Moving on and back to Amanda’s.. She’s grappling with calling not calling.. 
Has anyone called this number? 
Amanda dials..
Secretary: 5-9-8-6. Who’s calling?
Amanda: Amanda King.
Lee (voice on the phone): Hi. I thought you’d be curious about all this.
[ That’s his reaction?!! I kinda want to slap him,lol!! He’s way too smug but then.. it’s also super interesting that is what he picked up from Amanda.. seems like more than just a line, he seems to have picked up on her curiosity..
Now I remember, early Lee leaves me swinging between swoons and eye rolls! Don’t mind me, while I gripe about smug Lee, I’m totally here for it!! 
]
Amanda: I called to tell you to leave me alone.
Lee voice on the phone): Mrs. King, have you noticed any strange cars parked outside? [I want to slap him!]
Amanda: What?
Lee (voice on the phone): It’s possible you’re being watched.
Amanda: watched? [she laughs nervously] 
Lee (voice on the phone): Look, I’ve put you to a lot of trouble and I don’t want to get you hurt! Mrs. King, we have to meet! Today. 5 o’clock.
[Ohhh now he mentions his care for her safety ugh!!!
While Amanda does seem concerned and nervous, now she’s alone she is definitely coming across as more curious IMHO!]
Back to suburbia, and we get a cool shot of Jamie looking out from the back of the fridge.
In the background we hear that cooking show again in the background..
Mrs. Welch (on TV): …Trussing your bird is an important step, ladies! Without proper stitching, everything will just fall right out! As any surgeon will tell you. (ewwww, disturbing!) A two-and-a-half pound bird…
[LOL Dotty is trying to follow along with live tv to do the recipe? rofl. how does that even work? lol maybe it doesn’t.]
(Amanda peeks around the corner to see who is where and then, 
being extra perky Amanda strides into the kitchen… like she was fortifying herself for what was about to happen!]
Amanda: Mrs. Welch again.
Dotty: Mm-hmm. The 4:30 show. “Colonial Cookery” is on two times a day.. If it bothers you, you could send me for private lessons. Mrs. Welch does give them.
(Dotty doesn’t really look up, focused on trussing the bird before it’s innards leak out lol)
[For a second there I thought she said Pirate lessons haaaa.. I can’t let Captain Lee go! So what’s the deal with Dotty asking her daughter to ‘send her’ for lessons? This sounds a bit like Dotty is living there with an understanding she does the cooking?? anyone??]
(Amanda lifts Jamie onto the kitchen bench and starts wiping his face..)
[how old is Jamie here? Seems Amanda got divorced when he was very young… assuming there was a lead up to the actual divorce.. anyone? Jamie seems so little!!]
Amanda: No, no. It’s okay.
Jamie: Gee, you look great, Mom.
(Amanda stops and looks up at her suspicious mother.)
Dotty: You are awfully fixed up.
Amanda: Mother, all I did was comb my hair and put on a little makeup.
Jamie: Usually your hair is sorta frazzled.
Amanda: Usually I’m sorta frazzled, sweetheart. (Amanda kisses Jamie on the head, and then crosses the kitchen to collect her handbag) …No TV till they do their homework, all right?
Jamie: Grandma never makes us do our homework.
[Ummm so Dotty pretends to take orders from Amanda. okay.]
(Amanda looks at Dotty in surprise. Dotty laughs nervously.)
Dotty (quickly): That’s not true. 
….Uh, isn’t Dean supposed to call at six?
(Amanda starts toward the door.)
[Quick Amanda!..
Quite the change of subject here lol.
Red alert!!! Dotty keeps track of what time Dean is going to call Amanda? Ugh!!! I wonder if that is part of the appeal of this curiosity Amanda has for Lee and what he’s involved in.. she is probably craving some secrets and knowledge that is just for her, and not her nosey mother. Don’t get me wrong I adore Dotty, but she’d certainly drive me crazy!!
I find the Dotty/ family dynamic here ummm weird.. but I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to think this is a normal suburban family. Yeahhhh I’ll go with that!]
Amanda: Um, I’ll be back before then. [This line looks and sounds like a voice over added post production! Or is it just me?
Dotty just said the show is on 430.. and Dean is calling at 5? huh. Seems pretty unlikely this is true. Amanda avoiding Dean’s call in favour for meeting up with Lee.. ??]
Dotty: Well, I hope so, because you know Dean, he is so prompt. Now if you’re not here… where shall I say you’ll be?
[huh. sooo keeping track of Amanda’s calls and schedule and delivering lectures. Uh huh.. ]
Amanda (groping): At my club. 
(She leaves quickly before Dotty can question her.)
Dotty: Oh. (Dotty accepts this, looking back down at her bird.. then suddenly – 
realises what Amanda just said..)
…What club?
[oh rofl!! the delivery here is gold!!!!]
Moving on we see a hideous tux, and people milling around an entrance. 
[Whoa. the 70s want their tuxedo back!]
We see Amanda’s station wagon pull up, the valets exchange looks like – is she supposed to be here?
At least they are nice to her.. 
Amanda exits and the valet takes care of her car for her as she enters the party she starts to see what she has joined..
She’s looking a little… what’s the word?
Anyone?
It looks a bit like a ‘eek!!!!’ what did I get myself into?
What do you think Lee was thinking in choosing this party to meet Amanda?? What was the plan here? Thoughts?
Amanda enters the party, smile plastered on her face.
She swings around to leave only to find a lady there who offers to take her coat and give her a ticket. Ever polite, Amanda lets her and says thanks. Gah. Okay sooooo she can’t rush out of there after all. 
Big nervous smile, Amanda looks kinda lost. Brave but lost IMHO!
We hear Lee’s voice boom from off camera as Lee calls out:
Mrs. King!
(Amanda looks up in surprise.)
Amanda: Yes.
[Lee I thought this was a dangerous situation, do you really want to be yelling her name like that?! I know I know I’m being far too logical/ nitpicky and expecting this all to make some sense. I can’t help it!!]
We cut to Lee – he stands (poses) up on the staircase looking down at her for a few beats..
He is so still only his fingers move…
He is looking supremely confident and handsome. Oh so very handsome. rofl.
Logic? what’s that? who cares, Lee looks so good.
The way Lee pauses like that – looks totally calculated. Like he is letting Amanda soak up how devastatingly handsome he is, so she is putty in his hands, and will do what she’s told, and give back the package!
I gotta say, it would totally work on me. haaaaa.. How about you?]
(Amanda looks down shyly. Then Lee walks coolly down the steps.)
Lee descends the stairs with a light jog..
Amanda: Hello, Mr. Stetson.
(Amanda shyly looks down as he approaches)
Amanda looks up to meet his eyes..
Lee: Lee. 
(She acknowledges this with another shy nod.
Lee leads her to the ball room.
Guiding Amanda further into the party with a hand to her back. 
Lee: …I thought this would be a nice change of pace from our usual encounters… 
…Anyway, we’re among friends, so it’s a safe place to talk.
[You have ‘usual encounters’? rofl.
Now he has wowed Amanda from the stairs with his tux, he is trying to act casual and put her at east I think. How are you guys seeing this?
He looks around with a smile. I think this is all an act for Lee here… Other than the handsomeness.. that’s 100% real haaaa.
“among friends” – ummm Lee and Amanda stop and we see the room they are about to enter is full of people in fancy dress.. it’s safe??!!! rofl. they look weird!] 
Amanda: These people are your friends?
(Lee nods. Then he takes her over to the refreshments table.)
Okay – here’s where I’ll pause, and I’ll pick up where I left off with the next post..
What do you all think? any thoughts you’d like to share?
Back with more next weekend – as you can see now this episode is 10 blog posts all up..and onwards I’ll stick to publishing new posts on weekends.. bye for now!
"Just walk with me.." 
Picking up on my comment in the previous post, I think meeting at the costume party is mostly for Amandas protection. As Lee says on the phone “Look, I’ve put you to a lot of trouble and I don’t want to get you hurt!” he seems he would rather not come to her house but instead take her to a place where “we’re among friends, so it’s a safe place to talk”. The costume party may have been invitation-only and thus be a safe place?
However I still wonder how she knows his (real) name — he didn’t tell her at the drive-in or on the phone, at least not that we know (or did I miss it?). But when he walks down the staircase she already calls him “Mr. Stetson”. He seems to be right open with her from the beginning, telling her about the potential danger (strange cars parked outside?), giving her the phone number of the agency and telling her his real name. I guess Lee is in “protection mode” already here. Nevertheless he makes quite a show of it. 🙂
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Yeah I found it weird she only called him by his real name. I figured when he gave her the address he gave her his name, or it was on the card Pirate Lee stuck under her windshield.
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Of course, I love the view of Lee on the staircase at their next meeting. Classic. I love that he invited her to this party among “friends” so he could talk with her. Their other encounters were unusal and unsettling. I think he thought he’d try another approach.
In their previous meets Lee was in disguise or costume. Here he is definitely being who he thinks he is by wearing a tux. Of course, he ‘s trying to impress her/wow her but I also think he was trying to elevate their encounter by showing her he’s a cool dude and not some odd ball who passes off packages and follows her to restaurants.
I notice in the screenshot of KJ looking up you see 2 instances of the heads of female extras to her left also looking up. (I mean how could you not? :))
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I believe this is the first time that Amanda lied to her mother about her plans with the “club” excuse. Love Lee in the tux posing at the top of the stairs. As someone else said, what an ego.
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I hoped Lee’s reason to pause on the stairs was for Amanda (and me!). Time to see clearly he’s not wearing a wedding ring!
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Dotty has never really annoyed me (obviously). If Dean calls every night at six and Amanda is usually home for it (and perhaps shuffles things around generally so she can answer) then asking what to tell him isn’t so bad. I think the point of all the exchanges around Dean are just to highlight how routine and predictable their lives have become. Even Dotty, with her cooking classes and later her string of dates, needs to shake things up now and then. It seems painfully old-fashioned now, but 40 years ago I don’t think it was out of the norm for a mother to want her divorced daughter with two kids to find a nice, stable partner to settle down with.
(Also, if Dean is calling at six, Amanda potentially has plenty of time to be back before then. It’s just past 4:30. She believes she’s going to have a quick conversation at five and head back home.)
Lee at the top of the staircase is pure ego. Perfect first-season Lee. Women fall at his feet, and Amanda should, too. Except she doesn’t which is why we (and he, in the end) love her.
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I always found it striking that the first encounter on the train station was rather between Amanda and Lee Stetson (IMO) I don’t think Scarecrow would have used please several times. Later it is clearly Scarecrow she had to deal with. Especially in this scene with him posing on the stairs expecting Amanda to melt to his feet like his usual type of woman does.
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I can see it simply because his life is in imminent danger and this is a strange person who doesn’t know him. Under duress he would probably beg for help and be more polite.
The best way I can think of to describe Lee without drawing on too much future examples with Amanda is that he’s like her teenaged brother. Teen boys are often very warm and nice with their friends and girlfriends and know how to show manners in public — how often they choose to depends on the circumstances and the individual boy. However their sisters only get to see that side of them if it’s a crisis or if someone else is picking on them. If a teen boy hears someone is treating his sister like crap, he’s going to bat for her. If there’s a family crisis or the sister is going through a hard time, he will be friendly and warm with her.
But I think we also see in his interactions with Francine and Billy (And his ability to attract ladies) that Lee isn’t necessarily a jerk with everyone. I think for the most part he is a nice guy and if Amanda were a regular coworker — such as a secretary — his dynamic with her would be different too.
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Love the fact that he uses his real surname with her from the beginning. And Amanda’s hair never looks better than this episode.
It’s hard to remember in this era of immediate and continuous world communiation but in the 70s a long distance call was often pre-arranged and quite expensive so Dean, calling from out of state, would not unreasonably expect his girlfriend to be around at the agreed time. And that’s enough of defending Dean. Bye Dean.
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Did you use to have some numbers after your handle? Hiya!
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Lee posing at the top of the stairs–yeah, he knew exactly what he was doing. So cocky! I’m glad Amanda doesn’t fawn all over him, but at the same time, she’s not completely unaffected by him. Not that I can blame her!
Love that Lee’s hand is already finding its way to Amanda’s back. These two were just drawn to each other from the beginning.
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I love it when Lee answers when Amanda calls, he seemed so sure of himself. Yes, it’s smug, but it’s so cute. Dotty, early on was so annoying, when she tells Amanda that Dean is going to call her around 5:00. Ugh! Okay, Amanda is a grown divorced women with two kids and her own home. I understand she was there to help her out after the divorce, but she treated her as if she were some immature child who didn’t know what she was doing.
I do love the affection she gave to Jamie; you could tell it wasn’t much acting on her part. So sweet on KJ’s part.
Cut to the party to meet Lee, once she gets out the car and enters, Amanda looks as if she’s ready to leave, then once the woman takes her coat, she looks as if, now I must stay. When she finally sees Lee on the top of the stairs, when calls her, she looks as if she wants to melt in his arms. Omg, he looks so handsome and debonair.
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The scene where Amanda first walks into the party is just perfect, Amanda decides to leave and turns around and then her coat is grabbed so she has to stay.
The guy in the 70s tuxedo could be in costume but what about Lee?? Would have been funny if he was in costume but I guess the idea was to have him drop dead gorgeous on the stairs (yeah, I think they pulled that one off)
Imo the weird family dynamic with Dotty is Dotty has all the info the audience needs so it does come off a bit weird (ie Dean has OCDs, Mrs Welch gives private lessons, foreshadowing Francine)
There is a lead up to the divorce but that info is in the future for us
And in ‘I have never noticed this despite many many viewings’, Lee guiding Amanda with his hand on her back, at the party, that started early, thanks Iwsod
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Lee was always putting on a act because it’s just who he was,he always expected women to fall at his feet because the kind of women that he was used to only focused on his looks and never bothered to see the man beneath his mask but of course Amanda would change all that, Amanda’s so shy here and it’s absolutely beautiful because even here Lee sees that she’s not like the others,she seems out of her element but she’s been placed in a new situation and she will flourish,just like Lee matured into a mature and wonderful man.I’ve always loved the scene with Amanda and Jamie and she kissed him on the head, when he tells her “Mom,you look great”,their natural chemistry is just wonderful!
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