So we finally find out where Amanda went after her phone call from Joe… Prescott: Mrs King?
Amanda:Yes.
Prescott: Sorry to keep you waiting. Darryl Prescott, Field Counsel.
Amanda: How do you do Mr Prescott?
Prescott: Let’s walk… [Phew! thank goodness he didn’t say walk with me! ] …You know, you and I, ah, we met once I think about 5 years ago right after we stole Joe from EPA.
Amanda: Oh, is that right?
Prescott: I thought he might contact you. I’m kind of surprised that he hasn’t.
[has a phone conversation already taken place between these two?]
Amanda: Mr Prescott, would you mind telling me what this is all about?
[Amanda is frantic with worry.. but always smiling.. and always polite!]
Prescott: Joe’s in a little trouble Mrs King. The night before last there was an incident, a civil disturbance in the country he’s currently posted to.
[So Joe has been ‘posted’ to Estoccia.. hmm so he’s not there working for himself, he’s working for someone else- the same company this guy is field officer for? sorry I find this a little confusing! I checked the script and it says Joe works for a ‘United States/Emergency Aid organisation’ .. okay!]
Amanda: Estoccia?
Yes, I know, he writes.
What sort of an incident?
Prescott: That’s funny. I was sort of hoping he would get in touch with you and you would 
persuade him to come back, and that I could ask him that question myself. [Oh come on.. He’s internationally a wanted man and Prescott doesn’t know this?! purlease..]
Amanda: Well, no, I’m afraid he hasn’t and quite frankly I’m 
a little bit confused…
[I’m confused. While it’s great to see Amanda lie about Joe contacting her (LOL!) if Joe didn’t contact her – how does she know he’s in trouble?!] … Mr Prescott, Joe’s a lawyer. 
[yes, they never get into trouble 
they just appear to get into trouble whahaaha]
Mr Prescott gives Amanda a look..
like hmm yeah that’s convincing.. not!
Realisation dawns for Amanda.. seems Joe is in serious trouble!
Oh no oh noooo I just realised what Amanda is wearing!! Another huge grey sweater.. ugh!!!! well at least this one doesn’t have lightning bolts all over it!
We cut to Maplewood drive – and find Phillip and Jamie riding their bikes toward the house. (hmm it looks very late in the day and umm.. it’s morning isn’t it?! I guess we don’t know what time of day it is when the ep starts.. oh whatev!)
We can see Dotty is watering the garden..
The boys reach Dotty.
Dotty: Hi Guys, are you hungry?
Philip: Starving!
Dotty: There’s hot apple pie if you want it. It’s on the table. [if you want it? what child would say no to that?! sooo is this afternoon tea time then?]
Philip: Great! Thanks Grandma.
The boys rush inside and leave their bikes out front.. and they crash..
Dotty: Oh – Boys! What about these bikes?
[Dotty you mentioned hot apple pie.. I don’t think they hear anything after that!]
You’d think after Amanda ran over one of them they’d be more careful!
The camera pans over to a taxi parked opposite and down the road a little..
Joe’s in the back looking back at the King home.. The cabbie is impatient..
Cabbie: You sure it’s this street?
Joe: what?
(the cabbie has his attention again.. )
Cabbie: Maybe you just don’t recognise the house.
Joe: So much has changed. Ah, take me back to Georgetown.
The cab drives off..
I guess Joe is realising his boys have grown a lot since he saw them last.. it’s all quite sad.. but.. not recognising the street is flippin hilarious! Yeah so much has changed since you were there Joe, the house has changed.. and the street has changed! rofl!!! this is not the season 1 or season 2 house!
Interesting that now he’s in trouble he just had to stop by and see the kids.. maybe it has taken a serious situation like this to wake up Joe to some of the choices he has been making – and that he actually loves his kids (his family? ) and wants to spend time with them.. Hmm.. I’m yet to make sense of how he could be gone so long.. but I’m thinking we’ll learn more about this as we go – yes?
A Script note from Kiwismh.. there’s a different ending here in the script. Dotty is watering the garden and hears the phone.. so she heads inside to answer it.
kiwismh (thanks!!) has transcribed it:
Dotty: Hello, Joe?
Lee: No, this is Mr Stimpson from International Federal Film. May I speak with Amanda King. (Dotty is disappointed it’s not Joe.)
Dotty: She’s not here. I thought she was coming to see you Mr Stimpson.
Lee: Exactly. Have a nice day.
(Lee hangs up on Dotty.. )
Dotty: That’s a strange outfit my daughter works for.
Very interesting! I guess they cut this out because of time constraints (needed to show more footage of starving people in Africa- ugh!)
I like the idea that Lee was calling around trying to find Amanda. He must be really worried about her. Who was Lee in Vigilante Mothers? Ohh right.. he was Mr Sampson. sheesh! so confusing! How he can keep his covers straight I don’t know!
Why do I have to be so busy when it’s such a great episode?! well guys.. I can’t wait to hear from ya! sorry I’ havent’ been around much to discuss (well other than what I write in posts).. but love to hear your thoughts and discussions!!
Soooo what do you all think?! do tell! gotta run!! byeeee
"Just walk with me.." 
LOL! Would you have had to change the name of the blog??? 😉
This is a hard scene to watch for Amanda’s sake. She knows the father of her children is in serious trouble, but she doesn’t yet know what that trouble is. I think Amanda still thinks of Joe as the man she married/divorced. She has no idea of the ways he’s changed. We can all see how she has changed – because of her accidental involvement with Lee/the Agency and how that has brought out of her. I wonder if she is guilty of not thinking Joe could have had experiences in his life that would have led to him changing in some way – and not necessarily for the better. His letters to her must not reveal too much of a personal nature or if they do, they do little to make Amanda think Joe has changed in any way.
I think Joe knew exactly where he was and who he was looking at. I’m sure he saw tons of changes in the boys, but I’m sure he recognized his former MIL and the house – even though it’s changed 😉 I think he is staying in the cab and playing like he’s not sure is because he is in trouble and doesn’t want the boys or Dotty to see him so they don’t get involved. I don’t think Joe is stupid even though Tucker may have been.
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Morley –Great job on your commentary.
I just looked at the script and it is a bit different. When Amanda and Dotty are leaving the house before Joe calls, Amanda is on her way to see Mr. Prescott about Joe, then Joe’s calls. It does look like it Mr. Prescott called Amanda. When Amanda is meeting with Mr. Prescott, Amanda does tell him Joe is back in DC. (I am glad that was changed.) Also, she mentions that Joe has only been back in the States once in the last two years. So that would have given a timeline of how often they saw Joe.
Mr. Prescott does mention that they stole Joe from the EPA 5 years ago. (I assumed the EPA was the Environmental Protection Agency.) If this is 1985, then Joe starting working for the EAO in 1980.
I think it might have been very intentional of the writers, producers not to give us too much information about Amanda ex-husband, prior to this episode. As mentioned in a previous post we really don’t know much about Amanda’s past. (Sorry I cannot remember who posted that.) This way they were able to form his character to fit this episode. However, since this is Scarecrow and Mrs. King, it would not have surprised me, even if they mentioned him in previous episodes, it would have stopped them from changing his characters. What is a few plot holes and continuity issues? I have some more thoughts and questions, but I don’t want to get ahead.
Hope my thoughts are not too jumbled up.
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“So much has changed.” I love that line. Certainly the boys have grown. And Dotty being there is probably a change from the days when Joe was around. But the line is especially packed with meaning for us viewers who know more than Joe does about how Amanda has grown over the last 2 and a half years.
For what it’s worth, I always figured the boys were coming home from school in this scene. Not sure if that works in the timeline but it doesn’t make much sense to me otherwise.
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Morley, you just took my jumbled up thoughts and clarified them so perfectly. Do we know from previous episodes what Joe’s job was or is this the first time we get any details? I am drawing a blank here….
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You know, that is a great question! Is this the first time we hear about Joe? Oops, maybe I galloped ahead again. So sorry if I did.
I think all we know is that he was in Africa, he is a lawyer and works with the EAO. wait do we even know that?
So they are divorced, have been for a year before the First Time. He writes to them though…
What does EPA stand for here (environmental protection agency?). I am so confused!!
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I agree, other than the statement that she only took child support not alimony and that she has only been divorced 1 year (as Dotty was pressuring Amanda to marry Dean). I don’t think that we even knew his name was Joe prior to this.
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Hey LAAL, yeah this is my memory of things too 🙂
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First off, I think it was Prescott that called Amanda, it would make the most sense. The only other thing that would make this work is if Amanda thought up sme odd reason to come in and talk to Prescott, maybe something like she had been expecting a child support check from Joe and it never came could she have Prescott check on him because this would be so unlike Joe. It would be a way for her to start digging into what exactly is going on. But, really it makes more sense that Prescott would be calling Amanda to come in because he had some questions. That was the kind of thing that Joe warned her about. Amanda is now pretty savvy about playing innocent and getting answers at the same time (remember her little act with Lee in the Harry Potter glasses in Weasel?).
I find this scene with Joe pretty poignant. I do think the line about not recognizing the street was for the cabbies sake so that Joe could have some more time to look at the house and see his kids. He can’t contact them or let it be known where he is so this is his way of connecting.
But the way Joe is portrayed here sets up an interesting stage. Who is this man who seeks Amanda out in a caring way, seems connected in tender emotional ways to Amanda and her kids? There appears to be no anger between them, no hurts (so often those things are so clear on the surface) and yet he has chosen to not be a part of his family for what seems like a considerable amount of time. And it makes me think about the circumstances of this divorce. It seems as if they married, bought a house, had children and then Joe just slipped away… and somehow Amanda let him free. That saying about if you love someone you set the free fits here. Even though that seems all wrong to me in a marriage especially with children.
I do think we see Joe beginning to re- evaluate what his job has caused him to leave behind and I am not sure he counted that cost when he was making his decisions. And now it appears that his job is being turned on him in some way.
And this kind of makes me think of things that we have discussed about Lee. Counting the personal cost of becoming a spy. What has he had to deny himself due to professional choices he has made. I don’t think he minded then, but I think he may be beginning to think differently about that now. I think as a young man Lee was running away from family and home ideas and so this line of work made sense. Does it still? Is he still running? I think as we go through this episode it will be interesting to compare Lee and Joe in light of their career and personal relationship (family) choices.
And then it makes me think about Amanda, the kind of woman she is to let a husband go like that. And how she has conducted herself as she and Lee have gotten closer. She seems to have an amazing ability to let people be free to be themselves even though it can cause her great pain and yet she still stays rather available to them. And yet I wonder if she really is accomplishing that or is she denying her own self and keeping herself shut off to some rather strong emotions?
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Morley – I agree with you on all points (from Prescott contacting Amanda, Joe not recognizing the street for the cabbies sake and especially on Amanda’s ability to let people go be themselves).
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Like all of what you say, Morley. I was thinking the same thing about Prescott calling Amanda and Amanda playing innocent regarding Joe. And also about Joe stalling the cabbie.
I’m just realizing how far we’ve gotten into this episode and there has been no contact between Lee and Amanda, and no real interaction between Joe and Amanda other than the phone call. The anticipation is building as to when all of this is going to come to a head. This is big for Amanda because all the different parts of her and her life are about to meet at a crossroads.
I like your Joe and Lee comparison. It looks as if Joe sort of let things go whereas Lee had things taken from him. Joe had a choice, whereas Lee didn’t. They both ran, but for different reasons. And now we get to see how all of this will play out.
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Lee did have things taken from him, but he still made choices as an adult, although they were very different than the ones Joe made. I think Lee made the choice to pursue a career that wasn’t really conducive to family life, even though it appears that some agents can have both. Lee conducted himself in a way that wouldn’t allow him to build intimacy at a deeper level with anyone, he was a risk taker and remained a loner. I think that was a choice that he made, albeit a sub conscious choice. He chose to run, but he really only hurt himself in doing so. He could run now too, couldn’t he?
Joe’s choices appear so far to be ones I can’t make an excuse for. And yet he seems nice enough… at least so far Amanda seems to react to him as though he is nice…
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I think Lee’s been running since he was a little boy. It seems to be the only way he knows how to deal with the hurt and pain he’s had in his life. And true the only one he’s hurt is himself. Joe does seem nice enough and at this point we are only getting to know him through Amanda’s eyes and her reactions. We find out that he writes, but don’t know how often and there’s the earlier suggestion that he calls, but again we don’t know how often. We haven’t heard her talk about Joe in neither a negative nor positive way. I think someone mentioned many posts ago that there was an alimony discussion in one episode. In looking at Amanda and the boys and the sacrifices she’s made, along with the fact that Dotty is living with them, Amanda having to find a job and so forth it becomes difficult to not feel some kind of way about Joe, but my jury is still deliberating on that one.
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Maybe it was just a plot devise, but it is interesting that she never mentions Joe, or even “the boys father.” Neither does Dotty. I think it was that Amanda didn’t take alimony. It is as Joe was dead, just gone, didn’t exist. Of course, maybe it is that we never saw that part of her either.
I agree, Lee has been running since he was a child.
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It is possible that the powers that be may not have ever intended to introduce a Mr. King. I remember in the Avengers we never got to see Mr. Peel only a Mrs. Peel.
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Shoot! Now you’ve reminded me of a Rookie/SMK cross over that explains Joe’s choices he’s made. I’ll see if I can find it again and post it at Ned’s
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Say what the what?!? I am going to Ned’s!
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Found it! Now to see if I can remember my ned’s password. 🙂
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I’ll put it under season 4 because it’s kind of a season 4 alternate universe. I’m not sure exactly where it will end up because my phone is being a jerk.
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I hear ya Cindy.. My computer is being a total jerk! I’ve had to restore it back and have lost all my programs!! grrrr
well thank goodness I had uploaded the next 2 or 3 posts here ready to go – or I would have lost them too..
It’s very stressful when technology doesn’t do what it’s suppose to!!
breath.. publishing the next post now and I’ll try to get back to comments when I can!
Hope you are all well!
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Oh no!! Say it ain’t so! I hope your computer feels better soon!
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Like this, Morley – and really like what you brought up about the kind of woman Amanda is. She and Joe could have chosen to stay married, although it wouldn’t have been much of a marriage or she would have had to raise her kids in a different country, something she obviously didn’t want to do because she chose divorce. It will be neat to see just how much info. we get on her marriage/divorce from Amanda as we go through this episode. She and Joe are still amicable, so I wonder what she will say about him, knowing that she’s been tight-lipped in the past – at least with Lee from what we can surmise.
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