Sara: 0:18

Welcome to Steele watching, which is a podcast for Remington Steele fans. My name is Sara, and I am now officially able to say, this is not my 1st rodeo. Because yesterday, we went to a rodeo, which was my 1st rodeo. So now now I'm allowed to say it.

Eric: 0:35

Yeah. And I'm Eric, and I will tell you this from the most sincere place. Ingrown toenails are not fun no matter what anybody tries to convince you. Don't know that I've

Sara: 0:48

ever had anybody try to convince me they were fun. Who's who's been telling you that line?

Eric: 0:53

I I... I don't wanna say, but they lied.

Sara: 0:57

Yeah. Yeah.

Eric: 1:00

Anyway. Well then. Yeah. On that happy note.

Sara: 1:07

We're going to be talking about season 4 episode 2, Steele searching part 2.

Eric: 1:12

Before we before we

Sara: 1:13

Oh, yeah. I'm anticipating have anything else.

Eric: 1:16

Yeah. We have a couple of things. We did lose 1 of our subscribers. We're sorry to see them go. We hope it wasn't anything that we said or did.

Sara: 1:23

We still love you.

Eric: 1:24

We do. And we appreciate the support that they've provided for the time that they did. I hope it's also not an issue of them having their bank account hacked or their credit card stolen or anything like that.

Sara: 1:36

Yeah. There's a lot of scams out there, like a lot.

Eric: 1:39

Yeah. So we wish them well. We thank them and... For their support and appreciate support they gave us. But, yeah, we wanna say thank you to them. And then secondly, an incident, an issue came up, the still trying special edition, Tony Bennett edition. I hate Google Drive. The share feature on Google Drive never seems to work the way it's supposed to.

Sara: 2:06

I know. It's such a pain in the Yeah. Very air.

Eric: 2:10

And somebody emailed us and said that they were trying to get access and couldn't get it. So I fixed that for them. If anybody is

Sara: 2:16

trying get look that. If anybody's still trying

Eric: 2:18

Still trying.

Sara: 2:20

On. That was right there.

Eric: 2:22

And I walked right into it. I walked right into it. So if you're still trying- Still trying.... Access the... Cut that out. Sorry. If you're having problems getting the file, just drop us an email. It may take us a couple of days to get to it and get it straightened out, but we will do what we need to to get you access. So apologize in advance and after the fact to somebody for the issue. I'm done.

Sara: 2:53

Cool. Okay. I was just... I wasn't sure. So never sure what what we have to say ahead of time. So

Eric: 3:00

Yeah. You never know where I'm gonna wander off to.

Sara: 3:02

That's true. I wish you this over here. Sometimes we have to pull them back. Tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Anyway, Simpson's quote for anybody who caught that. We're gonna be talking about, as I said, season 4 episode 2, Steele Searching part 2. And this is interesting because I think this is... Before I I do the the rest of it, I think this is the 1st episode that has had a previously on segment before. I I think so. Yeah. I don't don't think we've had that before. So that that was kind of interesting. Because normally when at the very beginning, you just see scenes of what is to come in the episode, and then it goes right into the the theme song. But this time, it was a previously on

Eric: 3:46

Yeah.

Sara: 3:46

Remington Steele. So that was that was kinda neat. This episode 1st aired on 10/01/1985, and it was written by Michael Gleason and directed by Christopher Hibbler. And I went with the TV guide synopsis for this 1. Radical miners mistake Steele for the assassin, Daniel Chalmers hired to kill the Earl of Cleridge. This is an... And and I'm just gonna say this, like, before we even get into it. This is an odd 2 parter because we said this in the last episode, they feel like 2 different episodes. Mhmm. And and and they are. Mean, 2 different episodes. But I mean, they feel like 2 completely different stories. Like like, if it wasn't for the fact that that the thread of Steele trying to find his father runs through both episodes.

Eric: 4:28

And the Earl.

Sara: 4:29

And the Earl. Yeah. You could completely disconnect the plots because there's there's... Yeah. It's it's it's odd in a way. Like, I I don't know. I I don't dislike this episode, and I really didn't dislike the season opener. I think they're both very good, but I I think I might have preferred it if they were separate stories just because they both stand on their own really well. So it's kind of jarring to see them stuck together as as like the same story, if that makes sense. And it also seems that they... The writers were very keen in this episode to distance us from what we know about the Earl in the last episode because they're trying to make him a lot more likable in this episode, and there's a reason for that. So, yeah, that's just kind of interesting thoughts overall. In

Eric: 5:20

in a sense, they really are separate standalone episodes. There is a thread that continues through them, but it's just the thread. And granted, it's a unifying thread, but you can watch this episode on its own and not have seen the previous and it still works. But they have the as previously seen at the beginning, as you mentioned, so that if anybody wonders, hey, how this Earl tie in? It explains that thread. It doesn't really give you much about the previous episode. No. No. Doesn't is Yeah. Necessary other than the thread.

Sara: 6:03

That's true. That is true. And it's... Trying to think of what I was trying to say. It's an interesting look at the way they were trying to kind of handle the fact that Mildred has to find out, still... Is still without a passport. Like, there... There's a lot of issues that do have to be tied up in this episode that were kind of opened up in the 1st 1. You also have the fact that Laura and Steele actually don't talk to 1 another at all until the very end of the episode, pretty much. Do not have any contact with 1 another literally until the scene inside the mansion when Mhmm. The Earl is... The attempt is made on his life. Like, the rest of the episode, they're completely separate. I don't think we've ever had an episode that has kept them apart quite that long. Yeah. Probably Yeah.

Eric: 6:56

Probably probably correct. Yeah.

Sara: 6:58

And they, I mean, they didn't have a lot of contact in the in the episode before it either. Mhmm. Probably a bit more so than this episode, but still.

Eric: 7:07

You know? And we've talked about that in the past, the difference being in these episodes, or at least in this 1 in particular, it works better than it has in the past because in the past it was the 2 of them at odds and refusing to talk to each other because they were both angry at each other or you know, whatever.

Sara: 7:25

Well, she's gonna hang up with him in this 1.

Eric: 7:27

Well... Yeah. But it's circumstances that's keeping them apart, not True. Themselves.

Sara: 7:35

Yeah. Exactly. Okay. So those are just my over... Sort of over over the top thoughts of the episode. I don't know if that's the right phrase, but you know what I was trying to say.

Eric: 7:45

Yeah. The 20,000 foot view. Yeah.

Sara: 7:47

Exactly. So we open with the car that abducted Steele driving down the English countryside to a farm. I'm just gonna say this right off the hop. I have no idea which 1 of the henchmen is Hawkins and which 1 is Bloor. So I just started calling them henchmen 1 and henchmen 2. Because, like, they never actually say. They they just keep calling them Hawkins and Bloor. So I'm like, I don't know. I I suppose I could have looked in this IMDB. I was lazy and didn't get around to it.

Eric: 8:15

Or in the script.

Sara: 8:16

It doesn't matter. Does it matter? It doesn't matter.

Eric: 8:18

Well, no.

Sara: 8:19

It really doesn't. It really doesn't. Yeah. So... Yeah. So they get out. They get to this compound out in the countryside, and they're greeted by more men with guns. They escort Steele and Felicia into a disgusting room. It's filthy. It's Mhmm. Anyway, sorry. That's just like the... It's got like a grimy mattress and like... I'm not really sure what it's supposed to be because the rest of it seems to be a farmhouse and and a shed and whatnot. So I don't know if that's actually the house. If it is, I don't wanna know who lives there. But

Eric: 8:54

I I think it's just 1 of the outbuildings Yeah. It's maybe used by

Sara: 8:58

Pretty gross.

Eric: 8:59

1 of the hands to... That that is hired to maintain property or something.

Sara: 9:05

I don't know. Well, he needs to be paid more because that's that's disgusting living conditions. So, yeah, Steele turns to look at Felicia and asks who the men are. She's vague, simply calling them new friends. And then Steele asks her about killing the Earl of Cleridge. I love their interactions in this entire episode. I I know I'm probably in the minority in that I love Felicia as a character. I know, like, she's a character you love to hate, and she's Mhmm. Perfect in this episode in in every scene she's in. So I just... I don't... I know that there's some people out there that don't like it when she shows up because she's a... She she gets in the work. She

Eric: 9:45

stirs it.

Sara: 9:45

I love it when she stirs it. I I just... I see her, and I'm like, oh, good. We're about to... Things are about to get interesting. So that's my own personal thing. I just love her. So... And they have... I know that I... I've criticized the chemistry that that... And and not I realized that was his wife and and that sometimes, like, actors when they perform with their partners don't necessarily feel like they need to manufacture the chemistry because it's already there sort of thing. You can see the chemistry in this episode. It maybe wasn't as a parent in Woman of Steele, and that could just simply be because she was playing a different character and it was a little confusing. But it's... Anytime she's Felicia, it's there. Mhmm. Right? So, like, they're just, they're great playing off each other in this whole scene. He he... So she says they're new friends, and he asked her about the Earl of Cleridge. And she asked if he's going to thank her for saving his life. He grabs her roughly and says he didn't know it was in danger. Poor guy. You know?

Eric: 10:49

Yeah. And and her excuse is that they were suspicious of her. They found out... Or if they found out that he was the great detective reminisce deal, it would have been over for the both of them. And she's... It just... The the idea that he should be thanking her for saving her life. I mean, that's like, oh, I've poisoned you, but now I've got the antidote and I'm gonna give it

Sara: 11:08

You to should thank

Eric: 11:10

me for saving your life. No. Yeah. You are the 1 that put me in danger. You're the slave bag then.

Sara: 11:16

But, I mean, that's Felicia. I think that's partly why I like her. She's just... She... You know, she never apologizes. She's the 1 that gets them in trouble, and she's just like, yes. But, darling, I got you out of it. Okay. And also that kinda solves the mystery of who the the men's clothes belong to. I'm guessing it was 1 of the henchmen.

Eric: 11:36

You know, they don't seem that well dressed.

Sara: 11:38

That's true. I don't know. That's weird. But I...

Eric: 11:41

The only only Yeah.

Sara: 11:43

I don't know.

Eric: 11:45

Daniel. Yeah. Know that she and Daniel are working together. Gotta be the explanation. Although it would've been better... I was gonna say it would've been better if they'd explained it, but then that would've revealed True. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, in retrospect, it's gotta be Daniel's close. Yeah.

Sara: 12:03

True. She adds after you said that her comment on figuring out he's great Remington seal, that they saw him make his unceremon... Wow. How can we...

Eric: 12:15

Hey. Deliver

Sara: 12:16

that. Unceremonious exit from her flat, and they wanna know who he is and why Scotland Yard was after him. Steele says he has a feeling that they're getting to the interesting part. Felicia says that if she didn't give the right answer, he would have been dead on the spot. Steele asks who... Like, who she told them that, you know, he was, and she simply says, the man we've been waiting for, she really likes to draw this out. Oh, yes. You know? She could've just said right when he asks who who are these men. She could've just said, look, this is what happened. But no. No. She's got him on the hook. She's dangling the carrot. She's making him ask and ask. I love... I don't know. I just love her.

Eric: 12:53

She is... She's a drama queen in the sense that she loves to create drama.

Sara: 12:58

She's the best.

Eric: 12:59

I love just stretch it out like you say.

Sara: 13:02

Yeah. Exactly. So then Steele asks who that is, and she turns and smiles somewhat smugly and says, the finest assassin in Europe. And Steele looks furious, but he's not able to do much because the door opens, and the 2 men, Hawkins and Bloor, come in with guns. They drag him out of the room towards another building, and Steele attempts to reason with them suggesting they can work as a... Maybe we can work something out. And 1 of the men says he's gonna do is talking to the head man. Steele says they don't have... What's that?

Eric: 13:32

I've got a question, and it it came up later in my my notes, but I'll ask it here. Why did they put him in 1 shed with Felicia and then take him to another shed? Why not just put him all together?

Sara: 13:46

I... That's it. I said, I don't know. I've... Because we needed the exposition. Literally, that's why we needed I the mean, we could have... Theoretically, could have gotten it if they had just dumped him in with Daniel to start with, I suppose.

Eric: 13:57

But Yes.

Sara: 13:58

You're right. It it is kind of a silly thing to put him in 1 spot and then bring him to another spot. But... Yeah. And then Steele, he's like, we don't have to bother him. But the other man holds up a gun and tells him that he doesn't have the right answers. The head man will settle things. So they bring him into a shed where he is shocked to see Daniel Chalmers, who, to his credit, is rather shocked to see him as well. Yes. Right? He was not expecting that and still says you're the head man, and Chalmers is like, you're the assassin?

Eric: 14:27

Well, of course, we find out later that there was not even supposed to be an assassin.

Sara: 14:31

Really puts a crimp in poor Chalmers plans because... Yeah. Yeah. That was not... He was never intending to do any of what they were asking him to do. He was just using them to get to the jewels. Yeah. So now he's like, oh, crap. We're really in trouble. And Steele, who's, again, very angry, demands to know what the bloody hell he's doing there. And Daniel tells him it's a good... It's good to see him. It's been far too long. He starts pouring Steele a drink, and Steele demands to know what he stumbled into. Daniel calls it the sweetest opportunity to come down the pike in years. And he says he's delighted he can be a part of it, saying cheers. Steele goes to drink, changes his mind, and asks asking who the, for want of a better word, gentlemen were outside. Daniel tells him they're miners who until recently worked for the Earl of Cleridge. This is a question I had, and I don't know if you know anything about this, but I I didn't know that nobles were in the business of owning mines.

Eric: 15:29

I mean, they... I guess they could own anything.

Sara: 15:31

I don't know much about English nobility. It just seems like it's a commercial industry. Like, they typically live off of their

Eric: 15:40

Well, they're they're progressive nobles. They they also invest in in all of the... Yeah. Whatever. Sure.

Sara: 15:49

Actually, I did I did think this is a good point to talk about, like, why this is... This would have been kind of a topical plot for the time Mhmm. Because this would have been smack dab in the middle of The U... UK miners' strike that took place between 1984 and 1985. And, I mean, I don't know that this was necessarily done intentionally for that reason, but it it definitely was a big thing that happened. It was a major industrial action. I'm using Wikipedia here. Pardon my my Wikipedia in this, but in an attempt to prevent closures of the pits that were uneconomic in the coal industry, which have been nationalized in 1947. So you had a government agency, sorry. It was led by Arthur Scargill of the National Union of Mine Workers against the National Coal Board, which was a government agency. And the opposition to the strike was led by the conservative government of prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who wanted to reduce the power of trade unions. So her whole term, 3... I think she served 3 terms as the British prime minister was basically spent trying to crush the unions and privatize a lot of their social services. And, I mean, opinion about whether that's right or wrong aside, that was very... Like, that was very much what was going on at the time. So this miner's strike, which lasted for quite a while... And it was not... They were not all united either. Like, the NUM was divided over the action which began in Yorkshire, spread to many other coal fields nationally. More than 0.2 of mine workers, especially in the Nottingham area, continued working. So some of them didn't agree with what was going on from the beginning of the dispute. And by late 19 84, more and more of them were returning to work. Few major trade unions supported the NUM officially, although many of their ordinary members set up support groups raising money and collecting food for the miners and their families. Eventually, think the government won. And, yeah, the strike was ruled illegal in September '84, and a lot of the coal industry was privatized, and, you know, by about 1994. So this would have been like right in the middle of it, which I just thought was an interesting plot to have as part of the show.

Eric: 17:55

Yeah. Relevant to the scene that we're in here, when when Steele puts his drinks... Drink down, he asks the question that prompts Daniel to respond. And Daniel says, I'm... I see you're eager for details. Good sign. And I've got a note here that, you know, Steele has asked Daniel several questions during this exchange so far, very, very short exchange so far. And so far, Daniel has avoided answering any 1 of them. Yep. He's given responses

Sara: 18:31

That's true.

Eric: 18:32

But he's not given answers.

Sara: 18:35

It's kinda Daniel, though. Right? Like, he'll give him the he'll give him the information he wants to give him, and that's

Eric: 18:39

pretty Yeah.

Sara: 18:40

Yeah. Because, yeah, Daniel tells him they're minors who until recently worked for the Earl of Cleridge. He says there were strikes and general unpleasantness, but instead of giving into their demands, the Earl closed the mines. Daniel then says that the miners are merely wanting to return to work in peace. So, of course, they decided to kill the Earl, naturally. Right? Because, like, I mean, everybody knows that if your restaurant gets bad reviews, you kill the reviewer.

Eric: 19:03

That's right.

Sara: 19:04

And, you know, and everybody knows that if, you know, if your mind

Eric: 19:07

is again, you're gonna die.

Sara: 19:08

That's You kill a nobleman. Like, that's how it works.

Eric: 19:11

Yeah. Well, and Steele Steele points out that he doesn't understand how that could help get their minds reopened. And Daniel says, logic of that escapes me too. And I'm thinking, yeah, me 3. Yeah. Yeah. Doesn't make any sense.

Sara: 19:24

Me 4 as well because it it doesn't make any sense. But I do like how Daniel kind of like... And I almost think this was a hand wave to the audience. Right? Because Daniel says, the logic of that escapes me too. But then social protest was never my strong suit. Like, he's kind of just like, who knows why they're doing it? But, hey, it doesn't really matter, does it? Wink.

Eric: 19:45

Yeah. In confusion, there is opportunity.

Sara: 19:47

Oh, yeah. Exactly. So he says this was their 1st this was their 1st attempt at this sort of labor negotiation.

Eric: 19:56

Let's put a a nice, polite, genteel name to something that is basically nothing more than violence.

Sara: 20:03

Exactly. It's labor negotiations.

Eric: 20:06

Sure.

Sara: 20:06

That's right. Mean, negotiating. Yeah. They're negotiating him into the grave. And they needed someone to mastermind the situation. He says that's where he came in. Steele's disappointed saying he didn't realize that Daniel had graduated to murder. And we kind of already knew ahead of time that Daniel is not the kind of person that gets involved in schemes that involve violence. Mhmm. He's usually the guy that does the schemes where he con somebody and he's out of there before they know they've been conned. So this was a good line to put in there, not just for the people who have been watching the whole time, but for maybe people who hadn't seen the show before or didn't know who Daniel was. This kind of like gives us his character in a nutshell. Like, yeah, I didn't realize this is what you were doing these days. Tells us this isn't him normally. He's he's a con man. He's a criminal, but he's not a killer.

Eric: 20:56

Right.

Sara: 20:57

And Daniel claims that Steele must not know him as well as he thinks then. Murder is much too primitive for his tastes. Daniel goes on to say the Earl's impending wedding will assemble under 1 roof the finest array of jewels on the continent. Steele gets it now. He starts to laugh. As Daniel suggests, they use those poor misguided souls to help him and Felicia pull off the robbery of the century.

Eric: 21:20

And Steele asks him how he and Felicia met. And, again, Daniel doesn't answer the question.

Sara: 21:25

No. He doesn't. I I I kind of thought... It's funny because this happened that they put this line in here because... And there's no indication otherwise at all ever in the show prior to this, but I always just sort of assumed that they knew each other before this, that Daniel and Felicia would have known each other.

Eric: 21:42

Well, I don't know

Sara: 21:43

why I made that assumption.

Eric: 21:45

Just At least I'm sure Daniel knew of Felicia. I'm sure Steele had talked about her, but he may or may not have met her.

Sara: 21:52

And Yeah. No.

Eric: 21:52

I Obviously, we get the the clue here that they hadn't actually met before.

Sara: 21:57

I guess I just I I just figured because they were both such interesting personalities that Steele have popped up from his past that they must have crossed paths somewhere. It would have been fun, but apparently not. He says it's kismet. He calls her a lovely lady and still says she has her moments and he hopes they will be very happy together. He drinks the shot then he tells Daniel that if he will give the men his apologies, he'll be on his way. Daniel stops him saying, that's not as easy as he promised these labor negotiators. And I love it how he always says it very like... Daniel sort of pauses, labor negotiators. Yeah. An assassin. Steele insists that he tell them that he's not the 1 he was expecting. And Daniel says, well, there is no assassin. He adds that they wouldn't meet with the assassin for obvious reasons, and the assassin would have would have would have a great need to keep his identity secret. Figuring it out, Steele adds that when you and Felicia took off with the jewels, what would they do? Complain to the police that he didn't keep up his end of the bargain? Is that it? It's actually pretty smart. I mean, what can they... Yeah. Exactly. What can I do? Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. We hired this guy to kill him, and he didn't fulfill his end. I need to... Could they go to the Better Business Bureau? Is there 1 for, like, criminals? I

Eric: 23:11

don't know. Although, arguably, suppose in some cases, in some places, you might actually get away with going to the police and complaining that you hired somebody to commit a criminal act and they refused to do it.

Sara: 23:24

Breach of contract.

Eric: 23:25

That's right. Breach of contract.

Sara: 23:26

Right? You could take it to judge duty maybe. Yeah. Daniel tells Steele that his arrival puts a serious crimp in the plan. Steele argues that he's not about to assassinate the Earl of Clarence as he may very well be a close relative of his. Daniel looked surprised as he would. Yeah. And then says, really? You don't have an invitation to the wedding, do you? And I... Again, I know we've been asking sort of all along all along whether or not the writers were intending to have Daniel be his father the whole way through. But I really wonder if they were at any point preplanning it, I would think it would be here.

Eric: 24:06

Well, you would presume that to be the case, but they may not have been. They may still have been unsure of what to do with that relationship,

Sara: 24:18

but

Eric: 24:18

yeah, it does seem that this would be a good spot to start building up to that. And of course, if that were the case and if Ephraim Zembalist knew that that was where it was going, then his response here as Daniel is still in character.

Sara: 24:38

Oh, very much Because

Eric: 24:39

Daniel would just... He wouldn't be offended.

Sara: 24:43

No. He'd

Eric: 24:44

that the earl is a relative. No. He would... No. No. He'd not only be amused, he would see it as an opportunity.

Sara: 24:51

Oh, absolutely. Everything's an opportunity. Right? So, yeah, for him, he'd embrace it because I think in a way, I mean, Daniel, for all of his faults and his criminal behavior and whatnot Mhmm. I think part of the reason he doesn't tell Steele all the way up until he's, you know, on the way out, so to speak, is because he feels Steele is better off without him as, like, as a mentor, but not as a father. Right?

Eric: 25:19

Could be.

Sara: 25:19

And so for him, he's... He would maybe think, well, yeah, it'd be a lot better if he had, like, an Earl as a... Although this earl is not the most morally.

Eric: 25:30

But from a social Human. Status and

Sara: 25:34

From a

Eric: 25:34

social standpoint. From a financial standpoint. Yeah. I mean

Sara: 25:37

Much better. Yeah. He he had more... He would have more to give Steele than than Daniel was.

Eric: 25:41

And actually, it also falls in with what Daniel had tried to do earlier in passing Steele off as

Sara: 25:48

Yeah. Reggie Whitewood. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So Exactly.

Eric: 25:53

Thee, Reggie Whitewood.

Sara: 25:55

Thee, Reggie Whitewood. Yeah. So Steele tells him that 1 way or another, he will straighten this out just as the door opens. The same 2 men, Hawkins and Bloor, grab them both and tell them to get outside.

Eric: 26:06

Isn't it funny that at this point, even though Daniel is supposedly their lead negotiator and he is supposedly working for them on their behalf, they're actually treating him as a prisoner rather than somebody And

Sara: 26:25

the same as Steele. I mean, he's supposed to be someone they're hiring. Right? If Steele really were the finest assassin in Europe, he would not be allowing him to... Himself to be manhandled and and essentially having to prove himself or whatever else. He would just be like, you're either gonna pay me for the job or you're not. He might...

Eric: 26:45

If he he quickly sized up the situation and said and realized that these people are nuts. And if I don't play their game True. May be the best assassin in in Europe, but they've got the guns and I don't right now, and it could be a problem.

Sara: 27:01

I'm just... Like, yeah. I don't know. He just... I don't think he'd show his face at all, which is what Daniel was hoping for. But Right. Yeah. Now they've got a... Now they've got... It's kind of like now they've got a Remington Steele. Right? Like, he's literally in that position, so he has to play the part. And we've got... All the miners are assembled out there waiting. Their leader, a man by the name of Armstrong. We've got another Armstrong name here. We... Oh, no. Sorry. Yeah. We... We've had Armstrong pop up before. We've also had Arndale, which was the kill them, will it? Kill them all. But Armstrong begins to give a speech. He calls... He says, they call us radicals, terrorists, thugs. Not really seeing a a problem with some of those labels, frankly. I mean...

Eric: 27:44

It is what it is.

Sara: 27:47

Like, you're you're planning on assassinating a a noble. So that's not... I'm in a union. Okay? And at no point has my union ever gone, you know what? The strike isn't working out for us. Let's just kill someone. We we... That's that's never been Are on the you sure? I'm pretty sure that's... And I've I've done a couple of strikes in my time, but that's not been a bargaining tool. So I'm just gonna say right now, that's not in our list of of ways that we negotiate. So, yeah. So he says, they call us radicals, terrorists, and thugs. The union has expelled them, so I guess they're... Yeah. Even the union's gone, yeah, buddy. No. That's not that's not that's not kosher. That's not how

Eric: 28:29

we do helping our our... That's not helping our argument here.

Sara: 28:32

It's not working for us. No. You're gonna have to go. And the authorities are hunting them, but they don't quit because they're right. Their cause is just and their target is clear. Okay. But again, what what are you getting out of this? He's dead. I mean mean, I guess, but

Eric: 28:49

Well, you know, I suppose in a way there is some very, very twisted logic to it because if you kill the 1st guy for not doing what you want, then the 2nd guy who's put in charge and has the authority to do it- True.... Might be a little more inclined to cave in because, I mean, after all, if you've killed 1 guy, what's gonna stop you from killing another person? And I'm that person, so let me think about... You know what? I I I think we can negotiate something here. True. But it is twisted. Yes.

Sara: 29:29

It is. Yeah. The man steps... Armstrong, sorry, steps closer to Steele saying that there is someone here who would destroy everything they accomplished. And of course, Steele's looking

Eric: 29:38

nervous. Yes.

Sara: 29:39

Someone who came under false pretenses and tried to worm his way into their confidences, and then at the 1st opportunity betray them. Getting more nervous. He says there's only 1 thing to do with a man like that. Then looking at right at Steele, he asked what he thinks. Steele? Try... And to be fair, he's pretty, like, stone faced here. I'll give him that. Right? Mhmm. You can see... I mean, Brosnan does a really good job of threading the needle in a way where you can see he's unnerved and he's nervous, but you can also see how the men would not see that. Mhmm. Because he he does appear to be very calm. He says it was a stirring speech. Armstrong asked if he agrees, and Steele says, oh, there's a few portions he'd like to mull over. Right. He says, well, there's no time. As Steele starts to say, well, you're probably wondering what I'm doing here. Armstrong says he knows what he's doing here and what he will do there. He instructs the 2 men to take him, but instead of grabbing Steele, they grab another man who the leader addresses as Wilson. Oof. We've we've got another Wilson here, and he's about to meet his end. Yes. So, yeah. Armstrong accuses him of going to the coppers to trade his hide for their lives. Wilson protests, but the lead... Armstrong hits him, pulls out a gun, and goes over to Steele, hands on the gun and tells him to do the honors. Steele is surprised, but Armstrong points out that's supposed to be your stock and trade. I mean, sure, but Steele thankfully correctly points out that he makes a rule never to pull the trigger unless he's paid to do so 1st.

Eric: 31:09

Yeah. No freebies.

Sara: 31:10

Yeah. Exactly. And that's a good... That... That's a... I mean, it was a perfect response. I mean, could have gotten him in trouble if they had handed him over. He's like, here. Mhmm. That'll do it.

Eric: 31:21

Yeah. This is your audition. Yeah.

Sara: 31:23

Yeah. I think he was sort of betting on the idea that they wouldn't have the money on hand for another

Eric: 31:29

Right.

Sara: 31:29

Murder. So it... They're not gonna expect him to.

Eric: 31:34

Now can I can I comment briefly about Wilson?

Sara: 31:36

And before... Poor Wilson, r I p.

Eric: 31:40

You know, he's been with these people at least for a little while, and he should realize if he is in fact as crazy as they are, he should still realize that once a nutcase has made up their mind, you're not gonna change it. No. So Armstrong's saying that, well, he's made up his mind that Wilson is a traitor. Don't bother wasting your time and breath protesting it, trying to prove your loyalty because it's not gonna work. You know, it's like going into a court for a trial and, yeah, we'll have a fair trial and then we'll execute you. Well, okay. The decision's already been made. Let's just skip the trial and get straight on with it.

Sara: 32:31

I mean, Wilson would have been better off not to return. If he did, in fact, go to the police Mhmm. It would have been a better idea for him to just disappear Mhmm. Or ask to be put in protection of some kind because you're right. Like, if he goes back and they figure him out, which they have, he's he's done. Mhmm. Yeah. So... Yeah. They're not gonna... Well, I only I only told them this because I was nervous, but you guys will forgive me. Right? That's Yeah. Right. Definitely not gonna work. So Armstrong is somewhat satisfied with Steele's response saying, it sounds like a true professional, but talk is cheap. And he still has to prove himself. He walks over to Wilson and shoots him. Felicia and Daniel now both look nervous as well. And, Daniel tells Steele if he can't convince him that he's the assassin, they will be... Oh, he says to to Wilson before he shoots him, which is why Daniel says that they will be saying to to them too. Mhmm. And then Steele says, in that case, get me a watermelon. Daniel seems very confused. Steele insists, and that's the end of the scene. So we switch back to the London Hampton, and I love this scene. I absolutely love this scene. Not just because Laura finally tells Mildred all about mister Steele, but just the whole packing, physical comedy of the packing she's doing is really, really funny.

Eric: 33:47

And she doesn't she she doesn't even notice that the suitcase isn't getting more full.

Sara: 33:54

Point does she... Yeah.

Eric: 33:55

She doesn't hear when Mildred goes over and pulls the drawer out and stuffs the clothes back in. She doesn't hear the drawer making noise. I just about promise you that even in a a high end hotel, that drawer is gonna make some noises.

Sara: 34:08

Even though... But she is so in her zone. Oh, yeah. Like, on her rant that she's just like... She's tuned out everything else around her. So she comes in and Mildred is trailing behind her. And she tells Mildred, he's done it to me for the last time. Mildred says, done what? This is where she gets out the empty suitcase, puts it on the bed, continues to talk as she begins to pack and saying, left me in the lurch. Left me twist in the wind. She sells Mildred. She's welcome to join her on the road back to sanity. So obviously, she's she's she's assuming that Steele has just taken off again. Mhmm. And she's not sticking around. Right? She's Yep. She's going home, which... I mean, I I I wouldn't blame her at this point. Right? Like, she came all this way looking for him. He did that whole nice to see you. Keep in touch. She then found him literally almost bleeding to death on the ground, nursed him back to help, help solve the case with the the the ripper impersonator, and then he disappears again.

Eric: 35:10

It would be totally understandable to have her attitude. Absolutely.

Sara: 35:16

1000%. Like, she's just... And so that's why I think it's so funny to watch her because she's just like, yeah. He's... He can... He's... I'm done. I'm done. I'm going home. Mildred stops her and says that Laura promised to tell her what was going on with mister the boss, him.

Eric: 35:34

Yeah. She doesn't know what to call

Sara: 35:36

her anymore. I love that because

Eric: 35:38

we She's she's obviously figured out enough that

Sara: 35:41

Yeah. Yeah.

Eric: 35:42

He really isn't... He he probably isn't the boss and possibly not Remington Steele. So... Yeah. I mean, what do you call him?

Sara: 35:50

And Laura tells her she already knows. She saw the passports. She did a background check on those names. Michael O'Leary, art thief. Richard Blaine, jewel thief. And the rest, Lord only knows, but none of them Remington Steele. So, I mean, obviously, like you said, Mildred knows that much. She did the background check. She asked Mildred if she knows why, and Mildred says, she stay in tuned. And somewhat defensively, Laura says that Remington Steele doesn't exist. He's a figment of her imagination. She made him up out of whole cloth. So this is where she brings all of her clothes over that she's just gotten out of the drawer, puts them in the suitcase, as Mildred looks even more confused. And Mildred's like, am I stupid if this doesn't make any sense? Laura goes to the closet, still talking, as Mildred quickly unpacks the stuff she's just put in the suitcase. And then it's empty again. She tells her that nobody would take a female, and then she kind of, like, paraphrases the intro a little bit here. From season 1. No 1 would take a female private detective seriously. Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, Charlie Chan for God's sake. She points out that that is everyone's idea of a private eye. The assumption was that a woman couldn't possibly function in that world. So she invented a superior and she looks kind of proud when she says this part, which is... I mean, you can see it. She's proud of what she of what she accomplished even if it was, you know, fraudulent or at least ethically iffy.

Eric: 37:15

She was proud of the fact that she figured out a way to to get people to accept her by faking them out. Yeah. By fooling them. True. You know, it's the old... Was it karate or judo where you... The philosophy is you use somebody's strength against them.

Sara: 37:35

Yes. And

Eric: 37:36

that's kind of what she did here is is she took everybody's presumptions about what a detective is supposed to be and turned those against them for her advantage. So, I mean, yeah, understandably proud of having come up with a way to deal with an unfair situation. But as with so many of the ways that people try to skirt the reality of a situation, it came back to bite her in the backside.

Sara: 38:07

Yeah. It has its flaws, and this is definitely where we're at. Yes.

Eric: 38:11

Definitely has its flaws.

Sara: 38:13

She grabs the stuff in the closet. She brings it over to the now empty suitcase. As she keeps talking, she says it decidedly masculine superior. She hands Mildred the clothing from the closet. Mildred puts it in the suitcase because she's standing right there. And Laura keeps talking, heading for the door to the bathroom. She says it works brilliantly until he showed up. Once she's out of the room, Mildred takes the clothes back out of the suitcase and shoves them into the closet. She doesn't even hang them up. She shoves them in the bottom. From the bathroom, Laura's still ranting, giving us that monologue from the 1st season with his blue eyes and mysterious past. She pops her head back out of the bathroom asking Mildred if she knows how she met him. Mildred admits that she's now afraid to ask. She tells Mildred that he was trying to Steele the jewels that she'd been hired to protect. When he found her out, he assumed Remington Steele's identity. Mildred asked the question that everybody would ask at this point. Well, who the hell is he? Well, who is he? She... Laura brings her toiletries over to her suitcase and says, a fraud. The man you worshiped, fond over is a sham, a fake, a phony. Wow.

Eric: 39:19

I love Mildred's response. Well, you sure know how to let a girl down easy.

Sara: 39:23

Right? Like, she's she's laying it on real thick, not even attempting to be delicate. She puts her stuff in in the suitcase, which is still empty.

Eric: 39:32

Yeah. Or or more correctly, empty again

Sara: 39:36

Yeah. Yeah.

Eric: 39:37

For, like, the 3rd time.

Sara: 39:38

Yeah. And then Laura says she hated to do it, but it was time to face facts. He's gone again. She walks over to the drawer, and opens the bottom 1, and it looks like she's taking out 2 purses as well as a few other things, which I found a little odd, but... And then she's still ranting saying that even if he comes back begging, pleading for a 2nd chance, no way, Jose. She goes back over to the suitcase and says she did it once without Remington Steele in the picture and she will do it again. Dumps the stuff into the suitcase. This time she goes over to the phone and picks it up, asking the front desk to have her bill ready. Mildred again takes the stuff out of the suitcase and closes it. And so she's... Mildred... I love this because Mildred is not just taking this stuff out as a reflex. She has a plan here. Like, doesn't matter what Laura is telling her. She knows what she wants to do, what she feels is the right thing to do, and and she's gonna do it and deal with her feelings about seal later. Right? So she... Laura hangs up the phone and Mildred tells her that she's shocked. Laura says, good. Mildred says, disillusioned. Laura says, terrific. Terrific. Mildred says, outraged. Laura is happy with that. And then she says, at you. Laura says, me? I'm not the fraud. And Mildred tells her that you're worse. Something kept him from meeting them, and he's alone out there somewhere without a passport, probably in some kind of trouble. And Laura... You think so? Fairly. Yippee. Yeah. She takes a moment to savor this and smiles. Do you think so? And you you gotta give her that. You do. You gotta give her that moment where she's like, really? That's nice. And Mildred says, you can't turn your back on him now. And Laura says, watch me. She picks up the suitcase, commenting, it's a lot lighter than when she arrived. Mildred could... I I wonder what would happen.

Eric: 41:32

Oblivious. Totally.

Sara: 41:33

Here's what I wonder. If Laura had just ignored Mildred and literally just gone straight to the airport with that suitcase, at what point do you think she would have noticed it was empty when she got back to LA?

Eric: 41:44

I don't know. It could have been. I mean... Yeah. So,

Sara: 41:49

yeah, she

Eric: 41:49

Good question.

Sara: 41:51

Mildred continues to try to convince her telling her that no matter who he is, what he is, sorry, or who he was, she has to admit that he's been 1 damn good Remington Steele, and he deserves more than aurora or aurora. For the most part. We can read it. We can even speak it, but our accent is generally terrible and it's it's not very good. So it's enough to get by, but definitely not in any way competent. I probably butchered the German as well. So apologies to our German listeners. Laura sighs and says, she knows, but it felt so good there just for a minute. She puts the suitcase back on the bed. She says she knows 1 place that he might be and tells Mildred to man the phones in case captain chameleon deigns to call in. She goes to leave and asks Mildred if she wouldn't mind unpacking for her.

Eric: 42:58

Yeah. Sure. Not a problem....

Sara: 42:59

Lady oblivious.

Eric: 43:00

Just take a 2nd.

Sara: 43:02

Yeah. All she would really have to do, honestly, would be put the toiletries back in the bathroom and hang up the stuff in the closet. She didn't shove it on the ground. But other than that, it's pretty much done. So... Yeah. Mildred grins and says, you've got it. So we switch over to the Earl of Cleridge's estate. Laura pulls up in a black cab and gets out. She walks to the door, which is guarded by police officers. I have to think she would have called ahead though, because you don't just walk up to a noble's estate and knock on the door. Like, that's that's not how it works. I mean, they would have security anyway, regardless of whether or not there had been threats.

Eric: 43:37

Yeah. I I don't think anything happens here that suggests explicitly that she wasn't expected?

Sara: 43:46

No. I I I think she probably was. I'm just saying, like, she seems surprised by the extra, like, by the cops at the door, but, like, I'm kinda surprised that they weren't there before because they usually have an entourage of security that follow them around. Even the 1... Like, I get he's 10th in line for the throne, but but, I mean, Prince Harry is what, 6th in line or something like that? And up until he peaced out of the of Britain and and the royal family, he had a private secretary and all kinds of people that were basically responsible for keeping him safe. Like, there was a security team assigned to all of the royals. So I would just think that would be par for the course. But I guess this is narratively necessary to tell us that the Earl's aware of the

Eric: 44:30

Did we see anything in the previous episode

Sara: 44:33

Not really.

Eric: 44:33

We could we could say is evidence that he didn't have security in place already? I I don't think we did.

Sara: 44:41

Well, there weren't, like, extra people. They didn't search her.

Eric: 44:44

Well, okay. That's... Yeah.

Sara: 44:45

You're right. Like, they even allowed her to stay the night.

Eric: 44:48

But, of course, between then and now, you know, it could be that that something with regard to the strike has changed since then. So

Sara: 44:58

And it's a a rather burly looking policewoman who is patting her down while she... While someone looks through her purse. Mhmm. And she pats her down a little too long, I think.

Eric: 45:09

Yeah. I noticed that. Yeah. She did. Yeah. She doesn't let go when she's

Sara: 45:14

done. Exactly.

Eric: 45:16

Because I like this. Okay.

Sara: 45:20

Because Laura asked what's going on and he tell her... Tells her that the Earl received threats to his life. Laura's surprised saying they surely don't suspect her. I mean, if... No. But they still have to... They would still have to check. Right? Like, that would just

Eric: 45:32

be But you don't have to enjoy doing it so much. You know?

Sara: 45:34

Yeah. That's true. The butler tells her it's inspector Lombard's orders. And after a rather thorough pat down, the woman releases Lauren. She grabs her purse. Inside another room, we see the Earl who apparently is all forgiven now for being a serial abuser because he's portrayed quite sympathetically in this episode.

Eric: 45:54

Well, he's changed.

Sara: 45:55

Oh, yeah. Sure. He's staring at that portrait of his fiance that has been completed. And the Earl tells her that it's lovely to see her and asks him if a friend of hers... I'm sorry, she asks him if a friend of hers came to see him. She describes Steele as tall, rather good looking, dark hair. The Earl says that he didn't come to see him, but wonders why he would want to. Laura takes a deep breath and explains that he came to London to try and find his past, which could be best described as murky. But with 1 tangible link, she pulls out the watch, telling the earl that someone sent it to Steele with a note saying, your father always wanted you to have this. And she's very smart here in that. She doesn't tell him about the ins... Like, what the inscription says because he immediately recognizes it. And she vicious for the information saying, it's difficult to read. I mean, it's not. They're both quite able to read it, but that's what prompts him to say to SJ from KL.

Eric: 46:47

Okay. Now I have a problem.

Sara: 46:50

Why would he use KL and not his real name on a... Yeah. Exactly.

Eric: 46:58

The only excuse explanation reason I can come up with is because the woman who was the mother, his, I guess, girlfriend at the time, only knew it was Kevin Landis.

Sara: 47:12

Well, no. She worked on the estate, so she'd know who he was.

Eric: 47:15

Okay. But Yeah. That that would be the only reason why you would use the initials for the fake name is if somebody only knew you by that name and you didn't want to reveal who you truly were and you knew that the issue would never come up again. So it just really doesn't make sense.

Sara: 47:34

I wonder if it has to do with the fact that he was messing around with somebody who was a commoner. And I mean, not like an acceptable commoner. I mean, like a common commoner. Right? Because there are some people that are like considered commoners, but if they're wealthy enough, it's fine, which obviously was his bride. But this woman was a servant on the estate. So this was an illegitimate child who quite possibly would want to be covered up by everybody involved, right, for for issues of propriety and all that nonsense because they really care about stuff like that. Even if he's not immediately tied to the royal family, like, this would be a scandal. So maybe he was only ever allowed to refer to himself with relation to the child as Kevin Landers. Like, that's the only way he could even make any contact with his son. I don't know. Because, like, that's literally 1 thing I could think of because it is a very silly... Yeah. You'd think it would have his initials on it, his real initials, but...

Eric: 48:36

Yeah. Well, because also thinking about that explanation you offered, is it really that uncommon for royals to have illegitimate children and try to... I understand they would, in a lot of situations, in a lot of respects, try to hide that. But is it all that common for them to just absolutely try to bury it so completely that they would go to the extreme of using fake names?

Sara: 49:12

Yeah. I mean, you've gotta keep in mind that this is

Eric: 49:14

There's like so many times that I'm sure people found out, and it was like, okay. Yeah.

Sara: 49:20

That's right. But this was this was... Okay. So not to get too far into the weeds historically here, but this was a time where the royal family, the immediate royal family, the queen and and Charles and Diana and whatnot were under sort of intense, intense scrutiny because there was a lot of public backlash at this point to their very existence, essentially. A lot of people felt that there was no need in a modern Britain for the royal family. Why were they paying all this money to keep them in these mansions and yachts and everything else? They needed to prove that they were of public use essentially. And you have to keep in mind as well, the only reason the queen even became the queen is because her father ended up being made king. He was never meant to be the king. It was his brother that was king, but he had to abdicate the throne because he had the audacity to fall in love not only with an American woman, but a divorced American woman, which was not allowed. So he had to step down. Her father became king and thus she ended up being queen. But then she forbade her her own sister to marry someone because he was deemed not suitable to the British establishment. And her own son who had fallen in love with Camilla Parker Bowles and wanted to marry her was deemed not suitable. So they had to bury that too. And it was also a scandal because it was an affair. She was married at the time. So there's there's there's a lot that they would not want made public. And and, yeah, I think this one's a bit of a stretch because he's not immediately tied to the... Like, he's not prince Charles. He's not Mhmm. Directly heir to the throne, but it all... It does not reflect well to have an illegitimate child with a servant woman.

Eric: 51:00

Even though everybody knows that it goes on all the time.

Sara: 51:05

Yeah. But they were just going

Eric: 51:06

to blinders on our eyes, cover our ears, and put a hand over our mouth and pretend that it never happens, even though it's probably incredibly common.

Sara: 51:17

Yeah. And the media scrutiny was pretty intense here because as well, like, I don't think the marriage was going so well between Diana and Charles at this point. I don't know if they... If a lot of what was going on had reached the tabloids and the press yet, but they were really, really, like, toxic. And it was it was covered up to the point where she was essentially told, just deal with it. Don't say anything. Don't don't do anything. Right? You have to be the face. This is what you're supposed to do. You have to do it. So I I think a lot of that would just be about public appearance. I I agree. It's ridiculous, but that's my

Eric: 51:59

theory. That's like somebody getting caught on video doing something. Yeah. Being shown the video and them saying, that's... No. That's... That didn't happen. That video's fake. I... That's not me. I... It didn't happen. It's

Sara: 52:13

I mean, it happens all the time when you think about it. Like Mhmm. All the time, celebrities are presented with evidence of the stuff they've done wrong, and they've been like, no. No. Wasn't me. Didn't do it. So, yeah, that's my theory is on the k l thing, but you're right. It is kinda silly that he would put those initials down. Laura hesitantly says, I know an occasion that you've used the name Kevin Landers. The correct... Or the the the end to the sentence is, while you were beating up prostitutes. I just wanna remind everybody who the Earl is here. The Earl then asks how old her friend is, to which she says early thirties. I still find it really fascinating that he wouldn't know how old he is. That he wouldn't

Eric: 52:53

Well, no. He knows how old his son would be. He's asking how old.

Sara: 52:57

That Steele wouldn't know because Laura says early thirties, but they don't know. They they have a guess, a reasonable guess. Right. Right?

Eric: 53:05

But I think what he's trying to do is weed out the possibility

Sara: 53:11

Oh, yeah. Absolutely.

Eric: 53:12

That it's it's a

Sara: 53:13

A fake.

Eric: 53:14

Either a fake, the the totally wrong person, or, you know, some some other... Yeah.

Sara: 53:20

No. I just, in general, find it interesting that Steele wouldn't know himself how old he is, like, to the day.

Eric: 53:26

Oh, well, I mean

Sara: 53:27

You know? He probably knows

Eric: 53:28

within a year or 2, but he probably doesn't know yet to the exact date.

Sara: 53:33

Kinda thing that... Think that's kind of interesting because that must be difficult not to know when to celebrate your birthday.

Eric: 53:40

Oh, yeah. It would be. He

Sara: 53:42

asks where he was raised, and Laura says Ireland for the most part, and these are all the right answers.

Eric: 53:47

Mhmm.

Sara: 53:47

Laura approaches him and asks if the earl knows who he is, and the earl says he's very likely his son. He asked Laura where he is, and she's a bit taken aback by the revelation, which is a little surprising because that's kind of what they... The assumption they were going on. I guess just hearing it confirmed is the shock.

Eric: 54:04

Well, I think maybe also that she expected him to deny it.

Sara: 54:09

Yeah. That's true.

Eric: 54:10

And he didn't, and maybe that surprised her as well.

Sara: 54:14

Yeah. Good point. She says she doesn't know. She's trying to find him. The Earl sort of to himself says all those wasted years. He goes on to say that he was little more than a boy himself, and there was an Irish girl on the estate. He adds that it was a terrible disgrace. So yeah, I'm I'm guessing this was a social appearances thing. She took the boy back to Ireland and refused help. I wonder, is it because he was, you know, beating her up? Because he kinda has that habit. Well, like...

Eric: 54:44

Yeah. But she wasn't a prostitute. So...

Sara: 54:46

Well, I mean, but he... She might have been viewed by... As 1 even by him if she was willing to say, be with him outside the bonds of marriage. There's there's I... It's a bit of a double standard, of course, but like, you know, how they want a lot of... Not a lot of, but there are some men out there who want a lady in the streets and a freak in the sheets kind of thing. Yeah. But then they get angry at that duality.

Eric: 55:10

Well, it's also possible that the terrible disgrace he's referring to is the treatment of her and him being forced to give her up. If if he... He says he was young, almost no more than a boy himself. And it could be that he felt that he was really in love with her and the family came down on him.

Sara: 55:37

Oh, that's exactly what it was.

Eric: 55:38

Really harsh, overly harshly, dealt with her overly harshly. And so she left and didn't wanna have anything to do with the family because of how she'd been treated.

Sara: 55:49

Yeah.

Eric: 55:49

And and it's that kind of a situation that he's referring to as the the terrible disgrace and why she would

Sara: 55:55

You have to wonder if that's what led him to hating hating, quote, unquote, loose women and then drinking and and beating up prostitutes. Maybe in his mind, like, once he had sort of, like, was unable to process that he thought, well, she just used me and then took the child and left, and now I hate all of you, and I'm gonna beat you up. I don't know. I hate him.

Eric: 56:14

Tell doctor Freud what you really feel.

Sara: 56:17

Exactly. But anyway, he says that after that, disappeared, and he only saw his son once. There's a knock on the door, and I'm assuming this is the butler who interrupts saying that there's a gentleman to see him. Something about a presentation at the wedding reception. The Earl promises to be along in a little while and asks Laura if that... If he can have the watch. Laura hesitates then says, of course, and gives it to him. She can't really say no. It's... He... He's identified it as his his watch. Like

Eric: 56:44

Yeah. But I I would think she might try to do a better job of not handing it over to him because it doesn't matter what somebody admits to in private. If you don't have the evidence or you give them the evidence and the evidence disappears, you've got nothing. And you can say, but they told me. I I don't remember that conversation at all. I don't know who this crazy woman is. She just broke in here. You know? If you've got some evidence, don't give it to the person that it points to is all I'm saying.

Sara: 57:23

True. But I think she's read enough of the arrow here to realize that he's not interested in denying it. He wants to find his son. So he's... Yeah. I think she... She's taking a gamble for sure. But

Eric: 57:36

I she's say the the guy in the bowler I just looked, he is the policeman

Sara: 57:42

Oh, that

Eric: 57:43

the inspector worked with in the 1st episode. You know? So the guy he told

Sara: 57:47

Gotcha.

Eric: 57:47

Hang the rules, just stop Yeah.

Sara: 57:49

Do it. Do whatever you have to do. Yeah. The Earl then leaves the room. Laura takes a moment to compose herself and then heads out the door of the room only to look back right back into it when she sees the Earl speaking to Daniel Chalmers dressed as a miner and really hamming it up. Oh my Like, just just chewing the... He's not on camera, but if he was, he's be... He'd be chewing the scenery ultimates. He coughs. He's speaking with, like, a really cheesy Dick Van Dyke Cockney accent, claims that he has a bit of the black lung and has said he's proud to have gotten it from 1 of his mines. Like, what? I

Eric: 58:23

I mean... Okay. At this point, somebody, the Earl or somebody should be kinda scratching their head and

Sara: 58:30

saying, what? And

Eric: 58:32

then when he goes, I want to present you with a gold plated shovel, a symbol, you might say, of our gratitude for you allowing us to dig your cock. Okay. Now you're nuts. Something is wrong. This is suspicious. Get this guy, tie him up, handcuff him, throw him out, and put up his picture on the wall so that nobody else And submit

Sara: 58:56

he also calls himself mister Carstairs. So this is the 3rd time that name has been used. We had Chrissy Carstairs, Chip Carstairs, and now there's Daniel pretending to be a Mr. Carstairs. So many likes that name. Really do. Yeah. So... And as you said, like he extolling all the wonderful things he's done on behalf. I do like the fact that he says on behalf of all the miners, at least the ones that aren't out to kill you, you guys are so... Stole a plated shovel. And, yeah, again, it would The ones

Eric: 59:26

that don't hate you, don't hate you. The ones that hate you, well, they hate you. But, hey, we're just gonna pretend.

Sara: 59:32

And I would think it would be suspicious enough for miners to have a gold plated shovel that they're giving to the earth. Like, if you have enough money to pool together, you're not gonna use it to buy a a useless token to, like, grovel at the feet of your... I don't know. I just seem like And

Eric: 59:49

if you are, you're gonna do something that's a little classier than a

Sara: 59:53

shovel. A shovel. Yeah. I know. I get... It's supposed to be, of course, symbolic, but it is very simple.

Eric: 59:57

Of shoveling. Well, what is it there? Think he's shoveling with it.

Sara: 1:00:01

Yeah. Well, which also leads me to wonder. Okay. You know, they present him with this shovel and whatnot. If this had been legitimate, I'm sure that he and other nobles of similar, like, background get presented with ridiculous things like this all the time from different organizations and things like that. Mhmm. Do you think they have a room that they just keep all this random crap in that they've been given? You know, a golden Eagle on behalf of the save the Eagles foundation or a golden miss or whatever. And they just shove it in the room. And they're like, you know what? Just put it in the, put it in the room in the East Wing.

Eric: 1:00:35

Or melt it down and get all the valuable minerals

Sara: 1:00:38

out of it, you know, something. Don't know. Funny thing to consider all the stuff that they get presented with and where they would put it. I mean,

Eric: 1:00:48

I guess they wouldn't want to get rid of it because if it got in somebody's hands that revealed the fact that it had been given up, people would be offended unless they could come up with a good cover story of how somebody broke in and stole it. But yeah, that probably wouldn't go over so well. So yeah, they've gotta have some place where they just store it like a, you know, a storage facility and they... Then after 6 months, they let the rent on it lapse and then

Sara: 1:01:19

it gets sold Yeah. On storage It ends up on eBay.

Eric: 1:01:26

Make a make a TV series out of opening it up and selling all the stuff. Yeah.

Sara: 1:01:30

That would be crazy too because you'd see all kinds of weird stuff that

Eric: 1:01:33

Well, there was a show like that, Storage Wars.

Sara: 1:01:35

Yeah. And it

Eric: 1:01:36

turned out to be 0.75 faked. I mean, even to the point where they

Sara: 1:01:40

Didn't know that.

Eric: 1:01:42

Yeah. I I read something where they got caught salting units.

Sara: 1:01:48

Oh, wow. So Okay.

Eric: 1:01:52

The earthquake And they would give the the participants... I I don't know what you call them, the collectors. They would give them money to bid on these things. So it wasn't like they were bidding with their own money.

Sara: 1:02:03

I mean, none of the none of the stuff on reality TV is reality, so that doesn't surprise The me at Earl claims to be appreciative of Daniel's spirited support. And Daniel says that he only hopes to make his wedding day the most unforgettable day of his life. Yep. He leaves and Laura watches in frustration from the room. Later though, we see a red car with Daniel in it returned to the farm followed by a black cab with Laura inside. She gets out and sneaks onto the compound in time to see Daniel get out of the car with a watermelon in hand.

Eric: 1:02:34

Can I just say I want that red car? I don't know what it is.

Sara: 1:02:37

It's a nice car. It's a cute little

Eric: 1:02:39

car. Yeah. I I love... So there's so many really cool British and Australian and New Zealand vehicles. I I love some of those things. I would love to to be able to just have 1.

Sara: 1:02:54

1 of my my best friends, her dad is a collector of British cars. So he has a couple of them, and and every year, there's, like, a British car show that they go to. And, yeah, he's got a whole room with like die cast British cars and stuff like that. So it's a whole collector's thing. People are very into it. So... Yeah. She watches as Steele hangs the watermelon from a pole. We see him adjust it. There's a happy face painted on it. I mean, I guess...

Eric: 1:03:24

Why not?

Sara: 1:03:25

Why not? Yeah. He's surrounded by the miners as well as Daniel and Felicia. Once he's satisfied... And and you gotta think that Laura's watching this with no context whatsoever. So she's not only thinking that he has left her, but he's left her to pull something off with Daniel and Felicia. So that doesn't look good. Then, you know, even... And it's gets... It's it's even weirder because he's hanging this watermelon. Because

Eric: 1:03:50

And then it gets even weirder than that because now he's handed a shovel.

Sara: 1:03:57

Yeah. He goes over to Daniel who peels off the mustache and under his breath tells him he better know what he's doing. Still cites the movie Day of the Jackal, to which Daniel says the deck... The Jackals will be feeding on their corpses if they don't pull this off. Then Still explains that Fox portrays a master assassin in order to test in order to test the accuracy of his weapon, he uses a melon. He says to Daniel to trust him, adding that the effect the effect is stunning. And Felicia, through a frozen smile, says, yes, darling, but 1st you have to hit the melon. And he

Eric: 1:04:26

I'm not sure that this is really the appropriate time for snide remarks.

Sara: 1:04:32

But then he growls at her, which is... I love it. I love it. I love it. I love him and Felicia in this episode. They are hilarious. Like, they're just... They have this energy of of this okay. So I know you probably didn't see this show, but anyone who has seen this show will get what I'm saying. Duncan and Amanda in Highlander the series. Highlander the series was a Canadian television series that was based off the... Was a Canada French France co production that was based off of the Highlander film in the eighties with Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery. They don't have either 1 of those actors in the TV show. It's a different character. Mhmm. But the character of Duncan MacLeod is this very upstanding boy scout of a character. He always does the right thing. He always takes the moral high ground. He's this really good guy. And Amanda Daria is an immortal as well. They're both immortals. And she's a thief who's like 1000 years old. And he and Amanda have crossed paths over several centuries worth. And every time they do, she usually ends up seducing him and screwing him over because she's a thief. She's basically Daniel, but, you know, in in much better heels. They just have this really delightful chemistry where they kinda hate each other, but they're also sort of in love with each other. And sometimes they're not sure which one's which. So that's just how this energy feels. Like, I don't think, I mean, Steele doesn't love her the way he's in love with Laura, but I do think there's genuine affection between them, but they also kinda wanna kill each other. So this is is beautiful. This... 1st, you have to hit the melon, and then he's like, oh, it's gorgeous. And, of course, him and his wife are just... They're great. They're great here. Yeah. So, yeah, he growls at her before he turns back to the men saying, shall we? The leader tells his men to get it, and 1 of the men comes out with the big gold plated shovel, which obviously Laura would recognize, but steals looking blankly at it and says, what do you expect me to do? Beat his lordship to death? Leader tells him that... Or sorry, Armstrong tells him security is so tight, you couldn't smuggle a toothpick in. He gestures to either Hawkins or Bloor who opens a small, I don't know how to say this, like a door on the handle? Is that the chamber? Like, help me out here. I don't know what this would be called.

Eric: 1:06:52

He's pointing to the breach and the... Yeah. In this particular context, I guess you would call that the breach cover.

Sara: 1:07:04

Okay.

Eric: 1:07:04

I have a whole issue with this, which I'll

Sara: 1:07:06

my next question. Would this work? Could you could you... Like, would this work? I I don't know enough about guns... Mechanics of guns to know if this would work or if this is just, like, ridiculous. It seems a bit ridiculous to me.

Eric: 1:07:20

Yes. Well, I mean, it would work if you're trying to kill the person holding it.

Sara: 1:07:26

Which I guess they later on decide to

Eric: 1:07:28

do. Because it looks like the shaft of the shovel is wood, which is generally what you make those things out of.

Sara: 1:07:37

Right.

Eric: 1:07:38

Because you don't wanna use a real heavy metal on something like that because it would be heavy, 1st of all. And then 2nd of all, in warm temperatures, direct sunlight, it would get extremely hot. So it looks like it's made out of wood, which would be the most likely material. And also, unless it was wood, probably the security people would kinda look at it a little too closely. So you want it to look as much like a real shovel that's just been gold plated. So let's say wood.

Sara: 1:08:12

Right. Okay.

Eric: 1:08:13

It would blow up from the pressure of the gases when

Sara: 1:08:16

around what I was thinking.

Eric: 1:08:17

Yeah. And even if it isn't wood, the door to the breach wouldn't seal properly and it would allow hot gases to come out and endanger the person holding it, at least possibly burn their face. Also, if you look at the handle of that thing, the handle goes down and then it makes a curve to the... I don't know what you call it, the the the working surface of the shovel. Comes into the back. There's a curve there at the very end, a distinct curve. Well, that doesn't work for the barrel of a gun because it's gotta be straight. If it turns, it... It's not gonna go where you want it to, and you're not gonna really be able to predict where it's gonna go. So... I mean, even if you could could construct something that would work, as Armstrong says here, it would've cost you a pretty penny. In which case, why not use that money to pay some bills and expenses, buy some food, you know, support the miners? I mean

Sara: 1:09:26

Supposedly, they care about that?

Eric: 1:09:28

Yeah. Supposedly.

Sara: 1:09:31

You know, apparently, their cause, but... Yeah. No. I... Okay. I agree. But I guess we're gonna hand wave it because we have to. Yes.

Eric: 1:09:39

For purposes of the plot.

Sara: 1:09:41

So, yeah. He gestures to his... To the gun and he's shown what you said, the... Was it the breach muzzle and trigger?

Eric: 1:09:49

Mhmm.

Sara: 1:09:49

Okay. And then the head... 1 of the henchmen tells Steele it costs them a pretty penny. And Armstrong adds that he gets 1 shot. Steele says, if done correctly, that's all it will take. He takes the shovel and backs up, gets it ready, aims at the watermelon, and hits the roof of the building across from him. This is that whole can't hit the broad side of a barn. Yep. In this case, he he he can hit the broad side of a barn, but he can't hit the watermelon. The men do not look impressed. Daniel and Felicia look very worried. But Steele doesn't break... Steele doesn't break character. He calls for an adjustment to 1 of the men. The man hands him a screwdriver, and he kinda, like, covers it, pretends to adjust something. Okay.

Eric: 1:10:40

I mean, if you're gonna adjust something, you're gonna be adjusting the sights. I don't see anything on that shovel Yeah. No. I don't would it. Be sights.

Sara: 1:10:48

But when he's finished, he hands it back, and the man backs up as he once again takes aim. He fires a 2nd time, and this time he hits the window of the building. Armstrong is losing his patience. Steele calls for another adjustment. He's been... He gets handed the screw screwdriver, and once again, he pretends to fix it, hands it back, and is handed the bullet. He readies the gun to fire, and the leader... And Armstrong tells him that this is his last chance. And his own men cock their guns.

Eric: 1:11:15

Yeah.

Sara: 1:11:16

He takes a deep breath, aims it, and fires the gun, blowing the watermelon 2 bits. And he's right. It is a very effective demonstration.

Eric: 1:11:25

But not necessarily in the way he intended.

Sara: 1:11:28

No. No. The men are impressed. Laura is shocked as she sees Felicia come over and kiss him, which obviously, he was not expecting either. But he kinda has to go with it because everyone's standing around. Right?

Eric: 1:11:43

He can't

Sara: 1:11:43

just shove her off and be like, get off me, lady. Daniel shakes his hand. Yeah. And unfortunately, Laura's seeing all of this with no, again, no context. And then just after that, she's discovered

Eric: 1:11:57

Right.

Sara: 1:11:58

By a man with a gun. She shoves what looks to be like a board or some... Or something over onto him. He lets off a shot. She pushes past him and darts into the bushes racing into an open field as the men go after her along with Steele, Daniel, and Felicia who follow them. The men take aim. They begin shooting as she dives into more trees. And as they watch, Daniel says, with some wonder, that looks a great deal like your associate Linda. Felicia corrects him, Lisa. And still corrects them both saying

Eric: 1:12:25

Love it.

Sara: 1:12:25

Laura. Love it. Yes. Yeah. This is this is perfect. The 3 of them just... And... But you also have to appreciate the look on... Like, Brasman does this scene perfectly too in the sense that, like, there is a bit of levity. It's funny. But you can see on his face that he's scared for her, and he has... He... There's nothing he can do. Mhmm. He can't stop the men from shooting at her. He he... If he does, it's not gonna stop them. It's just gonna give him away.

Eric: 1:12:53

Well, and he also doesn't know if they might not have actually hit her.

Sara: 1:12:57

Yeah. So he's just standing there, and he has to stand there wondering whether or not she's alive or dead for a good chunk of it. You know? That's that's that's rough. Yeah. That's rough. And then this next scene, I don't know where they are. I didn't get a chance to look the script. Or. At 1st, I thought it was a church. And then I saw, like, Mildred's looking at what... Like an exhibit. It looks like it's it's an exhibit. So I I thought, well, some sort of museum, but it looked like it was a medical museum of some kind, which would be a weird place for it to be in, like, a church.

Eric: 1:13:32

Well, according to the script, it's part of a wax exhibit of the infamous murderer Bluebeard.

Sara: 1:13:41

Okay. See, should have read this. I didn't get a chance to read the script.

Eric: 1:13:44

It kinda looks like that, but it doesn't quite look like that.

Sara: 1:13:49

Because the 1 thing she's looking at looks like a nurse over a patient with her hands all bloodied.

Eric: 1:13:54

Mhmm.

Sara: 1:13:55

That's what... Yeah.

Eric: 1:13:57

Yeah. It's it's

Sara: 1:13:59

I wonder if it would... Hold on. I'm just gonna quickly check IMDb and see if the locations... Because, like, that's maybe what it's supposed to be, but maybe it was something else. This won't take me long. Shush. Let's see. Oh, shut up. Episode... Season 4, Steele Searching part 2. I'm on the episode. See, this was quick. And then we just scrolled out.

Eric: 1:14:22

Could go with the music from... What was it? The dating game?

Sara: 1:14:30

Oh, wow. It just has... It doesn't have much here. It just says filming locations, Rotham Park, Hertfordshire, England, UK, as the Earl Of Cleridge Estate, and that's pretty much it. So... Yeah. I don't know. So either way, they're in some sort of museum, wax museum, whatever it is. Mildred is looking at what seems to be, like I said, a bloody corpse with a woman standing over him. Her hands are also covered in blood. I couldn't tell if it was a portrait or a statue. Laura sneaks up on her... Well, I guess if it's a wax museum, it would be a statue. Statues. Yeah. Laura sneaks up on her and scares her. She tells her not to sneak up on on her in a place like this.

Eric: 1:15:06

You really...

Sara: 1:15:07

It's fair. Fair. Yeah. It's a creepy creepy looking spot. Laura says she'll never believe what she's been through. They start to walk and Laura tells her that she found you know who by following Daniel Chalmers. Mildred is surprised that he's there too. Laura continues by saying that she followed him and he bought a watermelon and took it to a compound filled with armed men. She says then, you know who, to which Mildred stops her and says, can we just call him mister Steele for the sake of clarity? Again, fair. Right? Because, like Sure. You know who... He who must not be named. He's not Voldemort. Let's just, you know, do what's in you. What is... What comes easiest. Laura agrees and tells Mildred that mister Steele shot the watermelon with a shovel.

Eric: 1:15:53

And Mildred's response here is just... It's perfect. Yeah. Look. Let me see if

Sara: 1:15:59

I can get

Eric: 1:15:59

you some more. Obviously, she thinks Laura

Sara: 1:16:01

You're losing it. You're just something... Yeah.

Eric: 1:16:04

Because what she's saying makes absolutely no sense to any rational person.

Sara: 1:16:09

She stops her saying she knows how it sounds, but she saw it with her own eyes. She adds that the armed men chased her. She didn't wanna go back to the hotel until milk

Eric: 1:16:16

and fisher was there. Windows around the outside, and they were covered in this green gray silver y material, and they had 7 hands, and they Yeah. Exactly.

Sara: 1:16:26

I don't know what your dreams are like. But, anyway, you've been reading too much of what's her face, not Charlotte Church, the 1 that he probed me. She's the 1 with the tentacles. Yes. And this this next bit is my absolute favorite line from the entire episode. Because Laura says that whatever's going on, it has to do with the Earl of Clarence. She's receiving death threats. Mildred doesn't believe that Steele could have anything to do with it. Laura says, she doesn't know, but regardless of that, he's a royal bastard.

Eric: 1:17:02

Mildred is so offended.

Sara: 1:17:04

She's like, oh, honey, I know you're mad at him. Don't you think it's a bit out of line? Oh, I just... I... It feels like they they constructed this entire episode just so that they could get Laura to say that. Right? He's a royal bastard. No. He's literally a royal bastard. That's great. It's just funny. The earl fathered an illegitimate child, and as strange as it may seem, mister Pete... Steele appears to be it. Mildred says, does this mean we have to call him your lordship? And Laura says, there are a great many things she would like to call him, but that's not on the top of her list. I love... I mean, I've criticized the episodes where Steele and Laura don't have any contact with 1 another, usually because that means there's not a ton of banter in the episodes. They're usually quite down. Mildred fills in this gap really nicely.

Eric: 1:17:55

Oh, yeah.

Sara: 1:17:56

She's with Laura every step of the way pretty much, and she just... She... She's great. So then just... Oh, sorry. Just then the 2 men around the corner and they see her. Laura sees them too and says to Mildred that those are the 2 men who were chasing her. She tells Laura to go and she'll handle it. And again, Mildred, 100% she's on this. Right? Laura runs off, and then Mildred pretends to scream, having seen 1 of the exhibits, and fall into their arms. And they don't have any choice but to catch her.

Eric: 1:18:31

Well, I don't know. They could do like Steele did on the train platform just

Sara: 1:18:35

Yeah. That's true.

Eric: 1:18:35

Kinda throw her out of the way.

Sara: 1:18:37

Yeah. But instead, they they do. They catch her. Yeah. I mean, they're social protesters. They're not monsters. Right? They're they're just doing this for social protest.

Eric: 1:18:47

They're just gonna commit murder.

Sara: 1:18:48

They're all...

Eric: 1:18:49

But that doesn't mean that they aren't kind hearted people.

Sara: 1:18:51

Totally justified. Makes perfect sense in bizarro world. Yeah. Back at the compound, we see Armstrong is yelling at Daniel. He walks back to Steele and tells him that he won't call it off. He... Daniel says they are in this to the death, even if it's theirs. Steele, who somehow has gotten a change of clothes, Where did that shirt come from? He was in a suit when he arrived, and it wasn't that... That was not the shirt. He had a white shirt on.

Eric: 1:19:23

They they had extra clothes in the closet, it was just, you know, go find something your size. He looks good. Also, why did he change?

Sara: 1:19:31

Well, that too. That too. I mean, it was a nice suit. It was the 1st change of clothes he'd had in in, like, a week. Yeah. He looks good in that dress shirt, though. Like, it's a nice color on him. I'm just wondering where it came from. But he says he has to know if Laura made it.

Eric: 1:19:46

Maybe it was Wilson's.

Sara: 1:19:48

Yeah. Me. Hey. So Hey. He's wearing

Eric: 1:19:50

a over here. You know, just go pick what you want. He... He's not gonna use them anymore.

Sara: 1:19:55

That's fair. Yeah. At least it doesn't say bankers do it with interest. Different Wilson. But, yeah, he has to know Laura made it, and that that part is delivered really well because, again, he has no way of knowing if they killed her or not. Dan... And he can't get away. Daniel says the men aren't back yet. That doesn't reassure him. Daniel pleads with Steele not to do something stupid. He says not only is Armstrong... I love this line too. This is also great. This is my 2nd favorite line in the episode. Not only is Armstrong not playing with a full deck, he can't find the cards. That's right. This is the 1st sort of verbal acknowledgment from Daniel that he's aware that Armstrong's not all there. You know? Like, the dude thinks he's some sort of great social protester, but really, he's cuckoo for cocoa puffs. And and everybody can sort of see that. So probably even his own men.

Eric: 1:20:49

And and I'm sure Daniel's probably regretting not having seen it sooner.

Sara: 1:20:55

Yeah. Because now they're stuck. Yeah. You know? So, yeah, he he can't even find the cards. Steele smiles at Daniel and tells him not to worry. Yeah. I don't know because he just gets himself in even more trouble in a minute. But we see Armstrong and his henchmen in a room going over their plans. The door opens Steele barges in telling them they have yet to discuss 1 minor detail, his fee, which you would think this would have been negotiated ahead of time.

Eric: 1:21:22

Yeah. That was another 1 of my my curiosities about that because why would you show up to do a job?

Sara: 1:21:32

Yeah. It doesn't You

Eric: 1:21:33

know, if... Yeah.

Sara: 1:21:34

And theoretically, if Daniel was the 1 that was... That was his... Before Steele showed up, Daniel was supposedly the 1 that was negotiating between the assassin and the men.

Eric: 1:21:44

Yeah. So... And also, he would take a a cut.

Sara: 1:21:47

Yeah. So Daniel theoretically would have set that up already, but... Yeah. I guess he didn't. Because Armstrong says to name it, and Steele says, £1,000,000. Take it or leave it. Henchman protests. They haven't got anywhere near that. And Steele tells him, well, I guess the deal is off. Armstrong says, we'll get it. Steele surprised. Yet Armstrong says nothing will stand in the way of him killing Meryl. He's like, ah, crap. This is not what he expected.

Eric: 1:22:14

No. He he tried to call their bluff, and they called his instead.

Sara: 1:22:18

Well, I'll... And to to be fair, I mean, are they gonna say, oh, bad luck. Thanks for coming. No. I mean, if they don't have the money

Eric: 1:22:29

a home edition of our game. You know?

Sara: 1:22:30

Yeah. If they don't have the money and and and they're not... He... He's not willing to do the job, they would shoot him because that's what they did to Wilson. Yeah. I don't think

Eric: 1:22:41

still the 2nd best assassin in all of Europe.

Sara: 1:22:43

Yeah. So, back at the Earl's estate, I guess he thought that was worth a shot, but it didn't really work out for me.

Eric: 1:22:50

Shot.

Sara: 1:22:51

Uh-huh. That was not intentional, but I'm I'm I'm just naturally funny that way. Laura approaches the earl. He asked if she was able to locate her friend. She says she has a good idea where he is, but she... Again, this is a very specific choice of words. She hasn't been able to put her hands on him yet. Yeah. He tells her that Catherine must know nothing of this until he can sort things out with his son. Laura understands, but wants to talk about the minors. He dismisses them as disgruntled minors and lunatic fringe. I mean, the lunatic part

Eric: 1:23:26

is correct.

Sara: 1:23:27

He's he's correct, but dismissing them is maybe not Yeah. The smart choice.

Eric: 1:23:32

Yeah. And in fact, it's the lunatic fringe that's generally the biggest Yeah. Bit of a concern and issue.

Sara: 1:23:39

Exactly. He says they wanted 0.5 ownership of the mines. Here's the thing. That's not unreasonable. But, like, as an as an ask, if you're if you're working in in difficult physically degrading conditions and you're not making a ton of money, wanting to have like a co op ownership of the minds makes sense. Your response to being told no, that's what doesn't make sense.

Eric: 1:24:09

Well, the other other the other thing is, though, that partial ownership wouldn't be cheap.

Sara: 1:24:20

No. It wouldn't be.

Eric: 1:24:21

So do they have the money for it? Probably not.

Sara: 1:24:25

Maybe they spent their

Eric: 1:24:25

money on the shovel. Serious off. So maybe it's not even a serious offer worthy of being considered.

Sara: 1:24:32

No. It probably wasn't.

Eric: 1:24:34

That's something. The only way that you could do something like that is if you did like a stock ownership plan where for every year or so many years that you worked, you were entitled to a share or 2 shares or 5 shares or whatever as part of your pay, but that's not... That's never gonna add up to 0.5 ownership.

Sara: 1:25:00

And some companies do that in some... Like, again, in some cases, had they... Like you said, had they had the money upfront and maybe... Who knows? But the Earl said no for whatever reason. Mhmm. And instead of continuing to attempt to negotiate or simply finding another line of work, they began a reign of sabotage and started blowing up some of the tunnels. Yeah. That makes sense because then you're just gonna destroy your workplace and not have any money? Like, okay. Yeah. Doesn't make any sense

Eric: 1:25:29

at all. The the whole rationale behind this sort of approach, it's not a sane 1. And unfortunately, it's also very representative of the behaviors of some people, some groups in these types of situations. They... Yeah. They they just don't think things through.

Sara: 1:25:52

No. And then he's like... And the Earl says that innocent people were killed. So rather than risk more deaths, he closed minds, which that makes sense. Right?

Eric: 1:26:00

Yeah. I mean, and at this point, the people who were responsible for that are guilty of murder.

Sara: 1:26:07

Oh, absolutely.

Eric: 1:26:08

So at this point, you don't negotiate with murderers No.

Sara: 1:26:12

We've seen

Eric: 1:26:13

for their best interest.

Sara: 1:26:14

Yeah. And we've seen Armstrong has no issues whatsoever with shooting somebody in the face if they tray him. So, yeah, he's he's a psychopath through and through.

Eric: 1:26:23

Oh, yeah.

Sara: 1:26:23

He says they accused him of throwing them out of work and vowed to kill him. Sure. That's 1 way to interpret it, but it's not the correct way.

Eric: 1:26:33

Well, I mean, if you mean that's not the correct way for the earl to interpret it,

Sara: 1:26:39

No. I would It's say it's... Yeah. That's not the correct interpretation of it. Like, they were blowing up the tunnels. They were putting themselves out of work. If you're gonna blow up the tunnels, you're not gonna have a mind to mind. Like Yeah. Right. The Earl isn't the 1 that put them out of work. They put themselves out of work.

Eric: 1:26:53

Yeah.

Sara: 1:26:54

And, you know

Eric: 1:26:55

When when you're not rational, you don't you don't you don't see that. You don't see those consequences of your actions as being consequences of your actions. You look at the consequences of your actions as being totally isolated from any kind of provocation. And so, obviously, the Earl's a bad guy because he shut down the mines. Well, yeah, you were killing people. Well, that's beside the point.

Sara: 1:27:21

It kinda makes me think of... And far be it for me to get into anything like... This is just slightly mildly political, but I do find it kinda funny. Right now in Nova Scotia, there are wildfires that are burning out of control. Like, the province is on fire, and they have not had any rain for weeks. It is so dry that the slightest, like the tinder in the forest is so dry that the slightest thing could set them off. Right? So right now, just simply as a relief measure, the government has basically put a measure in place temporary, saying that they don't want anyone hiking in the woods right now, fishing, camping, doing anything in the woods right now. So simply because, you know, yeah, it's a fire risk. And there is a... They've put a pretty hefty fine if you're caught right now,$25,000, but literally, like, people are losing their homes. Right? But there's a subsection on the Internet that I've seen that are throwing literal temper tantrums and calling this totalitarianism and fascism, and we're being told we can't go for a walk now. And so 1 guy decided that he was gonna protest by deliberately

Eric: 1:28:28

going people.

Sara: 1:28:29

Yeah. That was... Sorry. There was there was air quotes. By deliberately going into the woods to get fined. That was his intention. Okay? Mhmm. And he did. He he got a fine. He... There's a video of him proudly posting his little ticket, and then asking people for money to help him pay it. Sure. And I'm like, okay. Like, you threw a temper tantrum and set out to get a ticket. And now that you've got your ticket, you want others to bail you out. That's that's that's the same thinking. It's exactly what it is.

Eric: 1:29:01

Or destroy your neighborhood because you're angry and then demand other people pay to fix it.

Sara: 1:29:05

Right? Like, if he had set something off, however, you know, whatever it is, you know, a cigarette, whatever Mhmm. Then you'd have evacuations in the hundreds, possibly the thousands.

Eric: 1:29:19

Possibly loss of life, probably a a loss... Catastrophic loss of property.

Sara: 1:29:26

Yeah. But how dare they tell me I can't go for a walk right now? You can't go right now. We get some rain. We get like... This isn't forever. No one's...

Eric: 1:29:36

Let me let me say something that might be misinterpreted and considered extremely naive and radical. But even if, let's say, for example, whoever was responsible for that decision you're talking about. Yeah. Even if it was a tyrannical act, occasionally, even a tyrant is correct. You know? The old saying, even as... Which some people who who are only grew up in the digital world will not understand. Even a stopped clock is correct twice a day.

Sara: 1:30:10

Day. Yeah.

Eric: 1:30:11

So Yeah. You know, just the attitude of this guy that you're talking about kind of like a kid being told, no, don't play with the stove because you're gonna get burned. Well, how dare you? I'm gonna go burn myself. It's

Sara: 1:30:29

nuts. That's exactly what it is. Yeah. You know? And that's what these miners are doing. It's like, oh, you don't want us to own the mines? Fine. We'll blow them up. Wait a minute. You're closing them? How dare you? Yeah. Exactly. I mean, okay. There's a logic out

Eric: 1:30:44

of space. People died when we blew them up, but... You're gonna blame us for that, aren't you? Yeah.

Sara: 1:30:48

That's their fault. Yeah. There's a fly in their logic ointment somewhere, but... Yeah. Whatever. Laura suggests postponing the wedding until the men are caught, which would have been... Would be a smart thing to do. Right? Mhmm. However, it might also mean they go underground until the wedding is un postponed. So who knows? But

Eric: 1:31:08

Line coming up.

Sara: 1:31:09

Go ahead. Tell... Yeah. The Earl tells her there was a period, a bleak and dark period where he was afflicted by drink and unhappiness. Then he met Catherine and fell in love. You gotta love the fact that he describes his abusive period, right, where he was literally going and beating up women as a dark period for him. Well I mean, I get it. It was. I I

Eric: 1:31:37

I This is not the line that I was I was looking forward to. We're... We'll get there in a minute.

Sara: 1:31:41

But I'm not saying that it wasn't a bad period for him. I'm just saying that that there's no framing of the victims that he hurt in this statement at all. It's just about himself, which is

Eric: 1:31:52

Yes. But I don't think it is... How to put this? I don't think it is dismissing the harm that he caused during this time. Yes, it is focusing on him, but he is framing it in a way... Or he is framing it in this particular way for Laura because he doesn't know that she's aware of what happened in the past. And this is probably not the time or circumstance to bring that up and discuss it. So he's approaching it from the standpoint of, okay, she knows I used the name Kevin Landers, but she doesn't know any of the background story. So let's not muddy the waters with... By going down and getting into that discussion. Let's just say there was this really bad time in my life. And, I don't wanna go back there.

Sara: 1:32:56

That's fair. That's fair. I just don't like him. Well... Yes. Or if she's ever been in love. And Laura says she's working on it. Is this the line that you were...

Eric: 1:33:04

No. No. Go on.

Sara: 1:33:06

Because Okay. I I think this is... That's an interesting response. Right? That she says she's working on it. That's a very Laura response. I know that some people might not like it because it it... It's not an emotional response in the sense that, like, Steele, when he was being beaten by Grace Kelton or the woman calling herself Grace Kelton, readily said, love you.

Eric: 1:33:26

Think I love you.

Sara: 1:33:27

Right? But for Laura, she's being analytical about it. She's working on it. She... That's what she does. She works on her life. She works on her job. She works on her... Again, that's that control aspect. I have to have everything in place. And so it is a way that... In a way, she is admitting she's in love. She's just not... Yeah. I like it. I like her response. He tells her it's like being reborn, and he cannot give Catherine the slightest reason to doubt his love.

Eric: 1:33:55

Okay. That's the line. Tell me that you have a problem with your relationship without telling me you have a problem with your your relationship.

Sara: 1:34:05

Well, you gotta wonder if she knows about his bleak period.

Eric: 1:34:08

Even if she doesn't.

Sara: 1:34:10

Right? Yeah.

Eric: 1:34:11

He is admitting here that, yeah, there's a problem with the relationship between her and I, and she's on the edge And simply delaying the wedding for a legitimate reason that people are trying to kill me will cause her to doubt my love.

Sara: 1:34:30

Yeah.

Eric: 1:34:31

You have a problem.

Sara: 1:34:33

And and and not to be the person that actually feels any sympathy for this guy, because as you can see, I I haven't. But I do want to

Eric: 1:34:39

You have no sympathy for anybody.

Sara: 1:34:41

Well, I just... The Earl... I guess... Anyway, the story that he told Laura earlier about how the woman that he impregnated basically just took off with the kid and he only saw it once. Maybe there's a bit of fear there that that could happen again.

Eric: 1:34:59

If he that

Sara: 1:35:00

if he makes a misstep, it... Maybe there aren't problems with their relationship. Maybe she would understand, but he's just in that mindset of 1 of them took off on me once, I screw up and she's gone again. Well...

Eric: 1:35:15

But even... I I I hesitate to say this because I don't want to... That kind of fear, even if it's unfounded, causes problems in a

Sara: 1:35:30

relationship. Absolutely. 100%. It's gonna... It's a... It's an insecurity that's going to crop up over and over and over again. And eventually, yeah, it will erode the relationship for sure. But... And you're right. Like...

Eric: 1:35:43

Because if... Unfortunately, a lot of times, there's nothing you can do. You have to just live with that. You know, if if if if the relationship is gonna go forward and last, you have to live with it, learn how to live with it because that kind of... That's a sort of thing that can be set in stone Yep. And not ever overcome.

Sara: 1:36:12

And and it's 1 of the... You're you're right. I agree with you because there are certain insecurities that we have that are foundational to ourselves as human beings, whether they're a result of something that happened to us in childhood or just something that we've evolved into being, that's who we are. And I do believe people can change, but there's a core element of people that are always going to remain. Right? And that means that maybe somebody who did the things the Earl did could become a better person and could stop drinking and could acknowledge his faults and move on and change. That is entirely possible. But at the end of the day, whatever it was that caused him to get to that place is still gonna be there, and he's gonna have to constantly work to make sure it doesn't go back there. Mhmm. And it's the same for anything else. And I think any reasonable person who came to their fiance and said, hey, you know that there are people out there threatening my life and that they're making threats on my life at... For our wedding. Maybe we could just postpone it a couple of weeks until we catch them. So, you know, I'm not assassinated. She'd be like, yeah, cool. I'm on board with that. Know?

Eric: 1:37:19

What? Them assassinating them?

Sara: 1:37:21

No. On board with like, not getting you killed. You know? Like, I get that it's too bad to us. Till death to us part shouldn't be the day of the wedding. You know? Yeah. But... Yeah.

Eric: 1:37:31

On the other hand, it's a great way to get rich.

Sara: 1:37:34

That's true. In a hurry. It'd be hilarious if she was the 1 behind it, you know? But... Yeah. So that's not... That's a no go. They're not... He's not canceling the wedding. Then we get outside the... An outside shot of the Bentley Bank. We see Armstrong and his men along... This this part is hilarious. Okay? So when does a hitman have to work for his fee?

Eric: 1:37:58

This is very Donald Lee Westlake.

Sara: 1:38:00

Oh, I love this whole scene. It's so funny.

Eric: 1:38:05

Donald Donald Lee Westlake was a writer who wrote comedy crime fiction.

Sara: 1:38:11

Oh, okay.

Eric: 1:38:11

If you've ever seen the movie Bankshot

Sara: 1:38:14

No. George Scott wrote it down.

Eric: 1:38:16

He wrote the original novel that that was based on. A bank shot is where a bunch of criminals Steele a bank.

Sara: 1:38:23

Okay.

Eric: 1:38:23

The bank is in a mobile... It's in a trailer at temporary location while the permanent bank is being built. Right. And it's loaded with guards. It's alarmed. The police station is mere blocks away. They come up with this brilliant plan to Steele the bank and things go downhill from there.

Sara: 1:38:43

Is hilarious. Oh, no. That sounds great.

Eric: 1:38:46

But this is this is very... To me, this this whole sequence is very reminiscent of something Donald e Westlake would write.

Sara: 1:38:53

It's just... It's good. Like, you would think if they said to Steele, we know we can get your money. He wouldn't have to go with them since Wendy No.

Eric: 1:39:01

Go get it. I'll sit around and wait.

Sara: 1:39:03

Yeah. We're gonna we're gonna rob a bank, but you have to come with us. Yeah. We see them come into the bank along with Steele and Daniel. Armstrong tells them they'll be in and out. They won't know what hit them. So he's wanting to do this quietly. Mhmm. Daniel then tells Steele it's another fine mess that... And and and the the phrase he's leaving off of this is another fine mess you've gotten us into. Right? Yeah. Implying that it's Steel's fault. Yeah. I mean What?

Eric: 1:39:28

You set up this entire scenario. I'm just trying to deal with it. Don't blame me for this old man.

Sara: 1:39:34

Oh, this makes me think of that scene, that running joke. You probably haven't seen this movie, but the movie Clerks, which was... It's a a Kevin Smith film. And Kevin Smith has a very specific taste. So if you're not into Kevin Smith, you would really hate his stuff.

Eric: 1:39:47

Have no clue.

Sara: 1:39:48

He's... His movies are very vulgar, and they're very, like, inappropriate, and they're they're very funny. And and his 1st film, Clerks, was something that he did when he was very young. Mhmm. And he... It's in black and white because they couldn't afford to have it in color even though it was in the nineties. And it was basically a film that took place entirely in a convenience store that was attached to a movie, rental store. And it was, 2 guys who worked at the convenience store as clerks, as store clerks. Mhmm. Or 1 of them worked at the convenience store, other worked at the movie store. And they're just literally about all their trials and tribulations that they go through in 1 day. So the movie just takes place in 1 shift. Okay. And the main character Dante throughout the entire film keeps protesting every time something happens or something goes wrong because, like, some weird crap happens. Like, 1 guy goes to the bathroom and dies on the toilet. And then his girlfriend goes into the bathroom thinking that Dante's the 1 in there and try... And starts getting intimate with him, only to realize that she's getting intimate with a corpse and, like, just stuff like this. Right? And the more stuff that happens, the more he protests. He's not even supposed to be there that day because he was called into work. Someone called in sick. And so throughout the whole movie, anytime something happens, I'm not even supposed to be here today. Feels like still right now. He's just like, I'm not even supposed to be here today. This is not what's supposed to be happening. I didn't get you in anything. You got me into it. So, yeah, it's just a funny line that Daniel kind of snidely says because poor Steele. He's like, are you kidding me right now? Yeah. So they walk in and Steele lifts the gun, fires it, and screams, this is a robbery. Nobody in or out. Obviously, their attempt at doing this quietly is now totally shot.

Eric: 1:41:38

Yep.

Sara: 1:41:39

And I think Steele was hoping they would be caught, so that he...

Eric: 1:41:42

Oh, yeah.

Sara: 1:41:43

You know, but it... Armstrong is not impressed. But Steele claims he got carried away. Armstrong... And I love the manager. The manager...

Eric: 1:41:53

Oh, yeah.

Sara: 1:41:54

He's only... Thank you

Eric: 1:41:55

for this role.

Sara: 1:41:56

He's only in this episode for, like, 5 minutes, and it's hilarious. Not even that, I don't think. He tells the manager to open the safe, but he says he can't. Nobody can. Once it's closed, only someone from the main office can open it. That's pretty standard, I think, for most places like this that we can't... I don't know. I just know that... I I usually see the signs, like, at various places. It's like, management cannot open Mhmm. Whatever. Right? I don't know. I could be wrong. But Steele's like, oh, well, rotten luck. Let's tootle off. Armstrong jumps over the counter, grabs 1 of the employees standing against the safe door and tells him to open it or he's gonna open him. The manager then says, really, gentlemen? This is not cricket.

Eric: 1:42:40

I know. I love this guy.

Sara: 1:42:43

This is the poshest response to a bank robbery ever. Like, he calls them gentlemen. He's exceedingly polite. It's almost like he's afraid to just be rude even to these men because it's distasteful. Right? Yes. You just... That's not what we do here. Armstrong doesn't care. He starts to count to 5 like a a parent. Daniel adds, you heard him. He can't open it. Armstrong keeps counting. He's up to 4. Obviously, not wanting to see an innocent man murdered, Steele jumps over the counter and tells him he's gonna take a crack at it. Then he asked the manager to turn off the alarm, and Steele does the same thing. He's like, would you mind turning out... Like, very polite. Would you mind turning off the alarm? But the manager, ever so polite, says dreadfully sorry, but only the police can do that. Yeah. Steels like,

Eric: 1:43:32

yeah. Understand I'm my gonna say this and risk being laughed at, but when you really, really, really wanna irritate somebody Yeah. Do what this bank manager did, decline and do it

Sara: 1:43:51

And so

Eric: 1:43:52

the more over the top they get, the more polite you get.

Sara: 1:43:57

Because you know what? That's been actually my go to reaction for people that are behaving really poorly behind the wheel of their vehicle, let's just say. Like, an example, the other day, I was trying to turn right on a red. And you... In some places, you're not allowed to do that. Here in Canada, you can turn right on a red as long as there's no traffic. You have to watch, wait for your your spot, and then go. Right? So there I am doing that, and some impatient idiot behind me is honking at me. There's no... Like, it's heavy traffic. I don't know what he wanted me to do, but driving into the other vehicles was not on my list of things to do that day. I could have given him the Ontario salute, which is of course the the middle finger.

Eric: 1:44:39

1 figured salute. Yeah.

Sara: 1:44:40

You know, Canadians are exceedingly polite anywhere but inside their vehicles. We become... Well, not in the the hockey rink. Like, those are the 2 places we just lose all of our composure. But instead, I turned around and I waved and I smiled at him and just continued to wait for my spot. And that, I think, probably pissed him off more than if I had flipped him off. So that's been my new, like... Or telling people, have the day you deserve.

Eric: 1:45:04

Well, I think in most states in The United States, a right turn on a red is legal. And, actually, in a lot of states, under certain circumstances, a left turn on a red is legal. If you are on a road that is a 2 direction road

Sara: 1:45:22

Right. Okay. Yeah.

Eric: 1:45:23

You are at an intersection with a 1 way road going to your left

Sara: 1:45:27

Yeah.

Eric: 1:45:27

You can legally make a left turn on a red there. I don't recommend doing it in front of a cop because, surprisingly, a lot of cops don't understand that that's legal.

Sara: 1:45:37

There's, yeah, there's a lot of road rules that, like... My husband, when he 1st came here, didn't realize you could turn right on a red because in The UK or in... At least in Scotland, you, well, it would be a left because of their other side. They're bad with you. You can't do it at all. And it was so funny when his parents came to visit the... 1 time they visited, and we were driving, and his dad was like, you can't. What are you doing? And we're like, no. No. No. It's fine. It's fine. You can do that here.

Eric: 1:46:03

Different country, different rules.

Sara: 1:46:04

You can't turn right on a red in Quebec either. So it's... Yeah. But, anyway, that's that's the... You can't do this.

Eric: 1:46:09

Those French Canadians are.

Sara: 1:46:11

Oh my god. Like, they don't they don't pay attention to the rules of the road anyway. I apologize.

Eric: 1:46:15

Then there's a pass... Why make a law that says you can't do something?

Sara: 1:46:19

I apologize to anyone who... Listening who lives in Quebec, but honestly, if you know, you know. Driving in Montreal was 1 of the most terrifying experiences of my life. I was like, but there's... You can't do... Okay. I guess we're just doing this. Like, they honk at you if you do obey the rules. That's when they get mad. Like, what do you mean there's a red light? Just go. Anyway. So... Yeah. Armstrong is up to 4. Steele jumps over. He asked the manager to turn off the alarm. Dreadfully sorry. Only police can do that. Steele nods. He presses his ear to the safe and basically starts listening for the clicks. Right? Clicks it, tests it, clicks it again. Eventually, he's able to open the door and the hostages all clap. I love that. Like, they're just like, yay. We don't get to die. Armstrong's men rush into the safe. Steele walks over to Daniel who, under his breath, says, congratulations. You've just added bank robbery to our list of accomplishments. It wasn't his idea.

Eric: 1:47:15

That's right.

Sara: 1:47:17

He's not even supposed to be here today. That's right. How is this his fault? I love Daniel.

Eric: 1:47:26

Never take responsibility.

Sara: 1:47:28

Yeah. That's true. I... This next scene, I love it. I really do. We see Steele and Felicia walking together in the woods, which they're allowed to do because there's no fire ban there. Just saying. She asked him if there if there were no Laura in his life and makes a point of saying, see, got it right. Would there be room for her? He doesn't answer this wisely. He just says she is in his life, or he thinks she is. Mhmm. And I think that's interesting that he doesn't answer. Because he could have said, yeah, if she wasn't in my my life, then maybe you and I could could be something. But I think he's wanting to very firmly shut that door. And so even if he has that answer in the back of his head, even if in the back of his mind, he... He's thinking, yeah, I could see us, you know, doing crime down the Riviera or what have you, he wants her to know that that's not even a question he's entertaining. She is in his life or, well, hopefully. And, yeah, he's not willing to even give her that. Felicia though tells him that she must admit that it's been empty and shabby no matter how sumptuous the setting or generous the partner. She turns to him and says that she should never have let him go. She tells him she should have clung to him and fought for him, and asked if he would give her the chance to do so now. Like, this is probably the 1st time you see any vulnerability from Felicia. Mhmm. Because I think she's being honest here. I don't think this is her playing around or doing their little games back and forth. I think she's genuinely pouring her heart out to him and it gives her humanity. Like, it makes her sympathetic even though she's a real piece of work most of the time. You know? Because she's... She... Yeah. I don't think she gives that vulnerability very easily. So she's she's asking, like, can we do that now? And he... He's surprised. He says he didn't think she had these feelings, and he tells her that he's flattered. But... And then she's reading between the lines. She adds uninterested. He adds... He smiles and says, let's just say previously committed. And again, I said it before, but these 2, their chemistry is real here. Like, you can see it. Mhmm. And I looked it up because I was curious, and it's really sad too because she's 2 years from her diagnosis that would eventually take her life. They just look good together, the 2 of them. They really do. So yeah, I think it's it's kinda melancholy watching this this scene for those 2 reasons. 1, they play it really well. And 2, you're looking at 2 people who were together and unfortunately aren't because of her... She passed away.

Eric: 1:50:11

Can I jump in here real quick? Between the bank robbery scene and this scene, in the script that we have, there was a sequence between Laura and the Earl and Catherine, which I am glad they excised because, basically, Laura's talking to the earl about Steele, and Catherine is observing. Laura doesn't know what's going on, why Catherine's spying on them. So she puts her arms around the earl and kisses him. Catherine blows up and Oh. Basically threatens to call the wedding off.

Sara: 1:50:55

Yeah. That's not necessary.

Eric: 1:50:57

Laura makes some up some story about a baby and What? Her... Her... That her sister had with his lordship and Oh my and all this stuff. So it... It's it's

Sara: 1:51:09

Yeah. I can definitely see why they get rid of that. That just

Eric: 1:51:13

adds a bunch of progress. It kind of served to explain his line about not wanting to do anything that would cause her to doubt his love. True. But, yeah, it it was just... It it just didn't... It didn't read well. It it No. Was totally... It it just... It it was just wrong. It was just a wrong way to go with that part of the story.

Sara: 1:51:34

I agree. I hadn't had a chance to read the script for this episode, but... No. I wouldn't have. It... That would just make the episode way too overburdened and needlessly complicated for what they're trying to do here. Catherine's not in this episode at all. So that must have been like the... Oh, no. Sorry. She is... She's in the last... The wedding scene. But yeah, that would have just been very unnecessary. So I I agree with you on this. He says he's previously committed. And that's where she kind of like looks at him a little surprised and says that's the 1 thing that the... None of the others could ever squeeze out of you no matter how persuasive we were. He reaches out and he basically like brushes her chin gently with his finger, turns her to her head to look at him and says he wasn't planning on it. And this is really sweet. He kisses her twice very gently. It's a very tender moment. It's quite loving. Mhmm. And then he says, goodnight. And it's a goodbye. Like, that's... That reminds me a little bit of of Steele... Of Laura's kiss with Wilson at the end of Vintage where... I mean, obviously, they don't... He and Felicia don't kiss us forcefully. Not even forcefully. They... It's a very like... It's barely a brush of the lips. Right? He's just kind of kisses her very very sweetly and then says like, good night. And, obviously, Felicia knows it's over. She's not gonna tell Laura that because, wait a month, she she stirs the pot because she's Felicia. But, like

Eric: 1:52:58

Yes. Of course.

Sara: 1:53:00

Know, it's it's... Just... I love this moment, and I I would have loved to have seen her more as a antagonist slash foil slash sometimes ally, because I think she's a lot of fun. So, anyway, inside the show

Eric: 1:53:17

There's a fanfic for somebody out there.

Sara: 1:53:19

Laura

Eric: 1:53:19

and Felicia team up.

Sara: 1:53:22

To work together. That would be... Oh, the things we could have had. Right? Like, that would have been so funny. I would have loved that. Even though I just thought 1 scene in in thou shalt not Steele where they're both like holding on to him as he dangles. And it's bantering back and forth. I loved it. That would have been great. Sadly, it was not to be. Anyway, we go inside a shed the next scene. 1 of the henchmen, Hawkins maybe, who knows, says that he's all for social reform, but he would rather have the million. There's a guy who's thinking. Okay? There's a guy who's like, actually, eye on the prize instead of Armstrong who's just lost the plot.

Eric: 1:54:05

Well... But but he's also basically admitting that he's all for social reform as long as there's something in it for him. True. But if there's something else that he can get that's even better for him Hey.

Sara: 1:54:15

Why not?

Eric: 1:54:15

Then, hey. Social reform can take a a leap. He's not really committed to the social reform thing.

Sara: 1:54:22

Exactly. Yeah. Armstrong asks why they can't have both. And, the other guy, Bloor, I guess, maybe, I don't know, says they just have to... But they have to pay the man for their work or for his work. Armstrong suggests not if he's dead. He finishes, again, readjusting the shovel done and hands it to Armstrong and says it's finished. Armstrong tells Hawkins, maybe, that the gun will blow up the minute it's fired, taking out the assassin. They say, well, who's gonna do the Earl? Armstrong says, me. I mean, if you could have done it that way to begin with.

Eric: 1:54:55

That's right.

Sara: 1:54:56

Why not just make a fake shovel that's not gold plated? Present that to the Earl. Do your plan anyway. You never needed the... Anyway, whatever. Yeah. He shows them... Is this like phosphorescence? What is this powder that he's got that's supposed

Eric: 1:55:12

to be a a phosphorus powder. Yeah. There's there's... Yeah. You you can get that kind of stuff in a powdered form.

Sara: 1:55:20

Okay.

Eric: 1:55:22

Now I have to say in this shot and then later at the wedding, those are all done with special... Or with optical effects.

Sara: 1:55:33

Right.

Eric: 1:55:34

Yeah. It's very TV quality. Yeah. In other words, that's a euphemism for not very well done.

Sara: 1:55:40

I I I concur. Yep. But, hey, whatever. So, yeah, he shows them this powder. He says once the shovel blows up, they... That he can douse the lights. He's gonna hustle the Earl outside into the dark where he will be glowing and just begging to be hit. The 1st guy reminds him that they can't get any weapons in there, and the other 1 says they don't have to. They're already there. The 3 men toast their plan saying, here's to a new kind of social reform, the kind that pays 1000000 quid. Okay. His henchmen are dumber than soup if they think that Armstrong's not gonna turn on them too.

Eric: 1:56:16

Well, see, that's the thing. I have never understood about the criminal mind or

Sara: 1:56:20

the Right.

Eric: 1:56:21

The... And not even necessarily limited to criminal mind, but just the the devious, immoral, no moral mind is if somebody is willing to behave that way to somebody else for for for whatever reason, know? What's gonna stop them

Sara: 1:56:42

from doing it to you?

Eric: 1:56:43

That's right. Right? Phrase honor among thieves is a myth. It never has been. You can't trust anybody that's not trustworthy, and that's the very definition.

Sara: 1:56:56

It's similar to if you get involved with somebody who's who's married or something or in a relationship, and that person leaves that relationship for you, and you think, oh, now we're gonna live happily ever after. I always think think of how you got that person. They cheated on their their

Eric: 1:57:11

spouse once.

Sara: 1:57:12

Yeah. If they're gonna do it once,

Eric: 1:57:14

what's the stop? Better than the other woman was or I'm better than the other man was.

Sara: 1:57:19

I have never understood that mindset. I've never understood how you could possibly think somehow that this this person is... Who's gonna do this thing to their partner.

Eric: 1:57:26

It's ego. Yeah. I'm so special. I'm so important. I'm so fantastic that they would never... I mean, they... I am so valuable to them that that they would never imagine betraying me. I mean, that would just be selfish of them.

Sara: 1:57:45

I have no doubt

Eric: 1:57:46

that their criminals are selfish anyway.

Sara: 1:57:49

Have no doubt that had this plan worked, Armstrong would have gotten rid of the other 2 because then he could have the money all to himself. Right? Why why split it 3 ways when I can have it all? Exactly. Inside the estate, or this is the the wedding. Daniel is presenting the Earl with the shovel. He and his new wife, Catherine, are standing there as he gives a very cheesy speech in his cockney accent. He hands the Earl the shovel. The Earl tries to politely say that he and his new wife will always treasure this unique gift.

Eric: 1:58:21

Unique. That's a word for it.

Sara: 1:58:23

That's the word. That is... Yeah. He hands off the shovel to someone. This is another thing. He hands it off to someone, 1 of his men. Mhmm. Right? Which somehow Steele gets his hands on it again. Like Yeah. I... That's a bit of a risk too because if you're gonna give a gift to somebody that is theoretically the weapon Yeah. What if he... What if somebody took it and put it in wherever it is they store all the weird crap that they get and it's gone. Right? Like, now what do wanna do? So, yeah, that's that's the other thing.

Eric: 1:58:50

Like the gifts at a wedding reception. You don't leave them laying around. You lock

Sara: 1:58:53

them up in the

Eric: 1:58:53

back room while you're out dancing or doing whatever.

Sara: 1:58:55

It's a gold plated shovel. Somebody could walk off with it and melt it down as you said. Right? Mhmm. So, yeah, he hands it off and Armstrong approaches the Earl complimenting his suit and basically rubbing the phosphorescence under it.

Eric: 1:59:08

Pies. Pies. Yeah. Really awkward. Not suspicious at all.

Sara: 1:59:12

Yeah. And here's here's the part that's really bizarre. Okay? Actually, we'll get there in a 2nd. The earl awkwardly thanks him and tells him to avail himself of whatever it is he has to offer. Now we see Laura and Lombard are there.

Eric: 1:59:23

I love that dress. Okay.

Sara: 1:59:27

I thought

Eric: 1:59:27

I 19 twenties flapper. The earrings are little bit over the top, but I love dress. Quite like

Sara: 1:59:34

the earrings. I like the whole outfit. That's not my issue. I think she looks good here. My issue is they're staring at the men they know robbed the bank. Mhmm. And also the men that Laura could identify to Lombard as the would be assassins, yet somehow they've allowed themselves to even get in the building?

Eric: 1:59:51

Well, it could be that they got into the building sneakily.

Sara: 1:59:58

Okay.

Eric: 1:59:58

That a word? But... And then once they're in there, it becomes a situation of do you try and do something now or do you wait? Because after all, at this point, they don't have any real evidence.

Sara: 2:00:14

Well, they have the bank robbery because because law party even says that.

Eric: 2:00:19

For the assassination, they don't have any any basis to do anything yet. No. For the bank robbery... Again, if these are the potential assassins, even moving on them for the bank robbery could be risky at this point because presumably they have something in place already and they could avail themselves of that during the attempt to arrest them. So I would say it's 1 of those judgment calls on on the part of the inspector. Maybe not good choice, but

Sara: 2:00:51

That if I were inspector Lombard, I would be getting my security team to move the Earl into a safe location and taking them under arrest because they can... He says to Laura, he he... Because she says, what... There they are. Why don't you arrest them? Right? Mhmm. And he says that unless they make some overt move against the earl, he can only charge them with bank robbery. So charge them with that. Like, theoretically, the the the whole point here is to prevent an assassination an assassination attempt, not to catch them in the act, but to not have it happen in the 1st place. Right? So Well,

Eric: 2:01:23

yeah. But again, all we have is Laura's word for it.

Sara: 2:01:26

And Theoretically, there's... They they weren't masked inside the bank. Right? They had their

Eric: 2:01:31

faces assassination attempt.

Sara: 2:01:33

Right. But my point is if they're trying to prevent an assassination attempt, charging them with bank robbery and, know, arresting them and taking them out of there would would do that. Right? Yeah.

Eric: 2:01:44

But only for a brief time. Whereas if you can get them on an actual assassination attempt, the penalties are much stiffer. They're gonna go away for a much longer time. So the time that they're away for the armed robbery may not be enough to deter any other assassination attempts that they have in plan or that they could plan as alternatives if this fails because they got arrested. So I the inspector is looking at the situation as it exists, the evidence that they have now, the possibilities of doing this versus that in terms of the long term, and he's taken a calculated risk. He's... Basically, he's he's using the Earl as bait.

Sara: 2:02:34

Yeah. That... I don't know. To me, that seems dumb, but hey. I'm not a

Eric: 2:02:40

I... I've never been a cop in real life. I was I was 1 in the military, but never had to encounter this type of a situation.

Sara: 2:02:48

Never even played 1 on TV. So I could be totally wrong. But either way, it's funny because he says, I can only charge him with bank robbery, in which case mister Steele would also go to prison and Laura considers that and says, how long might he get?

Eric: 2:03:03

Yeah. Whereas if it's... If they take these guys down as part of an assassination attempt and that bank robbery becomes part of this larger scheme, in which case Steele might have a defense.

Sara: 2:03:17

Actually, I looked it up because I was curious because we have certain laws in Canada, and I didn't know if they had the same laws in The US... Or sorry, The UK. But in Canada, if you commit a crime under duress, meaning that you're forced or threatened or what have you, that you can use that as a defense. It basically means that you have to prove that you were under threat of death or serious injury, that the threat must be imminent, meaning it's about to happen immediately or very soon. The person must reasonably believe the threat is genuine and will be carried out. The person must also have no reasonable opportunity to escape the threat, and they cannot have voluntarily placed themselves in the situation where they were likely to be threatened. All of that applies to Steele. He was grabbed off the street. Right. Right? He was stuck in this situation. He's seen these men shoot somebody point blank. Mhmm. So he knows that they're ready and willing to carry out the threat. So, and there's also the defense called duress of circumstances, which is basically like the defense can be used when someone commits a crime due to an immediate threat of harm, even if the threat isn't directly from another person. That one's a difficult defense to prove. It's only like extreme circumstances. So like, yeah, it's a burden of proof thing. The defendant typically has the burden of proof raising the issue of duress. We have those laws in Canada. I've looked it up in The UK has the same similar laws. So he could use that as a defense in the bank robbery situation if they decided to only arrest the men for that reason. However...

Eric: 2:04:50

Stronger case if it's tied in with the attempted That's correct.

Sara: 2:04:54

Yeah. So then we have got Daniel who approaches Steele, and Steele tells him to get behind Armstrong. His plan is to fire into the ceiling, and he tells Daniel to clobber Armstrong when he does it, adding that he'll take care of Hawkins and Bloor. Daniel, though, he's not willing to give up just... He says, look at all those shiny bubbles. He's like a little kid. He's just had his candy taken away. Oh, it's just

Eric: 2:05:18

I've got a 0.25, and I wanna buy everything in the candy store.

Sara: 2:05:22

I love it because still basically like Daniel. And he's like, allow me my pain as he walks away. I adore any episode that Daniel is in immediately is, you know, a fan. It it just... From Zimbalist junior and Cassandra Harris heighten those episodes all the time. Mhmm. Steele walks over to Mildred, who is once again dressed as a maid. Poor Mildred. She always ends up as the maid. She's carrying a tray of hors d'oeuvres. She offers him a canopy, but before he could take it, she lowers the tray and calls him a creep. Poor guy. Because he does not know. Right? He has no idea that Mildred knows now the whole story. He looks surprised, and she says, how could you? I revered you. I looked up to you. I followed you around like a faithful puppy. If I had a tail, it would have wagged every time you came into the room.

Eric: 2:06:16

0, 0, 0, 0, I I I missed something. Can we jump back Sure. To the crack between the previous sequence in this 1?

Sara: 2:06:24

Sure.

Eric: 2:06:25

After Armstrong tells his compatriots that he wants to keep the money.

Sara: 2:06:30

Right.

Eric: 2:06:30

There's a scene between Lombard and Laura in the inspector's office.

Sara: 2:06:34

Oh, okay.

Eric: 2:06:35

It starts out with Laura looking at a newspaper. There's a photo of Steele on the front. Lombard references it saying, it looks a lot like Mr. Steele, doesn't it? And Laura says, well, it's a vague resemblance. Lombard then pulls open the drawer, pulls out Steele's passports and says, curiosity being an occupational hazard. I did some checking on on these passports of his. Richard Blaine, your mister Steele, was wanted in Mexico for stealing a piece of Marchesa jewelry collection. All charges dropped. And as Michael O'Leary, he stole paintings called The 5 Nudes of Cairo.

Sara: 2:07:09

So he can't go back to Mexico.

Eric: 2:07:10

For an insurance company. Does... Says it was for an insurance company that had a legitimate claim on it. And Lombard says, oh, I see you're up to date on his activities. And she says, well, we have no secrets. And Lombard tells her, well, neither will we. So there was a sequence there where Lombard is at least

Sara: 2:07:33

Aware of who he is.

Eric: 2:07:34

Aware of... Yeah.

Sara: 2:07:37

It would have been nice if they had kept that, but I'm guessing because this episode goes the full 48 minutes that it was cut for time. Because, like, every other scene in this episode is is necessary. I can't think of a single scene in this episode that you could have cut and still have the episode have the same impact. I mean, yeah, maybe you could have cut the scene between him and Felicia in the woods, but that would make me sad because I really like it. It gives... It fleshes her out as a character. Right? So...

Eric: 2:08:02

Yeah. Anyway, back to the scene where we were at where I'm sitting admiring Laura's dress.

Sara: 2:08:07

Yeah. It's a nice dress. I I I admit I'm not always... I don't really love it when she wears black, I think because there's other colors that bring out her skin and make her look... Like, give her a bit more... I think usually the black dresses they pick for her look very matronly. Mhmm. And they don't... Like, she's young. She should... You know, she doesn't have to wear a skin tight dress, but this is the kind of thing that I mean. Like, this is the kind of dress that it flatters her. It looks good on her. It's fashionable. And... Yeah. It just... Like, it has all these little beads, and I just... I like it. I agree. For once we are agreement... In agreement on fashion. Although I think we're gonna agree

Eric: 2:08:44

on Folks, it froze over.

Sara: 2:08:48

I think we're gonna have another agreement at the end of the episode. I have a I have a sneaky suspicion because

Eric: 2:08:53

Oh, you do, Yeah.

Sara: 2:08:55

There's some porn, some sweater porn at the end of the episode, so as you've coined the Okay. Well,

Eric: 2:09:05

we'll discuss it when we get there.

Sara: 2:09:06

Yeah. So, yeah, she says if she had a tail, she would've... It would've wagged every time he came into the room. Steele tells her this is no time to talk about pets. He asks if Laura is in attendance as well, and Mildred says yes, and she told her about him. She then calls him a fake, a phony, and a fraud. Still kind of... I guess the pennies dropped now, so we asked if... Can we talk about my deceit in a less awkward moment before he takes a canopy and eats it? Yeah.

Eric: 2:09:32

There's there's there's a time and a place, and this ain't it.

Sara: 2:09:35

This is not it. He's he's right, though. He's, like, completely right. This is not the right not the right time. Yeah. Daniel, meanwhile, is following Armstrong when he's intercepted by Laura. He deliberately calls Linda. Good to see you. Suggests they do lunch. But then she says that you and your star pupil are in over your heads this time. And Daniel, in a rare moment of of honesty, says you don't know the 0.5 of it. Poor Daniel. You do have to feel for him when he's admitting that to Laura. Right?

Eric: 2:10:05

Yep.

Sara: 2:10:06

Laura then says she's through fighting for him. And when this is over, Daniel can have him. Daniel says, at the moment, that's hollow consolation, which should be a clue to Laura here because, like, Daniel's basically saying, yeah, we'll probably be dead when this is all over. So... Or in jail. We... Either way, like... She looks over and she sees 1 of the men handing Steele the shovel. She starts to approach, but then she's intercepted by Felicia who tells her that some woman... By the way, speaking of of clothing, I love that necklace that she's gone on.

Eric: 2:10:40

It looks It's like a snake.

Sara: 2:10:41

It's a snake. Right? Like, it's perfect. I don't know who the wardrobe person was for this episode, but they just they nailed it. They were like, yep. Here's a snake necklace. That goes on Felicia's neck. That's right. Yeah. Oh, it's perfect. I love it. She tells her that some women don't know when to pack it in. She lies to Laura and tells her that he's through with her and that he told her so right after they made love by the lake. Laura smiles and thanks, Felicia. She says, for what? And Laura says, for giving me the incentive

Eric: 2:11:13

to coming up.

Sara: 2:11:15

Now move it, Blondie, before I dent your grill.

Eric: 2:11:18

That's the line I have a problem with. The line is... I I mean, it's... That's not even b movie quality.

Sara: 2:11:26

Yeah.

Eric: 2:11:26

And I gotta say, Stephanie's delivery of it, the combination of the 2, I... It's... I'm sorry. It's 1 of the biggest clunkers in the entire series.

Sara: 2:11:37

It's it's not a great line. And and the issue that I have with this interaction is that we don't have any indication of whether or not Laura believes Felicia because that changes her reaction. My response to her reaction would change depending on how she takes this. Right? So for example, if Laura bought into Felicia, what Felicia was saying, and actually believe that they slept together, then her saying, well, I'm gonna keep fighting for him is not something that I would love for her. I would not be on board with that. Because honestly, if I'm standing next to somebody and that person is telling me that they've slept with the person that I'm supposedly with, my response is not gonna be, oh, I'm gonna keep fighting. I'm gonna be like, you know what? You've made your bed. You lie in it. I'm out. Right? Like, I I would walk away from that. I wouldn't wanna stick around.

Eric: 2:12:28

I think Laura's take on Felicia's comment is that it's an obvious lie by Felicia.

Sara: 2:12:34

That's that's the change. Right?

Eric: 2:12:36

And so her response is, yeah, our relationship is having some major issues, but I'm going to fight for it now. Yeah.

Sara: 2:12:44

I I have That's what I

Eric: 2:12:45

on the verge of giving up, but you just... Jerked you my chain and... Yeah. That's

Sara: 2:12:57

That's what I mean. The 2nd 1, the 2nd interpretation is that Laura doesn't believe Felicia, that she knows that Felicia's spewing a bunch of nonsense. And that, as you said, is her incentive to say, you know what? I'm not gonna give up because you're just trying to get me to do that. And and everybody else is too, and I'm gonna keep fighting for him. Right? 2 different... But I wish I had had some indication from Stephanie whether or not Laura believed Felicia because even if she just said, I don't believe you and thank you, that would have at least helped me with that line and the next line, which... Okay. Fine. Yeah. Den your grill. It's kinda silly. But I just... I would like to know that Laura was fighting for the right reasons because if you're... If if she really believed that they slept together, there'd be no reason to stick around. There just wouldn't. And I don't think she'd have this... Like, I think she'd have more self respect for... Personally to... Than to do that. So, yeah, I just wish we had gotten a little bit more from that. But either way, it's always nice to see the 2 of them spar. Yeah. So, yeah. She looks back to where Steele was, but he's gone. We see Armstrong go into a room, close the door, and then he's... Goes up that set of stairs, which we see later, which look awfully a lot like the same set of stairs in the Irish castle. I know it's not the same location, but in the season 5, it kinda looks similar.

Eric: 2:14:17

You know, it's probably very reminiscent of a particular style that

Sara: 2:14:21

we use That's true.

Eric: 2:14:22

Yeah. During a time period when all of these estates were built.

Sara: 2:14:26

Castles in The States. Yeah. That's a good point. The the 1st henchman takes his place beside where the light switch is. Steele has gone off with the other 1. And like I said, Armstrong has gone up the stairs where there's weapons mounted on a wall. He's damn lucky that the crossbow had actual arrows because usually those weapons that are mounted there Mhmm. Are decorative. They're not generally functional.

Eric: 2:14:47

Yeah.

Sara: 2:14:47

Like, there's... The... That's why he doesn't grab the pistol because the pistol would not be 1 that would actually fire. It would be an antique that's been the

Eric: 2:14:55

It would not be loaded either. Yeah.

Sara: 2:14:57

Yeah. It would be an antique that's been in the family for generations, and and there wouldn't be bullets just laying around to load it. They'd be, like... I found it a little surprising that there even were arrows for the crossbow because, again Yeah. You generally wouldn't like you would be. Yeah.

Eric: 2:15:12

You generally wouldn't have them there with it on a on a display. No. Because somebody might do exactly what he does.

Sara: 2:15:18

Exactly. And it's it's not like you don't put those weapons on display because they're functional. You put them on display because they're, like I said, they're antiques. They've been in the family for generations. They're

Eric: 2:15:26

Well, they could be functional, but you're not going to leave the

Sara: 2:15:30

That's what I mean. Like, you're not ammunition with them. Give them the opportunity to be functional. Yeah. Like... So, yeah, he he ends up grabbing the crossbow. Meanwhile, Steele is wandering around with the shovel. He gets the nod from the other henchmen and he starts to pretend as if he's inspecting it. Laura turns just as she sees him aiming at the Earl with the shovel. She yells no and tackles him. And this saves his life because the shovel flies out of his arms, lands on the ground, and then explodes. So, yeah, if she hadn't been there, he would have blown himself to kingdom come by even attempting to aim at the ceiling. Yeah. The lights are turned off then, but then it's Lombard who gets to the Earl. The other henchman goes after him, but he stopped by a man with a gun. Laura helps Steele up, and she asked him what what the hell are you doing? She she tells him that... Or sorry. He asked her what she's doing. She says she wasn't going to let him kill his own father. He seems surprised, which again Mhmm. I guess it would be a surprise even if you're expecting it. There'd be a part of you that's like, oh, I'm right. And she says, happy birthday. He smiles looking pleased with himself. Daniel, meanwhile, has gone up the stairs to find Armstrong. Still, he's taken his time here. Like... Or I guess he's waiting. He's waiting for Lombard to... He must Well,

Eric: 2:16:49

he's also pretty exposed on those stairs. And he he probably doesn't want to approach Lombard too directly too quickly because if if he does, then Lombard has time to take him out, reload, and then take out the

Sara: 2:17:07

He'd have to have a lot of confidence too in his ability to hit him. You know what I mean? Like, again, if he only goes 1 shot, he's he's firing a crossbow weapon, which presumably he's probably never fired or at least never fired with the intent to kill somebody. It's... From that distance, it would not be easy to hit him. Yeah. I've never used a crossbow, so I

Eric: 2:17:30

don't know. I would presume that there's some sort of aiming mechanism on them

Sara: 2:17:33

There is.

Eric: 2:17:34

Which would help.

Sara: 2:17:35

Yeah. But there's also a bit of a... Like, I've I've I've held 1. I haven't fired it, but I've been told there's a bit of a a recoil as well. Right? So

Eric: 2:17:44

Yeah. There would be

Sara: 2:17:44

Not like... Not as well with a gun, but, like... Yeah.

Eric: 2:17:47

So

Sara: 2:17:47

he's putting a lot on faith. Okay. So he hides behind Daniel hides behind a suit of armor as Lombard and the earl also enter the room. He sees Armstrong in the crossbow and cries out to the earl just in time for the arrow to miss. Steele enters as Lombard gets the earl to safety, and Daniel points up the stairs to Armstrong. I like this bit. Steele goes up to the top of the stairs and Armstrong attacks him with a broadsword. You got a sword fight where Steele grabs a shield and there's, you know, a brief exchange until he punches him out and he falls down the stairs. And then he takes off his... Undo undoes a shirt, takes off his tie and says, or bow tie and says, toodleu Armstrong. So... Yeah. I mean, it's fun to have a good broadsword fight, isn't it? I guess. It's a terrible weapon for close combat, though. No wonder he lost. It's... It is, though. Because, like, they wouldn't fight with broadswords like that in in wars. It's always in the movies where you see them, like, swinging around a broadsword, but those things were not meant for in in close 0.25 fighting at all.

Eric: 2:18:52

I don't know anything really about swords, so I

Sara: 2:18:54

don't You'd have a short sword or you'd have something that's, like, easier to stab and move on with. The broadsword would be too awkward. So... Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I have a thing about weapons. You may be able to tell. Oddly enough, not guns. I don't know enough about guns, but I know I could tell you all there is to know about a flail versus a mace. You know?

Eric: 2:19:17

Get into the 21st century. Come on. Oh.

Sara: 2:19:20

I don't wanna. The following day, this is the sweater porn. Laura has on this gorgeous gray sweater with the little deer on it. I really like this sweater.

Eric: 2:19:30

1st of all, it seems inappropriate for the season. Deer, it was usually around Christmas. I'm not a big fan of the collar, but but, yeah, it's a sweater. So

Sara: 2:19:42

I I don't know about deer in Christmas, but I know about how cold it gets in The UK. So the sweater would be on brand for in terms of the weather. If nothing else, but... Yeah.

Eric: 2:19:51

Well, I mean, deer, reindeer, Rudolph, you know, the

Sara: 2:19:54

I mean, there's also a lot of hunting that... You're right. It does look like a Christmas sweater. Yeah. I don't know. I just like it. I think it's it's... It looks good on her. You're you're right about the collar. I'm not a fan of a turtleneck in general, but the rest of it is is quite nice, especially...

Eric: 2:20:08

Is that a turtleneck or cowl?

Sara: 2:20:10

Or cowl. I guess it would be a cowl. Yeah. Because a turtleneck's usually tighter. But... Yeah. Steele is pacing outside the room inside the Earl's estate. She tells him to relax and everything's gonna be fine. He says, it's not every day a man gets to meet his father for the 1st time. And then he's like, well, you know what I mean? Like Yeah. Daniel exits the room and says, the earl is a lovely man and his gratitude was boundless. And Laura, this had to have hurt. This had to have hurt her. Well, after all, you did save his life. She's... There's like... It's... Like, the words are coming out of her so reluctantly.

Eric: 2:20:47

Yeah.

Sara: 2:20:48

Yeah. Daniel says the Earl was thinking of making him in charge of security for the estate, and I love... Steele just looks at him, Daniel. It's like a parent chastising an unruly child. He knows exactly... I know what you're thinking. Don't. Right. Just don't. Don't, sir. Daniel says, oh, it's nothing definite. We're really discussing it. He turns to Steele and tells him that he hopes that this brings him everything he's been hoping for. And again, this works beautifully both ways. Right? It works if if they didn't decide to make Daniel his father, and it really works if they did. Because it's essentially showing that Daniel is selfless enough not to be jealous of this idea or even, you know, threatened by it to just say, like, I hope this is what you've been looking for. Yeah. Deep down, he might think that the truth is not good enough. He turns to Laura, calls her Linda again, says they'll have to postpone their luncheon, kisses her cheek, she grimaces. Yeah. And then he says he's gonna be extremely busy looking at alarm systems, lasers, light sensors, the stuff of security.

Eric: 2:22:05

A kid in a candy shop.

Sara: 2:22:06

Yeah. He really is. They... He laughs and walks away and still laughs and... As he leaves, and Laura nervously approaches him. And it's funny because she's like, oh, there's nothing to worry about. Now she's like fixing his tie and telling him not to slouch. Like, yeah, it's nothing to worry about at all. So she's clearly not anxious, not even... Not not at all. He goes into the room where the Earl is waiting. Laura brings him in and the 2 men eye each other for a moment. They tentatively approach 1 another and shake hands, and then the Earl pulls Steele in for a hug. He says he has no idea how many years he's waited for this and Steele affected says he thinks he does. And Laura stands back, but she looks very affected as well. Mhmm. Steele tells him that ever since he was a child, he knew he was different because he had no true parents and no real home. He says he was always imagining what his father was like creating and recreating his image, How he talked, how he walked, how he smiled. I mean, this is a really good delivery from Brosnan. Just the way he says it, the way he talks about it. That idea that this little boy would be envisioning who his dad was, what he would be like, what his mannerisms might be like. Because you would wonder. Right? Mhmm. And the earl says he regrets many things, but none more severely than losing Steele. Steele hopefully says there's time, there's much time. And then he asked to look at him, comments on his firm jaw, and then blue eyes. Suddenly he looks down, and Steele knows something's not right. Laura sees it too. Steele asks what it is, and he says his eyes are blue. Laura asks, is that a problem? And he says his son had hazel eyes like his mother. This only works if he had hazel eyes or brown eyes. It wouldn't work if... Like... And I mean, Brasson has blue eyes, it had to be a different color. But most babies, at least Caucasian babies, most babies are born with blue eyes. There's a select few that are not, but... And I looked this up because I was curious as to when their eyes change color if they change color because sometimes they don't. Right? Okay. But let's see here. It says, you've probably heard that all babies are born with blue eyes, but experts say this is a myth. Babies are born with all different colored eyes. Some have dark eyes already and some have blue. It's not a hard and fast rule, but Caucasian babies tend to be born with lighter eyes. While those of African American, Asian, and Hispanic descent are usually born with brown or dark brown eyes, even eyes that look black. There's a couple of people that attribute this characteristic to evolution and distance from the Equator. She notes that northern European countries tend to have more people with lighter colored eyes due to a need to absorb less sunlight. People near the Equator had tons of sun, she explains. They needed their eyes to absorb more of it and need that extra melanin as a protective barrier. That's why there's that distribution of people from the South having more brown eyes than in northern European countries. But when do they change color? Your child's newborn eye color may be blue, but that doesn't mean it'll necessarily stay that way. So does eye color change with age? The experts say it can to an extent. Babies eyes tend to change color sometime between 6 and 12 months, but it can take as long as 3 years until you see the true color of what their eyes are going to be. So this, like as a general rule of thumb, baby eye color tends to get darker if it changes. So if your child has blue eyes, they may turn to green, hazel, or brown. The changes are always going to go from light to dark, not the reverse. Right? Now, obviously, because Brosman has blue eyes, and in order to make this plot work, this actually fits quite nicely. Because if Brosman had brown eyes, it wouldn't work for the Earl to say, oh, my son's eyes were blue. Because they could have changed quite easily. Right?

Eric: 2:25:42

Okay.

Sara: 2:25:43

So even if he... Okay. And we don't know when, like how old the baby was when the Earl saw him. But he could have either been 1 of those very small percentage of children born with their eyes darker from the start, or he could have seen him when he was 6 months or so when his eyes had already changed. Those are the only 2 ways that works. Right? Like either he was born with hazel eyes right off the hop, or he didn't see the kid till he was 6 months to a year old and his eyes had already changed. Because had the baby been born with blue eyes and he had seen him as a newborn, this would not work. Gotcha. Yeah. I went down a rabbit hole a little bit because my daughter my daughter was born with blue blue eyes and hair as dark as mine. And now she has my eye color, which are hazel greenish colored eyes, And her hair is my husband's color. So her eyes got darker and her hair got lighter. But that happens. So anyway, I just thought that was an interesting little bit about baby eye color. But Yeah. Yeah. So Laura, he says his son had hazel eyes like his mother. And and that's another thing. Hazel eyes are... Hazel and green eyes are 2 of the rarest eye colors. So that's a very doubt. Like, you wouldn't...

Eric: 2:27:01

Woah. Woah. Woah. Hazel Yeah. Is rare?

Sara: 2:27:05

Yeah.

Eric: 2:27:06

No. No. That can't be right.

Sara: 2:27:11

Why? They're considered rare. Only about 5 percent of the world's population has hazel eyes, making them less common than blue or brown eyes. The rarest eye color is green. But, yeah, they're often... They're... Well, not the rarest eye color. They are less common than blue and often considered unique due to their color changing appearance. Here's why they're considered rare. Approximately 5 percent of the global population has hazel eyes. They are a mix of brown, green, and sometimes gold or amber and can appear to change color depending on the light. Hazel eyes are more common in people with ancestry from regions like Spain, The Middle East, Brazil, and North Africa. So, yeah. My daughter... My eyes are green, but can appear more brownish depending on the light. And my daughter's like a darker green, and my daughter's eyes are like a lighter green that can appear kind of goldish color depending on the light. So... But yeah. They are considered 1 of the rarest. The rarest would be green, which... Yeah. Okay. So...

Eric: 2:28:03

Yeah.

Sara: 2:28:04

Would be a very... Yeah.

Eric: 2:28:05

Girls, red hair, green eyes.

Sara: 2:28:08

Yeah. Well, yeah. Well, red hair, I mean, is also rare. Right?

Eric: 2:28:11

Yeah. But

Sara: 2:28:12

not... I mean, not

Eric: 2:28:12

And apparently getting more rare.

Sara: 2:28:14

Yeah. So... Which is a shame. Yeah. It is. My husband's a ginger. I quite like them. So... Yeah. It it... The fact that his... It's hazel eyes are a very definite color that you would not mistake, which I think is a good choice, narratively. Laura asks if he's sure adding that he only saw him once but still knows. He says, that's not the kind of mistake a father could make so easily, could he your lordship? And there's that moment where they both have to acknowledge that, no.

Eric: 2:28:43

Didn't work out this time.

Sara: 2:28:44

It didn't work out. No. Laura's confused. She says, but he's the right age. He was raised in Ireland. The watch, what about the watch? Like, she's... It's funny because Steele has already accepted what he knows to be true and so is the Earl. They're both saddened and disappointed and they're processing it. But Laura continues to fight because she wants this for him. She really, really wants him to have this. It's really sweet the way she kind of like, what about the watch? There's this, there's that. Right? And the Earl says the initials SJ stand for Sean James, the boy's name. He gave it to a friend to ensure he received it when he came of age. Laura thinks that's proof enough, but the Earl said the watch was lost or stolen. He says when she turned up, he thought it had made its way back to his son. And then Steele says, that makes sense. And Laura thoroughly confused says, what does? Steele says, father probably stole the watch, which is quite quite amusing and very likely true. The only thing that I can't figure out is Steele gets the watch with the note that says your father always wanted you to have this. Why would Daniel care whether or not he got it? So what you mean? Well, when Steele 1st received the watch, it came with a note from Patrick O'Rourke that said, your father always wanted you to have this, implying that his father had given the watch to Steele. Why would Daniel want him to have this watch?

Eric: 2:30:04

Maybe when Daniel had it and gave it to Patrick O'Rourke, it was in a box, and he didn't know the note was in it, or maybe the watch represented something either to Daniel or that Remington would maybe recall at some point that would be significant to to Steele once he remembered it.

Sara: 2:30:32

Yeah. So 1 thing I've always been curious about, because, like, you could be right. Like, I never... I didn't consider the idea that maybe the note wasn't meant for Steele at all, that maybe the note was the original note that the earl had put in with the watch for his actual son. Mhmm. In which case, Steele's just been chasing a blind alley. Mhmm. Or like you said, there could be more meaning to it that we never got to see because of the 5th season. Yeah. Yeah. It's a shame that didn't get explored.

Eric: 2:31:02

It reminds me of a home improvement episode where Jill's mother is downsizing. They're moving to a new place, and she's giving away things to the the girls that are her daughters. And Jill wants a clock because that clock was very, very significant to her, but the mother gives her a tea set because it was very significant to them, the mother and Jill. But Jill doesn't remember it Oh. Until after her mother confronts her because Tim stuck his nose in the middle of it.

Sara: 2:31:36

Of course he did.

Eric: 2:31:37

And and she explains what it was about the tea set that made it so special to her that she wanted Jill to have it. And so I I can see that as being the type of thing with Daniel and Steele where it was something significant that Daniel thought Steele would cherish it because of that, but Steele's forgotten it for for whatever reason, maybe the age at the time of that significant occurrence or because so many other things have gone on that it's just kind of gotten shoved into the back of his mind. But, yeah, I I can see where Daniel could have, you know, still, He he always carried the watch with him and Steele saw it when he was a kid and thought it was just the greatest thing on earth. And so Yeah. Later on after they

Sara: 2:32:31

were

Eric: 2:32:31

separated, Daniel wanted him to have it, so he gave it to Patty to give to Steele later on and and, you know, whatever.

Sara: 2:32:40

That's true.

Eric: 2:32:40

I don't know. I'm just talking out of my hat.

Sara: 2:32:42

No. It's it's a good a theory as any because we don't have any answer to that 1. Yeah.

Eric: 2:32:47

We don't. No.

Sara: 2:32:48

The Earl says he is truly sorry to Steele for both their sakes. They embrace once more, and Steele says that they have a long way to go before he and Laura leave. She touches his arm and says she's sorry as she looks back at the Earl 1 last time. So it's another dead end, which is sad. Back at the hotel, Steele is laying on the bed. He says, it's ironic. He came to London to try to find his name and offered his proof of his commitment. And now not only are they in the darkest to who he is, he no longer knows who he was. And I don't know what he means by this. Do you?

Eric: 2:33:19

I I think he's he's looking at having potentially, I guess, been the earl's son.

Sara: 2:33:28

Right. Okay.

Eric: 2:33:29

And also the initials on the watch giving him a clue as to who and and what he was, but now all of that has gone up in smoke. So even the initials on the watch, which which he thought were significant

Sara: 2:33:44

and important and would

Eric: 2:33:46

lead to his background, they're meaningless now.

Sara: 2:33:50

Yeah. His only clue is pretty much gone. Yeah. Laura tells him that she tried, but she couldn't get inspector Lombard to return his passports. He asked her if she likes London. She says, well, she hasn't really had time to hit the usual tourist attractions. Yeah. No kidding. Yeah. No kidding. He sits up and says, seems to him if their relationship is gonna continue, it will have to be there. That is a really... I like this line because they haven't had time in this episode for the 2 of them to sit down and have any sort of discussion about where they're at. Right? And Laura has been furious with him throughout the episode. Presumably, they've had enough... At least enough time for all of that to get explained to her satisfaction. But here he is still saying, I want to continue this relationship. And he's kind of asking, are you willing to stick it out with me no matter what? Like, no matter what happens to me.

Eric: 2:34:43

Yeah. I mean, he's basically saying, I'm respecting your previous decision, your previous announcement, your previous declaration that we separate. But if you're willing, the ball's in your court.

Sara: 2:34:58

Yeah.

Eric: 2:34:58

I would really like this, but it's up to you. I have no no say in this matter.

Sara: 2:35:03

And he literally has no control because he can't get back to The States. He can't go anywhere. It's gotta be really difficult if you don't have a birth certificate and you really don't know what your name is to get any sort of ID. Right? Like, you'd almost be forced into

Eric: 2:35:19

in another question I have.

Sara: 2:35:21

Well, That's... Yeah. I'm I'm sure we have that same question. Laura says... She smiles, sorry, and there's a knock at the door. Mildred comes in saying something that stops short when she sees him. He sits up. He looks so hopeful. He looks up at her like, just like a hopeful little kid, like, have you forgiven me yet? Are we okay? Right? He just... I look so bumpy. Like a little boy, and she scowls. And he's he's... He... Like, his little face drops, and he's like, well, seems you haven't forgiven me for my deception yet. Mildred and Laura kind of look at each other, and Mildred admits And she doesn't

Eric: 2:35:56

Can I? It just hit me when you were reading that. He accepts full responsibility for the deception in that line. He does not place any responsibility of that onto Laura, even though truthfully, she is at least a 100% responsible. I mean, he contributes some as well, but she's basically a 100% responsible because she created the situation at the very beginning, but he doesn't even... He he definitely is not throwing her under the bus even... Not even going so far as to acknowledge her role in it, even though it's it's tremendous.

Sara: 2:36:35

Yeah. No. That's very true. He's... And I think this goes back to the fact that he had attempted to tell her originally in season 2. Mhmm. And he probably feels guilty that he allowed her to believe what she had wanted to believe in his explanation.

Eric: 2:36:52

And that maybe also he accepts a great deal of responsibility for Laura not telling Mildred because he didn't insist that Laura, okay, I tried to tell her she wouldn't buy it. You need to tell her. He didn't do that.

Sara: 2:37:10

True. Yeah. I mean, it's it's... It is a good moment for him because he genuinely wants to repair the relationship between him and Mildred. He he he loves Mildred. He does. There's there's genuine love between the 2 of them, whether it's friendship or there's a certain sort of motherly feeling that she has towards the 2 of them as as as the older person in the agency. She she kinda mothers them a little bit. So he's Yeah. Hoping that she will extend that forgiveness and and not make Plus,

Eric: 2:37:38

really likes the fact that she's constantly making them tea and bringing it to him.

Sara: 2:37:42

Yeah. I know. So sweet. But... Yes. They... And then Mildred and Laura look at each other, and Mildred admits she doesn't know how she feels, and it's gonna take some time to straighten this out. But she hands him this gift box that she's holding on to. He asked what it is, and Laura says it's a consolation present for not ending up the son of an earl. I love his sarcastic, just when I need to get over my trauma, a shirt. Yes. Or a

Eric: 2:38:05

handkerchief as he's pulling out

Sara: 2:38:06

more paper. He's more tissue.

Eric: 2:38:08

Sucks, maybe.

Sara: 2:38:08

He sucks, maybe. He finally gets to the gift and looks up in surprise. Mildred smiles and says, I guess you earned it. He pulls out a passport with Remington Steele's name on it and gets choked up. I do love... And I know I know... Well, just just just save it for a minute because I know what you're gonna say here. I agree with you. But this is a truly... Like, all the other stuff aside, this is a really sweet... Like, he looks really emotionally affected by this. And Laura wishes him many happy returns. They all hug. Yay fraud, I guess. How? I'm guessing that was your question.

Eric: 2:38:43

1 of them. Okay. 1 of them. Yes. How did they get this password for Steele? I mean, they go out and find a forger? I... That's the only way they could have gotten it that as far as I can figure out.

Sara: 2:38:56

Yeah.

Eric: 2:38:57

And another question is why didn't they use Braustin's real birth date?

Sara: 2:39:02

Oh, I didn't even notice. I genuinely didn't even see that. Okay. That's that's funny.

Eric: 2:39:07

Yeah. And they're off by like 8 months because his real birth date is 05/16/1953, and the date on the passport is 09/06/1952.

Sara: 2:39:17

Oh, Why

Eric: 2:39:19

is the issuance date 09/26/1985 instead of the date that... They had to know when this episode would air, 10/01/1985. Why didn't they pull...

Sara: 2:39:29

I mean,

Eric: 2:39:30

so many opportunities here.

Sara: 2:39:32

I will admit I didn't even look that closely at it. So I

Eric: 2:39:35

I had to zoom in

Sara: 2:39:35

on it. I was, yeah, I was probably the 1 that they were expecting wouldn't look that closely at it. So I didn't worry about that. But, yeah, I I too wonder how the hell they managed to pull that off. Who did they know in London that could forge a passport illegally with that amount of time? And, like

Eric: 2:39:50

Steele would have known.

Sara: 2:39:51

Yeah. Steele would have known. That's the thing.

Eric: 2:39:52

Daniel would have probably known. Felicia would've probably known. So the only thing I can I can think of is that, a, they used a forger, and they got Daniel involved and said, hey, Daniel? We gotta get get him a passport under the name of Remington Steele. Can you hook us up?

Sara: 2:40:07

There's no way Felicia... No way in hell Felicia would do it, but I could see Daniel doing it. Yeah. I could see Laura maybe holding something over Daniel's head in order to get him to do it.

Eric: 2:40:17

Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's the There No question she would go there.

Sara: 2:40:23

Okay. Fan fiction people, there's your next assignment. I wanna see that. I wanna see that story. But, yeah, that's probably... Because Laura wouldn't have any contacts, and neither would Mildred. They don't know. Like, you're right. Steele would, but they would have to find somebody who would know his conduct. So... I I do love it, though. I think it's a really sweet... It's a gesture that's really important, not just because... Not just logistically to get him back in the country, but because it's Laura giving him that name, not just symbolically, but, like, on paper. Like, he's he's got government ID now. Mhmm. Ish ish.

Eric: 2:41:02

And I think also it's an acknowledgment by Laura that in a sense, he's no longer playing a part. Yeah. No longer an actor in a role playing Remington Steele. He is now

Sara: 2:41:21

man with no name.

Eric: 2:41:23

Yeah. He is now Remington Steele, the legitimate head of the agency. And, yeah, it... It's... He is Remington Steele now. He's not just... In her mind.

Sara: 2:41:35

Yeah. Exactly.

Eric: 2:41:36

Not just a guy who fit the suit.

Sara: 2:41:39

And she's putting herself out there too because, like, we we talked about ethically the... How creating a fake figurehead is ethically murky, but maybe not necessarily illegal. Right? As long as Right. He's not taking us the... You know? But she's gone out and committed fraud for him. Right? Like, she's... They've committed a crime for him to get him into the country because she wants him in her life. And she's she's put her... Not just her agency, but quite literally, maybe even her freedom on the line because this is a big crime to commit too. It's it's not like a small thing to forge a passport. It's a No.

Eric: 2:42:14

It's not.

Sara: 2:42:15

That carries some hefty penalties, right, to to get somebody into the country illegally like that. So...

Eric: 2:42:22

And at some point, you know that they've got to get a forged birth certificate created, so they're gonna go there.

Sara: 2:42:27

Yeah. So it's a... You're right. This is a big gesture that is not just symbolic, but also has like very literal ramifications. We are... You came for a name. Here, we're... You're you're coming... You're going home with a name. It may not be the name that you were looking for, but it's Laura's way of, like you said, saying, you are Remington Steele. There's

Eric: 2:42:51

And we've got your back to the point that we're willing to commit a crime for you.

Sara: 2:42:56

Yep. That's why I've got yay fraud at the end of the episode because I'm like, yay fraud. Because we're... We as the audience are like, yeah. It's fine. We like him. It's cool. We're okay with... You... It's okay if you do crime as long as you're, you know, doing crime for the right reasons.

Eric: 2:43:12

Yeah. Absolutely.

Sara: 2:43:14

And on that note, any other thoughts on the episode? No. No. I mean, I like it. I like this episode. Aside from the sort of tonal shift between this 1 and the last 1, this is a good opening episode for the for the season.

Eric: 2:43:29

Yeah. And it furthers Steele's pursuit of his history.

Sara: 2:43:36

Yes.

Eric: 2:43:38

Then as it takes it away, it basically says, okay, it's not really important that you know. Yeah. I think define who you are.

Sara: 2:43:48

That's a really important thing for him to to recognize and realize because it... He keeps searching for this thinking it's going to Solve his problems. Fix his life. Yeah. Yeah. Change his life, fix his life, solve his problems. But I was thinking about this the other day, and I thought, you know, even if you do find out that you've got... Maybe he's got aunts and uncles and and cousins and whatnot out there somewhere, you have no shared... Like, you may get to reconnect with them, and you may develop a relationship with them. And that may be something that is fulfilling and and, you know, something that you're grateful to have, but it's not gonna change the fact that that wasn't... Like, it's not gonna change the past. Right? Like, you don't have a shared history. You don't have a shared bond that goes back any further than when you reconnected. So it's not going to alter the way he was brought up.

Eric: 2:44:43

Not. Or not not. May in a very unwelcome way. My wife years ago used to watch a... There were some TV shows on, I guess, about adoptive kids finding their birth parents. And she enjoyed watching those because 3 of our kids are adopted.

Sara: 2:45:04

Right.

Eric: 2:45:05

And so she would watch them, but... And I don't know if it was through through the show or just her thinking about it and some things that we had to deal with with our kids. A lot of times those reunions go very, very wrong.

Sara: 2:45:26

Yeah. I can

Eric: 2:45:26

see out that their biological family are people they don't want to have anything to do with, or even worse, they think they do and they drag them down.

Sara: 2:45:39

Oh, yeah. I can see that. I can see that.

Eric: 2:45:41

And so Steele is potentially looking at 1 of those types of situations.

Sara: 2:45:47

Mhmm.

Eric: 2:45:47

And by not... And I'm not discounting the possibility that neither of those things would be true. I'm not discounting the possibility that it would be a good thing because they're good people or whatnot, but that possibility is really, really out there. And as you said also, because they don't have any shared history, even if he finds them and they're good people, there may be resentment because you're trying to come into our life. Why? Yeah. What what are you what are you are you trying to pull? What are you planning? Are are you Yeah. Think that we're... You're gonna come and sponge off of us? Is is that... Or what's the deal? So there's even in a situation where there's good people involved, it can still go bad because of distrust to motives. So

Sara: 2:46:42

And without getting too far down the rabbit hole because we're technically done, but this just made me think... You just mentioning that made me think of that... You probably don't know the song, but there's a song by a band called Soul Asylum called Runaway Train. And the Soul asylum... Like, the song itself was actually meant to be about depressing... Depressing depression. But when they made the video, they actually decided to include images of runaway children in the video as, like, missing kids because the chorus is like like a runaway train, like a madman laughing at the rain. Like, I guess the word runaway, they thought it would be good to show missing kids. And in doing so, for the longest time, it made it into the news that that video helped find at least 21 missing children through showing their picture and their name and when they went missing and all that stuff. Because every time they'd find somebody new, they'd alter the video and add another missing child in there. Really? Yeah. And so for a while there, it was thought of as like a big wonderful thing. But it turned out a lot of the kids that were found either came forward voluntarily because somebody had found them and they didn't have a choice, or they were found and it came back maybe hoping to reconcile and it didn't go well. And a lot of like the kids basically, most of them said, this was harmful. We wish we'd never been found. We ran away for a reason. So, like, you're right. It could go very wrong for him and those answers that he's looking for might only end up making things worse. So I do think the goal of the series was for him to come to terms with the fact that he doesn't necessarily need to know... I mean, it it might give him some answers, but the person he is now is the person that he needs to lean into being. So...

Eric: 2:48:43

He's looking for a past that isn't his. He has a past.

Sara: 2:48:47

Exactly.

Eric: 2:48:48

It's not... He... He's got this fantasy out there, this this this oz out there that he's he's trying to to get to that he thinks is gonna solve all his problems, and and it's not going to. Yeah. And it's not his past. It's it's a mirage. He's got a past. He just needs to accept it and move forward.

Sara: 2:49:12

Yeah. And and it seems like Laura has accepted it. Laura has accepted him. Mhmm. Giving him this passport is an is an acceptance of him. She's not on him now for not having a name. She's not... I mean, there's some unfortunate moments in the 5th season, but, like, right now, this passport... Giving this passport to him is her saying, I acknowledge who you are now, who you've become, and I don't need anything else. I don't need you to find your name. I don't need you to do this for me. Mhmm. And it's sort of an apology on her part because even though she she... Like that scene at the end of Steele of approval, it was very vague. In fact, there was a couple of Steele watchers who said that they didn't even realize at 1st that it was a breakup because her words were not... Were different than what her face was saying. Right? It was all her physical acting that gave away that it's a breakup. And, like, this could be her way of saying, I was wrong. I don't think we need to... Like, because she basically had said to him, we need to find out who we are outside the agency. That's kinda what he tried to go do. Right? Well, yeah. He went to find out who he is, but now she's saying, you don't need to do that. I know who you are. This is who you are. I'm giving this to you. So, yeah. Yeah. It's a good it's a good opener for season 4. Solid. And that's a

Eric: 2:50:25

And there was

Sara: 2:50:25

no it. There was a note. I am proven correct. And on that note, see what I did there? Yay. On the website, www.steelwatching.com, we've got show notes. We've got links to, I guess, just stay in the jackal. Think that was the only 1. Yeah. Amazon US and Amazon Canada. There are as well, you know, you can support us by buying us a coffee or becoming a supporter. You can find all that on the website as well. And other social media resources and links such as?

Eric: 2:50:57

Well, you can find ways to follow the podcast. So presumably, if you're listening to this, you're probably already subscribed. But if you have friends that wanna find out about podcast, just send them to the website. They can subscribe to it from there. They don't have to go looking for it. You can also find links to the Official Steele Watching Facebook page, Twitter, and Instagram pages, as well as a link to the ever popular, but totally unofficial, official, officially unofficial Officially unofficial. Fan group.

Sara: 2:51:28

Awesome. Alright. Well, next week's episode is a fan favorite.

Eric: 2:51:32

Oh, yes. I think

Sara: 2:51:33

it is. I personally love this 1. It is Steele blushing.

Eric: 2:51:38

Yeah.

Sara: 2:51:39

So get out your copies of Bedside Babes,

Eric: 2:51:41

bitch,

Sara: 2:51:42

and join us then. Alrighty.

Eric: 2:51:46

Alright. I guess that's it.

Sara: 2:51:48

Bye bye.

Eric: 2:51:49

Bye, everyone.