Soap: Episode 46

Soap: Episode 46
ABC
March 8, 1979
Dramedy
DVD
B-

This Harris & Silver episode has one completely unnecessary scene: Jessica and Detective Donahue in a posh restaurant, where he makes a fool of himself and she tells him she's not ready to choose between him and Chester.  It's not funny, it goes on too long, and it contributes nothing to their relationship or the plot.  The rest of the show is more solid, especially anything to do with Benson, from checking in with Billy to agreeing to help Tim fight the Devil.  The episode is also notable for Jodie and Alice starting to have possibly romantic feelings for each other, to their surprise and confusion.  (Again, the word "bisexual" is never mentioned in the series.)

Scott Mulhern appears as a nameless Sunnie, but in the Fall he'd get the name Roger; he was Andy Cooper on M*A*S*H.  Kit McDonough, who plays Alice's date Maxine, had very recently flirted with Klinger on M*A*S*H, while he was in drag, and she herself played a character mistaken for a man in drag by Mr. Roper, so I'm guessing she was comfortable with playing characters whose sexuality and/or gender was questioned.