(It’s now evening and we’re back in the King kitchen. Dotty is at this ginormous computer.)
[A computer?? in the King home??? It just looks wrong!]
Amanda: Mother?
Dotty: Uh-huh.
Amanda: Hi.
Dotty: Hi.
Amanda: Sorry I’m late. I got stuck on the George Washington Parkway.
Dotty: Hmm.
Amanda: Whatcha’ doing?
Dotty: I am on my final approach into Meg’s Field. I have crashed into the swamp twice and overshot the runway once. Mm (sips cup of something). Okay, here we go.
[lol she doesn’t even have a mouse. she just taps a few buttons to get on the runway? oh rofl. this is pretty hilarious to look back on!]
Amanda: Where are the boys?
Dotty: Um, they’re next door working on somebody’s motorcycle.
Amanda: Oh yeah?
Dotty: Jamie didn’t finish his lunch again today.
Amanda: Really? Gee, I wonder if he’s alright. You think I should take him to Dr. Watkins for a checkup?
Dotty: I have a hunch that Dr. Watkins cannot cure what’s ailing him. I think it’s Lee Stetson.
Amanda: Mother, they get along really well.
Dotty: Um, well, Philip adores him, but I don’t know about Jamie. Do you remember, do you remember, ah, Mrs. Truesdale’s youngest son? How he acted when she fell in love?
Amanda: Yeah, he was pretty jealous, but –
Dotty: Uh-huh, I rest my case.
Amanda: Huh.
Dotty: Woo-hoo, ha-ha, here we go! That’s it! A perfect three-point landing.
…On top of the Sears Tower.
[Oh rofl. Deadpan Dotty is pretty hilarious at the end here. Nice touch. This screams SMK to me.. how about you?]
The scene ends here.
Next, we see an apartment exterior shot, Heeeey isn’t this Lee’s old apartment block back in season 1? we spent a lot of time looking at that apartment!
hey?? Seems this is Laura Mayfield’s apartment? Hang on.. has she moved house from the previous apartment block so the baddies won’t find her? cunning plan! She’s dedicated!
But wait..
(A masked man silently sneaks up behind Laura and puts a cloth over her mouth. We hear Laura struggle and eventually pass out.)
[I’ve seen that tie before.. that’s Donaldson’s hypnosis tie. Gosh, they’ve made it kinda easy for us haven’t they..
Drat, didn’t fool the baddie changing apartment blocks after all.. then again, moving into Lee’s old apartment block was probably more dangerous given all the KGB agents who knew Lee lived there. lol.]
On to the next morning, and Laura is umm.. let’s just say she’s overacting and super duper annoying here.. and I’m going to put it down to the drugs she inhaled. Yes, that’s it. Poor child.
Seems she’s moved house overnight too while recovering from being knocked out. lol.
Laura: All they wanted was the diary, (how does she know that??) but you’ll never find them because it’s the same people who took my father. It’s the Agency. (The agency will never find the what scientists because what the agency kidnapped them already? Aie. my head hurts..)
Lee: The diary is the only thing missing besides your clippings? (okay okay, so this is how she knew about it. chill Iwsod!)
Laura: Who even knew about it?
Amanda: Well, we knew about it. You knew about it. Your father knew about it, and whoever he told. Ah, Congressman Posner knew about it, whoever he told. That’s quite a few people.
Laura: Yeah, and don’t forget Donaldson with the I.A.B.
Lee: Now, wait a second. We don’t have the proof to point a finger at anybody yet.
Laura: Well, what more do you need?
Amanda: Well, first of all we’ve got to make some sense out of all this.
Laura: Yeah, what scares me is that if they took my father and they’re worried enough to break in and do this, why not take me, too?
Amanda: I don’t think they’ll do that. First of all you don’t know anything, and uh, that would set off a lot of alarm bells. I don’t think Donaldson would take that chance.
Laura: Okay, but I’m still scared to death. What now?
Lee: We place a 24-hour guard around your house to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
Laura: (suspiciously) What kind of guard?
Amanda: Agency guard.
Laura: How can you trust them?
Lee: We have to, Laura. We’re not congressional aides. We work for the Agency.
Laura: (stands up) All this time? You took my father? You used me? Get out!
[Whoa. Firstly, Lee what did you expect telling her that now like that?! and.. Secondly, whoaaaaa gurl no amount of drug after effects can make up for this level of overacting. We need an acting coach here- stat! Or this is gonna give me all kinds of heartburn!!!!]
Lee: (trying to calm Laura down) Now, wait a second, we’re on the same side.
Amanda: (talking at the same time) No, look, we still want to find your father.
Laura: Get out! Make them get out.
Amanda: Laura, the only way we’re going to solve this is if we work together. Please call us. We’re leaving.
[yes, please leave Laura and move on. lol.
I love how she yelled get out to the guys behind here, and they just kept on doing what they are doing.. even at the end of the scene haaaaa.. ]
(Back at the Agency in the Q Bureau)
Lee: (on the phone with) Amanda, that’s as deep as you can go without working for the Justice Department. Okay, I’ll see you tonight. Bye.
(Billy walks in.)
Lee: Amanda’s drawing a blank running down those other missing people. Their families reported them gone, but they’re the kind of people known for dropping out of sight and then appearing weeks later at a Bonn Peace Rally or a missile test in Florida.
Billy: I found this “For Your Eyes Only” request on my desk.
Lee: Yeah, I want to listen in on some people.
[oh rofl. here we go.. Billy hitting the roof at Lee’s audacity.. but we all know he’s gonna do it right?! Let’s see haaaaaa]
Billy: No, no, you want to tap the phone of a United States Congressman.
Lee: (stands up mad) Alright, someone went after Laura Mayfield. Someone who knew about her father’s diary. The Congressman is on that list.
Billy: You’re unofficial, Scarecrow.
Lee: Yeah.
Billy: I would have to sweat bullets to get an okay for that!
Lee: Hmm. I thought that was going to be the easy one. You didn’t finish reading the request.
Billy turns and picks up the request.
Billy: The Justice Department!!
[BJO: You know I love a good masseter flex, but this time it just makes me laugh!!]
[Exactly BJo, Billy here is flippin hilarious!!!! He is utterly apoplectic, about to have an aneurysm or something.. but.. we all know he’ll end up doing it. haaaaaa.. and not only doing it, but probably enthusiastically haaaaa]
We’re now in Billy’s office with some younger, casually dressed man.
Chip: Let me get this straight, you want me to tap these phones?
Billy: Chip, you’re the best lineman the phone company has.
[Gosh we didn’t have to wait long to find out, Yep Billy is on board and actively helping Lee with his eyes only request. this whole scene kinda makes my skin crawl..]
Lee: Um-hmm.
Chip: And you guys don’t exist, right?
[BJO: Boy, Chip is smart too…]
Lee: Right.
Chip: Okay, say I crossed a few wires purely by accident, would there be…oh, a bass boat, a 7.5 horse motor, and a nice, new trailer to haul it with in my driveway next week?
[Oh? so Bribes are okay and so is taping people without a warrant? this is all kinds of wrong and doesn’t really do well when held up to any scrutiny.. sooooo I’m just gonna handwave this one – *Handwave!*]
Lee: Billy, I believe we have found ourselves a man with experience, here.
Chip: Okay, now the Justice Department is going to be the toughest. They wrote the wiretap laws, you know?
Billy: I didn’t hear that.
Chip: Their lines are constantly monitored for voltage drops, induction drags, and a few other goodies I can’t talk about.
Lee: Chip, what can you get us?
Chip: Uh, how about a phone log? You know, like your home phone bill shows you the numbers you called?
Lee: Hm.
Chip: I could get you that for say a sonar fish finder?
Billy: Don’t push your luck, Chip.
[Is there a fish and chips joke in here somewhere peeps?!]
Chip: Just tryin’. Um, this is going to take a couple of days.
Lee looks at Chip. Chip looks at Lee. Chip looks at Billy. Billy looks at Chip. [BJO: hahahaha]
Chip: Tomorrow?
We cut to Laura Mayfield spying on Rollins from her vehicle. Rollins gets in his car and drives off.
[Rollins is rollin! Sorry.. couldn’t help it.. ]
Laura follows him in her Jeep, to a large building..
The sign says it’s Hospimerica Briarwood Sanitorium.
[BJo: this building looks familiar. Didn’t the Mendelson sisters live at a place called Briarwood?]
[I agree it does look familiar but no idea where we’ve seen this one.. anyone?
In Pharoah’s Engineer – the place where agents go to retire, if they are lucky, is called Birchwood. Close!!]
(We see Rollins and a man with dark hair talking to someone belted into a stretcher.)
Rollins is interrogating Mr Mayfield to find out who is giving him his information. but Mayfield isn’t talking.
The scene finishes up with the baddies discussing the injections Mayfield is getting, Rollins wants them to be careful not to kill him before they find out who the leaker of the strategic nuclear count is and anybody else who’s aiding them.
(The Phone Rings.)
Dark-haired man: Hobart.
[BJO: ha! Now we know his name!]
[As an Australian I have to point out this is the name of the capital city in the Australian state of Tasmania. A big shout out to Tassie readers if any!!]
(We cut to Laura Mayfield walking with a woman at what appears to be a medical center of sorts.)
Laura is trying to get access to the inside, but it’s a no go.
(Back to Rollins and Hobart.)
They’re advised Laura is inquiring about the place, and can see she’s found out about it.. sooooo.. like any other self respecting smk baddie, they blame someone else for the trouble they’re in (it’s Donaldson’s fault for taking the diary! When err actually Laura followed the counter intelligence expert Rollins in his car right to the scene of the crimes haaaaa..), Rollins decides it’s time to take her out, and get Donaldson to do it.. it’s all his fault haaaa.
She’s in a lot of trouble.. and not just because she’s an over actor. Hmm..
(We cut to Laura pulling up outside her apartment building [the gothic one not the cover one] where she happens to see Donaldson walking down the stairs. Laura quickly drives off. Donaldson runs to his car and gets in and follows her. Oh dear.)
Hmmm maybe it’s time to call Amanda?
Time to go check out how Lee is doing bonding with the boys!
(We’re now at an outdoor basketball court where Philip, Jamie, and Lee are playing basketball.)
Philip: Look up, look straight up. (Lee is guarding Jamie who is trying to dribble down the court.
[BJO: not very well, I’m afraid]
[You know my first instinct was uh oh. don’t try and bond with Jamie while Philip is around, he’ll just keep Jamie on the defensive and all closed up! ugh]
Philip: Keep pushing. Jamie, go right! Go right!!!!!
[BJO: Wow, Philip is a tad over the top here]
[Totally! I agree BJo, another bit of overacting in the episode for over actors it seems.]
(Jamie tried to throw it to Philip, but it hits Lee’s arm and bounces away.)
Philip: Nice!
[BJO: Geez, take chill pill!]
Jamie: Sorry, I’m not Larry Bird.
Philip: I noticed!
[I really really want Philip to fall on his arse. Honestly. A rude brother!!]
Lee: Hey, hey, hey, come on. It was a good try. What do you want?
[A different brother would be nice. cough cough.]
Jamie: It was a bad pass and this is a stupid game.
Philip: So you’re going to quit?
Lee: Hey, Chief, why don’t you go get the ball, huh? Go on…
(to Jamie) …You all right?
[Lee does well to get Philip out of the equation here.. aie.. bonding without Philip in future please!]
Jamie: Yeah, I’m fine.
Lee: What are so uptight with your brother for?
[Ohhhhh so the problem isn’t Philip and how he treats his brother, it’s how uptight Jamie is. boooooo]
Jamie: I’m not uptight. I just hate doing everything he wants to do.
Lee: Well, I thought you two wanted to shoot some hoops or something?
Jamie: Well, I know you did.
Lee: Well, we don’t have to play, you know.
Jamie: Well, it’s a little late for that now, isn’t it?
[BJO: Oh dear, poor Lee. He’s trying but it’s not going that well.]
Let’s pause here.. Uh oh… Ouchie.. Hang in there Lee!!
Anyone else kind of distracted be Lee in sweats like this?! whoooo haaaaaa.
What do you all think so far? Do tell!!
I love love love to hear from you guys -even if I don’t always comment they do always make my day!
please consider sharing what you think, even if it’s just to say hiya and yeah you agree.. (but disagreeing is totally okay too!) Byeeeee
"Just walk with me.." 
Thinking more about Lee’s response to Jamie — I’m wondering if he doesn’t actually know exactly what’s happening and is using a wrong guess on purpose to draw him out. If he says something right now about Jamie being hostile towards him, Jamie would get more defensive and deny it. Instead, he says “Why are you so uptight with your brother?” and Jamie immediately insists he’s not uptight with Phillip — and inadvertently admits who he’s really upset with, Lee. Probably something else Lee picked up in those parenting books.
By the way, I already adore Lee as it is, but seeing him going to such an effort to bond with the boys, even taking time to read the books and really thinking about how resistant Jamie is just makes me love him anymore.
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By the way, a fun fact: The title for this episode (and the movie we think of, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest) actually comes from a weird counting rhyme they used to use as an alternative to Eenie Meeny Miny Moe:
Vintery, mintery, cutery, corn,
Apple seed and apple thorn,
Wire, briar, limber lock
Three geese in a flock
One flew East
One flew West
And one flew over the cuckoo’s nest
I can’t help but think the title would be better suited to an ep about a character defecting to the Eastern Bloc though.
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Yes! There are several versions of this poem. One of them adds a couple of additional lines at the end:
O-U-T spells OUT
Goose swoops down and plucks you out.
Creepy and sort of interesting as applied to the plot of this episode… Dark right-wing forces from the Agency past, swooping down to “pluck out” people that they perceive to be “enemies” of America.
And I think the East/West thing is somewhat of an apt metaphor as well. East = Communists and their perceived sympathizers, the people who this psychopath Rollins wants to get rid of. But you’re right that it would apply better to a defection episode.
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Good point and VERY creepy! I’d only seen the rhyme in a Trixie Belden book and now i see why they cut that line! LOL
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Just one last thought on this… “One Flew East” is a clever title; of course, it leads directly to “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” which is evocative of the Briarwood Sanitorium/asylum thing going on in this episode, while also bringing in the idea of East vs. West.
But I also think that the placement of an episode with this particular title at this exact point in the series is unnerving. For each of my major watch-throughs of the SMK series — all of which took place many years apart — I would see that One Flew East comes directly after Mission of Gold, which ended with Amanda lying critically injured in a hospital in California. My first instinct was always to see this title and think, “oh no!” I was afraid it meant that only one person “flew East” back to D.C., and perhaps Amanda is back West in the hospital… Or perhaps Dotty flew home, leaving Lee and Amanda behind… But then I see the episode and remember it has nothing to do with that at all.
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This episode really didn’t make much sense to me, then again I really didn’t watch it like the previous ones. Okay, here’s what gets me about this. Amanda comes in (her house) which is apparent she doesn’t stay there, as we all know she’s now married. Because of this stupid secret marriage, no one knows. So, I guess Dotty now gets them ready for school, she knows about Jamie not eating all his lunch.
Getting to Laura, OMG she’s awful, acting and all. I do like the fact that Lee is really trying to bond with Philip and Jamie. I must admit, Jamie in this scene is a total Brat!!!
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I don’t know — if it’s a secret, I’m guessing Amanda sneaks out at night and then back in again.
But as far as the lunch thing is concerned, Dotty probably would have seen it when he came home because she would see the leftovers. As someone who occasionally didn’t eat my lunch and knew I’d get in trouble, I got good at ditching anything I didn’t eat at school before I came home. In my case, my mom made my lunch, but my stepgrandmother was the one who was home and would have seen the lunch container. (Or my mom later if I threw something out in our kitchen garbage)
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After they got married, I wondered how they were going to do that. Especially since the house is Amanda’s, Dotty was just staying with her helping her out with the boys’.
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This one line of Amanda’s is actually pretty funny:
Well, we knew about it. You knew about it. Your father knew about it, and whoever he told. Ah, Congressman Posner knew about it, whoever he told. That’s quite a few people.
Unfortunately, we have reached the point in the series where Amanda seems to have lost all of her cheer and so the funniness gets lost in the delivery. I think that first, second or third-season Amanda would have said it in a more “rambly” way, and Lee could have cut her off with a look.
Just FYI, the airport that Dotty is attempting to land at in her flight simulation program is “Meigs” Field (not “Meg’s”). Meigs Field is/was a former airport in Chicago.
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I’m thinking she kept more of a serious delivery because it’s her “mom” way of trying to calm Laura down and keep her from flying off the handle even more. Kind of a gentle way of reminding her, not that it helps.
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I noticed that as the series went on, Amanda was less cheerful and more serious.
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Dottie with that computer game is too funny! Although to be honest, it looks like something I’d probably sit down and try.
I had a thought about Jamie’s perspective here. Since I’ve watched the episode and I’m not jumping ahead, I’ll go ahead and mention it. We don’t know how much Jamie and Phillip were told about Amanda getting shot and ending up in the hospital in Mission of Gold. I suspect that Dottie got Joe to watch the boys and hopped a plane to get to Amanda. Amanda might have come back to DC once the doctor approved her to get on a plane, but that doesn’t mean she was 100%. So then, what (if anything) was communicated to the boys? Somehow, I don’t think the writers were thinking this deep when writing Jamie’s part here. But it would make sense for Jamie to mistrust Lee if he even accidentally heard that something happened to his mom while Lee was with her.
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And Amanda probably was in California for a minimum of three weeks. I asked my doctor when someone would be cleared to fly after an injury like this and she said it would take at least two or three weeks after you were released from hospital, just because flying too soon could be bad with the lung injury.
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Lee studied up on all those fun things to do with the boys in the newspaper and then just ended up out on the basketball court? Better get reading again for something Jamie wants to do!
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Okay, you so have to address that in a fanfic now! LOL
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Weird, my other reply didn’t come up so I’m going to try it again.
What’s with the name Briarwood in the eighties? Jennifer Hart’s dad lived on an estate called Briarwood on Hart To Hart.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the scenes of Lee with the boys. They make my day. The fact that Lee is all sweaty and looks so good in blue sweatshirts doesn’t hurt at all! (Although I’m surprised he wouldn’t wear a T Shirt for something like this!)
I think he was ignoring Phillip’s jerk behavior for the moment for two reasons. 1) He’s been reading the parenting books and probably is uncomfortable correcting one boy too much in front of the other. I’m guessing he’d save that for when Jamie isn’t around. 2) More importantly, I think he’s more concerned about Jamie because it’s obvious that there’s something more going on.
And after Dotty’s driving lessons on Waiting For Godorsky, I just want to say that I’d feel safer being captured by Addi Birol than in a plane flown by Dotty! At least there’s hope for Lee to save me from Birol, but I don’t know what he could do if I’m up in the air and he’s on the ground.
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One of the fun things with watching these old series on DVD is seeing the old computers and technology. It brings back so many memories!
That was Lee’s apartment building in the first three seasons! I wonder if they ever ran into each other in the hall before this! LOL I didn’t notice they changed her apartment back and forth though. That’s hilarious. And yeah, I’m with you on Laura.
I love Lee. “I thought that was going to be the easy one.”
I have no trouble believing there are two places named Briarwood in an area as large as D.C. and its suburbs. I grew up in a city with a neighborhood with actual streets named, Ross Glen Drive, Ross Glen Road, Ross Glen Court, Ross Glen Close, Rossmere Drive, Rossmere Road, Rossmere Court, Rossmere Close, Rossland Drive (etc.)… Trying to find an address there was a nightmare.
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Those scenes with Lee and the boys are some of my favorites ever. And seeing Lee in that blue sweatshirt and all sweaty doesn’t hurt a bit. (Although why he wouldn’t wear a T-shirt for an activity that warm is beyond me!)
I think Lee is addressing Jamie because he can tell there’s more going on than just his brother being a jerk and he’s more concerned about Jamie’s behavior because it means there’s something wrong with him. Plus he’s been reading all the parenting stuff and probably doesn’t want to reprimand one in front of the other.
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The big hospital building was also the Cumberland hotel in Triumvirate. They do love using the same names and exteriors! In Weekend, the hotel was called the Cumberland and it was a red brick building. Then the brick building became a Soviet Embassy in Thanks for the Memory. They reused the Cumberland name in Triumvirate and now they’re reusing the building and the Briarwood name here! And really, were they so desperate for an night time exterior shot that they thought we wouldn’t notice them using Lee’s old building?
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What was with the name Briarwood in the eighties? It was also the name of Jennifer’s father’s estate in Hart To Hart.
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Yes, I also immediately recognized the Cumberland (II) from The Triumvirate! Perhaps the Agency sold the building after the terrible security breach that occurred there (LOL).
The fact that they messed up the editing by throwing in a picture of Lee’s old apartment building seems incredibly lazy to me. Editors: do your job!
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I can’t stand Philip. He is such an over-the-top butthole to his brother. They didn’t write him as a jerk until this season.
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Okay now I need to pay more attention. I knew he was decent the first season, but I didn’t realize his jerky behavior took that long to start.
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Yes, it’s pretty much in this season. There is another scene in a different episode where Phillip throws it in Jamie’s face that Philip’s girlfriend called Jamie a something (zore?) -bellied geek.
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Zorba The Geek. It’s a pun on the famous Greek song, Zorba The Greek.
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I totally agree re: Phillip. The anger with which he yells at Jamie in this scene is actually disturbing to me. I also hated it in Promises to Keep when he threw Jamie’s bag lunch on the ground.
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(Sorry, I meant to say Rumors of My Death was the one with the bag lunch incident.)
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