. I am sure there must be other situations in the last couple of years when she has witnessed death.

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    2. Yep this is interesting to me too Morley… I’d rather focus on this than my luck hang ups haaaa..

       yeah Marianne in LODG was the first person she saw die. but you are right she didn’t see her get shot.. it does seem weird that she could have gotten through 2+ seasons without seeing anyone killed!! I agree!!
       Oh now I think about it, in There goes the neighbourhood Amanda has a similar experience with Mr Bodine – and cradles his head as he dies (from a gun shot I guess?)
       Kiwismh has come up with one! oh yeahhhhh Sacker!!!! He definitely died.. wahahahahah.. and Amanda seemed shocked by it in her reaction.
       But I see Sacker as being shot at by Lee, and then he blew himself up with his own rocket launcher – I don’t see that as Lee killing Sacker. Sacker accidentally killed himself – but then maybe I see it this way because I was looking at that moment frameby frame.. picking photos. did others see that Sacker fired the launcher down at himself? oh well anyway..

       So at least Amanda has seen someone die- OH wait!!! I just remembered one!!!
       She saw Karen in Odds on a dead pigeon die.. and what a huge moment that was – because she looked just like herself!! whoa.. but again that was an accident wasn’t it..
       She also found one of the burling brothers in the closet (he should have been hanging from the rafters, brilliant shout out to how Amanda’s imagination works in double agent! oh wait.. she discovers another dead body in that one too haaaa.. )

       Unless someone can come up with another time I guess I’m thinking Daisy killing Zorbel with her bare hands is a first – the first time she sees a murder carried out in front of her. but for me.. the bare hands part is extremely powerful – it seems more brutal than shooting a gun.. so the fact that it was a woman who did it just made me go- oh wow!! that’s huge!

       Oh well anyway.. I’m rambling.. Hold that thought about Lee there Morley!
       As of where we are at – I can’t think of a time Amanda has seen Lee kill someone..
       maybe someone else can??
       Lee has had fights and people have died – like Sinclair in Remembrance – but Amanda didn’t see that..
       Come on guys.. our collective smk brains can maybe remember something else?
       LOL!
       I am seriously procrastinating here.. I have one more major assessment to write for the year.. and am putting it off. this is not good.. I’m much preferring commenting here and going down the rabbit hole at the moment!
       I guess I better shut my browser down and get on with it..
       byeee everyone!

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       1. Oddly or interestingly enough Amanda herself has been shot at by Lee in Burn Out, but she and we both knew why. And Amanda was there to hear Lee’s response to Rita in ALSALS when she asked if he would shoot a lady and he said no but that he would shoot her. She has seen quite a few knock down drag out fights that Lee’s been in, but I think the Daisy dispatch of Zorbel has to have been the most brutal thing she’s had to witness.

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          1. True, Lee did shoot at her in BO. But in that one the gist was that she trusted him to not harm her, right. In each of these moments that we mentioned, Amanda has had a very strong response. She isn’t a hardened professional when it comes to that is she.

             Ok… I am holding on. Patience and control, patience and control… (my mantra)

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          2. Oh! My! Gosh!!! “Daisy Dispatch” Valerie??? that’s genius!!! hilarious!!! She delivers ‘by hand’ 😉

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             1. She does make it look as easy as delivering a small parcel. Go Daisy! (but wouldn’t want to meet her in RL)

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             2. Glad you liked that, Iwsod!

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       2. Lee didn’t miss Sacker – he shot him and Sacker doubled over and reflexively pulled the trigger on the STA missile launcher. At least, that’s what I saw, and I think in that situation with the President’s life in danger Lee would have been serious about making sure he didn’t miss.

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          1. Hi kiwismh, I agree with you – I’m not thinking Lee missed when he shot Sacker… but I still think what ultimately killed Sacker was his own rocket launcher 😉

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11. Couple of quick comments…tetra is a Greek prefix meaning four. And there have been Greek references throughout this episode from Cyclops to the Kappas. Not sure why though. That hasn’t wormed its way into my brain yet. Mono means one, maybe it refers to the die itself, one dot on four sides?

    The bozo reference is funny and scary to me at the same time. When I was a kid there was a kids show with Bozo the Clown. Bozo had flaming red hair and a ton of white make up. Then there was also Bozo’s Big Top. I remember watching as a little kid all the time. Then there was that Stephen King story “It” that was made into a movie starring Tim Curry who looked like a demented Bozo. It gave me the creeps and I have not liked clowns ever since. Whenever I’ve watched this scene I immediately think of that.

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12. Ha ha–love the doorway action, and Amanda acting the “prisoner”… 🙂

    “By 10:30, we’re $1 billion dollars richer…”
    At least Canaan isn’t as (initially) modest as Dr. Evil (Austin Powers) in his expectations:
    Dr. Evil: blah blah “and we hold the world ransom for… ONE MILLION DOLLARS!”
    Number Two: Don’t you think we should ask for more than a million dollars? A million dollars isn’t exactly a lot of money these days. Virtucon alone makes over 9 billion dollars a year!
    Dr. Evil: Really? That’s a lot of money. [pause] Okay then, we hold the world ransom for… [pause] One… Hundred… BILLION DOLLARS!

    “Canaan: Thank you, my dear. [Canaan calls Daisy ‘my dear’?! whahahaahaa.. ]”
    I kind of get the feeling Canaan might consider Daisy somewhat of an exotic but lethal “pet” (e.g., a “pet” tiger, lion, shark, crocodile…)

    “Canaan: Oh, I understand, and I won’t fail… (to Daisy) …Use the tetramonoxide on Melrose.”
    Oh, good. No tetrabillioxide…
    (And, seriously, tetramonoxide? Wouldn’t that just be tetraoxide? I know chemistry wasn’t my best subject, but still…)

    Oh, I so love that map! It has lines… and colour… but–that’s about it! Sheesh…

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    1. (I do have a bit of a chemistry background and I bite my tongue when shows try to throw around technical terms and make up scary sounding science-y words that make no sense). But this scene also gave us Lee in uniform (SIGH), so all is forgiven.

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       1. When did SMK ever let a basic knowledge of Greek and chemistry get in the way of a manufacturing a technical-sounding word? Grates me too…
          I will not be drawn in a discussion about tetrafranoxide…:) (tetrastetoxide… 😉 )

          Agreed, Cindy, it is true what they say about men in uniforms

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13. Lee in a uniform totally wipes out my “what in the heck is tetramonoxide” gripe.

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14. I agree with you, iwsod. I don’t like the “luck” reference. We see way back to S1 in “Godorsky” where Amanda has a creative, outside-the-box thought process, and that Lee appreciates this. Why that talent is passed off as luck here makes no sense. If I have to choose between blaming Lee or blaming the writers, I pick the writers!;-)

    And I do love that “I know that woman” line! I agree, Lee had not bothered to mention his trouncing to Amanda yet. The line also has a nice touch of understatement.

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