Jessica's niece (played by Genie Francis) gets a job working (in advertising, this time) for a fascinating bad guy (played brilliantly by, wait for it, Richard Kline, who played "Larry" on Three's Company) who is more than willing to pimp her out (the niece, not Jessica) to a very sleazy married client (Ken Swofford). The client's own wife (played by the hilarious and sadly missed Marcia Wallace) is no Caesar's wife although her vice is cupidity not carnality. This is as adult and graphic an episode you'll come by in this series. Bill Macy inexplicably plays Kline's rather repulsive older brother (!) despite being old enough to be Kline's father (and he looks it).
Kline brilliantly embodies a never-say-die, self-made, tough, ambitious, ultraconfident ad man who battles all obstacles accordingly. When he's dispatched by an embittered former confidant I genuinely regretted the passing of this sadly all too realistic (verisimilitude to real quotidian life not being one of the series's strong points) character.
The killer is not one of those sympathetic killers that pop up from time to time. But, equally, is far from the vilest. Jessica trips the killer up in a clever Columbo-style trap, which is more interesting than most of the series' denouements. All in all, a very good episode.
Kline brilliantly embodies a never-say-die, self-made, tough, ambitious, ultraconfident ad man who battles all obstacles accordingly. When he's dispatched by an embittered former confidant I genuinely regretted the passing of this sadly all too realistic (verisimilitude to real quotidian life not being one of the series's strong points) character.
The killer is not one of those sympathetic killers that pop up from time to time. But, equally, is far from the vilest. Jessica trips the killer up in a clever Columbo-style trap, which is more interesting than most of the series' denouements. All in all, a very good episode.