THE THREE FACES OF EMILY

Picture courtesy of Anke Lantin

In a research facility, two scientists are working on a new top secret Anglo-American plane called Falconwing. As they start to pack up for the night, the two soldier guards suddenly draw their guns and kill the two experts. They then take photo's of the plane's designs and access the computer to download data before getting away.

The next day, Amanda sees Dotty and the boys off to the beach for the weekend while she stays at home to redecorate. When she goes back inside, Lee is raiding her fridge for half and half for the coffee he's helped himself to. She asks why he's there and Lee says he needs to ask her out. For a moment, Amanda is shocked, but then realises he means in a business sense although he assures her that she'll have a nice time as he needs an escort to a diplomatic reception at the British Ambassador's house. Amanda suggests he take his latest girlfriend but Lee tells her that they've split up. Lee then adds that if she goes she may see an old friend and at that Amanda finally agrees.

That evening, they go to the reception and Amanda is delighted to see Emily Farnsworth there. Lee asks Amanda to go and mingle while he talks to Emily and they move to the side of the room and watch a man enter. Lee advises Emily to go to the powder room and she agrees saying that she doesn't want the man to see her face.

Meanwhile, Amanda mingles and is approached by a lady who is writing a society column for a newspaper but when she realises Amanda is a housewife, she walks off. The man Lee and Emily are watching, then walks over to her having overheard Amanda's conversation with the journalist. He introduces himself as Sidney Whitset and as they talk, he comes over faint so Amanda takes him outside for some fresh air.

In the shadows, the two soldiers who killed the scientists are watching Amanda and Whitset walk out onto the balcony. One of the men holds up a telescope and sees Whitset light up a cigarette. He says that he's seen their signal and the other guy comments that Amanda's 'their lady'.

Inside, Lee and Emily are talking when Amanda and Whitset walk back in. Lee isn't impressed that she's with him but Emily says that he must learn to improvise. She walks off and Lee goes over to Amanda and pretends he's from IFF and is interested in using Whitset's company for a documentary. Amanda plays along and Lee says he has a brochure in his coat in the cloakroom. Whitset and Amanda head off and Lee grabs a glass of champagne off a passing tray and drops a pill in, then follows them.

He hands the glass to Whitset who takes a drink and once in the cloakroom, he passes out. Lee catches him then Emily comes out from behind a clothes rail to help carry him out. Amanda thinks he's fainted but Lee tells her that he drugged him. They take him outside and put him in a limo then drive off.

In the limo, Emily tells Amanda to put her arm around Whitset and then takes a photo of them. Lee then calls Francine and tells her that they're on their way but Francine informs him that there isn't a safe house anymore because of an electricity failure and orders him to abort the mission. Lee doesn't want to so she tells him to speak to Billy. Lee ends the telephone call and turns to the driver of the limo who just happens to be Billy. His boss says he knows what Francine said and tells Lee that people are available but not a location so Lee has an idea and asks Amanda how long her family are away.

At her house, Lee takes Whitset in and leaves him on the couch, then tells Amanda to unlock her back door. Although upset at what her neighbours might think about a man staying at her house overnight, Amanda goes along with what Lee asks while, outside, the two soldiers have pulled up in a car and sit and wait.

Emily and Lee go in through the back door and Amanda is horrified to learn that Whitset will be asleep for 9 to 10 hours. Lee says he'll begin phase two which confuses Amanda who didn't even realise they'd had phase one! Emily tries to allay her worries and tells her it's not always wise to know too much in their business. Amid all that's happening Amanda realises something about Emily and suddenly asks her where her accent has gone. Emily laughs and reveals that she's actually an American and from Santa Barbara but she adopted the British accent after marrying her husband. Amanda offers her a cup of tea and as they head for the kitchen, two men carry out her dining table followed by Lee. Amanda asks what's happening and is mortified to see her drapes being carried away next. Lee explains that it's phase two and Amanda hurries off to see what they're doing to her home. The Agency men are redesigning her dining room and when Lee offers to explain, Amanda says not to worry as it's just phase two.

The next morning, the two soldiers are still outside the house, waiting. Inside Whitset rouses from his sleep to find himself in what appears to be a Russian interrogation room with Emily standing nearby wearing a disguise. She says she's Romachava and Whitset recognises the name as that of head of Operations Security for the KGB. She tells him he's in the Russian Embassy and shows him the picture she took of he and Amanda in the limo. She asks why, when he's on such an important mission for them, does he get so drunk he passes out his first night in the U.S.

Outside in the kitchen, lee is listening in on a recording machine. Amanda walks in and puts the kettle on then asks Lee who Whitset is. Lee tells her that he is a small time British businessman who decided to earn extra money by treason and espionage. He visited Moscow several times under the guise of trade visits but really sold them secrets. Because he was small time, Emily let him run but it became clear that Moscow were grooming him for something big. Amanda asks what and Lee explains about the plans for Falconwing being stolen. He says that they clamped down on all known courier routes and then Whitset showed up so they realised it was him.

Back in the dining room, Emily is working hard to extract information from Whitset. She says she's there to take over the mission but he begs to be allowed to continue. Emily orders him to tell her what his plan is and he explains that he is going to use an innocent to act as a go-between or mule for him and the men who have the plans. Emily digests this information then leaves the room and goes to speak to Lee. She accepts a cup of tea from Amanda and informs Lee it's a 'mule' job and to get Francine on standby. She then goes back into the room and Amanda tells Lee she's going to pop out and buy the paint for Jaime's room. When she leaves, the soldiers who are waiting patiently outside, follow her which she soon picks up on.

Back at the house, Emily tells Whitset she'll supervise and arrange the 'mule' but Whitset surprises her by saying he's already done that and informed the soldiers of who it is…Amanda King! Keeping her emotions under control, Emily says she'll make contact with her and leaves the room. Outside, Lee has heard what Whitset said and is packing up his recording machine. Emily is upset and gets even more distraught when Lee says that Amanda is out shopping but Lee calms her down and they set off for the paint store.

In the meantime, Amanda screeches to a halt outside of the store and hurries inside closely followed by the soldiers. As they close in on her, Lee and Emily walk into the shop and start causing a commotion. Wearing disguises, Emily is dressed as up to the nines and Lee is her effeminate companion, the pair call out the shop owner and demand to see samples. Lee checks out wallpaper and Amanda slips away from the soldiers and goes over to him. The two men split up and one stands guard by the door while the other tries to go over to Amanda but is stopped by Emily.

Lee tells Amanda to talk to the men saying she shouldn't be in any danger. He then walks off and over to Emily who lets her man go and make contact with Amanda. The soldiers take her outside and Lee and Emily slip out the back way to make sure she's OK. As she stands there, the men hand over an envelope and tell her to tell Whitset that 5 o'clock is the time. She agrees to do as they ask and they go leaving Amanda to give Emily and Lee the thumbs up sign.

Back at the house, Emily, lee and Amanda are reading the note from the envelope which is a negotiation demand for one million, five hundred thousand dollars to be put into a Swiss bank account and then meet at 5pm at the corner of E and 10^th street to complete the exchange of the plans. As they don't have a lot of time, Emily decides they must do something drastic to obtain the rest of the information from Whitset and returns to the room dressed as Romachava.

Whitset is angry at being left for hours but Emily tells him that the soldiers made contact with Amanda and have made a demand for money. Whitset says they should pay them and then they'll get Falconwing. Emily wants to know if there's a confirmation password on deposit and Whitset says there is but only he and the soldiers know it. He demands to be freed and allowed to carry on with his mission or else they won't get the plans. Emily says that he didn't do a good job when he was going it alone and calls the guards to bring in Lee. When Whitset says he only vaguely remembers Lee, Emily informs him that Lee's a spy and has been on his trail since he arrived in the U.S. She then turns to Lee and asks if he's been co-operative, at Lee's less than polite response, she looks at Whitset and says that like him, Lee defies her. She then gets a guard to shoot Lee in front of Whitset and then drag his lifeless body out of the room. Whitset is shocked and scared at what he's just witnessed and is more than willing to oblige when Emily turns back to him and orders him to tell her all the details of his plan including the code word.

A little while later, Amanda is rinsing out Lee's shirt and Emily tells her how she came to be in the spy business. Emily then asks Amanda to meet with the soldiers again and Amanda says she will.

The meeting point is a pool hall and Lee tells her to give the soldiers the code word, get the film and get out of the place as quick as possible. She heads over and goes in to find the two men waiting. She tells them the code word, Silver Lining' and asks for the package but the soldiers are distrustful and one man phones the Swiss bank to check that the money has been deposited. His call is intercepted by the Agency and Francine comes on the line pretending to be a bank teller and confirms the money is in. The other soldier is about to hand over the film when he suddenly realises that they could double cross the Russians and sell the film again, even two or three more times. Amanda tries to dissuade them but they tell her to keep quiet.

Outside, Emily and Lee are worried because Amanda hasn't yet returned. Emily decides she needs props and as Lee calls Billy, she heads over the road to a nearby delicatessen.

In the pool room, the two men decide to cut all ties with Whitset which means they have to kill Amanda. As one of them pulls out his gun, they are disturbed by Emily coming down the stairs with a mop and bucket, dressed as a cleaner. One guy tries to get rid of her, while the other man grabs Amanda and they fail to notice Lee slipping in through the back door behind them. A fight ensues, the bad guys are beaten and the film containing the Falconwing plans is safe in Agency hands.

Back at Amanda's house, she's confused as to why they're continuing their charade with Whitset but Emily says it's too easy to just stop now and goes back into the 'interrogation' room dressed as Romachava. She tells Whitset his plan has been a success and asks where he wants to meet Amanda. He gives her an address for a local liqueur store and she then hands him a plane ticket to Russia to use after he has the film from Amanda. She then blindfolds him and takes him out of the house.

At the liqueur store, Billy is pretending to be the owner as Whitset waits for Amanda. She comes in and is about to hand over the film when a masked armed robber appears and demands all the money and Amanda's bag. They hand over what he requests and Whitset is mortified to realise the film has been stolen. He demands that Billy do something to apprehend the robber but Billy says he has what he wants and watches as Lee, who's dressed as a tramp, walks over with a similarly attired Emily and handcuffs the traitor. Billy then takes Whitset away leaving a confused Amanda to fret about the stolen film. Emily and Lee explain that the robber was a KGB agent and that he'll take the film to Moscow which is what they planned all along. It turns out that the Russians have been after Falconwing for a long time and now they have it although Lee had switched the original film for one containing plans for a plane that won't work. Amanda is impressed until she suddenly remembers that her home is still in a mess and her family are returning that evening and they rush off to change it back to normal.

Back at the house, Lee is just taking the last picture out when Amanda hears Emily talking to her mother and boys who have just returned. She urges him gone and when her family walk in they aren't impressed by her choice of colour for the dining room walls as they're still grey. Amanda and Emily agree it doesn't look good and Amanda says she redecorate.

SCENE'S TO WATCH OUT FOR:

Amanda coming into her kitchen and finding Lee 'in' her fridge.

Emily and Lee in their disguises/roles at the paint store. 

Just before going into the pool hall, Amanda stops and picks up some litter and throws it into a rubbish bag - Lee's look of disbelief is priceless.

Tag.

ROMANCE:

There are a couple of cute moments in this episode. Both are around the same and the first is when Amanda mistakenly things for a couple of seconds that Lee has actually asked her out on a date. It’s not anything much but it comes across that she obviously thinks that way about him. The second is moments after when Amanda gently quizzes Lee about his current girlfriend and pretends not to remember her name straight away. However, the fact that she does know the woman's name speaks volumes. There's some definite sparks of jealousy, even to the point where she makes the seemingly offhand, but cutting, remark about how he does 'go through' women. I always grin when she tries to act like it doesn't bother her and you can obviously see it does. And Lee, well, for someone supposedly so highly trained to notice the 'nuances' in people, it's amazing that he remains so oblivious, LOL!

QUOTES:

AMANDA: How about you telling me what you're doing here.

LEE: I need you.

AMANDA: You need me?

LEE: I need you. I came to ask you out.

AMANDA: Well, if it's gonna be such a lot of fun, why don't you just take the girl that you're seeing now?  Who is it, uh, Margo?

LEE: Margo and I aren't seeing each other any more.

AMANDA: Oh, well, you do go through them.

EMILY: Do you think this is going to upset her terribly?

LEE: There's nothing to worry about. She'll go with the flow.

AMANDA: (from her dining room) Oh my gosh!

EMILY: I'm afraid she's being swept away by the flow.

AMANDA: How did a sweet, nice woman like you, who trained for the theatre, get involved in the intelligence business.

EMILY: Very much like you, accidentally.

EMILY: Amanda, I'm afraid I have to ask a great favour of you.

AMANDA: Anything Emily.

EMILY: It concerns Falconwing. I need you to meet with those two men from the paint store again.

AMANDA: I'll do it.

EMILY: You're a very courageous young woman. You know it's for our two great countries.

AMANDA: And for you.

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