It’s tag time! It’s night at IFF and whooo Lee’s nabbed the sacred car spot out the front of IFF!
We find Amanda exiting the elevator a gold box in her hand.. and she greets an agent getting in after her.
Amanda looks down at the gold box, and seems rather pleased with herself!
Amanda rounds the corner letting out a massive, satisfied sigh and she sees Francine exit the bullpen in front of her, her nose in a file and not yet noticing Amanda..
So Amanda hides the gold box behind her back.
Francine looks up and sees Amanda approaching.
Francine looks anxious to talk to Amanda!
Amanda happily: Hi, Francine.
Oh my gosh.. Francine has huge blue paisley patterns on her burgundy outfit??!!! and that cardy?? Oh my.. I do believe Francine is starting to dress like Amanda!
Francine lightly touches Amanda’s shoulder while she looks about..
Francine (In serious quiet tones): Amanda, I want to talk to you. …Uh, it’s about you and me in the freezer.
Amanda: It was kind of nice, wasn’t it?…
… I don’t think we’ve ever really talked to each other before…
[Hilarious how Amanda goes to touch Francine on the arm.. but thinks better of it. rofl.. I think Amanda is not oblivious to what is going on here. IMHO she knows exactly what she’s doing]
Francine: Yeah, but, ah… you know there is a very strict code of confidentiality at the Agency?
Amanda: Yeah…
Francine: All right. Well, I want you to know that none of that ever happened.
Amanda: None of it ever happened?
Francine: None of it. You understand?
Deja vu everyone?? I think this is deliberate..(what do you think?) it’s a revisiting of Lee and Amanda’s moments here in this same hallway, in two other tags no?
It especially reminds me of the ship of spies tag – only this time, it is Amanda worming her way into Francine’s affections and Francine fighting it and trying to deny it lol!!
Interesting.. I know I said earlier that Amanda was use to having to assert her contribution to a partnership, having already gone through that with Lee – here she is confronted with Francine doing what Lee use to do.. haaa.. Francine doesn’t stand a chance! 
Amanda sets about turning the tables on Francine.. (IMHO putting into action her cunning plan! muahahah!)
Amanda: Yeah, well what am I gonna do about these?
rofl.. Francine is transfixed.. look out! Now Amanda knows her secret Amanda may just become a real friend yet!
Francine: That’s DeVerona chocolate…
Amanda: Yes, the Ecstasy assortment….
…But, uh, if none of it ever happened, then…
Francine (same time): Ohhh…
Amanda (continues, without pausing): … you wouldn’t have told me that you love these…
Francine (same time): No, but, but…
Amanda (continues, without pausing): … and I wouldn’t have bought them…
Francine (at same time): Some of it, some of it happened…
Amanda (continues, fast): … and I wouldn’t have brought them here…
Francine (same time): Most of it didn’t…
Amanda (same time fast!): … so I couldn’t give them to you…
(Amanda puts the ecstasy assortment back behind her back.. because.. well.. it didn’t happen! rofl!!)
Francine (same time): … but some of it happened… a little bit happened… [whooooo hoooo! Amanda’s got her good!!!!]
We can just make out Billy appearing in the distance..
Amanda (continues): You mean you want these chocolates?
Francine (at same time): … just a little bit…
Amanda (continues): … you can have ‘em.
Billy: Amanda!
Amanda: Yes, Sir!
[It’s Billy and Lee!! Do you think they saw? I think they totally saw!!]
Billy: Well, we have some good news.
Amanda: Yes, Sir?
(Billy stops in front of Amanda, with Lee just behind him.)
Billy: Once Carla started talking, we were able to recover every ounce of that poison.
Amanda: Ohh. Good, Sir.
Francine (same time): Ohh!
Smiles all around! Is it just me or is this a rather unsatisfactory tying up of the rather unsatisfactory bad guy plot? we didn’t even get to see Carla get nabbed!!! At least we saw Nasty Rita find out she’s no lady!!
Oh well..Can’t complain too much I guess.. Francine has acknowledged Francine and Amanda in the freezer actually happened – a little bit!
Lee: Yeah. Yeah… and I just got a call from the hospital. Eddie’s out of his coma.
Francine: Ohh…
Billy: DeVerona chocolates?
Francine: Ahh…
Billy: Expensive.
Francine: Yeah.
(Billy leans in toward Francine.)
Billy: Who’s the secret admirer?
[whahahahaa.. I think Billy knows it’s Amanda.. he doesn’t miss much.. he’s just having fun messing with Francine here me thinks.. how about you? how are you seeing this? ]
Amanda glances at Lee
I think he knows it was Amanda.. and he’s giving nothing away.. (to Francine I mean)
Lee looks at Amanda.
Francine: Ahm… that’s, uh, secret information, Sir…
[She could tell you.. but then she’d have to kill you]
..Excuse me.
(Francine rushes off…)
Amanda: I think it’s really nice that someone likes Francine.
Amanda chuckles.. yeahhhh someone probably should like her! she’s sooo darn… likeable!!! 
not!
Billy laughs very loudly – a real rip snorter! hilarious!! If I ever made videos.. I’d include that laugh!!
I think Amanda knew what she was doing the whole time in this tag.. I don’t think Amanda thought for a second that Francine and she were suddenly best buddies. No way! Amanda had probably guessed Francine would try and back up from what happened.. (Lee’s old trick!) Try to back up? you get no chocolates!! go on ! admit it! we were talking like friends!! tee hee.. Amanda got Francine good!!! Gotcha!!
This part of the tag also reminded me of another Francine gotcha – and it’s the tag in The Life of the Party!
Lee gives Francine a gift that time.. again – in a Gold box!
Can this be coincidence?!
Only Lee’s gift was definitely not the ecstasy assortment..rofl maybe it was for Lee and Amanda! but not for Francine more the complete opposite I wonder if this little moment inspired Amanda here in this tag
I don’t want to rush this final part of the episode – sorry! going to cut the tag in two.. and will be back with the final instalment soon!!! do let us all know what you thought! bye for now..
"Just walk with me.." 
That weird jumper thingy that Francine is wearing……where on earth did she source that key item?!!! Not even OTT gold jewellery can stop her looking like a frump in that outfit!
The ecstasy collection….I love chocolate but not sure it’s ever had me in those sorts of raptures 😉 I am now wondering if it has some special ingredient added lol
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Twice in my life I’ve had chocolate that maybe didn’t quite reach ecstasy, but sure came close. One was 15 years ago and it was a very dense, moist piece of chocolate cake, and the second was last year — it was an expresso truffle in a little chocolate shop in Istanbul. My husband said my eyes actually rolled to the back of my head . Dangerous stuff. 🙂
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Ah, the Agency Hall of Denial — I like it, sound very Harry Potter-ish!
What a great discussion on trust. Valerie, I love the points and counterpoints you raised. Everyone’s follow-on thoughts seem spot-on too. Interesting to weigh the difference between professional trust and personal trust. Seems like somehow Lee and Amanda’s professional relationship has had that personal trust right from the get-go (part of the chemistry, I guess) but of course it has developed over time as well.
And I love the idea of Lee watching in appreciation of Amanda’s many people talents as Amanda plays Francine like a fiddle over this box of chocolates!
This episode never really was about the plot, was it?!? 🙂
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Hall of Denial! I love that Raffie!! There is a lot of denial that goes on in that hallway isn’t there? I never thought about that until now. I’m going to mull on that one for a while. Love it!!
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I love the Hall of Denial too – good one Raffie!
[maybe we can call the hallway The Nile – do you all know that gag? Denial is a river in Egypt?]
Do you think the elevator could be the elevator of truth? We seem to have many true moments in front of elevators.. and coming out of them and going in??
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Oooh! I like those – The Nile and the Elevator of Truth. Now if Lee just knew that he could put all the bad guys in there and get the truth out of them…
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Hi BJo! 🙂
rofl! I love it!!! If only Francine had tried that with Rollo.. could have saved us all a whole lot of indigestion!
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You’re not kidding!!! Hi back!
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And then all they would need is a cone of silence…
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Oh gosh…another outfit of Amanda’s that could have been better. And no bra again? Or a bad bra that isn’t doing anything? Her hair is gorgeous though.
Bwahahahaha! The baddies must not know about Francine’s weakness for chocolate!
So glad Eddie is out of his coma. Hahahaha! Eddie who?
I think Lee knows about Francine’s love for chocolate.
Love Billy’s response to Amanda’s line about someone liking Francine. I think they all know that Francine has a reputation for being a witch while on the job. She may be good at her job, but hasn’t made any friends along the way. This makes me feel sad for Francine, but at the same time I am laughing along with Billy!
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I’d like to salute KC for accurately transcribing this scene – working out what Amanda was saying over Francine over Amanda over….etc required a discerning ear, listening 30+ times and true dedication to SMK 🙂
The Ecstasy collection – SMK writers can be corny and unsubtle but this time they’ve hit the jackpot – clearly a chocolate lover wrote this scene.
Francine is quite endearing here in her vulnerability. Although I don’t have much patience with a woman who won’t admit that she loved chocolate to the whole world.
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Good call Learjet! .. KC has great ears for detail 🙂
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Thanks, Learjet. 🙂 That Amanda-Francine “conversation” was tough to transcribe… but I wasn’t going to give up! 😀
Thank you also to you — my wonderful beta who also listened over and over to the two of them talking over each other, and gave plenty of helpful feedback! 🙂
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Love, love, love Billy’s laugh here. Sometimes I rewind this part over and over just to hear it. It’s so funny. Why is it that Billy, like Lee did earlier, only calls Amanda’s name? Was Francine already apprised about what happened with Carla? I would guess so.
It’s funny, after what happened in the freezer and in some ways getting to know Francine better I begin to like less and less how Francine sometimes gets treated. While I do like Billy’s laugh, I’m not sure I like it at Francine’s expense. In some ways you can see why Francine acts just the way she does, based on how she gets treated. For the longest time no one seems to have pushed either Lee or Francine to open up a bit more. They’ve sort of been left on their own to deal with whatever emotional issues they may have. Kind of strange seeing as they have some sort of psychiatric doctor available. And you’d think you wouldn’t want your agents running around with a lot of emotional baggage. I always think back to Amanda’s statement about how people at the Agency seem or get a bit lost.
What Amanda does here I think is one of those instances of her getting her way. She’s knows how to work it and does so in a very subtle manner. She knew exactly what and how to get to Francine.
I would love to know just what pieces of chocolate make up an “Ecstasy” assortment. I’ve had all kinds of assortments, but never an ecstasy one. Although the chocolate itself can make one feel ecstatic. It must be a more expensive assortment, than the usual expensive DeVerona. I wonder if DeVerona was supposed to be the equivalent of Godiva. I guess I’m having a bit of a chocolate ramble.
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I wanted to add something about the emotional issues that Francine and Lee have struggled with. I actually think that the Agency and other organizations like that may think that compartmentalized emotions are an asset. I think they may even be trained to think like that. In the past it is what made Lee and Francine effective in the field. I don’t think it would have made them unstable in their work. But it would cause them to be unhappy in their personal lives, and since they are career professionals now, it is a good thing that they are beginning to let someone in to help them form “normal” relationships. I am thinking that Billy knows this. Maybe he went through a transformation just like Lee and Francine’s?
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Agree with both of you. morley’s right – being a field agent, you have to be able to take your emotions and put them away until it’s safe to let them out. How else are you gonna deal with things like your partner getting killed right before your eyes or you having to kill someone without losing it? Which, in the field, would very likely be fatal. So I think when you’re a field agent, it’s definitely an asset when you’re just a little “messed up” in the right way.
Also agree with valerie – sometimes I wonder how Francine manages not to go ballistic right in their faces. I’m pretty sure, though, that in the end she always gets them back for everything. (She does have access to quite a lot of info at the Agency, after all and – well, I wouldn’t be surprised if Lee found himself on an especially boring stake-out or two after he gave her that duster, for example. “Sorry, Lee, Duffy was needed elsewhere – and you were the only one available to cover for him …”)
I also really would have loved to see Francine out of the office and in action more often. I mean, yeah, the show IS called “Scarecrow and Mrs. King” but they could have had Francine and Amanda work together more often than just that once in “Life of the Party”, especially since that one worked out great. (Never mind Francine’s dislike of Amanda – it was pretty obvious that they CAN and WILL work together when they have to.) They could have thrown in another episode or two like that one, maybe with Lee getting in trouble and the two ladies working together to get him out of it? That way, everyone could have had their share of Scarecrow while Francine could have been more active. Really, for everyone always telling us what a great agent she is – including herself – we just don’t see enough of that. (Typical case of “telling” instead of “showing” – in writing, you’re always told “show, don’t tell”. How is the reader/viewer to accept someone is “one of our best” when they can’t see it with their own eyes?)
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More agreement? this won’t do! lol.. just kidding 🙂
Yep I agree Knell! love your point about how not keeping your emotions in check can get you killed. It could be a rather handy switch to flick if you installed an ’emotionless’ mode in your agents!
Francine has had moments previously where she has let her guard down and IMHO acted unprofessionally.. but I agree that overall she keeps her tongue in check – she just finds other ways of getting back at people..
rofl.. loved your gag about Duffy being needed elsewhere.. didn’t Francine say something to Amanda about give her 10 minutes and she can have Amanda on a flight to Moscow?! rofl!!! she wishes 😉
Ahhh okay.. I will disagree respectfully here with you Knell – I don’t want to see more of Francine and Amanda working together.. I think the heart of the show is Lee and Amanda and their partnership.. having Francine around too much would have gotten in the way of this – because their growing connection would have (IMHO of course) been stifled by Francine’s presence – lol as we saw in the hallway 😉
But.. I do agree that we could have seen Francine involved more in cases rather than being at the agency so much..
I’d say – give us more Francine and Billy and less car/motorbike/jetski/boat races and gymnastics competitions 😉 whahhahahaa..
I enjoy seeing Francine and Billy undercover.. it could have been fun to have Francine be like that agent on Get Smart – you know the one that can disguise himself as anything? [I think I found it.. he’s agent 38] but then again.. I don’t want her popping up and interrupting a moment between Lee and Amanda.. lol..
Yes I agree Knell, more showing and less telling would have been good with Francine – just not at the expense of Lee and Amanda time 🙂
I was thinking – is this finale the first time Francine has ever had to be rescued? Any other time Francine arrives to clean things up or is part of the rescue.. anyone??
I can only think of the first time- but she was drugged to her eyeballs in that one so she might not realise that Amanda actually saved her haaaaaa..
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Oooh, Francine and Billy together on an assignment! 😀 Would have been nice to see that! We do see Billy in action a few times (like in “Reach for the Sky”) and there’s that one fight in “Spiderweb” (when Lee, Billy and Francine are capturing the baddies while Amanda takes the defector to safety) where we see that, yes, Francine actually CAN handle herself in a fight. But most of the time, those two seem to be either stuck in the office or going somewhere (together, in Billy’s car) and arrive there after all the action’s over.
(Side note: Considering the stunt double they chose for Martha Smith, I have to admit I’m glad we don’t see Francine in any more action scenes than we do. Really, what were they thinking? headdesk “Oh, no one will notice how she suddenly turns from a size 8 into a size 18?” exaggeration for emphasis)
Oh well, I guess that’s what fanfictions are for, right? 😉 Getting lots of ideas here!
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Hey I thought of a previous episode where Francine was kidnapped – Dead Ringer!
but.. I guess in that episode Francine knows the baddies want to swap her for Magda so I guess she isn’t at the point yet where she could be thinking no one will come rescue me?
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Uh oh.. well this is boring. I agree! Yet again! you know.. we can disagree here 🙂 haaaaa..
Yes I think this is part of the overall story of smk which we can see up to this point..
Being compartmentalised can make you a better agent in some ways.. and a less effective agent in others.
Lee was super compartmentalised, Amanda was not at all..
At this point in the plot, I think we’ve seen that a balance between the two makes for the best agent/human being.
The agency doesn’t seem to care about what kind of human being their agents are – they don’t care about them. Their disposable.. and easily discarded with the slightest hint of scandal.. or accusation.. at least this is how I see the agency – it is a ruthless – because they are in a ruthless business (where partners die and people leave).
I think even now, with putting the poison ahead of finding Amanda (for just a moment!) Lee is working with this balancing act -of balancing the agent role with the human being role.. to make a human agent lol..
Am I making sense? or is this an agent ramble? 🙂
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perfect sense 🙂
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Fabulous laugh! I think listening to it puts us in a good mood – we can’t help it 🙂 you rewind it over and over Valerie? I love it! haaaa..
Yeah Francine probably already knew about Carla.. and when she was arrested, Francine probably asked her about her height, her weight and her age! 😉
Yep I agree again Valerie – sometimes Francine asks for it.. lol.. but sometimes she gets it anyway.. it is no wonder she has felt the need to construct this fortress around herself – it’s a tough business.
though with Lee and Billy, I figure they are like a little family just ribbing each other – and no hurt or harm is intended..
Whoooo good point – Amanda getting her way! I hadn’t looked at it like that but I think you’re right!
I know! I want to know what’s in the ecstasy assortment too!! I’m not sure if I said it in post 23 or 24.. but I was wondering if DeVerona was a nod to Vahlrona chocolate.. for years I thought that’s what they were and hadn’t heard ‘deVerona’ – but the gold box is Godiva isn’t it.. maybe it’s a mash up of the two – an oblique reference to two high end chocolate brands while acknowledging neither?
Chocolate ramble? Love it!
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What is that ornament that Francine has at her throat?
I love the way Amanda does this. She sure knows how to deal with these Agency types now, doesn’t she. Iwsod, your comparison of the SOS tag and this scene is perfect. And I love the way Lee is looking at Amanda here. And Billy’s laugh. I wonder if Lee likes seeing Amanda work her magic on another person, can he identify now how Amanda wormed her way into his heart too, can he recognize what she is doing here with Francine?
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whoooo Love the thought of Lee watching on as Amanda works her magic and thaws some of Francine’s coldness- just like she did with Lee.. Yes I think Lee would have noticed the similarities in how Amanda opened him up too.
I think Lee’s connection with Francine is that they are similar – he understands where she is coming from.. he was like that himself.
Do you guys think Lee trusts Francine?
I’m not 100% sure… wondering what you guys make of it!
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That’s a good question, Iwsod, about whether or not Lee trusts Francine. I think that at some point Lee’s trust in Francine was without doubt and unequivocal, or so he thought. In earlier episodes you see their camaraderie and their support of each other, but over time Lee’s allegiance has shifted and I think he has discovered a whole new meaning to the word trust as exhibited by Amanda. I don’t think he truly understood what that meant until Amanda came along.
During Burn Out, Francine was only too eager to believe that Lee had become a burn out. Granted, she was tricked into it, but so was Amanda to a certain extent. Francine just accepted it whereas Amanda fought against it. I think that it’s one of the many things that amazes Lee about Amanda and one of the reasons he tries so hard not to have that trust misplaced in any way. When it comes to the Agency, Francine is going to follow everything and go by the book. In Playing Possum she put Lee through some paces before she would bring him in. In Reach for the Sky, she was very tight-lipped and short when it came to where Billy was and didn’t even share with Lee. Never mind that Lee already knew. It’s possible that she was still hurt from not being brought in on the whole Burn Out situation.
I think this goes back to what was said above about their emotional issues. Lee has learned what trust is all about, but Francine is just now starting to get it. I do think Lee trusts Francine as far as having his back if they were on a case together, but any more than that he might not be as trusting. Hopefully that came out right. Been missing some sleep lately.
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eek! I didn’t get back to this interesting idea of whether Lee trusts Francine.
Loved the ideas that I read! Especially how at the start of the episode Lee thought he trusted Francine.. but really Lee didn’t truly know just what Trust was… with Amanda he is beginning to learn this.
Valerie loved your recap of Francine moments here – I agree, when it comes to the agency she has no difficulty knowing where her loyalties are when Lee is in trouble.. she doesn’t struggle with this. I wonder if she doesn’t struggle because she knows Lee is a professional who knows where loyalties should be also..
At the same time, I remember there was a moment in playing possum where Lee wanted Amanda to go home to send her family away on a train and Francine tried to refuse it. Lee just quietly said to Francine: Francine, it’s Amanda!
Francine was silent a moment.. and then said okay she can go.
I think we saw that Francine is not completely inflexible or without heart.. Lee was able to appeal to her and she compromised where professionally it was actually maybe a bad idea?
Soooo I agree with you all that Lee has a trust for Francine but at this point Lee is well aware of the limits of that trust. Which, makes him appreciate more and more Amanda 🙂
And what of Billy? Lee has gone outside the system to rescue Billy (the rogue elephant) and put his career on the line for him.. would Billy do the same? or would Lee even think Billy might do the same?
Yeah Burn out and the way Francine was able to ‘drop’ Lee was a bit of a slap in the face.. but for Lee? He seemed to laugh it off and expect nothing less – this is a bit telling isn’t it?
I guess if Francine had fought for Lee she would have been fighting to work with a man who in her eyes could have gotten her killed on the job.. but that doesn’t mean she couldn’t help Lee as a human being!
Or is Lee and Francine’s relationship not on much of a personal basis?
I remember in the Mole that conversation Francine had with Lee telling him about her mother and why she had been upset. the point of the scene I think was to show Lee compartmentalised his work relationships from friendships.. But I hadn’t really seen Francine as a share your problems with your colleagues type.. hmmm.. what do you guys think?
whooo gotta run! I’ll be back later! bye!
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I think Lee trusts Francine as far as she can be trusted… Does that make sense? I think he knows her well and knows what she is capable of, good and bad. I think he trusts her as an agent. But I still think that the level of trust that he is learning is possible with Amanda is blowing his socks off and that is a whole new experience for him. And in this episode I think watching that trust and work in Lee and Amanda’s relationship is almost blowing Francine’s socks off too. Who knew any of that was possible? 😉
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Am liking all these trust comments. I think I understand what you mean about Lee trusting Francine as far as she can be trusted. There are limits to his trust with her. He trusts her to a point. I think the difference has to do with how Lee views the trust of Amanda and Francine with regard to him. I think Amanda would trust Lee to her death, whereas Francine would not. Lee knows how much trust Amanda has in him and is blown away by it. Francine trusts Lee, but not as much as she trusts herself. Does that make sense?
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I think Lee and Francine trust each other completely on a professional level. They both know that when they’re working together the other one will have their back. They’re both among the Agency’s finest (as we keep being told), after all. I also think that, on a professional level, they probably know all about each other that there is to know (how skilled they are at hand-to-hand, shooting, etc). You need to. When you’re in a fight with one of the bad guys who’s trying to kill you, you can’t afford to worry about your partner who’s fighting another bad guy at the same moment. Being distracted like that means you might get killed. You’ll have to know that they can take care of themselves. At the same time, you also have to know when your partner needs your assistance. So as far as that goes I’d say: Yah, they definitely know each other as well as you possibly can.
The personal level is a completely different thing, though. The impression I get here is that they’re both very guarded, private persons and only let others know what they WANT them to know. There’s certainly things Francine doesn’t know about Lee (like how he totally is capable of committing himself to only one woman) and I’d say it’s the same with Lee regarding Francine. I definitely can picture a scene where he finds out something about her that surprises him and he goes “I didn’t know that” and she tells him “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” – just as I totally can imagine it the other way round. I think we’re getting to a point here where Amanda knows Lee – the private person, not the spy – better than Francine does.
What I can see happening is Francine starting to trust Lee less, at least for a while, on both personal and professional level. He’s changing – and she can feel it. She might choose to ignore things she doesn’t want to acknowledge (why do I suddenly hear Vizzini from “The Princess Bride” going all “Inconceivable?” lol) but she’s not stupid. The person she’s dealing with here is “new” Lee and she just might start feeling like she doesn’t know him anymore – which, imho, will inevitably result in her not trusting him as much anymore as she used to.
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It looks like Francine has been attacked by giant purple paramecia. And, boy howdy, I could use some really expensive chocolate right now. 🙂
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Rofl! Yep scary stuff – where’s the chocolate! 🙂
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