Airdate: October 20, 1978
Written and Directed by: Stephen J. Cannell
Veronica Teasedale (Karen Austin), daughter of armaments tycoon Armand Teasedale (Bill Quinn), is kidnapped by mobsters led by Vincent (Frank Christi) and working on behalf of the notorious gangster Meyer Ziegler (Peter Brocco). Teasedale and his right hand man Brad Davies (Jason Evers) hire Jim Rockford to ensure Veronica’s safe return. Jim only finds out at the last moment that Teasedale is also consulting with the dashing Lance White (Tom Selleck). Jim has previous experience working alongside White and wasn’t pleased with it. Their clashing styles come into play as the case unfolds.
The first of Selleck’s two appearances as Lance White.
Nearly perfect tropes:
- All Crimes Are Equal: Lance gets sidetracked by a strip club manager (Raymond Gideon) having his cousin on the premises because the cousin is involved with the trafficking of…illegal bootleg cassette tapes. Jim has to twist his arm to not waste time on that side issue.
- Always Someone Better: Deconstructed. Lance isn’t actually a better investigator than Jim, and in fact it’s only through the latter’s efforts that the case has a happy resolution. But Lance’s image of perfection is so, well, perfect—and he is a truly Nice Guy—that nearly everyone responds to the two of them as if Lance is better.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: The terminally ill Armand Teasedale signs his company over to his new son-in-law so that Lance will be able to provide for Veronica. But Lance’s ideas about the business, such as providing arms to Israel without charge, are so naïve that he seems likely to devastate the company.
- The Exile: Meyer Ziegler considers himself this because his notoriety as a criminal prevents from him having the Right of Return to Israel that he would otherwise have as a Jew. Dialogue suggests that he’s never actually been there, though.
- Faking the Dead: Teasedale and Davies concoct a story about Teasedale taking a turn for the worse and dying in order to buy more time with the kidnappers. Jim sees through it while Lance takes it at face value.
- Kosher Nostra: Ziegler is known as “the banker of the Underworld.” The Italian gangsters in the episode seem intimidated by him and spend a lot of time catering to his whims.
- Think Nothing of It: After Veronica is returned and while her wedding to Lance is going on, Armand tells Jim that he’d like to give him more than the standard bonus for solving the kidnapping. Jim mock-protests, hoping that Armand will press a reward on him. That turns out to be a miscalculation.
- This Is Reality: At the start of the episode Jim tells Rocky that the pulp detective novel he’s reading doesn’t reflect the realities of investigation. He winds up repeatedly having to tell Lance the same thing.
