14/19 Season Three, Episode 20: Dead Men Leave No Trails–Scarecrow and Mrs King

17 thoughts on “14/19 Season Three, Episode 20: Dead Men Leave No Trails–Scarecrow and Mrs King”

1. Iwsod said: * I think humility makes someone truly powerful. Pride or arrogance makes people weak.*

   I love, love, love this, Iwsod.

   Francine’s comment about how she ran checks on everyone “no matter how insignificant they might be” reminds me of Spiderweb when the four of them (Lee, Amanda, Francine & Billy) are walking down the road and Francine goes on about Amanda:
   Amanda: But why would anybody want to try to dirty up my records?!
   Francine: Because you’re perfect Amanda! The textbook tells us in situations like this, it’s always someone obscure. Yes Amanda. And that’s you. Dealing with unimportant information. Always there…pleasant, unassuming. Easy to overlook! Loyal, faithful…

   It’s so remarkable to see the ways that Francine has stayed the same in her thinking. (And interesting to give a thought at the positive changes in Lee’s thinking in that span of time!) It makes me sad that she can see people and label them “insignificant” or “obscure” (and sadder that she can actually say it to their face!). I know we get tiny tidbits here and there, but I really wish we had gotten a bit more insight into Francine’s past on the show that gave us more detail into some of her personality traits.

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   1. Awh thanks Amandarambler! I loved discussing this topic of humility and power!
      Great to hear your thoughts – thanks for sharing with us 🙂

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2. Something else I liked about this scene is that, instead of Lee telling Amanda to go make herself scarce because there’s danger afoot, he gives her a very real and important assignment to do while he goes to search the employee locker room. I am sure the assignment was genuine (in contrast to something like the Bromfield Hall assignment of doing research in the library). And Amanda doesn’t argue — she knows that she has her place and Lee has his, and her best contribution is doing exactly what he just suggested.

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   1. That is a great observation- I didn’t even think of that! And bonus points for tying it to a past episode 🙂

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   2. love this!!!!!!!! Well spotted Raffie! 🙂

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3. Francine is all about control. She needs to be able to control whatever environment she’s in and I think it’s a defense mechanism. Throughout the series she had very specific ideas about people and tends to pigeonhole those who are not worthy of being in her orbit. I kind of balked at her statement when she referred to some of the employees as insignificant. She has repeatedly treated Amanda the same way.

   There are very few people that she will let herself be vulnerable with. I think that Lee is in that category which is why he could get her to stand down from her tirade. When she was trapped with Amanda she let her guard down and immediately regretted it. I think it’s because she is still a bit unsure of Amanda along with being a bit jealous. She is grudgingly accepting her, but Francine still as a long way to go.

   Sometimes watching how Francine handles things and people and how Lee and Amanda do it is like a textbook example of what not to do and what to do.

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4. About Francine’s fashion choices (not just in this episode but in others): LOL at the outfits, the 80’s were … well … quite “frumpy” haha as far as formal and office attire was concerned. Fashion is what it is, and I think that was the reason for many of Francine’s outfits in this show, her character was (in my observation at least) supposedly very “fashion forward” so to speak, it wasnt entirely her fault that the 80’s also just werent a very good era for business, formal and “professional” fashion for the most part LOL.

   On Francine’s attitude in general, I think it was a combination of stress (since this, to me seemed to be the first time she has been solely in charge of a shindig like this one) and her upbringing (since she grew up “rich” it’s just her default to treat people like Mr Van Kleef as “servants” so to speak. I also think that while Amanda was talking to Van Kleef, Francine realized that she had made a mistake in treating him the way that she did because she did effectively alienate him. I also agree that she could have been more sensitive to his feelings, and his concerns, after all he did have a job to do, too and superiors to answer to as well.

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5. I love the contrast between Amanda & Francine in this scene. And I think you’re on to something with your “little people you don’t notice” observation, iswod. To someone like Francine, a clean space just happens like magic. And in her world if he was not on the security check list, he does not exist. I’m all for girl power too, but there is a difference between confidence (Amanda) & arrogance (Francine). Amanda has all the girl power here!!!

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6. All I thought of as I read this post is that difference between how each is perceiving the situation based n where their identity is coming from. Francine’s identity is still very wrapped up in her performance on the job and how other’s view her professionally. Maybe Van Kleef is in a similar situation? Maybe not – he just doesn’t know what everyone is concerned with, he is focused on his job. But Lee and Amanda are also focused on the job, but they are able to hear others and think outside of their own box. They both are able to take each person into consideration and so they can consider Van Kleef and ask questions. I could imagine Lee having the same attitude as Francine if this scene took place in season one. I guess that is what I am noticing. This maturation and growth on Lee’s part makes this moment of this episode happen a bit more easily than it would have if this had happened in season one. Back then Amanda would have had to spend more time trying to get both Lee and Francine to listen to her, I bet she would have ended up helping Mr Van Kleef with his viking spears and getting into all sorts of trouble before the real spies would have put two and two together.

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7. I’m going to be a bit harsh (no surprises there 😉 ) and suggest it was a huuuuge oversight on Francine’s part not to ask or find out if there were contractors working on site. I think it was fairly common-place even in the 1980’s for large businesses to contract out certain types of jobs/work.
   Sometimes I think Francine just tries to hard, and in doing so she leaves herself open to missing the obvious.
   Having said that, in a mans world I can understand why she thinks she has to be twice as competent as her male colleagues in order to be seen to be as competent as they are.

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   1. So true. And I wonder if Mr. Van Kleef is normally obtuse (most of us would include contractors when asked which employees have access to the ballroom, especially for such an important reason) or just decided to follow the ‘letter of the law’ so precisely because he does not get along with Francine. I would like to think it is the former.

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      1. Or maybe it’s fun to think a little of both! I agree, I definitely see him as a person with a job to do and he does it well, in spite of all the interference that no doubt he has to painstakingly endure time and time again from numerous sources at each event. It is important that he do his job right, and dog hair in the VP’s, or worse yet, foreign dignitaries crab claws would not be acceptable and would no doubt cost him his job. No one has been blown up on his watch so far, and therefore he certainly doesn’t believe there is any serious risk of that happening here. So yes, I do believe he is naturally obtuse, or at least has entertaining/service so high on the priority list that nothing else is visible to him. Individuals like this have an amazing ability to be brilliantly passive-aggressive, and Van Kleef does not appear to be an exception! He is a rule follower and by-golly, he followed them. I also like how his professional training give him such a pompous air of restraint. He does not get loud and shrill like Francine, which probably is even more annoying and confusing for her!

         I think Van Kleef’s character is awesome. I agree with kiwismh that Francine has made a BIG oversight. I also agree with iwsod that MS plays this role beautifully from beginning to end. The scripting is good too. The scene stays humorous in spite of the rising seriousness of the situation and Francine’s aggressive behavior.

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         1. Yeah! I thought Van Kleef was funny!!!! Very true – the scripting is great in this scene!

            And when I slowed down the scene and just focused on Francine, I thought she was funny too! MS did such a great job with the dramatic reaction Francine has to Van Kleef 🙂

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8. Well, I think Van Kleef and Francine both take great pride in their work and I certainly feel for her, I admit that there have been times when I’ve inwardly cried “NOOOOOOO, I worked so hard on that! How can it possibly fall apart?!” Which is what Francine is outwardly doing here. Poor woman, she takes herself so seriously.

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9. OMH I love Van Kleef here! Absolutely brilliant. I howl every time I see the scene. No one can claim the man is not focused on his job.

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10. Again, I recognise myself in Francine’s behaviour {blush}. She’s stressed out and she’s trying to control everything by keeping everyone on a tight leash and cutting any opposition at source. I think it may be “that time of the month” (I can say that because I’m a woman; no man could get away with this observation!)

    Is she dressed as a mermaid?? (The skirt looks like it’s narrowing to a tail. How does she walk in that?) Or as a peacock? The colour is lovely on her – she makes Lee and Amanda look like peahens – downright dowdy in comparison.

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    1. Oh I got a big LOL out of this one, learjet! I do make that assessment myself when female TV characters get out of control. (And there was once a GREAT line in the show Murphy Brown directly related to this — what a great show that was!) And it reminds me of that look of dismissal that my husband would give me during an argument, to which I would have to rant that I was justifiably upset, so don’t dare dismiss it as a hormone-induced temporary rage! I’ve mellowed over the years thanks to the job, church, and motherhood, but I too recognize that method of control from younger days. I remember it not being terribly effective!

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