Time to meet the exciting Russian Dr. Zernoff.. He’s situated in a suburban street now.. and it seems the blue jays have found their way to his wallet too! All not very exciting!!! I think Zernoff would prefer life to be more ‘normal’ as Dotty wishes to escape it, Zernoff is discovering it!
[Is one of these girls Linda? they don’t seem old enough do they?]
Zernoff: Of course I will buy from you delightful ladies.
Blue Jays: Thank you!
Zernoff: Oh well thank you!
(Zernoff closes the front door and motions someone..)
Zernoff: America! They bring candy to your door. How could I refuse?
Man: Oh you’ll get used to it, but I’m real glad you find it so agreeable.
Zernoff: Ya, would you like some tea?
Man: Oh, no thank you. [Is this a baddie turning down tea???!!]
Zernoff: Oh I regret, that I don’t have anything stronger. I know it’s early but this is a day of celebration.
[Hmm I guess this is Zernoff’s first day after leaving the debriefing centre.. and this guy might be a handler or something?]
Man: Oh not for me, no I have to leave. But please call, anytime, day or night. [rofl- just not now! 
lol.. this guy doesn’t seem genuine.. ]
Zernoff: Day or night. Okay!
Man: Andrei, don’t give me that official face. I know I’m government, but I do want to help.
Zernoff: I’m sorry, but it is government I’m leaving behind.
[Good for you Zernoff.. too soon to trust this dude..]
Man: I know, a lot of émigrés, I know how lonely you get…..How strange the US can be…
…how cruel otherwise good people can seemingly be when they hear the word Russian…
[Way to make him feel comfortable and welcome.. not! This guy wants you lonely me thinks! Even if he’s not a baddie- I don’t like him.]
…You, you are a very friendly guy, so don’t take it too personally if people aren’t quite so friendly in return. At least at first…
…And don’t buy every box of candy somebody tries to sell you! (obnoxious guy gives him a buddy slap on the arm or something..)
[Way to go – now it’s this dude’s turn to treat an adult like a child!]
…Call me.
Zernoff: Ok
Man: Your worst enemy is loneliness… (he heads to the door.. but remembering something he comes back to Zernoff) …Oh, there is a place here in town that you should know about…. (takes out a card) and I wrote down the address.
Zernoff: The Muscovy Tea Room. (Doorbell rings)
..Oh, excuse me
They both head to the front door.. and we view things from the perspective of someone watching them with binoculars..
it’s more Blue Jay girls peddling sugar!
[what do you make of their uniforms?]
Man: <as he leaves> Oooh, you’ve come to the right house!
Zernoff: Oooh look at these charming ladies.
Man: Don’t forget the Tea Room.
Zernoff: All right
Man: (to the kids) And, um, go easy on this man ok?
(To Zernoff) Welcome! We want you to stay…Dasvidanya
Zernoff: Dasvidanya
[Russians are so feared the guy yells out bye in Russian?! oh lol.. all I can hear is Dasvidanya Mrs King- as a man puts a big X across a picture of her! I do like Russian plots! Put me in this club with Dotty!]
Zernoff: Now what do you have here for me.
We see the person spying on them is Francine.. lol only she has a telescope not binoculars.. shouldn’t we have seen one circle rather than the two circles?
Francine: Jake Lawrence better tip Zernoff on sales resistance before the Avon Lady hears about him…
(or Connie Beth!)
(to Lee) …So are we going to brief Lawrence or what?
[Umm if there is a leak why would you brief anyone? Francine has suddenly gone dim! It seems suddenly Lee is in charge of this operation.. as Francine is asking him what to do no? ]
Lee: No, Lawrence was State Department’s babysitter for Chernyev, Valeska and Stanislav too, once they
got settled. No we just watch.
[I went back to that scene in Billy’s office.. I think Francine named a previous defector as ‘Chernov’, whereas Lee refers to Chernyev lol..
I think after hearing the way Jake rubbed in how lonely Zernoff will be, I’d be telling him nothing!]
We see Amanda arrive with a bag of groceries
Amanda: Hello! How’s it going?
Lee: Good timing, the babysitter just left.
Francine: You look like little Red Riding Hood,…
(We hear Lee let out a breath here.. I think he is losing his patience with Francine! or at least.. I hope he is lol!)
… but don’t worry, Lee and I will protect you from the big bad wolf.
[After FFFT this is interesting! looking forward to what you make of this.. and what Francine said in the freezer.. Do you think she’d say this after? is this before FFFT?]
Lee clears his throat once Francine has finished her narky comment.
Amanda: Thanks very much Francine…
[Oh she soooo didn’t mean that 
]
…I just thought I’d come by and see if there were any last minute instructions and bring you these.
Lee: Oh good.
Francine: Oh, isn’t that sweet,…
…but you know what when we’re on stakeout…
…we usually send out for food.
[Is it just me or is Francine looking at Lee quite possessively at the end of this sentence?
this little moment is fascinating when considering FFFT and all our discussions there about Francine and her ownership of Lee – oh boy! This is something to explore!!
[and just so I’m clear: I do not think Francine is in love with Lee or anything!]
I think the message here is- Lee and I do stakeouts without you aaaaalll the time! You’re not one of us!- As is so often the subtext of what Francine says to Amanda..
It runs so deeply.. I almost think Francine is obsessed with it! and spends way too much time thinking about Amanda.. lol another reason for her to not like Amanda! and.. totally not Amanda’s fault the woman has issues! I’m guessing Francine has abandonment issues with her daddy.. lol.. and nooo don’t tell me anything that’s coming in future.. leave me to speculate please – it’s fun though lol maybe a bit tedious for you guys who already know?! tee hee.. oops… I digress! ]
Amanda:Well I thought you might get a little tired of pizzas.
I think Amanda is pretty cluey.. and can see what Francine is up to – but she never lets Francine deviate her from her purpose.. she doesn’t engage with Francine on that level – I think it’s one of the qualities I like most of Amanda’s! she is not possessive of Lee at all – I think he would like that about her too thoughts??
Lee seems to respond with a smile..
What’s he thinking? do you think Lee was thinking they’d be ordering pizza and he’s agreeing with Amanda?
Francine is horrified of course. Never mind that Amanda just did something very considerate and thoughtful for you there Francine! grr..
Francine: Pizza?
Sorry guys! I’m going to pause here for the moment.. I don’t want this post getting too long.. Hold that thought: Pizza???!!!! Francine???!!! Curious to hear what you guys make of all this! I’ll pick up where I left things in the next post. byee for now!
"Just walk with me.." 
One of the things I like about the scene with Lee, Francine, and Amanda is that Lee and Amanda are much more in sync than Lee and Francine. Francine is trying so hard to make Amanda think that she and Lee, the professionals, are more in sync, but really they’re pretty far apart in their thinking. Even in the first season, Lee demonstrated to Amanda that he actually likes doing his own cooking and prides himself on his ability to throw a meal together. I don’t know whether he ever shared this talent with Francine, but I suppose he probably didn’t or she wouldn’t have been so surprised that he would be willing to do some cooking here. Francine seems to have her own ideas about what they’re going to do, but from the way Lee acts, I don’t think she’s discussed it with him. I’m not sure, but from the way Lee acted when Amanda came in, it seemed almost like he was expecting her to bring them food. It gave me the impression that either they’d talked about it beforehand or that he just knows Amanda well enough to guess that she would think of that and she knows him well enough to know he’d appreciate it.
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Awww, Dr. Zernoff. Yet another seemingly nice, old man. I do have a weakness for older men. Ahem. I wonder if this guy will end up having lots of flaws like Marvelous Marvin. Guess we’ll see! But he seems like a sweetheart and very grateful right now to be in America. I wonder what kind of tea he drinks.
Just googled that address…no Muscovy Tea Room in sight! Did see a corner deli though.
Haha – Lee looks very happy to see Amanda and her grocery bag. I bet he’s wondering what she’s got in there for them. She knows Lee is quite a cook, but I’m guessing Francine may not. Perhaps Lee hasn’t divulged that secret to her? Or maybe Lee is just looking for some of Amanda’s poppy seed cake or other homemade goodies. What did she make for the mother of the year contest?
Oh gosh…episode order questions…it works for me being after FFFT. Francine knows that Lee will protect her and Amanda and I think she just lumps herself in with Lee cuz she’s an agent and she’s not locked up in a flash-freezer anymore. I don’t know if it would work before or not. I’d need to watch the episodes in that order.
I agree that Francine is making sure to send the message to Amanda that she does not belong in the group with her and Lee. One of these things is not like other…one of these things just doesn’t belong…. This also makes sense to me after FFFT. It’s as if Francine needs to reestablish herself as an agent on par with Lee despite what happened in the freezer. She is not the same as Amanda!
LOL – maybe Lee’s little look to Amanda after the mention of pizza brings back fond memories of Dooley’s….
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I can get behind Francine being extra narky to Amanda after the freezer to put some distance between them and help convince herself that the confessions never happened.
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I think this episode could very well come after FFFT. Francine’s protection of her territory here could very well be in response to seeing Lee and Amanda’s “cozy”, homey arrangements. And the comment about protecting Amanda from the big bad wolf — Francine said Lee wouldn’t come to the rescue, and he did, and yelling Amanda’s name. That’so got to rankle, and I can imagine Francine thinking how far-fetched it is, and wondering why Amanda gets to have a fairy-tale existence. In the mood she’s in, it probably isn’t sinking in that Francine herself was also rescued; she’s just feeling like these things always happen to Amanda.
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I love that, “wondering why Amanda gets to have the fairy tale existence.” I will hold my tongue, but I do think there is enough reactive behavior from Francine yet to come to fit the bill… Just sayin’ 😉
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Hooray! Happy Camper stopped by! 🙂 hello!
I agree happy camper – but. given I don’t really remember what’s ahead in this ep I’m also open to changing my mind 🙂
Maybe Francine being rescued rankled her – I could see that.. she’s very conflicted! She wishes she had someone she could count on.. but when she gets rescued she doesn’t like that she needed rescuing?
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I so love Lee’s expressions as he’s about had it with Francine and is so appreciative of Amanda. He knows exactly what Amanda is doing and why and Francine hasn’t got a clue.
From this scene alone I could see why this one might come before FFFT. Francine’s comments to Amanda here might have been one of those things that pushed Lee to consciously choose Amanda right away in FFFT. Amanda’s witch statement could be her reaction to this situation. And Francine’s general attitude would be less snipey I would think after what happened in FFFT. And then that comment Francine made to Amanda in the freezer about her going home and staying there may have come out of this episode as well. Maybe we’ll see more as we go on.
If Amanda is Red Riding Hood and we know Lee tends to be her knight on a white horse to rescue her, just who does Francine really think the big bad wolf is?
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I like that you think Francine is being possessive of Lee. I completely hear that subtext of “Lee and I do stakeouts all the time with out you and what we do eat and how we conduct them is very high level and nothing like those little rookie forays you have had with him.” I agree it is a professional possessiveness. I also agree that Amanda is not possessive of him at all and that is so important. I love that about their relationship. I think many women have tried to get their claws into Lee and now Amanda has him wrapped around her little finger and she doesn’t need to exert any ownership at all. I think it is one of the things that draws him to her.
He definitely likes what is in the bag. And I agree he and Amanda are having all sorts of non verbal communication here.
As I wrote before, I do like this episode before FFFT, so Francine enjoying pointing out the prominence of her working with Lee on sophisticated stakeouts kind of works better for me before her response to Amanda hanging out in Lee’s room and partnering with him in FFFT.
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Morley, I like what you say about Amanda not being possessive of Lee and not trying to get her claws into him. Amanda has for the most part seemed pretty confident in herself and who she was except when it came to being an Agent. She has shown that she was able to take care of herself and her children without the assistance of her wandering ex-husband. She showed that above anything else she has been there as a friend and confidante for Lee and not wanting anything more, at least at that time. She hasn’t been cloying, fawning, or possessive and with all of that she has Lee’s undivided attention. In many ways she hasn’t chased after Lee, but let him come to her.
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I think Francine’s reacting the way she is because she’s kinda feeling Lee “slipping away”. He’s quite obviously getting along better with Amanda than her on a friendship level now – or so it feels to her – so she at least wants to “keep” him on the professional level. Kinda like “You might be his best friend now – but I’m the professional around here and thus, better equipped to work with him than you.”
I always saw Francine as someone with an “either – or” attitude when it comes to Amanda. Like, you’re either with her or with me – you can’t possibly be friends with both of us, we’re too different. (Which, of course, is complete nonsense but she’s still gotta realize that.) With her issues she’s got with “people leaving”, of course she’s fighting to keep at least a little bit of Lee to herself. Which could explain why she’s getting snarkier again. Kinda like telling Amanda “You can have all the rest but THIS HERE is MINE!”
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I think Francine was going to say they order some sort of high quality take-out. I don’t think she had pizza in mind.
Lee definitely looks pleased with what Amanda has brought – something nice and home made. Very appealing to our increasingly domesticated Scarecrow. Francine’s clearly not up with the play on Lee’s preferred menu options these days. 😉
Aside from Lee’s initial slight annoyance at Francine’s jibe, it seems to me that neither Lee nor Amanda are really acknowledging Francine’s presence here. Their communication – both silent and verbal – is between Lee and Amanda only.
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For me, the baddie give away is that vile yellow striped tie and that dull brown suit. Very bad acting too. Don’t trust him at all. And don’t like him.
I’ve always wondered what was in the bag of groceries. Salad? Bought sandwiches? Pies? I would have thought Amanda would have risen to a picnic basket of goodies for Lee, but maybe the presence of Francine stopped that 😉 Maybe a basket of goodies for Lee and box of chocolates for Francine would have appeased her….IMO, Amanda’s comment about pizza was provocative because we all know Francine isn’t a pizza kind of girl, unless it was from a topnotch restaurant and made by an award-winning chef.
I think Francine is protecting her professional ‘territory’ here – I suspect she has (subconsciously at least) given up on protecting her greater claim to friendship with Lee than Amanda at this stage.
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That guy must be a baddie. He works for the government? No way! No public servant is going to say they are available day and night! Strictly 8 hours a day, maybe a couple of hours paid overtime here and there, but definitely no “any time day and night”. Yep, definitely a baddie. 😀
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