9/21 Season Three, Episode 22: All the World’s a Stage–Scarecrow and Mrs King

Back to the theatre.
Everyone is subdued and confused.. by these red covered scripts.. An actor at the table reads:
Older actor: “Mon Dieu, Mon Dieu”?3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001211311_thumb
Younger actor: This is….this is terrible.3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001215515_thumb
Carl Valentine walks onto the stage.
Tony (to Valentine):What is this, Carl?
Amanda, and everyone seems on edge and waiting for an explanation.
…Why is this?3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001221821_thumb
Valentine doesn’t even pause, he just keeps on walking ( I guess following Krutiov’s instructions)
Tony follows and calls after him: Carl! Carl, wait a minute, talk to me!
Actress: Maybe he can find out what’s going on.
All the actors watch on desperate for a few answers themselves! [Mon Dieu, Mon Dieu!]

In Valentine’s or Tony’s office.. we finally get to hear what Krutiov told Valentine to say.. 3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001234134_thumb
Carl: The backers insisted on the changes Tony so I made them. I’ve sunk a lot of money into this venture and I don’t intend to lose it!
Tony: And if I don’t agree to do this….this garbage??3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001241641_thumb
Carl: Then they’ll produce it without you! And Tony Martinet’s last chance at a big comeback evaporates.3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001247047_thumb
Tony: This can’t be happening….
3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001249149_thumb
…Carl, please, can’t you talk to them? 3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001253953_thumb
…Beg them to reconsider, can’t you do something?3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001256356_thumb
Valentine pauses for a moment..
3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001258158_thumb
He walks away from Tony, and then turns back.3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001261161_thumb
Carl: No, but there’s something that you can do.3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001265065_thumb
[Valentine seems to be regretful as he says this. No doubt, as Krutiov has instructed him to be- boooo]
Tony: What?3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001268668_thumb

Oh noooo.. Tony is baffled at just what he could do.. and the scene ends there. Oh noo!!! Don’t do it Tony!!! No stupid plan is worth that! lol.. Okay, I get that this is extremely important to Tony and his livelihood and all.. but the logic of go with the rubbish changed script or your comeback is over made zero sense – it’s not a come back if it’s rubbish!

We cut back to out in the theatre, Lee is seen approaching the stage. He walks by Amanda without making eye contact and clears his throat. He keeps on walking.. whoo he puts his right hand in his pocket. what does it mean??!! Smile 3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001272572_thumb
Amanda lets out a big sigh. 3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001274374_thumb

Not looking at Lee (rofl! remember the don’t look at me gag?! Ah I miss those gags!), Amanda casually gets up to go over to talk with him. 3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001284584_thumbI love how they go through all that trouble, just to have Amanda go sit in the audience right next to Lee. With all those other empty seats? rofl!!! it’s suspicious that they don’t look at each other haaa!!!  3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001287587_thumbAmanda: These revised scripts were waiting for us when we got here this morning. Tony nearly had a fit.3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001288188_thumb
[she looks at him! Winking smile ]
3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001290590_thumb
[he looks at her! Winking smile ]
Lee: Where is he now?3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001292092_thumb
Amanda: He headed toward his office with Valentine.3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001294794_thumb
Lee: Who was just cheek to cheek with Serge Krutiov.
3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001296896_thumb
Amanda: In Washington?3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001299899_thumb
Lee: Mm hmm. I don’t know what bizarre web he is weaving, but I guarantee you it is unpleasant… 3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001304704_thumb
[rofl. unpleasant?! Devious!! cunning!! evil!! unpleasant?! Oh Mon Dieu, Mon Dieu! ]
…Now it is time for you to hit the bench…3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001307407_thumb
… Remember what Billy said.
3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001308008_thumb
Amanda: Hey.. (she calmly interrupts Lee) …this is a good cover,…3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001309809_thumb
…this is a really good cover…
3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001311911_thumb
[Lee lets out a big sigh, he knew this wasn’t going to be easy.. and she does have a point!]
…Now, Krutiov would probably never come here…
3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001314314_thumb
…It’s a good cover.3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001314914_thumb
whooo.. Lee is silent..
3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001317017_thumb
and his eyes flicker over Amanda’s face.. landing on her lips..
3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001317917_thumb
There’s a sweet little silent conversation here…
3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001318218_thumb
Amanda – so?
3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001318518_thumb
Lee – Ohhhh okay!
3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001318818_thumb
Amanda – good decision!  3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001319419_thumb
Amanda -I know I’m right! Smile
A cute little moment.. kind of reminds me of the moment in A lovely little affair where Lee wants Amanda out of things because there are terrorists involved, but Amanda’s got a great in with the chin (rofl!) – so she convinces Lee she can stay in and stay safe Smile
Do you think Lee maybe says Amanda should follow what Billy said because he has to? and he really knows she won’t? the more professional she gets, this little dynamic seems to come up again… it’s like it is replacing the stay in the car gag. (only it’s no longer a gag Sad smile – it’s now the stay out of this case game.. when Lee knows she won’t and that he won’t really stop her!)

We cut back to Valentine and Tony in the office.
3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001319719_thumb
Tony: You’re asking me to commit treason! I won’t do it! I can’t.3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001326926_thumb
[just what in the world has Valentine suggested he do that is treason and manipulating his girlfriend? lol. umm don’t tell me! Aie.. my memory of this is non existent!]
Carl: All right, Tony, you just follow your conscience right back to Equity Waiver Theatre and your ten dollar an hour acting classes… 3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001332632_thumb
…We open tomorrow night! You do what they want we perform your play. Otherwise….
3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001343443_thumb
(he holds up Parisian Intrigue letting that finish his sentence)
[Ohhh so the threat is do whatever the thing is, or we will do the really bad play and put your name on it? If you do the ‘thing’ then you can do your good play with your name on it?
Is this right? So the Mon Dieu, Mon Dieu is not in Tony’s play, it’s in the threatened revised play?]
Carl: You’re going to need this. There are instructions on the card inside.
3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001348248_thumb[Ugh, Valentine even feigns regret here some more. Purlease. what a whimpy creep! Krutiov never gave Valentine an envelope, when did he get that? ]
3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001357857_thumb
Tony pulls a pen out of the envelope – it matches the one he was currently holding.
I think Tony here is thinking this is quite an elaborate set up and just what the heck am I in the middle of?!! Scary stuff!!

The scene ends with Valentine’s inauthentic regret slipping for a moment.. He gives Valentine a ‘you can’t fight this’ kind of look. 3.22 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE.avi_001359959
And the scene ends here.
What exactly he is fighting we don’t know.. but we do know this is pretty intense. Poor Tony! And Boooo to Valentine! Hope he gets hit by an ice cream truck!

Any thoughts you’d like to share everyone?? Back with more soon!!

45 thoughts on “9/21 Season Three, Episode 22: All the World’s a Stage–Scarecrow and Mrs King”

  1. I’m not sure if Lee’s hesitation about keeping her on the case has anything to do with her ability as an agent. I think it’s more about her safety. When they work together, Lee can protect her. Now that she’s becoming more independent from Lee, I think he feels nervous that she could get hurt, and there’s nothing he can do about it. He has to trust in her training, instincts and experience. It’s like when you teach your kid to drive. You hope and pray that you’ve done a good job teaching them. I think Lee is experiencing that here.

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  2. Ok, maybe I’m reading too much into all these possible previous S3 episode references at this point, but Iwsod, you’re catching them too in your comments – I always thought that convo that Lee and Amanda have about it being a good cover sounded familiar, and you’re right! It totally reminds me of ALLA – that amazing scene where Lee sneaks in her room in the middle of the night!!

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  3. I loved seeing Amanda push back on Lee and stick with her cover. I’m thinking her confidence and pushing back makes her more attractive to him. Bet he’s wishing they were some place more private and…ahem… ‘rehearsing.’ 😉 😉 😉

    As for Tony… I was not getting a baddie vibe from him. His response surprised me when I first watched this. Guess we’ll wait and see.

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    1. I loved seeing Amanda push back on Lee and stick with her cover. I’m thinking her confidence and pushing back makes her more attractive to him.

      I agree!! and I think it’s wonderful Lee admires this 🙂 He isn’t afraid to see Amanda shine and grow – a wonderful quality in a man!

      I’m currently travelling so not online much.. but hope you are all well. I’ll get the next post published now 🙂

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  4. Hope he gets hit by an ice cream truck!

    Bwahahaha! Just like Singer in SAAB!

    I love Amanda’s hair in this scene, but I don’t like Tony’s arched eyebrows. I don’t remember them on his character, Niles, in The Nanny. I think they make him look a little bit evil.

    I think when I first watched this episode I was confused at this point about how Maria fit into the overall picture. I was too young to be able to guess at what might happen. This one is a bit vague compared to most other SMK episodes.

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    1. I wonder in the vagueness has something to do with love, real love and also a sense of calling. Tony is dealing with some deep issues of his purpose here, I think. It has to be, other wise how would Valentine and Krutiov have a hold on him. He must believe very deeply in the message of his play in order to sacrifice anything in this relationship, I think. I wonder how this reflects on any qualities in lee and Amanda’s relationship?

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      1. I bet I have messed around with this idea of calling somewhere. I guess I am thinking that for a man like Lee to be seriously thinking about a relationship with a woman they will have to share a sense of calling. Too much has to get put on the line…they have to share this deep sense of purpose. This idea set against the backdrop of what Tony is doing in this episode makes Lee’s choices really stand out.

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  5. At some point I guess we are supposed to be sympathetic to the situation and position Tony is now in. However, it’s hard to feel that sympathetic when you don’t really understand what the real issue is here or what the real relationship is between Tony and Maria or if one is related to the other. We don’t know exactly what the rock and the hard place are. We are shown how unethical Valentine is and possibly wonder if Krutiov has been pulling his strings as well (puppet master). And we already know about Krutiov. Tony seems to be a sympathetic character, but the jury is still out for me.

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    1. I enjoyed this comment and hearing your thoughts on this Valerie!
      Yeah they don’t have tony saving an old lady, or looking after little kiddies or err giving up a chair for a lady to sit down..

      What clues are we given that he is a good guy?
      Only thing I can think of is that Amanda seems to like him. And if Amanda likes someone, usually I think it’s safe for the audience to like them too.. would you say?

      Yeah! I agree.. Jury is still out on this Tony character! 🙂

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      1. Agree – has there ever been a character Amanda liked that turned out to be a baddie? Does Dr. Hanover in TLODG count? Did she like him or just think he was “a nice man”?

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        1. No, I wouldn’t count Dr. Hanover – he was only a ‘nice older man’, who happend to know a lot about Salzburg and it’s surrounding areas, sharing his knowledge willingly to other tourists.
          And Amanda started mistrusting him right away when Dr. Hanover was holding back information about a certain castle.

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      2. Unfortunatelly she liked Alan what-was-his-name (The Artful Dodger). She was even dating him for some short time… 😦
        So, no, her instinct doesn’t always work…

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        3. Interesting! I viewed Alan as a mistake for sure! However, I don’t see him as having fooled Amanda in the full sense – I think with Alan, Amanda knew it wasn’t right, and didn’t listen to her instincts.. Alan played her, and Amanda fooled herself.. Yeah I agree she maybe wasn’t thinking ohhh he’s bugged me but I don’t want to believe it, however she wasn’t fully buying into the guy.. LOL.

          However! that said.. for me there is one time I can think of where Amanda has been suckered well and truly – it’s maybe not the same as Amanda liking someone only to find they were not likable.. but I think Ballon in The Mole played Amanda perfectly and she fell for that hook, line and sinker.. I find that a very poignant situation – because she was suckered because she cared about her friend Lee, and she had a need for Lee to admit he needs her.. and for someone to acknowledge what she contributes.. Poor Amanda!!! I think that was a tough one for her…
          I don’t know if Amanda liked Ballon, but she certainly accepted what he said and got on board with his plan to help Lee wrongly..

          Yeah- I agree Dr Hanover didn’t totally fool Amanda 🙂

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          1. You are spot on with Alan. She was flattered- that is ALL. The Mole (wasn’t that Benson rather than Ballon?) did not seem to move Amanda at all. I always thought she went out with him because of Lee’s attitude of not caring when he so obviously did…she set out to prove the point that he was jealous (to herself if not to Lee.) But she diligently investigated him without any reservation. Given Amanda’s tendency to be protective over those she really likes, that kind of proves up that the Mole was not important to her in any way. Ballon in Savior…used her attachment to Lee unmercifully…but served to establish the “friendship” that exists between Lee and Amanda, so I forgive him. lol Hanover

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            1. oh dear – I mean’t to say Ballon in Saviour – sorry!!! No idea why I mentioned the Mole. Aie! I wasn’t thinking of Benson at all – yeah she never really liked him either! [Another example of Amanda’s instinct being most of the time spot on 😉 ] I was talking about Ballon in Saviour 🙂

              Gotta run.. but loved this! bye!

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          3. But she always defended Alan, even when it became clear, he was a bad guy. I´m thinking about her ride in the car with Billy and Lee. Even than she mentioned Alan seemed to be a nice guy. Otherwise she wouldn´t have taken that ugly ring from him in the first place, would she?
            I doubt, she would privatly date a guy she doesn´t like at all. That excludes all work related dateslike David Benson, James Delano, the other Alan (ALLA) or other guys.

            Besides, I was referring to
            … And if Amanda likes someone, usually I think it’s safe for the audience to like them too.. would you say?

            So, yes usually it is safe for the audience to like those people Amanda likes but there are exceptions, like Alan (TAD) and also Ballon (Saviour) who really fooled her.

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            1. Hey L&A – I’d be curious to hear your thoughts on the episode Artful Dodger if you ever stop by and read through those posts!

              I saw Amanda as defending herself when she was defending Alan.

              Though I agree with you that she was thinking Alan was a nice guy when she was dating him – sort of – I think something was holding her back from really convincing herself he was the real deal… IMHO of course..
              Thus, I don’t see Alan as a clear cut example of Amanda being suckered.. but we can agree to disagree. Either way – we can pretty much agree that Amanda seems to be the gauge that tells he audience goodie, baddie, or maybe nice guy/gal led astray temporarily or something! 🙂

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  6. Hi Everyone! Just letting you know I’ll be away the next few days.. with no internet.. and I’ll be back in time to publish the next blog post. I’ll look forward to reading your comments when I get back..
    And if you need anything urgently – try the other mods (BJo and Learjet).
    Enjoy guys and I’ll be in touch when I get back…

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    2. Enjoy your time away, iwsod! I know some of you may wonder who is BJo because I am not a consistent commenter, but I am still here! Life sometimes makes it hard to justify time spent drooling over Lee’s dimples 🙂

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  7. The only way I can believe the elaborate, cloak-in-dagger “meeting” between Lee and Amanda is if we assume that the stage is very well lit and the seating is in darkness as it would be during a performance. Otherwise “they” are playing with us….L and A are cute here though

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    1. I’m not sure why they’re bothering to cloak and dagger at all when they originally arrived together as co-workers from “Washington After 5” and everyone would already know they know each other?

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  8. At this point the ‘ever feeling sorry for tony train’ is still operating for me. [love the way you put this clagjanet] But… It is at a big crossroads.. he has a decision to make-which way will he choose? But..I’m thinking he hasn’t yet made it. Maybe he will fight it?
    While we don’t know what he has been asked to do, it’s involving hurting Maria in some way. (and lol a gold pen!) … so what’s it gonna be Tony? your career or your lady?
    I’ll be agreeing with you clagjanet if he does the wrong thing here – cries of being manipulated won’t acquit him of his (real and relationship) crimes!!!!
    I’ve been wondering if this Tony/Maria relationship is the real deal.. I guess I’m about to find out!! 🙂

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    1. I’m thinking that, at this point Tony is so confused about what’s just happened that he isn’t in a position to make any decisions. Fairly sure that the last thing that Tony was expected was to be asked to commit treason so I can forgive him for now.

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  9. This is where the Ever-Feeling-Sorry-for-Tony Train stops for me. In what weird narcissistic brain – even one being manipulated by the Master Puppeteer Krutiov – is it possible to contemplate treason in exchange for a ten-cent production of your play? Not even Danny Davis can make this one work for me. I’m just going to scroll back up and watch Lee watch Amanda instead.

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        1. Whahahahaa!!! clagjanet has cracked the code! 😉

          Hmm.. we could argue that Krutiov is so clever he doesn’t need props.. he uses real people as props! He doesn’t have to insert a recorded message that needs a string pulled to listen to… he gets real people to say what he wants! Muahahahaaaa!!!

          [But dang. an evil prop is lots of fun! Hey guys.. would you like to suggest one that Krutiov could have used? ]

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