Amanda: ... you see, sometimes what people don't say is a lot more revealing than what they do say …
(Waiting for Godorsky)

 

I think Lee didn't just think of Amanda as a real good friend here afer Burn out. For me, Burn out was his first step of realizing how deep his feelings go for this woman. That and because he experienced in Burn out amandas deep and serious concern for him is IMO the reason for his behaviour in MBF. Now that he knew how very important he is to Amanda and that she will ever and ever stand by him no matter what happens, I think he kind of wanted to give her something similar back. And here in MBF he saw his opportunity to show her that he cared about her and that she was just as important to him than he was for her. And that he would do everything for her no matter what it was or what it might cost him.

That's part of why he was all smile and nice and showed happiness for her. But he wouldn't be Lee if there weren't some problems for him to show his feelings! IMO he wanted to show her that he fully understands her reasons to leave the agency but at the same time wanted to cover his disappointment about it. so he was just a bit too smiling and playing happy.

That's why I always thought that there was something else going on at Amandas last visit at the agency. Somthing called misunderstanding: While Lee was all smile and nice telling her "good luck and take care" he, as I mentioned, covered his disappointment with smiling on the one hand and on the other he really wanted to show her that he had changed (for the better) and that he fully understood her and would stand by her with her decision to do what was best for her family.

But when you look at Amandas face after he left to catch the baddies, you see nothing but sadness there. She looked so terribly lost. She didn't understand what he tried to make clear. She just thought IMO that he didn't care much about her leaving the agency. That must have hurt her deeply, because I think she knew very well that her feelings for him were more than (deep) friendship. She just never allowed her feelings to get to the outside because she never thought that would get her anywhere.
But I think she began to understand what Lee wanted to tell/show her by his behaviour when he got her out of jail and after that more than once came to her house to ask if she was alright etc.

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About the way, Amanda reacts to Byron during the dinner at his place, although some people think at this point she must have been madly in love with Lee:

I think madly in love doesn't describe her feelings very well, maybe that's the problem. I never saw Amanda madly in love. Deep in love, yes, but the word madly implicates something wild and totally out of Amanda's character. She loves him at this point but she is also a sensible woman on her own, you're right, she doesn't build her life around Lee, because she knew that would have been no use for neither of them. She knew him very well and that too much of her showing her feelings might have scared him off. He had become more open to her through the last episodes but she still saw no possibility for more than friendship between them. She also didn't expect more. She might have wished more deep inside but in her day-to-day-life that was just no option.

I think she was really flattered by Jordan's advances and didn't see them as kind of sexual harassment. She just thought he was a nice man (because she almost never thought badly about a person). She liked him and maybe the thought came to her mind that there were other men on this planet than Lee, men who were not afraid of showing their feelings or admiration for her. Nice men with whom it was so much easier to get along. I can imagine - and understand - that Jordan was a nice change and that she enjoyed being admired and valued openly.

See, in this way Jordan was the total opposite of Lee. Remember how Lee behaved in "The first time"? How he from the very beginning tried to get rid of her and pushed her away so often later on? Okay, by now that had changed a lot, they were close friends now, but how much time, nerves and struggle had it cost her to get to this point?

And now there comes Jordan, sees her, offers her a job with doubling her payment, tells her from the very beginning (!!!) how much he appreciates and values her and her work, let's her know that he is interested in her at a personal level too, invites her for dinner to his house, a candlelight dinner I must add And goes on with his compliments and telling her that he doesn't want to push her (even if he does) and that a personal relationship to her would be the icing on his cake. Isn't that (maybe) what she deeo inside her heart wishes Lee would do and tell her? But he doesn't and she thinks he will never ever intend to do so.

So as a result she becomes more open to Jordan's advances because he pushed the right buttons here. She needed some attentiveness, especially after this terrible scene when she was at the agency for the last time and was so disappointed by Lee's behaviour (which she misunderstood).

But she wasn't willing to accept Jordan's advances. Even though she found him nice she didn't want a personal relationship with him. At least not here and now. Maybe she thought a man like him, with whom it was so much more easier to get along, might be an option if her heart would have been free. But her heart wasn't free and she was well aware of that.

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I'd like to add something to my previous comment.

Here it is:

The longer I think about this episode the more it appeares to me that MBF is kind of a mirror episode to "The first time", in which two total opposites of men characters are shown to Amanda and thus two different options for her.

In "The first time" Amanda gets the opportunity for a new job by a man she accidentally meets: Lee
In MBF she gets a job by a man she meets for the first time at the agency but who I assume might have spotted Amanda earlier and now takes the chance to get to her by offering her a job.

The man who recruits her in TFT, Lee, doesn't like the idea to work with her, he wants to get rid of her, he is not able to say something nice or that she has done something well. It takes him about a year to finally admit that her work was more that "not bad" (and another half year to admit they were partners).

In MBF this other man, Jordan, appears to be the head of a security company who needs a new personal assistant. He offers her the job right away, tells her that he thinks she is the best for the job because he knows about her skills and because has talked to her associates: He, in other words, tells her that he would like to work with her.

Lee from the very beginning wants to get rid of her or later pushes her away.

Jordan from the beginning tries to pull her closer by telling her how nice she is and what good work she does.

Lee always denies that there is more than business between them.

Jordan tells Amanda from the beginning that he would like to become personally involved with her.

I might add several more examples, but I think you all see what I mean? What do you think about that?

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I must add another point:

I wonder why this, if it really is a mirror to the first episode in S1, wasn't the last episode of S2. In this context that might have been appropriate.

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I don't think that Lee actually expected Amanda to leave him, when she resigned from the Agency. On the contrary, to me it seems as if he is so shocked because he never expected that to happen. I think Amanda was the first person he began to trust enough to depend on, at least started to depend on. He said earlier that he wished he could do something for her, but he couldn't (or didn't have the right idea, yet), so when he heard her explanation why she had to leave the Agency, he fully understood her. He knew her well enough to realize that didn#t like to leave the Agency but also that her family was most important in her life. She just had to accept Jordan's job offer. That's a thing Lee much appreciates in Amanda, her absolute loyalty to her friends. And even though it hurts him he wants to show her that he understands and agrees with her decision. that's why he tries to cover his disappointment. As I pointed out in my earlier comments on this, Amanda might have misunderstood Lee in that respect. That's why she looked so lost when he and the other agents left the bullpen.

So I think the tag shows a nice kind of growth in Lee's character/behaviour, because he and Billy figured out a way to get Amanda back. With that he shows her how much he wants to go on working with her and - at the same time - that he cares about her private/financial situation.

BTW, this topic gets a nice revival in season three (The Boy Who Could Be King), when Lee even offers to co-sign Amanda's request for a loan.

 

 

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