So where were we… Lee & Amanda have found Millicent murdered by Sallee, they’re on the hunt for more evidence that this dead man has actually left a trail.. Lee has headed over to the NSA for research, and Amanda is working through Millicent’s diary for clues.
Francine is busy working security on a high profile function the next night. Which Ohhhh!!!! what a coincidence!!! Sallee seems to have infiltrated as a janitor for his next job! whoooooo!!!!
Moving on.. It’s night time, and the crickets are noisy at IFF! We see Lee join Amanda in the Q bureau. I guess as her family is away she can stay late at work! 
Amanda: Hi.
Lee: Hi. What’s all this?
Amanda: Well, I’m just doing some clues from Millicent’s diary.
Lee: All this is from that diary?
[Oh Lee. Please go home and change. I am looking forward to a change of outfit!]
Amanda: Well, see these red pins mark the O bus route…
…Millicent said that Alan took the bus to work every evening, and the O line is the only one that goes through the neighbourhood.
(Lee pours himself a coffee)
Lee: Yeah, but there’s probably… half a dozen transfer points for that line.
Amanda: No, no. She said it only took him fifteen minutes to get to work, so I doubt if he would transfer. 
Lee: If Millicent is accurate. [Hey! what other lead have you got Lee??!!! May as well go with it!]
Amanda: Right.
Lee: Right. 
Amanda: I know if I work at this long enough, I can get more. Ummm… let me read you a couple of things. “December twelfth. He says it’s not necessary, but I love pressing Alan’s work uniforms.” Right? Work uniforms… 
[Okay Lee seems a bit more interesting at hearing this fact]
…And then, ah, later on she writes… “He must have noticed his shoes today, he wore them home this morning, soaking wet, and he put them on tonight, clean and shiny.”
[Oh my.. she was paying very close attention to Alan!]
Lee: So, whatever he does, he wears a uniform and works near the water. [near ‘the water’? near water no? ]
Amanda: Mm-hmm…
Lee: Well, he could be anything from a postman to a longshoreman. 
Amanda: Nope… he can’t be a postman, because that would be a government employee and he’s not in the computer….
…and I doubt if he’s a longshoreman, the O line doesn’t go anywhere near the water.
Lee: A waiter?
Amanda: Well… he could be a waiter, but if he was a waiter she probably would have mentioned pressing his shirts, you know?
Lee: Yeah.
Amanda: He’s probably a blue collar worker, maybe he works outdoors, maybe he works in maintenance?
[whoa.. is maintenance the same as janitor in the US? He was dealing with light bulbs.. and vaccuming.. I’m thinking she just nailed it and doesn’t know it. yet.]
(Lee quickly brushes over her suggestions)
Lee: Look, assuming you are right, Amanda we would have to narrow it down and we just don’t have the detail. 
[Oh noo! Amanda just did narrow it down! Lee should know by now anything Amanda is involved in will tie back into other cases in play rofl. It’s either the Gaddafi hit, Kowalski’s new baby or the Function Francine is at ha!]
Amanda: I think we might… [I love that Amanda asserts herself here.]
…Listen. “On his way to the bus stop, he bought me chocolates, my favourites.” See, so there’s a candy store,…
…and then, just last week, she wrote… “He’s too wonderful. How did he know I love Schubert?” So, he’s a music lover.
[poor Millicent, it seems to me that she was getting encouragement from Alan in developing feelings for him 
]
Lee: Candy and music. 
Amanda: Mm-hmm…
Lee: It’s not very much.
Amanda: Well, I know. You know, some of this stuff is pretty sad. “We have so much in common. If I could ever get him away from his inventions, I could teach him violin.” I think she was in love with him. 
Lee: Amanda, all this gives us is a map… full of dots.
Amanda: Well, maybe we can connect the dots. Tomorrow-
Lee: There is no tomorrow on this case, Amanda. Without a national security angle to hang our hat on, we cannot stay involved. Billy wants the police to handle it. 
[I like that Lee seems to handle Amanda and her enthusiasm here gently. He understands that this has been an upsetting case with Millicent’s murder and all I think..]
Amanda looks sad at hearing this.. 
Does anyone think Amanda is not going to continue to work on this case tomorrow?! lol..
The scene ends here..
And.. it’s a new day. Hooray.
Finally a change of outfit – I thought Amanda looked lovely in the light blue blouse.. but lets get Lee out if his grandpa outfit (agree Jestress!). I loved the comments from Valerie and Morley (post 5) about how Lee is dressing in a more approachable and normal way. But for me – I kind of wish he wouldn’t dress down quite this much! He can be normal and in love with Amanda while still bringin’ the sexy back 
Hey, YMMV and I love that a blah outfit can be turned into a declaration of love and a sign his character is growing in maturity 
Nice work! 🙂
Anyway.. we see a bus. 
We find Amanda boarding a bus..
She pays her fare, then holds out a picture of Sallee for the bus driver to look at. No longer working on the case huh!!! Yeah that one lasted not even a minute ha! But… Hey Amanda is doing real detective work! no coincidence needed to find a clue??!!! Squeeeeee!!! Just in time, as iwsod was starting to develop coincidentitis! 
Amanda: Hi. I wonder if you could take a look at this picture and tell me if you recognize this man, he’s about six feet tall and he doesn’t have ah, a beard any more.I think he rides this bus almost every day.
Bus driver: I can’t be sure. I just take the fare and watch the road.
Amanda: Right. Well, thanks anyway.
Amanda takes a seat on the bus..
Hey.. this is the same bus Lee ran after when he saw ‘Dorothy’ on it back in Wizard! ‘102’!
See! I wonder if Sallee was on it at the time? Head spin! Do you think it’s the same bus driver? maybe.. I don’t know..
Focus Iwsod..
Amanda follows where they are going on the map, viewing the shops they are passing..
She pulls out some cards on which she made notes from Millicent’s diary. And reads it out loud to herself (freaking out the other passengers?! tee hee). 
“I wish he’d let me fix him a proper breakfast, instead of eating those horrible steak and onion sandwiches.”
As she reads this, we see the bus pass a deli.
Bus driver: Did you say something, lady?
Amanda Ah, yeah. This is my stop. Could I get off here, please?
(He stops at the next stop for her)
Amanda: Great. Thank you so much.
(we see a sign.. can someone tell me what’s a Philly Hoagies? is that a type of sandwich?)
The camera pans down to Amanda interviewing a staff member, showing him the picture of Sallee. 
Man: That’s right. Uh, we’re open twenty four hours. I come on at six, and this guy comes in almost every morning…and orders a Philly hoagie, with extra onions. Seven AM. Not me,.. 
…but you’d be surprised how many people do….Friend of yours?
Amanda: Yeah. He’s an old friend. I’m trying to find him.
[Why doesn’t Amanda ask what his uniform looked like??!!]Man: Well, uh, stick around… he’ll be in.
[Hmm I guess this is before 7am in the morning. go Amanda! Love this girl power initiative! 🙂 ]
Amanda: Okay. Ah, could you tell me if there’s a pay phone around here anywhere?
Man: Yeah. Right over there.
Amanda: Oh, good. Look, if you don’t mind, it’s a surprise. So if you see him, don’t tell him I’m here, okay?
Man: No.
Amanda: Thank you.
Man: Yeah.
Amanda: Bye bye.
Man: Okay. Bye. 
The man chuckles to himself that he’s helping Amanda with her surprise.. and Amanda heads off to make her phone call. The scene ends here. A good place for us to pause too!
I’m slightly concerned that Amanda’s shirt seems to match this guy’s shirt. ugh. No!!!
Anyone care to share their thoughts on any of this? byee! Looking forward to hearing from ya!
EDITED TO ADD.. CLICK HERE TO SKIP STRAIGHT TO POST 11 OF DEAD MEN LEAVE NO TRAILS..
"Just walk with me.." 
(I officially caught up viewing the series in revised order through where the walk is (Nightcrawler – it is definitely my overall fave of the series – at least today I think so 😂 – and can’t wait to get into it!!!)…and my binge commenting is skipping episodes, sorry. I may go back to the beginning of season 1 and read through in wonderful revised order like I watched, or maybe will skip around back to ones that stood out to me this watch-through. Hope you all aren’t minding all these comments! Anyhoo, back to DMLNT where I left off…)
Did anyone ever work logic puzzles, the ones with the 4 or 5 sentence clues that help you fill out a grid to deduce the solutions to a scenario? (If not, I am making zero sense here…) Anyway, I did a slew of them in school as a child and recently got back into them again. I’ve always loved the way Amanda uses the diary to figure out where Sallee works. And I think those logic puzzles are why – they are one of my favorite things!
I am enjoying watching Amanda settle and hone her agent skills. She has always been smart, had such good intuition, and used her creativity well (that Cub Scout Lady knows how to intimidate the bad guys with her finger gun!), but she seems to be channeling that creativity with more finesse these days. I feel like this episode really highlights that growth. That’s not to say she perfectly handles each situation…like, for instance, the next scene…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I remember my reaction to these lines from when I first saw the show: ‘We have so much in common. If I could ever get him away from his inventions, I could teach him violin.’ I was excited by Amanda’s words because it seemed like a parallel to her relationship with Lee. If she could just get Lee away from work, they could develop their relationship. In this viewing, Lee’s interest in Amanda is clearer to me than it was then so I don’t see these lines the same way. This blog has given me many new ideas and I’ve had a blast reading these old posts.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is amazing how much richer the show is with this blog.
LikeLiked by 2 people
It’s amazing how much richer my fic writing is with this blog…
LikeLiked by 1 person
O bus line and O bus route! Hahaha…all these years I’ve thought Amanda was saying “old” bus line and “old” bus route. Buses are old, MARTA (DC subway) is new…yeah, I know…pretty weak!
I think maintenance and janitor are sometimes the same and sometimes different. It depends on the job and size of business they work for. Love Amanda’s Sherlockian deduction skills here! This is her strength for sure – translating the subtleties of everyday speak into something Lee can use to catch a supposedly-dead international killer!
Millicent in love with Sallee? I think she was obsessed with him. If there was a Sallee blog, she’d be the expert! Lol And hooray for Lee with treating Amanda with TLC in telling her they need to stop working on this case. He’s come a very long way!
I won’t explain the Philly hoagie…I’m sure plenty of people have already done that!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am surprised that Lee didn’t watch Amanda’s house all night, he must have suspected that she wouldn’t let go of the case, and he has got to know she is going to find trouble on her own. Maybe he really has matured and truly trusts her?
Philly Cheese-steak sandwiches are quite the phenomenon. I drove into Philadelphia this summer – two hours out of my way- just to stop at this famous place in the middle of the city to grab one. There was even a plaque on the side walk telling me that Sylvester Stallone stood there to order one. The place was a dive… but famous. It was quite the experience.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Morley! I live in Philly! Did you like the sandwich? I don’t like Pats too much but I’m happy you made it here!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s a wonder Crypto didn’t pick up on some of the info in Millicent’s diary, which as Amanda has discovered does give some clues about Alan. But then we would miss out on Amanda once again showing Lee that she really is smart and incisive. I like how Lee shows empathy and respect for Amanda in gently telling her that “there is no tomorrow” for this case.
”He can be normal and in love with Amanda while still bringin’ the sexy back” Agree 100% Iwsod! Just because he’s maturing emotionally doesn’t mean he can’t still be a sharp dressed man 😉
I too wondered why Amanda didn’t ask Man about what Alan was wearing, and other info the guy could give. Having said that, Man has just told her that Alan will be there soon, so maybe she didn’t want to push her luck by sticking around too long and being seen again by Alan.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Guess those guys (and girls 😉 ) from Crypto are just looking for some kind of coded information to decipher them. They didn’t find any, ’cause Millicent wrote her thoughts straight into der diary. Perhaps Crypto even copied the diary and gave thoses pages to different coworkers, saving time in the process. Unfortunately that means none of them read the complete diary and all of them missed those clues Amanda came up with.
I think that way SMK shows us again how different agents and ‘normal’ people work and think in the process of solving a case or mental puzzle. And again it also shows us, how far Lee has come in the last 2 1/2 years since Amanda came into his life. He doesn’t question her methods any longer but appreciates her way of handling things. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oooopsss,… of course I ment
…, ’cause Millicent wrote her thoughts straight into her diary.
LikeLike
I agree, Lee&Amanda. I think crypto was probably looking for hidden meaning or codes in Millicent’s diary rather than taking it at face value. I don’t think it makes sense for crypto to do that unless they thought Millicent was in on some nefarious activity with Sallee, but I guess that is what crypto does.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Man’s been eatin’ too many Philly Hoagies – look at the size of his tum tum!! 😯
LikeLike
” It’s either the Gaddafi hit, Kowalski’s new baby or the Function Francine is at.” That had me choking on my diet Coke. 🙂
Good catch on the Sallee’s bus being the same bus ‘Dorothy’ was on. Now THAT is what I call a coincidence.
Poor, sweet, Millicent. I don’t think Sallee would have let her live after he was done with this.
LikeLike
I keep trying to load pictures of the sandwiches but it won’t let me!
If you type in “cheesesteak” in Google you will see images.
LikeLike
Being from Philadelphia, I can help identify the sandwich. So a philly “hoagie” is probably referring to a Philly “cheesesteak.” That is very thinly sliced beef cooked on a grill. It usually has American cheese or cheese “whiz” on it most people either get it with fried onions. It is served on a long roll. Definitely not a breakfast food.
However the word “hoagie” is not interchangeable with cheesesteak. A hoagie is a Philadelphia word for a “sub” or submarine sandwich. Which usually involves lunch meat, lettuce, tomato and onion.
The fact that the sign says “Philly hoagie” means that the person that owns it is not from philly and I doubt I would get a sandwich there!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Maybe Philly is the name of the owner and there was a typo in the sign? Philly’s Hoagies? Nope, I can’t make it work.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Never mind the matching shirts, I’m a bit worried that the man is eating a Philly Hoagie every hour of the 24 hours that they are open….He’s kind of sweet though.
Are those extra onions that Sallee has in his hoagie raw??? Maybe he’s using onions to keep poor Millicent at a safe distance 😉
Am loving watching Amanda working through the logic, building a map and coming up with a plan of action. I’m a huge fan of a good map. Makes you see things in a different way and make some interesting connections.
LikeLike
I had assumed fried onions, but raw onions are supposed to be good for fighting off bacteria and viruses (maybe because no one gets close enough to you to pass you them on). Sallee would want to be in tip top shape.
LikeLike