Author Archives: iwsod

On to Amanda’s!!! I’ll include the full transcription from peacockdancer for this scene…
(Lee’s Corvette is parked outside.)
Dotty: Lee, let me ask you a question…
[Dotty having a direct conversation with Lee? Asking him a question? Okay okay I’m really glad we got this before the show ended… even if the show is not all so super stellar genius in these final few episodes!]
(We see that Dotty and Lee are in the kitchen. Dotty is folding laundry on the kitchen island. Lee is leaning on one arm against the other side of the island. He is clean-shaven and neat now, and wearing a sport coat and tie.)
[Ohhhhh this scene!!! I remember hearing about this scene for years before I actually got to see it!]
Dotty (continuing to fold): Are you familiar with the, uh, “fourth dimension theory” in laundry?
(Lee pauses to register the question before responding tolerantly.)
Lee: No, I can’t say that I am.
(He clears his throat, not sure what is coming next.)
[LOL I love how Dotty has the power to make Lee nervous!]
Dotty: Well, you know. You put a pair of socks into the dryer, and when you take the clothes out, one sock is missing?
Lee (nodding): Hmm.
Dotty: My theory is, that they disappear into the fourth dimension, and they reappear in somebody else’s dryer… …Now you take this sock, for instance… (She holds up a man’s dress sock. Lee suddenly looks very uncomfortable.)

… This man’s sock appeared in a load of Amanda’s things, heh.
Lee (smiling uneasily): Huh.
Dotty: Imagine. (She examines the sock.) A beautiful sock … expensive … argyle…
(She looks knowingly at Lee.)
[haa nice continuity with the socks!]
Lee (innocently, but he knows he isn’t fooling her): What a coincidence.
(Cue the cheerful “twinkly” music.)
Dotty (looking straight at him, knowingly): Isn’t it, though?
(Lee flashes another embarrassed smile. We hear the a door open.)
Dotty: Oh – there’s Amanda. Okay… (She puts the remaining laundry in the basket and starts leaving the room.) …Well, I’ll leave you two together.
Lee (uncomfortably, raising a finger): Uh…
(Dotty hands him his sock.)
Dotty: You, ah – you three.
(She departs to go upstairs with the laundry basket.)
[The look on Lee’s face when Dotty pulls out the expensive man’s argyle sock that just happened to be in Amanda’s things is too funny… Dotty is no dummy.. she just has an interesting way of expressing herself and that SHE KNOWS Lee Stetson!!!! Assumed it was his sock!!
At this point, I think she knows pretty much everything.. except about the marriage itself.. Because surely Lee and Amanda wouldn’t be that dumb, right?!
Do you think these days this scene would play differently with a new audience? I mean these days it’s not unusual for a boyfriend’s clothes to end up in the wash no? and in the 80s it was maybe more of a sign of a serious relationship and had different meaning? anyone? ]

(Lee considers the sock uncomfortably for a moment, then quickly shoves it in his pocket as we see Amanda entering the kitchen from the back door, carrying some groceries. [Love the big smile Lee gives her!  ahhh…. That never gets old!]
She’s dressed fairly casually in jeans and an oversized white sweater with large shoulder pads (sigh) and big blue patches on the elbows. This is clearly not a work day for her.)

[What is this sweater?! someone please explain this monstrosity!!!
Nothing can diminish the joy at seeing these two together again though! Hoorah… like water in a desert… we have Lee and Amanda both physically present in a scene together!!!!!]
Amanda (calling out): Hello?
Lee (happy to see her): Hi.
(Amanda seems surprised to see him and walks quickly into the kitchen.)
Amanda: Hello stranger! (She sets the grocery bag on the counter and puts her arms around his neck,

then pulls him close to hug him as his hands circle around her back.)
[Amanda seems to go in for a kiss here but then thinks not?]

…My gosh, you really look exhausted. When’s the last time you had some decent sleep?
Lee (sighing): Oh, I lost track.
(He closes his eyes and buries his face in her shoulder as they hug.)
Amanda (sympathetically): Ohh…
(They rock gently, [does Lee kiss her shoulder?] then Lee looks up, continuing to hold her close.)
[AWHHHHHH!!!!!]
Lee: Amanda, it’s this Brody case. I’m making some headway but I… It’s damn slow work.
Amanda (playing with his lapels and patting his chest): You know what? If you work twenty-four hours a day, you’re not gonna be able to think straight and you’re not gonna do anybody any good. Now why won’t you let me help you? [Wow this really is The Eyes Have It 2.0!]
Lee: Amanda, I can’t.
Amanda: This thing’s really gotten to you, hasn’t it?
Lee: Yes it has. I feel responsible for what happened to Sally Wong and Peters.
(Amanda rests her hands on his chest and looks in his eyes.)
Amanda: Look. They both knew what kind of a chance they were taking when they agreed to be your contacts. You know that, don’t you? (She says this as a statement rather than a question.)

[Sally Wong and Peters were the contacts who were murdered?? oh noo.. Sally was the nice lady who was Lee’s nurse in “The Eyes Have It” well that is sad.. Do we know who Peters was? Go SMK! Someone is trying to do continuity!!!  hehehee.. well that is good… but err can continuity be on a more happy note?! haaa.
Yes they knew what they were getting into but that doesn’t mean Lee shouldn’t fight for justice.. Not really a fan of this line of Amanda’s… and it doesn’t change the fact Lee needs to have a rest so he can keep fighting…. Go Lee!]
Lee: Brody broke all the rules. Even for this game.
Amanda (shaking her head): Promise me you’ll get some rest.
(Lee pauses as the music swells sweetly.)
Lee (feeling a little better now): Yeah. I guess I will.
(He smiles. His hands are still around her back and hers have come back to rest on his shoulders.)
[It’s so lovely to see Lee welcome some tender loving care.. comparing back to the way Amanda cared for Lee back in The Eyes Have It, you can see he has really opened himself up and become comfortable with being vulnerable and leaning on Amanda for support.]
Amanda (gently teasing): Yeah, I guess you’d better. I’m worried about you.
Lee (leaning in, pulling her closer): How worried?
(They give each other a sweet kiss on the lips.)
[We get not just a scene together, but a kiss too???? well this is a treat!!!!]
Amanda: Pretty darn worried.
(Lee lets out a small laugh.)
Amanda: I love you.
Lee (softly, affectionately): I love you.
(They kiss again. Lee closes his eyes and buries his face in her neck as they hug each other close.)
[Two kisses?? Someone restart my heart!!!
The end of this scene is so sweet.. after a few little pecks.. Lee goes back for one more hug- and nuzzles into the side of Amanda’s neck for comfort.. it is lovely!
Getting close to the end of Season 4, the show is not as engaging for me, but this aspect? I’m 100% on board with!!!! I’m so glad we got to see it even in tiny amounts, before the show came to an end! I find myself missing much of the charm of earlier smk.. but I know when I go back to earlier seasons I’m going to miss this too!!
Early SMK would have had this whole 4th dimension of Laundry gag eventually relate back to the case in some way.. but here? It’s just a cute inserted side gag that takes up quite a bit of time but is nothing else. Not that I’m complaining I’d rather have it or not, but I think the show is less integrated, the charm of the show was that insertion of Amanda’s domesticity and normality into the spy world.. now, they are just separate and amusing.]

Thoughts anyone??? Do tell!!!!! 

Ready for another episode? 86 episodes down, and 2 more to go!!!!
This wouldn’t have been possible without the transcribers who have supported JWWM and Operation Sandstorm!!!  So special thanks again to all who have contributed!

Thanks to peacockdancer for transcribing this episode for Operation Sandstorm, and sharing it with us all. I hope you enjoyed it!
A formatting reminder as we get started:
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My descriptions are in this format- xxx
My comments are in this format- [xxx]
peacockdancer’s comments-(Peacockdancer- XXX)

Same as the previous episode, I’m not writing this having not seen the episode. I do actually have notes from the very first time I saw this episode, so that will do… I’m finding it’s too time consuming to write it fresh I need to cut to the chase a bit more or I’ll never get these final episodes walked through! If you love this episode, or a particular scene and you would like to discuss it in more detail than what I’ve covered in the walk, please share these thoughts in comments.

Let’s do this!

The episode starts with an airport at night… there seems to be some kind of operation going down..
Operation: Let’s use really old stock footage! haaaaa..

A flight has just landed people are disembarking…. lots of close ups on random men who look like spooks, including Beaman!
Then, we see Lee outside alone, and undercover as a ground control worker.This photo of a random guy disembarking… I’ll just put this here… cough cough..

The scene culminates in a meet up between two people (Vernon with the most faaaaabulous moustache (It matches his eyebrows perfectly)  & a guy named Kleiner who just got off the flight) at a pair of phone booths.

Kleiner agrees to point out for Vernon the CIA civilian contractor who was on the flight.. but before he gets to…. an agent starts firing on the pair, Beaman’s team moves in… Lee is furious as Beaman’s team has interrupted his own 3 week long operation.
Seems Lee thought Kleiner would lead Lee to Brody but the opportunity is now gone.
[Uh oh. Brody from The Eyes Have It? He’s bad news!!!!! But.. it’s kinda cool to see SMK bring back a baddie and actually keep it consistent, unlike last episode were Dr Glasner magically became Sergei!]
Beaman (trying to talk some sense into Lee): Stetson, the man is dead!
Lee (shouting over Beaman): Kleiner!
Beaman (loudly): … And you just screwed up our case, we had a priority fugitive warrant.
Lee angrily throws his cap to the ground and stands up to face Beaman.
Lee (yelling): Dammit Beaman!
We see now that Lee is … not looking good. He is unshaven, angry and distraught. He seems to have completely lost his self-control (whooo burned out, perhaps? Or is that pretending to be burned out perhaps?!). Lee grabs Beaman with both hands by the collar and shakes him roughly.
Lee (yelling, furious): You just blew three weeks of surveillance work, you realize that? Kleiner could have been my ticket to Brody! Now why wasn’t I notified about this?
Beaman: If you had bothered to check the latest operations bulletin, you would have known!
The other agents are handling the surrendering Chase. Lee walks away from Beaman in disgust.
Beaman (calling angrily after Lee): What is with you lately, Stetson?

Okay, so Lee has been at this for 3 weeks and is wound up really tight!
I can only guess Lee didn’t put his little operation on that operations bulletin or Beaman would have seen it when he checked it himself as he told Lee to lol.

I guess this is consistent with Lee’s behaviour in The Eyes Have iIt, not wanting to rest, pushing himself physically…

Back to IFF, and Lee is looking pretty scruffy – code for not at the top of his game and under pressure! [but I just find it distractingly hot lol]

Seems Mr three moustaches has survived the gun fight.

Dr Pfaff joins Lee, and waves his ice cream around.. I find this portrayal of a mental health professional so flippin irritating I’m not going to bother to include it! It’s clunky and cringe! booooo..

Dr Pfaff points out Brody is Lee’s old nemesis… and Lee is looking like ‘a lean and hungry agent’ I do find it funny how Lee holds up a picture of Brodie for the Dr like that. I guess Lee has been carrying around that big photo for a while now and using it to play darts.
I am tempted to give the above photo a meme: See now this is the facial hair I am going for!!

…Next scene. Please!

We find Francine visiting a Dr Dunleavy at a safehouse, he’s working on a Stealth radar project… and his project can detect planes that are supposed to be undetectable… Seems some of his colleagues disappeared so he’s now under protection. And apparently missing real food. lol. Poor guy!
he hands Francine his notes and she reports she will take it back to the Agency and add it to his research records.
LOL at this weird handwritten note..

Someone get this man a burger!!!!! I’m pretty sure he doesn’t care if it has filler in it, he doesn’t know what filler is, but he’s sure he doesn’t want to know. and just give him a burger already.

Francine leaves.
For a moment, I thought Francine was wearing the exact same outfit she was wearing when with Lee, Francine broke into the CIA offices in the previous episode.. almost the same but no quite.. I think? What do you think of the back of the outfit? it’s kinda weird?! Moving on to Billy’s office.
Lee and Billy discuss the case in front of a hierarchy of baddies visual aid. haaaaaa. that’s too funny!

[So is Lee’s saggy butt in those overalls. rofl]

Seems Brody heads his own organisation. A few of the exchanges in this scene:
Billy (sternly): You’re letting this Brody thing run your life. You’d better get ahold of yourself because I don’t want a repeat of what happened at that airport.
and..
Billy (pointing at Lee heatedly): You are not going to get anywhere… Unless you slow down. Look at yourself. (He gestures, disgusted. Lee hangs his head, looking tired.)You haven’t taken a day off for weeks. (Billy’s voice rises.) You’re a wreck! (Billy pauses, then continues in a more measured tone.) I know you feel a certain responsibility…Is it just me???? For a second there I honestly thought Lee was going to respond with: Looking good doesn’t nail the bad guys!!!!!
This feels like a parody of the Burn Out cover…

..only it’s supposed to be real! Which is really weird! I think if SMK had gone on much longer, it would have continued to feel like a parody of itself… when it use to be a parody of the spy business. Soooooo I’m thinking it was maybe time to call it a day!

Okay okay, back to Lee and Billy.. anything interesting here? Umm we find out Brody broke out of prison, and has murdered 2 of Lee’s contacts.

And Billy didn’t know any of this and it’s been 3 weeks?!
[And… maybe Staples is related to Stamps?!]

Lee thinks it’s to get back at him. Lee and Billy ponder who the civilian contractor could be.. They are talking about Chase and Vernon and I honestly don’t care. The point is, they think Brody’s organisation is crumbling, thanks to the latest bust his command structure is in flux.. Billy agrees to have Pfaff question Chase about Brody. I thought Mr 3 Moustache was Vernon, but don’t really care lol. That’s enough about that scene for me! Not even the visual aids and scruffy Lee can keep me interested..
Billy closes out the scene by ordering Lee to go home, get cleaned up, and get some rest..

Having been ordered to go rest, Lee heads to the bullpen to boss Francine around and give her jobs to do. Hmmm.. she has her own jobs Lee!! She’s busy working on Dr Dunleavy’s case..
They’re interrupted when Francine is handed a note because there’s a call on hold for her – Francine reacts with shock at the message..

Lee notices her reaction.. and is nosey! He takes the message and sees it’s ‘Jonathan Stone’ – Francine notes it’s been five years… Lee offers to lie to him for her as she doesn’t owe him anything.
Francine responds that she owes him a piece of her mind.
Lee gives Francine a piece of his mind lol, and says he thinks she’s making a mistake.
[Lee she didn’t ask what you think. Mind you, Francine is always too nosey about Lee’s business so maybe a little quid pro quo is fair (whooo Latin iwsod).] Francine takes the call.. and Lee stands there and unapologetically listens lol.
Francine whispers to Lee: Lee – he wants me to meet him at Michel’s.
Lee: Tell him to crawl back under his rock.
[I don’t know if this line is intentional, but I find this line flippin hilarious!!!!!
Yeah! Tell ‘Stone’ to call back under his rock! wahahahahaaaaa!!!!]
Francine hangs up… seven o’clock at Michel’s… [that night? Francine????? What the heck????]
Lee (irritated): I don’t believe it, why didn’t you tell him to go to hell?
[I’m with Lee. Sorry this may seems a bit harsh but there goes Francine’s feminist of the year award. Seems Stone is important to Francine…]
The scene ends when Billy finds Lee still there and gets cranky with him telling him to leave. oh rofl. Dad busted you Lee! haaaaa..

I’ll leave it here and look forward to hearing what you all think!!!