Soooo we have just finished looking through a cat’s eye…
Leland the nerdy crypto has give Lee the answer. Birol had the team under surveillance and saw that Amanda loves Lee..
So… a puff of smoke invades Lee and Leland’s little secretive conference. We have a spy! [ yeah a whole building full of them]
…Well, well, well, it’s our loan-out from Saudi Arabia. Those are pencils, Yusef.
Yusef: I am where God wills. In this case, a shortcut to Steno.
Lee: Oh, yeah?… (Lee gets all menacing and moves around to invade Yusef’s space- I’m guessing he is two seconds away from being Lee’s ‘pal’! ) 
..Shortcut to a short life if you say anything! Now I want you to stay out of my business, you hear me? Stay out! 
…You know, I’m kinda glad you heard, pal…
[Oh my gosh that is flippin hilarious!!! I honestly didn’t know ‘pal’ was coming!]
…Now you know why I can’t sit around.
Yusef: Nor can I. Look, Birol deserves to die.
Lee: Yes. [huh?!]
Yusef: If for no other reason than for the shame he has brought to the Arab people… [Mate, err I mean Pal! You walking around with that cigar all the time is a shame on your people – it looks ridiculous! Lee’s jaw is grinding away here. Whooo where is BJo? I love BJo’s masseter observations!!!]
…Let me run your source.
[Wow, that is quite the declaration. Seriously, usually smk goes for he deserves justice but we are not killers! you know, I actually have no idea if Birol dies – I’m shocked that I really can’t remember! ]
Lee: No. Hm-mm, I can’t give you Night Crawler, Yusef.
Yusef: I expected not. Birol will never kneel for the headsman. Perhaps God wills that you should swing the ax.
[Cool. I’m glad that’s settled.. pls.. move on!]
{Francine steps out of a building with her dry cleaning in hand. She takes the few steps down and stops as she notices Lee in the passenger seat of her red convertible.} [So Francine has joined the convertible club huh. Sweet ride Francine!]
{He puts his hand to his head wearily. She sighs and walks to the driver’s side. She glances around at the street self-consciously and gets in without saying a word. They look at each other.}
Lee: Billy took me off finding Amanda, Francine.
Francine: It’s rough, but–
Lee: It’s common sense! Amanda is waiting for me to come and get her. She is counting on me and I am helpless! He’s gonna try for an ID on Night Crawler, he’ll–
[Oh my. Lee is right on the edge here! Heartbreaking to see.. and BB does an amazing job. Oh the angst!]
Francine: Don’t think about it, all right?! Just-just stick with what’s practical!
Lee: I want to try to revive an old case. You still have those brown contact lenses?
Francine: Magda Petrak?
[Squeeeee I love that they bring back Magda.]
We cut to the exterior of a shop.. 
{Magda picks up a formal dress and hangs it on a hook on another wall. She is the spitting image of Francine, except for her brown hair and eyes and her accent.}
Lee: You’ve got to help me, Magda!
Magda: Without you I could never have defected. I would still be in Hungary. I have a debt–to you–but what is the cost of a new life?
Lee: I can’t tell you that. But I think I do know…what it’ll cost to save a life.
Magda: She’s in the hands of Addi. I was his mistress for three years before I defected, you know that. He has a power.
[A Hungarian and a Libyan? gosh the spy biz is a small world huh. ahem. Maybe this being a mistress thing was not a real relationship, maybe Magda was spying on him. I really don’t know. what do you think?
I see Magda has also inherited Francine’s fashion sense!]
Lee: A fatal attraction.
[Ugh please no please don’t make me try and think about Addi the sex god. Heck no.]
Magda: Yes, to my whole family, it seems…
[Now this is a cryptic reference!]
…This depends on much. He must believe that I never came West in my heart. He must have a desire…a wig won’t fool Addi, not if I can get him to take me to his bed.
[What.the.heck?! I’m sorry but have I accidentally switched to watching an 80’s soap opera here?! I know smk has had it’s edgy moments, and feel free to disagree with me, but this whole conversation has me thinking I’m watching a whole other show. I guess it is right up there with Stemwinders and Lee’s long makeout sessions – but they were always clear that he didn’t actually sleep with her! with Magda? well yeah. do that if you must! For me its very unSMK. That said – it is Magda tee hee. so maybe it’s more palatable an idea. Ugh. actually no. Still not for me!]
Lee: Well, that’s the only edge he’ll ever give away. 
…You might be the one person that he trusts enough to see Amanda–if your sister gets you in…and he’s interested enough to give you the chance.
(we see someone walk into the room from the back)
Mara Petrak: I’ll get her in…
…One thing about Addi, he’s always interested.
[her sister?! I’d forgotten all this!!! Magda has a sister?!]
Cue the ominous chimes…
Soooo we have one of those baddies who thinks with his you know what…
It’s kinda ick that these sisters don’t seem to mind sharing his you know what…
And Lee doesn’t mind exploiting his you know what…
Not that I in any way feel sorry for Birol’s you know what. You know what? I kinda hope his you know what has a run in with a bendy knife! Keep it PG iwsod.. Keep it PG..
But heck – this episode is making that practically impossible!
And so Mara is Night Crawler, but did she join Birol and then betray him? or was her mission to infiltrate the cell and spy on him (and his you know what!) from the start?
I guess I don’t really have to know but I find it a little confusing how Birol can have hooked up with two Hungarian women..
But.. you know what? It’s not something I wish to think too deeply about!!!
I can’t wait to see this guy get his comeuppance!
Okay well I’m going to pause here and as always I look forward to hearing from you!!!
"Just walk with me.." 
Crucial differences for me between this and the stemwinder peacock dance is that Magda is an old flame of Birrol’s and there’s also clearly no love issues involved for either sister – he’s a job and having sex with him, in the past or now, is just a way to get the job done.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stupidest advice: “don’t think about it. Stick to what’s practical.” Francine to Lee, when Lee tells her Billy took him off the case… don’t think about it???? “Ok, Francine. I won’t think about the love of my life being kidnapped and possibly tortured, and it’s all my fault.“ geez
LikeLike
I actually love when Lee tells Yusef, “You know, I’m kinda glad you heard, pal. Now you know why I can’t sit around.” I think he is pretty doggone swoony right there, the way his eyes look, and the fact that he is just not pretending or hiding his love for Amanda. It’s quite a moment for Lee to do that, I think.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think that SMK was trying to be a little grittier because Miami Vice had come out by this time and was doing very well in the ratings. SMK was moved to the same night and lost ratings. SMK seemed to develop a split personality by trying to do something gritty while trying to remain wholesome at the same time. It didn’t really work for me. I liked both shows for what they were.
There was definitely an ick factor with Magda and Mara being with the same man. And very icky that they seemed to have no problem with it.
I wish there had been more of a conversation between Lee and Francine. It would have been nice to get her take on Lee’s reactions to Amanda being taken by Birol. It was nice though that she wasn’t quippy about anything.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know I’m way late to this party, but I wanted to leave some thoughts. It’s been so long since I’ve watched this episode, that I’m feeling just as confused as I recall being when it first aired. I remember thinking I knew what they were talking about but not really being sure that that’s what they were talking about (e.g. sleeping with Birol – I mean, really, do sisters share their bed partners? As someone who has 2 sisters this seemed incomprehensible so I wondered if I really got it. I mean this was SMK in the 80’s. I agree, iwsod, it felt very unSMKlike.
Second…Lee’s masseter…that gets me every time. I have no flippin’ idea why! Between that and his deep voice…melting butter is all I have to say – including the sizzle you hear in the pan.
What is up with that old-fashioned shoe on top of the old-fashioned register? And does Magda really ring up her customer’s purchases with that? It looks like quite the antique, even for the 80s. It cracks me up! What was the prop department thinking!
Is it just me or is Mara obviously the younger sister?
LikeLike
I am very much on board the “Complicated Plot” train. I believe they were trying to get a little more into the intrigue and spy stuff this season in order to try and avoid the death spiral of so many shows when the couple finally got together, but this one has so many little twists and turns and explanatory stuff that got dropped in the editing process that it was almost incomprehensible without watching it many times. (Fortunately, that isn’t a problem because the L&A plot in this one brings me back over and over.)
They get an A for effort for showing the new political threats, along with showing that there were Middle Eastern allies like Yusuf as well, but gosh, so much going on. They also get kudos from me for a script where they finally had someone go back and use canon characters reasonably correctly without fouling up timelines too much.
That said, I’m also very much on board with the EWWWWWW! ick factor feeling with the Magda plot.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes, the plot continuity with Magda is almost shocking! But then again, I guess it wasn’t too hard to get that actor to come back a few seasons later, lol.
LikeLike
Ain’t that the truth! We all know she’d rather reprise this dress up role than that frumpy housewife getup in Filming Raul.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Martha will still do her Magda accent at the drop of a hat – I think she enjoyed playing her. 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, that was amazing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I really enjoy Martha Stewart as Magda! She does a great job playing her. I bet she had a lot of fun playing her as well.
LikeLike
I remember being really confused by the whole Francine/Magda/Francine as Magda thing.
LikeLiked by 3 people
The whole scene with Magda went over my head when I watched it originally on TV (I would have been 10). When I re-watched after I got my DVD set, I was surprised that they had Lee tell her to sleep with the guy, and her sister saying, “One thing about Addi, he’s always interested.” Not a very SMK moment! But it shows Lee is willing to do anything, and ask for anything, to get Amanda back.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Same here at age 13. I think I assumed that Magna would get in the door and Lee would get her out when he shows up to get Amanda. That’s more typical SMK. Never assumed they would carry on ‘the act’ nor that Lee would put her and her family in that position. One peacock dance in Stemwinder was bad enough. Or as Amanda said in the car, “This is a real drag.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lee’s code: He “owes” anyone who saved his life, etc., even in the line of duty. Agents apparently use sexuality regularly to get/give information. I don’t think he has a problem with it in a set of a circumstances where he feels someone owes someone. I don’t think he feels Magda owes him (or the government) anything; rather, perhaps he feels she owes Amanda. Even if he didn’t feel that way- he’d ask anything of anyone who could help save Amanda. And we already know that Lee will do anything for Amanda, including commit treason, so this did not surprise me in the least. The fact that somehow Amanda, an attractive woman, held captive by Addi “the thing” Birol, was not molested in this story is ridiculous but helps keep Amanda relatively innocent. Instead, the writers sacrifice a previous character that the viewers did not like very much. I’m probably alone in this view, but this episode didn’t make me think worse of pragmatic Lee and made me like Francine and Magda more.
LikeLiked by 6 people
So much of this ick and storyline9 was lost on me as a younger person. The scene in the bridal shop was like Greek to me when I was younger. Actually, from the minute Pencil Guy from Crypto entered the episode, I was confused all the way through Magda (don’t think I’d ever seen Season 1 the first time I had seen Nightcrawler), and not sure I even had figured out what Mara’s role was.
It does seem like Season 4 had a major writing shift with the lightness/heaviness of episodes that I didn’t really pay attention to when I was younger but definitely I see it now.
Totally random thought …isn’t it ironic that they have this whole conversation in a bridal shop of all places?
LikeLiked by 1 person
P.S. HAPPY NEW YEAR, JWWM!!! 🎉 I love that even entering 2020 there is an awesome place like this to journey through this awesome show. ❤
LikeLiked by 2 people
I didn’t realize it was a bridal shop. What am I missing?
LikeLike
“Soooo we have one of those baddies who thinks with his you know what…
It’s kinda ick that these sisters don’t seem to mind sharing his you know what…”
Could not have said it better myself.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bwahahaha – can always count on your Cindy to make me chuckle out loud!
LikeLike
Don’t like the sleeping together theme. Why did they do that? Just to prove that he is that creepy? If he is that creepy, what is he going to do to Amanda? Oooo, can’t go there. Agree that it is very unSMK. Which sister was sleeping with Birol first? Does he know they are sisters? How does Magda already knows that Addi has Amanda? How close are these sisters? They both seem anxious to get rid of him.
How did Yusef get in that teeny little office without Lee noticing? What is the point of Yusef finding out that A loves Lee? Who doesn’t know at this point???
LikeLiked by 1 person
Me! I don’t know!! I know I’ve posted somewhere that season 4 is my favorite. I think I’ve also posted that I have a love/hate relationship with it. Parts of this episode I really loathe. Why? You’ve stated it here.
LikeLike
Shoot! I forgot to mark it to notify me of new comments. Sorry for this extra comment, but I don’t want to miss anything!
LikeLike
I agree with you, Iwsod – this episode itself does not exactly stay PG. It really does feel like a different show. There is so much ick in this episode. I hate how these women are treated – it’s really awful that Lee would ask Magda to do this, and if he asked Mara to do it, just ugh.
LikeLike
Yes, I agree it’s awful, but do you recall two other similar instances we’ve already walked through in S&MK? (1) The “Brunettes Are In” episode clearly dealt with sex-trafficking and (2) we saw Lee engaged in several “peacock dances” during “Stemwinder.” That’s where we learned that both Lee and Francine have peacock danced as part of their job. So Lee knows EXACTLY what he’s asking of Magda.
LikeLiked by 1 person