"Just walk with me.."

It’s tag time!! Back to IFF and the Q Bureau. Amanda is on the phone.
Amanda (on phone): That’s terrific Sally, I know you’ll be happy. (Lee comes in)
Amanda: Well, I don’t – You never know, maybe someday…

(pause) Okay…

…Say hello to Carmine for us. All right. Buh-bye. (hangs up phone)
Lee (sits on side of Amanda’s desk): Who’s that? Sally?
Amanda: Yeah, you know, Carmine’s been working all day with the Army engineers on the Omega Triad System.
Lee: I think the judge might take that into consideration at his trial.
Amanda: Hope so, he’s got a lot to look forward to.
Lee: Why?
Amanda: He asked Sally to marry him.
Lee (grinning): No.
Amanda: Mm-hm.
Lee: When’s the big day?
[Wait wait wait.. did Sally actually say yes?! I mean. Tee hee.. for me Carmine is no catch! Sally is the catch! ]
Amanda: They haven’t set a date, they’re going to take it one step at a time. (Amanda doesn’t look up)
[Typical Carmine. ask her to marry him, but don’t set a date. LOL I know I’m so mean to Carmine!]
(Hearing this, Lee is thoughtful a moment, taking in Amanda)
Lee: Well, you never know. Maybe one day…
(Lee gives Amanda a sideways sneaky look)

Amanda: What?
Lee: That’s what you said on the phone. [Whoooo Lee is sooooo attentive I love it!
Is he wearing his kissing tie?! With the lips??!! lol I don’t think so.. but in the close up it looks like it! ]
Amanda: Oh yeah. (smiles) Well, ahh she asked me if I thought I’d ever get married again and I said “You never know, maybe someday.”

[Amanda is such a strong woman. She manages to give an answer while keeping it casual and keeping herself composed.]
Lee reacts..

(Lee winks at her.)

[I’ll do a wink  gif.. winks always look funny in still images!]
Lee quickly leans in for a kiss…

closer..

closer..

closer..

– but Billy walks into the Q-Bureau. Gah! They pull apart.
[CINDY: Of course Billy walks in. GRRRR!]
[ROFL how Amanda immediately goes to act like she is writing something.]
Billy: We have a meeting at the White House. Where’s the report?
(Lee [Mr Professional] rummages around in the bookcase for the report.)
Lee: Uh, it’s right here, Billy. Just relax for a second.
Amanda: Yeah second one under.
Lee: Yeah, right here
(Lee hands report to Billy.. Lee moves to leave the office following Billy.)
[Almost like he is trying to usher Billy out of the office so Billy can’t address his suspicion he walked in on something.. Both Lee and Amanda trying to act casual.]
Amanda: See you later!
(Lee gives Amanda a last look as he heads out the door.)
(He lets out an audible sigh)
[I think Amanda would have heard that! I swear this is ‘It’s in the Sighs’! ]

[I think this sigh is a – ‘I wanted that kiss.. and I wanted to finish this conversation!’ what do you think?]
Lee closes the door giving Amanda a last little sly smile.
Amanda looks up slyly smiling to herself also..  [what’s she thinking folks?!]

Amanda looks up and chuckles to herself..
[Ahhhh she is one happy woman!!!
Is that two zebra on her desk?!]
And the episode ends.

What a way to leave things!!! Swoony!!!
Talk of marriage?! Amanda is open to marriage?! Lee also seems to be open to exploring marriage no??!!!! Squeeeeeee… Is marriage on Lee’s mind??!! I’m left with the vibe that this conversation is by no means finished!!!!

Okay if it’s thanks to Carmine that we get Lee and Amanda actually talking about marriage – then I like him. haaaaa..

For me, this episode has a couple of cute moments, but overall it’s pretty slow moving and seemed full of lots of filler.. and not the good (Lee and Amanda in love type). So I’m really sorry that this episode went so long on JWWM!
But.. this tag does leave me with warm fuzzy feelings about this ep. LOL!

Thanks again to Cindy for her transcription – and for sharing some comments along the way – it’s been lots of fun!!! Anyone else transcribing dialogue – feel free to do the same if you like!

Sooooo do tell! what do you all think of this tag? Of this episode as a whole?

Phewwwww!!! Where have the last few weeks gone? Hope everyone is well- ready to continue with this episode?! Here goes… Amanda car pulls up and Lee checks out the agent who is passed out in the front seat of the stake out car. [Uh oh!]
Amanda: Who is it?
Lee: He’s one of our guys. He’s drugged. This Miller guy doesn’t fool around. [Yeah um Miller drugged Francine the day before yesterday you already knew that]
Amanda: Well, the backup ought to be here soon.
(Amanda gets out of her car)
Lee: Take it nice and slow, huh?
[I could listen to Lee say that line again and again and again!]
Amanda: Yeah.
(Lee approaches house, peering in the windows..)
Amanda (whispers): How’s it look?
Lee: Empty from here. I’m gonna check around the back. (Lee heads around the back of the home)
Amanda: Right. (Amanda stays out front, and  approaches the front door. She tries the door knob.) [No Amanda. Wait for the backup!]
(Inside, we see a close up on the bomb, and the tied up Davis trio – don’t forget there is a bomb everyone!! lol.
Amanda goes to give the door a bit of a shove but  tyres screech and Billy and unidentified female agent pull up out front) [Whoooo she has her trusty handbag and heels!! lol she has a banana clip too!]
Billy: What’s our status, Amanda?
Amanda: Lee’s in the back. There’s an agent down back in the blue car.
(Together they approach the front door, and Lee joins them)
Billy: Henderson (?) take care of it. Anything going on inside?
Lee: Empty as far as I can see.
Amanda: It’s okay, the door is unlocked.
Lee: Hold it! (Lee spots wire running along the floor along the hallway, through window) It’s booby trapped! [grrr Lee’s voice is all husky.. say ‘booby trapped’ again Lee hooo haaaa.. tee hee!]

(Amanda looks terrified.. and slowly releases the door handle)
We cut to a commercial break. lol. Will Amanda survive the commercials?! tee hee..
Back again!
Billy: No time for a bomb squad. It may be on a timer.
Lee: Well, then we’ll have to go through the window.

(Amanda watches as she is hidden behind a tree as Lee covers his gun with a handkerchief and smashes the window by the door)
[Rofl at how dangerous it is to break a piddly little window haaaaa. Lee is soooooo brave!]
(Lee reaches in and carefully removes the metal plate on the door jamb and wraps it in a hanky. Yes. A heroic hanky.)
[LOL wrap it in a hanky, pull on the wire and then leave it on the windowsill oh so carefully.
I don’t know but this just looks really silly to me! Is it just me?
When he said we’ll have to go in through the window, I figured they would enter the premises through the window and just bypass the trigger for the bomb altogether. No, Lee has to be a hero and disconnect the bomb. tee hee.. Okay okay maybe getting the Davis’ out of there through a window wasn’t going to work. tee hee.. and this place clearly has no back door right? tee hee]Lee sighs – and looks over to Amanda. Relieved. The hanky is going to stop the bomb.. we are all safe. rofl.
[If they had a blue wire running to it and Lee cut that – I would have much preferred it.. a bit lame maybe but at least it would have been funny ..ummm on purpose!](Cut to paramedics taking a stretcher out of the ambulance, Carmine’s mom is on another stretcher.)
[LOL where is her ambulance?! tee hee]
Mr. Davis: Get that thing out of here, I’m fine!
Amanda: Mr. Davis, they just don’t want to take any chances.
Mr. Davis: Look, I don’t care what they want, I’m not getting on that thing.
Carmine: Dad, would you just cooperate? We’ve got enough problems as it is.
Mr. Davis: You know, the problem was your 10^th birthday. I never should have bought you that chemistry set. [ugh!]
Mrs. Davis: Norm, would you please do what they want and shut up.
(Norm gets on the stretcher and the paramedics load into the ambulance.)
[Mother gets her finding her voice moment! rofl..]
EMT: Here we go.
Mrs. Davis: You’ll take care of our boy?
Amanda: I will.
[Aie, man-child! I love how there is no – Carmine you stay strong, be brave! No, it’s Amanda look after my boy for me. rofl! ]
(EMT loads Mrs. Davis into the ambulance)

Back to Lee and Billy trying to figure out what’s next here..
Billy (gesturing at map): We have surveillance teams all the way from the purification plant down to here.
Lee: I bet Miller knows it too.
(Amanda and Carmine join them)
Billy: Carmine, is there any specific place where Miller might dump that poison?
Carmine: Not if he’s using the balloons. You gotta tell your men to look for either a red or yellow balloon and get them out of the water before they are sucked under by the intake pump. [Okay. And what do we tell the women Carmine?!]
Billy: Well, we could stretch a net across the waterway.
Carmine: Well, if there’s any hint of a current, you’re taking a chance. The nets will rip the balloons apart.
Lee: Look, Billy, Carmine can explain it all on the way up there. [Yep, I’m with Lee, this all seems to be moving too slowly.. more filler.. let’s just stand in front of Carmine’s and have a conversation. couldn’t they have had this conversation in the car? weird..]
Billy: All right. Go. I’ll stay here and put the purification plant on alert.
Lee: What’s beyond the main aqueduct?
Billy: Once you’re out there, you’re in the middle of the country.
[Uh oh. the country is evil in smk! LOL we see a blueprint of the plant – a hand waves over it like it’s suppose to indicate something. but errr it doesn’t really. lol]
Lee: Lots of places to hide. That’s where he’ll be.
Billy: Take Amanda with you and cover the perimeter. Here, take this field radio with you because I want to know what’s going on. (gives radio to Lee)
Lee (passing radio to Amanda): You got it. Amanda, could you hold on to it?
(Lee takes the radio and directs Carmine to come with her to her car.)
Amanda: Yeah. Come on, Carmine.
( Lee retrieves a big gun from the back of Billy’s car.) [LOL just sitting there on the backseat in an unlocked car. rofl!]

(Lee heads to Amanda’s car..
We cut to shot of Amanda’s land rover driving down the street in the country..)
Carmine: I know the area up there like the back of my hand.
Lee: Unfortunately, Miller’s the kind of guy who does his homework. He’ll know it too.

Carmine: I’m sorry, I tried to lie, but I was so scared I told this guy everything. [lol so we get this conversation in the car on the way anyway.. aie. this episode is pretty slow!
Oh no. Carmine feels guilt. So he should lol. Let him feel some guilt! tee hee..]
Amanda: Carmine, he gave you a truth drug, there is nothing you could have done. [Meh. Amanda is way more kind than I am!]
Lee: Yeah, Amanda’s right. All we can do now is try to stop him before he hits us.
(Driving along we hear Carmine give directions..)
Carmine: There’s the road I used up ahead.
Lee: All right. Hold on, it can get pretty rough. (CINDY: snicker! Must get mind out of gutter!)
[No no. let’s just hang out in the gutter Cindy, it’s much more entertaining that this section of the episode!!](shot of Red Balloon of Doom gently floating on the river)
[rofl. love how you call them balloons of doom Cindy!]
Francine (over radio): We’ve checked the other entry points. No yellow balloons. Miller must be at your end.
Lee: Thanks Francine. Keep your eyes open and stay in touch.
Francine: Will do.
(Lee, Amanda and Carmine exit the car, Carmine looks around through the binoculars)
[CINDY: somehow, despite the randomness and speed of moving the binoculars around he spots the Balloon of DOOM]

Carmine: That’s it! He’s got half of it in the water.
Lee: We’re on top of him, I can feel it.
Amanda: I’ll radio Francine, and tell her they’re on the way.
Lee: No , we’ve got a problem (Lee hands binoculars to Amanda) [CINDY: She sees dozens of Red Balloons of DOOM floating down the stream).
Carmine: We can’t take the chance of missing one of them.
Amanda: Okay. Well, then we’ll just have to stop Miller before he gets the yellow ones in.
Carmine: They have to be 23 minutes apart so they don’t set the alarms off.
[CINDY: why 23 minutes? I am so confused!]
[Honestly, I’m  not confused.. because I just don’t care enough. rofl! Okay, I will try and care for Cindy’s sake.. Ummm Carmine has all this down to such a fine art he has determined 23 minutes is the ideal.. not 20 not 25…. 23. Okay?!  And if they simply must be 23 minutes apart and it’s all so precise, why is everyone worrying so much about stopping all the balloons?! I mean all they have to do is distract or delay Miller for a minute and it will all be pointless no?! Like.. Hey Miller – your fly is undone! Or.. Hey Miller, are you Australian? or British? Or just a really lousy actor?! Or the old.. point and say ‘ What’s that behind you?’! meh. ]
Lee: All right, put your clock on it. That’s how much time we have to find Miller.
[Everyone got their clock on it?!]

(they get in the wagoneer and zoom off. Cut to Miller looking at his watch counting up to 23 minutes.
He walks over to his truck filled with Yellow Balloons of DOOM and starts transferring them. The two striped containers falls out of his truck and he kicks them aside) 

If they have to be 23 minutes apart, why do we see Miller looking at his watch with 22 minutes left and then getting the yellow balloons out? Aie….

Okay this is tedious.. I’m going to try the twitter version of this action finale.

Lee, Amanda and Carmine hunt for Miller. Billy alerts the President. Francine and co find the red  balloons.. the trio search for the yellow balloons and Miller.
Lee and Miller shoot it out, Lee bursts a bunch of yellow balloons. Miller flees.
[CINDY: Miller’s gun: BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! (yes, that is right, TEN or maybe even TWELVE shots in quick succession. Truly, this guy is a master]
[Kudos for your dedication Cindy! sorry I’ve cut short this finale I just couldn’t take it anymore!!! However, comments like this got me through! Hopefully this will help others too!
One cute little catch: When Amanda stops her car, and Lee and Amanda get out and run toward the water – Amanda tells Carmine to….. * Drum Roll* – Stay in the car! rofl!!!!! ]

Lee and Amanda stop some more yellow balloons.

Miller tries to drive at them. Lee tells Amanda to get back while lookin good, really really good.
He shoots and Miller – goes big boom boom sizzle and fry. Miller the killer is no more filler!
[CINDY: (second one get passes as Miller’s truck rolls up –Pity none of Lee’s bullets took out the tires. I bet he could have if his handgun had ten bullets in it)
(Truck conveniently snags on a bush, flips over and explodes off screen.) ] [The bush was on the side of the good guys!]
Cue the reassuring moment between Lee and Amanda..

Amanda turns away from the wreck so she doesn’t have to watch Miller burn.

The scene ends there.
As far as SMK action finales go, this one was pretty blah. Except that Lee looked oh sooo good!

Well, I’m going to pause here and we’ll finish up with the tag in the final post. Thanks everyone for your patience as I get these out at a snail’s pace! Can’t wait to hear from ya!!!

Hi Everyone! We find Amanda chatting with Sally in the park. Whooo is that goldie playing with that boy and the frisbee?! I hope Goldie found a wonderful home!
Sally: I was out the minute the door hit me. I’m sorry, I really want to help, Mrs. King.
Amanda: Okay, let’s just try to take this step by step.
Sally: If Carmine’s going to try to repeat the experiment, he’s going to need some kind of lab with computer analysis for designing the enzymes.
Amanda: Well, he’d be crazy to try to use a campus lab.
Sally: He didn’t do the first experiment there. I was in the lab all weekend, I would have seen him.
Amanda: But he does need his equipment.
Sally: Not necessarily. If he’s already split the formula then all he would need is a computer.
Amanda: Okay, let’s say he has already split the formula. How’s he gonna get the dye into the water?
Sally: I don’t know. He stuck his head in my door on Monday with a couple of water balloons. I thought he was goofing around. He wanted me to videotape his confession. The next time I saw him, the whole world was falling apart.
[Balloons.. balloons.. why mention the balloons Sally?!  Random if you have no idea what he was doing!!! ah whatev..]
The scene ends there.

On to the Davis house.
(In the basement, Carmine’s parents are tied to chairs)
[uh oh.. seems Miller got some insurance after all! Why wasn’t the parent’s place under surveillance?!]
Dad: Carmine, why didn’t you call us?
Carmine: Because I thought that you would be ashamed of me.  [LOL yet again it’s all about Carmine, it couldn’t be that he was trying to keep them out of danger noooo he was worried about what they would think of him. Ugh!!! lol. sorry I know I’m a bit harsh on man baby Carmine!]
Mom: You’re our son.
Miller: Shut up, lady! [Oi! That’s ‘mother’ to you pal!] Carmine: Hey, hey, why don’t you just let them go. They’ve got nothing to do with this.
Miller: I’ll worry about mom and pop. You get on with the work.
Carmine: It’s done.  (pause) I’ve ahh, taken the toxin and split it at the third double bond. Now separately, both beakers are harmless, but when the enzymes bring them together, they are…. Man, you can’t do this. This is insane!
Miller: I want to see it work
[CINDY:Ohhh – smart thinking! He’s good!]
(points gun at Carmine’s dad)
…I want to see it work, now.
[Oh what luck. There are two mice in a cage. Right there! For a second I was worried about the two tied up parents rofl. ]
(Carmine takes a squeaking white mouse out of a cage a feeds a dropper-full of solution from the first beaker. He then repeats this with a second white mouse.
The mice seem to be unharmed..)
[Carmine must have been pretty confident, because he seemed to drip the stuff over his un-gloved hand while he was at it. lol)
Carmine: Separately, both beakers are harmless.
Miller: Put them together. (getting frustrated) Put them together.
Carmine places a dropper-full of solution one in a separate beaker and takes a separate (hooray! No cross contamination!) dropper and mixes a dropper-full of the second solution in the new beaker. He draws the mixed solution into the dropper……. red balloons on hand for the next step too…

[Is it just me or is all this reeeeally slow moving? There are a number of times in this ep where it feels like they are trying to add time. Why couldn’t we just add in a scene of Lee and Amanda flirting instead?!]
Anyway, we don’t get to see the results of Carmine combining the two solutions.. instead, we cut to Lee and  Amanda in the park. I like that editing decision! haaaa ]
Lee: Balloons?
Amanda: Yeah, that’s what she said.
Lee: Why?
Amanda: Well, I don’t know. Maybe Carmine put the dye in them.
Lee: We’ve got to find out where he makes that stuff.
Amanda: Yeah, there could be hundreds of labs in this city.
Lee: Six hundred and fourteen to be exact. I‘ve got every man I can spare checking them out. We’ve got three ourselves.
Amanda: How are things at the purification plant?
Lee: Every inch of it’s covered. I’d feel a lot better if we had Carmine.
(Amanda stops him and points to a couple of young people holding a big bag)
Lee: What?
Amanda: Laundry. [CINDY: Lee gives a ‘What are you talking about’ half chuckle] Sally said that Carmine came by her dorm room and showed her the balloons on Monday morning, right?
Lee: Yeah.
Amanda: Now, Carmine’s father said they only time they see him anymore is when he comes home on weekends to do his laundry.
Lee: Then the laundry room isn’t only a laundry room. (CINDY: OMG! How BB and KJ can say this with a straight face is beyond me)
[I agree! It’s all a great big: well Derrrrr!]
Amanda: Ah, It’s a lab
Lee: It’s a lab. That’s it! [Not a play area?!]  
(they get into Amanda’s wood panelled wagoneer)
[So weird to see them drive around in Amanda’s car.
And.. Lee is letting Amanda drive haaaa!
I thought they took all the stuff from the basement, and Dr Anderson ran tests on it all. I guess they gave it all back! ]

Back to IFF.
Billy (on phone): You’re covered. Don’t waste any more time. Get rolling. (hangs up phone)
Francine: What?
Billy: Lee and Amanda think they’ve found the pocket where our button’s been hiding.
Francine: Where are they?
Billy: At a phone booth near the Davis house. They think that Miller might be using Carmine’s old lab equipment.
Francine: All right, I’ll get a backup team rolling right away.
Billy: No. No. I want you back at the purification plant.
Francine: Billy, I’ve got every inch of that place covered already.
Billy: Listen, he’s been ahead of us every step of the way. If we lose him at the Davis house, we have only one shot left.
Francine: Alright, look it takes time to get the water shut down, maybe we should start now.
(As this conversation takes place, they leave Billy’s office and head out through the bullpen and out into the hallway)
Billy: No. We stick with the plan. The water stays on.
Francine: That is a hell of a calculated risk.
[I find this conversation to be even more filler. Quite tedious. Moving on!]
Billy: Listen, it’s my decision. It’s on my head. We’ve been tiptoeing on a razor’s edge ever since Miller joined the game. It’s too late to fold up now. Go.
[Francine, the decision was made while you were out of the picture. The plan is in motion and the time for consultation is over! Goooo Billy!! ]
(Francine and Billy split up..)
Francine: Yes, Sir, I’m on my way.

We cut to a close up on a dead mouse. Ew.

Poor mouse.
[CINDY: which looks decidedly brownish rather than the white ones we saw earlier]
[maybe it’s the lighting?]
(We pan to Miller pouring solution into a milk jug with a yellow stripe of tape on it. Another one behind it has a similar red stripe)
Miller: I appreciate all the time we’ve spent together.
[Well well well.. it’s the gentleman terrorist.. ahem]
(shot of the three Davises all bound and gagged)
… I am sure you’ll be expecting some guests soon. I hope they enjoy the greeting.
(CINDY: Oh – he is so BAD!)
[Yep! He’s really really really really bad.]
(We see some bars of explosives, and Miller runs a wire that is attached to some silver coloured bars up the stairs)
So umm what happened to the balloons?

We cut to Amanda’s wagoneer driving along a road.. As it drives along we hear this Lee voice over: Miller’s been playing his cards right every step of the way. If he is at the Davis house, we better be careful. He’s probably got a nice fat ace up his sleeve.
[CINDY: Dude! You know I love you, right? Please, for the love of everything. STOP WITH THE POKER REFERENCES!]
[rofl. Oh Cindy – there’s always a joker in the pack! 😉
Aie. At least it’s not a pot pourri of back up plans or something! ]

Back at the Davis home, Miller attaches the insulated wire to a metal plate on the door and door jam.
[okay, it’s rigged to blow up the Davis home, and the Davis family, and I guess whoever opens the door.. Looks like the threat of do this or else you are dead was a bit empty – nah I’ll just blow up you and your family once I get what I want anyway! and derr Carmine could not be left alive or he could testify against Miller..]
And.. with the place rigged to blow – let’s pause here- I’ll publish the next post probably in a couple of weeks! Sorry real life work commitments are keeping me busy! Maybe now is a good time to revisit old eps and share your thoughts with us? If you like..  Any thoughts you’d like to share with everyone about this episode so far? bye!