A RELATIVE SITUATION

Picture courtesy of Anke Lantin

When a flight manoeuvre goes tragically wrong resulting in the death of five pilots, Lee’s uncle, Colonel Robert Clayton, is held responsible. While awaiting his court marshal he contacts Lee and arranges to have dinner with him. With the hopes of getting out of dinner, Lee says he has a date with Amanda but the Colonel tells him to bring her along. Having overheard the conversation, Amanda agrees to go with Lee that evening.

When they arrive at the restaurant, Lee tells Amanda he hasn’t seen his uncle in years and that the Colonel is a very busy man. When he mentions the Colonel’s actual name, Amanda immediately recognises it from the papers and says that the Colonel must really be needing Lee’s support. Lee isn’t so sure, saying that when his parents died the only person left to look after him was the Colonel. Amanda points out that he could’ve said no, but Lee explains that he wouldn’t have as it was his ‘duty’.

Inside the restaurant, the Colonel hasn’t arrived so Lee asks for a table by the window and they then wait for his uncle at the bar.

Outside, the Colonel arrives accompanied by two officers, Sergeant Ballard and Lieutenant Montel. Ballard says he’ll be back for him at 11pm but Clayton dismisses them, telling them to take the rest of the night off. Once inside, he goes to Lee who introduces him to Amanda and they go to their table which is in the middle of the room. When Lee queries this, the maitre ‘d says that it’s the table the Colonel preferred. The two men have barely sat down when they start to argue about, well, just about everything from which wine to have to the reason for the Colonel’s impending court marshal. Amanda tries to calm things down by suggesting different things for dinner but both men ignore her and their bickering ends with the Colonel telling Lee that he didn’t want Lee butting in on his business.

Meanwhile, Sergeant Ballard is in his hotel room speaking to his fiancée on the phone telling her that things have got out of hand and that pilots were dead and Colonel Clayton is being court marshalled. He adds that he needs to come clean on what he knows and then tells her he’ll speak to her the next night. He puts the phone down then stands over by an open window, looking out over the city. Behind him, the door quietly and a man comes in and they get into a struggle before Ballard is pushed out of the window to his death.

Back at the restaurant the dinner is over and Lee and Amanda leave. They talk about the Colonel and Lee says that he’ll lose his case as the Air Force has lost too many planes recently. He cites various States that have lost single planes and Amanda questions whether it’s normal. Lee says no and then they begin to wonder if there’s more to what’s happening than they realise. Lee turns the car around and heads to the Colonel’s hotel telling Amanda that whether he likes it or not, the Colonel is going to get his help.

At the hotel, Lee and Amanda arrive just as Ballard’s body is being put into the ambulance and taken away. Clayton can’t understand why Ballard would jump and Montel tells them that the Sergeant had picked up his honeymoon tickets that day. Clayton dismisses Montel and Lee says that his uncle should stay with him for the night as it’s too dangerous at the hotel. The Colonel is reluctant at first but then agrees. When Lee mentions finding a safe place for his uncle for the next day, Amanda offers to have him at her home as Dotty and the boys will be out and she’ll just be baking cookies. That agreed, they all leave.

The next day at the Agency, Lee has his car back and is telling Billy his concerns over the fact that nine planes have gone down due to pilot error during the past month. Billy questions the possibility of whether the Colonel’s manoeuvre was dangerous but Lee says no and, for all his faults, the Colonel is a ‘damn good commanding officer’. Francine then enters Billy’s office with the coroner’s report. She says that Ballard had cuts and bruises on his face and arms. Billy says that it could’ve happened when he fell but Lee tells him that he landed on his back. Francine then informs them that O positive blood samples were taken from Ballard’s shirt and yet his type was B. Lee asks if he can look into the murder as he doesn’t think the police know about Ballard’s link with his uncle court marshal and so won’t know what to look for. Billy agrees but asks that Lee keep his uncle in the background for now. Lee says that the Colonel is at Amanda’s and then arranges for Francine to take over one of his assignments while he heads for Amanda’s house.

Meanwhile, the Colonel is having a drink with friend and fellow officer, General Patterson. He tells him that Lee is looking into whether there’s a link between his squadron going down and the other plane crashes. Lieutenant Montel arrives and the Colonel leaves to go to Amanda’s. Once there, he helps her bake cookies and they talk about Lee. Just as the Colonel goes to put another batch of cookies in the oven, he accidentally drops them and gets dough over his coat. Amanda takes it out of the kitchen to clean and as she explains what to use, two armed men enter the house through the back and silently take the Colonel away. Amanda comes back into the kitchen and sees he’s gone. She runs to the front window and looks out and is horrified to see him being bundled into a car. She rushes out as they drive away and then Lee arrives so she jumps in with him and they head off in pursuit. They chase them through the city but one of the gunmen starts shooting and hits Lee’s tyre causing him to crash.

While his car is being towed away, Lee and Amanda have a coffee in a nearby café. Lee is determined to find his uncle no matter what and they go over what happened that day. Amanda tells him that Montel had dropped the Colonel off at her house and Lee says that apart from Billy, Montel is the only other person who knew that his uncle would be at Amanda’s. With that, he decides that they go and see him.

They arrive at Montel’s hotel and go to his room but he’s not there so Lee breaks in. Once inside, Amanda asks Lee what they’re looking for and he tells her that she’ll know when she finds it. Amanda isn’t happy about searching through Montel’s private things but then finds an address scribbled on a menu room service menu by the bed. Lee writes it down and Amanda’s eager to go and take a look but Lee tells her that he’s going alone as he wouldn’t want Amanda to possibly have to go through someone else’s private things twice in one day. She agrees to not go with him on the proviso that he calls her in an hours time or else she’ll come after him. Lee reluctantly agrees.

Lee drives out to the house at the address they found and manages to sneak in. He goes upstairs and finds a study that has some equipment set up on the table. He goes over and has a little play around with it and figures out it’s a computer jamming device. He continues a search of the room when voices outside disturb him so he leaves. As he makes his escape, one of the guards sees him and gives chase. Lee knocks him out but is eventually captured and taken to the room that his uncle is tied up in and is tied up in a chair next to the Colonel’s himself. The Colonel asks how Lee got there and he tells him about Montel and also about the jamming device. The Colonel asks what kind of device it is and Lee explains that it would be able to scramble an aircraft’s flight control. The Colonel says that they need to get out of there and asks if anyone knows where Lee is. Lee remembers that Amanda does and assures his uncle that she’ll do something as she’s very resourceful and, he adds, he taught her everything she knows. Seconds later, Amanda is brought in by the two guards and also tied up causing Lee to shake his head in despair.

As the Colonel watches the guards, he notices that his friend, General Patterson is also there and tells him that he doesn’t believe that he’s involved with everything but Lee interrupts saying it’s more than involvement, the General is the one that planned it all and he’s responsible for all the planes going down. The Colonel asks him why he did it as the pilots were their soldiers and the General admits that he’s been passing over bits of information for years in return for money. Lee asks why he killed Ballard and Patterson tells them that Ballard wanted to clear the Colonel’s name so they had to get rid of him. The guards finish tying Amanda up and the three leave as the General has to get to his airfield because of a meeting he has to get to, to hand over the jamming machine to the ‘other side’.

Once they go, Amanda tells Lee that she doesn’t think there’ll be a problem in escaping as she’s flexed her arm muscles and once she relaxes she should be able to slip right out of the rope. They watch as she starts struggling and then Lee begins to try and break his bindings again too as it looks like she’s getting nowhere.

Outside, the two guards load the jamming device into Patterson’s car and then the General orders one of them to go back and kill the Colonel, Lee and Amanda and make sure that their bodies aren’t found.

Inside, Amanda has manages to get free and runs over to untie Lee but can’t so Lee tells her to find something to cut the rope. She grabs a sword and frees him and then Lee gets up and frees his uncle. They head for the door but then Lee hears footsteps outside and tells them to hang back. The guard comes through the door and Lee takes him out with one punch then they hurry out to Lee’s car and drive to the airfield where they notice Patterson’s car parked outside the Able Air hangar. The Colonel wants to go right in and surprise them but Lee tells him that he won’t risk the life of a civilian and that he’ll go in first and the Colonel can do mop up. The Colonel agrees then both men leave Amanda in the car and head for the hangar.

Inside, Patterson is loading the device onto a plane.

Outside, Lee tells the Colonel that he’s going up over the roof and that the Colonel should go around the front. They tell each other to be careful and head off.

Patterson tells his guards to open the hangar doors as he’s going to start up the plane. Lee watches them from a rafter overhead and a guard opens the door just as the Colonel creeps up to it. Patterson starts the engines and the chocks are removed but Amanda sees what’s happening and moves over to the driver’s seat of the car and drives around to block his escape.

Meanwhile, Lee and the Colonel make their move. Lee is in a hard fight with a guard but the Colonel beats his and heads for Patterson and they begin to fight. The guard fighting Lee gains the upper hand and pushes Lee towards one of the propeller blades but Amanda spies a file cabinet on wheels and gets out of the car and runs over to it. She pushes it and it rolls over and hits the guard giving Lee the distraction he needs to win.

The Colonel is still fighting with Patterson when the other guard gets up then grabs a large wrench and heads over to the tussling men. Amanda spots him and yells an alert to Lee who races over and stops the guy. Lee hits him first and then the Colonel, who has beaten Patterson, also takes a swing and the guard goes down. Amanda happily tells them that they make a good team and the two men shake hands.

Later, the three have dinner at the same restaurant as before but they’ve now got a table by the window and they all drink to ‘family’.

SCENE’S TO WATCH OUT FOR:

Amanda handing Billy her receipts and embarrassing Lee by explaining that one is for some perfume he used.

Lee getting a call from his uncle and standing to attention on the phone.

Lee awkwardly asking Amanda to accompany him to dinner with his uncle after he’s already told him that he’s got a date with her.

Lee ranting on about how people should be more careful because someone had scratched his car and then opens Amanda’s door and whacks it against a parking meter.

The whole dinner scene with the two men bickering and Amanda trying to decide what to have for dinner.

The car chase scene.

Lee and Amanda searching for her ‘contact lens’ outside Montel’s room.

Amanda asking Lee to call her in an hour.

Amanda saving Lee and the Colonel – especially when she tightens his bindings causing him to say ‘ow’ and also when she grabs a sword and swings it around and almost hits him with it!

ROMANCE:

There’s a nice moment when Amanda’s arrives at the bullpen and Lee looks at her and smiles. When Lee is on the phone to his uncle, he makes up an excuse that he has a date to try and get out of having dinner with him and Amanda hears his side of the conversation. She looks pretty unhappy when she hears what he says and then looks so shocked when he tells his uncle that his ‘girlfriends’ name is Amanda King. Then when Lee gets off the phone he tells her that it was his uncle calling and would she go with him. Amanda says she’s flattered and then Lee spoils it all by saying he’s pleased because he was desperate! Her face is a picture and then Lee hastily tries to make up for his gaff by saying he didn’t mean it like that just that it’d be easier if she came along. It’s a nice scene between the two that shows their friendship and definitely hints at more on Amanda’s side at least.

Another sweet moment is Amanda telling Lee what a great man he’s grown up to be and saying that any man would be proud to have him as a son. Even though her own family is close, she seems to understand how Lee feels not having been that lucky himself and does her best to bolster his esteem, showing once again, how much she cares.

And, of course, the wonderfully funny moment where Amanda asks Lee to call her in an hour otherwise she’ll worry and come after him is yet another scene where we see how much she cares. Naturally, Lee really doesn’t want to call but eventually gives in knowing he can’t win and he doesn’t it with a smile on his face which makes it nicer.

It was also good to see Lee proudly telling his uncle that Amanda is resourceful – something that he wouldn’t have admitted a few months prior.

So, another funny and sweet episode that mainly portrays their growing friendship with each other but also having a few undercurrents of romance that make it a pleasure to watch.

QUOTES:

AMANDA: I’m on the way to the boys baseball practice and I just thought I’d give these receipts to you, Sir. Now, one of them might look a little strange, Sir…um…this one, it’s for some perfume that Lee used.

LEE: (stutters embarrassingly) I told you I would pay for it.

FRANCINE: So that’s what’s different about you lately…you changed perfumes!

LEE: Amanda, I need you to do a little favour for me.

AMANDA: So I gather.

LEE: That was my uncle.

AMANDA: Oh, the Colonel.

LEE: Yeah and he's in town, he wants to have dinner. I told him I had a date, you know, thinking I could get out of it that way and, um, I'm stuck. So, uh, you think you could?

AMANDA: Oh Lee. Look I'm, I'm, really, I'm flattered that you thought to ask me.

LEE: Oh good, I was desperate.

LEE: I don’t believe it. This is the first time that I have ever arrived before the Colonel. Must have forgot to synchronise his watch or something.

AMANDA: Oh come on, Lee, you sound like you were raised by a machine.

LEE: Amanda, I was raised by a career military officer…amounts to the same thing.

AMANDA: I’m sure he really cares about you very much.

LEE: Oh come on, Amanda, the man called me ‘diaper duty’ until my sixteenth birthday. 

AMANDA: Well he must have done something right. I mean, look at the way you've turned out. You're successful, hardworking, honest. Any man would be proud to have you for a son.

LEE: Francine, could you take a look after, Prince Hussard’s reception this afternoon.

FRANCINE: Prince Hussard?

LEE: Yes.

FRANCINE: Oh, well, thank God I wore my designer original

BILLY: I think that was, yes.

LEE: Yeah.

CLAYTON: You should’ve seen Lee when he first came to me. Seven years old and the first thing out of his mouth was, “No!”.

AMANDA: I can believe that.

LEE: I don’t believe this is happening. I haven’t even had it back one day!

AMANDA: Looks pretty bad, doesn’t it?

LEE: Well, a bullet in the tyre and two in the radiator wouldn’t make it look good you know.

AMANDA: Call me in an hour.

LEE: Amanda, I'm not going to…

AMANDA: Call me in an hour. If you don't call me in an hour I'll worry. And if I worry I'll probably show up there. I know where it is, I found the address.

AMANDA: Well, looks like you two make a pretty good team.

CLAYTON: Well, I’d say we all do.

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