So just what is going on with Lee and why is he not confiding in Amanda?! We find the Corvette parked outside some housing of some kind. Lee off to interview a source? 
Inside, we find Lee alone and laying on a sofa.
[Hmm.. Is Lee cheating on Amanda? Whose house is this??!!! It’s quite comfortable and homey.. much less showy than Lee’s place! 
Okay okay.. so this is Lee’s new pad?! He made a few changes over the break! I like to think he moved closer to Amanda!! But.. not so close that Dotty could spot the new neighbour (with great posture). We can have a field day analysing the differences in Lee’s old flashy high rise and this more ‘suburban’ home! However, I do think Lee should have gone for a place with a garage so his flashy corvette isn’t screaming to all the baddies driving past: Lee Stetson lives here!!!! 
Err but I digress sorry!
So this is the ‘things to do’ Lee was referring to? Oh dear, he’s not a happy camper (Hi Happy Camper! Miss ya!)]
Lee appears to be looking at the CIA files on his folks. I guess that is all CIA photos from their file. Can anyone make anything out? 
I’ve turned it and zoomed.. thus why it’s a bit fuzzy.. but I think the main photo is Mathew Stetson. Some of the other black and white photos appear to be Mathew and Jennie waiting on that corner for Blackthorne. Hmm so they were under surveillance then huh. Shame they didn’t notice the signal Blackthorne gave to that truck!
Lee puts the files on the coffee table and his hand lingers – as if he’s trying to connect with them.. 
Hey! Look!
That magazine that is now under the CIA folders? We’ve seen that before!
Here!
Amanda was reading it in the Triumvirate!!! 
I like to think Amanda has been making herself comfortable at Lee’s new pad, and so she’s now leaving her magazines there
He turns and picks up the large framed black and white photo behind him. Looks like it’s his folks? I see the frame (and photo) has gotten an upgrade from the season 3 photo by his bed. LOL. Okay maybe that one is still there it is after all his cover family photo!
Lee picks it up.. Awh – there’s a real sense of longing and sadness here huh. Poor Lee!!
(Lee looks at it, touching the photo, with a bittersweet smile) [IMHO]
Lee tucks the photo into his arms, hugging it to himself and he closes his eyes..
Lee drifts off into a dream…
A red tinged dream..
Little boy: Mom? Dad?..
[Guessing this is Little Lee – It seems little Lee is dreaming of a childhood memory or something. Love how the little tike is really tired, rubbing his eyes – but has managed to put on his dressing gown first before searching for Mum and Dad! ]
…Dad? Mom? Where are you?
Little Lee gasps with shock, and we see a shadow appear coming closer.. 
[Quite heartbreaking to think of what little Lee must have experienced!!]
Little Lee screams and cries: Dad!
Little Lee turns to run (sort of) down the hall..
The shadow can be heard breathing in a menacing way! gah!!! Little Lee pulls on the door handle at the end of the hallway but it won’t budge.
The shadow continues to breathe loudly!
Little Lee: Dad, let me in!
That door just won’t open.. No matter how much little Lee tries.. [I wonder if in this dream, the door symbolises a memory – and Lee can’t access it, it’s locked – but he’s trying to get it open..]
and Little Lee screams again.
Then, we transition back to adult Lee, waking from his sleep suddenly as the phone rings. 
Lee jumps up to a sitting position alarmed by the dream and the sudden awakening..
[Lee’s having nightmares about previous buried memories.. Hmm I swear the writers are into Freud! I’ll get back to this!]
Lee’s voice on the machine: This is Lee Stetson. I’m not in right now so please leave a message.
(Lee is seen taking a big steadying breath while he hears his machine message.)
[Seems like the dream has shocked him a little – the memories? or the intensity? or.. both? I’m not sure..]
(We cut to Amanda at home)
(Amanda seems to react to getting the answering machine.) [Disappointed.. and worried IMHO- what do you think?]
Amanda: Hello, it’s me again…
(Amanda pauses for a second)
…Amanda… [It’s like she wasn’t sure if she needed to say who she was. awh!!!! so sad!!] 
(We cut back to Lee looking at the answering machine listening to Amanda)
…I wish you’d answer….
[Lee’s got the jaw clenching thing going on. He’s really not a happy chappy right now]
…I’m really sorry I upset you, and…
(We cut back to Amanda)
…I’d like to at least talk about it. So, I hope you’ll call me as soon as you get a chance.
[Awhhhh Amanda’s been calling and calling?! Awh!!! so sad!!] (We cut back to Lee reaching out to pick up the phone here – but he hesitates). 
Amanda’s voice: OK, bye.
(We cut back to Amanda hanging up reluctantly.
The phone immediately rings back.)
[Gah!!! It’s Lee?]
(Amanda super excited picks up the phone.)
Amanda: Hello!!!!!
(She pauses.. the excitement dwindles)
…Oh, hi, Joe…
[LOL Amanda sounds disappointed that it’s Joe, though she tries to hide it I wonder if Joe noticed!] [Hmm Joe’s back on the scene huh!] 
…Oh. Uh, ball game on Sunday? Sure, let me just ask ‘em…(Amanda puts her hand over the phone receiver and yells out to the boys): Fellas, ball game with your dad on Sunday?…
(Amanda doesn’t hear any answer.. Much more quietly):Fellas?
(Still getting no answer, Amanda perks herself up to answer Joe.
Err basically lie to Joe!): Boy, are they ever excited, yeah. [Oh rofl! Err no they ain’t!] 
…OK. Yeah, that’d be fine….Oh, yeah, I’m-I’m just great. Thanks, Joe…Yeah, you too, OK. All right, I’ll see you then. OK. Bye-bye. 
[Now this is a really interesting call huh! what’s all this about? why is this call here?!!!
I note Amanda isn’t especially interested in talking with Joe.. doesn’t ask how he is – and is only interested in organising the boys.
Why does Amanda make up that the boys are excited? What’s going on? Everyone?]
Amanda hangs up the call.. She’s said she’s just fine – but I think it’s clear she isn’t! 😦
I think Amanda is so worried and preoccupied about Lee it took a bit out of her to have to deal with Joe.
Awh!! It’s so sad.. I hope Lee confides in Amanda soon!
Lee confided in Amanda about Dorothy, and we all know how hard that was for him. But so far he hasn’t confided anything about his parents and what’s going on here.. Then again, it did take Lee time before he told Amanda in Wizard, maybe it’s the same here.. and it’s not a case of I’ve trusted her during wizard with something really painful, thus I will always immediately trust her and share my pain with her! Evidently, it’s not working this way for Lee! What’s more personal than your parents? He seems to be taking some time to process things.. he needs time alone to absorb, think, grieve, before he is ready to verbalise what’s going on with him emotionally maybe..
I can’t remember what’s ahead – and I don’t remember how this has all come up.. why Lee contacted the CIA seeking information about his parents – I hope we find out (don’t tell me! Sorry if I’m unknowingly teasing you because you have this knowledge! ) But.. I like to think Lee is in a really happy place in his life now that he has established a romantic relationship with Amanda – and this has given Lee the strength and support to finally deal with this deeply buried, and painful part of his past.
Freud’s psychodynamic approach suggests issues are raised in dreams and the subconscious becomes conscious when people are at a point where they are ready to deal with things – I don’t agree with all psychodynamic theory, but this sounds like it fits to me.. Lee’s carried this around with him all his life buried in his subconscious: He’s now finally emotionally strong enough to have this become conscious, confront this pain, work through it, and hopefully – heal and resolve it!
I would love to hear what you all think! What were you thinking at this point? Were you wondering why Lee didn’t share? Anyone else find this tough/sad to watch?
Okay, that’s it from me for now – can’t wait to hear from you!
"Just walk with me.." 
Ugh, I’m having such a hard time getting my brain to reorder this one to come before the Stems. I always thought Joe’s call made sense because he had just spent the time Amanda was on the run in the Stems with Lee at the house with Dotty and the boys who had called him to come help while Amanda was in trouble. I just thought he was continuing to be more involved in their lives.
But I see now how it can work your way. The call is a little more random coming first, but everyone’s explanations have helped.
LikeLike
I like what everyone has written about Lee in this scene. It is an extremely poignant scene and really a first deep look into things we have only had glimpses of about Lee. And I am impressed that he is delving so deeply into something that he has walled away for about 30 years. That is a very brave thing to do and something must have made him desperate to do it because this is serious emotional work he is doing. I love it that TPTB want us to know Lee like this and we all want Amanda to as well.
I really like the new place. It is very much more homey. I wish we could have known more about the move. There are some fan fictions about it. But I think it must be part of whatever this is that is taking Lee on this journey.
The part that jumps out to me the most though about this set of scenes is that phone call that Amanda receives from Joe and how she reacts to it. It seems so odd and it doesn’t even have to be there to further the plot. But I hear in it another parent child relationship that has been broken. I always wonder if the boys actually would not be excited to spend time with their dad because they really don’t know him. I can’t completely imagine them just being completely ok with him waltzing back into their lives. I bet Amanda has been having to do some work with them on how to rebuild, or just build their father/son relationship. So we have Lee laying on the couch dreaming of his parents and the trauma that abruptly losing them has had on him, and on the other side we have Amanda fielding her sons relationship with a father who also abruptly left their lives. And she looks like she is a bit overwhelmed with navigating all these relationships. Poor Amanda, but she sure does a great job.
I agree though, that she is very focused here on needing to reconnect with Lee and not so much on whatever Joe has going on. And I like the way Lee listens to Amanda’s message a reaches for the phone, but just can’t pick it up. I think he wants to connect with her, but he just can’t get the emotional energy up to do so. I don’t think he would fight her much if she kept on insisting, or was persistent in being present. I like the way she apologized for her own actions first. I like what I can see of their new relationship so far, even though its been a tough couple of days for them.
LikeLiked by 6 people
Interesting thought, morley! I always saw the phone call from Joe as a way to show that Amanda is still dealing with Joe’s newly re-established presence in her life, and is doing so politely but not too enthusiastically. So the phone call from Joe made sense to me, but I never considered the point behind the boys not being present and Amanda having to speak with them. SMK has always liked to juxtapose parallel story threads, and the way you explain it makes a lot of sense. We do indeed see Amanda helping someone through losing parents both in her relationship with Lee and in her relationship with the boys. Lots of uncharted waters for her = emotional stress.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like this idea!
Thanks for sharing Morley.. yeah the two son/parent relationships are parallel and that works for me! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
About Amanda and the phone call with Joe. She just assumed the boys would have no objection and agreed on their behalf. If she said they weren’t home, she’d have to call him back later and decided it wasn’t worth it. Or maybe she didn’t want to hold him up for an answer. Also wonder if she was thinking, “Mother won’t be here, boys will be with their dad. House to myself on Sunday…woohoo! I’ll invite Lee over.”
LikeLiked by 4 people
I liked your insight into Amanda’s thoughts on this and I agree with them (:-) )
I just thought – ah ha, the script writers are trying to give us more opportunities for Amanda to spend more time with Lee without seeming to be neglecting the kids and for Lee to be able to go to the King home without the contrivance of endless scout trips!
LikeLiked by 3 people
True, it’s also telling us that Joe is on the scene again and trying to spend time with the boys.. hmm.. interesting!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Also wondering if Amanda is reluctant to talk about herself (her life, what’s new, etc.) or stay on the phone for very long, because she can’t mention Lee to anyone and it’s hard for her to lie.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I do like the (somewhat heavy-handed) message that SMK is also sending us here – a phonecall to/from Lee is much more important to Amanda than a phonecall to/from Joe. Lee is the man in her life now. This kind of clears up any loose Joe-ends from TWWH.
LikeLiked by 3 people
In a lot of ways Lee is still very much that little boy inside. He’s never been good at sharing and Amanda has helped him to do so in many ways. But sharing is still very new to him and he seems to be dealing with some things that are deeply personal and traumatic, more so than dealing with Dorothy’s death.
It’s interesting that Lee’s wall breaking seems to be traveling backwards. Amanda was able to break through the whole becoming a partner issue when he said he didn’t have partners after the loss of his last one. Amanda was able to help him realize just what that whole Eva thing was. And then Amanda helped him get through the Dorothy situation. But the situation with his parents’ death seemed to have set Lee on the wall-building path and I think that’s going to be the toughest to break through.
I like what you say, Iwsod, about Freud and Lee being ready to deal with these issues he’s had buried for so long. He seems to want to reach out to and for Amanda’s help, but there’s still some uncertainty.
I like how Amanda expresses her concern so gently. She doesn’t want to scare Lee away, but wants him to know that she’s concerned and willing to talk. I find it interesting that she apologizes for upsetting him. I’m not sure it’s necessary, but it’s her way to get him to connect to her.
It was mentioned in an earlier post that the script said Lee was on the phone with an old flame when Amanda was coming into the office. With Amanda sort of brushing off Joe I wonder if the powers that be were trying to show us that Lee and Amanda have been moving on from past relationships and becoming more focused on each other.
I wonder if Jamie and Phillip were actually even home. Lee has been absent-minded and so focused on his parents that he lost track of when he sent Amanda home. Maybe Amanda has beens so focused on Lee that she didn’t notice if the boys had gone out to play or hadn’t checked to see if they were home yet.
Lots of angst thus far in this episode.
Liking Lee’s new place. It does seem like more of a home than an apartment. It has a settled feel to it. No more doorman. I wonder if Amanda helped him pick it out.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Hi Valerie, great to see you’ve got some smk time now! 🙂
Loved these comments!!
yeah I think when it is buried so deep, and a trauma from when he was so so young, that it is going to be uniquely challenging to him – there would be no other problem/challenge in life like it. So I can see how he would have an extreme reaction to it, heading home to pour over the files and photos.. and falling asleep..
If he is having these kinds of dreams, and waking up as he does here – he must be sleep deprived. It’s probably not a bad idea to go home and sleep.. glad Lee feels his home is a safe place to withdraw to. Will be interesting to see if he gets lonely, and invites Amanda in 🙂
fun idea!! though – he should have gotten a place with off street parking!
Oh yeah! so true Valerie!
LikeLike
I really like how you mentioned Lee’s wall breaking moving backwards!
LikeLike
I’ve never had a problem with Lee not sharing at this point even with Amanda, but that might be a personal thing. Even after 25 years together, if I have an issue or a health matter, I will often take days to tell my husband because I have to wrap my head around the idea before I feel capable of sharing it and having to discuss it, even with someone I adore.It’s equally true of good news; with both my children, I think I knew for a good two weeks before I told him I was pregnant. I knew he’d be thrilled, but I wanted to just have that time alone with the idea, just for a little while.
I don’t know if that make sense to other people or not, but it does make me understand where Lee might be coming from here. He thinks about picking up that phone while she’s leaving the message because a) he knows that when he is eventually ready to share whatever this problem is, it will be with her, and b) he can hear the hurt that he’s shut her out – but now is not the time and he’s not ready yet.
For all that Amanda has done in bringing Lee to a better understanding of love, I think he is still because his circumstances in life, a loner and very used to compartmentalizing his life – and that is a damn hard habit to break.
LikeLiked by 4 people
I am totally on the same page as you (though the morning sickness hit really hard and early so I don’t think I could have have waited two weeks to spill the beans). I definitely want to hear the news first, in private, deal with it and then bring people in after.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes, I’m hoping Lee will eventually come clean with Amanda here!
LikeLike
I also am on the same page here
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey Clagjanet, Loved your comments!
Me too. I feel the same way. I understand it and I think it’s actually quite realistic/ natural/ healthy even.. but it is tough to watch – so I exclaim: come on Lee tell Amanda!!
The way Lee almost picks up the phone, suggests to me he feels that too – but something is holding him back. It maybe that he is not ready.. but for me I don’t yet quite know enough to say..
LikeLiked by 1 person
Maybe Lee just doesn’t want to share this with anyone? Not even Amanda. My husband is not very good at sharing things – he’s not much of a talker. Sometimes there are things that I just cannot get him to open up and share about despite lots of attempts. Lee is very much a talker, and given the newness of their relationship and how much we know they love each other, I think we all assume he wants to share this with her? But maybe he doesn’t want to, but doesn’t know how to tell her without hurting her feelings? The only problem is that he’s hurting her feelings with the way he is acting now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey BJo, this is an interesting take on things!
yeah maybe he doesn’t want to share..
At least when there is this new shocking information to take in, I can get on board with him not wanting to share.
Hmm why have I ruled out that Lee just doesn’t want to tell her?
maybe it’s the way Lee reaches out toward the phone and Amanda’s voice when hearing Amanda’s voice and he doesn’t pick up..
Also – I thought leaving his parents files on his desk like that was a subconscious way of reaching out 😉
Then, we get an insight into this in an upcoming scene which fits my view. However, that doesn’t mean it can’t also fit with another way of viewing it too! 🙂
There have been times throughout the whole show where I’ve thought Lee was longing for a deep connection with someone he can trust and share things with.. I think it’s part of his character arc, but I better not get into that I’m ummmmmm suppose to be working! eek!! 🙂 bye!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The relationship between Lee and Amanda is also very new as well. Yes, they’ve been friends for 3 years, but the romantic one is only a couple of months old. Surely a relationship with someone who doesnt’ splurge all his personal details and deep pain straight away is very special, compared to one with someone who shares all his private life with everyone. I get the feeling that Lee is something of a Siamese cat – he has one real “person” and he takes time to trust.
LikeLiked by 3 people
The photographs are not sharp and enlarging them on my iPad makes them worse. That being said, my impression of the framed photograph Lee holds in his arms is that it is of Matt and Jennie Stetson looking down at Lee as a baby in Jennie’s lap.
Lee was 5 years old when they were killed, but was this the only photograph he had of himself with both his parents? As a youngster, did he often fall asleep holding this photograph in his arms to feel closer to them ? It’s sad to think that, yet he was passed to Matt’s mother (implied from what data we have) for roughly two years before she either died or was too old to care for an active boy. Then he went to live with Matt’s (younger or older?) half-brother, Robert Clayton, at age 7. Matt’s mother was obviously widowed, remarried and had another son, which is why Matt and Robert have the same mother but different last names.
It’s also a bit curious to me that, with an English mother, Lee didn’t call her Mum or Mummy. I suppose the S&MK producers felt “Mom/Mommy” was more appropriate for their audience in the USA. “Mum/Mummy” would be quite distracting (even hilarious) to viewers not familiar with England. We are, after all, two countries divided by a common language!!
[edited to fix typo-iwsod]
LikeLiked by 2 people
😦 Sad to think of little Lee falling asleep while clutching that photograph.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I agree, a very touching picture you paint Nancy!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The way Lee reached for that photograph, touched his family through the glass (Oh that look on his face!) and turned it around in order to hold it as he slept was just so poignant. It gave me the feeling that this was a comforting ritual done countless times over the years when he was lonely and missing them. That scene breaks my heart every time.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I also really like this thought. I think that BB acts it very well
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi Nancy, Whoa sounds like you’ve got Lee’s backstory into some logical sense.. I don’t try and tackle this it hurts my head! So glad others are strong and smart enough to take it on! 🙂
Australia uses Mum and Mummy, though Mummy less..
Yeah I’m not surprised American TV didn’t think to change it..
LikeLike
Don’t know about strong & smart, but everyone has different talents, interests and abilities. Life would be boring otherwise! It would never occur to me to start a website breaking down S&MK episodes one-by-one. That’s an enormous time commitment, but I’m so glad you did! That I found it in time to walk through Season 4 with all of you is an added blessing.
LikeLiked by 2 people