Hellooooo and Welcome to Season Four!!!!
I can’t quite believe we are finally here! I’m looking forward to exploring it with you all!!
So, you may have noticed – Stemwinders 1 & 2 were the first two episodes of season 4 in airing order.. and I do like to stick with the airing order for blogging.. However – here I’m going to make an exception. It’s widely thought (known?) that unfinished business was the original season opener.. but TPTB decided it wasn’t packing enough umpf for an opener so it got bumped.. Well, we are putting it right back at the start again!
A huge thank you to Learjet, who has transcribed the dialogue for us – and formatted it for publishing – Learjet we salute you!! 
Let’s get into ‘Unfinished Business’!
Don’t adjust your sets! The episode starts in black and white! 
We see a car zoom around the corner. There’s two people talking on the footpath (Okay- sidewalk!) by the light. 
We hear their conversation from a distance..
Woman: It’s ten past.
Man: Give him time.
Woman: You know, I got a call from your son’s school today.
(finally we get a close up..) [‘your son’ lol. she’s not the mother?]
Man: Oh, what now? 
[Hey it’s Lee with a moustache! Gosh.. that’s usually smk speak for bad guy! But.. this can’t be Lee back in 1955! ]
[whoa!!! Who is this woman Lee is working with in 1955? Oh wait.. something isn’t right here 🙂 Okay okay.. I can’t have completely forgotten who this couple is! I tried!!
Hey- It’s that Wendy lady from Just Shoot Me!]
Jennie: During play period, your son built quite an impressive fort, which he then defended with his slingshot using leftover bits of graham cracker as ammunition…
[Lee look alike seems a bit amused. Okay – this is Lee’s papa!]
…And I told her it was brilliant strategy but very bad behaviour.
[Errr I think that is suppose to be a British accent.. if I hadn’t heard Lee tell Amanda in The Eyes Have It that his mother was British, I wouldn’t have noticed the attempt to make her accent sound British- What do the Brits make of it? As an Aussie, I think it’s not terribly convincing 
at best, we could say she’s been in America for a while and has started to loose her accent!]
Lee’s Papa (apparently called Matt) chuckles at his son’s antics.. while we see a car pulls up across the way.
A man gets out..
Matt: Here we are.
The man approaches them.
Whoa! Did you see that???!!! Look!!!!
Goooo Kate!!! whoo hoo!!!
Okay.. gotta focus!
Matt: Glad you could make it, Mr Blackthorne.
Mr Blackthorne: I don’t think I had much choice.
Matt takes an envelope out of the inside pocket of his jacket and hands it to Blackthorne, while Jennie looks on. Blackthorne takes the envelope and opens it. He’s pretty horrified by what he sees. Soooo is Papa Lee a blackmailer?!
Matt looks pretty happy with himself.
Mr Blackthorne: Suppose there’s more where this came from.
Jennie: That’s quite enough.
[whooo she’s not just a spectator! She’s a part of this gig! Lee’s parents worked together??? Well that’s pretty awesome isn’t it! 
]
Mr Blackthorne: I see.
Matt: Tomorrow, then. My office at 11.
Matt holds his hand out to take back the piece of paper from the Blackthorne.
Mr Blackthorne: If I bring you what you want, then you’ll leave me alone?
Matt: If you tell us everything we need to know, I’m sure we can reach a satisfactory agreement.
Matt takes Jennie by the arm and they leave.
Wow. what an introduction! I guess without it being said we guess this is Lee’s dad – given he looks like Lee.. but is it a given she is his mother? I guess the school did call her.. so maybe it is too. but interesting that she refers to ‘your son’ a couple of times. lol. We are left not really knowing what this couple is – bad guys? good guys? Is this Blackthorne a victim? Or something else?! Gah!! Okay – I remembered this is Lee’s parents but I honestly don’t remember who this Blackthorne is! anyone else not watched this ep in years?
And of course, we can’t let this pass.
Lee clearly has a cover picture frame of his parents next to his bed. Not his real parents!
What else did Lee say? Lee: My dad was in Army Intelligence. They met when the NATO pact was signed in ’49……I was five years old when they were killed.
Uh oh! If Lee is in school, they’re about to die!! 
And.. if Lee’s dad was in Army Intelligence, maybe that’s what this is – some kind of intelligence operation.. Hmm.. I guess we’ll see!
Anyway, back to the episode, Blackthorne watches Matt and Jennie’s car pull away, and he pulls out a cigarette and lights it with much gravitas! whooooo.. He’s not about to acquiesce I think! 
A pick up truck starts and drives down the same road Matt and Jennie just drove down. Uh oh. I think the cigarette was a signal. ‘Get them!!!’
In the car, Matt is driving.
Matt: You’re awfully quiet, Mrs Stetson. 
Jennie: Just wondering if Blackthorne will come through tomorrow. [She doesn’t sound British to me!]
Matt: If he’s smart, he’ll be there…
…Then this whole protracted affair will be-
Headlights appear. Tyres screech. The pick up truck approaches head on – swerving towards Matt and Jennie’s car from the opposite direction. Matt wrenches the wheel. The car crashes and rolls..
[Love how this is done with the rolling image – very true to the time period! I think KJ likes to mix it up with the visuals –good for her! she’s my hero! ]
The sounds of an explosion. Oh nooo!!!
Another car pulls up. It’s Blackthorne! Muahahahaha!!! He gets out of the car and looks down – I guess they went over a cliff. 
We can see the glow of fire.. and hear the burning. Oh how awful! The reflection and sound of fire are in the background. The scene ends there.
Whoa.. can you imagine if this really had been the start of season 4? I confess, after a long break, to start with 4 minutes of a black and white flashback is probably quite a confusing way to start a new season! But.. Let’s see what this episode has to offer!
I know it’s extra challenging to not jump ahead at the start of a new episode, it may be also tough because it’s the start of a season! I knoowwww…. Hang in there!! Let’s stay in the moment and we’ll get to all the good stuff that’s ahead (whatever that is, I’m just assuming it’s there!! ) Oh since we left Lee and Amanda mid sweet, romantic kiss – I’m busting to see what they are like now!!!! What did you all think the first time you saw this opening? Lee seems to be all his dad, didn’t inherit anything from his mother teee hee…
Can’t wait to hear from you all!!! The more the merrier!!! Been reading and are looking for a good time to jump on in? Maybe now at the start of season 4 is the perfect time to join the conversation
"Just walk with me.." 
I was recently studying the Victorian Language Of Flowers and learned something interesting. The Blackthorn symbolized difficulty. Now how creepily appropriate is that?
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Thanks to you, I keep finding myself debating the airing order between this episode and the Stemwinders and constantly going back and forth. The more recent idea that came to mind in terms of having Stemwinder first is “What if being falsely accused of treason himself is what brought the nightmares back for Lee and inspired him to look further into his parents’ past? He does have that very telling comment on Stemwinder II “They got to my family. We don’t have a home.”
Also, we see Amanda has a permanent badge on this episode, which I don’t think she had on Stemwinder, when she was finally made an agent.
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Wow! Over 100 comments so far an it’s only the first post of season 4. This is one of the reasons why I was looking forward to walking through this season to see what everyone else was thinking and hear other’s thoughts.
I agree with others about the “your son” comment. I have heard it a few times when I’ve had to tell parents about their kids. When they do something negative the child belongs to the other parent. When they do something positive both parents claim the child.
I happen to be a big fan of the old black and white movies from the 40s and this had that kind of a feel for me. I believe that some of the ambiguity of the dialog was on purpose. We still don’t know what’s what and we’re left to question just what was going on with Blackthorne.
We are left with the impression that these are Lee’s parents. Throughout this whole series we’ve been able to learn quite a bit about Amanda and her life. It seems as if we may be getting the chance to learn more about Lee. I remember being excited about the fact that we might get to delve into Lee’s past.
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Just getting back from vacation and starting to catch up on things. Glad to be starting Season 4. Haven’t read all of the comments yet, but I liked the ‘club’ and ‘Save the clams’ remarks. Sign me up too. 😉
I like this glimpse into Lee’s parents life, but I wish we could see more. I’m sure that, ‘to know Lee is to know his parents.’ I wondered what it would be like if Matt and Jennie were still alive. The Lee we know would be different. Also wondered what it would be like for Amanda to meet Matt and Jennie in some alternate universe-type story. No doubt they’d love Amanda and vice-versa.
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Perfect timing Sara! welcome back – hope you are well rested and ready to go to your club/save the clams/ spend some smk time with us on JWWM 🙂
Me too I enjoy the glimpse too. I guess in a way Lee’s memory of them would also be a glimpse, given he was so young when they passed. The audience experiences a hint of that sadness and disappointment..
Oh gosh. what would Lee have been like had his parents not died?
Uh oh.. Sliding doors alert!!!! 🙂 this stuff makes my head hurt. lol. but we are all different and share away – I am certain there are others who wonder also – and it not, well I’m still happy to hear where your thoughts have led you 🙂
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I’m glad you decided to do this episode first- I’ve always found it kind of “meh” but I think that viewing it before Stemwinder will make all the difference. I look forward to seeing if this changes my opinion of it!
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Hi Xiolaperry, really glad you could join us and share your thoughts!
yeah it’s going to be interesting seeing how putting unfinished business alters our experience of this episode. Looking forward to hearing your stemwinder thoughts too when we get there 🙂
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I bet BB had a great time, playing Lee’s father.
Now BB is his own ‘doppelganger’ or his own recycled actor, we’ll have to see and wait for the decision about what it will be. 🙂
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I’m so impressed by how different Bruce makes his portrayal of Matthew Stetson versus Lee. His voice is deeper, more like how he sounded when he played Frank Buck on Bring Em Back Alive, and also quieter than Lee. He also comes across as — I don’t know if I’d say less extroverted, because we know Lee keeps to himself, but as a general rule when you see Lee interact with his coworkers he comes across as more outgoing on at least the surface. Matthew strikes me as less outgoing and more reflective, which makes me think Lee inherited that part of his personality from his mother, who comes across as more outgoing and direct in the two flashbacks. I think Matthew is also a little better at the self control side than Lee when you look at the first scene, “Give him time,” “Here we go.” I don’t see Lee being that patient at a meeting — in fact I’m sure there is at least one ep where we see he isn’t.
It’s really fun to watch the two “Just walk with me” scenes side by side because Bruce is basically using the exact same dialogue, but he plays the two scenes completely different. It’s so great.
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Oh! So many great comments! Love the Freud discussion! Its been so long for me since I have been on JWWM that WordPress and I are arguing over my log in info. Hopefully I can get this comment through and then later today I can feast on the comments a bit more.
Yay! season 4!!!
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I feel your pain, I’ve been having issues with WordPress lately…boo🙁
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Morley! Hoorah!!! so glad you could stop by and you didn’t let wordpress beat you! Sorry to hear of your issues 😦 I hope you can stop by often for season 4 Morley!
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I hope so too!!! Thinking about SMK is like Yoga for my brain, its so much happier when I make time for it. That sounds so trite, but I think it may be true 😉
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hi all! I don’t think this has come up yet.. but just wanted to mention – interesting that Lee’s dad smokes a pipe. smoking.. and a moustache! I think smk was toying with us a little.. going for some ambiguity over just who or what Lee’s parents were! 🙂
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Times changes.
Perhaps back I the 50th baddies neither wore moustaches nor did they smoke (no matter if it were cigarettes, cigars or pipes)…
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Yeah I can see how that works, you may be right L&A. It may not mean a thing.. any number of ideas are probably equally possible..
I think we go with ideas or that interests us or that resonate, and I’m so glad there doesn’t have to be one right way to interpret things.
At the moment I’m playing with the idea that the idea that the ep starts with a question mark over mamma and papa Lee – they may be dodgy or whoooo Russian agents 😉 [can you imagine?!] or.. it could just be a cool red herring..
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Mmmhh, and Gregory is what… his long lost cousin? 😉
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Well, according to old Perry Mason reruns, back in the 50s EVERYBODY smoked cigarettes. Good guys AND bad guys. Men and women. Anybody who was anybody had a cigarette in their hand. But by the 80s, things had definitely changed, and cigarettes could be used to help with a “bad guy” vibe. As Morely points out, though, pipes never picked up that connotation, for some reason. So pipes help create a vibes of distinction, class, scholarliness, maturity, wisdom, and kindness. But only in “elders”. So Lee’s father can smoke a pipe, but Lee wouldn’t be able to. Even if they’re the same age when we see each of them. Connotations are a touchy thing, but Hollywood is the master when it comes to using them!
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I have always thought that pipe smokers were wise and kind… like Gandalf and Aragorn. Its the cigarettes that are the evil thing and cigars just show bad taste. Maybe I think this because my husband smokes the occasional pipe and I like the Lord of the Rings… maybe, but then maybe not 😉
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whoooo LOTR reference cool! 🙂
yeah maybe in smkland cigarette smokers are baddies, and pipe smokers are goodies. lol.
Morley does your husband have a moustache?! 🙂
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Not too often. I think he looks dastardly with a mustache. But he does often grow a goatee during the winter months and I like that. When we go for walks in the winter he likes to start up the pipe, even the kids like that.
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I like the idea of pipe smokers being goodies. 🙂
My husband wears a at least a moustache (sometimes even more) but he doesn’t smoke – not even a pipe…
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Hi All
I have only just remembered that JWWM is starting Season 4 this week ! Yikes I nearly missed it – so glad we are starting with this episode not Stemwinder. I did like this episode when we learned so much more about Lee’s background. I might not comment much, but I will be lurking here whenever I can.
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Hey Silvercorvette – you are always welcome!
I am thinking the walk will be two posts a week – I can’t really maintain getting the posts done any faster.. maybe we fewer posts to keep up with we’ll be able to carve out enough smk time to walk together 🙂
Oh and lurk if you like..but I always enjoy hearing your thoughts!
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Correct me, if you disagree, but when I turned the rolling car snapshot from landscape to portrait, it appears Matt & Jennie Stetson reached for each other. I find that incredibly sweet!
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glad you brought this up Nancy, yes I see it too, it’s sweet.. and a terrible end for these two..
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Seems Matt tried to protect his wife – so sweet. Now we can see where Lee’s protective instincts come from. All inherited from his Dad.
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love this… I love the idea that this is a part of who Lee is – and it’s not a result of his meeting Amanda.. it was a part of who he is from a young age. awhhh…
Didn’t the colonel say something about Lee protecting a girl or something?
Oh and which of Lee’s parents was related to the colonel? or is that a can of worms we shouldn’t open yet – or ever lol..
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Yeah, Alice was her name and he protected/defended her fighting against some muscles which were even some years older then him ( as far as I remember).
… which of Lee’s parents was related to the colonel?
Well, I favour the idea the colonel was Matt’s halfbrother (older/younger?? I’ve no idea!). Otherwise, as Jennie’s brother he should be British, too, and that he wasn’t when we got to know him.
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So for me, this establishes 3 things:
1- Lee’s parents loved him and they were a happy family before their lives were cut short by this evil doer
2- His parents were spies
3- the backstory of Thomas Blackthorn that ties into the rest of the story.
It’s not the most exciting episode but it does fill in some back story for our hero that we never knew before.
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who hooo I like a good summary! Sometimes with these plots we need one 😉
1- yep! sounds good to me!
2- possible I’m missing something, but at this point I don’t know for certain his parents were spies. They were blackmailing Blackthorne for information – that’s all I know. that means they could be good.. or bad.. we’ll see!
3- we don’t know this yet either do we? though, we can assume so given this is smk and everything is shown for a reason 😉
I’m looking forward to digging into Lee’s history! 🙂
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Well…
a. it’s SMK (any new character’s odds of being a spy are abnormally high already),
b. They’re meeting some shadowy character on a shadowy night (a steretypically spy-like thing to do. But which side are they on?)
c. BB is playing the male character (so he MUST be a good guy, right? 😉),
d. these are top agent Lee Stetson’s parents (genetics), and
e. they were impressed and amused by his fort and graham cracker strategy (their 5 year old is throwing graham crackers, and they’re commenting on strategy?? 😄).
I think natsned’s spy assumption is reasonably safe ☺
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I love that you’ve used this as episode 1 of Season 4! In fact I loved this episode so much that I even wrote a Fanfic Tag for the episode – and I remember seeing the ‘Directed by Kate Jackson’ and I thought, ‘Kate? Our Kate? Oh Wow!’ (You can see where I’m going with this.) I have SMK on my Kindle Fire, my tablet, (yeah, you can definitely see where I’m going with this…) I still love SMK, it’s just that Real Life has got in the way recently. Thought it was so cool that BB wore a moustache (I hope he grew one!) Anyway, enough of my waffle, I just wanted to pop in and say hello and that I haven’t forgotten you…promise.
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Hiya Anchoret! Wonderful to see you stop by – its been ages!!!
Yep – I hear ya about real life getting in the way! You are welcome to join in whenever you are able to 🙂
glad you’re enjoying experiencing unfinished business as the season opener! 🙂
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I totally understand how real life can get in the way.
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How do I explain to everyone in my real life that I need time to make SMK a priority? Does anyone have any advice? LOL
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You don’t need to explain smk is a priority.. just say you want a little down time to yourself. you don’t need to share what that actually is!
Or Morley, you could always tell them you are going to your club. you know, your club!! 😉
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Yep, Morley, and if they ask what kind of club… – it’s a ‘walking club’. 😉
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rofl! I love it L&A! 🙂
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Save the clams! wasn’t that it? I will develop a new found interest in shell fish! I am afraid if I tell them its a walking club they will want to walk with me and they will talk the whole time. Even now I have had to explain to my youngest why I want to think my own thoughts uninterrupted for just a few moments. He just can’t seem to fathom that!
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Even now I have had to explain to my youngest why I want to think my own thoughts uninterrupted for just a few moments. He just can’t seem to fathom that
Ooooh, I know exactly what you mean, Morley.
Add doing that all in a foreign language to that mix and you know how I sometimes feel with my kids responding to them, walking through and commenting to the posts… 😉
OK, so a walking club wouldn’t work… What do your kids DO NOT like?
An interest I shellfish – really, Morley??? 😉
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I know mine tend to scatter when I talk about cleaning and decluttering….
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haaa yeah the housework club will get rid of them! 🙂 good one Cindy!
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OMG! SAME! I love my family but Sheesh! They even talk at me through the bathroom door.
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I hear you! LOL!!!
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Hah ha Cindy, the kids are fully grown and still do that when they come over! Grandson does it too….
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Yep, we have somehow become centre of their universe, or at the least official witness to everything they think and do.
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Bwa Ha ha ha ha ha! I love it. The club.
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Save the Clams!!!
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A pick up truck starts and drives down the same road Matt and Jennie just drove down. Uh oh. I think the cigarette was a signal. ‘Get them!!!’
I’m totally with your thought of the cigarette as a signal.
I just don’t understand, how the pick up truck first follows the Stetsons and than suddenly it approaches from the opposite direction, hitting them head on… (The pick up truck approaches head on – swerving towards Matt and Jennie’s car from the opposite direction.)
Did this driver find a shortcut or a worm hole or anything else, allowing him to pass the Stetsons without being seen, turn around and collide with them in a fatal way? 😦
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Good question! One thought: Have you ever seen a map of Washington, D.C. streets? It looks like a spider web with its many diagonal streets and circles so perhaps it was possible to take an alternate route. Plus, it was late at night, which means there were none of the usual traffic snafus, so the killer could drive fast.
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I don’t know why, but I always assumed Mom&Dad Stetson were hit outside the city. Seems to be a out of town road where they were hit by the pick up truck to me. Otherwise I couldn’t explain the cliff they went down. (Blackthorne… gets out of the car and looks down – I guess they went over a cliff.) Or has DC some cliffs in town – I don’t think so. And if the car just fell into the river, it wouldn’t burn…
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Hmmm L&A I just figured the truck passed them on the road – not doing anything suspicious, then went around a bend, did a u turn hidden from their view, and then came right back at them..
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Hmm, somehow I don’t believe that, Iwsod. I don’t know why – just a hunch?
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LOL it’s completely up to you how you want to see it 🙂 it’s all good!
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Can I just say – Wow!!!! How good is it to be receiving emails again that people have commented!!! 🙂 so good to be back – I’ve missed you guys
!!
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It’s funny – for some reason, despite what I can now see is some pretty dodgy dialogue, I don’t recall ever thinking that these two were up to something bad. It must be the Boxleitner Effect – where I always assume that if it’s Bruce, it must be a good guy. But seriously – they really seem to be up to something sneaky here! I think the only thing that kept me from seeing it that way originally is that playful byplay between the parents.
What I have never forgotten – and it grates to this day – is how truly terrible Wendie Malick’s English accent is. It’s probably worse for me now, married to an Englishman, but oh my poor ears. It’s consistently hilarious how terrible Americans are at doing an RP accent while everyone from Brits to Aussies are all over Hollywood these days doing almost perfect American.
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LOL I already knew the plot of this ep before I saw it. so terrible! but this time, it had been so long since I’d seen it or talked about it, that I was able to step back and try at least to view it afresh..
gah!!!!!!!!! Agreed.. it’s pretty bad! Some Americans can manage it – Renee Zellwegger did well I thought 🙂
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And Gwyneth Paltrow. Ok, so that’s the two that managed it. LOL
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OUCH! Rolled my eyes too hard. It’s an instinctive reaction whenever GP’s name is mentioned.
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I’d add the Americans from the LOTR trilogy to that group — Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin…Can’t recall which other ones had actual accents in that cast and who had to learn them. It’s been ages since I looked all of that up.
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I can’t look at Wendie Malick without thinking of the tv show Kate and Allie. 😁
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I love the idea of the Boxleitner Effect!!!
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I know a lot of people who use the “your son” or “your daughter” to their spouse when the kid does something either very similar to that parent or something naughty and they’re jokingly blaming the other parent’s influence. So I followed it immediately when I watched it, that those were Lee’s parents.
I really enjoy the episodes Kate directs, as well, I’m looking forward to this one. 🙂
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Welcome to the blog, jillyfae! Your comment went into moderation because I believe it is your first comments. I just deleted the second comment because it was identical to the first. Any subsequent comments should post straight away.
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thanks for looking after Jillyfae BJo, you were probably away when Jillyfae commented last so hadn’t seen her around before or gotten to say welcome to her yet.
(it was early August- I checked, no my memory is not that good!)
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Hiya Jillyfae, it looks like you’ve commented using a wordpress account, whereas the other, earlier times you commented you didn’t – this is why it went into moderation, but as BJo says, from now on if you are consistent with how you sign in, you’ll not need comments to be approved.
Great to see you stop by again!
lol welcome to that club Jillyfae! 🙂
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Ahhh nope. correction! it was a different email address. but hey, now if you use either – you’ll be fine 🙂
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Woops! Sorry, jillyfae, that I didn’t realize you were not a first-time commenter. There’s been a lot of water under the bridge since August!
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I know, I’m sorry. Life was being very uncooperative, and then my old log-in didn’t work, (user error, I’m sure) and then wordpress tried to eat my new log-in, it was VERY EXCITING. (Sorry about the double, it glitched right in the middle of logging in, so I was unfortunately pretty sure it had done that. WordPress error that time, at least it wasn’t me again.)
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So glad you persisted jillyfae! 🙂
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Yes, that is how I heard it to. Mrs. Stetson is remarking to her husband that their son is very much a chip off of the old block. I also think that is important info for us too. We are being told a bit more about our favorite leading man here. Important information about this man that we have all been cheering on as we have been watching him grow and blossom emotionally. And now that we have finally seen him reach out and take an important step towards Amanda, we hope that we are going to learn more about his makeup. We learn here that he had parents who loved him and were also fond of each other and Lee was a precocious child but also a lot like his father…. But what sort of man was his Father??
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When I or any of my siblings did something naughty, my mother used the same phrase as Jennie Stetson did when Dad came home from work: “Your son …” or “Your daughter …” It must have been a mid-50s into mid-60s way of a stay-at-home Mom distancing herself from responsibility for her child’s bad behavior. Don’t know if Jennie was a stay-at-home Mom until Lee started school, but she is certainly working with her husband in regard to Blackthorne.
I concur with your impression that Blackthorne’s cigarette lighter was the signal to a “hired gun” to run Matt & Jennie’s car off the road. That Blackthorne sure is a disgusting character …I hate him already!
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I’ll do that when our (four-legged) kids are naughty. At those times they’re certainly not my dogs, they’re his. My dogs have impeccable manners.
I like my dream world. 😉
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2goldens! hello!
rofl. smk is a bit of a dreamworld too isn’t it! 🙂
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Hi, iwsod! Yes, and it’s one of the best! 🙂
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I wasn’t familiar with it so for an introduction to a character it threw me a moment.. but maybe it’s a cultural thing.. all good!
maybe if he had laughed and thrown back at her ‘your son?!’ I would have gotten it, and that she was being a bit cheeky 😉
Oh cool, thanks for adding your voice here, it’s always good to hear if others agree too…
me tooooo!!!!!
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Or “He Must get that from YOUR side of the family.”
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That’s it!!! and a nudge in the ribs 😉 then.. followed up by a flirty smile 😉
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If it was Kate, who played Jennie Stetson, I suspect she would have done something along your line that made Matt Stetson laugh out loud.
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So true, but that would have taken Freud’s “Boys want to marry their mother” to a whole new level. 😉
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Thank you, Cindy for that disturbing mental image.:-)
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You are very welcome. Enjoy your weekend. 🙂
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Hmmm.. Jennie Oedipus Stetson.. nah! doesn’t work! 🙂
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It would have been Jennie Elektra Stetson. Oedipus for boys; Elektra for Girls. Freud believed that all boys want to marry their mothers and all girls their fathers. Just to add to the creepy…
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Jennie Elektra Stetson? nahhh doesn’t work 🙂
[thanks for the correction 🙂 ]
leave it to Freud to get creepy.. actually anchoret, I think Freud gets a mention later in this ep from me.. (a positive one, he had some interesting things to say too).. Stay tuned!
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They love Freud down in SMK Land! Remember Amanda’s little aside in If Thoughts Could Kill about Lee’s steamy dreams before they found out they were literally about steam? “Probably sexual”… LOL
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That was such a great gag! Lee’s reaction was priceless!!! 🙂 I cannot wait to walk through season 1 again!
But ahem. I’m going to stay in the moment and enjoy season 4 till we get back there!
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In some ways Freud was right; to us it’s creepy (much like thinking of one’s parents having sex) but it’s meant to be regarded like this; in a strong loving family with say a girl and a boy the closest adult role models a child has are their parents. A little girl grows up loving and admiring her father (a boy the same for his mother) by the time a girl’s gone through puberty she’s realised that it isn’t her father she wants to marry, but someone with the same values; and vice-versa for boys, but boys can be complicated creatures. This is it in simplest terms (very simple I admit!)
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Yes! That is exactly how I would describe it. And I wonder if we are supposed to be recognizing some of this as we delve into Lee’s childhood and parents at this stage in Lee and Amanda’s story. Can two parents have made such an impression on a child as young as Lee? Could their influence still be affecting him like that after being taken away at such a young age and after he experienced so much pain from that point on?
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??? Does this tell us anything about Carmen Electra??? Or about Prince, who, btw, gave her that name?
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EXACTLY! It’s usually all in good fun between loving parents; just as we see in BB’s portrayal of half pride and half amusement at Lee’s all boy shenanigans. Bruce is such a wonderful actor with his sexy voice, expressive face and body, that my eyes are always drawn to him on screen.
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I quite like the black and white, it does make it all look old and film noir (and cheesey)’
I even like Lee’s father despite the tash (not a good look for BB). I think it is quite sweet the way he smiles indulgently at little Lee’s antics.
I am not so crazy on Lee’s mother, it might be the accent or the fact that she seems a little stiff but I would have preferred someone warmer and more feminine. (Not to imply the actress isn’t feminine but her portrayal of Jennie isn’t )
I saw this episode for the first time a few years ago and immediately felt that Lee’s parents were above reproach – was I right or wrong? time will tell. I was going on the old principle:- the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. However, there was always the possibility that the season 4 of SMK could have become edgy and dark.
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I blame the accent. the way she pronounced the graham in graham crackers – there is no way she’d say that if she was an English woman who had lived in the US for 40 years. I would have loved to see BB give the accent a go.
I have heard the dominant R sound is a challenge for Americans to overcome, where as Australians are a bit of a blank slate and can more easily add additional emphasis. Maybe brits too.. anyway, Jennie sounds snooty – I think she’s being very dry with her humour, but because of the snooty accent I don’t warm to her. Oh well.. she ain’t real anyway 😉 tee heee..
Yes that would be a cool plot twist! Lee’s parents turn out to be Bulgarian under cover agents.. tee hee…
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Which would explain the bad ‘British’ accent.
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maybe, Just replied to clagjanet that there are some Americans who can do it well.. but I was just saying I had heard it is tougher ..
Hey the guy who played Martinet did a fabulous british accent in the Nanny! 🙂 I was convinced he was british and was shocked to find him in SMK and… American! sheesh.. he’s good! 🙂
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Ha! And people complained that Charles Shaughnessy’s accent wasn’t authentic and suggested that Daniel Davis coach him on the proper way to speak.
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I thought his accent was lovely! 🙂
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lol and yes indeed! If they are really undercover Bulgarian agents.. it does explain the bad British accent. good call! 🙂
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Not sure if you ever read the Malory Towers series, but in “Third Year At Malory Towers” by Enid Blyton, and then the later carry on by Pamela Cox “Summer Term At Malory Towers” there is some discussion about American characters trying to learn the British accents and the different ways they talk. Some of it was stuff I took for granted until I read it, although I’m Canadian, not American.
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…but I would have preferred someone warmer and more feminine.
You mean someone more like…. Amanda?
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well at least someone with a believable English accent. lol. Maybe we’ll see Jennie again and get more time to warm to her!
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Hmmmm let’s see…
– warmer
– more feminine and
– a more believeable English accent…
There comes just one person to my mind… Lady Emily Farnsworth. 😉
Perhaps they should have given that part to a real English actress…
Could have been more believeable, huh?
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I don’t know, I was thinking Lee favored his mother! 😉
I always have found this to be a bit of a corny scene in general, but when SMK is trying to wrap up a whole lot of points in a couple of minutes, it does understandably lean on blatant stereotypes like stealthy rendez-vous under streetlights and potential baddies lighting up cigarettes. Not to mention an actor slapping on a mustache to play his father, lol. I rather enjoy the corniness when not overdone.
I never considered at all that the lighting of the cigarette might be a signal! Good catch, Iwsod! This is why I love this walk, to guide me through pathetically clueless moments. I agree that the description of little Lee is pretty cute and oh so little-boyish. I guess he had protective instincts from a young age!
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tee hee! Maybe he does in personality.. or fashion sense 🙂
Interesting thoughts on corny scenes raffie! true, when telling a story quickly, stereotypes can make it easy. I don’t mind corny, if the show isn’t taking itself too seriously it works. Like when Amanda even calls something out as corny basically – in Utopia now with that handshake and the little trailblazer says give me a break lady – or something along those lines 😉
then Amanda says something like too corny? and Phillip thinks so too. lol.
It’s corny, and it knows it.. and it’s fun 🙂
thanks! there are loads of different things you pick up too and share with us all! 🙂 we all see different things.. it’s great!
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Not to mention an actor slapping on a mustache to play his father, lol.
Hmm, did BB really only slap on a fake mustache, or did he grow it? Following the thought of ‘Unfinished Business’ originally being the first episode in S4 he had plenty of time to let it grow during summer breake… hmmmm, just a thought… 🙂
I agree that the description of little Lee is pretty cute and oh so little-boyish. I guess he had protective instincts from a young age!
According to Lee, Amanda has ‘motherhood’ carved at her bones” – in my opinion Lee has ‘white knight’ or ‘protector’ carved at his bones. 😀
So, yes, he had it already in him – even as a little boy.
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Hmm, there’s a lot of pics out there with mustaches BB did grow and he always seemed to get more of a porn-stache thing going on than this wee caterpiller…
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ewwwwwww!
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Ok, I admit the whole “Directed by Kate Jackson” predisposes me to love this episode. I enjoy how she used colour and light in TPE, and I like the black and white and (to our 21st century eyes somewhat corny) rotating car shot.
Lee’s dad does look a bit funny with his facial hair (BB is no Tom Selleck 😀 ) but I enjoy seeing them, and the insight into the personality of little Lee before his life changed forever.
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Me toooo!!!!!! 🙂
good call! haaaa.. Magnum he ain’t 😉
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First off, I like having this episode to start Season 4. That Photo of Lee’s Parents is how I found this Website in the first place. What I find amusing is that besides the Photo being Kathleen Kennedy’s Wedding Day, is that the Bride is the American and her Husband is English and wearing an English Officer’s uniform. But, hey who notices details like that?
Ok, the actress with the English accent is over doing it. Lee like always looks good, But the fedora(hat) could have been tilted a bit? The brim of Mr. Blackthorne’s fedora has the type of tilt I am talking about. Those did bits aside, good opening scene to set the tone of the episode.
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So cool that Lee’s ‘cover parents’ photo is what brought you here. I am excited for season 4 as well and relieved that ‘Unfinished Business’ starts us off.
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So glad you were brought here by something Gilby! 🙂
Yeah that’s a hoot that the uniforms are the wrong way around haaaa.. it would have been interesting to see BB play the role of Lee Stetson English gentleman.. I wonder if he could have pulled off the accent!
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“… But the fedora (hat) could have been tilted a bit? The brim of Mr. Blackthorne’s fedora has the type of tilt I am talking about.”
I think that Blackthorne’s hat was DELIBERATELY tipped forward, to just above his eyebrows and hiding part of his face, to let the viewer know right away that he’s a sinister fellow. While Matt Stetson’s hat fully revealed his face and gives us the impression that he is an honest, open man.
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Nice theory!
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I did not think about a sinister theory? I was just commenting style wise like Bogart in ‘Casablanca’ or Mr. Daly the lawyer in ‘Miracle on 34th Street’.
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Understood Gilby, yours was just a straight forward comment on what you liked the look of with fedoras – looks like it has inspired some different thoughts.
Hey did you see Lee wearing a fedora in spiderweb? do you think he did it justice? 🙂
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Oh yes, Lee definitley did! I am not sure if the tilt of the hat was supposed to show bad guy or good guy, but I am leaning with Gilby, – I would prefer it tilted on Matt (and no moustache, but I digress)
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This works for me! 🙂
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