So Lee and Amanda are off to find out if Towne is an American citizen… 
I see they’re sharing a car again.. whoooo seems the Russians gave back Lee’s car and are holding on to Amanda’s 
We see an exterior.. have we seen this one before? It looks familiar…oh well whatev.
Amanda: Awful lot of people born in 1948.
Lee: Well, that’s why they call it—
Amanda: A baby boom.
Lee: Right. Just keep looking. If he was born here there’s got to be a record of it.
Amanda: Mmhhh…
(Amanda is focused on her search)
…Oh I got it, William Allen Towne, born 11.28am June 22nd 1948, St Johns.
So Amanda has proven William Towne is an American.. no gloating.. kind of Amanda! but then she never cared about being right, she cares about William Towne because she thinks he’s innocent and she’s responsible for him as agent of record.
Lee doesn’t say anything.. but keeps on checking his book there.. Umm if they just found his birth record why is Lee still checking his book?
[It’s almost like he knows he’ll find something ]
Lee: Oh no.
Lee stops his checking.. [oh no? more proof William Towne is legit?]
Amanda: What’s the matter?
Lee: No.
Amanda: What’s the matter?
Lee: I just found something I don’t think we were looking for.
Amanda: What is it? Let me see…
(We see a close up of the book entry as Amanda reads…)
…William Towne, died 9.25pm, August 19, 1950.
[oh my.. Lee was regretful to have found this evidence against Towne? It wasn’t what ‘we’ were looking for? Lee seems here to no longer be working against Amanda – very glad to see that he has calmed down and gotten some control over that ego!
So Lee has proven William Towne is not an American..-or at least an alive one and…again.. no gloating..]
Lee: That’s right. The oldest trick in the book…
[Literally!! It is in a book.. soooo is this a trick?!]
…Assume the name of a dead infant, take an ID… [though in this case it’s a dead toddler.. lol.. maybe this is a red flag?!]
…and no one usually checks…
[Lee did though! For some random unknown reason! lol]
…I’m sorry Amanda,..
[Lee is sorry??? oh my… ]
(Lee closes the book)
[Good one.. Lee thinks the book is closed on Will Towne’s innocence.. and I guess at this point the audience is thinking Amanda has been conned brilliantly.]
…but Will Towne is not who he says he is.
Or the records have been tampered with…ahem…
I suppose again, Lee is looking at one piece of evidence and making a judgment call – when he should be looking at the evidence as a whole. It is pretty convincing though.
The book does look pretty darn old and very legit. 
So did you take a good close look at the book? It’s screaming that it’s not for real haaaa.. Because it is full of the names of smk crew members- and they all died in 1950 whoooooo
A little macabre to put names of crew members on a death list no?!
Here’s a few I recognise.. the rest I’m not sure of..
George Geiger
Ronald G. Smith
Steven Tramz
Robert J. Gilmer
Kevin Corcoran
Michael Diersing
Ahhh smk.. it’s like they knew we’d go looking one day whooooo! Anyone know of any of the women?!
Beverley Hadley is a props master on the show.. maybe Susan is her middle name? who knows..
If you’re interested crew are listed here on IMDB..
I think Michael B.Smidt may have been annoyed to not get his turn Or.. maybe he was on the births list but we just didn’t get to see it!
Getting back to the episode.. rather than focusing on minutia – I enjoyed that Amanda didn’t gloat when she found evidence of Towne’s innocence.. and Lee also didn’t gloat when he found evidence that Towne was guilty 
this is a positive development! Things were looking pretty dangerous back in Billy’s office.
Moving on.. 
The birds are chirping in suburbia.. and we join Gregory and Billy having a meeting at that for sale place opposite Towne’s mansion! Does Billy know that is opposite where Towne lives? and that the KGB are parked right opposite?!
Gregory: Hardwood floors, central air, gas fireplace. It’s an excellent place to entertain. [lol Gregory is really selling his ‘cover’- Kiwismh, what do you make 0f Gregory the real estate sales agent?!]
This staircase looks a lot like the foyer of IFF where Mrs Marsden hangs out..
and the top of the stairs is where the Q bureau is.. It could be the same set..
Billy: Who are we entertaining here? 
LOL poor Billy.. he needs to climb one of those ladders, he’s looking so short next to Gregory!
Gregory: You asked for the meeting Billy.
Billy: Cut the bull Gregory. No games, no codes. We want to make a trade. [But Billy the bull is kind of fun! And Gregory is quite good at it! 😉 ]
Gregory: The price is high.
Billy: It usually is – a spy for a spy.
Gregory: Ours for yours? We could explore that but I must tell you that our property is of the very highest value.
Billy: Do I have to take that on faith?
Gregory: I can do better than that. Look behind you.
(Billy finds an envelope behind him.. and opens it..
We see a close up of Francine and the newspaper)
[Billy does a great job of hiding the true extent of his reaction from Gregory here.. what a pro.. Lee would not have been able to act so cool me thinks!]
…Would you care to make an offer? I’d like to make the arrangements with the escrow company.
Gregory is trying to rush for a deal.. smooth..
Interesting that Gregory doesn’t name the hostage – it’s assumed that seeing the image alone will be adequate. But how does Gregory know that? and.. by not asking the agent’s name has Billy given away that Francine is well known to him?
Billy: Let me do some inventory. We’ll meet your price. Oh, I want this conducted under Potsdam Regulations.
Wise Billy… he takes the time to think.. and hasn’t jumped to the convenient conclusion that Towne is a Russian spy.
Gregory: Shall we say, noon tomorrow? The C&O Tunnel on the way to Harpers Ferry?
Billy: You got a deal.
[You got a deal..but.. I don’t know who I will trade yet?! Doesn’t sound like they have a deal!]
Gregory: I certainly hope so. 
Billy leaves.. Cue the scheming chimes… Gregory’s Operation Slide rule is progressing!!! whooooooo!!!
How are you finding this ep so far everyone? any thoughts you’d like to share? Was the scene with the birth/death records filmed as it was in the script? I can’t believe they didn’t just ask TP byeeee!
"Just walk with me.." 
I think what Lee means is it’s the oldest identity theft trick. I have seen it in other fiction (the Mark Harmon movie Fourth Story comes to mind) and I could see the Agency running across it multiple times.
I do feel like we missed a scene and wish we could have gotten to see them make up.
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That does look like the Agency foyer, but I don’t think it is. The Agency stairs behind Mrs. Marsden’s desk are a full flight. The ones here look like a 2/3 flight and then they make a 90 degree turn to the right to continue up. In TTOTDW, Crawford (as Harry V.) jumps over the bannister – I don’t think it’s this same one.
As far as Lee being sorry about finding out about Towne’s death – I think it is genuine. I think now that he’s had a chance to calm down and let his emotions settle, he really does want Amanda to be right – he wants her to be successful professionally. Finding a record of Towne’s death says to him that she is wrong and he is right. I think these two must have had a little chat before this scene.
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I do like how Lee and Amanda seem to have made nice on they way to these archives or whatever they are. They both seem much calmer and back to working together. I like how they are sitting side by side, on the same side of the desk.
The camera angle doesn’t seem to really help with the height issue.
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Why is it just hitting me that James Cromwell (Gregory) has also been a part of the Star Trek universe? He’s been in so much I completely forgot about it. He played Zefrem Cochrane, the inventor of the warp drive in a Next Gen movie. Someone should invent an SMK game like the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon one. So many of the co-stars have connections to KJ, BB, and a lot of future TV, movies, and pop culture. It’s like an adult version of connect the dots.
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I knew he (Gregory) looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him. By the way, I found four degrees between Kevin Bacon and KJ/BB. 😀 I’ll take it over to Neds, if anyone’s curious.
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Sounds fun!
Good thinking!!! thanks Sara!
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Robert Pine from Brunettes Are In was on Grey’s Anatomy this week and I was joking with my daughter about how he’s become “Just Chris Pine’s dad” but when I look him up on IMDB he has worked continuously from CHIPS to now with hardly a break. Amazing how to remember how many real jobbing actors are out there that you never hear about.
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I never made the connection! For what it’s worth.. this Robert Pine is and always will be the creepy baddie with the contact lenses from smk 😉
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Hmm. I was thinking in the last part that Amanda probably had seen Towne’s birth certificate before. Maybe she didn’t and just verified his identity with a driver’s license or something. But then, they don’t really seem to be looking at actual birth certificates. This seems to be some sort of registry. There’s no actual death certificate, either. What Lee points to is just an entry in some registry, just a name among other names, and that doesn’t say much at all. There’s no cause of death, no doctor’s signature, nothing. In other words, anybody could have written this.
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Yeah very true.. it does seem Amanda must have checked his official documents. and Rightly so.. I mean really – do they have to go and check registers for every single person who gets a clearance? and then check they didn’t also die two years later?
At the start of the ep Lee was teasing Amanda because of how much work she was putting into protecting the country from a renegade arithmetic teacher!
I think the book is convincing just because it is an old looking book.. and the entry is in the middle of a bunch of other names.. I think it’s convincing, if you underestimate what the Russians would do to collect a swaps bargain!
I guess the Russians could have altered the book -adding Towne to the 1950 listing and then adding the names listed after William Towne’s in the 1950 death listing. Being in the middle of the listing makes it seem more authentic. And I don’t see Lee and Amanda checking those identifies listed after Towne’s are for real!
Plus, look how carefully guarded the books are (not).
At this point, I think the audience is wondering how the heck the Russians have done it and uh oh.. has Amanda been convinced she was wrong also?! eek!!
[edited by iwsod so it hopefully makes some sense 😉 ]
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Maybe these numbers are the wrong number mentioned in the title.
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Haaaa yes that must be it!
I haven’t really thought about that whole title thing and how it fits.. glad you raised it again Valerie!
Wrong Number probably relates to a number things.. (heck, maybe height haaa) … I’m thinking Wrong Number was hinting that Amanda should not have given an A1 clearance to Towne..
It’s a great title because number can refer to so many things other than literally numbers. Plenty of metaphorical wrong numbers…
heck.. we could create a list of them!
– Francine had the wrong number when she for some reason went off to sell guns-as in.. her number came up and she got nabbed.
– Plus there’s the reference to the Mathematician – we could say Popovich is a wrong number.. because he isn’t the math genius he is pretending to be…
And what do we make of wrong numbers and Lee asking Amanda how she would rate him, hypothetically?!
Any other wrong numbers?
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And lets add to that list how Lee rates Amanda as an Agent of Record, does he have the right number for her?
And a number could also refer to a dance number as in the music for the right choreography and in this episode so far I think Lee and Amanda are trying to figure out which dance to do with each other.
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Wow, Billy sure is short. Or Gregory is reallllllly tall. Or a bit of both.
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rofl. insightful observation! 😉 I love that we go deep.. and then.. sometimes.. we don’t 🙂 tee hee..
the height differential doesn’t help Billy’s bargaining power huh..
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I think it’s both. The sad part? I think Billy’s still taller than me. Probably not by much, but I think he is. 😛
Height differences can be intimidating, but when you start routinely running into 12 to 14-year-olds your height or taller . . . meh. After having seen Billy in action in other episodes, I think he might have a trick or two for handling taller guys, if it comes to that. 😉
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A quick ferret around online has failed to find the vital information ie Billy’s height (or Mel Stewart’s height) but judging by his head position relative to Gregory’s shoulder, I’d say he is about a foot shorter than Gregory. But I can confirm that Gregory (AKA James Cromwell) is 1.99m ie 6 foot 6 and a half. So Billy is shortish but Gregory is basketball-worthy tall!!
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Amanda is taller than Billy (although often she’s wearing heels) and she’s 5’9″. I just glanced at post 10 and he could be 5’7″ – 5’10”. Very rough guess. I like that Billy’s not the type to let someone’s height intimidate him. The bigger they are, the harder they fall. 😉
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Yeah – that means Gregory is even taller than Lee (or BB) with ‘only’ 1.88 m or 6’2″.
No wonder ‘poor ol’ Billy’ seems soooo short.
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Yes all these skyscrapers surrounding Billy just make me admire him even more!
He’s a little terrier who stands his ground!
I don’t know if I’ve said it yet in a post.. but at some point I made the observation that in this ep- Billy is 100% the boss… and I can see why 🙂 This is a good ‘power to Billy’ episode!
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And I like it that Billy is more than he appears, just like Amanda. And I think even that ties into this episode. Lee’s behavior is showing that he is waffling on whether or not Amanda is as ready to be as professional as she wants to be in the spy business, does he see that she is more than she appears to be – his suburban housewife part time partner who wears a visitor’s pass badge? an he view her as the partner worthy trained professional spy. Is Billy just a short little man or is he the boss with all the training and ability to head up this department, especially when viewed next to this towering, smooth KGB agent? Does any of that make sense?
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Yep!
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Yeah, don’t point out the obvious Gregory. The buyer can see it’s got hardwood floors, gas fireplace and central heating. I usually keep my mouth shut for the most part – having the agent yapping on is a real distraction to the buyer. Just point out the things that aren’t so obvious and sell the benefits of living there. I like Gregory’s casual manner and how he effortlessly slides into closing the deal.
Yep, that’s the Agency foyer all-right.
I think it is natural for Lee to look at the deaths after Amanda identified the birth – it is the oldest trick in the book to take on the identity of a dead baby. Finally he’s acting like a real investigator! And the fact that he apologises to Amanda helps too. Good acting by KJ looking inwardly shocked at the discovery of the death notice.
Wasn’t KJ born in 1948?
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thanks for the real estate perspective 🙂 haaaaa.. so.. How would you rate Gregory? 😉
I have no idea when KJ was born sorry.. anyone? lol this could be an inside joke – maybe Kate Jackson’s name was on the births page so they didn’t show it 😉
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I would probably rate Gregory a 5 as a sales agent. He ain’t got soul – professionalism is one thing but you’ve got to be friendly and engaging too.
He also loses points for listing the property before the refurbishment was finished – ladders and paint cans lying about don’t make for top presentation, and they’re a health and safety hazard too.
We want the buyers to see the property as a perfect 10 if possible, not a “work in progress”. Perception is paramount, Gregory. “Perception” is reality.
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Oh, and his signage is crap too! 🙂
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But he was so careful to make sure Edgar got it straight! 😉
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But then, of course, Gregory isn’t there to sell a property. He’s got a different kind of “trade” on his mind. 😉
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So interesting to hear you say (errr read you write) that perception is reality Kiwismh – when we are in middle of an episode where Gregory has managed perception to create a new reality with great cunning! [maybe he has real estate skills after all?! 😉 ]
So far, I’d give Gregory a 9 in managing the perception that Will Towne is a Russian spy – and thus, it’s become a reality (in the mind of most if not all)..
there might be just one kink here he failed to alter.. ahem .. but.. we’ll get tot that!
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KJ was born in October 1948 ie about 5 months after Towne.
Also enjoyed your “insider” assessment, kiwismh. All newbies, do read Kiwismh’s “insider” guide to Maplewood Drive.
It’d be great if we have some other professions who could write an SMK post or two using their expertise 🙂 . I’ve made a bit of an attempt myself in a forthcoming post 😉
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Learjet I 100% agree!!! I love how smk fans bring so many different areas of expertise to the party 🙂
I feel it’s my duty to take on the role of tuxedo expert.. cough cough..
Okay I have no expertise in them at all.. but it’s a funny hobby 🙂
Learjet I can’t wait to see what you’ve come up with!!! ‘Attempt’?! I’m sure you’ve succeeded!! 🙂
We’ll publish two of Learjet’s posts after Wrong Number is finished.. and before we start The Boy Who Could be King 🙂
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er.. that’s The Boy who Would be King Iwsod.
I know it well. 😳 I almost dropped the ball on that one, didn’t I… ’nuff said. 😉
Nothing to see here people, move along. 😎
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You certainly staged a quick recovery though, kiwismh 😉
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Oh Kiwismh is lightning fast with the transcript!!! and.. so was Learjet with helping me format it 🙂
What would I do without you guys.. this walk is truly a group effort! thanks for your help!!!
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LOL is it? 🙂
the Boy who could be king.. or would be King?? haaaaaa.. hold that thought! 🙂 … and.. you did great transcribing it- thanks so much Kiwismh!
I’ve been working on writing the posts for it today -trying to get ahead as I know I’m about to hit a really busy patch again and I want to walk to keep on keeping on – fun times ahead!! 🙂
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lol! Tell Gregory to keep his day job! Real estate obviously isn’t his thing. 😉
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