Billy’s final words to Lee are ringing in our ears..
Billy: Lee, see what you can dig up on the street. Be careful, be quick. Blueprints, chemical weapons, mercenaries — whatever it all means, we’ve got to stop it. [whooooo!]
Next thing Lee abruptly opens the door to the Q Bureau/ Film Library..
He sees Amanda sitting at his desk playing chess.
Hey – we have a new addition.. Lee now has a fridge in the Q bureau! Come on Lee.. get Amanda her own desk already.. and while you’re at it – get rid of that guest pass!!
(man I want that job.. sitting at Lee’s desk? no.. I mean a job where I can play chess all day 
What am I saying??!!! yes.. all day with Lee would be a perk!)
Amanda: Did you know your fern has scales?
Lee: I don’t have time to worry about my fern, Amanda…
(Lee hurries over to his desk and motions for Amanda to get out of his chair..)
…Out — out, out out.
Is it just me or is the view out the window really different?? It’s been ages since we saw the Q bureau- I’ve missed it!
Amanda: Sorry.
Lee: I’ve got to clear my calendar and get out in the field. Ah-
(Lee tries to sit as his desk but there’s a chess set in the way.)
Amanda: Here, I’m sorry.
Lee: Yeah, thank you.
LOL I love it, Amanda doesn’t take it personally, she just goes and sits on his desk instead so comfortable and confident together now 
Amanda clears off the chess set, and Lee gets his appointment book out..
Amanda: Okay. I’ll help you with it.
Looks to me like Lee goes to put it on his desk, but instead Amanda reaches for it and takes it from him to look.. lol Lee doesn’t seem to mind! Such an old married couple thing to do!
Lee: Yeah.
Amanda: Alright, let’s see —
Lee: What’s today?
Amanda: Today, you have — Polish embassy at 10:00.
Lee: That’s a dance lesson, I can skip that.
Amanda: Skipped. Ah — you have lunch with Kelso at noon. [Do we know who Kelso is?]
Lee: Ah, forget that, he won’t show.
Amanda: Well, I’ll call him just to be polite.
Lee: He won’t show, Amanda, he was deported last week. [rofl! Umm guess we don’t need to know who Kelso is! ]
Amanda: Skip that one!
Lee: Yeah.
Amanda: You have Birchwood at 1:00.
Lee: Oh, yeah. Well, I’ve gotta go there. I missed last week.
Amanda: What’s Birchwood?
Lee looks up at Amanda..
and responds: That’s the future, Amanda….
…If we’re lucky.
Well.. Lee using the word ‘Future’ , smiling at Amanda like that and saying if ‘we’ are lucky (rather than if you and I are lucky) is very swoony!!!
Whoooo what’s a Birchwood?! This is going to be instructive!! Okay guys I best finish up here for the moment.. keepin it short and sweet as I’m too busy for my liking and want to keep the walk at least crawling along at a snail’s pace here
Can’t wait to hear from you!!
"Just walk with me.." 
I kind of like the idea that Lee and Amanda are playing chess. Maybe it is a prolonged game and they make moves on the board when they get a chance.
I take Amanda’s comments about the fern and her “helpfulness” with the planner as a response to Lee’s comments in PFK about potpourri and missing her. Maybe she is feeling more free to be herself in the office with him now that she knows better how he feels about her, maybe she is trying to show him that she is more open to being known? I agree that at first he has glimmers of annoyance, but I don’t think he has to work hard to get that under control. I think they are in the bloom of a new love here and every little thing the other does is magic at that stage, so far. So Lee is happy to be an open book to her here. He has nothing to hide and maybe even somethings to reveal, like Birchwood. And he seems eager to include Amanda in on it, he says “we”… 😀
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‘feeling free to be herself’ whoo whoooo.. I’ve written something in regards to this about an upcoming scene.. I’ll return to this!
Yes, this scene does show Amanda is very at home in the Q bureau – even without her own desk [ can’t remember who said it but yes I agree it’s too early for her to actually have one in there – lol- but it doesn’t stop me from complaining that she should 😉 haaaa]
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I definitely don’t like the fact that Amanda is still having to wear a guest pass. I think she has more than earned something a little more official, considering all she has done as well as all she has been through. Such an oversight on someone’s part.
I’m starting to think this may be another one of those transitional episodes. We’ve already seen that the Q Bureau is supposed to be for the trickier cases and that Lee is in charge, but we haven’t seen it used much since the beginning of the season. Maybe we’ll see it more often now. I sort of like the fact that Amanda doesn’t have a desk at this point. She and Lee have to share space a little more. She’s now sat on his desk for the second time.
I’ll share my thoughts about Birchwood in the next post.
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I think that sitting on the desk is nice but taking the diary annoys me a bit. I would consider it bossy rather than wifely. It also reminds me of those really manipulative women who control their men. I accept that it is not what is it meant to represent and that it is to show the ease and familiarity and trust between them but it doesn’t work for me. My only other observation (other than my many reactions to other peoples’ comments) is that Amanda has not seen too much of the diary as otherwise she would know he missed Birchwood last week (of course that could have been when she was sick in PFK)
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Yes I try not to think about Amanda not realising that Lee has been visiting Birchwood weekly for the nearly three years that she has known him.
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Well, I don’t think Lee is visiting Birchwood weekly. I think he visits them every now and then. Do you remember the amount of baskets with food they give to Lee? He can hardly eat all that stuff in one week. Perhaps he had to cancel the last weeks visit because he had some (more) important work to do or because was out of town (PFK?). I like to think he just made another appointment for the following week because Louise and her sister were so diappointed about his ‘not comming’ and he felt sorry about it – ’cause he really likes those old ladies. And he likes to be with them. 🙂
Hard to say, why Amanda still dosn’t know about Birchwood after almost tree years working with Lee… It’s hardly on a ‘need-to-know-basis’…
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L&A it’s wonderful to see you stop by and say hi!
I am thinking it’s not easy to not jump ahead when the walk is soooo slow.. this must create frustrations? I’m sorry for this, and understand the urge to progress and talk about the bits we really want to discuss.. I wish we could go faster.. but RL doesn’t permit it sorry.
Your comments here relate to something we haven’t seen on the blog/in the episode yet – please try not to jump ahead.
Just think to yourself – whooooo iwsod is not wanting to be spoiled- don’t say what’s ahead 🙂 ..I’m blogging pretty blind these days… and this helps me to stay with the story as it unfolds..
I’d never want to reduce anyone’s enjoyment of the walk though – so if you want to discuss ahead – you can start a thread over at Nedlindger’s – please feel free 🙂 there is no limitation on what can be discussed there.. just pls label it as a spoiler thread so I don’t go in there and get spoiled lol..
We can explore your comment here when we get to it – maybe repost it in the thread related to the part of the ep covered so you’ll get responses and input etc..
bye! and thank you!
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Ooops…, so SORRY, Iwsod. I didn’t want to jump ahead but didn’t want to forget that thought either – sometimes it’s really a little dilemma here…. (blushing)
I try to improve, I promise. 🙂
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Thanks! 🙂 yeah I can see that would be tough! Is there a way others deal with this? anyone?
If I weren’t writing the walk I think I’d be jotting down notes of things I wanted to say when we got to such and such.. 🙂
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Yeah, I would blow a gasket if someone grabbed something out of my hands unless it was about to bite me or blow up.
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Ok, out of the box thinking: what if BB was supposed to hand that diary to KJ and that expression on his face is the realization that he messed up that bit of stage business while she just plunges on with the scene?
(You know, every so often when I’m lying awake at night thinking about every tiny nuance of this program, I suddenly find myself thinking about the William Shatner comedy skit where he tells a convention of Trekkies to get a life (http://www.criticalcommons.org/Members/howtowatchTV/clips/shatner-takes-on-star-trek-fans-on-snl/view). But then I come here or go to Ned’;s and forget all about it. 😀 )
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LOL.. that’s flippin hilarious 😉 I’m wondering what those of us who attended the smk anniversary think!!!
If we continue this discussion – can we maybe take it over to Nedlindger’s?? and share the link over there?
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Ok, out of the box thinking: what if BB was supposed to hand that diary to KJ and that expression on his face is the realization that he messed up that bit of stage business while she just plunges on with the scene?
I like that idea, Janet. 😀
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whooo interesting idea!!! But.. I am sometimes way too pragmatic.. I’m thinking Amanda had to grab it and read it out to Lee or she would not know what Birchwood is – and whatever it is.. it seems to be important and this is some kind of segue..
And we get in the cute little gag about whoever he was being deported 🙂
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Did you know your fern has scales? What the heck? Only Amanda could get away with a line like that. And just how does a fern get scales? (that is a hypothetical question btw).
Boy, Lee must really like Amanda…he just relinquishes control of his desk and his calendar. He seems annoyed at first, but then thinks better of it and lets Amanda take over. Interesting!
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loved your insights on Lee and control.. that says a lot.. this is after all Mr in control super agent.. 🙂
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Lee looks initially surprised and even ever so very briefly slightly annoyed to see Amanda there. I wonder why?
I would guess Amanda has been having a big ol’ clean up in the Q-Bureau given how neat everything is. I bet it wasn’t like that when she got there! 😉 Her comment about the fern also suggests to me that she’s been busy making sure all is in order in the Q-Bureau, and likely she has only just sat down to the chess set, which was probably scattered across the desk when she got there. Who’s been playing chess? Lee and ??? Billy? Francine? Leatherneck? Rag Mop? or some other unseen Agency colleague? Or, more intriguingly, has Lee been teaching Amanda to play chess? (After all, some would say t’s a much more intricate and rewarding game than backgammon 😉 )
Maybe that’s what that brief flash of annoyance was about – he’s not used to being tidied yet. I think he gets past it pretty quick as he has learned the benefits of having Amanda around far outweigh the minor annoyances, which aren’t really annoyances to him anymore. Perhaps it’s just the long-gone ghost of Lee’s free-wheeling, messy bachelorhood making a brief and hopefully last appearance.
I must admit I would be annoyed at Amanda grabbing the diary from me and hovering, and there was a time when Lee would have been too but this little snippet shows how much he has matured and the now happy familiarity of their partnership.
“Birchwood” also seems to mean something happy and familiar to Lee.
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Lee’s expression when he first opens the door seems strange to me, too. What was he expecting to see? Amanda’s his partner, so it’s not really weird that she’d be there. Unless he left the door locked, and it was unexpectedly open. But, if that was the case, you’d think he’d say something to Amanda about how she should lock the door to be safe.
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I figure he wasn’t expecting to see her in his chair. but.. not basing it on anything in particular lol..
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good theory about the clean up.. could be!
I don’t know why but I figured it was because he was suppose to be on the clock and gets back to find Amanda sitting at his desk. I don’t know why but I figure he seems to want to get into that seat pretty quickly.
whooo the chess set has created a whole bunch of possibilities!
I figured it was a game Lee and Amanda were playing that was ongoing. I figured they were playing it before Lee has his meeting with Billy, or maybe the night before – but given they don’t say hello or good morning it seemed they had already seen each other that day.
But.. your theory of Lee’s bye bye to his bachelorhood sounds much more interesting 🙂
Indeed Birchwood whatever it is brings Lee joy 🙂
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I was thinking that it was strange that Amanda was there at all, up to now we are used to hearing that Billy called her or that she was bringing in her expense vouchers or was needed for typing etc (or else we see Less ring her or drop by her house to ask her to come in). Perhaps Amanda has now an established day when she just comes into work regardless of the needs of the spy world. Maybe she spends these days tidying up but if so, why did she let the scales get on the fern? Especially as I would have thought she would have actually bought the fern in the first place. And why isn’t she tidying now instead of playing chess? Is this the dedicated Amanda we used to know so well? So your theory of them playing chess before Lee was summoned to Billy is a good working theory but still doesn’t totally work (for me anyway)- surely there was other things to do? Unless, Lee’s agency shrink recommends an hour or two of chess every morning to keep him focused and relaxed 🙂
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From the look on Amanda’s face, I’m guessing she’s not very familiar with chess, and is concentrating on learning.
What a random thing to have in the episode, though!
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Speaking of random, IS there a fish in that fishbowl??
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I’m . . . not sure. It doesn’t look like it at first, but there might be one in the later pictures . . . I think . . . maybe?
. . .
The fern has scales . . . O.o
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😀 😀
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I’ve gone through the screen grabs.. I think there is a fish in it, but it’s v hard to see.. down the bottom near the pebbles there.. but.. I wouldn’t stake my life on it either 😉
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My theory is that she is learning to play chess because that is what Russians play. Just like learning the language, knowing how to play chess can be a valuable asset for a spy. She’s probably got a handy little instruction book somewhere, we just didn’t get to see it. Amanda has a lot of initiative and spunk, so I can see her thinking this would be something worth her while.
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sounds good to me BJo! Plus, Amanda has a great memory.. that’s important in chess too no? I know that much about it 🙂 at least.. I think I do.. lol!
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or she’s concentrating intently..
true- very random! maybe it will relate to something in the ep?? I’ll look forward to finding out! 🙂
I do like the idea of Lee teaching Amanda chess 🙂
It all reminds me of that big whooooo haaaaa scene in the original Thomas Crown affair.. iwsod fans herself
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I really like the backgammon/ chess comparison 😉
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“Looks to me like Lee goes to put it on his desk, but instead Amanda reaches for it and takes it from him to look.. lol Lee doesn’t seem to mind! Such an old married couple thing to do!”
Lee doesn’t seem to mind, except for the impatient/ugh way he puts his hands up when Amanda grabs the book, and the accompanying short-lived impatient facial expression. (Just calling it like I see it; he obviously gets over it quickly, though.) In fact, I think that after the initial ugh factor he’s quite happy with the situation. 🙂
Definitely an “old married couple thing to do” and further evidence/highlighting of how far they’ve come. (Just think of the explosion from S1 Lee if Amanda had tried that back then…)
“That’s a dance lesson, I can skip that.”
Dance lesson? That’s got to be fanfic material… (in fact, I think I vaguely remember a dance lesson fanfic? shrug I’m lucky to remember my name right now, so maybe I made it up…)
“That’s the future, Amanda…”
squee Enough said.
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There is indeed: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11386528/1/Dance-Lessons-at-the-Polish-Embassy and by one of my favourite authors to boot.
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thanks Janet – head over to Nedlindger’s forum to discuss it please- thanks! LOL maybe you already have.. lol..
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Yes ma’am. Not discussing here. just pointing. 😀
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beautiful 🙂
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I can’t understand why Lee would need a dance lesson. Isn’t he an expert already? Presumably the dance lesson was a cover for something else so why is he skipping it…OK, I think I’m stepping into a mini-plot hole and I should stand back from the edge 🙂
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To be fair, the bigger plot hole just to the left of that one is why he drops working on a possible major gas attack to go visit elderly “relatives” who would actually understand why he dropped their visit!
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Good point on the plot hole… but we don’t know who Lee is visiting yet. Just “Birchwood”. Could be a forest. The healthy future of the planet depends on forests – that’s important enough not to miss – and a well forested planet is integral to our future and ongoing enjoyment of the planet… if we’re lucky. 😉
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Hold that thought! 🙂
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Yes, I thought so too. He seemed to be in no hurry to carry out Billy’s commands (regardless of what Birchwood is)-
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Lee seemed keen to get on with his job and clear his calendar for the day.. until Amanda brought up mysterious Birchwood.. ohhhhh Birchwood.. and Lee drifted into visions of a tranquil future there with Amanda 🙂
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LOL I figured it was just some networking opportunity.. show up at Polish embassy.. and if anyone wants to leak you some information you’ve made it easy 😉 Maybe it was a cover thing.. what a shame we didn’t see Lee and Amanda playing that cover together!
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Is “dance lesson” agency code for some low level schmoozing and/or snooping?
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It’s all good KC, I saw that too.. I just didn’t note it.. Yep! I agree.. after the intial ugh he’s fine with it 🙂
yeah we all love to think of Lee dancing!
rofl. love the squeee!
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Well, this is all very marital – the fern; the diary. It might be me trying to remind Mr Jet of his appointments….except Mr Jet isn’t Lee.
What fascinates me most about this scene are the two enormous books on Lee’s desk. What are they? KC??? KC ?? Come in and help me out here. One is “…on War” and can’t read theh other one.
We had a fridge just like this one (with those strange handles) in my digs in the mid-90s. It was a bit useless.
Who is Amanda playing chess with?? Herself?
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Sadly I actually recognize the books because my Dad was a military historian and these were front and centre in his office too! They are Chandler’s “The Campaigns of Napoleon” and Von Clausewitz’ “On War”. (Okay, I had to look up the Von Clausewitz part because it’s not a name that sticks easily in the brain but I had to read parts of Chandler for uni. This apple didn’t fall far from the tree 🙂 )
I was more confused that the titles are facing our though. Good for prop placement but weird if you’re planning to use them while working at the only desk in the room 🙂
So Lee is studying campaigns? Part of being a spy or part of his master plan to conquer Amanda – LOL
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Thanks, Janet. Unusual reading material for Lee. I would have though he’d have been impatient with that type of reading and more a “do it” type of man. But “strategy” seems to be the theme here, given the mysterious presence of the chess set….
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Not as unusual as you’d think. Growing up with one historian meant meeting a lot of men with similar interests and you would not believe the variety of guy you meet on aa American Civil War tour, for instance. With his military background of his childhood, combined with the fact he would have been the correct age for Vietnam service actually makes Lee incredibly typical for guys who read this stuff. And as KC points out, we already had the Stalin biography show up as bedtime reading. Not that I was paying attention to much else except the shorty-short robe in that scene.
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Wasn’t he reading a book on Stalin or Lenin or something like that in Remebrance of things past? I think he likes history/ war/ politics etc.
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Strategy huh.. interesting! I hadn’t thought of that.. maybe – we’ll see if this plays out in some way in the episode maybe..
it is a bit random.. I thought maybe they were trying to show that Lee had really settled into the Q bureau, and from the looks of it, so had Amanda 🙂
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“So Lee is studying campaigns? Part of being a spy or part of his master plan to conquer Amanda – LOL”
I like the way your mind works — it’s part of his plan to conquer Amanda — but he was reading a book on Stalin back in S1 (ROTP)… in the evening… dressed in his PJs… I think it might be a hobby. Or “required reading” for spy, ahem, intelligence agent. I don’t think he was thinking of conquering Amanda back then — or not in the same way, anyway. 😀
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Or perhaps he was “stalin for time” even back then. 😀
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ROFL. 😀 Very clever Janet H!
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whahahahaahaa!!! Oh that is terrible Janet! 😉 Terribly good 🙂
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Yeah I thought of Stalin too.. for me Lee reading history, policitics, strategy type books fits well. as KC says – I see it as required reading for a spy 😉
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I assume political history, conflict history, political science, and similar subjects would be requisite knowledge for an intelligence operative.
Lee probably has a liking for this subject matter anyway and I guess a smart agent keeps on reading and learning no matter how experienced they are.
I like reading history, although it sometimes baffles and depresses me that the worst kind of history just keeps repeating in real life.
It doesn’t really baffle me to tell you the truth – humans (or at least the humans with power) just never seem to truly get that old adage that those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.
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Beautifully put Kiwismh!
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Yep, the chess game confuses me as well.
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Chess is about strategy, too. Maybe Amanda was borrowing Lee’s books and applying strategies from each of them to see which book provided the winning strategy? shrug
Orrrrrr… Lee’s teaching Amanda chess and they’re taking turns and Amanda (white) just made her move –> it’s Lee’s turn (black) next whenever he has time (around his apparently busy calendar). Is it just me, or is that reflective of the growth of their relationship — baby steps, each in turn? (But that also means that Amanda’s her own white knight instead of Lee being her white knight. I guess at this stage, he’s her black knight. LOL!)
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… baby steps, each in turn… and part of a chess game, with strategy, and reactions based on the other’s moves (actions).
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…the game of love 😀 and the Game (of spying)
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Well, and like all else, Amanda’s proven with the opportunity, to be a fast learner and someone who pays attention to detail. Maybe she’s picked the game up and he’s losing? I’m not a chess pro, but I don’t see the black queen on the board, she could have already taken his. Sort of looks like more white pieces than black ones. It might just be the angle?
Also like what KC and learjet say. Definitely setting the stage for Lee and Amanda taking ‘steps.’
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Yeah I’m not a major chess fan myself.. so I’m no help sorry..
I’m interested in a potential subtext though – backgammon is for flings.. chess is for life? 😉
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In the context of the order that I put the past episodes in, I like to think that this is the episode where Amanda has decided to let herself fall for Lee. So maybe the chess game and our first sight of Amanda is as she is making a move lets us know that Amanda is trying to let Lee know that she is fully engaged in what is going on between them? Maybe? I am reaching, because the chess board seems so random that there has to be meaning in it.
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Interesting!! I haven’t made up my mind yet.. I think this is either going to strike me in one moment.. or it’s something I’ll only be able to come to a firm view on by looking back on these season 3 eps as a whole.. that and deciding on an episode order.
Is there a moment in this ep where you can see Amanda has decided to let herself fall for Lee? If there is – can you point it out when we get there?
It’s always tough at the start of an episode to not jump ahead.. at least it gets easier as the episode progresses!
Not remembering what’s going on makes it easier!
It’s amazing how much I’ve forgotten since 2007.. I’m pretty sure that’s the last time I saw this ep..
Byeeee!
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Actually, I kind of see some of Amanda’s behavior in their first scene together as a new openness on her part. In the previous episodes, no matter what order you put them in, she seems a bit more reserved with Lee, suspicious even of his motives. But here she is eager to be close to him, to be hands on with him, his fern, his desk, his daily planner. It isn’t obvious, but I see the smallest change in her and I think it is as a result of that last phone call in PFK. At least that is how I think it played out. Otherwise I am not sure what I think of her initial behavior in the Q, If I don’t see it that way, I would view it as annoying. But if I see it as her sending a reciprocating message to Lee then both of their actions make more sense and it kind of gives me warm fuzzies because they seem like they are finally on the same page.
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rofl.. glad to hear you know the difference between Lee and Mr Jet! 🙂 tee hee..
I think the enormous books are books he would read.. but I’m going with the theory that they are there as a warning to anyone who comes to the Q bureau to consult.. Lee knows his stuff – so don’t mess with him!
Or heck.. maybe Lee is trying to demonstrate that his code name was chosen completely at random and that his intellect did not inform it’s selection at all! 🙂
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I agree, I thought that the books (and the chess set) were to show that Lee had brains as well as brawn and beauty.
Its a bit random really, the books are fine but who has time to play chess at work? Seriously?
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Actually, I am thinking there may be something to these ideas about Lee, Iwsod. There is something significant about the big, weighty books and the amount of knowledge thta Lee must have acquired to do this job, and I think it may play a part here… but can’t discuss it for a while. Can someone remind me of this when we get further into this episode?
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I’ll try! I know the feeling!
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Thanks 😉
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