- Title: Scarecrow and Mrs. King – Service Above and Beyond
- IMDb: link
Scarecrow Sunday takes us to 80s Washington, D.C. and the unusual partnership between a housewife and a spy. “Service Above and Beyond” offers a simple setup with Amanda (Kate Jackson) accompanying Lee (Bruce Boxleitner) to a party where important intelligence is to be passed on. When Amanda catches the attention of one of those under investigation, and makes up an outlandish backstory based on a romance novel she’s been reading, the Agency backstops the identity allowing her to distract the corrupt businessman (Paul Shenar) while Scarecrow looks into the unsavory Russian (Walter Gotell) he’s gotten into business with.
There are oddities to the episode such as an injury to Amanda introduced in the first scene with her mother that never comes into play. The structure of the final act is also a bit odd which allows Lee to play hero carrying out a poisoned Amanda in a nice moment but also means the actual capture of the baddies really is mop-up duty for others off-camera. What “Service Above and Beyond” does show is how far Amanda has come in her short time with the Agency, carrying her own while working undercover, leading even to Scarecrow admitting she might make a good agent one day (albeit while she was unconscious in the back of an ambulance).
