As Francine leads the Don Johnson wannabe away, Lee re-joins Amanda down at ground level.. He’s in a hurry!
Lee: Amanda.
Amanda: Ja.
Lee: He did it.
Amanda: Who? Did what?
Lee: Blackthorne’s behind everything…
…He put the shooter on the roof and he killed my parents.
Lee doesn’t hang around, he rushes into his car.. Amanda trying to keep up.
Amanda: Wait a minute.
Lee: I heard him.
Lee’s not waiting..
Amanda: Wait a minute. Lee. Where are you going?
Lee: I was in the tree and I heard it.
Amanda: Lee. What tree?
Lee yells as he pulls away without her: It was no accident!!
Amanda: Wha…Wait up! Lee! 
For a second I thought Amanda was trying to run after the corvette in her heels. LOL. but no, she runs toward Francine’s car and gets in. 
Francine: Oh, Amanda?
Amanda: Yes.
Hilarious! We hear Francine before we see her..
Francine: Amanda, don’t. I need that. Amanda, don’t. I need you…
At last we see Francine trying to catch up to Amanda in vain lol!
Francine: …to come back. Oh!
Oh my gosh. that is hilarious!!! Amanda pays absolutely no attention to tough gal Francine, who is higher ranking, and is actually holding a gun!! Whahahaha!!
And.. Francine sounds like she has no authority when calling after Amanda haaaaaa..
I think early Francine would have sounded much more err tee’d off than this! 
I don’t know why, but this is flippin hilarious! Maybe it’s because it’s so random.. and.. Francine is the butt of this gag 
Next thing, the Corvette comes to a halt on the side of the road…
[Are we ready for the action finale everyone?!
Learjet I’m going to utilise your descriptions here for this action finale. Thanks for writing it Learjet! – and anyone transcribing season 4 dialogue please don’t feel you must write descriptions- totally optional] Here goes!
Lee gets out and runs along the grass verge in front of a high fence.
He is slightly crouched over. He gets to the tall gateway of the property. 
[Okay- who thinks this is really BB? anyone? Err I’m sure I would have thought that when I was 8 if I’d seen this then!]
He scales the gate, dropping onto the driveway on the inside of the property, and starts running towards the mansion.
[Uh oh! He’s at Blackthorne’s and ready to seek justice!!!!]
Meanwhile, the car driven by Amanda screeches to a halt behind the Corvette. Amanda climbs out and retraces Lee’s steps in a similar manner. 
Arriving at the gate, she looks around [Uh oh! How’s she going to get over that?!]
She opens a smaller pedestrian gate to the left of the main gate, enabling her to access to the property without having to climb over the gate. 
[Oh my gosh! that’s hilarious!! Lee climbs the massive gate, Amanda uses the open side gate! whahahahaa!!!! She didn’t even need to pick the lock! It was unlocked!! A prime example of how Lee at this time is acting on pure emotion, and not thinking clearly!]
Inside… [iwsod will take over the descriptions]
bang! here comes Lee! Here comes justice!!! 
Lee rushes in. The gun out already! [Just what has Lee come here to do?! Kill him? Or bring him in?! i.e. take the dirtbag downtown ]
Blackthorne: Stetson. The Secret Service told you not to interfere with me. 
Lee: They did.
Blackthorne: If you got a point to make, make it!!!
[Blackthorne goes for the I’m not intimidated approach. Gutsy, when Lee’s point is his gun!]
Lee: I know what happened. My mother and father found out about your… dealings with the Russians… [Russians eh. who would have guessed.. ahem..]
…Then you fed the CIA with a lot of phony accusations to discredit them… 
[Hmmm Blackthorne looks worried!]
…But it was too big a risk to let them live, so you staged an accident. I want to hear you admit it.
Blackthorne: Holding a gun on me is not the way to get to the truth. 
[Lee doesn’t need to get to the truth- he already has the truth. It’s about what Lee wants (IMHO) – this really sets Lee off!!]
Lee: You killed my mother and father, you bastard!
…Now you say it!
[Don’t push it Mr lemon cardy Blackie. Lee’s on a knife’s edge]
Blackthorne: Stetson.
(Amanda sneaks in the front door, she can hear Lee ranting at Blackthorne.)
[ LOL um where’s the maid?!]
Lee: Your shooter missed his target today, Blackthorne, and the Secret Service isn’t far behind me, so I think you want to get out of here, fast. 
Blackthorne: All right. If I admit it, will you let me walk?
[Oh Hey man… You killed my parents? That’s cool.. Hey, thanks for letting me know. Yes, you can go now. bye bye Mr lemon cardy!
As if!!!! haaaaaa.. this Blackthorne isn’t as insightful as I thought he was.. maybe the gun pointed at him is a logic killer!]
Lee slowly lowers the gun (quietly): Yeah, sure…
… You can walk. 
[does Lee have a tape recorder on him? I honestly do not remember this!!!]
Blackthorne: Everything I said before was the truth. See I made a lot of mistakes, but I didn’t wanna spend the rest of my life paying for them…
[Ohh one of those I had no choice baddies! ]
(Amanda appears at the door to the room.)
…But your parents…your parents were very good at their job. And they had a lot of stuff on me, enough to nail me. I had to discredit them. So we set up this meeting. But the truck, that truck came out of nowhere. The accident was real.
[Bad idea Blackie!]
Lee: No it wasn’t!
Blackthorne: Wait!.. [I like to think Blackie just pee’d his pants]
…I told you. I framed them. Now we had an agreement.
[Mr I framed them is put out because Lee didn’t honour the agreement? Hilarious!!!! Pal you hold no moral high ground here!!! ]
Lee (quietly): I lied. 
Lee is one dangerous dude. 
Blackie looks like he knows his goose is cooked.
Lee is so calm here, the sense is- Lee’s about to shoot.
Judging by the expression from Amanda here.. I think she worries it may be about to happen. Uh oh. [what do you all think? All thoughts welcome!!]
Instead, Lee squints and turns away.. 
he’s having another flashback. 
It’s his dad arriving home.
Matt: Daddy’s home. Hey, come give me a big hug.
His mum runs toward him, welcoming him with a kiss.
A happy all American (okay ha haaaaa half British) family picture. 
Back to the present moment.. Lee shakes his head and comes out of his flashback. 
Blackthorne’s shocked to see this behaviour from Lee..
it’s his chance to do something!
Amanda sees this too.. and rushes away from the doorway to do something..
Blackthorne starts moving.. 
Sweet! Blackthorne opens a desk drawer and takes out a gun..
He lifts the gun.. about to aim it at Lee. [ugh this has shades of Brodie and concussed Lee!]
We see Amanda is in the mood for some frisbee.. with one of Blackie’s plates. Hope it’s a reeally expensive one!
Yes. Frisbee! Amanda throws the plate on the wall, smashing it, we see Lee react and quickly aim his gun at Blackie, who was just about to shoot. 
Blackie goes flying. Thanks for giving Lee an excuse to shoot ya while maintaining his good guy identity Blackie!! 
Love the slow mo as Blackie and his papers go flying. Beautifully done KJ – like it’s a beautiful dance! Yep, seeing Blackie get plugged is a thing of beauty! haaaa…
Now it’s Blackie’s turn for his legs to go flying!
Amanda rushes toward Lee who’s not moving.
He look so forlorn.
Lee looks exhausted..
Amanda doesn’t say anything, she just puts her hands on him and strokes him.. Yep, those lapels. she likes those lapels.
Awh Lee is still looking at Blackthorne as he puts his arm around Amanda.. almost instinctively.
Lee: Amanda?
Amanda: Yeah? 
(Lee’s hand rubs Amanda too.. awh!)
Lee nods toward Blackie: The monster…
…has a face.
Lee’s hand continues to stroke Amanda as they take it all in..
Amanda looks at Lee, 
Nice moment to zoom that KJ is my kinda director!
He looks at her, Kiss? Kiss?
Nnnnno Kiss.
Lee looks back at Blackie.
We zoom in further on the couple..
Lee looks exhausted, and is taking it all in- while Amanda holds him awh…
Love the way they rest their heads on one another here.. 
The silently hold each other and this scene ends.
So wonderful how so few words need to be exchanged.
Can’t wait to hear what you all think of this scene!!!
I’m thinking Lee’s been able to find justice for his parents, and confront the monster he’s probably been running/hiding from all his life. It’s over. But there’s a real sense here that it’s really sad.. and nothing can take away that sadness..
As I mentioned earlier, this pain has been with him all his life since, and here he is really feeling that sadness. Lee is grieving… and processing all frenetic events of the last five minutes – that have culminated over his lifetime! Phew..
Now, Lee can continue to heal. Nothing can take away the sadness at losing someone you love, but there is hope here that he will survive it and live a fruitful life no longer hiding from this previously overwhelming pain – because Lee has Amanda in his life to help him cope with that sadness. She’s literally by his side.. and figuratively has his back (her frisbee skills come in handy!).
One last thought from me – I figure Blackie here is telling the truth when he says Lee’s parents were good at their job.. meaning – Jennifer and Lee were working together. {edited to add: Thanks for pointing out Nancy- Iwsod meant to say Jennifer and Matthew 🙂 } A little more confirmation of this which is good because I’ve found their actual history a little tricky to pull out from all the lies..
I shall pause here and look forward to hearing from you guys who are walking with me!!
"Just walk with me.." 
I find this scene at Blackthorne’s house to be quite disturbing.
First of all: We never find out for certain whether or not Blackthorne arranged for Lee’s parents to be killed. They leave it completely ambiguous. In fact, given what we see here, combined with what we saw at the beginning of the episode… if I had to guess, I would say that Blackthorne did not do it.
The writers began this episode by trying to create some confusion. Did Blackthorne signal the truck with his cigarette lighter? I think he did not. When he walked over to look at the car wreck, he appeared to be surprised and disturbed, then turned his head in the direction in which the truck disappeared, as if wondering what just happened.
And now, when Lee is out of his mind with fury and holding a gun on Blackthorne, demanding that he admit he killed his mother and father – and promising that he will let him go if he just tells the truth – Blackthorne will admit everything but that. The one thing that Lee truly cares about. I think Blackthorne comes off as completely believable when he says, “The truck – that truck came out of nowhere! The accident was real!”
So, whether or not Blackthorne arranged to kill the parents is, at the very least, ambiguous. I don’t have a problem with that. I think it is pretty cool, actually. I have a follow-up comment on this issue regarding part of the script that was omitted from the tag – but I’ll wait until the next page to post that.
But back to this scene and the truly disturbing part, by which I mean the part where Lee ARGUABLY MURDERS Blackthorne.
…So Blackthorne insists, “The accident was real!” And in response, Lee becomes truly unhinged with fury. He screams, “No it wasn’t”!” and points the gun at him with what appears to be a vicious desire to kill. When Blackthorne cries, “We had an agreement!” and Lee responds, “I lied…” – to me, he sounds stone-cold serious. Like he fully intends to kill Blackthorne then and there. But then he is distracted by the drug-induced flashback, and Blackthorne uses that opportunity to retrieve his own gun from his desk drawer.
I think there is a strong argument to be made that Blackthorne was fully justified in picking up his gun as a matter of self-defense. I think he was legitimately convinced that Lee was about to shoot him dead. But then Amanda threw the plate, Lee came back to his senses, and Lee killed Blackthorne instead.
Notice here that Blackthorne’s gun was concealed behind a piece of paper. He did not fire first. It is not even clear that he had a chance to aim at Lee. (Interestingly, in the original script Blackthorne did fire first.) But it seems that Lee correctly suspected Blackthorne had a gun, and so he took the first shot.
Lee is lucky Blackthorne was holding that gun, and he is lucky that Amanda was the only witness. Most of all, he is lucky not to be brought up on charges for this. His threatening behavior toward Blackthorne was completely out of line. The situation should never have escalated to the point where Blackthorne felt compelled to reach for his own gun.
I think it is very interesting that this is one of the very, very few times Lee kills someone with a gun, because it is not at all clear to me that he was justified in doing so.
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It’s a bit like the “Han shot first” thing… with one huge difference: Han shooting first was kind of integral to his character, while shooting first is definitely not part of Lee’s character.
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I thought they did kind of confirm it by Lee’s flashback at the end? He remembers Blackthorne plotting the death that night and then I think we’re supposed to take the cigarette lighter as the signal, because that was really popular in spy stuff at that time.
Agreed they could have done the end better though so it didn’t look as cold blooded. I got the impression Amanda sees Blackthorne pull a gun but I don’t know if Lee did.
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If you look at my comment on this episode’s tag (next page over), you’ll see why I don’t think that Lee’s flashback confirmed Blackthorne was plotting the death. All it confirmed was that Blackthorne would be meeting with the parents that night. I think the writers kept this intentionally ambiguous, up to and including the cigarette thing. Also, the original script never says anything in the action descriptions that would confirm Blackthorne was the killer (whereas, sometimes they will say things along the lines of, “Lee’s face clouds over as he realizes that X is the killer.”) But that’s just my take on things!
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Just rewatched it and you’re right, they didn’t tell us concretely. I do think it’s what we’re supposed to assume though because of the lighter trick — I’ve seen it on a couple other shows as a signal. I do wish they’d had a line where Blackthorne admitted it or something for Lee’s sake though. Maybe it’s enough for him that his parents were innocent?
As far as the shooting, the camera angles aren’t as clear, but if you watch in slow motion, the first frame after Lee fires his gun shows Blackthorne from Lee’s POV and you can see the gun beneath the paper. Given that we had several seconds frozen on Lee as he prepared to fire, I think it’s safe to assume that Lee did see the gun and reacted, rather than shooting in cold blood or firing first the way it appears at first glance.
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It was more like a fraction of a second between the plate crashing and Lee firing, but you’re right, we do see Blackthorne’s gun after Lee fires, as he is falling backward. Lee either saw the gun or his well-honed instincts told him it was there, and in that moment, he was defending himself. My problem isn’t with that part as much as with the fact that the situation should NEVER have gotten to that point. It is inexcusable that Lee would pull a gun on Blackthorne and threaten to kill him if he didn’t confess, but that is essentially what he did. Convincingly. Because in that moment, he was unhinged with anger and mentally off-kilter due to the lingering effects of a drug. What he should have done was arrest Blackthorne, cuff him and wait for the Secret Service to arrive. Law enforcement officers don’t get to threaten bodily harm to suspects and elicit confessions at gunpoint. In fact, if Lee hadn’t killed Blackthorne here, none of what Blackthorne just confessed to him would be admissible against him in court, because it was coerced. But my main point is, Lee created this situation that caused Blackthorne to reach for the gun, and it is Lee’s unconscionable behavior that resulted in Blackthorne getting killed — even though the action that immediately precipitated the gunshot was Blackthorne reaching for his own gun.
I have now watched this scene more times in the last 24 hours than in the rest of my viewings combined! LOL. And I still truly believe that Blackthorne was being sincere when he insisted that he didn’t arrange for the truck to kill the parents. He really sounds to me like he is telling the truth about that, but Lee is too furious to be able to accept it. I also like Blackthorne’s line early in the scene: “Holding a gun on me is not the way to get to the truth!” The lesson I took away from that was, he was right. Pulling the gun and threatening Blackthorne’s life was the wrong thing to do. And now, when all is said and done, Lee will have to live with the fact that he does not know with certainty the truth of what happened.
Honestly, the more I watch this episode, including this scene which I really do find quite disturbing, the more I like it! I like that Lee is flawed and not always the perfect superman agent.
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Good point on it never should have gone that far. I wonder if had Blackthorne not pulled the gun and Amanda hadn’t distracted him, would Lee have gone through shooting him? Or would he have stopped himself? It makes me wonder now.
Okay, I really hate that lack of closure! But I still adore this episode.
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I think that the sadness is really well conveyed in the episode, the terrible loss to Lee of his parents and of a happy family. Even though the episode is all over the place, I think the real emotion of such a loss comes through. Plus there is the continuity from the first season where we first hear about this (The ACM Kid and The long Christmas Eve) and the second season where we learn more (A relative Situation) and then in the Third season, we learn that Lee’s mother is Engling (The eyes have it). There is a real development going through Lee’s back story and it is good to have it resolved. (Even though I think it merited a much better script).
I think the other message coming through (to me anyway) was that Amanda is here to back him all the way – she stands by him and supports him even in theft and experimental drug use, she steals Francine’s car for him. Not that she wouldn’t have done these things before, but she doesn’t even question them.
I do like the passionate climb over the gate and then Amanda’s lady like discovery of the open gate (a bit like Indiana Jones pulling out his gun at the beginning of the Temple of Doom). it was funny. And she gained remarkably quickly on him, she must be back to ‘Fitness with Dave’.
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Hi Michele,
Hi everyone!
Just wanted to say a hearty hear hear to Michele’s comment. I agree Michele – the sadness is pervasive and very appropriate.
I’ll probably put this poorly… but I think in the middle of all the sadness and tragedy there is a joy in Lee getting to know his parents posthumously, clearing their name, reinforcing for himself they are who he thought they were, and putting his full trust in Amanda and really sharing his most secret self with her – there is freedom in that..
I’m finding this episode very touching!
Weird (IMHO) Billy declarations of obsession, and a non redacted source on the report that messed with our heads- I can happily put to one side once I’ve had fun playing with them 😉
I’m about to publish the final blog post for this ep 🙂
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The intriguing part for me in the Lee-shoots-Blackthorne scenario, especially the way it plays out in slo-mo, Sam Peckinpah style violence is that one of the things BB discussed a lot during his impromptu “panel” at the reunion in April was that the writers were always having to come up with a way for Lee to lose his gun at an inopportune time because the censors wouldn’t allow them to simply shoot someone in the 8pm time-slot. So they must have pulled some real razzle-dazzle 2nd Amendment deal of it being self-defence in order to get to do that, methinks.
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That is very interesting. Actually, I am grateful for the censors – I like that Lee doesn’t shoot people too often.
It is a little bit ambivalent here – I know it was self defence in the end but would he have shot? I like to think ‘no’. Personally, I would have much preferred for Blackthorn to have been arrested and charged and convicted and for him to have paid for all his crimes.
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I agree, Michele. Plus I don’t like watching a lot of shooting! Am not a fan of “gritty” detective shows…
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HI Learjet, I’m about to close down JWWM so I can do my work and not get distracted. lol.. have a great day!!!
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So interesting! thanks for sharing this clagjanet!
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Since it looks like Goldie’s current owner is now out of the picture, wouldn’t it be nice to see him turn up at Amanda’s house? Amanda could explain to the boys that she found him at a location “shoot” (literally true, just a different kind of shooting) and that he looked like he could use a good home (also true).
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That would have been nice. Perhaps the maid and all the security men had already decamped with Goldie, the house was strangely empty. Only the stuffed animals left
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LOL I think I’ve said the same thing next post? Maybe.. it was a while since I wrote it but yes! would love that too!!
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I too really like the intense Lee, confronting Blackthorn. I LOVE the comment about the “magic bush”! “It turned Lee into “super Lee”! But it didn’t work on Amanda! Too bad! I would have like to see what “super Amanda” could have done to Blackthorn for wounding Lee’s heart like that. Personally, I think she could have learned a few tricks from Francine and taken him down with those heels of hers. Still, her work playing frisbee with the plate wasn’t bad. Could have been some “super Amanda” powers coming out! Also “Lee&Amanda”, I love your comment about Lee having a heart like a marshmallow. I was trying to think of what Amanda would have been thinking, standing there, watching what was going down between Blackthorn and Lee. I’m guessing she felt that he needed to see this out to some sort of end but if he needed her, she could jump in, which is just what she did.
Even though Lee is portrayed as the hero, a lot of the times, it’s Amanda who will jump in to save the day, in her own, unique way. As the year’s past, you could see how she often earned Lee’s respect for coming through, even if her methods were a little unconventional.
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“Kiss, kiss? Nnnnnno kiss.” LMAO, oh IWSOD, you do crack me up!
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Awh. Thanks Barb! 🙂
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Funny post!
Bwahahaha! Iwsod, did you edit the transcription or is that transcriber genius? 😉
LOVE that Amanda just completely ignores Francine, here! Leaving the keys in the car must be in the Spy 101 manual…cuz Francine just did it here too, and she is a rule-follower. It’s about time Francine is the butt of a joke like this because of Amanda!
Where’s the magic bush? No pic of the magic bush? It turns Lee into stunt-Lee who can scale this wrought iron fence! Hahaha! It didn’t work on Amanda though…so she has to go through the inexplicably unlocked side door…weak. She didn’t even have to pull a lock pick out of her heel to open it up.
LOL!!!
She’s back at the Plaza still whining about how Amanda just took off with her car!
Love Lee in this scene in Blackthorne’s office. He’s so intense and his hair is loose and moves and he lies – now there’s the superhunky superspy I love. This kind of emotion I can get behind! And love Amanda’s flying plate to jar Lee from his drug-induced (?) flashback so that he can get Blackthorne. Yup, Amanda hasn’t lost her touch. I think it would have been hysterical though if somehow Amanda could have thrown a wildebeest horn and have it stick into the framed thingy on the wall, breaking the glass, thus rousing Lee from his flashback.
As much as I want them to kiss on the show, I’m glad KJ did not have them do it here. Nice choice, KJ!
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[ LOL um where’s the maid?!]
It’s her day off – spending it in a zoo to see some real animals, still alive…
Lee slowly lowers the gun (quietly): Yeah, sure…… You can walk.
Lee, just thinking ‘Yeah ya gonna walk straight into an agency’s holding cell where you belong, where you already should have been the last 30 years, pal… ‘
See I made a lot of mistakes, but I didn’t wanna spend the rest of my life paying for them…
Huh?? That’s like buying things without paying fort them. I guess you call it… ehhhm… yeah, it’s called ‘stealing’.
Does he really think of getting away with his crimes without ever paying for them? That’s ridiculous!
Wait!.. [I like to think Blackie just pee’d his pants]
LOL
Yeah, me two!
Lee (quietly): I lied.
LOL – ‘Super Lee’ can play the baddies game too… muahaha…
Well, not exactly. Lee just never told Blackie where he’s gonna go to…
Blackthorne’s shocked to see this behaviour from Lee..
Yep, that’s why they say Lee’s the best – even better than his parents… Never underestimate Lee, not even when he’s drugged… (Fortunately Blackie doesn’t know about Lee’s current state…)
Now it’s Blackie’s turn for his legs to go flying!
And there isn’t even a bed included… but sorry Blackie, you’ll just getting a bronze medal for that performance.
Awh Lee is still looking at Blackthorne as he puts his arm around Amanda.. almost instinctively.
Yep, years of practice and Lee’s arm/hand knows exactly where it belongs… Lol
It’s over.
That’s already the second ‘it’s over’ coming from Lee… hehe…
Lee has Amanda in his life to help him cope with that sadness. She’s literally by his side..
Yeah, and she knows the feeling. Growing up in a devoted and loving family herself she knows what it means to lose a parent. Although she ‘only’ lost one parent she knows exactly what that meant to her and her mother so she’ll be able to help Lee – as she always does.
Though this is one of the saddes episodes in SMK, I love it. ❤️
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Blackthorne: “See I made a lot of mistakes, but I didn’t wanna spend the rest of my life paying for them…”
Lee&Amanda: “Huh?? That’s like buying things without paying fort them. I guess you call it… ehhhm… yeah, it’s called ‘stealing’.
Does he really think of getting away with his crimes without ever paying for them? That’s ridiculous!”
He’s a psychopath and that’s how they operate. Blackthorne exhibits absolutely no remorse for the people he harmed and murdered; but he is oh so sorry — that he got caught! He is lightyears creepier than his stuffed menagerie.
Not sure if Blackthorne is dead or Lee just incapacitated him. Either way, for Lee there is definitely satisfaction in avenging the death of his parents and in vindicating their good names and records. But there is great sadness, too, because all of his efforts do not bring Matt & Jennie back. I think grown up Lee is doubly overwhelmed. He is reliving the loss of every one of those 30 years without them in his life AND experiencing sorrow for what they missed out on … the raising of their son and him becoming a man they would be proud of. Lee will take some time to think through all of this, to realize what’s truly important in life and from it will come a newfound purpose to not waste time. Lee will get serious about his relationship with Amanda, whose own life experience has taught her this, too.
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I think Zinoiev is the only baddie who can pull of wearing a cardigan.
So Blackthorne has an animal room to relax in and meet with Sinclair and this office space in which to meet Lee. I would have preferred this place to the menagerie. Although it would have been interesting to see this play out in the other room.
Interesting little weird light-hearted moments in this episode mixed in with all the angst. Kind of all over the place.
I like that the final flashback is seeing Lee’s parents in this loving embrace. After hearing that his parents were good at their jobs, he knows that they are the people he thought them to be. I also like how Amanda is right there to sort of anchor Lee when he realizes what the monster in his nightmare has been. I agree, that he just looks so emotionally spent and exhausted.
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Zonoiev and the cardigan – love it.
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Hiya! loving hearing from you guys!
I’ve gotta get on with the day’s work here but just wanted to mention I’ve fixed the weirdness with the font size – sorry about that. So irritating when wordpress does that.
Also added a little edit note so I don’t confuse with my Jennifer & Lee typo that should have read Jennifer & Matthew – thanks Nancy for noticing it!
Byeee i’ll be back to respond when I can. Have a great day/evening everyone!
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A potpourri of thoughts:
“Lee: I was in the tree and I heard it.
Amanda: Lee. What tree?”
My answer: The family tree! haha
I’m thinking the Francine of earlier seasons would have just shot out the tires so Amanda couldn’t get away with her car!
Matt’s greeting indicates he was used to Lee racing out the door to greet him. Little Lee must have been up in the tree watching for his Daddy because it’s Jennie, who gets to her husband first. I like their loving marriage and Jennie’s skirt.
The frisbee analogy is a hoot! Good thing our favorite golden retriever exercised restraint. If goldie was truly devoted to Blackthorne, Amanda’s toss to jolt Lee out of his reverie would have been intercepted!
I really like that Lee just automatically switched his gun to his right hand before putting his arm around Amanda (he respects how she feels about guns!) … and that his fingers are busy letting her know he’s back in control and aware of her presence.
Lee tells Amanda, “The monster (of his nightmares since childhood) has a face.” It makes me wonder if seeing Blackthorne’s face, on the front page of newspapers way back at the beginning of this episode, is what triggered Lee’s subconscious to focus on his parents. I recall when Lee went to the Blackthorne estate with Amanda for the first time and he was very uneasy. It seemed out of character for Lee. Now we realize that Lee met the monster face to face in Blackthorne’s study that day. Don’t really care if Blackthorne died by Lee’s bullet or if he rots slowly in a cold, dark and damp dungeon.
There’s a fun slip in your last paragraph, iwsod. You mention Blackthorne stating that, “Lee’s parents were good at their job meaning Jennifer and Lee were working together.” We all know Lee’s parents were Jennifer and Matthew, but your “slip” is still valid. It was Jennifer’s shorthand working together with Lee’s persistence that will clear the Stetsons and close the case against them. Keeps them (with a nod to Lady Farnsworth) All in the Family, doesn’t it?
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Oooh – I like your thought that seeing Blackthorne in the papers is what triggered his subconscious (especially since the man hasn’t aged a bit! 😉 )
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Great idea -“Blackthorne’s face, on the front page of newspapers way back at the beginning of this episode, is what triggered Lee’s subconscious to focus on his parents”. I like this much better than thinking it was just a well timed coincidence. I used to not like this episode very much, but watching it as the first episode of season 4 and reading everyone’s thoughts on it have really turned me around. It will never be a favorite, but I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. Thanks everyone!
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Haaaaa! good one!!
rofl! this is hilarious! I think Lee moved Goldie to a safe location before confronting Blackthorne 😉 err no not really.. tee hee..
Whoo interesting idea Nancy! My immediate reaction to this was: No I’m pretty happy with the idea of Lee’s subconscious being his driving motivator – and his relationship progress with Amanda being the trigger.
Then I wondered.. Hmm maybe! maybe I can incorporate this idea into my view.. When did the dreams start??
I went back and had a look. Lee says back in post 6 ” …there’s this nightmare that I’ve …that I’ve had ever since I was a boy, and I’ve been having it a lot lately…”
He’s been having the nightmare a lot lately.. which leads me back to my original idea I’m attached to 😉 – that Lee’s subconscious was bringing it to his conscious awareness because he was finally ready to deal with it – maybe his emotional security with Amanda AND seeing the photo in the paper were the triggers for him requesting his parents’ files from the CIA.
Yeah.. I’m going with that!
[iwsod quoted the wrong bit of Nancy’s comment re the photo in the paper.. have fixed it now -doh!]
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The sight of flummoxed Francine cracks me up. As does Amanda making the sensible choose and taking the side gate. Just goes to show that women often have more common sense than men {😀 did I actually type that 😀} Plus I don’t think the sight of Amanda in her skirt going over the fence would have been in keeping with her ladylike personality.
So was Lee actually going to shoot Blackthorne first? Was Blackthorne just defending himself but landed up shooting first as Lee was distracted by the ‘frisbee’ from Amanda? I have the feeling Lee was going to shoot Blackthorne in revenge…which concerns me. Two wrongs don’t make… etc etc
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Your question about whether or not Lee would have shot Blackthorne is one that I have pondered when watching this episode. I also wonder if Amanda would have said something if Lee hadn’t had a flashback at the moment. I think in some ways we are left to wonder what Lee would have actually done. I would think that Lee’s character would have won out and that he wouldn’t have just shot him. As hurt and angry as he was his better nature would have won out. It would have been a different show if he had pulled that trigger early on and I think it would have changed the direction in which he and Amanda were headed.
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” I would think that Lee’s character would have won out and that he wouldn’t have just shot him. As hurt and angry as he was his better nature would have won out.”
I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment. Lee is wise enough to know that having Blackthorne face charges in regard to: Matt & Jennie’s paper trail of his crimes and their cause of deaths being re-opened would soon uncover Blackthorne’s more recent criminal pursuits. A quick death was far too kind for the many lives Blackthorne damaged.
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That’s what I’m thinking too, Valerie and Nancy – at least I’m hoping it.
As I already said some posts ago, Lee has ‘White Knight’ or at least ‘protector’ carved at his bones. He is not killing people on purpose, only while defending others or his own life. So that performance hopefully was just to threaten Blackthorn and perhaps to really make him pee into his pants 😉 – ’cause Blackthorn doesn’t know Lee after all.
Lee has a heart like a marshmallow and he’s not a killer at all. ❤️
BTW: I don’t want to thinking what killing Blackthorn would have done to Lee’s and Amanda’ relationship… That might have caused the next ‘it’s over’ even before it really started… 😥
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Oh my heck – how we all laughed when Amanda went through the side gate. A nice little bit of comic relief because the rest of the scene is heavy.
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Yup, that’s ‘our’ Amanda. She’s always been the brain in that partnership. 😉
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good call!
After all, her partner is code named Scarecrow 🙂
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Cindy I would love to watch SMK with you!!! 🙂
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Me too!!!!
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