Two Hundred A Day - Episode 77: The Trouble with Warren

Episode Date: November 29, 2020

Nathan and Eppy spend some quality family time with Jim, Beth and her annoying cousin in S3E11 The Trouble with Warren. When Warren is framed for murder, Beth turns to Jim for help. Despite his best efforts Jim ends up investigating the case, and then once another body surfaces he needs to solve it in order to save both their hides. We found this one to be a "meaty middle" episode, with a lot of things to like but nothing in particular to recommend it. That's the problem with this show, the episodes are all too good! 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 (https://twitter.com/richardhatem) * Brian Perrera (https://twitter.com/thermoware) * Eric Antener (https://twitter.com/antener) * Bill Anderson (https://twitter.com/billand88) * Kevin Brown * Chuck from whatchareading.com (http://whatchareading.com) * Paul Townend, who 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) * Dael Norwood, Dylan Winslow, Dave P, Dale Church and Dave Otterson! 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 * Spoileralerts.org (http://spoileralerts.org) for the adding machine audio clip * Freesound.org (https://www.freesound.org/) for other audio clips

Jimmy, it's Phil in Puerto Rico. This is real important. Talk to him in the phone. He'll pay $20,000. Call him at 235-6228. Welcome to 200 a Day, the podcast where we talk about the 70s television detective show, The Rockford Files. I'm Nathan Palletta. And I'm Epi Dyer-Avershaw. And we are here to talk about a Season 3 episode that you brought to my attention, Epi. This is episode 11 on season three. So that puts it at the very end of disc two. Did you get the perfect disc pull this time? No, I did not.

I was getting so good. I had some, I was at least getting close. But now, you know what throws me off is the the length the short length of the sixth season if the sixth season was roughly the same length as all the other ones i think i'd be a little bit better at estimating oh my god nobody cares here we go uh i chose this one because we haven't seen beth a while. And this episode is The Trouble with Warren. So Warren, as we all know and remember, is Beth's cousin, who is only in this episode. Yep. Good. Good for Rockford. Oh my god, the actor who plays Warren, I do not recognize him at all. Ron Rifkin. Yeah, he's in like 10,000 things. I believe he's an actor

that other people would recognize I did not, but like, he's clearly an actor. Yeah. He was in another episode, an earlier episode of the Rockford Files Roundabout, which is also a classic Yes tune.

Oh, and he was in a Columbo. He was in Make Me a Perfect Murder. Yeah, I recognize the older him far more than I recognize the younger him. Anyways, yeah, I was just thinking it had been a while since we saw Beth. We could do kind of a Beth

centric episode. Beth isn't, it turns out, isn't all that centric to this episode although there are some good scenes with her in it yeah we have not done a bethisode in a while yes we've referred to them in the in the past so yeah we'll we'll maybe use this as a time to reprise our ongoing appreciation of the of jim and beth their whole thing. Yes. There was one comment that I remember coming out of our Malibu Madness where someone was asking,

so why is Beth so important? We kind of just took that as given, I guess, in our conversation during all of that. Assuming, of course, that our listeners would have gone into our archive to hear all of our earlier Beth episode conversations. Um, but as a kind of just a quirk of how we've done the show, since we focused mostly on the first three seasons for the first like year or so of the podcast, we did a lot of Beth episodes because Gretchen Corbett left the show after the fourth season. So, um, it's been a while since we've been hopping around in the other seasons

that she was not present for. It has been a while since we've really had a, had Beth present in an episode, even though this episode isn't about her, but it does have some of the moments that show us, give us a little window into their whole thing. Yeah. As we call it.

Yes. Yeah. I mean, that's a legit question too because it is a romance that isn't the central point of the the show it is a non-plot related romance like it doesn't really come up in the plots of the shows but i think both of us are are particularly attached to that that romance right like Like we both, it's our OTP. Trying too hard to be young. And not like young, young, just a generation younger than me. I think our deepest dive into their relationship is when we talked about A Portrait of Elizabeth. Yes.

Which I believe is the next episode. Oh, okay. Chronologically, in the airing order. And that was our episode 11 back in June of 2017. So, you know. That's also where we get one of our favorite antagonists, Dave, comes from that. Rest in power, John Saxon. We have not noted that since his passing, but...

Great villain from that episode. Episode 26, The Dark and Bloody Ground. That is also one where Beth brings Jim in on behalf of a client that really needs some help. That I think has some similar dynamics to what we're going to talk about in this episode. So our episode 26. Probably the other main beth focused one that we've really talked about i mean she's also very um important in some other episodes like she's she's very important and so help me god for example but in terms of their relationship just the two of them i think those two episodes probably frame it best and then i think we also

loved seeing her in the movie uh that she came back in anyhow so there's you know some some episodes from the archives where we talk about this but we'll we'll talk about it again in this episode since we're coming back to it this episode is written by juanita bartlett which is always a pleasure um and is directed by christian i naibe the second i believe is how you would pronounce that. This is his only Rockford Files episode appearance as a director, though he did a ton of related shows like Hill Street Blues and a lot of Perry Mason. So if you're trying to get the whole Christian I. Nyby run, you've got it.

Well done. Congratulations. We've completed the cycle. There's some interesting stuff towards the end where it turns into almost like a noir film, which we can talk about. Yeah. But yeah, that's who we're dealing with here. I suppose that we should get right into it with our preview montage. Okay.

So the thing that should be mentioned about the preview montage is that we know it's going to be a Bethesda from it. That's fine. We knew that going in. I hit a cop, which is a great line. When that line was delivered, I think he's in a car. So I was expecting him to have hit someone in a car. So I was like, oh, no.

We get some great moments of Jim insults jim insults coming through including a couple of ex-harvard hot dogs and uh a wonderful moment where uh warren i think i guess warren asks him what he's doing and he's like it's called grand theft auto so we know he's getting into it he's gonna get uh in deep we have have a, I think an exchange that encapsulates the dynamic we're going to see where Beth says, Warren is a brilliant chess player. And Rockford replies, he's a turkey.

We also see Dennis and Rocky. And so, you know, get to see all of our friends, which is always nice. And my takeaway from this preview montage was that this Warren guy is going to be trouble trouble which i guess the title already told us hello listeners this is a quick break before we get into the episode to say thank you to our patrons over at patreon.com slash 200 a day this show is free to all but the support from patrons really goes a

long way so we always extend a special thanks to our gumshoes this time we say thank you to chuck from what you're reading.com check out the site for reviews of books games movies comics and more paul townend who also recommends the podcast fruit loops serial killers of color at fruitloopspod.com shane liebling you're playing games online so check out his dice rolling app roll for your party at roll for your dot party jay, so check out his dice-rolling app, Roll for Your Party, at rollforyear.party. Jay Adan, check out his amazing miniature painting skills over at jayadan.com. Dylan Winslow, Dale Norwood, Dave P., Dale Church, and Dave Otterson. And finally, we cannot thank our detective patrons enough for their generous support. Big thanks to Kevin Brown, Eric Antenor, at Antenor on Twitter, Brian Pereira at

Thermaware, Bill Anderson at Billand88, and of course, Richard Haddam at Richard Haddam. We follow them too at 200pod. Why become a patron for as little as $1 an episode? In addition to supporting the show and exclusive episode previews, our patrons get plus expenses, a bonus podcast where we casually chat about all the media we're currently enjoying and things going on in our lives. Help out the show by leaving a rating or review wherever you get your podcasts. Tell a friend who you think would like

it, and check out patreon.com slash 200 a day to see if becoming a patron is right for you. This is 1976. Star Trek is the 60s, that's right. So the trouble with Tribbles, the trouble with Warren. I'm pretty sure that this is not consciously referencing.

They're probably both referencing something earlier. But, yeah. Yeah, we get right into it. So immediately after I make my note that this Warren guy is trouble, we have our opening credits and then we have our titles that pop up immediately over our establishing shots of L.A. at night. And the first so the first thing you see is the trouble with Warren. Yes. Yes.

We see a man with a pipe going to his car in an empty parking garage. And then a another car pulls out of nowhere blocking him in and then a hand extends out of the window with a gun and shoots him dead then we cut to the bar where jim is playing pool where jim is losing pool yeah we see him pay his his losing bet to his opponent uh halfway through this this scene who then does not want to play him again. Poor Jim. So Jim's playing pool and Warren runs in all stressed out to find him. So this is a solid first scene that is carrying multiple weights in order to get us into the

episode. waits in order to get us into the you know get us into the episode through their dialogue we learn who warren is his relationship with jim which is very clear that jim does not like warren does not have time for him yeah my first note is i'm getting the impression that jim doesn't care for warren yeah it's like it's pretty obvious from the get-go yeah he he found out where jim was from rocky because he was calling to try and get in touch with him there's a line because he's in a pool hall right so there's a line of like oh you came down here i thought you only played the flute oh that's on tuesday nights so we know from the preview montage that he plays chess he plays the flute um warren is trying to

find jim because he hasn't been able to get in touch with beth his cousin and he's in some kind of trouble but he doesn't want to talk about it in public. It'll be safer if they go to his trailer and talk alone. They're looking for me. On that line, we see two gorillas in suits stroll into the bar. One of them points at Warren and he just yells no and runs at them like to get out the door, I guess. And so one of those guys pulls a gun he's standing next to jim and we get a tight tight shot of a pool cue hitting him on the wrist to make him drop the gun and then he punches the guy out and runs out the door after warren this whole bit is very angel there's there's a lot of things with warren that could have been played straight with angel which i think is is

really kind of interesting but that no and running out just has a very that edge to it that like i just feel like jim is surrounded with these people right like like we get a little glimpse of them from time to time mainly via angel but obviously with warren and i feel um the most recent one or the second most recent episode we did i can't remember what the last one we did was there was another very angel-like character the yeah because they had the con man that came in with him yeah yeah de nova yeah de nova who's kind of similar he wasn't quite so cowardly yeah he was more craven yes i kind of felt i think this kind of grows over the course of the episode there's a little because i'm like why you know what

differentiates this guy from angel right right what they do is different obviously but and there's something about like jim is friends with angel despite it all he's not friends with warren no like he only associates with warren because of beth that little tiny piece of relationship that keeps him and angel bound together even despite all the stuff that we did talk about in our most recent episode that we recorded um material difference um even when angel drives him past the edge he he is angry, but he still cares about Angel, even when Angel is making his life miserable. And I think this is actually a pretty good piece of character work, like acting, from James Garner. I never get the sense that he cares about Warren. The flute thing is a great thing about that, right?

So he takes these jabs at the fact that Warren plays a flute. that right so he he takes these jabs at the fact that warren plays a flute the only evidence we have throughout all this is that he makes these jabs at warren uh which has this implication because even later on we'll get to it but like there's a there's a moment later on where beth is chiding him for it and jim's like well he's always bringing it up. And he never brings it up in this episode. Like at no point does Warren mention the flute. Yeah, it almost makes Jim seem mean. Yeah, a little bit. I don't want to go too far with that because I feel like we just assume that he does always bring it up.

Otherwise, why would Jim be bringing it up? But there is no textual evidence for that. It's just Jim saying that that happens. So Jim is just annoyed with this guy. Right. So we get the rest of our credits over a little montage of the Firebird driving through the streets. And I couldn't tell if they were being chased or not. That was exactly what I know.

I was like, is this a chase or just a heated drive? I think it might just be a heated drive. Yeah. They finally park. Jimim is driving of course and warren's first words to him are you drive very well and he says thanks who'd i hit i wonder if i've done the right thing maybe i should have gone down to the station with them and answered the questions i hit a cop says the last thing that he wants warren apparently heard on the radio that he was wanted for questioning in connection with a murder um as we

learn the man who was murdered his name is uh robert bonner and he was an executive at the left court electronics where warren works or worked until until later that day um he said that he had an argument with the guy earlier in the day and he lost his temper, but that was it. He didn't do it. Don't worry, Jim. I know I can straighten this whole thing out. Which is our first joke in the cut in this episode. We cut from him saying we can straighten this whole thing out to Lieutenant Chapman, our dear friend, yelling at Jim.

Assault on a police officer. Flight to avoid arrest, et cetera, et cetera. Jim said he came, he came in voluntarily to iron this whole thing out. He brought Warren with him. And they have some back and forth about his,

about the, the cops that he, that he punched out. He's like, look, they look like a couple of goons. Yeah. Like the whole time I'm watching the scene,

I'm like, they never identified themselves as cops. Right. So like, maybe there's some ground here and that does come up. Yeah. He says they didn't identify themselves as the police officers. And Chapman says, well, that's because you didn't give them a chance before you came down on them.

And that's going to cost you your license. And that's where Jim gets very serious. The hell it is. Oh, it's great. Yeah. There's something when Jim gets direct with Chapman that I really like. I'm seeing where in the show Chapman first shows up. Because this also is a little bit of background setting for them.

Because he mentions that, like, I've heard about you back when I was down at Wilshire Division. You've got a contempt for the law and those who enforce it. It looks like this season is the season he shows up. Okay, he shows up at the end of season two. Oh, he does. Okay. Well, okay. So he's not Chapman yet in that episode.

So his first appearance is at the beginning of season three as Chapman. I see. And so, and this is a replacement for Deal. Ah, yes, Deal. Right. So this is, yes. So this is still early in the Chapman-Rock Ah, yes, Deal. Right. So this is, yeah. So this is still early in the Chapman-Rockford relationship, I guess one would say, for sure. This is definitely before that episode where they have to work together.

There's an episode where Chapman has to come to Rockford for help, which is kill the messenger. That's not for a couple of seasons. So this is early in our relationship. At the very least, you might have to introduce audiences who may have missed an episode or two to the fact that Chapman and Rockford don't get along. But yes, so he does in fact have Jim booked for these charges as the result of this whole thing.

And so we cut to Warren outside leaning on a car doing math on a notepad. Yeah, I paused to see what kind of math he's doing and it's it's algebra it's not it doesn't even look like the things he's writing are related to each other in any way uh i think it's just to show you that he he's aware of high school level math true to form beth has gotten jim out uh after his night in the in the pokey uh but war Warren wasn't even held overnight. Though they wanted to question him, they didn't have a case against me. Beth wants to talk to Jim alone.

Warren's like, oh, we'll have lunch later. And this is when, yeah, Jim, we get, I think, the first burst from Jim about, like, we have spent time together, and I don't like it. Morgan hardly waits. The last time we had lunch, he spent 45 minutes on the Steinitz gambit and how Strogovich electrified the chess world in the 1960 Leningrad championship. Warren is a brilliant chess player. He's a turkey. He's my cousin, Jim.

So, again, this is, you know, doing some of the scene and character setting. If you are coming to this, you know, kind of fresh, uh, Beth is Jim's lawyer. We get, you know, a little bit about how she's used the one who has got him out of jail.

Right. The fact that Warren is her cousin and she's asking Jim for help. That's the triangle. Right. And yeah, the only reason that Jim is going to do anything is because Beth is asking him because of their relationship. Because of the eyes she's giving him in this conversation.

There's definitely a moment of puppy dog. Yes, there's definitely some puppy dog, like, please, appeal going on. And I get the sense that Beth knows that this is going to get Jim to do the thing. Right, yeah. This is just the hoops that she is going to get Jim to do the thing. Right, yeah. This is just the hoops that she's got to go through. Jim has a great line at the end of this where he's like, my next attorney is going to be a foundling.

Yes, with no living relatives. So the thing is, Warren doesn't realize the trouble that he's in, that the cops are trying to build a case against him. His lighter was found next to the body, but he doesn't even park trouble that he's in that the cops are trying to build a case against him uh his lighter was found next to the body but he doesn't even park on that level uh there's no way it could have been there accidentally therefore some whoever killed this guy must have been in their same company and heard about their argument i think this is where we get the the fact that warren was actually fired during that day like and that argument was about him being fired or

about getting him a job somewhere else or something like that. So the contrast here, uh, because I brought up the angel comparison, uh, is that angel keeps information from Jim because angel doesn't trust people. Warren keeps information from Jim for the most part,

because he, he just doesn't think it's relevant. Like he just doesn't think about it. Like there's a whole thing at the end where he thinks he can solve it with a computer. It's a joke. It's just a joke. But like it still gets to the heart of what's going on is that he can't actually see the picture. Like he's a very smart person who doesn't actually know can't interact with people, but also doesn feed jim all the information that jim needs to know yeah there's a part where jim says like he lied to me and it's like it's not really that he

lies consciously is that he just doesn't think that things he just doesn't think to mention things yeah like the cops like he can't tell jim that the cops are after him uh i don't feel like like angel would not tell jim that the cops are after him. Well, Angel probably would. But Angel wouldn't tell him that he was actually fired from that job because that's a piece of information that he knows will make Jim treat him differently. Yes. While Warren just didn't think to mention it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, we end this with Jim saying, I'm not going to interfere with an active police investigation.

Which, you know, he always tries. But then he gets the puppy dog eyes from Beth and she says, please. And my next attorney is going to be a foundling, someone with no known living relatives. We cut back to our office building where Jim is doing one of his characters, Mr. Taggart, with his glasses on. So we know he's incognito. My note is glasses on for bureaucrat. Right.

And so he's talking to a gray-haired man, Mr. Lefcourt, who is the Lefcourt of Lefcourt Electronics. And he's saying that he's from the Department of Human Resources. Mr. Lefcourt's like, the unemployment office. Well, I'm with the Department of Executive Reassignment. So he's trying to talk himself into a position where he can find out more about Warren's firing, it sounds like. Yeah. But left court cult like has him on lock. Get out of here. I beg your pardon. A lot of people try to force their way into my office for one reason or another, but nobody's ever tried anything as patently absurd as that story. The Department of Human Resources does not have field representatives to find jobs

for that clientele and then jim pivots sunnyvale employment does oh you thought i meant the government agency no no no no we're we're a private concern it's like oh we use the same name because it adds a little like gravitas to our business or whatever um and he just wants to talk to the people that warren weeks worked with says apparently works enough or at least throws left court off enough to give him a little bit more information this is the thing about jim's pivots or jim's cons in general is that um that Jim isn't long conning anyone. He's not trying to create a really stable persona. He's just trying to get the information,

or rather he's just trying to get any information. So if he can pivot in a way. Yeah, he'll go with whatever works. Yeah, and you don't have to even trust him because sometimes you not trusting him in certain ways will give him enough information. That's not the case here. This guy just maybe I'm mixing up my notes here, but he mentions Robert Bonner, but doesn't say he's dead. So he says that Warren was employed for better than eight years and he was fired in eight minutes. Yeah, he didn't fire him. Robert Bonner fired him.

And I made a note that I'm like, oh, that's the dead guy. But yeah, I don't think he mentions that that person is dead. But also, I don't know if that's because like it was in the news. Like he would just assume. Right. Like the more we hear about this guy left court, the more like of a cold blooded jerk we learn that he is.

So that's kind of in his character. Um, but his point is like, it's a big company. I don't have time or inclination to hire and fire people. So, you know, I can't give you any more information. Then we get to two good things. One is as Jim leaves, we get a call in from Love Court's secretary telling him about a senator that's called for him three times already and is trying to talk to him.

And he reiterates that he's still out. And we see Jim listening to that conversation. And this is the type of thing right like jim's cons are just so he can be close enough to get some information it doesn't matter yeah he responds to that i forget exactly what he says but it's like oh government contracts or something good day mr taggart as jim steps through the door directly into Chapman. And we get the wah-wah harmonica as Jim folds up his glasses with his wry smile on his face, like, oh, you got me. Glasses off.

Mm-hmm. I think this is the first time we've seen that, really. Yeah. In our coverage of the show, where he goes directly from, like, he's like, all right, successful con. Oh, con oh oh oh there's chapman uh-oh so i thought that was good yeah no that was good i the uh the business with the glasses is great it's got like a um superman click thing going that i like then the very next bit which is that he got him on malicious mischief yes malicious mischief that's a thing of

beauty okay this thing with the senator this is going to be important later yeah yeah yeah it's very much telegraphed uh so yes we're now at the hollywood division police station where beth has got him out of the malicious mischief charge and he says that my attorney's supposed to get me out of trouble not into it so there is a bit of a weird weirdness here warren says that left court fired him and left court says that bonner fired him um so i guess that's why jim went to left court right beth is is making this connection and jim's saying ask warren about it i'm out of this i did the thing you asked me to do i got in more trouble with the cops this is what gets beth's back up yeah and now she gets mad at jim for not liking warren and this is

another part of their dynamic i think that we that we see here where uh she will only put up with him to a point and again this is i'm draw draw the connection with a portrait of Elizabeth again, because we see it there, too, which is when Beth is invested in someone else. She wants Jim to like them the way that she does. Yeah. And then when he rejects that, when he's like, I don't need to like this person just because you do. She takes that as a personal affront. this person just because you do she takes that as a personal affront so we don't give um every time beth saves jim in this one it's because of trouble he's getting into for warren right but i feel like i mean we know as viewers of the show but also i feel like there's a clear implication that beth

is always getting jim out of trouble so even if there isn't like the puppy dog guys even if there isn't a relationship between the two of them uh it i think it does come across it's pretty clear that she owes him something to that effect or i'm sorry the other way around he owes her uh if she's the one that he turns to whenever he's in legal trouble yeah we don't get it in this one but there is also the constant like back and forth about like paying her for her time. Yeah. And that never happening. I think that's reflected in the earlier like line about the foundling. Like the next time I get a lawyer, there'll be a foundling.

It doesn't matter who your lawyer's relatives are. It's not the fact that Beth is your lawyer. Right. That makes you beholden to warhead. Yeah. It's the fact that you care about Beth and she's's yeah and she's calling in that that's that's what she's calling in not not a yeah favor that you owe me for getting you out of trouble though that's kind of an undercurrent but it's like yeah i need you to help my cousin out yeah please here's where we get our another line about the flute she says you're always making

fun of him what's funny about playing the flute he talks about it all the time and beth has a very good comeback of you talk about fishing all the time and the rams i don't remember him ever talking about the ramp but i could assume he has every so often him and becker talk about lakers tickets but yeah i'm not sure about the rams yeah i wonder if that's a joke though i wonder if that's just her mixing up the sport because he does he does talk about the lakers all the time and she might just be like whatever local team the rams you know what i mean yeah it's it's possible all right but the feds the feds or as my notes put it new goons oh feds so jim's intercepted they asked him to come to the federal building why should he cooperate we're conducting investigation you don't have to come now, but if you don't, you can expect a grand jury subpoena.

Of course, it's not a big fan of this either, and asks if he can answer the questions with his attorney present. And they're like, whatever you like. Part of the physical action during this is him discovering that he has a ticket on his car. Yes. So, so good. It just piles up for you, Jim. So I like the, the hierarchy here for Jim is like, I don't want to answer your questions. Okay.

Well then we're going to give you a Jane grand jury subpoena. Okay. I'll answer your questions with my lawyer present. He's not willing to escalate all the way there. That's for a different episode, but yeah, yeah. He knows enough not to go in by himself.

That said, we cut to Jim with the feds in an office and he has not been able to get a hold of Beth. When the main fed says, look, we just want information. We're not looking for self-incrimination. Jim says to go ahead. And I was like, Jim, what are you doing, buddy? Don't talk to the cops but i think this works with how this plays out uh they ask him what he knows about bolivia and ask some what he what he knows about a certain general and he's like i don't know you know i don't know who that

is uh i don't know what you want it want from me well we have it on good authority that you do know warren weeks this is about warren it's not about me jim asks who their good authority is is it uh you know someone at left court or maybe the cops and they stay silent and he's like all right well you're gonna have to get that subpoena so i guess he plays this you know in accordance to everything we know about him where he's kind of like, I'm already here. Maybe this won't be a thing and I can just be done. Oh, this is a thing? Okay, I'm walking because I know my rights and, you know, I don't need to answer your questions right now.

He is a jailhouse lawyer. Yes. Yardbird lawyer. Yardbird lawyer. He heads out down this hallway and then he takes a look at the, what is that called? The directory. The directory. Thank you. Takes a look at the, what is that called? The directory. The directory, thank you. Takes a look at the directory and it's just blank next to this office.

I love this con. And I'm trying to figure out why I love this con that he pulls on this janitor here. Except that it's just expertly done. It's just so smooth. Yeah, it just follows that Jim thing of like, keep the person talking long enough to learn whatever you can to get you to the next spot right he's acting put upon yeah but he's asking for help yeah so he's not being a jerk to this guy but he is also not doing the like i'm in a jam and i

really need your help like the time pressure thing it's more of the like most of the people in this building probably treat you like garbage so i'm going to treat you like a person and we'll see where this goes so this whole thing to wit is that uh there's a facilities guy who's holding a plunger and has a cigar in his mouth which uh i appreciate who like steps out of a maintenance closet or something and jim stops him and uh says uh he he complains about how uh all the towels are gone from the bathroom and he has to walk all the way down from the other end of the of the floor to go to this bathroom and there's no towels and it's it's the tenants in 244 they take all of them i've seen them and so the guy's like there's no tenants in 244 he's like

but there's these two guys they're wearing suits or whatever it's like, there's no tenants in 244. He's like, but there's these two guys. They're wearing suits or whatever. He's like, oh, those guys. Yeah. They don't work in the building. They were sent down from Washington. Well, who are they? I've tried to talk to them. They're not overly friendly.

They don't have to be. Hey, I don't know who those two guys are, but they got some kind of clout. We're not even supposed to clean out office 244 after dark. As if I give a hoot about what the congress is up to hey congress i mean they act like cops hey listen mister i don't know about you but i'm just a gs3 and if those guys are down from capitol hill they could take all the towels they want out of that bathroom and i could care less and jim's like all right he doesn't need to yell at this guy about the towels he got the

information that he wanted yeah uh he goes home and there's a guy waiting for him which is always ominous but this is uh garrett hudson and he's a vice uh vice president or something at left court electronics and he wants to help warren out he hasn't been able to get a get a hold of him but somehow he knew that Jim was involved? Question mark. There is precisely the right amount of suspicion on this scene, I feel like. Like, why is he there? Why is he talking to Jim? He seems to be in Warren's corner. It's one of those scenes where you half expect him to drop the facade at some point. Yeah, and like pull a gun or something.

Pull a gun or sucker punch Jim or something. But he doesn't. He, on the surface at least, appears to be actually trying to warn Warren about Lefkorn. Yeah. So Jim is taking his groceries in, which is also another like, eh. But Jim gets his groceries into the, as far as we can tellim gets his groceries into the as far as we can tell gets his groceries into his trailer unmolested could i just talk about this set dressing for his groceries for a second here yes please uh because there is i think probably a rule in

hollywood in in the film and tv industry that if you have groceries, the way you indicate this is with a brown paper bag with a baguette and a stock of celery sticking out of the top. And they do it with a brown paper bag with a bag of potato chips sticking out of the top. Perfect. Which I believe we can tell because it says potato chips and giant letters across the top of the bag. So yeah.

So Garrett wants, letters across the top of the bag so yeah so garrett wants wants jim and warren by extension to know that left court knows that warren is having an affair with left court's wife katherine yes and i'm like what yeah uh okay we haven't even met katherine yet and i'm like what uh it says that the argument that Warren and Bonner had was a normal workplace argument when someone gets fired but that Bonner's secretary uh quote got hysterical and called the cops and also talked to the media and that has given left court an opportunity to frame Warren in order to to I don't know get him out of the picture or get his revenge or whatever uh you know jim plays it like i don't know why you're talking to me i'm not gonna deal

with warren anymore but uh garrett says that like he's got to be warned i just want warren to know what he's up against right if somebody like left court was gunning for me i'd like to know that kind of thing but yeah definitely suspicious uh But not like I said, the precise amount of suspicion, because this could actually be a legit warning. Right. And as it turns out, it is. Yeah. No, it's a setup. It's a setup. But there are so Garrett doesn't tell Jim any lies.

Yes. But he does, as we learn, misrepresent what that information means. Yeah. Jim will do the same very soon. I mean, which is a nice line to tread for this kind of story yeah then we go to the phone is ringing at beth's place and we get our signature plants beth's apartment you know goes through different iterations based on the season and whatever scenery they're whatever set dressing they're doing sometimes it's very yellow um sometimes it has a bar. But there's always a lot of plants everywhere. Yes. Which is great.

Sometimes the sound of a cat. We do not hear about or see the cat in this episode. Yeah. Beth is playing chess with Warren and interrupts their game to answer the phone. And Jim is using his serious voice and wants to talk to warren he asks warren what he knows about bolivia and we learn that warren did a feasibility study for the company there five months ago and that he dealt with that general that jim also half remembers the name of um it was routine it's the same thing he's done in all kinds of places he

names all these other countries uh jim jim, says, well, there's a grand jury involved. So clearly something happened. And Warren's like, I don't know. In my notes, I say Jim pops off as he gets pretty heated with Warren about not telling him everything. And he uses the phrase something like, you didn't tell me that you were playing house with Mrs. Lefcourt. And then Warren gets mad. Yes. You know, you have no right to talk like that.

She is bright and she is kind. So this is a moment where in the previous scene, I'm wondering if this guy is telling lies, right? And Warren's reaction there, I'm like, oh, wait a minute. Warren is having an affair. And Jim's point is that you never told me that Lefcourt has a great reason for framing you for this murder. Yeah. And so now you've been warned. You know that he knows and I'm out.

And Warren still mad himself. Okay, I've been warned. And he slams down the phone. I believe there's a shot where he knocks over some of the chess pieces. Yeah, or something. Something like that. I believe there's a shot where like knocks over some of the chess pieces. Yeah, or something.

Something like that. Warren steamed and we cut to him running up to left court while he's playing tennis. Yeah. I did not realize till later that I guess this is his private tennis court. I assumed it's like a club or something, but not that it matters except that we come back here later. Yeah. Warren accuses left court of framing him and says that he loves Catherine and he's going to ask her to marry him. Lefcourt calls for security and mocks Warren.

You know, what can you offer her? Like that kind of thing. He clearly does not seem to be threatened by this, by the sudden appearance of an angry Warren. And Warren is not threatening right he's a small small guy uh kind of nervous face like kind of scrawny uh he's not an he's no gandy no we have the two goons one with an amazing mop of blonde hair but a big brown mustache did you see that yeah i mean at first i was like do these guys have the same haircut like there's something very samey about these two like they could be brothers they do seem to have the same blonde kind of shaggy mop yeah but then one of them is clean shaven and the other one has

a brown mustache yeah oh and the clean shaven one has brown sideburns so there's something there's a whole side story about these guys. So anyway, our blonde haired goons drag Warren away as he yells, I won't let you get away with this. Then we cut to Jim grilling steaks for Rocky. So very first note, Jim's grilling. Will he get to eat? Question mark. Stay tuned to find out.

Rocky keeps asking about Warren. Jim's grilling. Will he get to eat? Stay tuned to find out. Rocky keeps asking about Warren. Jim doesn't want to talk about him, but Rocky does want to talk about him. That's why he's asking. We have an aside where he asks if the potatoes are real, because he doesn't like the ready-made ones that are all frozen and cold. Are those ready-made fries? I think so.

I think that he's cooking. I was trying to figure this out, too. It appears to me that he has wrapped frozen French fries in foil and is cooking them on the grill. And I think Rocky wants real potatoes cut to fries and cooked on the grill. And he's not getting that. I don't think. I don't think they're real we do get a wonderful line uh about rocky's taste in people when jim's like you always wear a sucker for a short haircut which i assume means like a clean cut person like if they're clean cut rocky

just assumes the best of them yeah i don't know what that really means. I feel like there's some other meaning to that. Maybe something about like being kind of like square. Yeah. So there's a point here that gets under Jim's skin that I think is important. Well, anyway, I'm sure glad

whatever trouble he got himself into, you was able to get him out. Well, I didn't. was that bad you couldn't do anything i didn't say that there's nothing i will do i walked away from oh jim he's beth's cousin but i think that kind of like that putting that that bug in his ear of like oh yeah you couldn't do anything i think it contributes to his whole i don't know everything uh after the line about the the short haircut we see jim carefully cut off a piece of steak he reaches over gets the salt and pepper brings it back to his side and he's literally lifting the fork to his mouth and i'm typing in my notes jim gets to eat

uh and then the phone rings and he puts it down. Delete, delete, delete, delete, delete. I don't know who that is for. Someone's trolling us. Yeah. Yeah. It's the same thing. I'm just watching it.

I was like, nope, no food for Jim. I was literally thinking, just put the, just put it in your mouth. You could chew it on the way to the phone jim yeah you can eat and talk it's okay but no no steak for jim i mean maybe he finishes it later who knows yeah uh it's a call from beth who is panicked um you gotta stop warren he's on the way to left court's house this is the last time i'll ask you to do anything for him. I promise. We see that Beth understands even she can only pull on Jim's, I don't know, heartstrings so many times.

And like, this is like, I think each time we've seen her do it a little differently. Like first was kind of like the puppy dog guys, like please do it for me. The second time was this kind of righteous indignation. Like, yeah,

I can't believe that you wouldn't do this just because you don't like him like you know and then this time is like a real like no seriously you need to help him this is an emergency like i think i mentioned that jim used a serious voice earlier and this is beth using her serious voice as jim heads out of the trailer he says that there's a lot to be said for friendship, and there's a lot to be said against it. I will note that this, in fact, she's not lying. This is the last time. Not, I think, in this episode, but certainly Warren doesn't show up ever again. Right, right. From here on, events snowball. We're going to take a quick break so that everyone can walk around, stretch, get a refreshing beverage of choice, and find out where you can find us

on the internet when we're not talking about the Rockford Files. Of course, 200 a day can be found at 200aday.fireside.fm, patreon.com slash 200aday, and on Twitter at 200pod. You can also email us at 200adaypodcast at gmail.com. Epi, where can our fine listeners find you elsewhere on the internet? You can find my games at digathousandholes.com That's dig and then the number

1000 and then holes.com Or you can find my sword and sorcery fiction and games at worldswithoutmaster.com. Or you can find me on Twitter at Epidiah, E-P-I-D-I-A-H. Where can we find you upon this internet? All of my stuff, including my game design, my freelance graphic design and layout work, and other projects that I do, like zines and podcasts, are at ndpdesign.com.

You can also find me on Twitter at ndpeoleta. I'm also on Instagram at the same handle where you can see pictures of my dog. I hope you're comfortable with your favorite beverage in hand as we return you now to the show. Jim goes to the big fancy house, Left Court's house. He goes around the show. Jim goes to the big fancy house, uh, left court's house. He goes around the back and we have this really ominous, like horror movie style point of view tracking shot, uh, where we're with Jim as he like scans across the tennis court and we see a

automatic, uh, ball server. I don't know what that would be called. A machine that shoots the tennis balls for you know for you to work on your returns and that's just shooting balls into nothingness it's it's great because it's otherwise i believe it's otherwise silent and you just keep hearing that yeah so much of this is borrowed from horror like just that and then we we pan over and we get the body and it's not gruesome, but the way he's lying there is an awkward pose.

So it feels more like an actual dead body. So it really kind of within the confines of the, of television decency. Right. Right. It's a pretty, uh, ominous shot.

It's, it's, I think it's well done. And, ominous shot. I think it's well done. And then we switch back to the medium shot to see Jim see

Warren running out of the tennis court. Yeah. And he's panicked. And then he actually shows Jim Lefcourt's body because Jim couldn't see it behind him or something. Yeah. He swears that he was dead when he got there. There's a message for him with his service telling him to come. They'll hash it out

or something. And then they hear police sirens as they're talking. And so Jim's like, well, they probably got the same call. This is a setup. His car is at the bottom of the road. So they get into Warren's car. And then Warren... There's a little bit of, like,

logic here that I didn't super understand, but it's fine. So he's like, we need to go to the cops immediately. But it looks bad if these cops catch you here. Yeah, you have to surrender yourself. That would be better, I guess, is the logic, right? But then he doesn't really get out of there quickly enough and the cops see them. And so he's like, okay, just pull over.

But then Warren panics and hits the gas and the chase is on. There's some stuff about this chase. First of all, Warren can handle a car. I mean, I don't think that that's the intent of what we're getting here, but. In order to make this a fun chase, this car sure speeds along.

Yeah, and I don't, okay, let me ask you this about this chase is there a scooby-doo moment here does yes come down and the cop goes a different direction and then they pass each other through the same intersection again like it feels like that moment in scooby-doo where they're running in and out of different you're looking down the hallway and they're coming in and out of different room doors it's a little confused i think what happens like if you were looking down at it right there's a yeah there's like a roundabout that's essentially a y intersection with another road that crosses so warren goes to the right and the cop car goes to the left because it was far enough behind that

it didn't see which direction you went yeah and. And then we follow Warren for a little bit. And then we go back to the cop car, which sees Warren's car go through that intersection again in a different direction, I think, or through that cross street. The way it shot, it looks like Warren went off to his right and then somehow got turned around and came back in from the same direction that he just left. Or all of the intersections in this neighborhood or several of the intersections of the neighborhood look similar enough that they got lost in some maze where that happens. I don't know the neighborhood well enough. That might be an actual joke that they're trying to do.

Yeah, it's not quite. We don't quite have enough context to like see the strategy level. Or lack thereof. We do get a shot of speeded up film to show that Warren's car is going fast, which is a little unusual, but I guess because they didn't have James Garner driving,

they needed to give a little more oomph for something. This does end with a very good resolution where they pass a wedding reception at like some big fancy house and there's all these cars lining the road and jim's like it's a wedding pull in and they pull in and a valet takes their car and then they go into the building before the cops see the car come in and then make the valet get out yeah that that scene today has a whole level of implications i know i was like oh no the valet is black so he's driving this car and then these cops are like get out of the car and i was like oh my god but it doesn't play out that way

it was not filmed with that intention i don't think think. It is more of a current day valence there that caused a little tension. Clearly, we know by the next scene, the cops figured out that that's the valet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they mingle in the wedding reception. I love that there's a little shot where they both go over and shake the groom's hand. Yes. They kind of like butt into a reception line it's great because jim is doing it so smoothly and warren is just following jim and trying to like doesn't

know what's happening just doesn't know what's happening warren is is operating on pure reflex i think yeah jim manages to to glad hand someone in such a way as to point out where the uh where the coat rack is hey how are you glad to see you all right yeah you seen herb around herb yeah yeah he said he was looking for a place to hang his coat oh he'd be in the house in there hey thank you we'll get together on a santa cruz deal later okay yeah we'll talk about santa cruz later bye as jim digs through coat pockets to find another valet ticket, I assumed. Yes. We see the cops coming through the crowd, but they managed to dip out before them. And there's a different valet that he gives the ticket to.

And this is another little moment that I really liked. Yes. And which car is it? And then Jim acts drunk. Yeah. Like he can't. And the valet's like, I'll find it. It's fine.

Okay. So there's a couple of things about this. The first is he acts drunk so that he can not answer that question, right? He doesn't know what kind of car it is. But that puts him in a situation where Warren has to drive again. Right. And I like that too. There's just something very nice about how that all plays out.

Yeah, the logic there all tracks really well. It's just a nice little moment that gives you a bunch of things that aren't huge deals, but it just works. Of course, by the law of TV comedy, the car that they have randomly pulled is this weenie little wagon that the valet pulls up. And it's just like, oh, no. They do get into it.ren says that he's sorry jim is not interested in sorry he's interested in getting out and uh the last little touch here is that warren tips the valet yes with coins i think it's i think so it's not a great tip we cut from here into a parking lot. So they apparently this gambit apparently worked and they made it made it away from the cops without having to do a race in this little weenie car.

Jim wants to get Beth and then go turn themselves in. And as soon as Jim gets out of the car, Warren peels out and takes off again. The echoes of Angel. Yes. There's some language in there somewhere about like, I'm already, you know, I'm already an accessory after the fact. Why not throw Grand Theft Auto on top of it? Jim goes in to see Beth. She wants to know what happened.

And Jim is very snarky about, you know, why don't you ask Warren? And Jim is very snarky about, you know, why don't you ask Warren? And then he gives a phone call to our good friend, Dennis Becker, who we know immediately is waiting for such a phone call because he has someone else pick up the other line as he answers the phone. It's his his I'm supposed to keep Jim on the line voice. Right. Which is so suspicious. Like, fine, Jimbo. How about you? Yeah, we talked about this in our last episode because we had a similar scene. But like any time that Becker's like, hey, let's just have a chat.

Yeah, I'm happy to hear from you. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe we should go fishing soon or something like that. And we see Jim roll his eyes and then just hang up. Yes. And then he calls back and Becker's like, why'd you hang up? Because I didn't want my call to be traced, Becker.

How much trouble am I in? Yes. How about you come in and we'll talk about it. What about the left court murder? And Becker offers him a deal. You come in and we'll straighten this thing out and I'll call off the APB. Now that Jim knows the stakes, the cops are looking for him. He hangs

up, turns to Beth. Honey, I'm gonna have to borrow your car. Why? Because Warren stole the car that I stole. Can I have your keys? Yes. That's good. This is a Jim and Beth their whole thing moment, right? Yeah.

This is transitioning from Jim was dragged kicking and screaming to helping warren to now jim has skin in the game now he has to get himself out and so now he needs beth's help in the form of her car i mean he's not all smiles but he's with a gentler tone of voice he calls her honey yes it's all he's doing as close to puppy dog eyes as he can at this point he has now racked up a bunch of felonies trying to help warren and the only thing that's going to get him out now is turning in whoever actually killed left court and this is a standard ploy we've seen quite a few

times in the rock for files where uh now he's on the case because his only way out is to find out otherwise it's just going to land on his shoulders. So he might as well solve the case for the cops. And also, importantly, he's not going to tell Beth anymore because the less she knows, the better. Yeah. No, I think she can probably peace out from what she heard over the phone. What's going on? Jim goes back to the left courthouse and Beth's red convertible, which is always, always a joy.

Yeah, the Porsche. So here, I think this is the first time I've seen him run this con. It's a con of opportunity. I don't think he sets out to do this. No, he does. He does. What he does is he lets the housekeeper believe he's the police yeah i think he says like i just have a couple more questions or something like that yeah and

so yeah she assumes that he's from the police so he tell so she tells mrs love court that the police are back being very careful throughout this scene, because I was paying close attention to never confirm if he's directly asked if he's the police and to never say that he's the police. He just leads them to believe he is, and then lets them continue from there. Cause it's whatever, whatever little bit it takes to get into the house. He's going to,

that's all he needs. So we have our first appearance of Mrs. Lefcourt who we see Jim being surprised. And so I guess I assume it's gonna that's all he needs so we have our first appearance of mrs left court who we see jim being surprised and so i guess i assume it's because she's younger than left court was uh and she's attractive yeah i'm i'm surprised that warren would have an affair with this woman but uh sure yeah it happens we go into a very teal room uh to have this conversation it's a very teal on teal kind of decor uh so his initial gambit is like we know that you have been having an affair with war in weeks and she's like of course you know that

because i told you and jim's like okay gotta change gears yeah often in such situations or something that people you know know, are holding back. And we see her getting a little suspicious. You know, your people are already here. I answered all your questions. My husband never interfered with my personal affairs. So I didn't have anything to hold back. And then he asks her how much she stands to inherit.

And she'll answer further questions at headquarters with her attorney present. And that's when Jim's like, I don't have a headquarters. I'm not with the police. I just let your housekeeper think that. That's something like, I'm just trying to figure out the truth. What does it look like to you with you looking to inherit so much money and Warren Weeks being such a born patsy?

Yeah, oh, that's a good line. And then we, I think we just cut from there. So there's no real resolution to that, but we see the train of thought that Jim is having. Yeah. We cut to a motel where Jim's hiding out and a closeup on a Danish with Jim saying, what is this prune? All I could get Sonny.

Oh, Rocky. All he could get was the prune Danish. There's also the business with the coffee where he takes a sip and it's clearly bad coffee. Now, this is a good food episode. It is. Yeah. Jim is trying to figure out how the two murders are tied together. If he can figure that out, it'll break the case.

And so this time he's going to take Rocky's car and tells him to keep the door locked. So I assume that the Firebird like so i was thinking about this too was impounded or something i mean it had to have been it was left at the scene of the crime right i don't know how he's returning these cars to people yeah i mean i like that he's borrowing everyone's car and driving around there is a a uh forensics of the cars that could be done with this episode, which is a little lacking, but whatever. It's fine. Jim goes to see, I guess, a stockbroker friend. And this is something I feel like we saw a lot more in the early episodes and less so in the later ones where Jim just has this like network of acquaintances that have specialties that he can go to for specific things.

acquaintances that have specialties that he can go to for specific things. And they're always just a little bit more available to Jim than Jim is to Warren. Yes. They're not happy to see Jim, but they're not. They're Dennis-level

excited about Jim. Right. They're like, you only come to see me when you need something, but I only come to see you when I need something, so I guess that to see you when I need something. So I guess that's our relationship. So this guy, he says that, you know, your job is to keep an eye on all the big companies. Is anyone selling a lot of left court stock? Because he has this theory of someone on the executive level that is planning to, like, flee the country or something. Then they're going to be liquidating their stock in advance.

But that has not been happening. And there's a good line in there of like, left court's a blue chip. Like even murder doesn't make a movement on it or something like that. Just like, ah, capitalism. Ah, capitalism. He asked about this congressional investigation

and the guy's like, I don't, I haven't heard anything about that. Well, maybe you should ask somebody because if you you could dig anything up about it it would be good for you to know so he's offering a kind of a tip right like i know this if it's important you should know that because it can help you out give you an edge and i like so he makes a phone call so he just like calls a guy yep he knows a guy through his side of the call we see that yes something is going on and then he tells jim that there's a senate subcommittee on multinational corporations and they're doing hearings on corporate bribery and that left

court is a subject of those uh hearings and brings up that senator's phone call that he overheard from earlier in the episode and asks who the subcommittee will call to testify. There's two, maybe three people they call now that both Bonner and Lefkorn are dead. And he lists a couple of the names of executive vice presidents or whatever. Of course, including

Garrett, who had given him the warning about Warren. And then Jim makes a phone call don't worry it's local i forgot who he called um i assume that he calls becker honestly maybe yeah so we're going to get into our finale here and i'll tell you why i think that may when we get to it so we actually cut to the firebird so some somehow he's gotten his car back and i think that's where our car forensics falls apart because like clearly wasn't impounded or he wouldn't have gotten it back by now uh so who knows it doesn't matter um we do get his uh firebird antics um as he is going to see gareth uh or garrett uh the guy who told him to warn

warren we have this interesting scene where j Jim is talking to him about the case. Garrett is having car trouble. So they're going in and out of like being under the hood and going in and testing the throttle. And there's a joke about how there's all these wires and stuff. And I feel that A, if I knew more about cars, maybe I would have picked up more of the jokes. And B b there were

all these moments where jim had his head bent under the hood looking at stuff and i was like oh no oh no though the point here is that jim plays out this story of the senate investigation uh hey do you know anyone high up in the office who's been selling their stock or living above their means because maybe uh since this is a big-time bribery scandal with the bolivia thing i'm still helping out warren and warren has this theory and warren's theory is what if bonner was skimming money from these bribes because they're cash and then left court finds out about it and left court killed Bonner. And then Garrett says, okay, so who killed left court? He says, well,

what if Bonner had a partner? Yes. And then he says that Warren thinks it's Thomas Van Housen. Who's another director, just another name. That's like another director of the company, which he would have gotten right off that directory. Right.

That the previous scene, Mr. Hudson, would you do me a favor and check out Van Housen's lifestyle? See if he's living a little high on the hog i think that warren's theory is pretty good all we need is that final piece and then to tell warren what he finds because this is all warren's idea and he's staying in this hotel because he's hiding out from the police so this is all jim setting up garrett

yeah this is this is a honeypot this is a trap yeah the business with the car is interesting uh i think i felt that same tension i kept expecting because what's happening is that he's laying it out for this guy and the guy gets a little angry at some of the stuff that jim brings up not angry but heated about it yeah see you expect jim to drop that he thinks this guy did it to see how this guy reacts or something that but he doesn't he's setting up a trap but that's why like i i did spend most of the scene expecting jim to get slammed under uh and then a chase and then i think some of the stuff about the car was supposed to imply that jim knew far more about cars than this guy did. I thought it was a class thing that was going on. He wanted to push start the car and Jim's like, oh, that wouldn't work with this. He goes, oh, it's one of those new carburetors, right? And Jim's like, no,

it's an automatic. And I'm not a car person, but I know that. But I had a stick. So I guess that's the... I think he says it's the catalytic converter converter all these new anti-smog things yeah and uh so but the wire stuff was also that like it was a little bit of jim going like it used to be better or something yeah if this was my car i could figure it out yeah exactly yeah because the last little gag is like jim being like yeah that's a lot of wires like because jim can't figure it out either there was a bit at the very very beginning where garrett says i called the auto club but they haven't showed up yet oh rockford i thought you were the auto club and it's just that's weird it's a weird set of words to put together if they were the opposite order then it would make sense but in the order that

they were in i was like what anyways i just wanted to mention it maybe i misheard it no that's what that's what i heard too so yeah i don't know a little weird it's there's a lot of like i mean we'll get to it at the end you know with our overall takeaways but there's a lot of just like little baubles in this episode that like kind of are like, okay. Nothing that makes me go, but like something that you go, what's that? All right. Yeah. From here, we get into the noir portion of the episode, which I actually really like. So we're at the Sunset Lodge Motel uh which is where jim told uh garrett warren would

be eric calls from a phone booth and does that uh he checked it out and there wasn't anything with van hausen uh because jim answers the phone it's like is warren is warren gonna be there or something it says that warren is checking something else out he's going to be back there soon jim is going to go follow up on another lead at some nightclub or something. I'm going to leave to go do that soon. I'll leave a note for Warren. The whole idea is that he's

establishing that Warren's going to be alone in the hotel room. Garrett goes for it. We see him pull into this parking lot, take a pistol from his glove box. There's an ominous stair climbing pan. I will point out that he puts that pistol in his

belt right above his crotch. Yes. Just like, alright. He enters the room. Apparently the door wasn't locked. There's this very slow pan across the shadowy, empty room. There's nobody there i'm gonna interrupt you

again i'm gonna do a thing here and i i'm sure everyone's sick of this but there's a lamp in the background of this room that we had growing up it's like there's a two lampshades the inner one is like a cream colored lampshade it's solid you know and then the outer one is this wicker like a screen like it's not a uh um opaque it's got you know like like a like a little wicker cage or whatever and then the the pedestal of the lamp or plinth or whatever it's called is is this faux wood thing anyways i wrote in my notes i was like like, holy, you know, this was the lamp that we had in our basement. And then I realized that this is like watching a modern television show and recognizing the Ikea chair that everyone recognizes. I'm sure every home in the 70s, like this is probably straight from Sears. But I just had this moment of like, what?

That lamp. But it's not the important lamp. No. Because there's an important lamp in a minute. Oh, yeah. That lamp. But it's not the important lamp. No. Because there's an important lamp in a minute. Oh, yeah, yeah. No, it's not the important lamp. So, yeah, we have this very ominous pan, and then we see Garrett see the note that Jim left telling Warren to wait for him.

So then he turns off the light, and we kind of hear the sound of water, and I think it comes up a little louder now. So it's like, oh, is the shower like the shower running like Warren's in the shower. Garrett goes over to the door. Hey, Warren, are you there? There's no answer. There's a beat.

And then as he opens the bathroom door, Jim jumps out, slamming the door into him and knocking the gun out of his hand. They have a tussle. A meaty tussle. have a tussle a meaty tussle a meaty tussle because garrett pulls the stand lamp which is the other lamp over onto jim which kind of gives him an opportunity to scramble away and they get into their meaty tussle uh which is very grunt and groany there on the on the floor when they finally get their feet jim gets the better body shots in. Like, Garrett punches him across, like, it's a good, like, strong, like, right across his jaw, and Jim comes back with some body blows,

and that's what takes the fight out of Garrett. So it's a good, meaty fight. Yeah, it's good. So he collapses onto the couch, and then he asks, how did you know? Basically, well, it was just a possibility, but you showing up and giving me that message to give to Warren, that started me thinking. he says, what are you going to,

if you're going to make a macho citizen's arrest, you better do it. And Jim keeps the gun and starts marching him down the stairs. And then we have this moment where Garrett tries to get away again. He like, there's like a shopping cart just there full of refuse. And he kind of throws it into Jim's way, but Jim takes a step back and still has the gun. He's like, Garrett, you sure you want to do that? And he doesn't threaten him with the gun.

I mean, he's holding the gun and pointing it in his direction, but he doesn't threaten him like, I could shoot you. He's like, I have the murder weapon. Right, yeah. You know, I can take this to the cops, right? Like, I have the case, whether you're with me or not. Finally, we get's uh spilling the story uh it's not his fault he didn't want to kill anybody it's left court's fault you don't know

what kind of man he is um so i guess this whole skimming idea is what was happening but it was garrett and bonner were in on it bonner wanted to go to left court and come clean yeah uh but he knew that that would not be a good outcome because left court is a merciless corporate villain so he killed bonner to keep him from going to left court but bonner had already gone to him before he was killed and so left court came back to garrett with the deal you take the rap for the bribes right and fix it so that warren takes the fall for bonner's murder uh but then he would be beholden to left court for the rest of his life and he wasn't willing to do that that is when our police cars pull up and uh good friend dennis becker in the lead of course you promised

me warren i didn't promise you weeks i promised you Bonner's left courts killer. Here he is. Cut from both. Oh, come on, Dennis. Why me? You want the charges? You'll hear them later. I had a very long day. It's good. So this is I think that phone call was to Becker to tell him, yeah, hey, I think I know I can get you the murderer. Meet me at this place at that time of night. Yeah. Uh, I think that absolutely is a possibility. Um,

yeah, but it is a little bit of a mystery of who he's calling. Cause it, it, it's still, he could have done that after he set the trap, right? Like it'd be presumptuous to call before setting the trap. Like once you know,

you've set the trap. Yeah. But anyways, it's not worth getting into. It doesn't really matter. I think it was more for the joke of like it's a local call yeah um yeah he could have been calling rocky and saying hey leave that motel room or right calling beth and being like do not let warren out under any circumstances or whatever then go to our last scene where jim is signing for his effects like like riding a bicycle.

Once you learn, you never forget. Then we have this weird moment where he turns, he's leaving the little cage where everything is. Then there's like a group of women being marched in and one of them makes eyes at him. Absolutely checks him out. Like it is,

there's no mistaking that whatsoever. Yeah. And then he kind of gives her a wink and a good check out himself as she passes. You know, that happens. I guess it's kind of like, Jim is comfortable in this situation.

Yes. Well, there's that. But it's a little bit of a juxtaposition of the conversation that we're about to have, which is one of television's most awkward conversations somehow it was even more awkward than the one at the end of resurrection in black and white where uh susan wants to do the photo essay of uh uh dave david i think is his name the guy who got out of jail and he's like yes i'm gonna get drunk and i'm gonna get a woman that was very awkward this is even more so so beth and warren come into the picture because

warren has also been released i guess yeah i spoke to katherine that must have been quite a conversation oh come on jim give him a break he's been through a lot. You know I never meant anything to her? I mean, I loved her. I honestly loved her. And, um, I was just an object. What kind of an object? You know. A sex object? I don't want to think about it. Oh, my God.

Leading up to that was like, I put that on the computer and there was no solution yeah that i kind of glossed over it's i mean like it's it's indicating that warren thinks in a very logical way he shouldn't he's not able to interact with people normally uh but obviously computers make sense to him or something like that but it the more important thing is this weird wording he has and then beth like trying to clarify it but clearly looking like she doesn't want to clarify it like but can't let it go oh it is bad i mean not bad as in bad television is it's it's a conversation you don't want to have with a relative yeah exactly becker arrives he tells jim that he got the grand theft

auto the flight from arrest and the breaking and entering charges dropped uh and what other ones are there and beth informs him that like well there is possession of a handgun and concealment of a weapon i guess from when becker arrested him while he was holding the gun i guess so that's a thing but then we do get a moment of healing where beth apologizes to jim but it isn't warren's fault it's mine if it hadn't been for me you'd have stayed out of it but he's your cousin yeah he's a turkey and we freeze frame on he has his arm around her shoulders and then that turns into like a side hug as they both smile after this wisecrack. And in this freeze frame, if you look at Warren in the background, he's looking at the camera, and he's smiling too.

I don't know if that was intentional, or they just got caught that way. That is wonderful. It's pretty perfect for the ending for that character. Oh, that's wonderful. So it was a fun episode, I think. Yeah. Yeah. It's I feel like it's in like the meaty middle of a Rockford Files episode for me. Nothing about it super stands out. Like, I'm glad we got to talk about Beth, but that's more because of the rhythm of our show than this particular episode.

Or even this season. Yeah. There was some good lines in it. The chase was funny. It wasn't Jim driving, but it was like a funny, goofy chase, which is unusual for the Rockford Files. And so it kind of stands out a little bit to me that way. And there's a lot of humor. I'm not sure if it's even at warren's expense

maybe it is a little bit at warren's i was just thinking that like there is a lot of humor but it's not really i mean even though so when jim makes fun of warren it comes off more as mean spirited yeah then it's actually funny so it's not really that we're making fun of warren it's more that there's just some like good jokes in the episode and i think part of that is the flute thing where jim keeps making fun of the flute and there's no there is no flute there's no flute um and i think that helps right like i think that's well it helps because there's okay so warren himself is not entirely a believable character which is fine because this is a show with angel right yeah the thing where it's like every time he's in trouble he panics and runs is like it's one of those like here's a very one-dimensional character trait that yeah does not pay off like it is

diminishing returns it is less interesting every time he does it but but what works with warren is the other people well basically bet basically Beth and Rocky, right? The way Beth and Rocky, how they relate to Warren, feels very real. Like, I can understand Beth being in a situation where she has a cousin, she's known all her life, who's a little weird, and she feels protective of him a little bit, but also knows that he's going to get on people's nerves. Right. protective of him a little bit, but also knows that he's going to get on people's nerves. Right. Yeah. A little, a little responsible for him, a little protective of him, but also she gets exasperated with him like everyone else. Yeah. And then Rocky, who just, he's just likes certain people. He's a sucker for a short haircut. Yeah. A sucker for a short haircut. He goes to bat

for Warren, which is like, like, like you had mentioned, like a bit of the push that Jim needs to kind of get across whatever threshold is in his way at that moment. Also, like endears us enough to Warren, I think partly because Warren's not on screen while that's happening. I think it's good that he's not in the episode that much yeah so we don't get upset with him exactly like because i also did not feel particularly attached to warren like he's kind of annoying and like that's good for the character in context of the plot not great for someone you're seeing on screen for an hour so yeah the limited amounts of warren i think are fine um i do like how we see him trailing along behind jim at the wedding yeah like doing his best that's probably the best part

um for me for him and i love the whole gag about the um the affair that he's having which again feels both unreal and real at the same time right like uh you can see warren being for lack of a better term vulnerable to that kind of situation right like he's not very sociable and if someone's like well this man is attractive enough and you know he works for my husband and i but i can probably control the situation better so like here's you can see how if someone tells him i love you he's like yeah oh she loves me yeah like he's very literal but then like seeing her and you're like whoa wait a minute like what is going on and i love that it is was an affair like there's nothing there's no indication at any point that it wasn't and in fact fact, there's no indication that if Warren was found out,

that would jeopardize even his job. Right, yeah. He was found out, right? Because like, yeah, because like Garrett's like, left court knows about you. What he doesn't say is, but he doesn't care.

Yeah. Yeah, it's an episode where like, I like all the structural elements. There's something, it doesn't really transcend for me in terms of being a memorable episode. You know, if it comes up again, I'd be like, oh yeah, that one was pretty good. But it does do the thing that I feel like I talk about all the time. All the characters, once you know all their motivations, everything made sense.

Yeah. It's very motivated. And it does a really good job of pacing out the hints of or the foreshadowing of yeah like the resolution it's so it's not so i like that it's not a like oh and we'll tell you what happened in two minutes of dialogue at the end of the episode like i kind of like that we see we see the pieces come together as jim is lying is setting up his honeypot like oh okay, I see what the story is here. And then we get that confirmed for us,

but it's not the like, oh, and here's what was happening the whole time reveal, which is like fine, but sometimes a little unsatisfying. So it's like, I have nothing, I have nothing but good things to say about the episode, but I also don't know if it's a particularly memorable episode for me, I guess is my takeaway. Well, there are plenty of episodes, so there has to be some of those in there. There has to be something.

And it's not in the lower half of the episodes, I would say. It's in that meaty middle, like that meaty brawl. The average Rockford Files episode is above average for a Rockford Files episode. Right. The average Rockford Files episode is, is kind of like in the B plus a minus category. So it's all about that curve,

all about the curve. All right. Well, I think that's all I have to say about the trouble with Warren. There wasn't anything particularly interesting in an either like quick research about the episode or in the book. You know, again, it doesn't have a great rating on IMDb, but it's not a bad rating. You know, like it's very. It's as we've been saying.

As we've been saying. Some of the IMDb reviews do kind of talk about like Warren is not very appealing. Yeah. It doesn't really make much sense that anyone is helping Warren. And it's like, I don't disagree with that. But also he is a coherent character. So I don't think that's a failing of the acting. I think this particular plot just kind of hinges on a character that we don't want to see very much of.

And like that's going gonna happen in shows like i think they handled that quite well yeah if you're gonna do that then this might be the way to do it you have him on scene for just enough i feel like i'm coming down on warren pretty bad right here he's not that that bad it's just you feel you definitely feel jim's uh put upon this yeah yeah right like because you're just like i think we all have this person in our lives yeah i think we can all relate to jim on a pretty visceral level even while we also understand beth and her position on that same visceral level because i think we all have this person in our lives as the beth figure and in our lives as the Beth figure and in our lives as the Rockford figure. Yeah. And none of us, well, I'm going to go out on a limb. I may be wrong, but I think none of us

have ever had this person in our lives framed for murder. Right. I'm knocking on wood, but yes. So a weirdly relatable episode, I guess, in its own way. All right. I think that's all I really have to say about The Trouble with Warren. Do you have any parting thoughts? No, I think we've plugged it all into the computer and the end result was what we just got. All right. Very good.

Well, we will go see if we can get our own non-meat-based grilled lunches prepped and perhaps even a whole forkful into our mouths. But we will be back next time to talk about another episode of the Rockford Files.