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

So where were we? The clock is ticking… Amanda and Francine are back inside the mission, and Lee and Khai are sneaking in.. Khai’s son is there.. somewhere! time… to finish up this episode! Get ready, this post is biiiiiggg…

Back to Diem’s study, or the meeting room. [I don’t know what it is, the room with the map in the cupboard?!]
Amanda and Francine are shown in, and Diem’s run out of patience!
[I must say, I enjoy seeing them annoy him!]
(Amanda is seen to press a small button on her briefcase,
which sets off a beeper in Lee’s jacket. lol.
On this signal, Khai picks the lock and they enter the mission.

Francine and Amanda hit Diem with tons of paperwork and regulations. Ouchie!)
Amanda: And there are facility minimums . . . recreation, infirmary, fire code. It’s all part of the eight -nine -two.
Diem: Pardon me… Eight -nine- two?
Francine: It’s a new statute, limiting supervised educational services outside of a public structure. It’s all quite complete. 
(Diem starts signing forms.. lol..

We cut to Lee and Khai sneaking around inside, and avoiding guards.
They come back up and Khai gestures for Lee to follow him.
They find the classroom,
Khai signals to his son who is super cute and excited to see his dad,
but has to hide it from Lien the teacher.
What to dooo….
Lee notices the fire alarm on the wall…

We cut back to the attack by paperwork.)
Diem: {irritated} Ladies, I have another meeting in fifteen minutes. I’m tired of your bureaucratic red tape.
Amanda: {interrupts in a sing-song voice, like she’s also impatient} We all have very busy schedules.
Francine: And a lot more spare forms to sign.
(Francine drops another pile in front of Diem.)
[Torture by paperwork continues, and I’m delighted. Suffer Diem!]

(Back to Lee and Khai, Lee hits the fire alarm and they run off as it begins ringing.
The class start filing out of the room, with Kim last [–what luck.] Khai swoops in and leads him in the opposite direction, they’re undetected. Lee and Khai rush off.

Back to Diem reacting to alarm. He calls in two guards to ‘protect’ Francine and Amanda.

Elsewhere, Lien seems to have noticed Kim is missing and sends a guard upstairs to search.
Lee vs the guard, Lee wins. Ahem.
They continue on with trying to avoid guards, and run into Francine, Amanda and their protector guards.
Lee and Khai disarm the guards and lock them in a closet. [Swift. I like it. ]

Khai, Kim and Francine leave in the direction of the exit. Lee goes to join Amanda, putting his gun away.)
Amanda: There’s a locked cabinet in Diem’s office. He seemed pretty nervous about it.
Lee: Alright, come on. I have a plan.
(They walk off down the hall.

Outside, Khai, Kim and Francine keep on running to safety.

Diem has the evil map of doom [or should I say boom boom?!] out of the cupboard. He puts it on the table, there is a knock on the door and we cut to Amanda opening the double doors, smiling.)
Amanda: I’m very sorry to bother you…

…I know how busy you are but we need to do a textbook count and there’s an awful lot we…
[Gah!!!! a textbook count?! whahahaaha!!!]
Diem: Mrs. King!
Diem pulls out a pistol, and hurries toward Amanda.
[Whoa, he is reeeeaaally protective of his textbook numbers..]
Amanda: (smiling nervously) Oh my goodness! You, uh…
Diem: You have been an absolute pain…
{Amanda backs away from the pistol, Diem crosses the threshold of the door. Lee chops the pistol out of Diem’s hand. Amanda steps into the study as he and Lee begin to fight. She picks up one of the maps and studies it, then looks up as the fight picks up speed.}

(Diem karate chops Lee, Lee tries kicks of his own..([rah rah. I can’t tell you what happens in this fight because it’s too flippin hilarious watching it cut from the wide shot to the close up and it’s obvious that there are four different people in this fight.
Lee, Lee’s stunt kicker, Diem, and Diem’s stunt kicker!]
(Anyway, Diem looks like he is putting up a fight, but no one can dodge a Lee Stetson punch!)
I love how Clagjanet described this fight: {Lee and Diem tumble and turn in a fabulous martial arts battle, while Amanda winces every time Lee is hit.}  [sorry for the typo Clagjanet!!]

(Amanda rushes to show Lee the map.)
Amanda: He’s marked the parade route to the Chinese Trade Fair.
[What an idiot marking them on a map haaaaa]
Lee: Alright. We’ll check this off with Billy on the phone.
(Happy days. They leave, leaving Diem still unconscious on the table. The scene ends there..

Back at the King home… and it’s tag time.Amanda and the boys clear the table. There’s lots of busy activity bringing the washing up back to the kitchen.)
Amanda: Sweetheart, I think that was the best casserole surprise I’ve ever tasted. [Aie, I think this is probably right up there with ‘I like all your ideas’!]
Phillip: I think I left out some ingredients from last night.
[I love how Jamie’s plate seems to be still pretty full and the way he looks at it. haha. I don’t think he’s enjoying Phillip’s surprises!]
Amanda: Well, it just made it more of a surprise. {She turns and almost crashes into Jamie as he comes in carrying plates} Whoops!
Phillip: (OC) Yeah, a gastronomic experience.
Amanda: (to Jamie) How’d you like your brother’s meal?
Jamie: It was a lot better than last night’s. I’m not dizzy yet.
[rofl. Poor Jamie! I think maybe Phillip is trying to kill him haaaaa]
{We cut to angle on back door as Lee opens it quietly and waits to catch Amanda’s eye.
[Isn’t it interesting to see him no longer showing up in his suits… it’s like he use to wear them to guard himself, and keep a distance between them, but – no more! He’s open.. well openly sneaking with Amanda haaaaa]
As she looks surprised, we can still hear Phillip off camera.}
Phillip: Mom, since I cooked, it’s Jamie’s turn to do dishes!
[oh boy. Things seem to be getting so much worse for Jamie haaa]
{Lee smiles and gestures for her to join him outside.}
Amanda: (distracted, to boys) Uh-huh.
{She heads for the door}
Jamie: (OC) This isn’t cooking! It’s cruel and unusual punishment! [Exactly!]
Phillip: (OC) Wait until you try and scrape the food off your plate.
{Amanda slips outside, pulling the door quietly shut behind her. We cut to where Lee is waiting, leaning on the trellis fence, out of sight of the door.

Amanda joins him and they begin to walk.}
[Wow this backyard is quite the maze of trellis now! I can’t help but think: plenty of places for baddies to hide! lol]
Amanda: Hi
Lee: Hi
Amanda: I saw the opening ceremonies for the Chinese Trade Fair on TV.
[huh? why no kiss hello?! we was robbed!!]
Lee: Yeah, we followed Diem’s map to six spots along the parade route prewired for explosives. We saved a lot of lives today.
{They walk into gazebo and sit down as they talk.}
[whooo check out this new little gazebo! I’m going to call this their little love nest! haaa]
Amanda: You get Khai and his family on a plane?
Lee: Yup off to California and a new life…

Amanda: Will they be safe?
(Lee gives a quiet little smile)

Lee: Well, no one’s ever completely safe in this job, you know that. That’s what I want to talk to you about.
(He takes a deep breath) Amanda, uh…
…the horses and the softball games in the backyard are gonna have to wait.
Amanda: I know that.
[Why is she smiling when acknowledging this painful truth?
So that’s what you were thinking when you were telling Lee all his ideas are good?! I guess it could be a smile though you feel sad Amanda smile.]
(we cut to a much closer shot of Lee, and his hair is really different)
[lol… focus iwsod!]
Lee: But I am gonna marry you, Amanda King…

…Except it’s going to have to be a…

(laughs) …a mystery marriage.
[Oh my. I cannot wait to talk with you all about this!!!!]
{Amanda is listening intently, smiles.}
Lee: Because if it isn’t… One day our family might get in trouble, just like Khai’s.

Amanda: We’ll make the best of it.
(Lee is staring at lap, laughs half-heartedly)
Lee:  I’ve got you.

(Amanda hooks her finger under Lee’s chin to
encourage him to look up and meet her eyes.)
Amanda:  And I got you.
(They smile.)
The episode ends there. Wow.

Do you remember seeing this for the first time? And, did you know this was going to be the outcome? I never got to see these scenes and this episode without knowing the ‘mystery marriage’ was coming. I heard about it for years through fandom before I finally got to see it unfold. This must colour my experience of it.. So I wonder what’s been your experience? Love it? hate it? don’t care? do tell! all views welcome!!!!

I’m going to speak freely here about this tag and little plot twist, and it’s not going to be positive! I think the tag is meant to be… bitter sweet, with a hopeful tinge to it, but for me it misses the mark. I find this Lee and Amanda story line confusing, and unsatisfying. I don’t know if that’s because of the mystery marriage, or because of the execution. Or, maybe it’s both! 

Firstly, for me the premise doesn’t fit the arc of the show/season– at this point they’ve gone through so much danger even once their romantic relationship hit the ground running, that for them to be confronted with it now at this point feels contrived. Things have gotten plenty real in the past. Not just for Lee and Amanda, but for Amanda’s family.

Secondly, not a fan of Amanda’s arc in this episode. I think their going for conflicting emotions for her, culminating with this acceptance in the tag.  How she responds like she’s known it all along, and she smiles about it. Just doesn’t work for me!  I think this might be in the execution for this one.. 

Thirdly, one of the reasons this whole scenario doesn’t make sense is based on events in future episodes soooo I’m going to hit the pause button on sharing those thoughts and we’ll come back to it.

Let’s see can we speculate at this point together on how we think this whole mystery marriage could work?! What do you think? My first assumption would be that they would keep their relationship a secret from anyone. Certainly wouldn’t be introducing more people into their relationship..

Seems to me all the baddies already know how close Lee and Amanda are as partners already – and her family is in danger already, but what do I know!

Remember the super romantic Triumvirate scene where Amanda’s life is in danger and Lee and Amanda talk about the danger and family??? Remember Lee listening to Amanda on the phone with Dotty? Making plans to keep her family safe? See the post on JWWM HERE.
They both have already faced the reality of the dangerous job they both do- so to have gotten engaged already without not thinking through the reality of it to me just doesn’t fit.
If this is the both of them suddenly being faced with this reality due to the experiences of Khai’s family, that turns the  super romantic proposal in Night Crawler into Lee and Amanda living in fantasy land, disregarding the hard lessons they had already learned, and trying to pretend moving forward they could have a real marriage. Not a fan of that.
The proposal scene in Night Crawler itself is in a context where they are together discussing the reality that this job may cost Amanda her life!!!  And Lee is blown away by how she’s the bravest, smartest.. etc.

They don’t have to have a mystery marriage  – if they want to have a real marriage they can change jobs. And, maybe that’s where thinking about smk sometimes in detail is rewarding, but sometimes it is no help at all. Well, at least for me!

This super important conversation was way too brief for such an important decision, because they are so meant to be and of like mind huh… Lee came to the conversation having already made his decision, and seems Amanda had too. Seems they each decided separately that they’d rather stay in the work and have a mystery marriage, than leave and have a real one.
but then… that doesn’t seem to be so romantic when you put it explicitly like that does it?! [and this way the boys can get out of having to weed the garden, and Lee can avoid putting everything he owns into hock. rofl] 

Just my opinion, but this mystery marriage seems like a contrived way to keep the sexual tension happening and prevent the show from getting stale now Lee and Amanda have gotten together. Such a shame.. but…. oh well! So in the spirit of the walk, I will be interested to see what this mystery marriage means, and how it is going to play out. And, I’ll probably display nark at the decision on a regular basis. lol. I may as well have fun with it.
If there is one positive I can find in all this, it’s that I’m at least glad the show didn’t try the whole: ‘ohhh we need to break up and we can’t ever be together because of the danger’ melodrama!!

A few random comments on the credits..

There was a character called ‘Mandarin’?

And.. looks like two of Khai’s kids, these two:

have the same family name, maybe they were related in real life, maybe real brother and sister? Cute!

I resisted writing up this tag, I really wasn’t looking forward to it as it makes me sad.. but.. oh well.. On to the next episode.. next up is Need To Know!!!
Who’s with me?!!