Season Two Episode Twelve: “The Reincarnation of Angie”

It would be weird to be suddenly dropped into the sort of thing that makes people call Jim. I’m willing to be that most of the people Jim deals with are confused and uncertain. Why wouldn’t they be? This is a group that’s in general either pulling his name out of a phone book or is astonished to learn that someone they know once had need for a private detective. Sometimes, they’re a friend or someone from his past, but mostly, we get the sense that these are normal people living normal lives until very suddenly they aren’t.

Jim gets a call late at night from Angela Perris (Elayne Heilveil). Her brother (Eugene Peterson) has called her. He told her to go to the safe in his house, take something out, and take it to the bank. She is not to go to the cops. Jim rescues her from someone who claims to be a federal agent, but Jim immediately spots that he isn’t. Whatever’s going on, it involves that package. Which turns out to have a ton of cash in it. It turns out to be part of a federal case.

I feel so awful that this poor girl thinks she doesn’t count as much as her wealthy brother. Because she’s just the bookkeeper in a restaurant and makes $220 a week—that’s not quite $1100 today—and he is, well, wealthy. He’s a stockbroker, sort of, and lives in an enormous house and all of that. Now, it’s also that he raised her, but still. “He knows best.” She has a real inferiority complex.

You know, I worked out who Jim was talking to on the phone from a single fact. Honestly, the fact that Jim didn’t stems, from what I can tell, from an engrained sexism. Now, that might be Jim’s or might be that of the character he’s playing; it’s hard to say for sure. Jim does tend toward sexism in ways I’m sure he doesn’t notice. I mean, of course he does. This episode is from 1975. There’s a lot of sexism from that era; women had only been able to hold credit cards in their own names in all fifty states for a little over a year at the point this episode aired.

Angie is left at the end of the episode with an identity crisis. What we know for sure is that her brother loved her enough to make at least one incredible sacrifice on her behalf. She’s also, as Jim points out, a smart, pretty, motivated young woman who can find her own way. One also rather assumes that her brother’s estate isn’t all the product of illegal enterprises, so she’s probably going to be able to actually pay Jim. Though I’m sure it’s not her first thought, nor should it be. It’s just that it would be nice if he got paid for once.

Take Care of Rockford Files: Punches out the fake agent. Gets punched as part of a ploy. Someone actually says that they can “take care” of Mr. Rockford and Miss Perris, the first time the exact phrasing has been used.