Night time.. and back at Amanda’s she’s on the phone with Lee who is at IFF.
Amanda: That’s not the point. 
Lee: I know he trusted you Amanda but you can’t blame yourself. Zhmed knew the risks he was taking when he volunteered…
(we cut to a close up)
…We saved part of his note and we now know that Tolst is going after government files. [LOL the sound is all wrong. you can tell BB added this dialogue later]
Amanda: He didn’t volunteer! We told him we were going to deport him. 
Lee: Alright, duly noted. The point is so far as the message drop being a bust, those kind of things happen when you’re going up against the best. 
[Oh my gosh. how swoony is it to see Lee let Amanda vent and not take it personally. To be patient, understanding and placating.. Love this Lee! But umm the phone conversation rather than being in Amanda’s back yard feels a bit weird?!]
Amanda: I feel like we’ve handed him his death warrant. 
Lee: No, I don’t think so. Tolst has gone to a lot of trouble not to harm Zhmed now. He’s got plans for him, that’s why he smuggled him into the country…
(Amanda looks relieved to hear this)
… Now quit worrying will ya, and get back down here as soon as you can. I think we’ve got an all-nighter ahead of us. [whooooo haaaaaa.. err okay… maybe not that kind of an all nighter 😉 ] 
Amanda: Alright. I’ll see you in a minute.
[Miss you! hurry up!!! they don’t say it.. but I’m sure they are both thinking it! 
]
Back to IFF, and we find someone entering Billy’s office with some files.
Billy starts talking to Lee while the lady literally throws the file on Billy’s desk. LOL. 
Billy: No sign of Zhmed.
Lee: If Zhmed is right about the target being ‘Federal files’, maybe we can get a break.
The woman snorts her disagreement. [Yes. snorts. ]
Woman: This town’s a paper mill. There are thousands of files going out tomorrow. 
[Thanks Sherlock! I wonder why we get her, and not Francine.. hmmm maybe this will become clear in time.. ]
Lee: But he’d be after the cream. Highly classified, strategically important.
Billy: Well according to this report, the only Z-class files being transferred tomorrow afternoon are medical, from the Pentagon, and slated to be destroyed. [Z class huh. Zhmed Class!]
Lee: Medical?! What would Tolst want with medical files? Z-class is ‘sensitive’ only. 
[Lee looks so good here.. ahem.. he does the confused look very well.. thus.. the code name ]
Woman: Who knows, these aren’t anything but academy physicals, boot camp statistics. There’s some steroid tests, data on combat fatigue.
[I can honestly say I have no idea what is going on here much like this woman with the attitude Snort! ]
Lee: It has to be a mistake.
Woman: Yeah, but after what happened on the street, wouldn’t Tolst cancel his plans? 
[Umm why is this little nobody in on the deal with Tolst?! I thought he was a prized catch.. lol. I find it funny that the whole agency is really run by Billy, Lee, Francine and Amanda.. but the moment I see another agent it feels all weird! maybe it’s because it’s so random – and what’s her code name everyone? I’m going to go with ‘Pollyanna’ – it’s ironic ]
Lee: No that was part of the plan. He was ready for us. The more setbacks, the more this guy just digs in.
Billy: Meanwhile, we’ve lost Zhmed. And if we can’t figure out how the Russians plan to take those files, we may never get him back. 
[Whoooooo everyone! cue the scared, tense looks!
But.. Lee looks so good here.. plaid or no plaid. He has a nice tan ]
The scene ends here.
Okay here’s an idea I’ll float -Maybe the random agent lady is doing Amanda’s lines.. and for whatever reason she wasn’t able to be part of this scene.. the lines don’t sound like Francine, they could have originally been Amanda’s.. especially as this is her case and all!
Then, when KJ couldn’t do this scene, they instead inserted the weird phone call prior to make sense of things..
It isn’t typical smk this.. and feels like a change production reasons caused. Anyone know what KJ was up to when this ep was being filmed? Just a theory… thoughts?
Moving on.. lets see what the baddies are up to.. it’s the same night.. back at the cumberland. lol… 
We find Zhmed practicing flicking and memorising his pages, under Tolst’s scrutiny. 
Tolst: Five seconds slow but better. Take a breather to drum up your desire to try harder. 
Zhmed: Breathing is a bit difficult. 
Zhmed looks down at his chest where we now see a pack of explosives strapped to him. 
[Is it just me or did anyone else think – ouchie! I hope the tape isn’t touching his hairy chest?!
At least there is a blue wire, so we’ll know which one to cut!
Zhmed is such a depressed and flat character.. For me he is not terribly interesting to watch, and… I don’t really find myself invested in his health or his chest hair 😉 I only care I think because Amanda seems to care! Oopsie me thinks that is not how I’m suppose to view Zhmed!
I think Tolst enjoys this.. jerk.
Ummm why can’t they just take photos of the pages? why do they have to have someone memorise it? Is photo taking too slow?? errr anyone? ]
There’s a knock at the door.. it’s good old Lvov from waaay back.. the guy who was doubting Tolst wasn’t he?
Anyway, Tolst leaves the room to consult. 
Lvov: My contacts tells me there is a big flap going on at the Agency. If it has anything to do with the truck incident, it might be wise to pull out.
[contact at the agency? Oh Pollyanna! how could you!!! And umm what truck incident? Lol is that the mail truck vs the piano?! devastating! ]
(Back in the room, we find Zhmed can actually hear their conversation. duh. )
Tolst: Even if Zhmed did make contact with the Americans, it doesn’t matter. There’s nothing he could have told them. We’re halfway to putting Looking Glass on display at the Moscow Air Show and they don’t have a clue.
[speaking of looking glass within earshot of Zhmed is pretty sloopy..]
( Tolst leads Lvov further away from Zhmed while their conversation continues.)
Lvov: I hope you’re right.
Tolst: I know I’m right. We could hand deliver Operation Rainbow Group to the Americans and wave it in front of their noses, and they still wouldn’t know what was going on. And they won’t figure it out until their airborne command post drops out of homestead radar and I wave adios. 
[Operation rainbow group?! Operation hilarious! ]
(Lvov silently walks off.. leaving Tolst to look admiringly at himself in the mirror..) 
Long stemmed red roses?
such a clever boy!
(we zoom in.. and the scene ends here)
is it just me or is there suddenly a whole lot of fairytale like references??!!!
The looking glass, rainbow group and the talking in the mirror, the roses.. .. Hmm it just struck me but maybe I’m seeing a mirage ]
Any thoughts you’d like to share everyone? What do you think of the baddies in this ep? are they holding your interest? [umm do they ever?! ] anyone else find the phone conversation random and weird?
"Just walk with me.." 
My Dear Daughter noticed that Baddie Lvov is wearing the same tie that Lee wore in the last scene of S3 when he FINALLY kisses Amanda. The tie that looks like it’s covered in lips. Bad enough to be worn once, but twice? Burn it!
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I guess Lee decided to dress in his all-nighter attire with the plaid shirt. I too like how he lets Amanda vent and accepts it.
I was waiting for Tolst to say, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, how do I get through this script at all?”
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Truly Lee is (has become) a prince among men, affirming Amanda, validating her feelings, not jumping in with a solution. I think 99% of male partners would have skipped the preliminaries and gone straight to: “Now quit worrying will ya, and get back down here as soon as you can. I think we’ve got an all-nighter ahead of us.”
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I also forgot until I went back t o look at this scene that you can watch BB draw out the word “hiiiiiiii-ghly classified” in that way he delivers lines when he;s desperately trying to remember what his line actually is. It’s a miracle they managed to remember them as well as they did, but it is fun to watch him stumble.
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Hereby reporting for the humble duty of clasping BB so his stumble becomes merely a tumble and not an embarrassing fumble!
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That’s so endearing! I’ve never noticed that before but I’ll certainly be watching for it now! How did you find out that was why he did it?
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Here’s what my research revealed iwsod and clagjanet had some of it. Here’s the rest: In Petra’s “Rev. Shooting Final” script dated 8/06/1986, Martha Smith’s Francine was scripted to be in the scene in Billy’s office with Lee. So something had her absent. Illness or most likely a timing conflict with this guest role in a one-shot tv episode of “New Mike Hammer” that was filmed at Warner Brothers Burbank Studios and aired 10/10/1986. BTW, that’s the exact same air date as “No Thanks for the Memory,” which was also filmed at Warner Brothers Burbank Studios. MS being unavailable explains the need for the woman in the blue outfit (IMDb has her character named “Jessup” played by Judi Durand) to take Francine’s role in Billy’s office.
That Amanda was absent from The Agency, requiring Lee to call her at home to return for an all-nighter, was in the “Rev. Shooting Final” script dated 8/06/1986 on Petra’s site. So that was planned probably because they had Dotty off flying that day, but she’d be home by dark to be there for the boys.
What’s not in that script is Amanda telling Lee, just before she hangs up, “I’ll see you in a minute.” Really? Driving all the way from Arlington? She couldn’t even get from the Q Bureau to Billy’s office in a minute!
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Where I grew up, we used to talk about doing something “just now”. It means anytime between 30 seconds and 2 hours from now 😀 😀 Totally confuses anyone from another country. I wonder if Amanda’s “I’ll see you in a minute” is similar?
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Oh to have had “just now” parents when it came to homework or chores as a kid … or deadlines as an adult! As a busy Mother, daughter and spy … that has to be it!
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I’m sure we’ve seen this blue outfit on Francine before, so I just assumed they found the extra with the closest body type when Martha couldn’t be there that day. I think the lines do sound like Francine actually, especially with the accompanying snort and that way she has of always making it sound like “he must have screwed this up because these files make no sense”.
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LOL that’s true. You have a point- that does sound like something Francine would say haaaa.
I think I tried to come up with one explanation for two weird things – the phone call and the random use of Pollyanna.
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Agree it sounds like Francine, Clagjanet
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You were not the only one who winced with the duct tape to hairy chest. OUCH!
And I do appreciate that Tolst and Lvov told us their plans in English. How very accommodating. 😉
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Such nice baddies! They must have had the same training as Zinoiev!
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If SMK had to show us a male chest, this would not have been my choice of chest….
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Learjet, I actually just snorted out loud at your comment🤣🤣
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“Okay here’s an idea I’ll float -Maybe the random agent lady is doing Amanda’s lines.. and for whatever reason she wasn’t able to be part of this scene.. the lines don’t sound like Francine, they could have originally been Amanda’s.. especially as this is her case and all!
Then, when KJ couldn’t do this scene, they instead inserted the weird phone call prior to make sense of things..
It isn’t typical smk this.. and feels like a change production reasons caused. Anyone know what KJ was up to when this ep was being filmed? Just a theory… thoughts?”
Checked on IMDb. Found only one possibility: Kate was a guest on The Late Show (hosted by Joan Rivers); it aired in mid-October 1986. S&MK’s “No Thanks for the Memory” was aired 10/10/1986.
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Thanks for investigating Nancy!
What did you think of Clagjanet’s thought that maybe it was MS who was indisposed?
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clagjanet was right. It was MS, who was scripted but another filled her role and I believe I discovered why. Also, KJ’s phone call from home was scripted that way with its own reason. The research I did wound up in its own post further above (3/19 2:08 pm).
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It’s an interesting idea Nancy, but the shooting scripts are dated for August and they would have filmed this at a minimum a month before airing date, probably more.
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