Back to IFF, and it looks like it’s that same night.
Billy, Lee and Amanda are watching footage of the meet..
Billy: Square one, Dr Towne buys Chinese food. Now is that in character…
Amanda—
Amanda: Yes, Sir.
Billy: When you interviewed Dr Towne and his wife you said that they were eating Chinese food.
Amanda: Yes, Sir.
Billy: Lee, when you interviewed the restaurant owner he told you that Dr Towne and his wife came there all the time.
Lee: All the time – that’s correct.
[Hmm interesting body language from Lee here.. trying to appear casual… ?]
Billy: Square two. Square three—
[It seems to be Lee’s turn to speak.. he moves over to Amanda and sits in the chair next to her. Whooo there are two other agents sitting to one side also. Have we seen them before?]
Lee: Okay, square three. I spotted Edgar, the Soviet’s number five guy in town… [why does that crack me up?!] …salting away a pret-ty heavy pay envelope inside the Daily Ledger…
[Interesting. I saw the $ but no envelope. maybe Lee is using it as a figure of speech]
(they all watch the events on the monitor)
…Now here’s Towne – there he is passing the container to Edgar—
Billy: Amanda, does Dr Towne have the paper delivered to his home?
Amanda: Well, yes Sir, actually he has two daily newspapers delivered, three weekly news magazines and four professional journals.
[Gee.. at this point Amanda has to be wondering just what’s going on! Did she misjudge Will?]
Billy: Well if that’s a drop… (Billy looks at Lee and then back to Amanda) … it’s an awfully messy one. No, Dr Towne is not a pro.
Lee: But just what is he?
[Interesting that Lee doesn’t look at Amanda here.. Just Billy. Amanda is the person who has actually met the guy and researched him. And Lee knows this because he was reading her report]
Amanda responds IMHO assertively: He’s a Fellow at Georgetown,..
…a full Professor with a PhD in Theoretical Mathematics…
…and he seems to be a really nice man,..
…and as the agent of record—
[Billy is seen to be listening closely to Amanda’s opinion here but… Lee interrupts..
Billy is seen giving a bit of a scowl at this interruption.]
Lee: Amanda,…
…“agent of record” is really stretching it.
(Lee chuckles)
[okay who here wants to give Lee a good slap? iwsod raises her hand.. that cactus from earlier was very well placed.. ahem.. ]
Amanda seems to be battling to maintain her control of here.
Amanda: It is my— my assignment, I’m the agent—
Lee: -Under my supervision. [Lee interrupts Amanda again. Oh dear.. oh dear.. this is not good!!!]
Amanda: I’m still the agent of record, that makes me the agent of record—
(They talk at the same time here as again Lee interrupts Amanda.. but this time she is not stopping talking!) 
Lee: Listen – Amanda listen to me—
Billy: All right, all right, all right.
[Billy has to raise his voice here to be heard. Finally they hear him.. and Amanda turns back to Billy]
Amanda: Yes, Sir.
Billy: Now the most important question here is why does this man who passes secrets to the enemy walk around with an A1 Security Clearance?
Amanda: Sir, I did the background, I conducted the interview…I fed the facts into the computer and the computer came out with A1. Now I stand by that assessment.
[Amanda is assertive here… and she holds her own. Go Amanda. this is such a tough, new situation for her to be in. She’s my hero 
She remains calm and professional. In spite of Lee’s IMHO belittling her.
Billy responds.. seeming to take what Amanda is saying on board and thinking it fair. ]
Knock at the door,
Billy: Come in…
…Ah Tagart, maybe you can help settle this. What does the lab have for us?
Tagart: Well, first off the message in that take-out must be some kind of theoretical mathematics formula.
Amanda is seen to give Lee a look. she’s not happy.. Poor Amanda!
Billy: Well, that should be right up Dr Towne’s alley.
Tagart: I also took an electron microscope look-see at a tiny little fibre we found on the paper… (Billy is seen yawning)
… As you can see, it’s McCormack three-eighty-nine, triple twist, 75% wool. Commercially sold as Angel Cloud Plush.
[whooo hooo!!! welcome to SMK CSI!]
Amanda: Expensive.
Oh my.. there’s a quick view of Lee watching Amanda here and reacting.
He’s not impressed.. 
IMHO he seems to be dismissing any of her input right now. Not a happy camper [Hey happy camper!]
Tagart: I’ve saved the best for last. Now this is a blow-up of the watermark on that paper….
[Tagart hands it to Lee for a closer look. He looks and hands it back. He seems pretty cynical right now about everything. what is his problem?!]
…Now it’s a Hardcroft flat block, pressed bond, custom letterhead paper. I’ll make a list of the local customers by morning.
Taggart reveals some kind of formula on his print out.
Lee: Don’t tell me, that’s the formula for the Stealth Bomber paint, hmm?
Lee seems to be antagonising Tagart too..
Tagart: No. It’s the chemical break-down of the contents of the container. Moo goo gai pan. 
Amanda & Billy: Thank you.
Hmm no thank you from Lee! Tagart goes to leave..
Billy: I know tomorrow’s Sunday but, uh, as soon as Tagart gets that list together, I want the both of you to check it out –
Lee looks at Amanda..
Amanda looks at Lee.. she’s pretty guarded.. IMHO She’s not happy with Lee – I can’t wait to hear what you guys see going on here!!!
… see if anybody knows our math professor.
Amanda looks a little regretful?
Lee: You know if the Soviets do want to trade for one of our agents, this Towne may be the bargaining chip that we need.
[ohhhh! And how gosh darn convenient! 😉 Interesting that Billy doesn’t acknowledge the point Lee makes here. He seems to be shutting Lee down. I don’t know if it’s just me seeing what I want to see. but I feel Billy is not impressed with Lee’s conduct here either.
Aside from how he disrespected Amanda, Lee is jumping to a conclusion that isn’t confirmed.. and is still being investigated.. and frankly, needing someone to swap for the mystery agent currently being held shouldn’t even factor into things. It’s like Lee has decided Towne is dirty partly because they need an agent to swap… The two issues should not be connected so early.]
Billy: All right, that’s it. Goodnight, and thank you.
Amanda: Yes, Sir. Goodnight Sir.
Billy: Goodnight Amanda.
Amanda gets up and heads for the door. I can see an arm next to her there as she leaves.. but the colour is too dark for it to be Lee. Possibly one of those other agents.
Things are not happy between Lee and Amanda – Amanda is actually walking out of Billy’s office to go without a goodbye to Lee or even a glance. And she’s certainly not waiting around for more of the same.
I’m guessing she’s going home to review her work on Towne.. and to get some control over her strong emotions and try and work through managing Lee’s poor behaviour here. I’m guessing Amanda will show up the next day having decided to forgive Lee and determined to put it behind her. [Doesn’t mean she’ll be able to! ] thoughts?
You know, it’s late at night, everyone is tired.. and I think Lee was already in a foul mood because he screwed up the meet – it was Lee’s operation and he blew it. He could have captured Edgar.. that would have given them someone to trade no? [okay even if he is their fifth guy.. whahahahaaha]. I put Lee’s poor behaviour down to his stuffing up the job earlier.. and letting Edgar get away.. He’s smarting.
But.. it also seems that when he said earlier that Billy was humouring Amanda with this assignment – Lee was projecting.. it’s actually Lee who is humouring her with this assignment. Billy seemed interested in Amanda’s input and was not at all dismissive of what she had to say. Billy gave Amanda the job because he knows she can do it – and he didn’t challenge her being the ‘agent of record’. Ouch that was not one of Lee’s finest moments.. that must have really hurt Amanda. But.. on the upside I am guessing Lee did not intend to and does not realise the impact of his words.
Kudos to Amanda, who rose above it, expressed herself well and got her point across… all while Lee was actually laughing at her as she tried to conduct herself as a professional. I know what rating I’d be giving him now!! 😉
Call me crazy, but after their conversation in the Triumvirate, where they talked about the cost of being in this type of work, having explored with you all the significance of that conversation, and the sacrifices Amanda is making, and the desire to make the world a better place? I find it even harder to listen to Lee downgrading and diminishing her work.
Under his supervision???!!! Purlease.. Lee is quick to dismiss any of the information Amanda has gathered, when earlier he was saying it was good work. All IMHO because he has decided Towne is dirty. Okay- seeing Towne take that money would raise questions. Fair enough. But Amanda’s work is valid and important information which should be factored into things. Billy gets this (hooray for Billy) – but Lee seems to have a cactus spike up his tuckus.. ahem..
Things have been left between Amanda and Lee, pretty up in the air here.. so much simmering emotion going on here between them… I can’t wait to see what happens next!!!! Uh oh.. Iwsod is rambling.. time to turn things over to you guys – I cannot wait to hear what you guys think!!!! Do tell!!
"Just walk with me.." 
Another reason this one should have been earlier in the season I thought. It seems weird to see this after how close they were on the last ep and them how close they are on the next few eps. Although I have to admit that I was Team Lee when it came to Towne for most od the ep based on what we were seeing as an audience.
As an aside, could have done without Taggert. The actor plays a really annoying recurring dunderhead in Hart To Hart whose function was similar to this scene — bringing info and stats — so it was really hard to mentally separate the two characters.
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Ok, on this one I will react first and then read everyone else’s comments.
I do think Billy is listening to Amanda as the Agent of record, even if it under Lee’s supervision. But I think Lee is operating under a spirit of control, and that isn’t self control. As much as he has grown and even fallen in love with Amanda, he is still self protective and it would be really helpful to him if Amanda would just stay in that box that he has for her. Just stay the civilian trainee that he fell in love with. But I also think he loves the way she is growing in her job he is conflicted and it makes him ornery. Add to the fact that her growth in this case is challenging his professional opinion and, Oh boy, sparks are going to fly…
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I just had a random thought.. given Amanda is watching the footage of the drop – she would have seen Edgar the number 5 Russian baddie.. lol.. and she should have been able to recognise him as the real estate agent that she waved to right across the street from William Towne’s house no?
But.. she doesn’t..
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Excellent point. Maybe she was just being polite when she waved and not taking particular note of who she was waving at – which of course would be very un-Amanda-like.
I think you have just revealed a continuity whoopsie, Iwsod.
Or maybe she has just temporarily forgotten and remembers later in the episode. It’s been a while since I saw this episode, so I’m hoping it all makes sense in the end.
Yes, I know, this is SMK, I should know better than to expect sensible, well crafted plots… 😀
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I’m not sure that Amanda actually sees Edgar’s face in this footage. On the screen you see Edgar’s and Towne’s feet as they drop and pick up the package. And in the previous post we see the back of Edgar. Besides that TV screen is awfully small to see much of anything. I’m also going to say that Amanda must be so focused on what the situation with Towne may be that she is not really focused on anyone else. She sees this as her case and is anxious to show that Towne is innocent.
Knowing Amanda’s character, I don’t think she would have given a casual wave as she was leaving Towne’s house. She’s not that kind of person. I think Gregory knows this as he turns so as not to be recognized. I guess I’m trying to explain away what might be another one of those continuity issues. I often wonder just how much more awesome this show would have been if there were no continuity or plot hole issues. I’m not sure we’d recover from all the additional swooning that might take place
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This behavior seems typical for Lee of when Amanda is given an assignment of her own, but he usually comes around and rallies behind her in the end. Hopefully he does in this ep. I think change is hard for Lee and Amanda is growing in her job and can be more independent. I’m sure that’s hard for Lee. Billy is truly the one who is Amanda’s cheerleader 😀 Amanda is always classy and she is no different here…will Lee and Amanda be able to make-up…I’m sure that was purposeful, to keep us guessing at their relationship 😉
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Yep, I’ll agree that there’s a change taking place. Maybe that’s all it is for Lee. But to throw this question out there, hasn’t Lee dated or been involved with independent women in the past? Dorothy? Leslie? Eva? Even Francine (although it’s debatable whether they dated). They all seem independent to me. What makes Amanda so different?
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He has always tried to protect Amanda, that could be a factor. I think too that she sees the good in people, so with Towne now looking shady, this may come to Lee’s mind. I would also guess that while this season has shown Lee growing in his trust of Amanda in the job and with his personal life (i.e. his heart), I also think that the writers are wanting us, the audience, to stay guessing because main characters getting together can also be the end of a show.
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He has dated independent women but I don’t think he has fallen in love with them and I think that may be making him more vulnerable. Plus none of those women were his charge in a sense. I think that may be part of the difference here.
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spot on Melissa! 🙂
You may be right, and I may eventually agree with you on this Melissa.. for now though, I am still getting my head around exactly what’s Lee’s problem here! lol.. I’m not ahead with writing blog posts so am pretty much righting them as I post them. lol so they are very very in the moment!
I’m thinking Lee has confidence in Amanda.. he does trust her.. he does know she has good instincts.. sooooo then what’s the difference here?
I may change my mind on this, but I wonder if what is going on here is about the Role Lee views Amanda in – in terms of her work.
It makes sense that eventually Lee will need to revise that role he has assigned her. He’s probably done it a few times throughout the story.. which we could explore.. in more detail (or I would if I flippin had more time. booo)..
Amanda started off a complete novice.. and she’s progressed slowly but surely.. I think leading up to this episode, Lee views her as his partner – he trusts her, values her – heck.. in the tag of the last episode it was all about how she helps him the most!
But.. it was all about Amanda and what she contributes to his work.
Lee has assigned Amanda a role which is (rightly) less senior than his.. Lee is the leader, Amanda is the trainee.. He is the supervisor.
Soooo Amanda is not the Agent of Record!
And the ideas some of you guys have mentioned about how the tag of the last ep seeing Amanda have a higher rank than Lee – has had flow on effects here – well this could be spot on!
over those 5 days Amanda outranked Lee.. but the context was informal and away from the agency..
Now they are back at the agency, Amanda is gaining rank and responsibility, and is no longer just a trainee and Lee is her superior supervisor. That was a dynamic Lee was pretty comfortable with – and I’ve always felt Lee enjoyed seeing Amanda grown and learn and he respected her as a strong woman.. but.. this new situation sees Lee IMHO having to adjust the role he sees Amanda in at work..
So, as he is still seeing her as a trainee – he undervalues her contribution, thinks Billy was humouring her with this assignment that isn’t really an assignment (renegade arithmetic teachers?! ha!).. so when the maths dude is seen to not be who Amanda assessed him to be.. Lee falls for it hook line and sinker. Poor Lee.. this is going to be tough on his ego when he finds out!
But.. it’s time Lee adjusted the role he views Amanda as filling through her work at the agency. She is not just the civilian who helps Lee sort out his receipts and does his typing.. she’s now soooo much more – and I’m seeing that in this ep Lee is going to need to bring all this together to form a new view of Amanda – and the role she undertakes at the agency..
I’ve also always thought the work had to get sorted before the romantic did.. whooo hoooo!!!
I’m enjoying this episode!!!!
Sorry everyone I don’t get to stop by half as much as I would like. RL pressures.. I miss being able to interact more – but I think for now I would miss if the walk had to stop or slow down.. so for now, I’m putting the little smk time I get into writing blog posts.. rather than commenting.
I am loving reading all your comments on the bus or while I’m rushing around.. lol.. it’s a highlight of my day!
Bye for now guys! 🙂
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This is what I was thinking but didn’t do as good a job as you in saying it.
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Ohhh we agree already?! 🙂 tee hee..
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You know, Lee says that Amanda was under his supervision, but what exactly did he supervise? Other than throw out a few snarky comments about Billy humoring her, a renegade math teacher, and glance over her report he didn’t supervise much. He even told her he didn’t have time to really discuss it with her as he was doing his own work. Maybe Lee is not only smarting from that debacle at the drop, maybe he’s thinking he missed something in looking at Amanda’s report and should have gone over it more thoroughly.
If Edgar is number five then who is number one? Gregory? I keep thinking of him hammering that sign in crookedly. One wonders what the ones are like between one and five.
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Good point, Valerie. I can only link this to his comment in the previous post or 2 where he said he’ll get back to her when he has more time after she describes what she’s done. I suspect that he’s just a name on a form as the “supervisor” of the trainee agent. But yes, maybe he’s feeling a bit guilty because he hasn’t been doing his supervising job properly so that’s why he’s so defensive and grouchy.
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Funny how that cactus sort of fits into the story here. Rather than trust Amanda’s instincts, he assumes he needs to take his ‘seat’ as the supervising agent. He forgets to look first, and that seat is clearly ‘not available.’ The lack of trust is certainly a matter of Lee being too fragmented.
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So Lee is in love. His work colleague is the person he is falling in love with. This colleague has been his helper, underling, subordinate, and strongest support system (i.e. ego-stroker) for years but is now trying to step out on her own. She asserts this independence by calling herself the agent on record. And she has recently given a very positive review of the man who has just made Lee look bad. And she is standing by that review!! This after she rearranged his office (resulting in quite possibly lingering bodily harm). And finally it is late. This reminds me of the children’s story about the boy who has a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad day! Lee is angry and confused and frustrated and tired and totally behaving badly, right down to the beligerent body language. (Good job, BB, KJ too!) As I recall, the young child in the book handled it better!
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Just wanted to add that this conflict scene feels especially realistic to me.
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This is a really good explanation.
I really don’t like that finger pointing that Lee does, which is really rude and arrogant. It’s like he’s trying to shut Amanda down.
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whoooo can I just say I love love love this Raffie!!! 🙂
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Lee is a prize jerk in this scene. Like a sulky boy who is jealous. I think it all comes down to the fact that he’s jealous that Amanda has got to the point of being an “agent of record” and he can’t cope with the fact that she is fulfilling the role of a “proper” agent here. He’s acting a bit like Francine in her less attractive moments!!
I agree with Iwsod about the time of day being an issue. I remember going on a course where they said you should never have an important discussion or argument with your partner (in that case spouse) after 10 at night because no-one makes sense or listens to reason, and you both say things you later regret. And it’s happened to us time and time again. I realise the next morning that “points” that make so much sense to me and seem vitally important at 11pm at night were in fact silly, irrational and petty. I do think this partly explains of Lee’s behaviour. Plus he realises how bad he looks in that non-semble and needs to go home to get out of those cactus-invaded pants and plastic jacket 😉
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To add though – when I’ve watched this before, I’ve thought both Lee and Amanda were behaving badly. I see clearly that this is all Lee. Amanda is IMHO entirely blameless here.
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Amanda looks unreasonable here at first because she’s agitated and arguing, but she has reason to be. She did all the work, and Lee is implying that she’s not qualified to speak about her work.
It’s like I saw on the list of Shower Thoughts: “If you’re accused of being argumentative and defensive, it’s impossible to debate it.”
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Also, there’s a man’s life and reputation at stake here. Amanda’s convinced that he’s an innocent man somehow being framed, but Lee’s ready to throw him to the wolves without a second thought.
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Loooove this Jestress!!
Booo to Lee!
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I didn’t see any unreasonableness in Amanda here.. but that’s just my own experience of this scene..
Amanda’s my hero 🙂
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Whooo this is interesting!
I’d add when emotions are high also…
Forgiveness is IMHO compulsory for ongoing relationships!
I look forward to seeing how this all plays out between Lee and Amanda!
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I agree – Lee’s behavior here is pretty immature. He has been dismissive from the start and now wants to jump to conclusions. He is placing no value on all the hard, good, and thorough work Amanda has done. If I were here I’d be very upset too. He’s essentially not backing her up in front of the big boss. What’s a bit ironic is that if Lee had been tasked with this assignment, he’d have done a half-baked job and not looked at all the details probably. At least not to the degree Amanda did. This is her first assignment as Agent of Record and she wants to do a great job and is doing her best to achieve that. Lee you need a slap! What is wrong with you?
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Okay, I’ve been pondering that 5 days off (The Eyes Have It, with Amanda being assigned to him) and their interactions in this episode.
The previous scenes between Lee and Amanda in this episode look like harmless banter. This scene is different. Assuming a narrow gap in time between those five days and this episode, I wonder if that five days created a little added friction for Lee (and not necessarily the bad type of friction). Maybe Lee is still figuring out how to deal with his feelings/growing attraction to her while at work…? (Or am I not giving the cactus enough credit?)
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I was wondering that myself. It seemed like such a step back, and I think he doesn’t know quite how to deal with this new “relationship” and unfortunately falls back on some childish behavior. And yes, iwsod, he did sound like he needed a good slap! (but then of course a kiss to make it better 🙂 )
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I wondered if a little bit of Lee’s attitude was also due to Billy giving Amanda a temporary status above him while he was recuperating not so long ago. Aside from being a cactus butt because his little mission on “the drop” went pear shaped and made him look a bit incompetent, and also being a little bemused earlier by Amanda’s enthusiasm for what he might consider low-level busy work, somewhere in there he’s probably trying to re-assert his professional dominance.
His embarrassment at the botched drop operation has turned that bemusement into irritation.
Typical male.
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Cactus Butt? whahahahaaa!!!!!
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I like Billy here. He’s the voice of reason, asking valid questions, and then breaking things up so that he can consider the situation without interruption from the others’ arguments. Maybe Amanda made a mistake with her assessment (he doesn’t criticize her because he knows it happens) and maybe she didn’t (he can’t be sure yet). He wants to make up his own mind and not have Lee or anyone else make it up for him. 🙂
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Yup – Billy is doing his job well. He does not let the emotional sparks in the room ignite a fire in him. No wonder he’s the big boss. And I think he can see a lot of value in Amanda’s thorough work. He knows Amanda is smart and capable, otherwise she wouldn’t have been given this assignment as Agent of Record.
Uh wait though…doesn’t she still have just a guest pass??? 😉
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Maybe Lee still has some cactus spines up his butt and that is why he is such a cranky pants.
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I said he should have gotten rid of those pants!
(And, yes, replaced them with others. 😉 )
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I think you’ve got to the “root” of Lee’s behaviour here 😉
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