Original Airdate: November 11, 1977
Written by: David Chase
Directed by: Meta Rosenberg
Jim’s neighbor Sky Aquarian (Valerie Curtin) asks him for a favor. She needs to use his mailbox as a mailing address for her final check from her previous job, as she intends to spend the next several days at a spiritual retreat run by her guru, Gordon Borchers (Quinn Redeker).
Jim agrees, but soon afterward finds himself being followed on the highway by two tough guys (Lawrence Cook and Carl W. Crudup) who try to rough him up for the location of one Jane Patten. “Jane Patten” turns out to be Sky Aquarian’s real name. She was fired from her steno job at a law firm because she got sent out to deliver an envelope full of money to a man in a fur vest, but got turned around.
Her former boss Alan Bayliss (Kip Gilman) denies all knowledge of the deal when confronted, but confers with the two toughs when Rockford and Sky leave. Jane had been sent to deliver a bribe to a man who had witnessed Bayliss’s client Maceo Prentiss (Dick Anthony Williams) committing vehicular homicide against a romantic rival. Unfortunately for all, Jane reveals the existence of the money to her guru, who steals the envelope from Jim’s car at the first opportunity.
Tropes present in this episode include:
- Amoral Attorney: Alan Bayliss is involved in a murder conspiracy, although he’s the one conspirator who seems a little squeamish about it.
- I Have Many Names: Jane Patten, a.k.a. Sky Aquarian, was previously known as Gopi in another sect. By the end she’s calling herself Esther.
- Ironic Echo: Sky’s chatter on why she’s been jumping from one sect to another includes the old koan “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” Later on Gordon Borchers slaps her for informing on him, and Jim says “That’s the sound of one hand clapping.”
- New-Age Retro Hippie: Sky, of course. Also Pavarthi, a Hare Krishna who knew her as Gopi and didn’t like her. Quite a few show up, really.
- Older Than They Look: Pavarthi reveals that Jane Patten is actually 40 but tells everyone she’s 32, and she can pretty much pull it off. (Her actress actually was 32 when the episode was filmed.)
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Jim calls sky out on her mooching and the shallowness of her spiritual pursuits over lunch. It may have unintended consequences, as when he meets her in the denouement she’s following a doomsday preacher, and may have dug in deeper out of defensiveness.
- Sinister Minister: Guru Gordon Borchers is of the self-serving conman variety.
- Undercover Cop Reveal: In-universe. Becker initially won’t help Jim because he’s in the middle of an undercover job as a fairground short-order cook. At the end when he sees Dijan and Eddie forcing Jim into a car at gunpoint he has to blow an entire sting operation, and is a little salty about it.
