One of the simple facts of the American penal system is that people who go to prison meet a lot of other criminals. It’s possible that Jim knew some of these people before he went to prison; we honestly don’t know a lot about his life from before, and there has to be a reason he was set up. Either way, though, there are lots of episodes where some crook or another is the prefect person to help Jim with whatever he’s doing. Rocky almost always finds it deeply frustrating, because he mysteriously finds Jim’s criminal friends untrustworthy.
Jim has been hired to drive bail money to LA. Unfortunately, he gets sand in his fuel line while driving in the middle of nowhere. The only gas station for 35 miles is closing for the night as he pulls in, and the guy promises he’ll take care of it in the morning. When Jim asks what he should do about the money, the guy tells him to put the money in the land office safe, as there’s no bank in town. The next morning, the money is gone. The land office claims to be unaware of the man Jim gave the money to—until he turns up murdered, and Jim is the obvious suspect.
Rocky’s pure honesty shines through. He’s an old, moderately crabby mostly retired guy. He’s exactly the person Jim needs to appear to be a pigeon so he can get further information about the scam. Jim also needs a con man, a guy who can become the inside man. However, he of course has been burned—everyone in town knows who he is already. He’s also the reason Jim acknowledges that, yeah, he’s going to take down the scam.
Southern California for the Tourist: Normally, I limit this to the last paragraph, but this episode honestly relies a fair amount on knowledge of California history in general. Oh, you can enjoy it without knowing the details, but this episode is based on the long history of real estate scams in California. Honestly, I wonder how much of the set up is meant to call to mind Salton Sea, once a prominent resort in the desert and now essentially a toxic chemical soup slowly drying up southeast of Los Angeles. Though to be fair, there’s at least sometimes a natural lake where Salton Sea is.
People seem to like the Mediterranean climate of Southern California. I don’t—I moved to Western Washington from LA for the weather. Still, the Rose Parade exists because people in Pasadena were bragging about the Southern California climate in January, as opposed to that in, say, Chicago and New York. The idea of lakefront property in sunny California for a reasonable price would make some people decide they didn’t need to look too closely at the details. Quite a lot of people have taken advantage of that over the years, and if the show isn’t explicitly referencing Salton Sea, there’s definitely Salton Sea in its DNA.
Take Care of Rockford Files: Held at gunpoint. Car chase INVOLVING A HELICOPTER!
Not the last time Jim runs into small town chicanery, which is overall a recurring plot on 70s and crime shows, even the otherwise-NYC bound Kojak.
Great cast of character actors here, led by Dana Eclar.