There are some worlds Jim seems better suited to than others. Okay, yes, he gets into this in a fairly standard way, but it’s still at least in part a world that he’s just not going to blend into. On the other hand, it ends up being one of the most weirdly recurring plots the show has—if you haven’t guessed the show’s secret before the first commercial break, you haven’t watched that much of this series. It’s also one of those places the show is remarkably progressive for its era.
Jim is awakened in the night by a panicky woman who then hangs up on him. He is then awakened again by Beth. She, too, got the call, but she knew who it was—it was her friend Margo Adams (Doria Cook-Nelson). She’d asked Beth for Jim’s phone number and then hung up. It turns out Margo is an old friend of Beth’s who’s now working as a fashion model; now, Margo has been murdered. Jim has to go into the world of fashion, where Margo had been the chief model for Adrienne Clarke (Janet MacLachlan).
Look, Adrienne’s not wrong. It absolutely would be difficult for a black woman to break into the world of fashion design. Easier now, probably, but not much easier. Certainly you can forgive her for not looking beyond the station wagon full of cash that let her start her business. Which of course is what they were counting on. They want someone without options, because they rely on desperation.
One of the things Jim is suited to is to get details from people further down the chain. Maybe he can’t talk to the CEO, but often the secretary will give him some detail. Or a parking lot attendant or similar. He’s got the kind of attitude that makes harassed underlings want to tell him things, because he looks like he’d be sympathetic. He looks like a man who’s dealt with a crappy boss or two over the years.
Minor Actor Alert: Surely, you can’t have missed that Robert Hays has a minor role in this! No drinking problem, at least not that appears here, but there he is, a few years before he’d go on to be Stryker. It’s his first screen appearance. He’s not the most memorable person in the episode, but he’d go on to be permanently embedded in pop culture history, which is nice for him and more than most people on this show have gotten.
Take Care of Rockford Files: Conked on the head. Threatened, drives away rapidly. Car chase. Shots fired.