Airdate: February 21, 1975
Written by: Leigh Brackett & Juanita Bartlett
Directed by: Lawrence Doheny
Rocky attends the funeral of David Banning, an LAPD uniformed officer who was also the son of Rocky’s old friend Kate Banning (Edith Atwater). Dave officially died in an automobile accident. Kate isn’t convinced, and while Dave’s fiancée Laura (Jess Walton) just wants to move on, Kate wants the case investigated. Rocky, wanting her to get closure, brings the case to Jim and winds up paying his son’s $200-a-day plus expenses rate (or at least offering to.)
Jim digs into the circumstances of Dave’s death, in defiance of his nemesis Lt. Diel (Tom Atkins), who doesn’t want him besmirching the reputation of the late Officer Banning or his partner, Andy Wilson (Paul Carr.) He also gets unfriendly attention from the hoodlums Ross (William Watson) and Tenner (John Quade), as well as Morrie (Frank Campanella), the man they’re reporting to.
Four Pound Tropes:
- Arson, Murder, and Admiration: Angel, a career conman himself, tells Jim he’s found out from street sources that Sgt. Wilson was into dozens of scams, and adds that some were good ones.
- Dirty Cop: Subverted with David Banning himself, who had contacts with criminals but turns out to have been doing undercover work with Internal Affairs. Played straight with Sgt. Wilson, who’s working undercover now but only because he was caught.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: At the end when it becomes clear that neither Rocky nor Kate is going to pay Jim’s fee anytime soon, if ever, he and Dennis just break out laughing.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Kate Banning suspects this because her son was ordinarily so car-conscious. It turns out she’s right.
- One of Our Own: Averted in order to prove a point. When Jim asks Det. Becker about whether there’s any doubt about Banning’s death, Becker points out that the squad room is running normally, whereas if there were any hint that an officer had been murdered they would all be working overtime to bring in the culprit. He also shows Wilson unbothered. It turns out there are reasons for all these things.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Kate Banning has now survived her only child.
- Reverse Psychology: Diel warns Jim not to nose around any more after Wilson or the late Ofc. Banning on pain of having his PI license pulled. He then sends a couple of uniforms to amplify the message. It’s heavily implied that Diel knows exactly what effect the threats will have on Jim.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Angel, being Angel, runs away when he finds out there are a couple of guys tailing him and Jim with intent to kill.
- The Scrooge: When Becker finds out that it’s Rocky who hired Jim he says he’d love to be there when Jim tries to collect. He is, and it goes about exactly how he expects.
- Sticky Fingers: Angel tries to steal silverware from a chili restaurant where he meets Jimnote and successfully lifts a skin mag from a newsstand where he’s asking questions.
