11/13 Season Three, Episode 14: Playing for Keeps-Scarecrow and Mrs King

Back to Amanda’s and we see she’s viewing the TV coverage of the tournament.
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LOL at the feet behind the commentator’s head! haa!
TV Host: So, coming up live from the beautiful Shenandoah Pro Am Tennis Tournament semi-final competition…
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[Amanda’s looking much better.. sitting up.. checking her watch.. and looking alert and.. IMHO bored to be home and not working!]
…As you may already know, the Tina Tomerson / Mary Dexter grudge match was cancelled because of Mary’s illness,  Tina then became heir to an unchallenged placement in the semi-finals…
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At hearing this, a thought seems to strike Amanda.
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…So in a matter of minutes, audiences around the world are going to have an opportunity—

Amanda picks up the phone.. Audiences around the world huh.. gee sounds like quite a statement if they take out Tina in front of the world.. but ahem. maybe this is so obvious it’s not right?

We find Tina all set to go with her match walking through the hotel foyer – hmm where’s her bodyguard? oh wait.. that’s right she’s on a plane to Hawaii – soooo no one is replacing her? ohh whatev. Tina finds Francine. Whooo nice tie in seeing Francine watching the same commentator as Amanda!
Tina: Look at me, I’m shaking. I’m like this before every match.
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Francine: Don’t worry about it, you’ll be great. You’ll ace the quarter finals. [der Francine, you were just watching the tv commentator say she is in the semi’s!!!]
Tina: Quarter finals? I’m in the semis – I got bumped up.
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[Oh right.. we needed another reminder – Mary’s poisoning means Tina is in the semi’s.. we’ve heard it twice in less than a minute- smk code for: this means something dumb audience!]
Tony: Let’s go Tina, you’re on court in about 5 minutes.
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[Seems Lee and Francine aren’t the only duo who are no longer pretending they don’t know each other Winking smile ]
Francine: Good luck.
Tina: Thanks.
Lee makes his way through the foyer toward Francine as we hear the commentator (or loudspeaker?) yet again tell us that audiences around the world will be watching Tina.. and.. Karen Troneum?? I heard Karen.. but the tv show said it was Fran. Hmm.. let’s see what happens.
Lee is still on edge.. his spy instincts are screaming something’s not right.
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Lee: I may be paranoid but this thing isn’t over. Now you keep an eye on them, I’m going to check the grounds. Go on.
Francine: All right.
Francine leaves.. and right on cue we hear:
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Announcer: Telephone call for Lee Stanton. Lee Stanton please pick up house phone.
Oh phew.. not an additional name for Lee this ep!
Lee: Yeah, Lee Stanton.
Amanda: Lee, it’s me. Listen, I’ve been watching everything and everyone on the television set and I think I’ve got the whole thing figured out.
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[If it were anyone else we’d say yeah right!! but.. Amanda probably has Winking smile lol]
Lee: Slow down, slow down. Now what is it you’re trying to say Amanda?
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[LOL actually I didn’t think she was talking as fast as she usually does haaa.. but I love that she doesn’t have to tell him who she is.. and she doesn’t even bother to say hello haa. Plus, I love that in this urgent moment, Lee doesn’t mind Amanda’s interruption. ]
Amanda: Okay, look it’s really very simple but it’s not so simple when you take everything into consideration.
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[lol very Amanda.. very simple! I’ve missed Amanda Smile ]
Lee: Uh huh, okay, now— what are you talking about? [okay some annoyance here no?! just a tiny bit?!]
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Amanda: The point is, I think Tina’s still the target and I think I know why.
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Lee is listening intently.. It’s evident he believes Amanda has lots to contribute that he’s gonna want to hear Smile
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I guess before they changed the script they could have had Amanda figure this all out without the tv no?
Anyway.. we cut away from Lee – not sure what Amanda’s figured out.  I figure it’s about that world audience we keep hearing about..

We cut to a hand holding a mini TV and keeping track of the tennis coverage.  PFK.avi_20150823_143013.887
TV Announcer: What promises to be a most exciting match for the Women’s Championship is about to get underway between Tina Tomerson and Tracy Austin on centre court. Both players have worked their way into the final after a week worth of… (fade out)

Oh Rofl! this is seriously lame! Firstly, before Amanda called Lee, Tina was about to play in the semi finals – we heard that twice! And now the announcer is saying they’re playing for the championship???!!!! and are in the final???!!!! Oh come on SMK!!!
And.. before Tina was playing Fran Troneum or Karen Troneum.. but definitely not Tracy Austin!
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See the board? Nooooo Tracy Austin on the board at all! whahahahaaa. Magic.. Now she’s playing Tracy Austin??!!! 

Well, cue the evil action theme.. this baddie has moved the space/time continuum ahead to really make sure that Tina Tomerson was in the finals! whahahaa..
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The baddie with very feminine hands is loading some missiles onto that flying thingy I guess we saw when the episode opened..Ohhh looky.. Aloha Donna!
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She’s back!! And this military flyer means business!!
dark helmetYou know how I know??
Well..
Black helmet? Check!
[Not dark helmet Winking smile I wish!]
Black overalls? Check!
Music reaching a ridiculous intensity as she takes off? Check!
PFK.avi_20150823_143040. 5I gotta say it’s hard to feel threatened by a thing with bicycle wheels and a little fan blowing it.. lol..

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This is a bit like the bulldozer going so slow toward Amanda in YODT.. the music seems ridiculous..

Still.. now’s a good moment to pause..  Can’t wait to hear from you all byeeee!!

26 thoughts on “11/13 Season Three, Episode 14: Playing for Keeps-Scarecrow and Mrs King”

  1. First of all I totally love all of the snarky comments. The interns and cleaning crew! Perfect!
    But I have to employ my mental gymnastic abilities to block these things off so that I can find the nuggets. Because I do think this is a critical time for Amanda I will focus on her. She is paying attention to the case. She takes him up on his offer to call whenever she has anything to contribute and so she does. She doesn’t need to tell him who she is and he is ready to give her all of his attention. I like the way she stays in her Amandarambling character and Lee knows just how to deal with her. I think he may even be glad to be listening to an Amandaramble, maybe he missed them. But there is a time constraint so he pushes her through it.
    And you know flipping through those screen caps of their telephone conversation, they look connected with each other. I think that call was a great joy to Amanda. Sometimes you can call a person and you can sense the distance. I don’t think they felt any distance at all.

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  2. Valiant effort with the post, iwsod! This is a rough part of this episode – so much happening here that shouldn’t be happening – too many mistakes. It is a hot mess. The funny thing is though, slowing it down and looking at the dialogue shows just how many there are – watching it real time it’s easier to ignore! And thank you for the lovely Lee pics – he does look here!

    I know you asked about adding the post liking button back in in another post, but I’ll answer here. You don’t need to put it back in – even I didn’t use it consistently. I’m happy to just say something in a comment – like I did here in this comment.

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  3. I’m probably the only one here but – I don’t like this scene. Why? Not because Amanda’s in it. But because it makes the other two look stupid. They’re top agents for heaven’s sake – wouldn’t that mean they should be able to figure out this plot by themselves? If not, they hardly deserve to be called top agents … (Okay, okay, maybe Lee’s called “Scarecrow” for a reason … duck, cheeky grin)

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    1. I agree, Khell – this scene does make Lee and Francine look a bit incompetent. Maybe we’re supposed to assume that they are too close to what’s going on and mired in the details whereas Amanda only gets to see the big picture. This is where this episode really falls off the cliff for me.

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    3. Agreed!!! it’s a real dog’s breakfast!!! and… this dog’s breakfast is only going to get more and more messy!!!

      Glad they included Amanda and gave her the aha moment – but overall it doesn’t gel – like a lot of this episode!!

      Still..I do think there’s a lovely over-arching story for Lee and Amanda in this ep.. so it’s still worthwhile! 🙂

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    4. And what, really, did Amanda find out? The only thing she figured out was the tie-in between Mary’s poisoning and the plot against Tina. The other two had already tumbled to the fact that something could still happen in this very public venue. “Tina’s still the target” — nobody had ever thought differently; they even thought the poisoning was meant for Tina. And how does discovering this link add anything urgent? Yes, it was intentional to make certain Tina made it to the semi-finals, but that was set in motion before scorpion-Rostov died and Donna (supposedly) left for Hawaii (why Hawaii, anyway? Wouldn’t she try to get out of the country?) So what does it matter? The logical thing to suppose is that there isn’t anyone left behind to carry out the plot, and they haven’t discovered anything new, just found out the reason the one baddie set things up the way he did before he died.

      As far as the semis/finals goes, I guess the only thing we can suppose is that Tina won the semis and has advanced already? I don’t know why, after going to such lengths to get her into the semis, they would take the risk of her getting eliminated. Maybe it was a certain thing that she would beat Karen/Fran, and it wasn’t sure that she could beat Mary. And I guess the finals are a more dramatic time to bump somebody off than the semis.

      I’ve been wondering, throughout this episode, when they actually filmed KJ’s scenes. She doesn’t appear with any of the other actors, so it seems that she was out for the duration of filming and did hers afterwards.

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  4. Have to add – a nice bit of lace on Amanda’s nightie. Looks more interesting than her nightie in ALLA. And all her jewellery is in place despite her flu?? I am all admiration. She looks better than I do when made-up and on my way to work 😉

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  6. I love that we got another Amanda scene and I’ll concur that she was always part of the plot to solve the case. I hate that she’s not in this episode but I like the way they include her. First, to show the changes in Lee and in their relationship, and second, as the insightful Amanda who sees what others can’t. And Lee will always give her the time of day. ❤

    Yes, these tennis announcements are a mess!

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  7. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!! This whole episode gets to seem more and more like the whole SMK crew had a substitute teacher that week and absolutely everyone set out to take the mick out of them. The costume department, the script department, the continuity department, the stunt and FX departments – was there anyone who didn’t screw something up? Oh yeah, Tracy Austin did great!

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    2. I think everyone was sick with the flu so they let the interns and the cleaning crew make this episode… possibly with some help from a couple of crazy people they grabbed off the street outside the studio. o_O

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So what do you think??? :)

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