Two Hundred A Day - Episode 143: If It Bleeds... It Leads

Episode Date: September 29, 2024

Nathan and Eppy bid a bittersweet farewell to Rita with the final Rockford Files TV Move: If It Bleeds... It Leads (1999). This was a hard one! Rita's husband, schoolteacher Ernie (Hal Linden) is falsely accused of a series of child sexual assaults, and while Jim helps to clear his name, it's not enough to prevent a series of tragedies. While this one has wonderful performances and some great spots of the Rockfordishness we always love, the content and tone made it tough to say we "enjoyed" it. It did give us great closure on "Rita and Jim, their whole thing" but, unfortunately, was not the warm victory lap to bid farewell to our friends that we kinda wanted. Content Warnings: the plot is about a child rapist, scenes include child endangerment and there is a (relatively) graphic suicide. We have another podcast: Plus Expenses. Covering our non-Rockford media, games and life chatter, Plus Expenses is available via our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/twohundredaday) at ALL levels of support. Want more Rockford Files trivia, notes and ephemera? Check out the Two Hundred a Day Rockford Files Files (http://tinyurl.com/200files)! We appreciate all of our listeners, but offer a special thanks to our patrons (https://www.patreon.com/twohundredaday). In particular, this episode is supported by the following Gumshoe and Detective-level patrons: * Richard Hatem * Bill Anderson * Brian Perrera * Eric Antener * Jordan Bockelman * Michael Zalisco * Joe Greathead * Mitch Hampton's Journey of an Aesthete Podcast (https://www.jouneyofanaesthetepodcast.com) * Dael Norwood wrote a book! Trading Freedom: How Trade with China Defined Early America (https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/T/bo123378154.html) * Chuck Suffel's comic Sherlock Holmes & the Wonderland Conundrum (http://whatchareadingpress.com) * Paul Townend recommends the Fruit Loops podcast (https://fruitloopspod.com) * Shane Liebling's Roll For Your Party dieroller app (https://rollforyour.party/) * Jay Adan's Miniature Painting (http://jayadan.com) * Brian Bernsen's Facebook page of Rockford Files filming locations (https://www.facebook.com/brianrockfordfiles/) * Brian Cummins, Robert Lindsey, Nathan Black, Jay Thompson, David Nixon, Colleen Kelly, Tom Clancy, Andre Appignani, Pumpkin Jabba Peach Pug, Dave P, Dave Otterson, Kip Holley and Dale Church! Thanks to: * Fireside.fm (https://fireside.fm) for hosting us * Audio Hijack (https://rogueamoeba.com/audiohijack/) for helping us record and capture clips from the show

Welcome to 200 Today, the podcast where we talk about the 70s television detective show and the 90s television movies of The Rockford Files. I'm Nathan Poletta. And I'm EpidioPaparus Shaw. And here we are, Epi, at long last with the final of the eight TV movies, 1999's The Rockford Files, colon, If It Bleeds, It Leads. Yeah. This one's a little large. In our recent mythology.

Well, I mean, Nathan and I have not both have not seen this one, right? Right. Yeah. I mean, I haven't seen any of the movies. And I think once we started doing the movies, I intentionally chose not to watch them ahead of time. Each of them that we've come to, I've been like, I haven't seen this one. Right. But for whatever reason, the last one in the series feels even more I've been not watching it on purpose. Same. I may have caught the movies at some point in my life. I've lived many years now.

A factoid from the Ed Robertson book, apparently after this one. So these were all on CBS, right? So after this one aired, they ended up going, the rights ended up going to the Hallmark Channel for rebroadcast. So they've been playing on the Hallmark or had been playing for many years on the Hallmark channel. So between my Christmas romances and my Hanukkah romances, I might have found a Rockford Files movie. But that said, this title, If It Bleeds, It Leads, has always been sitting out in the future, right? This is the last Rockford media aired.

Ever. Ever. Yes. There was a remake attempt that I think they never aired at some point. And there was like you know there's been like interviews with Garner and stuff like that. Yeah yeah yeah so you know having not experienced it sat high in the the imagination right. It's like, okay, how do we end this? I am a huge fan of learning how TV series end. There's some great examples out there from some of my,

like I have my favorite examples of how TV series ends. I don't think there's like perfect ways to end TV series. I think there's a lot of different ways you could do it, depending on the series. Some of them, like a very common thing that they do, and I think we kinda talk about this from time to time, is that they just do a victory lap, right? They're like, hey, we've enjoyed doing this altogether,

we're all having fun, we're just gonna do a romp. And in fact, the last, not aired Rockford Files, but the last one they recorded was the one in Hawaii, right? Or it's amongst them. Yeah, it's in that final two. Yeah, I forget exactly the sequence. But yeah, the Hawaii one was was in the sixth season and was like James Garner was like, oh, you want to set one in Hawaii? Well, we're taking the whole cast and crew. Yeah, exactly. We're going to have fun.

Yeah. So all that said, all that said, let's do some content warnings. All right. So yeah, here's the deal. OK, this movie directed by Stuart Margolin, which is interesting, but ultimately, I don't know why I was like, ooh, exciting. Right. Ultimately, I think not particularly notable. He's a capable director. Yeah. Yeah. Obviously, we were very excited about it because just as things happened, we are doing a our own victory lap. Right. Yes.

On the Rita Moreno character on Rita Capcovich. Yes. And and so Rita and Jim, their whole thing, as we've, you've you know determined stars Rita is written by Juanita Bartlett asterisk the credits are Juanita Bartlett and Stephen Cannell like story and then the teleplays by Ruben letter who had not done any Rockford files but worked with Johnson with Chas Floyd Johnson the producer on Magnum P.I. so he wrote 31 episodes of Magnum P.I. so there you go also seven episodes of the Incredible Hulk which we like to call out and he created he's a series creator on the 90s reboot

flipper show yes so some prestige there again in that Robertson book. So Juanita Bartlett was going to write it. She broke her wrist and so she was unable to like do that. So Cannell stepped in to help develop the story and brought in Rubin Leader to do the teleplay. I don't know. There's something. And this might just be because I was looking for it. And then I learned that.

And I was like, oh, obviously, I feel like there is a little something, a little spark that I expected from a Winnie the yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think we see it in the story, but we don't necessarily see it in the script. But I might be reading that in because I learned this fact. Right. I mean, yeah. Oh, and then the other kind of weird thing, it's not weird to us because we're watching them out of time, but this movie was written and produced in 1997. It was the last of the extension deal that they did. So it was originally six movies. CBS liked them, so they optioned two more. So this was the last of those. And then it sat on the shelf for two years and

then aired. In 99? Yes, but not just in 99. On April 20th, 1999. So it actually did very well in its time slot. It was second in its time slot. However, its time slot was opposite Dateline NBC coverage of Columbine because that happened that day. And that is just a cosmic. Yeah, I don't know if that's an irony, but there's something there. Or again, reading that, I was like, is this movie cursed?

It's not. But the vibes, the vibes started to turn. So content warnings. Cursed. It's not. But the vibes, the vibes started to turn. So content warnings. This movie is it is about a man who is falsely accused of being a pedophile and of assaulting underage girls. Yes. And that is what this is about. Right. Including the actual assaulter is a character. Yes. We're're gonna open on Not a graphic, but an assault child endangerment that does not have a good ending yeah, and uh

we should content warn about suicide there's going to be a suicide in it and Also as always is the case with Rita the fact that she's a sex worker is going to Play into the plot yeah, and you know this is like from the jump, right? Like the not only the intro to the movie, but like the description on IMDb. Jim Rockford must help a friend unjustly accused of child molestation. So that's all in here. And yeah. Hearts on the table. I was, and I think I'm speaking for Nathan as well. I think we were both expecting a little bit of a victory lap or just, you know, like a fun Rockford to end it all on.

This is not a bad Rockford, but it's not a happy-go-lucky fun Rockford. I agree. There's a set, there's a situation here. I think again, I think I speak for you. We wanted this to be a certain thing. Yes. And then starting to watch this, I was like, oh, this movie is not what I wanted it to be. Like what I wanted was like, yes, revisiting the Rita Jim dynamic, finding out how she's developed over all these years, what she's up to. Yes yes will there be an edge of something

dangerous or dark or serious yes probably will we get to see our friends getting the band back together yes of course right because we are reaching the end of our show will it be a triumphant send-off to all the things that we love about this character and about their dynamic and about this yeah kind of episode I like hopefully I think to some extent like it does right by all of that we love about this character and about their dynamic and about this kind of episode. I like, hopefully. I think to some extent, like it does right by all of that. I'm glad that we're that we're watching it in close proximity, like back to back with

that last Rita episode specifically because the ending scene of this movie, I think is a direct direct reference to the ending scene of that episode. And that's what I want. Right. And so like. Yeah, and that's what I want right and so like yeah Yeah, is kind of what I wanted That's not this movie. So I had to realign What I was expecting in order to get into what this movie is about and then once we're into what this movie is about I was like, I don't really want to be watching this Not because it's not good, because it is good.

It's just depressing. It's depressing. This one's a bummer. And there's a specific angle on it. The villain of the piece is the child molester. But the real villain of the piece is like the news media. Right. Which I'm like, that's fine. But that moment. So, again, this is made in 97. Right? Yeah. So this is in the wake of we're talking. OJ Simpson trial, we're talking, what am I thinking of?

Nancy Kerrigan, like, like, these these moments that got hugely amplified by the media as stories, capital S stories, sensationalistic media. When did are we talking Princess Diana? I think that's maybe a little later. Okay, so that was in 1997. So okay, I can only imagine that was after this. I mean, he was written, but it's paparazzi harassment. Yeah, like that moment feels passe to me.

Yeah, you know, so like it is really hard for me to engage with that treatment and be like, yeah, they're the real bad guys, because that whole cultural moment is has just disseminated into our world now, which just has a different way of being horrible. That's just not that way. Yeah. Like, I'm just now realizing the cosmic irony of the fact that it aired opposite of the Columbine coverage. Which is another, I think, peak moment of this kind of TV media sensationalism. Not that that wasn't horrible because it was.

Right. But the way that that changed how schools worked in order to try and avoid this kind of thing. Amplifying the panic about video games being damaging, like all that stuff. It's all part of this weird bundle that I'm reacting to. I think I'm thinking out loud here. The critique that we get. this, and we get it very directly. Well, we get it like two very direct ways. One, the media are the only... Okay, so the rapist is not a sharply drawn character. He's a...

He's a cipher. He's a monster. We don't need to know much about him. But the media is a is is a character of the media. And it's it's pretty obvious. Like we get like the the room in which the media decides that they're going to ignore. Yeah, it's it's. And then we also get this moment of like, I mean, you kind of want it. We enjoy Jim's Moral Center, and we do like it when Jim takes people down a peg using that, that's one of the joys of the Rocker Files.

I'm not saying that we always are on Jim's side about things or anything like that, but we do have this scene later in this film where he gets to, on camera, take the media down a peg, and it is both because of that caricature, and also because, like you were were saying it's not a very complete argument. Yeah. I do like how they rock for it in that like doing it. A good verb. The way that they rock for it in that moment. Yeah. That is continuity with the character.

Like that is a good Rockford the character moment where I'm like, yeah, this this is who this guy is. But like in contrast, when So Help Me God, which like take the thing that and like exposes it in a way that takes an injustice and exposes it to the public. This this one. OK, so so are two. So this is an issue movie, right? Like we talked about issue episodes and whatever. So like So Help Me God and The House on Willis Avenue are two. Yes, theyar issue episodes. And in both of those episodes, what the show is doing is taking a situation that Rockford finds himself in,

that your average audience goer can be assumed not to really know very much about. So it's explained what it is. And then through Rockford's action, the hypocrisy of it is revealed, the counter argument is made because he is saying, I think there's actually a quote about the movie in the Ed Robertson book here. So I'm going to quote from a couple paragraphs here from 30 years of the Rockford Files, because I think this is exactly what we're trying to say. Though mostly remembered for its car chases, snappy dialogue, and off-the-wall characters,

Rockford was also a show with depth. In any given week, writers such as Juanita Bartlett or David Chase were liable to use the Rockford character as a vehicle to address the kinds of social ills we see portrayed in If It Bleeds, It Leads. Invasion of privacy, rush to judgment, our tendency as a country to try certain high-profile cases in the media and other issues of fairness. I'm skipping a couple sentences. When a character like like Rockford or in the case of the movie one of his friends Suddenly finds his rights violated or his life intruded upon by an overly aggressive media It often makes us stop and think about the issue at hand Perhaps more than we otherwise would have after all if it can happen to Jim Rockford it can happen to anyone

Yeah, Jim is he's the everyman. He's the everyman in this. Even though he's an extraordinary person, he is not protected in the same way that any person off the street, any of us, we are not somehow protected from these things. Right. Yes, exactly. But I think there's an element maybe and again, may this is just the position of where we are with reference to the 70s episodes and then this or what?

Like the relationship in time and those themes of sensationalism, the media not telling the true story, or like trying to get the media to correct the record, like those are all themes throughout the show. Jim and the news media have a, and the press have a different relation, have a distant confrontational relationship often. However, in these issue episodes there's an element of, hey did you know that this is how this works? That I feel like in this movie... I was gonna say it does exist but it doesn't exist in reference to the media. Yeah. Because it exists in how, I mean we should probably get into it if we're

gonna get into it, but it exists in in how Jim is trying to get, uh, Ernie to interact with the police. Like Jim is, is like, don't get a lie detector test. There's, there's this thing about how both Rita and Ernie are, have their own ways of thinking about like, how do I resolve this quickly with the least damage to my reputation? And they, they do things that are against Yeah, they make the wrong moves. They make the wrong moves. And Jim is like right there each time like, I have experience here. Yeah, don't do this. And they and they ignore them. We don't get that with the media. Like we don't see

that with the media like we don't see the media is such a caricature that it's like yeah I don't know it doesn't feel like oh I'm learning this revelation it's more like yeah you know how you hate sensationalist media mm-hmm here's an even more overblown version here's why you should hate them yeah it's like I'm not trying to say that this kind of stuff didn't happen like the rewards and incentives for sensationalistic journalism did and I'm sure still do create horrible situations that ruin people's lives. I'm not trying to say that that's not true, but there is a little bit of like, oh, come on with like how strong and drawn, yeah, how arch they are in this movie. Okay. Anyway, we should talk about

the movie. Okay, anyway, we should talk about the movie. 200 a Day is a 100% listener-supported show, thanks to our patrons. In addition to our gratitude and editing access to the 200 Files Files spreadsheet, patrons receive exclusive episode previews every month and Plus Expenses, our bonus podcast where we talk about media, work, and our lives. In addition, every episode we say thank you to our Gumshoe patrons. Brian Bernsen has a Facebook page where he drives his Rockford tribute car to shooting locations from the show. Facebook.com slash Brian Rockford files. Chuck Suphel's one-shot comic Sherlock Holmes and the Wonderland Conundrum is available at WhatchaReadingPress.com. Find Dale Norwood's book, Trading Freedom, How Trade

with China Defined Early America, wherever good books are sold. It's about fast ships, cheap drugs, and American political economy, published by the University of Chicago Press. Join Mitch Hampton to examine all matters aesthetic and what it means to be human at the Journey of an Esthete podcast, wherever you get your podcasts. Paul Townand also recommends the podcast Fruit Loops, Serial Killers of Color, at Fruit Loops Pod dot com. Shane Liebling has all of your online dice rolling needs covered at his website, Roll for Your Dot Party. And check out Jay Adan's amazing miniature painting skills over at JayAdan dot com.

Thank you to Andrea Apignani, Tom Clancy, Pumpkin Jamba Peach Pug, Dave P., Dave Otterson, Kip Holley, Dale Church, Colleen Kelly, David Nixon, Nathan Black, Robert Lindsay, Jay Thompson, and Brian Cummins. And finally, special appreciation for our Detective Little patrons. Joe Greathead, Michael Zalisco, Eric Antenor, Brian Pereira, Jordan Bockelman, Not Brockleman, Bill Anderson, and of course, Richard Haddam. If you're interested in keeping us going for as little as $1 an episode, check out patreon.com slash 200 a day to see if becoming a patron is right for you. Well, this one starts like a John Carpenter film.

So this one is a little interesting in reference to the last one, because that one started like a like a procedural cop drama, right? Where we had like the watching like some mysterious person like observing the undercover cops and whatever. Yeah, yeah. And then this one starts like a horror film. So how about you take it away because that's your Ballywick we've got a lilting piano. I don't think this piano is meant to sound Terribly spooky, but it's not meant to reassure us. There's a lot of minor key piano Yeah to tell us that things are are are off dramatic and off and wrong

Yeah, basically we're the I don't know remember if we have exactly the point of view but it's very a peeping Tom camera. The camera's aimed at this little girl carrying groceries and it makes you feel like oh this girl is in trouble because you're from the point of view of someone sneaking. Again I don't think it's specifically the point of view although it probably is from time to time, but it just, the camera positions feel very voyeuristic, I guess, is it? Yeah, and this is the scene that's gonna lead up

to her being abducted by the villain of the piece. He's wearing a hoodie, a hooded sweatshirt, with the hood up, and that's a signature. So every time we see him, it's with the hood up shadowing his face. This is important. I think we do see his green four by four. We see his green four by four. Yeah.

And then, yeah, there's this I determine an ominous montage of watching this girl walking home. She does have a paper bag full of groceries. So I'm like, a lot of a lot of cheese puffs. I'm like, oh, a Rockford thing. But then because of this whole scene, I'm like, but I don't like that. Yeah. Because I associate that with joy. And this scene is is bad.

Not. Yeah. Poorly done. But is a bad thing is about. Yeah. We watch a montage of her basically being stalked by this four by four chased off the road. And then this man jumps out and chases her on foot and we see the dropped groceries and then she's saying no off camera and kind of like scream crying and then we got to Paradise Cove and yeah I'm just like oh the butt these are not this isn't what I where I wanted to be with this movie yeah so it took me a while to be like I need to just watch the movie and you know see what it's doing.

But yeah, that first scene was a lot harder than I was anticipating, even having read the description going into the... Yeah, exactly. But in the movie's favor, we now also get the credits, which include just an all-star cast. That's true. Rita. We're gonna see Rita. We're to see, I think Gretchen comes up in the credits here. Yeah. We get Hal Linden. Yeah.

Yeah. He's Barney Miller. Let's see him. Tom Atkins. So we're like, oh, yep. Commander deal. Commander deal. Oh, and then the surprise, very small role, but good role.

Denise Crosby. Yeah. Star Trek's own Lieutenant Yar. Lieutenant, that's right. I keep going commander in my head, but it's Lieutenant. Lieutenant Yar. Yeah. Who I think probably wasn't Lieutenant Yar at the point of this, I think.

Well, this is post-Star Trek. Mm-hmm. Because wasn't it 96 was the last one, I think? Or she was right in the end because she was in the last, speaking of season, or of episode, or... The enders. Speaking of series enders, she was in the series, speaking of season or of an episode or the enders, speaking of series enders, she was in the series ender for Next Generation. So possible. Anyway, one of my takeaways from this movie is this might be the strongest set of performances

as like watching actors do acting of any of the movies. It is a bunch of really strong performances from both our regular, you know, friends and also our guest stars. It's really, really good stuff. But yes, another weird thing was that going to Paradise Cove and into this kind of humorous setup, there was still no music. So it felt eerie. That was very weird to me. So it's the 25 year anniversary of the sandcastle. Yeah, they're setting up the balloons and everything but Carlos the the waiter I suppose is having trouble filling the balloons and they keep popping and so Jim is

Disturbed just trying to have his morning toast the proprietor. I guess his name is Critch We I don't think we ever got his name in the last movie But now he is he's a named character in this one Yeah, he apologizes to Jim and who says is a is interesting actually breakfast at the okay corral Are we trying to get like Jim PTSD here? Like what is I was trying to figure that out because the joke here is that Jim can't catch a break, right? Like you can't enjoy breakfast because there's this party later and they just keep popping balloons. Uh, but Jim's been shot at.

They acknowledge that like in the dialogue, they acknowledge it. Um, but they don't like go to, to any sort of like him reacting to it. He just seems annoyed by the balloons. He's just disgruntled. Yeah. It's more that his routine is being disturbed. There's a moment where this like one of the staff is putting up some streamers or something and Chris tries to get her to get Jim some coffee and he says no I don't need any more coffee and then she falls off the stepladder.

It's just a weird pratfall. The idea is that like the staff doesn't know how to put a party together. I guess. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. But the party will be fun. It'll be good friend, good food and old friends. And Jim's like, of course, I wouldn't miss it for the world. His morning paper does have a big front page headline of a police sketch over a headline West Side Rapist Sought in New Assault. And there's a moment where I think Critch looks at it and says, that looks familiar.

Why do police sketches always look like the guy next door? This is setting up our story to come. I had not read the description of the movie, so I didn't know exactly what was going to happen. And I kept trying to figure out if that sketch is supposed to look like Jim with a mustache. I was like, even knowing that how Lyndon was in this, I didn't put it together because of that remark, the guy next door, right? Who's Jim?

So Jim hears whistling coming from his trailer. And of course we had a good, good angel scene. But then so we have some more credits over this this sequence leading up to Angel, who's using Jim's shower. You did not notice Angel comes out wrapped in a towel. Oh, hey, Jimmy, you got a pair of underwear I can borrow. Jim boxers are briefs. And it just in one of the great casual Angel lines,

it don't matter, man, you know, I ain't particular. Yeah, the created by Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Canal titles over Angel in a towel coming out of Jim's bathroom, which is fantastic. It's so good. Give me, let me get my pants on. Angel, this is breaking and entering.

Those are my threads. What the hell are you doing here anyway? Well, now that should be obvious to a sophisticated investigator like you. I was taking a shower as I got no gift to call my own. We learn through the scenes. So there's, you know, again, great Jim, Angel banter as is always the way we learn that Angel has run out of money. He was not able to make rent. He's been kicked out of his apartment.

What happened to the money that Jim loaned him for the rent? That he lost it on a Greyhound race. But Jim was theoretically going to Ensenada to fish, one presumes. So Angel thought he was going this week, but that's until next week. And so that's, you know, Angel snuck in to try and take advantage of Jim being gone. Obviously, is that what Jim is going to be wearing to the party? Jim's like, why do you care? You were not invited to the party.

It's like, well, maybe I can accompany someone who was invited. See, Jim, you you just see it as a party. I see it as an opportunity because he needs to do some networking. I Need some bread. We should take a moment to acknowledge the pants the angel puts on It's great because this image that you have is got this burgundy purple towel Mm-hmm, and the pants are almost the exact same color. They are like incredible Hulk pants. You expect him to Hulk out and just have these purple jeans left over. I do appreciate the wonderful confidence of, as the director, putting yourself in with

no shirt for the entire first scene, for this extensive scene. It's Angel walking around in around just pants presumably without any underwear I mean, I don't want to get too into it, but he was just asking if he could borrow some and did not get a definitive answer Well, Jim kicks him out and on his way out He did look at Jim's newspaper and sees the police sketch and has the line. Hey that perv there looks like somebody So we're getting all these nods to like, this seems like a familiar face. We go to that night.

It is the anniversary party is in full swing. There's sparklers, there's balloons, there's lots of people. Everyone's having a good time. Critch does have a question for Jim. Did you ask Angel to come with you? Angel is hustling at a table. He is talking to a Mr. Gillespie, who is played by one of my favorite character actors.

And and Rockford files that guy's George Weiner. Yeah, he was in four episodes of the 70s series, all in in little side characters that were super fun to watch. So I was like, oh, cool, that guy. Jim says, consider him bounce. Angel hustles him inside to keep talking about whatever deal is that he wants to talk to him about. Speaking of deal. Speaking of deal. Well, we see deal.

There's two couples that arrive at this thing that are. The first couple is Rita and Ernie. that are important. The first couple is Rita and Ernie. Though, and Ernie is, as we're saying, Hal Linden, TV's on, Barney Miller. I've never watched Barney Miller, so I get to just experience him pure as this character, which No, he's good. was very good. Barney Miller's fun. I recommend. I associated with being earlier, but I was looking at it, and it actually basically ran

during the Rockford Files. 1974 to 1982. Contemporary, if you will. But yes, it is Rita and Ernie. We have a great Rita appears. She runs over to hug Jim. We are very excited because this is what we wanted. Like, yay, our friends are back. They're having a party. Especially for the length. I really didn't take that many screenshots, but I our friends are back. They're having a party. Especially for the length. I really didn't take that many screenshots, but I did get this one.

Yes. Rita's just super excited to see Jim. So that's very good. So we get her introducing her husband, Ernie, through the dialogue. We get obviously this has been, you know, they've been married for a while. Dialogue. Right. And so she's so excited. She she keeps talking.

Ernie keeps trying to say something. She cuts him off. And then he finally says, let me know when you get to a period. There's a great feeling of like, OK, this is cool. Like this is their dynamic. Right. Yeah. Yeah. No, they do a great job of introducing them as as as a couple that works well together. I think this is like really deft character setting, like from the actors to the writing.

This is a good, good, good work. Yeah, she says, I didn't mean to run off out the mouth every time I get excited. I can't seem to shut up. Just like, yeah, sounds right. Let's see. We then we get our second important couple that walks by. Our good friend Dennis Becker and Commander Deal.

Yes. Who is the grumpiest grump. Dennis joins Jim, Rita and Ernie. If I haven't mentioned it yet tonight, you look sensational. That is a fact. Oh, you think? Not exactly PTA. Well, since this isn't a bake sale, it works out fine. That is a fact. Oh, you think? Not exactly PTA.

Well, since this isn't a bake sale, it works out fine. Oh, what a doll. You see what you started 12 years ago? What? What? You like you don't know Ernie and me? You got me this gig as the hostess here? You told them there's this girl I know? I thought I introduced you two guys.

No, I did. You see, you admit it. Dennis tries to introduce Ernie to Commander Deal. Mm-hmm. I think he said, Commander, this is my friend. He's like, hi, I'm Ernie. And Deal says, I'm thirsty, and just like walks away. Yes. Ha ha ha ha ha.

There's a great line where Rita gives Dennis like a kiss on the cheek and then talking about his beard. What's with the cookie duster? Good turn of phrase. And he says it's a it's a rash and then Rita goes into turns out that she is a Distributor for cosmetics and she has a yes cream that will take care of that etc. Etc I don't think it will surprise anyone that like Rita is just got it seems like three or four side gigs Yeah going on and yeah, I don't think we have a line about it now, but I think it is clear from context for those of us who know this character

that she is no longer doing sex work. Right. Yeah. Yeah. This becomes part of the script later, but I think at this moment, like, okay, cool. There's a moment where Rita waves to Carlos, the inept balloon blower who is excited to see her. So part of this also is like, Jim set her up with a job at the sand castle. And that's where her and Ernie met. Yeah. Yeah. So she waved to Carlos, Carlos waved back and then like he gets a weird look on his face. And I think we're supposed to be like, oh, he saw Ernie. We're kind of drawing towards, oh, Ernie matches the police sketch.

Right. Thanks to Hal Linden's trademark mustache. Yes. Jim and Dennis go to the bar. Rita says get her a white wine, get Ernie a ginger ale. That'll be okay for her stomach. We have a running thing about how he has an ulcer that comes up later. And there's a line in here somewhere, I came back because I forget, because it matters at the very end and I was like, oh, I should note that. But there's a line in here somewhere where Rita is telling Jim how great Ernie is.

And he's like breaking off or something, and he calls her sweetie. Like, I'll see you later, sweetie, or something like that. And then she tells Jim, oh, I just love it when he calls me sweetie. Yes. This is important later. Specifically, her line is,

don't you just love it when he calls me sweetie? Like, the universal you. Doesn't the whole world love when he calls me sweetie? And that's so delightfully Rita, right? Because we do. We, we love it when someone loves Rita. Inside at the bar, there's a big like projector TV, like the big projection screen with the TV projected on it, playing the news for some reason, which

seems like a weird choice for this party. They're running a story about this latest assault from the West Side Rapist. It's the third in the last two months and they flash up the same police drawing that was in the newspaper. Jim and Dennis give each other a significant look. Someone changes the channel to like a hockey game. Here's the moment where I was like, I am not the audience for this movie because if I had not read the plot description, I would not think that that looked like Ernie because I have, you know, a certain level of like face blindness.

Sometimes it's hard for me to distinguish faces or I think one person looks like another person and they don't. Yeah. So it would have taken me until the end of this scene where they talk about it. This whole time I'm like, so why is like, is he supposed to look like someone? Like, I know he's supposed to look like someone. I know we've met Ernie, but that sketch and his face do not look the same to me. It took me a while, too.

And I think the dissonance is a little bit is everyone in the movie being like, Oh, my God, that looks like Ernie. Yeah. And I'm like, yeah, that's it. That's it. But I guess it's supposed to. This is coming from the person who has never understood that the scene in the scene in Empire Strikes Back, when Luke goes into the cave to like fight Vader and he cuts Vader's head off and the mask comes off and it's his own face. I was an adult before I realized that was supposed to be his own face.

I was like, so is that what Vader looked like as a young man? Which I guess is also what it is. But like, is that what he looked like before he looked weird at the end of the, you know, Jedi? Like, it's a great assault. Take that for what it's worth. Listeners, I often when I want to sneak past Nathan in a crowded room, I'll just take my glasses off. That's true.

He won't recognize me. If Epi shaved his beard, I would never know who he was. I'd be like, who is this stranger talking to me on Skype? I did that for Halloween once. Shaved my beard off and went to a party and I got into like a 10 minute conversation with a friend of mine before he realized who it was. Anyway, so we then get into a weirdly confrontational conversation between Jim and Dennis, where they end up asking what's bugging, you know, what's bugging you? Nothing. What's bugging you? And then Dennis starts asking Jim what he thinks about how Ernie looks.

It's like the weirdest circumspect. Like, how would you describe Ernie? You've known him for a while. Would you say his chin is... Does he have like a Roman nose? Roman nose? Yeah. Yeah, it was weird, but I mean, not... But not out of tune with Dennis.

Not unenjoyable to watch. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, like it was kind of fun to watch them kind of... Like, Jim really wants Dennis to drop it. Yeah. And it just wasn't going to happen. Well, Jim's like, look, it's a cosmic coincidence. Ernie is he's like as close as a person can get to being a saint. Well, he's a lousy fisherman.

Except he's a fisherman. Right. Yeah. I said something like, what do they say? He drives a green four by four. And that's like I'm parked behind Ernie. He drives a green Jeep. And then Deal comes up just to make sure we get it deal walks up to them and goes That man is a dead ringer for the West Side Rapist friend of yours Rockford deal

But Rockford's response is great. He's like a good one Yeah, Dennis even stands up a little bit for him too. So that's good Well deals like you should get a statement backer and backers. He's a friend of mine, too. And that says, then you better do it now. All right. So we have a comic, just a little sussong of things to come outside where Angel and Mr. Gillespie are happy to be doing business with each other.

And Angel is looking forward to getting that deposit check in the mail. And we're like, oh boy, we'll see what happens there. Rita, Ernie, Jim, and Dennis come out. Obviously, this subject has been broached and now they are arguing about it. Rita is incensed. You're acting like a cop, not a friend. While Ernie is saying, it does look like me. This is a blessing in disguise. I'll go downtown. We'll get this whole thing over with. He's been getting weird looks all day and

he wants to clear it up. Yeah. Rita says it's not fair, but basically like Ernie and Becker kind of like reason her down. Yeah. She doesn't feel like partying. Jim's like, okay, come stay with me. I'll make you a cup of coffee. And then she's like, I'll make the cup of coffee. Right. Yeah, it's very Rita. Yeah. But then she'll leave some for you. And she gives I think she gives Ernie a kiss. And it's very sweet. Because obviously he's going to be back soon. Ernie and Dennis in the car going downtown, Jim or Rita in the trailer talking. Ernie and Dennis, Ernie is getting more and more nervous about this whole thing. This all, you know, happens over a series of scenes, but basically he's like, I don't like how this is going to look now that I'm sitting here with you going downtown at night after a party. Dennis, don't you understand?

The very nature of my profession makes me particularly vulnerable to any kind of innuendo. The hell are you talking about? What kind of innuendo? What innuendo? That I'm a sexual pervert. Come on, please. OK, knock it off. So he's a schoolteacher, right? He teaches academic decathlon at this high school or middle school. Right. Yeah.

If I don't make this statement, am I under arrest? And Dennis is like, Ernie, come on. Like, am I under arrest? Yes or no? Well, no. He's like, all right, I'm out of here. And he gets out of the car at a stoplight. Yeah. I mean, that's probably Ernie's smart move. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's probably Ernie's smart move. Yeah, yeah. I guess so during the conversation, I think Jim was kind of on the side of like, you don't need to do anything. Yeah. Like you don't need to do this.

And then right Ernie's like, I think I should. I think during that scene and for a lot of this movie, I'm like, get a lawyer. Yeah, yeah. No, that's like over and over again. That's what you're chanting. Get a lawyer. Yeah. Yeah. If only we knew one. And the counterpoint sequence is Jim and Rita talking about how she isn't happy about this. She'd have gone with him. Dennis doesn't know Ernie the way I know Ernie. He means a good deal

to those kids, etc. There's a brief moment where she wants to tell Jim about her uncle Stosh and he says you don't have to Rita. He's like, my dad's half brother, he would look after me when my dad went out with a girl and he really loved to look after me and then there's a pause and she's like, I finally ran away when I was 14. So, you know, some reading between the lines there. But she says, I'm not a very educated person, but I was 14. So, you know, some reading between the lines there. But she says, I'm not a very educated person, but I know men. I know Ernie. And there's no way that creep could be Ernie. A lot of this again is directly resonant with the last episode with No Fault Affair.

Listen, before we got married, I told him everything. I told him about all the years on the street about all of the times that I I tried to get out and I couldn't He forgave you Now he didn't forgive me He just wiped that slate clean Mm-hmm. We get this picture of like someone who is just like I accept you for who you are. Yes down Yeah, and you know, no shame. No, you don't have to apologize for anything Yeah shame, no, you don't have to apologize for anything. Yeah, it's a very different dynamic if if he's in the

position to forgive her for something that you don't mean like it's, it's a great illustration of maybe a difference between Jim and and Ernie's point of view, which is good. This whole sequence is wrapped up with Dennis giving Jim a call and telling them what happened. It was an hour ago, he has the black and whites out looking for Ernie, they don't know where he is.

But then of course there's a knock at the door and Ernie has returned to them. He tells Jim that he's scared to death, he wants Jim to help him. So we have Jim asking where was he on that day? Did anyone see you? Is there anything that gives you an alibi? And unfortunately there's not.

He was staying late to do work while the kids had already gone home. Other teachers had left before dinner and he was still there. The custodian didn't come in until after he left. This specific period of time of that last assault, he does not have an alibi. There's this this underlying thing in it because there's a moment where he says That he left a note for the janitor about you know, the girls room Yeah the girls bathroom because obviously that sounds suspicious in the context of everything sure but he's like a student complained to me that one of

The sinks is backed up, but it has this like me that one of the sinks is backed up. But it has this like undertone of like, Jim's like, I have to ask these questions because these are the questions that you're going to be asked. We need to like find out what these answers are so that you have something to say and like, yeah this sucks. This is not fun. Rita starts putting up like, you know, actually we are, she volunteers at like a women's center and she's usually there on Fridays, but she's like, you know, actually, we are volunteers at like a women's center. And she's usually there on Fridays, which is like, you know, last Friday, you know what? Maybe I didn't go last Friday. Yeah, I came home early and we went to the movie. Remember? And Jim's like Rita, she says, it's worth a try. Yeah. If we all falsify an alibi, it's

like, no, that's not gonna help. Jim's like, look, why did you leave Becker's car? He panicked. He doesn't have an alibi. And just being a teacher is incriminating when these accusations start being leveled. Reed is like, how about a lie detector test? Jim's like, no, bad idea. Not in this one court. Tricky to do. And Reed is like, so what? We'll take the test. They'll settle the whole thing. We'll be done. Her forcefulness gets Jim to be like, all right, I'll call Dennis. Tomorrow's Sunday. It's dead around there. They'll sneak him around at a side entrance and nobody will know about it. And we cut to a swarm of reporters around Jack Garner, aka Captain McEnroe. Oh, yeah. Asking if it's true that he arrested the West Side Rapist. He does a really good non-committal

Job where he's like, well not exactly. I can't say that. Right, yeah Walking and talking up to a Sally appearance. We talked about Sally in the last movie But she's the I don't know the woman who's a who's addicted to confessing and... She wants to confess to Dennis, like specifically. Specifically. She knit Dennis a sweater in the last movie while she was... Yes. ...weighing around. But Captain Macaron knows her, of course, and he's like, well, oh, you want to confess?

Of course. Here, just come with me. And like, ushers her into the office to like get away from the reporters, which is great. And then after cream, you know, cream, just sugar. Are you going to use the tape recorder? Oh, Sally, you'll have to see it. Yeah. As we established in the last movie, she has been in almost all of the movies as this like comedic relief character in the station.

So, yeah, they set up Ernie with the lie detector test. He's not sure about it. She's convinced that it'll make it all go away and it'll be OK. And then we cut to Jim saying, it's not OK, not OK at all, Dennis. There's some leak in the department that leaked it to the press. And Jim is not happy about it. Dennis says, like, there's a leak. I'll find it and plug it.

And I did wonder if part of the story would be like, is there some like someone on the force that's like deliberately right? That doesn't come up. That's not part of the story. But I was wondering if there are a few things in this episode that make me think that there is a there is something that hit the cutting room floor. There's like just like a couple scenes where I'm like, this feels like it is either a lead up or

response to something that we just didn't see. Yeah, and this feels like it. I'll point out at least one other one later on that I was like, this doesn't quite follow for me and I'm not sure why. Or you could see something where it's like, or one of the reporters at the station bribes one of the cops to get stories or something. Yeah, yeah, something like that. That would fit the narrative that they're telling.

Let's see. We have Rita and Jim waiting. We have some good dialogue here, again, for us, talking about how it's been 15 years since I've been in this dump. Yeah. She says, oh, it feels like yesterday, and she says, bite your tongue. She never would have guessed or any would have brought her back. It was him who got her out and Jim a little bit too, of course.

And that is when we have a Beth appearance. Yeah. Yeah. Which means this is our final Beth appearance. Yes. Unless she's in the first episode, which she this is it. This is a wrap on Gretchen Corbett. She's not in the pilot or the first episode or the last episode, obviously. So this is our last Beth episode. Beth, Beth of the Beth movie. Yeah, definitely.

In my in my brain, I mean, wait, where did I see Gretchen recently? And I was like, you know, there's a movie, no, but then other worlds, because we were watching that on YouTube or whatever and then I was like there's just something I started something very recently. She had this like tightly curled hair. Oh, it's this episode we're talking Yeah, she has the tight curls it's good look for her I feel like I think I say this every movie but like the first movie maybe the second when it was like early 90s and Jim had a mullet. I feel like everyone looked older in those movies than they do in these last ones

that were like mid nineties where everyone got haircuts and like was, I don't know, hitting the gym or something. Everyone like is looking good in these movies. I think Rita in particular, like the fun thing about Rita is that she looks like, like all they did to age her up was put a little bit of gray in her hair. Yeah. That was it. Like it was like what's going on. Her cadence is a little different.

I think that's changed. Like the way that she talks is a little I don't know a little softer. Like it's hard edges have been rounded off a little bit. And I don't know if that's a choice or that's just how she is at, you know, in the mid 90s instead of the late 70s. But other than that, yeah, a little gray and like again, everyone's looking good in this movie. But yes, Beth appears. Hooray.

As we know from earlier movies, she retired from law. She's now a writer of like legal thrillers. And she has a different last name because she married so Jim interrupted her book signing because what she does is right not practice law I'm here because you have a way of phrasing things that make me feel like if I don't show I'm gonna be responsible for the end of the world as we know it while Rita's like you told me she'd take the case so this is a really good scene. You know, we get Beth back.

We get Beth and Rita interaction, which is great. We see Rita reacting to seeing how things are rapidly getting out of control. Yeah. And that is really what's happening here. We lead up to a moment where she says, You know how you know when you're in trouble by the way people look at you. Well, well, you're in trouble by the way people look at you well well i'm in trouble one of the things i like about this scene is we have a triangle of people with different dynamics with each other and how they play out and the playing out of it comes

through beth and it's so great because beth is angry with j with Jim because Jim has now jumped back into her life and is taking her away from like the life she's trying to build for herself. Right. Again. But also Beth cannot say no to Rita. Yeah. I have a screenshot here where Jim is turning to Rita to say like, well, that's not really what I said.

Like, and the look on Beth's face is like, what have you brought me in for? Yeah. Because Rita is like, you promised and Jim is like, she the look on Beth's face is like, what have you brought me in for? Yeah, because Rita's like, you promised, and Jim is like, she hasn't said no. Yeah. And so Beth is trapped because she's not going to be able to say no to Rita because Rita's experiencing an injustice. And that's exactly the kind of thing that Beth would like absolutely pull out all the stops to help,

but she's also angry at Jim. And she can't be both in the scene and So you end up seeing that tension in there? I love it. It's great Yeah, and a lot of it comes from Rita because first of all, she has a line where she says I'm sorry I didn't mean to lay a guilt trip on you and then she proceeds to lay a guilt trip Including it's not like we were friends or anything the thing that we had in common was Jimmy. Yeah. Yeah. You're you're right. And then I love your books.

Yes. Oh, yeah. There's the gag that keeps coming back. But Jim doesn't like her book, which is great. That's yeah. So Beth is confused because Jim didn't really tell her what was happening. Yeah. And so Rita, when Rita's like Ernie needs help, Beth has like a little. The teacher who who did nothing. He did not rape anybody, not in this life, not in any other life.

And whoever says he did is a liar or he has rocks for brains. I'll help in any way I can. Well, thank you. I was hoping you would. Jimmy said you would. It would be nice if Jimmy could learn to keep his mouth shut. But in like a loving way. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um, there's this other great moment where I can't... Oh, I remember Jim telling Rita... Just don't get all upset. That doesn't solve anything.

I can't believe I just said that. You go ahead, honey. You yell, kick, scream, howl at the moon, whatever helps. That is beautiful. Like, I love that moment. Because of that, like, again, Jim is our moral center here. And yeah, that's the moral center we should have. Let Rita be be upset because it is an upsetting thing So Beth, of course wants to get Ernie out of there Can't believe Jim let him talk to the cops about council and sit for a polygraph without council Yes, but we get to the real, you know The thing you're here or Dennis and Ernie come out of the room and Dennis says, Hi, Beth, good thing you're here.

Yes. That's not what you want to hear in this situation. So we hear that the results of the polygraph were inconclusive. There's no DNA evidence because the girl was cleaned up. So there's no DNA. Ernie's looking very forlorn. Rita says, Oh, God. And then we go to a commercial. So I think now that we have all of our like principles, I gotta say, I find a lot of the rest of the action here kind of dreary. Yeah. Not because it's not well done, but because it's just a story that I am not particularly interested in watching play out before me.

Yeah, right. So, yeah, I mean, like what, it's the usual thing where there's going to be a series of coincidences, maybe, not a series of them, but there's going to be a few coincidences that are going to make it hard for people to believe that he's not the actual criminal here. Yeah, there is a distinct non-rock tradition about what's going on here. Like, maybe we can gloss over some of the stuff you were just talking about. Yeah, we kind of like, I'll go through the scenes, and if there's something that you want to go deeper into, we will. But I think that was more of kind of like a general setting statement for like I really don't have a whole Lot to say yeah about much of the rest of the episode Kind of till we get to the end. I guess yeah, there is

The tension that I'm feeling here is that so okay, so in the write-up in that Robertson book There's a line about how the early review, how like this got good ratings, but reviewers didn't like it because it was depressing and because there was like stuff that was like unbelievable or like whatever. And one of them specifically was like, this reviewer gave it one and a half out of four stars. Right. And like, I think it's disingenuous to say that this is a bad TV movie because for what it is, what it is trying to do, I think it is doing very well. Yeah. But what it is doing is something that if I were not doing this podcast, I would have stopped watching this movie. It's just not the kind of thing that I want to immerse myself in right now. Yes. You know, no, I want to immerse myself in right now. Yes.

You know? No, I agree. It does not get less depressing. There's some bitter sweetness towards the end of it. And it is worth this going through and it's worth and this the ending especially is specifically relevant to us and I do want to talk about it. So I'm not saying like pull the ripcord like the rest of the movie is kind of depressing. Here's our final thoughts Mm-hmm. I guess I just want to be clear about like the emotional space. I'm in at this point in the movie, right?

We're gonna montage some of this Yeah, so we go we get to see Ernie with his kids the decath the academic decathletes Ironically enough the topic for the week is the American system of justice and so too on the nose, but that's fine That's fine. Well, they lampshade it. Mm-hmm. His kids are like you don't need to talk about this So his kids are like we saw it on the news, right? So the news Coverage has been Ernie Landell is the suspect Yeah, other than using the word alleged they're all but saying he is the West Side rapist right yeah So on the news so the kids are like we saw it on the news with our parents and we think it's garbage

We know you'd never do anything like that right which is great Yeah, this is a movie where the kids could have not have some reason to think ill of him or whatever, but I like that They come to his defense. But ironically enough, the topic this week is about the US system of justice. And so he has a bit of a speech about it. There is some some language that I think is the thesis that we were that we that I specifically Yeah, yeah, yeah. ranting about at the beginning where he's like, That's the price we pay for a free press. The occasional abuse of an individual's rights by certain entities of the press for whom the guiding light is not the glow of justice, but the glint of silver. Sensationalism translated into ratings, translated into cash.

He gets pulled out of class by the principal of the school as becomes a parent. He is trying to convince himself that she is on his side. Well, I think as a viewer, we're like, I see where this is going. Yeah. The board has made it clear that they don't even want the appearance of a scandal to hang over the school and her faculty. She thinks it's best that he stays home for a while. And there's sad music.

To the show's credit, this character feels real enough that she does feel like she doesn't want to be doing this. She would otherwise be on his side, but her hands are tied. She has a lot of competing pressures on her. Yeah. We don't see the other pressures on screen, but. But they're there. You can feel them.

And she has a real look, like, part of my job is I have to satisfy this, this, and this. And unfortunately, I can't do that without saying, you have to go home. Yeah. We then go on to this newsroom meeting and this is the like, come on. So there's this newsroom where this producer is like, all right, give me stories, people. And they pass over the congressional bribery scandal because no one's heard of any of the senators. And the fire in Bangladesh that's killed 300 people because that's not sexy.

That's far away. It's far away. Nobody cares. What about Ernie Landell? And she's like, oh, yeah It's freaks like him that are the reason my daughter's at Harvard Wesley, which I can only assume is a private, you know school Yeah, one of the reporters says well, there's there's no evidence that he is the the West Side rapist and she said find the evidence Put the full court press on this guy and then I'll probably cut it in just cuz it's so on the nose I don't know if I'm overreacting to this, but our audience is going to want to know all there is to know about a man who's more grotesque and perverse than anything we could possibly program as entertainment. Really? Like, do people talk like this? Like, even people who think like this. Right. Yeah. And the grand irony

that this is programmed as entertainment. Like, what we're actually watching on, what do I always say? If it bleeds, it leads. And I want us up to our ankles and Ernie Landell, which is like a little bro. Title drop though. Yeah, title drop. Hey, we had a blessing in disguise earlier and I was like, ah, it's just a phrase. It has nothing to do with other movies. Anyway, I don't know if you had any of that.

I'm just going to read it. I'm going to read it. I'm going to read it. I'm going to read it. I'm going to read it. I'm going to read it. Hey, we had a blessing in disguise earlier and I was like, ah, it's just a phrase. It's a phrase. It has nothing to do with the other movie. Anyway, I don't know if you had anything else about that. That scene with the press is weird because we don't... It feels like it's from another movie.

Yeah, it just doesn't feel at all like a Rockford Files. I could expect those same story beats to happen, but with a weirder character. These characters are too not weird enough. No, they're not Rockford Files characters. They just aren't. Not to harp on this too much, they're in a meeting room. I don't think we see that in any other Rockford Files.

That is a staple of, I can't think of a show that I enjoy where they turn to like all the evil people around. Like these people aren't evil, but you know what I mean? Like it's like we're in this room where we're going to decide our evil plot. And it just doesn't, where does that happen in the Rockford Files? And that's, And it's very funny because it's contrasted immediately with the scene with Jim talking to the guy on the riding mower and that guy is a Rockford files character This is yes. This very next scene is incredibly Rockford files

Jim is trying to dig up anything he can to help Ernie and he is talking to a guy on a riding mower Who's like the Gardner or whatever for the park that this assault had taken place near? Yeah, he's trying to get the guy's attention. The guy's kind of like, yeah, whatever So Jim reaches over and turns off the riding m guy's kind of like, yeah, whatever. So Jim reaches over and turns off the riding mower and he's like, hey, you don't much gas that waste. And he's an angry gardener because there's always people like Jim mentions the athletic club or something.

He's like, oh, yeah. And then they walk across and tear up the grass. And then he just has this aside where he's like,'m on the cutting edge I'm this close like this man loves cutting grass there's a great joke where you know where he says you know how much gas that was Jim had been asking him questions while this guy is riding around in a lawnmower and I was terrified for Jim's toes but the questions was like he's like showing Ernie's picture I think and he's trying to yeah yeah and he's like yeah I saw and then turns off the thing and Jim is asking for emphasis are you sure if he saw that guy but he

says of course I'm sure I drive it every darn day meaning he knows that this thing wastes gas yeah so good Jim's like, how could you possibly remember one random guy on one random day? Right? Kind of implying like I only saying that because of the news, right? And he's like, No, I remember his car. It's like there's this green Jeep that's been parked over there every day this week. Just like, yeah. So that is important information. Those are days that that Ernie has alibis for, or could have alibis for. Yeah, and he's like, I thought it was thieves scoping out my tool shed. Yes. So that's why he paid attention to it. And so he specifically noted it, right. And so that seems more of a reasonable

memory. Yeah, so that's great. I was like, okay, this is Rockford files. And to top it off, as Jim's walking away, he clearly steps in something. Yes, it's like, I mean, that's part of it. It's like these scenes throughout this, there are moments where we're just like, this is deeply Rockford Files. This is, you don't have to be funny to be Rockford Files, but you do have to have something, you know?

Yeah, because I think he has a line of like, and if it's not them, it's the dogs. Like, he has a litany of all the things that ruin his grass and that's good stuff. And then the next scene is another good scene on a different emotional axis. This is where we see Denise Crosby, you know, she's great. She's the girl's mom, the latest assault victim. She's the mom. Yes. Jim comes up to her as she's taking groceries out of her, the back of her, her wagon. And she, I think I have all these parentheticals here where I say, understandably. So, yes, understandably has no patience for more reporters, etc. Jim's in a very bad spot with this, right? Yes.

He is investigating for the person accused of assaulting her daughter. He doesn't want to reveal that, but she thinks he's a reporter, which is worse. Right. Maybe. Well, and will specifically not help him if she thinks he's a reporter that does not get him what he needs. Yeah. And again, in kind of good Rockford Files fashion, he's going to get a clue out of this. Yeah. Uh, and that's as far as he's going to get because it is going to go

downhill fast, but he gets the clue. So he, when he finally does, you know, say like, well, I'm a PI, I'm working for Ernie Landell. I think he says like, and I'm trying to establish and she cuts him off and she's like, well, I'm a PI. I'm working for Ernie Landell. I think he says, like, and I'm trying to establish and she cuts him off and she's like, what could you possibly want to establish? And she spirals from here, gets upset, tears in her eyes, like very, again, understandable, emotional reaction,

big reaction, great acting, you know? Yeah, yeah. No, it's good Denise Crosby in. Yes, but she no, it's good Denise Crosby in yes But she she describes, you know The terror that her daughter felt in this situation and she includes the detail with his filthy black fingernails Digging into her shoulders or something like that and I noted that because it seems relevant And that is indeed the the clue that Jim gleans here that will be relevant later. Yeah. And then she's like, get out. Yeah. He's got to leave. What is he going to do?

And you see on his face, he's like, this is not a good situation for anyone. Yeah. Despite my rant, we have a good we have a good stretch of rock for edition is here because then we go to pick up on our B plot with Angel. Yeah. He's checking Jim's mail at the trailer with running commentary, which is very funny. He's like, ooh, I could be a winner. Ooh, me? Or like whatever. Anyway, his prize is there, a cashier's check. And then he hides under the deck when he sees Jim arriving. I have to say, one of the advantages of talking about these episodes after watching

them with you is that I can understand the content. Because when I'm watching this, what I'm getting is that Angel is just in the background constantly up to no good. He's just stealing from Rockford. But that's not what's happening. No, this is the check that George Weiner promised he'd send him. But I didn't catch that. All right. So I'm glad we did this then.

It's worth it to make sure that that's clear. Yeah, yeah, this is worth it. So there's this whole subplot with Angel and the scam he's running, which is fine. And it kind of comes up. It's completely separate. It's a Star Trek style B plot. Just another thing that's happening at the same time But you know it gives us some comedic breaks, which I guess we need I have a screenshot here of him checking out the mail and in his Hawaiian shirt

Looking at so good staring at the envelope. Yeah Staring at the Sun through the envelope trying to see what's in it. Um, he panics when Jim's pulls up He drops he has like a soda or something or any. So he drops that. It's like a milkshake. Yeah. That's what it is. And shoves the rest of the mail back in the mailbox and scoots underneath the deck.

Jim sees his open mailbox, sees the spilled drink, sees Angel's car. Yes. And then hears a noise under his trailer. So he gets his garden hose and just starts spraying out the underside of the trailer with his garden hose, which is fantastic. Props it so that it stays running. Yeah, he goes through the trouble of making sure it's still running. Yeah. Because he hears his phone ringing, but it goes to his machine before he can get into the house. And it is Rita saying Ernie's got more trouble. Meet us at the school. He just turns around. He does put his hose back.

I was like, is he just going to leave the hose? Because that would be kind of funny. But he does put his hose back and then he leaves and Angel crawls out from underneath all wet and muddy and blowing on the check to dry it off. Yes. So I love that Jim had the read on Angel, but Angel was committed to toughing it out. Yeah, yeah.

It's time for us to take our traditional intermission, as we all need a little break to head out to the lobby, take a little stretch, get a snack, a drink, reflect on what's come before, and anticipate what's to come in this episode of The Rockford Files. We also like to take this time to remind you of where else you can find us on the internet. Epi, where can our listeners find you? Well you can find me at my website dig1000holes.com that's 1000 the number, or you can find me as Epidya on the Mastodon instance dice.camp or on co-host. Where can our listeners find you, Nathan? All of my games, zines, podcasts, projects, and other work are at NDPdesign.com. You can also find me at NDP on co-host and over on Instagram at NDPdesign.games. And of course, you can always

find this show, 200 a day, a day dot fireside dot FM. And now we return to the continuing adventures of Jimmy Rocco. So we go we see there's a news van outside the school. We have a scene with Rita Ernie and the principal and Jim in the principal's office, where Rita is unloading on her, emotions are running high, the news is saying that the school suspended Ernie and she's like, well, he's like, well, if you didn't, you should go clear that up. Ernie wants to set the record straight.

Beth arrives. No, you won't. We do have a good to Jim. You are personally going to be responsible for the demise of my career Because she was on the set of Oprah when his call came. Yes But yeah Beth for some reason so this there are a couple times where I'm like, okay a this is because this is the story They're telling but be you know, Beth is been out of the law game for a long time So maybe yeah, those instincts aren't as sharp as they should be.

Why are you bringing Rita to talk to the press? Yes. So right. Yes, that is a problem. That is a problem here. Beth, Rita and the principal are going to go make a statement and Jim and Ernie will slip out of the slip out the back. It's damage control. As we might imagine, the statement is immediately railroaded by leading questions from the press.

And then they cut off the principle to ask Beth if it's true that Ernie failed a lie detector test. And then Rita at her side outraged, that was supposed to be private. To be fair, this seems like the kinds of questions that press people who are trying to get a scandal story be fair, this seems like the kinds of questions that press people who are trying to get a scandal story would ask, right? This does not seem as overblown to me.

Yeah, yeah. No, this feels more real. And I mean, like I said before, there's some things about this episode that feel like something had fallen on the cutting room floor. And I think also some things about the press, like that boardroom scene with the press, they easily could have filmed that sometime later and injected that in. And it feels like that, like because you don't need that if you've got this scene. Right. Yeah. Yeah. The only thing I'd say about that is it does create a sense of ominous anticipation from the producer. Yeah.

Given the full court press. So now we're like Expecting the press to be like really, you know everywhere all the time which they are. Yeah, but yeah content wise Yeah. Yeah Anyways, yeah, so leading questions, etc We'll see the result of that in a couple scenes We go to the back where Ernie has a good line in the vernacular of my students. This sucks We go to the back where Ernie has a good line in the vernacular of my students. This sucks.

A cameraman appears out of nowhere as they're trying to go to their car and says let's let me get a quick shot here and Ernie I'll give you a shot and punches them in the stomach Which does not feel as sudden as it sounds like right he has been boiling this whole day Yeah, you know taken out of his right. He has been boiling this whole day. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Taken out of his class. He's being low key acute, like not accused, but like the principal who's supposed to be on his side is kind of like, is that we got to get you out of here because people are talking and it's scandal. And he's like, what's the scandal?

Tell me what the scandal is. Right. And what are you trying to say? And she's very like, well, the board thinks thinks you know, like she doesn't like state anything His emotions are running high and so he does have some catharsis here when he slugs this guy But also we're like, that's not gonna help him No And then this goes to there's this like camera spin transition to their neighbors Rita and camera spin transition to their neighbors, Rita and Ernie's neighbors picketing their house with signs like no sex offenders on our block, etc.

And then there's a reporter, an on-site reporter, live from the house interviewing one of the neighbors with her kids saying like, oh, I don't feel safe. Aren't they supposed to tell us when people like this live in your neighborhood? And then there you have it. A neighborhood in fear. Is this, is this our villainous reporter? Yeah. Which I have something to say about her in a minute, but the rest of the scene. So Jim is driving in Ernie's car.

They come around the corner. They see all this stuff. Jim's like, let's get out of here. He turns and just goes over someone's lawn to like, get out before they get to the reporters. The reporters see this start yelling, they're like, follow him, get the you know, get the van, follow the car. And then she turns the camera goes, ladies and gentlemen, Ernie Landale is on the run. Whether this is an

expression of fear or a witness of guilt, I cannot say, but one thing is for certain, Ernest Landale, the alleged West Side rapist, is in fact on the run at this time. The other thing to just maybe, not to complain, but just to say that like, we keep getting teased with a car chase, but we're not getting a car chase. Yeah, yeah.

Just so you know, we're not gonna end the Rockford Files with a car chase. Yeah, we're past the time. Like we got, so so you know, we're not gonna end the Rockford files with the car chase Yeah, it's it were passed the time like we got so we got that the the knockdown drag out in the gold pagoda in the last Movie right? Yeah, and like yeah, that was the last big fight other than that one punch that Ernie just threw that's it, right? Which is a struggle. There's a little bit of a struggle with with the rapist a little bit later, but it's not it's not really a fight Like it's over before it begins kind of thing I think it's even in this sequence somewhere where Jim like just comes around to drive the car. Mm-hmm He's limping like yeah. Yeah, you cannot ask this man to do any more action scenes

Yeah, it's fine. It's fine. Yeah. Yeah, it's fine. And there's no there's no firebird It's like the firebird is under a canopy next to the trailer. Did you notice? Oh, I missed that it was like Parked like under like a shade It's retired. Yeah. Yeah parked in the shade next to the trailer while Jim drives You know the truck Rockies truck. Yeah. Yeah, okay So this reporter this reporter could have just been the avatar for all of the press, right? Exactly. Yeah. And I don't think we would have lost anything, really.

No. I mean, the only thing you lose is the... That like ominous kind of sense that I was talking about a little bit. Yeah. And you take a systemic problem and make it an individual. That's true. If you do that. Yeah. But I don't think that that's bad for what they're doing here. I don't think that's a bad thing.

I think it's okay to let this individual reporter kind of stand in for, yeah. Be a metaphor for all of them. Yeah. Maybe there's a line of like, this is, this is the kind of story that gets our press room awards or something like yeah yeah there can be some dialogue establishing that like she's part of the system and like is trying to push things in a certain direction yeah if not me then this next reporter would do the same and then if it's individualized to her there's an opportunity to make her a weird character

that then we get to have an interaction with. Kind of like the, I'm thinking of the previous movie where there's the woman who is trying to get stories from Becker. Yes. Part of the plot is that the newspaper reporter is trying to get dirt on the department and then Jim's in trouble because he's talking to the newspaper Reporter. Yes, she shows up for like a lunch and And Dennis yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's that one. It's so it's the last one

Yeah, which comes up on IMDB as shootout at the Golden Pagoda But the production title was actually murders and misdemeanors, which is why we keep forgetting it. Yeah, Brianne or Bri is the reporter And so she's the one who's like she's trying to get story. She's like a gossip columnist or something. Mm-hmm She's trying to like break what's going on with this internal investigation or whatever. So she's getting iced out by the department So then when Jim talks to her the department's like like, oh, Jim is working with her and they start strong arming him and stuff. Anyway, she's a reporter and she's a weird character. And they have a little bit of a romance, but like not really.

And he wants to write an apology and she doesn't. And he gets mad, like all that stuff. It's a thing. It happens. Yeah, no, it's yeah, I think you're right. I think that they could have they could have made a character here This reporter is almost there. Yeah, it's very close to it. She is the face of it in many respects, but not quite there Yeah, yeah Jim stashes Ernie at the Travel King motel tells him to stay put till they bring him dinner

Jim's gonna do it what he can to get people off his back, leading up to like, well, what are you going to do? I'm going to find the West Side Rapist. All right, Jim, you get him. It's a hell of a promise. Yeah. Ernie doesn't know how much more of this he can take. And he says he has a line here where he says, Rita. You know, the popular assumption is that it was me who somehow saved her from this wicked old world. Truth is it was she who delivered me from the demons in the darkness. My own. That's gonna come out. I had a thought in the first scene we meet them where she's

like, he'll have a ginger ale. It's never spelled out but like is he recovering alcoholic? I think so. Like I think that's like kind of implied. Anyway there's a little bit of humor There's some humorous exchange about his what they're gonna have what they're gonna bring him for dinner and he ends up right nothing too Spicy because his stomach right he's not gonna. Yeah, he's got ulcers. Yeah We have Ernie watching the news, which my parenthetical is bad idea, bud Developing story on the hunt for the West Side Rapist. Seriously edited down statements out of the press.

Out of context and whatnot. Yeah. Yeah. Including humorously so for something that the principal said. But they do hone in on Rita being like, that was supposed to be private. Yeah. As someone who has, not to brag, but I have been quoted in the press. And I'll tell you, you're never happy with how they do it.

Yeah, never. What's important here is that they followed Rita after the, you know, the scrum, where she says that Ernie would never be involved with anything illegal or immoral. And then they say, what about prostitution, Miss Landell? And then they cut to the reporters saying, in fact, Rita Landell, at the time, Rita Kapkowicz was arrested over 30 times as a prostitute. Yes. Yikes. My notes were should have seen that coming.

I did not. Yeah, to be fair, I I also did not see that coming. And it's effective. I mean, it's yeah Yeah, it's turning it's turning the knife on Ernie, right? Cuz it's like now it's not just about him now. They're coming after Rita and like yeah, that's even worse and it'll come back again Yeah, we then go to the real Real rapist in a green Jeep following a girl on a bike real rapist in a green Jeep following a girl on a bike. She thankfully is able to turn into a gated driveway as the gate closes. So he's unable to follow her and she screams as the Jeep drives away.

Yes. We go to Jim and Rita where Rita is apologizing kind of to the universe for dragging Ernie down. Like she's viewing this attack on her as like, now I'm a liability to him. I feel like this is a real, you know, connection to the Rita character as we have watched her and enjoyed her and sympathized with her over, you know, from the 70s. You know, no matter how many PTA meetings I go to, no matter how many Accadeca bake sales I run, I am never going to get away from my old life. And what I really hate is

that what I did is now a reflection on Ernie. Who you are is a reflection on Ernie, Rita, and I can't think of a better standard. Well, I hope you'll still think that. Hey, maybe some fried crawfish tails will cheer him up, huh? As always, Jim, the humanity is what matters. Your-hmm. Your life was your life. I'm not here to judge that. I think also we should note Rita's wisdom in this scene. Are you insane with all that roughage?

Yeah. Look at the roughage, Jimmy. Yeah, so they're ordering food to bring back. They're starting off with fried crawfish tails and then decide that will be too much. So then Jim's like, how about a green salad? And he's not thinking about the roughage. I've never heard roughage. I never heard it positioned as too much of a good.

I know, I know. Like, like that'll hurt him. The roughage. Yeah, yeah. There's a comedic beat where they keep changing what they're going to order. And the guy trying to take their order keeps throwing away his order Anyway, and we end up with yeah pine of mashed potatoes to yeah Yes Back to the hotel the Jeep is gone, but immediately Ernie returns. He went to the store He needed Maylocks

I would like to point out for the eagle-eyed, in case you were in doubt in any way, the previous scene, we see that it's clearly a different car. It's a green 4x4, but it's not... It's not the Jeep, I think. Yeah, it's not Ernie's Jeep. It's got different rear view mirrors, and we're not car guys, but it is the same color,

but a different something. And that alone should make us feel better, even though I don't think this is meant to misdirect us. I don't think the scene is meant to make us think, oh, he could have been out doing something bad. I think this is a moment where it's creating a little bit of tension by getting us to ask, are we supposed to think that he could have been doing that? Yeah. And I think our answer is I don't think so. I don't think the show is enough to say, yes, this is something we should be worried about. Yeah, it is asking us to think about it. So yeah,

that's a pretty deft, I think. But it definitely puts him in a bad position. It puts him in a bad position, which is the point here. Jim, of course, is incensed that he would disobey Jim's orders. Yes. I mean, it's for his own good, obviously. But yeah, lectures Ernie about going out. You can't be taking chances like that, et cetera. We then have the phone ringing. It's Beth. She's at the police station. They want to see Ernie.

He says, do I have a choice? And that's when Jim looks out the window and sees the black and white pull up of flashing lights. And he says, no. In the station, Beth is saying that the 7-Eleven clerk, she's like, oh, great. The 7-Eleven clerk doesn't remember selling him the mailbox. I will say here, just, just something that occurred to me here. Did he keep the receipt? Yeah. Like he had like the plastic bag with the bottle in it. Like, I mean, I, I would understand if it's like, I threw away the receipt? Yeah, no like he had like the plastic bag with the bottle in it like I mean

I I would understand if it's like I threw away the receipt But just there's there's a trend there's a paper trail here that could be established Even if he didn't keep the receipt they could see that they sold a single bottle of maylocks right at that time at that time But yeah when we were watching it M was Not frustrated with the episode, but definitely frustrated with like, why didn't you keep the receipt? Yeah. Yeah. You shut it out.

It's a little bit of the like, don't go in the basement. Like, yeah, yeah. You're being investigated. First of all, you shouldn't have left. But if you had to leave, get the receipt. Yeah. Use a credit card. Like, come on. The receipt thing is neither here nor there.

But what happens here is that Ernie comes out of the interrogation room and he's in handcuffs. And we can't believe it. And he's totally shell shocked. He says, just lock me up already. Yeah. Yeah. Jim and Beth are touching base later that night. Rita's like sleeping on the couch, like in the station. Ernie doesn't want bail. Like they could bail him out, but he doesn't he's not yeah Allowing them to Jim was looking through every news report about the West Side rapist Look looking for something any kind of information to like exonerate Ernie, but this is this is going back years, right? They have some line. Yeah how this this is a years-long

Investigation. Yeah Becker and deal, Diehl and Jim have some sparring, which I appreciate, but also Diehl's a little vestigial in this story. It's not like there's that one movie where he's like on the case and we kind of see Jim kind of get to him with logic eventually. And here he's kind of just chat me. Yeah. Yeah. Captain Macaroe is like, hey, let's go get a cold one, which is very funny for some reason. And Jim dings deal with the same limitless compassion and he kind of like moves like I'm gonna and the captain's like, come on, I'll buy. I just love how he's always deescalating, which is very funny. Yeah. love how he's always deescalating, which is very funny. Yeah. I think we might have just passed it, but there was a good moment with

Jim and Beth with Gadgetree, where Jim was like, like, where were you on such and such a time? Like, nobody remembers when they were and such as that. On like May 5th last year. Yeah. And she pulls out what I assume is a personal digital assistant, right? Like from 97, right? Yeah. She has a little clamshell that she's opening and there's something. Yeah, if nothing else, it's a little calendar that she keeps or something. He's like, OK, most people, normal people. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not you, Beth.

But yeah, she does say that Oprah wants to reschedule her. But now it's just to talk about Ernie and Rita. So she's not going to do it. Yeah. Love to see the integrity. Jim runs down Dennis. Dennis tries to wave him off with Peggy's expecting me. And Jim's like, she's out of town, Dennis. Come on. He has some new stuff from from looking at the old news reports and he wants Becker to put it through the system.

There's some dialogue here. It's apparently the violent criminals apprehension program. And it's a federal database. The VIO-CAP. VIO-CAP. We're about to get Jim and Dennis hacking. And I do want to say that this might be one of my favorite moments of this whole thing. Jim has a good point, which is you guys haven't even thought about investigating someone other

than Ernie. Right, yeah. So he's like, look, if the Jeep was at the park all week, it couldn't be Ernie. He has alibis for four of the five days. So on that alone, just like humor me here. So he finally talks Becker into it. He's adding more victimology to the report, I guess. So we get some more details of like the, you know, because the victim, like all of the news reports, I always say that it's a young girl with blonde hair and now there's some other details. So he fills in some form fields and then Jim backseat filling right. So long blonde hair, blonde hair, blonde. Next time of day afternoon, always afternoon. Oh,, don't forget to enter the green G. Hey, do you want to do this?

What about the dates of the assault? Hey, that was already entered. OK. Yeah, it feels very real. Like it's a it's played for comedic effect, but it does. I like it feels real. Yeah, it's like this is a Microsoft Access database with. Yeah, yeah.

A bad front end that, you know, Becker has to hunt and peck to type in. But even though Dennis says this is going to take all night, as soon as he puts in the info, there's like a stack of printouts on the printer. So it's pretty good too. Jim sees one that seems like a likely possible to him. It's a guy who had some sexual assault charges that were dropped on technicalities, not in California but in other states, and then he was did two

years in New Mexico for a fraud charge but those were the two years that there were no West Side Rapist attacks. Yes. There was a hiatus of two years where none of them were reported. Becker says Deal is going to need more than that. And this is when Jim brings up the filthy black fingernails. This guy is a mechanic. Ernie is a school teacher who's more likely to have black fingernails. And so finally talks Dennis into agreeing to take a look at him. But let's leave Ernie where he is. He's in the safest possible place. Now I'm going to say,

if I were to write a role playing game, choosing when to cut, as a survival tactic, you would not want to cut here. And the reason why is that, because it's the Rockford Files, there has to be some sort of twist in the cut. And when he's like,

he's in the safest place possible, or the safest possible place, in my notes, I just wrote, don't cut here. I don't want to see what's going to happen next. Yeah. But we're going to we're going to cut. We probably should have filed this under content warnings as well. That is a prison assault, which is not great. We have a scene where guys put soap in a sock and start beating up Ernie, and the guards all ignore it. It ends up with them scalding him, like in a shower stall.

Yeah, it's pretty horrifying. It's pretty grim. It is pretty grim. To a degree where it's like weird that it's set up with a... I mean, it's not a joke, but it's set up with something that we generally... Bracketed by these jokes. Because the very next cut is Rita saying, Rita and Jim getting ice cream and Rita saying, I hope Ernie's eating okay. Yes. Right? Like, it's not jokes, they're contrasts, I guess. I think they're supposed to be dramatic contrasts where like everyone on the outside is like, well, at least he's okay while we get this fixed and

Yeah, clearly this actually the worst place for him to be and yes later Jim Jim knows like Jim was like hey Oh, yeah, you can't tell me you put him in the general population, but like yeah Yeah, you get the feeling that it's like oh well Yeah, but we did that on purpose because he deserves it cuz you know yeah, yeah, it's uh It's it's not good um on the plus side we do have a scene with jim and rita eating ice cream so yes you know they are doing a little fan service for me and also jim is wearing a hat like a not a baseball cap this might be the only time i've i feel like I've seen him wearing a like detective hat as you will see

Yeah, it definitely has this like it's like a fedora a detective look to him in this one and shout out to uh Rita's I guess as in the parlance of my students fit. Yeah Like her outfit is really good. Like she's got like, uh Like this light blue dress with cap sleeves and these red flowers. And she has matching earrings that are kind of like modern interpretation. It's very good. Yeah. Yeah. No, this would definitely work today. Like somebody would wear this today. It's good anyway. But yes, as you say, hope he's eating okay in there. Uh, it's been a week. Uh,

he doesn't want to get bailed out and he doesn't want to see her. And that's the important thing here. She doesn't understand they've grown together so much over the years. She doesn't think she could live without him. She thinks she's losing him and just hope it's not for forever. Feels like a real visceral fear. Yeah, it's been a week because they still haven't picked up this other guy. Ray Ray Trulock.

Rita thinks that his mother was lying. So he's living at his mother's house. She looked like exactly how I would look if I was lying to cover for someone that I loved. Yes. Rita probably knows what she's talking about here. But it turns out as they finish their ice cream and get in the truck that they're actually staking out this guy's house, like on the road. Yes. Rita put up the house for sale.

Jim's like, Oh, don't worry about it. Like, Beth's not going to charge you a bunch of money. And she says, Beth is OK for now, but she's a writer. And we need a team of lawyers, the best. It's not like he's a celebrity. He's a teacher and a poet. And she reads Jim a poem that he wrote for her, which exactly captures the cringe of having someone read you a poem that someone wrote for them.

It's not too much information, but it borders on it. And Jim, right away when she's like, here, listen to this, he's like, you don't have to read it. Like, let's not do this. This is interrupted by seeing a hooded guy come out of the house and he pulls out in a green jeep, sure enough. And so Jim and Rita are on are in pursuit. I understand that as part of the premise that we don't get a clear look at this guy's face because he's always wearing a hoodie. All right. It just looks silly.

Right. Yeah, I think so. But it just looks silly, right? Yeah, I think so. The hooded assailant when everyone else is just like, I don't know, looks like it's fall maybe? Like everyone else is in normal street clothes. It's the thing that it reminds me because, uh, I think in everyone's consciousness is the, uh, Duneabomber, right? The courtroom sketch of him was him in a hoodie, but with sunglasses. But like that was, it was in the 90s. So I wonder if that's sort of what they're doing, just hitting that, the cultural zeitgeist there or something.

Part of it is that the premise is there so that everyone can be like, well, no one's got a great look at him, so it could be him because he looks like the sketch. Right. But then as we are watching it as audience, if we're supposed to be questioning, oh, is that really him? Right. Which it can't be because he's right. Like, we know it's not him at this point. Yeah. Also, at some point, he's driving and there's a shot. I'm like, oh, so that's what he looks like.

And then it isn't. Was there a driver like, you know? Yeah, there also at some point he's driving and there's a shot I'm like, oh, so that's what he looks like and then it isn't was there a driver like, you know Yeah, there might have been I'm looking for things to pick on cuz I don't like this But anyway, they they follow him there read his backseat driving, which is very good Like oh, it's like follow driving like he's turning he's turning and Jim's two cars back She's you know been telling Jim all these things to do that she asked him, you got enough gas? Yeah, yeah. Like it's oh, it's so good. It's so good. He says, now call Becker on your cell phone. And she's like, what?

He's like, I wouldn't have a cell phone, but obviously you must. It's 1997. Yeah. I probably played even weirder in 99, to be honest. Yeah. Though I guess, you know, not everyone has cell phones still. So they follow him to where he stops in a parking lot outside a pet store. And so Rita can get to a payphone. We then see a young blonde girl come out of the pet store with a cat carrier and then she's walking home with her cat. And then we have the drama of going back and forth

between her walking down the street and the green four by four creeping up on her and her gradually realizing what's happening. It's a reprise of the earlier scenes, but this time we have the big red four by four kind of lurking in the background. It's a good tense scene. I think they do it well. Like we don't get a car chase in this,

but we do get these car antics, right? A car stalking. I think they do this pretty, pretty well. There's a moment where Jim tells Rita, hold on. And he pulls away so that he doesn't follow them down into the alley that the guy goes down to follow this girl. Now we're waiting for him to come back to the rescue, right? But we do need to play out watching him drive closer to her and then jump out of the car to chase her and she drops the cat carrier and there's a cat yowling sound effect.

And there's clearly just a pillow in that cat carrier, but like that's fine. And then he kind of chases her into this yard. There's like a yard off of the alley that's all fenced in. And that's when Jim and Rita come in from the other direction, from the other end of the alley and close off the end. And Jim chases the guy down and Rita gets to the girl and comforts her. And Jim pulls the guy off the fence and we turn around and his hood falls back. So, yes, it is like that is a person that he has a mustache.

But I but I was like, wait, are they saying this is Ernie? Like it was too. They were like shocked to buy it. Yeah. Which I guess makes sense that they're like, well, no wonder everyone thought it was him because exactly the same. I don't know if it was like how Lyndon with makeup or something I don't think it was I'm checking the credits right now to see because this is where I went the other way and I was like wait are they trying to tell me it is Ernie like I was too close it is the

shock that they show on Jim and Rita's face yeah that I think makes you go wait what's happening here like yeah only because you don't like you spent this whole time thinking this isn't this isn't Ernie And then they have this shocked response to it and you're like wait. Is this someone else we've met Yeah, it was like just too unclear to me. I don't know. He's not credited So I wonder if it was the the character is named Ray the actor has a big old mustache It doesn't really matter. I just again I had those weird jar So I had the drawing tone of like is that supposed to look like Ernie and then I have this writing tone of wait Is that supposed to be Ernie right? Yeah, I was just confused. So whatever it doesn't it's not it's a different guy

They are waiting for Ernie to be released It doesn't matter. It's not. It's a different guy. They are waiting for Ernie to be released. They sure can arrest him quick, but when you want to let him out, it takes all this time, which seems fair enough. But they let him out and they see Ernie. His face is burned. He has a busted lip. He's clearly been beat up. Worked over, yeah. And he's saying, I just want to go back to school. I just want to get back to work. And it's like, you need to go to the doctor, but he's monofocused. And I think Jim starts yelling at the guard who let him out. He's

like, you let him in with the general population? And the guy's like, sorry, sir, gotta go. But he has this attitude of like, he got what he had coming. It's grim. It's grim. It is. I mean, you're with Jim on this one. Yeah, for sure. Jim, Rita and Ernie, he wants to get back to work. What hurts most is being away from his kids. So they're talking to the principal. But Jim has the read on her reaction and is like, you're not going to give them this class back, are you? And she says that the parents have expressed concerns. And this is where Er he starts kind of freaking out

He's like what concerns whether I believe they're legitimate or not. They must after all be given some consideration What concerns Ernie what concerns? Consideration for who what concerns I think we better table this discussion concerns. I think we better table this discussion. So me a tabling my life. It becomes a character part of Ernie, right, of a traumatized man who has been through multiple kinds of traumatizing experiences in a very short amount of time. Yeah. And so this is where how how Linden really does the work here. Like, you feel it. I think I think we feel where he's at

Yeah, no, he's good. Yeah, there's a scene which is pretty sad It's like this is where the TV show would I mean it would be shorter, right? So but like yeah, the TV show would end on this scene where they're on Rockford's deck. Yeah, just kind of hanging out Yeah, yeah Rockford's grilling some kebabs. There's kids on the beach blowing bubbles. Ernie and Rita and Beth are there. But the difference, I think, here is that Ernie this whole time is still withdrawn, looking out over the ocean, not really interacting. Beth is pursuing a suit against the Department for Assault, etc. All Ernie wants is his job back. Beth says, if I'm done with her, Selma

Flood, that's the principal, will have a new understanding of civics along with economics. He says not to be too hard on her. They took the kids to the Nationals last year, the two of them, the academic decathlon, and he has a whole reminisce about how happy they were when they did their special dinner at the Capital Club overlooking the city or whatever. Dennis arrives. Rita doesn't want to hear that he was only doing his job, but he was only doing his job. But he's come by to apologize to Ernie. And we have a nice moment where they kind of reprise the joke from the beginning of like, after all I introduced you two. And yeah, like no I did. Rita kind of gives a little smile and we see that they're coming back together

yeah she forgives him yeah yeah Jim was the one who gave her away at the wedding and so she says well Dennis was my second best man breaks the ice it's time for the four o'clock news so they crowd in to watch the news station eat crow and apologize for all the terrible things they've done and I again I'm like yeah what do you expect of this? This is the least so okay Rita has this sense of idealism that right makes sense but you kind of I kind of feel like Jim would be like don't get your hopes up. He's been through this. He's been through something like this. One movie I go's been through this. He's been through something like this. One movie ago he went through this. But whatever, it's fine.

It's to make this point, which is there's coverage of a freeway shooting, so that's another, you know, if it bleeds it leads story. And then it's just a brief announcement where they say a man has been arrested for the West Side rape cases and he confessed to the assaults. The man previously held a local school teacher has been released no comment from the DA on whether any any additional charges will be filed in the future or something like that and that's it yeah and Rita's like that's not an apology they're making you sound like he's still a suspect and Ernie walks off by

himself down the beach so it is not the triumphant we did it ending that we would maybe want. We have a whole and this is when I look I was like there's like 20 more minutes of this movie. I've got this note here it's like we've got 14 minutes left where is this going? Yeah so the next sequence we see Ernie being very depressed. Yeah yeah. This is exemplified in or this is kind of condensed into one little sequence, but we learn later that it's a couple weeks past here. A neighbor is taking pictures of him when he's getting his paper. The woman who was talking to the reporter in that earlier scene ushers her children

inside when he comes out. There's a news report playing in the kitchen that says, accused sex offender Ernie Landell, which is a hell of a way to to yeah refer to someone who has not been accused of anything. Yes. He is still suspended from by the school board. No comment from the school board. And there's a comment here where it says his arrest precipitated a surge in the use of the new sex offender registry program. So I just took a look. States had their own programs. There was the federal sex offender registry was established, I think in 1994, by what I could find Megan's Law was 1996, which is

strengthening and mandating public disclosure for registered offender, you know, lives near you or whatever. And then there was some legislation in 97 that strengthened reporting requirements, etc. So I don't know if that's referring to like Megan's law maybe or just general. It's in the zeitgeist. Like this is a thing that is like that is happening at a national level that people would know about. But we just get sad music as we watch Ernie Shave and put on his tie. We go from the sad music to like one of the only Rockford like guitar harmonica stings in the movie. As Jim is driving away from his trailer and then we see Angel pulling up with Mr. Gillespie. So we finally get resolution on what this is, what happened here. Angel rented Jim's trailer out as a vacation rental for the time that Angel thought Jim was going to be in Ensenada.

Angel B&B. Angel B&B. He gets up to handing the check for the balance of the rental over to Angel when Jim has returned because he saw what was happening and pulls it out of the guy's hand. And there's a bunch of back and forth about, hey, I paid for this, etc. Why aren't you on your way to Ensenada? I forgot to take care of something first. What? I forgot to change my locks. He's calling him Angel. The guy's like, who's Angel? This is Xavier de la Croix. Just Alvin name. Jim, I own this place. George Weiner, I'm renting this place one month while you're in Ensenada.

So I kind of like that, that Angel was like, oh, that's the deal. The homeowner will be gone so you can rent it. Right, yeah. And Jim's like, no, you're not. What about my money? I have a valid lease here. There's no validity in anything this man ever said, touched, or had anything to do with. Well, that's fine, Jimmy. You're off to Margaritaville in the lifestyle of the rich and the selfish, and I got to settle for three hots in a cot. I couldn't touched or had anything to do with. Well, that's fine, Jimmy. You're off to Margaritaville in the lifestyle of the rich and the selfish, and I got to settle for three hots in a cot. I couldn't have found it, it's a better den.

Us, us out. Jimmy out. There's a thing where he's gonna send the angel to prison. I can't remember how that came up. Yeah, and then the guy's like, what about me? I don't want you to go to jail. You're the mark. Yeah, it's good. It's very like Jim to be like, you have nothing to do with this.

You go. Yeah. You're just the mark. You have no stake in this. Yeah. So then George Weiner says, what about my deposit? And Angel says it's in the mail. And then he grabs Angel by the throat and they fall over struggling. It's a good comedic beat. And then we see Sand shooting up behind the deck as Jim answers the phone. But we can tell from the tone of voice that something's very serious.

And I'll be right there. Jim and Rita Ernie is missing. He went he went to a bar in the neighborhood and then disappeared. And Jim's like, he didn't drink. And Rita says, he's been doing a lot of things he didn't used to. Yeah. So she describes kind of his descent. He's been having a lot of trouble.

He hasn't been able to handle the strain. So this is another great Rita Moreno performance in this scene, where it's like she's trying to keep it together to explain to Jim. But the things she's telling Jim are deeply upsetting. Heartbreaking. Yeah, my note here is that Rita is a gem and I was a little confused and then I remembered that I was talking about the actress and not the character. Yeah.

I was like, why do I have a note, great performance? I'm like, oh, because she's doing a great performance. Yeah. Yeah. You think the first two weeks were bad. She's seen a great performance. Yeah, yeah. You think the first two weeks were bad. She's seen the last two. You know, for the very first time since I've known him, I can't help him.

I can't reach him. And I just don't know what the future's gonna be, you know? And that's another feeling I haven't had for a real long time. I sure don't like it. And that's again, a great character cohesion, you know, with what we know of her. It's so good. There's this weird comic moment with Captain McEnroe. I forget what it was, but I wrote it down because it was weird. I think it's to break the tension. Maybe yeah, he Congratulates Rita he says Congratulations all is well that ends well meaning like the police departments absolved everything turned out fine and the moment that somebody I can't remember who probably Rita, you know indicates that that he's missing or there

it's not all all is not well. He just he does the the grandpa Simpson putting his hat on the record and taking the hat back off and walking. Yeah, it is good. It's funny. But it's like, but it's a weird it's a weird way to break tension when there's going to be more tension immediately. Yeah, because Becker comes to see them. He looks really serious. We have serious music come up behind and he says we found him

Mm-hmm We go to a helicopter shot of Ernie standing on top of a very very tall building I think it's meant to be the place that they took the students. I'm not entirely sure He tells that story about being able to see all the lights of the city from their upper deck or something like that Yeah, but yeah, I mean that would make sense deck or something like that. Yeah, but yeah. I mean, that would make sense. I don't recall. Yeah, I don't know.

This is a straight up. We don't have to go blow by blow. No, no, no. This is a scene where he jumps off a building and commits suicide in front of his wife and everyone. Everyone's down there, audience of bystanders. There's the press, Jim, Rita, Dennis. There's slow-mo Jim, Rita, Dennis.

There's slow-mo. Yeah. It's shockingly horrific for the Rockford Files. And I don't want to say that, like, I don't want to be sensationalizing it because the Rockford Files does tackle hard things. Like the previous Rita episode we had to do was horrific as well. Well, very well done, but like, you know, she got beat up and it was not flinching. But yeah, I was like, I don't know.

I think what it is with this one is just like, they're gonna have it, they're gonna have their beat, and then they're going to switch to Rockford moralizing to the reporter. And I don't begrudge Rockford moralizing to the reporter. I want Rockford to moralize. But it's right there. It's right in front of the body that has fallen off this building. There's just something, there's something tonally wrong about the placement of all of it,

I guess, is what I'm getting at. I mean, I think it's all crushed together for like it's very dramatic But almost like it's almost parodic. It's almost a parody of it of what it's trying to dramatize I think it's cuz they can't get can't get back into their Rockford beats because they keep you know What do you mean? Like this is a different kind of story that is being told now. Yeah, yeah, it's not great. Um, there's something about it where I was like, this feels like this is referencing something that I haven't seen as part of it too.

I don't know, cause it's like everything. It's the, it's the, the helicopters, there's the crowds below. There's like all these elements that I pretty much only associate with like this kind of scene on TV. I was kind of expecting wind from the helicopter to knock him. Sure. Yeah. Off or something like that. Where it's like we're getting more directly like a tribute.

Blame the media. Yeah. Anyway, so the point here is that we get to this report. And this is actually this is the most like monstrous moment of this whole thing where so the same is that we get to this report and this is actually this is the most like Monstrous moment of this whole thing where so the same reporter that we were talking about earlier this woman who is reporting In front of his house. She's there. She's reporting about it. So he basically lands like behind her Yeah, she's broadcasting live and then she goes like oh my god and then takes a breath and then just turns the camera It goes we just saw the end of a tortured and tragic life. It's like, it's, oh, wow, she's horrible.

Yeah. So Rita is obviously hysterical. I think Becker is trying to like, move her away. Jim drifts over towards the reporter and goes into he's fully full righteous Jim, which we do love to see. She says something about like, but there are still unanswered questions. And Jim steps in and says the only unanswered question is why the media hounded an innocent man to his death.

And he built up the same something like all I want is equal time to set the record straight. And then we have a shot of the producer on her cell phone being like, this is great. I love this. Let him talk. Yeah, it's all it's all content, right? Like, it's great, I love this, let him talk. Yeah. It's all content, right? Like it's all good for ratings. There's a weird thing here where the reporter refers to him as Mr. Rockford.

I mean, he's been involved. Maybe. It is part of the thing that makes me think there's some, there was something else in this story where those two interacted. Sure. And they don't have it now. But whatever, it's not a huge thing. Okay, Mr. Rockford, you've got your equal time. Go ahead.

Except it really isn't equal time, is it? It never can be equal because a man whose love of children was something to celebrate, not slander, can't fight back. The children that he'd voted himself to, the wife he loved, they've lost a friend. I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to stop you right there, Mr. Rockford. But then they cut him off because there's a new report of an NFL quarterback who was found dead in his mansion with his golden retriever. And they like all break to go to that story. And then she leaves, not on camera, with a parting word to Jim where she says,

that was very touching. Oh God, I rarely do I like Jim punch her. But it's okay, that's fine. That's fine that he didn't. It's probably for the best. It's fine for the best. All right, so we get from there to our final scene where we start off with Seagulls and we get to Jim and Rita on the beach.

Yeah, this is a good scene. This is a great scene to end it on. Yeah. Yeah. I think I've said it a couple of times, but it's a, you know, a direct yes. Quote or not. Back. Yeah. Riff to their final scene in the in the one we just did in No Fault Affair. And Rita says, Remember how we used to do this felt like we could walk forever. And they have a nice little reminisce. Remember how Rocky would tag along sometimes? He was so nice to me.

I love I absolutely love her warm, glowing nostalgia for what we know, because we've seen it very recently, was Rocky trying to make sure she didn't like take over Jim's life. Yeah, it's very good. But then Jim says, Rocky liked you, always said you had potential. Some potential. 20 years later and I'm back where I started from.

That's not so Rita, you've turned your whole life around. Yeah? So where, where does a broken down ex-hooker, ex-housewife go to from here? Well, for starters, goes for walks on the beach with broken down private investigator and fisherman. Ah, it's better than a kick in the head. She's been busy. She's been suing the TV station, suing the school, suing the cops. She goes through the scene and she comes, goes to the graveyard first and then she does these other things and then goes back to the cops. She goes through the scene and she comes goes to the graveyard first and then she does these other things and then goes back to the graveyard and she starts

crying. Rita, they beat Ernie down because he was incapable of seeing anything but goodness in the world. That's why he couldn't handle what was happening to him. And you're the best example of the goodness that he saw. I am going to remember every word of that. And I am going to write it down and I'm going to set it next to Ernie's poem. We end again. This is a direct riff on or a direct echo, I should say, of the last time we saw them in the 70s. Yeah. I love you, Jimmy. I love you too, sweetie. Connecting back to that first scene, which is very nice.

It's a really nice moment. And then we have our end credits with really sad piano That's the end of the movie the end of the series end of the rock for the Rockford files No more Rockford files after this a great final scene for the Rockford files. Yes. I will give it that is nice It's delightfully bittersweet. I don't want to like come down too hard on this movie because they were they were trying to do something hard on this movie because they were they were trying to do something big. It just it just didn't hit great and I think that like because we had in our own minds we were like we're ready to celebrate the end of the Rockford Files. Yeah.

And this and this was like, ooh. The Rockford Files is over. This is a different. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I don't know if I have anything else to add other than what we've already been through at length. I thought this would be a fast recording and it turns out to be one of the longest recordings we've done.

Oh, wow. I'm really glad that we are watching it back to back with the last Rita episode because the echo of those two final scenes is what I was looking for. Yeah, yeah. that is good stuff. Yeah. And the fact that that one's so fresh really made it sing. Yeah. But yeah, strong performances throughout. Very affecting. Yeah. Great acting. Great acting. Not something I would like.

Not something I'm going to watch again. Yeah. Yeah, it's a it's a hard one to recommend. Yeah. If you're going to watch all the Rockford files, it's not the worst. Like in terms of like if we're going to like rank all the movies, like this would not be the bottom of my like ranking. Right. But if like if the spectrum is like Rockford files to like 90s TV movie, like this one is farther on the 90s TV movie side that happens to be being told by Rockford Files cast

and creative staff. Because I think the stuff the movie's about is of its time, which reads weird now because it feels kind of passe to me. But it's at least 30 years old. I think that's one thing I think that we have maybe noticed. Tell me if you agree with the movies is that the movies feel very dated to themselves. More dated than the show. While the show actually doesn't feel as dated.

I would agree with that. Like there's definitely things in the show that feel very 70s, but the show holds up. We did a podcast about it. Yeah, like that's the thing. I wouldn't. I think the the movies are kind of a curiosity and it's like kind of fun to see the band back together and kind of see what they are doing with it in the longer format. But there's only a couple of them, I would say, are like, yeah, those like

if you like, if you want more Rockford Files, there's like maybe two of the movies. I'd be like, these are just want more. You just want more Rockford Files, there's like maybe two of the movies. I'd be like these are yeah Just want more. These are just want more of the world You want more of the characters then there's like couple maybe couple three of the movies that I feel like are part of that conversation And they also kind of feel dated. So I don't know something about the 90s that just sucked I think that's unfortunate, but you know as someone who who came of age in the 90s, I think the one with The one with Megan Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that was really good and that one had more of a direct connection to the stories Yeah, their arc like this one has that great emotional resonance

But the read episodes don't have that same kind of through line that Megan episodes did. Yeah Yeah, I'd say that one and maybe Maybe if the frame fits because that has like all that's the one where Beth came back And it's about like where he's like falsely accused of murdering the other detective I mean, I love l I still love LA captures that like we're getting the band back together vibe, which is really nice. That's the first of them, right? Yeah, that's the first one. Yeah. And then maybe I would have to rewatch it.

So Punishment and Crime is the one with Megan Doherty. That's it. Catherine Harreld. That one's great. Might be the best overall if I had to really make a pick. But Friends and Foul Play is the one where Chapman is teaching a criminology course and then holds in it so he can stay on the case. That one is very Rockford-y, I think, even though I think the plot of that one's a little like eh. Anyway, I think we've said all we need to say about this movie. Finding the movies was a fun discovery of doing the show because they are a departure and they are fun to fit into what we like about the show.

So I'm not trying to say like, oh, don't watch the movies. No, no. But they do have a discernible flavor. Difference. Yeah, agreed. OK, as often happens when you do movies based on shows. Right. Even me for TV movies. 20 years after their heyday. Yeah. And then talk about them 20 years after that. Well, we have certainly gone on long enough.

So I will release you all. Please go do something else. Have fun. But stay tuned, because despite all of this, we do have more Rockford files to talk about. And so we will be back next time to talk about the pilot of the Rockford files. Here we go. I'm going to go ahead and turn it off.