5/7 Season Four, Episode Nine: The Man Who Died Twice–Scarecrow & Mrs King

Well, now that Lee and Amanda have been hit in the face with all the danger the King family are in because they work at the agency, we join Amanda that evening back home with the boys.
Amanda: (OC) Hi fellas! I’m home!
Phillip and Jamie: (O.C simultaneous) P: Hi! J: Hi Mom!
Amanda: What’s that smell?
Jamie: Dinner. And if you think it smells bad, you should have tasted it.
{Phillip and Jamie are clearing up dinner dishes.}
Amanda: Oh my gosh, that looks delicious. Who cooked?
Phillip: I did. I’ve got cooking third period school.
Amanda: Oh.
Jamie: Yeah, making dinner is on the final exam. He flunked.
Amanda: Oh come on. (takes a slice of cucumber and starts eating it)
Phillip: Mom, would you like something?
Amanda: I’ll tell you what, sweetheart, why don’t you save some for me and I’ll have it later, okay?
Phillip: Sure.
Jamie: Smart move. Next time Phillip cooks, can I eat over at Mark’s?
Amanda: Sweetheart, you just keep cleaning, okay?
{Phone rings.}
Amanda: I got it. (picks up) Hello?
{We see Dotty at a payphone, looking dashing in a trench coat and beret}
Dotty: Amanda, I’m sorry I’m late. Are you going to be at home?
Amanda: Oh hi, Mother. No, I’m sorry I won’t. I’ve got a deadline – I gotta get back to work.
Dotty: Oh alright. Well, tell the boys I’ll be right along okay? My adult education class is just finishing. I told you about it: ‘Soap Opera and the American Dream.’
[lol I wonder if she was studying The Young and the Restless?!]
Amanda: (teasing) Yes Mother, you should do very well.
Dotty: Oh I wish you were going to be there. I wanted to tell you about Captain Curt’s new love.
Amanda: You’re kidding! Who is she?
Dotty: No it’s not a she, it’s an it. It’s a Pitt Special. Fast as a bullet, all engine…

…It’s for aerobatics. Oh Amanda, it makes me so upset.
{As she is speaking, we see Lee open the back door and peek in}
Dotty: (V.O.) I mean, what do you do when the man you like wants to live dangerously?
{Lee beckons her urgently then pulls the door closed} [Beckoning her toward danger, excitement and intrigue?!]
Dotty: (V.O) Just tell him to stop?
Amanda: Uh, Mother, I really can’t talk right now okay? I’m just gonna grab a sandwich on the way back to work and I’ll see you later.
Dotty: Amanda, you don’t eat well. That’s all you do is run, run, run, run, run. I don’t get to spend five minutes with you..
…Okay, don’t worry about it. Tell the boys I’ll be right along. Anyway, I guess I don’t have to see you to tell you that I love you.
Amanda: I love you too Mother. Bye-bye…
{She hangs up and looks at the boys}
…You gonna be okay?
Phillip and Jamie: (in unison) Sure!
[Look at these two grown up boys!]
Amanda: Okay fellas, your grandma will be home in a little while. Do your homework!

(Amanda leaves via the backdoor and the scene ends there.)

[Come on peeps.. what do you make of this scene? They seem to be showing how grown up Phillip and Jamie are.. but also how Dotty is missing Amanda so it’s a bit of a mixed bag for me. how about that dialogue about maybe like, liking danger! and.. do you tell him to stop?
For me – Lee and Amanda are way past this! If this was going to stop them, being about to die together in Nightcrawler would have been the final straw that led to them leaving the business. They didn’t though, they chose to get engaged and stay in the business. aie..
Anyone else reminded of Princess Penny in Always look for a gift horse?!
Penelope: Sometimes dangerous can be fun.
Amanda: Sometimes dangerous can be dangerous.

Amanda has come sooooo far since then!! ]

Moving on to a bit of danger! We cut to Lee, Amanda and Khai walking along a dark loading dock. Khai got a tip from his contact Binh that Kim would be at this dock tonight. Lee has his doubts about whether this is legit. But, they go ahead anyway..
Khai: Maybe Diem has cancelled his move on the Chinese. I can’t pass up any chance…. Look, if he brought Kim back here to trick me, I’ll go in alone… save my son.
(Khai rings the buzzer to get in, Lee gets more antsy as a truck backs up into the loading dock.

Binh opens the door and gives them a look.)
{Lee watches as the truck driver jumps out of the truck cab and takes off running.}
Lee: (shouts) They’ve got us boxed in!
{Lee and Amanda jump off loading dock to their left, Khai jumps off to the right as truck explodes. Freeze frame on Lee mid-air with explosion behind him.}

[I thought Diem was not going to harm Khai. was this a set up so we think Khai is really dead now? If he is really dead??  and.. if he wasn’t dead, was Khai in on it? I really really don’t remember!]

We cut to a room at IFF, we haven’t seen this one before.
This the day of the parade?
{We find Amanda sitting, holding Lee’s hand against her cheek and looking worried. Camera pulls back and we see that Lee is lying on a day bed with a bandage around his head.}
(Lee starts to regain consciousness. Amanda sits up straight.)
Lee: (confused and groggy) Amanda?
{He tries to sit up in bed. Amanda pushes him gently back down.}
Amanda: It’s alright. I’m right here.
(Lee groans)
Amanda: Just be still for a minute.
{She gets up and goes to the door, and pokes her head out to speak to someone outside.}
Amanda: He’s awake.
(The nurse and doctor enter the room.)
Amanda: (to Lee) It’s alright. You’re in the Agency hospital.
(The doctor explains that Lee had a saline soak over his eyes as a precaution.. she checks over his eyes with a scope.. [lookin good Lee]..

The doctor delivers the news- Khai ‘didn’t make it’ – and she leaves.)
Lee: Damn it.
(Lee sits up, groaning.)
Amanda: Be careful.

Lee: They call it a Saigon boxcar. Two bombs… we walked right into it.
The scene ends there.  [thoughts??]

We move on to Francine.. all alone in the great big conference room.
She picks up the phone and starts dialing, and she looks like she is not looking forward to this call!

We hear a male voice answer, his voice very monotone, slow: Pathology. Jeff speaking.
(Francine responds.. {Clagjanet describes it as: putting on best Marilyn Monroe breathy voice.} nice one!)
Francine: Hi Jeff, this is Francine Desmond. We met at Senator Roger’s party.
Jeff:  Well, hello. What’s the haps, Frannie?
Francine: Oh nothing. I’ve just been thinking about you ever since that party.
Jeff:  Since 1983?
Francine: Has it been that long? he heee…  Um, say Jeff, do you still have that fascinating job at the morgue? {Billy shuts the door quietly and rolls his eyes.}
Francine: You know, the one you were telling me so much about at the party.
Jeff: You got it. Morbidity and toxicology is my middle name.
Francine:  Same old Jeff. (giggles) Oops! Oh, I was just putting perfume on my —
{Cut to Billy looking vaguely annoyed. Cut back to Francine who continues speaking.}
Francine: Well, I was just putting perfume on… and the stopper fell in my lingerie drawer. Could you just hold on a minute while I go look for it?
Jeff: You bet. If I was there, I’d do it for you.
Francine: Awww.
{She puts him on hold, takes a deep breath and shakes it off and looks at Billy. }
Billy:  Perfume?
Francine:You use what you got, Look I’m running out of options. Now, this guy works for the DC metro morgue. I think I can get him to shuffle some papers for us and make it a little bit harder for anybody to put the pieces together between Khai and the bomb. (winces) Oh, I’m sorry. That’s a poor choice of words. [whhahahahaa.. great pun!!]
Billy: Ok. Buy us as much time as you can. We’re way outside the line on this one. And keep it strictly personal.
Francine: Great.
{She picks up the phone with a sigh as Billy straightens up. }
Billy:  It’s not so much to ask Francine.
Francine: (sighs) You’ve never met Jeff.
{She visibly girds herself and takes Jeff off hold.}
Francine: Hi… found it. Now I’m all yours.
{Billy shudders.}
Jeff: Yeah?
Francine: (seductively) Yeah.

[The audience: Gag!!!!
Oh well.. at least we were not asked to watch Francine try and seduce Jeff in person. I still have nightmares about Rollo! eewwwwww..
A saline soak ain’t gonna fix my eyes after that!! ]
This scene ends here. Thank goodness!

(We cut to Lee exiting the clothes elevator in a huff. He enters the bullpen as Billy approaches him.)
Billy: Scarecrow. I was just on my way to the clinic. What are you doing back here so soon?
Lee: Taking care of business. Isn’t that the name of the game? Now you get on the horn and you tell Dr. Smyth that we wanna bust his pet Vietnamese.
Billy: Come into my office. We have something to discuss. [Whoooo calm intensity from Billy here!]
(Billy looks around, and keeps his voice down)
Lee: What’s to discuss? We gave it a shot… Khai lost.
Billy: (quietly) In my office. Now, Lee. Now.
{He walks away towards his office leaving Lee confused by his serious tone. Lee follows him slowly.

Cut to Billy’s office, where all the blinds are drawn and Billy is holding the door halfway open. Lee slips inside and looks around as Billy closes the door behind him.}
Khai reveals himself.. whoooo he lives!!

Lee beams, looks at Billy smiling, then back at Khai who is also grinning.
Lee: Khai!
{The men hug each other, Lee thrilled.}
Lee: What the hell is going on here, huh? The doc said you bought it.
Khai: Not me, my contact. Your people switched my I.D… Officially Tranh Van Khai is dead.
[Okay, so Binh is dead. So did Diem just try and blow everyone up together and he was lying about not killing Kim? Hmm. I guess?]
Lee: Oh yeah? For how long?
Billy: At best we bought another six hours before the police and the M.E. have to come clean about the mistake. The contact’s family will have to be notified.
Lee: Gee Billy… I’m sorry I jumped down your throat out there.
Billy: Forget it, forget it. I bent Agency rules to bring Khai inside, but we can’t take any more chances.
[So, can anyone figure out where is the secret passage way in and out of Billy’s office? Chimney? Because otherwise, how the heck did Khai get in there?!]
Khai: Where’s Amanda?
Lee: She and Francine are going to Chinatown to look for Kim. (To Billy) Six hours, huh?
[thanks for the update on that countdown. I guess it’s 6 am and they are counting down to noon?]
(Billy nods.)
Lee: Phew… it’s getting tight.
[That’s how SMK rolls!]
The scene ends here.
Hoorah. I’m glad we didn’t have to wait long to find out Khai lives!

I like that Lee and Amanda are split up and Francine and Amanda will be together!

I shall pause here and be back soon with the final post for this episode. Would love to hear your thoughts!