BRUNETTES ARE IN

Picture courtesy of Anke Lantin

Amanda agrees to help her friend, Gail, who works for a charity devoted to raising money to train puppies to become guide dogs for the blind. Gail introduces her to Sinclair, a blind man who donates a lot for the children. As Gail shows Amanda around the charity event, two men, Daggert and Curts, watch them from behind some bushes and take photo’s. They then decide they ‘want’ both women and follow them to their cars. However, they are too late to grab Amanda who drives away and so just grab Gail after Curts pretends to help her with her car which won’t start.

At home, Amanda is contacted by the Agency to take in her dirty laundry but won’t explain why. Dotty thinks that they may want her to do an advert and the boys are excited about the possibility of their mum being on TV. Amanda tries to quell their enthusiasm and sends them off to school before leaving herself.

At the Agency, Lee is disagreeing with Billy’s decision to use Amanda for a courier assignment as he thinks she’s not ready to be out there without backup which is what the assignment entails. Billy is adamant on using Amanda as she just has to pretend to be a housewife which is exactly what she is. In Billy’s office Amanda agrees to do the assignment even though Lee subtly tries to put her off. All she has to do is wash her clothes at a Laundromat and wait for a man to arrive and pass her a sock containing a microdot which she is to bring back to the Agency.

Meanwhile, on a yacht called, Nightwing, Daggert is showing the photo’s he and Curts took to his boss, Pearce. Pearce asks about Amanda and Daggert tells him her name and that she works at IFF. Pearce says that he wants her and Daggert tells him that Curts is already tailing her.

In a Laundromat in town, Amanda is busy washing her clothes while Curts and Daggert keep an eye on her from outside. At the Agency, Francine receives news that the information in the microdot being handed over has changed and now contains details of Operation Tripod. This means the Agency has 48 hours to get three of their men out of Russia before they’re killed. Fearing the man making the drop is being followed by the KGB, Lee immediately sets out to where Amanda is in case there’s trouble.

At the Laundromat, the agent making the drop appears and while Amanda accidentally drops her washing basket he hands over the sock in the guise of helping her. He also warns her that it’s not safe and so she places the sock in her handbag then quickly gathers up the rest of her belongings and leaves the shop. Once outside a man starts to follow her and then makes a grab for her, snatching her bag. Lee turns up and yells at him to stop and at the same time Daggert and Curts also arrive but because Lee is there they merely help Amanda up and walk off.

Lee asks if she’s alright and then starts searching through her laundry saying that at least they didn’t get the microdot. Suddenly, Amanda remembers where she put the sock and contritely tells Lee that it was in the bag the man snatched. Thinking the information is now in the hands of the KGB, Lee is horrified and loses his temper to such an extent that he doesn’t even accept her apology. They then drive back to the Agency to report back to Billy.

On board the yacht, it turns out the man who attacked Amanda is called, Rollo, and works for Pearce. Rollo tells Pearce that he made it look like a purse snatching because with Lee there, they couldn’t actually grab her. Pearce isn’t happy as he deals in women and his client has already seen a photo on Amanda and wants her for his collection. He then tells his men to get her no matter what and they leave.

Back at home, Amanda gets a call from the charity about Gail’s disappearance. Amanda agrees to go over and fill in while also trying to find out what happened to her friend. Once there, Sinclair, talks to Amanda telling her that there’s no news on Gail. When he walks away, Lee appears pretending to deliver flowers and tells Amanda he needs her to go the Agency and try to identify the man who stole her bag as they now believe he wasn’t another agent.

At the Agency, Amanda picks out Rollo and they get an APB out on him. Amanda then suggest that maybe the micrdot fell out into her other washing and she and Lee go to check through even though Lee is absolutely sure it’ll be a waste of time.

Sitting in her den, Lee is getting angrier and angrier while looking through the laundry and takes his ire out on Amanda. Hurt, she tells him that they shouldn’t work together anymore and decides to leave the Agency. Lee is obviously shocked but tells her that she should what she thinks best before storming out of the house. Left alone, Amanda listlessly goes about her chores while a wind storm suddenly blows up outside. Hearing a noise outside her back door, she goes over thinking it’s Lee come back but, before she opens the door, she checks and is disappointed to find it was just a plant pot that had blown over. As she walks away, she fails to notice Rollo looking in through the window illuminated by a flash of lightning.

In his car, Lee is clearly thinking about their row and suddenly turns his Corvette around and heads back to Amanda’s house. Back at Amanda’s, the storm intensifies and the electricity suddenly goes out. Petrified Amanda sees the back door knob being rattled and then a hand smashing through the glass. The door opens and Rollo and Daggert enter. Amanda runs to her front door only to open it and find Curts standing there. He grabs her around the waist and Daggert takes her feet. As they pick her up and start to carry her away, Lee enters through the front door and Rollo tries to wrestle the gun from Lee’s hands. Daggert and Curts let Amanda go and rush to Rollo’s aid. A fight ensues and Curts and Daggert get away but Rollo is knocked out and captured.

Amanda asks Lee why he came back and Lee admits that he didn’t like the way their ‘little disagreement’ ended and came back only to find van in driveway and her door open. As another argument looms over Lee calling it a ‘little disagreement’, Dotty and the boys return from the movies and so Lee grabs Rollo and leaves through the back door leaving their problems unresolved.

The next day, Pearce meets with Daggert and Curts and tells them that the price for Amanda has increased and that should get rid of Lee if he interferes again. When he expresses concern over Rollo, the two men assure Pearce that he won’t talk then leave to try and get Amanda.

At the Agency, Lee and Francine interrogate Rollo and pretend to be good cop (Lee), bad cop (Francine). When this doesn’t get him to talk they agree with Billy to let him go. Not realising he’s being set up, Rollo leaves with Lee tailing him. Rollo turns a corner into an alley only to have someone suddenly start shooting at him. Lee runs to Rollo’s ‘aid’ and assures him that he isn’t the one shooting at him but suggests that it could be his pals because they think he’s talked. Frightened, Rollo asks Lee for protection saying that he’ll tell Lee anything he wants to know. Lee agrees and asks what they wanted with Amanda. Rollo reluctantly admits that they were going to sell her and explains that the yacht the women are on changes it’s name and dock every night. Lee is livid at what Rollo tells him and calls for Francine who was the person actually shooting at Rollo. He tells her what Rollo has admitted and she takes the man way while goes off to find Amanda.

At the charity event, Amanda is demonstrating to a group of blindfolded women what it’s like to be blind. Around the corner, Sinclair stands and takes off his glasses, then takes out his contacts showing that he can see just fine. Meanwhile, Lee turns up at the event in search of Amanda. Still with the group of women, Amanda goes to check the hallway to make sure it’s clear when she’s blocked by Sinclair. Curts appears from nowhere and grabs her arm, holding a gun to her side. Amanda realises that Sinclair can see and they lead her away and force her into a van and drive off. Lee comes out of the house just in time to see Amanda bundled in and the van drive off and gives chase by running up the roadside bank and jumping onto the top of the van. Daggert swerves the vehicle to shake Lee loose then finally brakes hard so he falls off and lands in front of the van unconscious. They pick him up and also put him in the van before driving off.

At the Agency, Francine is having trouble getting anymore information out of Rollo and can only supply Billy with ‘Nightwing’, which was the last known name of the yacht. Billy orders her to keep on trying as lives are at stake including Lee and Amanda’s.

On the yacht, Pearce tells Sinclair that he’s a fool for taking a chance on ruining the deal by keeping Amanda for himself. Sinclair says it won’t be for long and reminds Pearce that he is the boss and Pearce is just the broker. Sinclair then kills him with a poisoned dart for calling him a fool. Curts takes out the body and Daggert brings in Amanda who questions whether she’s really going to be sold. Sinclair says she is, but they’re going to together first. Amanda remains impassive at that bit of information and then notices her handbag on the sideboard next to her. Sinclair then orders Daggert to blindfold her and take her down to where Lee is.

At the Agency, Francine again tries to get information out of Rollo. She tells the MP to leave the room then turns on the feminine charm.

Back on the yacht, Amanda has her blindfold removed as she’s put in a cabin with Lee who is chained to a heating pipe. Also in the room is her friend, Gail, unconscious on a bunk and Lee tells her that she’s drugged. Lee then asks Amanda to help him get free. He explains that he’s worked the pipe loose from its hinges but just needs a little extra weight to pull it free. As they work on the pipe, Lee suggests that maybe Amanda would be better off leaving the Agency as she wouldn’t be in these kind of situations but Amanda disagrees and says that then she wouldn’t have him to help her. Suddenly, Daggert walks in and the pipe finally gives, blowing steam into the goon’s face and causing him to stagger backwards. Lee uses the advantage to grab Daggert’s gun and knocks him out. Amanda leads Lee back up to the main cabin and grabs her bag. She pulls out the sock and Lee extricates the microdot then hands it back to her to keep safe and she puts it into her locket.

The two agent go in search of a radio and go outside on deck but are surprised by Curts wielding a hatchet. Lee yells for Amanda to go and find the radio and contact Billy while he fights with Curts. Amanda does so and just when Lee finds her after having beaten Curts, Sinclair appears with a gun. Amanda reacts quickest and knocks the gun out of his hand with her handbag. Sinclair runs off the yacht and Lee takes a flying leap on top of him. They fight until Lee finally knocks him out with the help of the manacles he’s still wearing.

Later Billy and Francine arrive along with police and medics who take a still unconscious Gail away. While Lee has his chains removed, Amanda hands over the microdot to Billy and Francine who leave immediately to decipher the information.

Left alone, Lee and Amanda face each other and Amanda says that she’s proud of her job and doesn’t think the microdot situation was her fault. Lee agrees and then says that she should give more thought before resigning. She agrees but begins to say that she’s already sent in a letter when Lee pulls it out of his jacket pocket and reads it to her. She asks what they should do with it and Lee suggests the ‘circular file’ before tossing it into a nearby bin. He then holds out his hand and shakes hers as he calls her, “Partner”.

SCENE’S TO WATCH OUT FOR:

Lee losing his temper with Amanda after her bag is snatched.

‘Hot Mama’ T-shirt.

Lee losing his temper again and the subsequent argument during which Amanda decides to resign.

Lee and Francine deciding who gets to interrogate Rollo and then doing the ‘good cop, bad cop’ routine on him.

Francine using seduction as a form of interrogation on Rollo.

Tag.

ROMANCE:

Although there’s no actual romance between the two of them in this episode, there is a definite strengthening of their friendship. Even though the row between the two ends up with Amanda deciding to resign, it actually turns out to be a good thing as Lee finds that, despite all his seeming protestations about working with her, he doesn’t really want her to leave. That scene also goes to show how stubborn and proud both of them are as the argument escalates way out of control until Amanda feels she can’t go back on her declaration of resigning and Lee won’t relent enough to ask her to stay.

It was obvious that Amanda was hurt by Lee’s attitude and doesn’t really want to leave. All she wanted him to do was admit he needed her and give her some sign that they were at least friends because after the way he’d spoken to her about the microdot, she could’ve been forgiven for thinking they weren’t even that much.

And Lee, well, poor lad didn’t know what hit him when she announced her decision, did he? He’d been trying for ages to get rid of her and then when he was handed the opportunity on a plate, he storms out like a sulky child and then actually goes back to talk to her because he didn’t like the way it ended! Nah, he doesn’t care about Amanda at all! J

Another nice scene was when he praises Amanda up in front of Francine and even defends her against the female agents derisive comments – big change there from earlier episodes.

And then there’s the nice ending when it turns out Lee has intercepted Amanda’s resignation letter and throws it away in front of before holding out his hand and calling her ‘partner’. I get the feeling that Lee developed even more respect for Amanda during this episode and found the best way to apologise.

So, although no romance, it’s still quite a pivotal episode in their relationship and one that will help strengthen the bond that is the basis of their deepening affection.

QUOTES:

DOTTY: Amanda, this film company you work for is very strange.

AMANDA: Just act like a housewife?

BILLY: That’s right.

AMANDA: Well, I can do that, I do that everyday.

FRANCINE: Just a simple, average, ordinary housewife.

BILLY: It's just a simple courier assignment.

LEE: Yeah, a simple mid-level courier assignment. Amanda is not ready for that.

BILLY: All she has to do is exactly what she's told.

LEE: She never does exactly what she's told.

LEE: That sock happens to represent the lives of three people. Now, it's a vital code that we have to have or in 48 hours three undercover agents will be caught and killed.

AMANDA: I'm sorry.

LEE: Sorry? I am the one who is sorry!

LEE: Well hot mama! It seems that three of our best agents are in a great deal of trouble right now because we lost a vital microdot. And the only lead that we have to this vital microdot is with some damn purse snatcher named Rollo and here I am sitting in your den, going through your laundry and feeling very much like an idiot right now.

LEE: I'm very sorry, Amanda, I lost my temper again. I seem to be always saying things that…

AMANDA: Sometimes, that's when people are most honest.

LEE: Yeah, and the dumbest.

AMANDA: Lee, I think we should stop.

LEE: Yeah, there's no microdot in this laundry.

AMANDA: No, I don't mean that. I think we should stop working together. I don't think we should be partners anymore.

AMANDA: I just want you to remember that I didn't ask to join the Agency. I mean, you got me into it in the first place.

LEE: Well I'm not holding you there am I?

LEE: What are we talking about here?

AMANDA: My resignation. I think I should probably give it to Mr. Melrose.

LEE: Well you do what you think is best for you, that's all.

AMANDA: Well, I will then. I guess I'll turn in my resignation.

LEE: Fine.

LEE: I don't believe this.

AMANDA: Why did you come back?

LEE: I didn't like the way our little disagreement ended. I drove by, I saw the van in the driveway, your front door was open…

AMANDA: It wasn't such a little disagreement. You said that I should resign.

LEE: No! No, no, now you said that you were going to resign.

AMANDA: You agreed with me.

LEE: Here we go again.

AMANDA: Look, see, then you mean it, don’t you? 

LEE: No, I didn’t totally mean it.

AMANDA: But you mean it a little?

LEE: Maybe…a little.

AMANDA: See, you said it again.

LEE: Said what?! I don’t even know what I said anymore.

DOTTY: What happened?

AMANDA: Well, you could say the wind blew in the front door and blew out the back door and blew the room out.

FRANCINE: Well, I find it pretty hard to believe. I mean, I think you’re just covering for her myself. 

LEE: What, Amanda?

FRANCINE: Mmmm.

LEE: I’m telling you, she fought back. What did you think she’d do?

FRANCINE: Faint. Sort of a suburban swoon.

LEE: Hardly. She was great. She even took one out with a lamp.

FRANCINE: A lamp? I would never use a lamp.

LEE: I know, we’ve got to watch our nails.

FRANCINE: Hey, I’ve decked guys for a lot less.

LEE: Hmmm, first dates are rough.

FRANCINE: But they always come back for more.

AMANDA: Mr. Sinclair, you can see.

SINCLAIR: Oh, Mrs. King, it’s a miracle.

BILLY: You get anymore information from Rollo?

FRANCINE: Uh, not much.

BILLY: Losing your touch, Francine?

FRANCINE: Can’t get blood from a stone, Billy.

BILLY: Depends on how hard you squeeze.

BILLY: We're chasing a boat that changes it's location and it's name as often as I change my socks.

FRANCINE: Hey, maybe we've got something there. How often is that?

AMANDA: Lee, are you alright?

LEE: Am I alright? I'm chained to a pipe, do I look alright?

LEE: Maybe it’s a good idea that you do leave the Agency.

AMANDA: Oh no, I don’t think so.

LEE: Look, if you weren’t working for the Agency, you wouldn’t be in a mess like this.

AMANDA: Yeah, but I wouldn’t have you to save me either, would I?

BACK TO EPISODE LIST

NEXT EPISODE