Episode #28 "Junk Love"

[Ferrariman]

Begin posting

[timm525]

Because of it's controversial nature, I give this one an 8.Very over the top topic for it's time.

[Guest neworder]

Another slow starter a bit like Buddies, but this time it takes the wholeepisode to get going. The story isn't an interesting one unfortunatelyand the episode only really gets going at the end when Robert Plantstarts playing. That said there are some nice aspects to this episode. The style is on top form, some nice scenery, decent music although there'snot really a shout out brilliant track from Hammer, still decent though andmost of the performances are good ones. All this doesn't make up for theslow story unfortunatly and as much as I love the ending and love a few more aspects in this episode its going to have to be a 6/10.

[Shill]

I gave this a 10. I love the character Ivory Jones and the Wang Chung track. Great locations and classic opening teaser. Good to see Sonny's caring side again

[Tommy Vercetti]

changed opinion on this episode. see page 3.

Edited August 11, 2019 by Tommy Vercetti

[Guest neworder]

lol yeah at least he's not miracle man in this one.

[Lar]

I'm going to have to concur with Tommy Vercetti on this one. I've never really liked this one, and I agree, Miles Davis was awful.

[Tony D.]

This episode is definitely not one of my favorites, although I liked Miles Davis in this one. Didn't want him to get killed. Castillo's look could burn right through Rico when he yelled "no" to Sonny about trusting Rosella! Nancy, I thought De Silva looked familiar! I really like the"Miracle Man" episode. What a change in character. The boat scene is cool! My rating is 5, since it was hard to stay interested in this one!

[nmathews]

My Junk Love commentsWhy did NBC let this one through, unless they didn't have the ending until right before aired, though that's unlikely? I mean they objected so much to Too Much Too Late (Mom selling her young daughter to sex pervert drug dealer for drugs) How could father molesting daughter (I presume all he life) be any less objectionable by NBC? The content of both were risque for early eighties. Now days both would be and have been an SVU plot but back then it was very edgy and risqueI agree this one is kind of unballanced. I like it and I don't like it. I'm a sucker for Sonny's weird mental adaptations. He seems to be able to connect with the strangest people. He defintely connected with Rosella. He kept saying that he had a feeling that she stayed for other reasons than what she told him or what Rico thought he said it's bigger and it's bad or something to those words. I love to hear DJ use that soft persuasive sympathetic voice almost as I like hearing him growling a threat. (and yes I did mean DJ's acting ability) Getting back to Sonny for a vice cop he is eternally optimistic battling his realistic cynicsim. I always found this conflict one of the most interesting things about his character. The brothel scene was interesting. I mean here Rico's undercover and as soon as Rosella gets thrown into the mirror and Rico investigates, Sonny and Gina come in and essentially blow whatever cover was left! I didn't like the nurse at the hospital, she was too snippy, of course I guess Roberto paid her off to get everybody out so he could sneak Rosella a little something and then sneak her out of the hospital. Another inconistency was Rico's attitude toward Rosella. He was much more sympathetic to Michael Jorgenson III in Little Prince in first season. He didn't seem to remember his own words that the saddest thing to see was an uptown junkie who wasn't living on the poor side of town. He looked at Rosella as a spoiled brat, while she was as hooked as the kid from Little Prince was. I didn't like the fact that Rico seemed to have lost his sympathetic feeling. I got a queezy feeling the first time I watched this episode (when I hadn't seen the ending yet) when De Silva kissed her on the bed. I wanted to go Yuck! (What was the song True Love?) Like was mentioned The Scarab scene was great. I love it when they use the Scarab. but I have to agree why would De Silva let Sonny and Rico live, for that matter why did his goons let him live, and why in the heck did they let their boss get shot by his own daughter? De Silva was too confident, he thought that Rosella loved him enough as her father, and as his lover (yuck) to not be able to do it. He was almost correct, notice the hesitation in her eyes, and her yelling it's a trick! He really thought he was safe. I love the by-play between Sonny and Rico on the boat. Rico says he's crazy, and Sonny retorts yeah but he's got the machine guns or something to that extent. We learn a little about Castillo in this episode not much but a little. It's interesting to see him interact with Ivory. I mean since when does a Lt. process the prisoner's personal belongings back to him, obviously Castillo did that so he could talk to Ivory, and make a deal with him. As for Rico not wanting to work with Rosella, If they didn't have any other way in, they had to take the chance, obviously Sonny was thinking that if their cover was blown they'd be able to get away, I don't think he was thinking of an isolated hit with no back-up kind of naive of him, of course he felt that Rosella wouldn't tell on them. In a way he was correct, in another way he was very wrong. I can see De silva blowing away competition, but come on, his protege? He only had Rosella's word that Roberto would turn on De Silva if she asked him to, suspect at best. I did like that the whole OCB gang was involved in this episode, but otherwise it's not one of my very favorites, and it's too inconsistent. How did Gina and Trudy finally find out About Rosella's secret, and if it was that easy to find why didn't they do a thorough check on the girl when they first found out her name? It seemed kind of strange that all of a sudden they found it out, but they couldn't have found out earlier before they went to the meet or whatever you want to call it. I did like the auction only because I got to see Sonny flash that smile of his. I love his comment Are you sure he's not into guys he's flashing his browns at me. Did Sonny have some flash money or something? I mean to be that confident in bidding on that high price of an item, that was dangerous, and kind of stupid unless he didn't have the cash to back it up. Even though he was told this De Silva was a competition freak, he couldn't be sure that he wouldn't be left holding. Settle up time would have been very embarassing. Since Rico was so against working with Rosella, where was one of his famous run a make on her to get her secrets. Like I said a bit inconsistent. Also I kept thinking of Miracle man, but that's not the episode's fault that's purely my fault for having seen 5th season Vice. Even with all the good scenes, I have to rate this episode 5 or a 6, it's better than some Vice, but the writing of the characters is too inconsitent and I can't get around the plot hole of not finding out sooner about Rosella's background. I did like the song Slave To Love being played since De Silva was as much a slave to love as Rosella was a slave to his demands.

[Guest neworder]

Although I'm in agreement with the inconsistency with Tubbs not being sympathetic here compared to Little Prince barely a season ago...BUT I prefer Tubbs much more as a hard guy, some of the stuff he did in this episode was quite amusing, like when he says 'im tired man, and when i get tired i get weird' and flicks the stick. He's confrontational approach makes it more interesting. If he'd been sympathetic i think the episode would've been more boring...but at least consistent.

[Murphy's Law]

I agree with Nancy - the plot is definitely problematic in a few areas, but we gain some important character development. Sonny is more playful & gentle and less jaded in this episode. When it comes to women, he always seems to believe they have good intentions at first and this time his instincts are (at least partially) correct. Although it often has disastrous consequences this view is one of his more endearing qualities. Tubbs, by contrast, reveals a more cynical, hard-edged stance that creates an interesting tension in the relationship. When the episode originally aired, the ending was a big shock (to me at least) and the subject was not openly discussed at the time. Watching it now it definitely lacks the same impact. In the context of the entire series, the horrific nature of the crime probably is another contributing factor in Sonny & Rico's growing weariness. I don't think it's a great stand-alone episode, but I believe it grounds these characters a little more firmly in a way that's important to the series. It's also beautifully styled - Sonny's blue tuxedo jacket worn casually was brilliant and is one of my all-time favorites. I give it a 6/10.

[Papa Legba]

Sonny is more playful & gentle and less jaded in this episode. When it comes to women' date=' he always seems to believe they have good intentions at first and this time his instincts are (at least partially) correct. Although it often has disastrous consequences this view is one of his more endearing qualities. Tubbs, by contrast, reveals a more cynical, hard-edged stance that creates an interesting tension in the relationship [/quote']Very well put. This episode is another one that places Crockett and Tubbs at the opposite ends of an opinion spectrum. Again we see Crockett's instinctual nature once again being correct, while Tubbs' cynical and logical perspective blinds him to the truth. We witness the same thing happen in "Tale of the Goat", which I'll discuss next week.Check out Castillo's stare at Tubbs during the meeting in the strategy room. A full 11 seconds! Castillo is interesting to watch in this episode because there are a few times where he seems genuinely surprised and intrigued by the difference of opinion between Crockett and Tubbs, like he is surprised that they don't actually agree on something.I can only assume that Tubbs' lack of sympathy with Rosella, but his display of sympathy to Mark Jorgensen in "Little Prince" may have been due to a belief that Jorgensen couldn't help the way that he'd turned out because he'd been born into that lifestyle of shallow materialism and ambition, whereas he believed that Rosella was just some junkie gold digger who complained about not loving Silva and wanting to leave, yet loved his wealth too much to really want to leave him. Therefore Tubbs may have thought she was exploiting Silva, and therefore could expolit himself and Crockett.Can you imagine what Hose Perez thought going from a dark and serious role such as this one to "Miracle Man" three seasons later? He must have really thought "Vice has really gone downhill" when he got sent that script!What I like about this episode is the fact that the dynamics between Silva and Rosella are ambiguous all the way through the episode. You just assume that Rosella is Silva's girlfriend, but it's never explicitely stated. Once you watch the ending and realise that she's actually his daughter, if you re-watch the episode you interpret all the scenes in a completely different way.I think the reason why this episode may have slipped through the censorship net, yet "Too much too late" was briefly shelved was because the issue was depicted in a way that was more close to the bone in "Too much too late". In other words it depicted a young girl actually having been raped by a man during the episode, whereas in "Junk Love", the girl was actually now a woman, and it was implied that the child abuse issue had actually occured in the past. Therefore although it's the same issue, "Junk Love" depicted it in a less head on kind of way.I loved all the music in this episode, and I also loved the final scenes that took place out in the water. The only goof that struck me was that from the looks on their faces, Crockett and Tubbs could hear everything that Rosella and Silva were saying right at the end of the episode. However unless Rosella and Silva had been shouting to each other, there's no way that Crockett and Tubbs could have heard what they were saying, out in the water from that distance.Once again I'm going to have to play Devil's advocate and say that I thought this was a great episode, for which I feel I must give 8.5 out of 10.

[Tony D.]

Very good insights, Papa!

[Shill]

incest.... a game for all the family :Dsorry

[Papa Legba]

Very good insights' date=' Papa![/quote']Thanks Tony.

[vicenarc]

I didn't find this episode very inspiring at all. It was a bit of a sleeper for my viewing enjoyment. I'll brand it with a 6.

[agent 47]

Anoher overdue review:High Points: Makes The Dutch Oven look better.Low points: The acting, not the story idea as much as the sloppy way it's told.Bottom Line: A very dissapointing episode, a good idea for a story told with boring side characters and poor acting. A low for season two.Score: 1.5 out of 10

[Tony D.]

A long time ago, I questioned how a true fan of Miami Vice could give such a low score to an episode, unless it had no redeeming Miami Vice qualities...such as scenery, clothes, music, action etc. A score of 10 is equal to 100% on a test, so a 1 would be 10%. I would think most episodes have more value than that! Except maybe, "Leap of Faith".

[Guest neworder]

Agreed Tony D, this episode certainly has scenery, clothes, music in its favour, maybe not much action tho...Leap of Faith I awarded 1.5/10 on .org and 2/10 for Missing Hours but thats because they were both shockingly bad, I'm looking forward to your review of Missing Hours Agent 47 if you've rated this 1/10, I suspect you'll be giving Missing Hours minus points??? lolSJB

[agent 47]

Agreed Tony D' date=' this episode certainly has scenery, clothes, music in its favour, maybe not much action tho...Leap of Faith I awarded 1.5/10 on .org and 2/10 for Missing Hours but thats because they were both shockingly bad, I'm looking forward to your review of Missing Hours Agent 47 if you've rated this 1/10, I suspect you'll be giving Missing Hours minus points??? lolSJB[/quote']I have bumped it up to 1.5 out fo 10, I really should have added both neworders and Tony D.'s post. Look here, I can vote for it and give it whatever score I flipping well please, I voted 1 out of 10 at first, but bumped it up because there is a future episode that will feel that fury, (cough* Miracle Man *cough) I AM not going to base my reviews on what the character's wear, if I did that, all episodes would recieve perfect score, I vote based on music, cinematography, acting, story and writing, not the clothes. Just in case you post on that, the cinematography instantly becomes useless to me when the rest is uninteresting.Tony D., You CAN be a vice fan AND give an episode a low score, it's called PERSONAL opinion, just because I give an episode a low score doesn't mean I am going to hate the series, and if it's because you're saying I shouldn't give low scores just because they dress fine, my reviews are not influenced by somebody's vanity, I give it 1.5 because personally I think the acting is awful and the characters (besides the main cast of course) are uninteresting, I am not just going to shallowly give an episode a high score just because of clothing, would you elect a president if he wore a Blazer and Ray-Ban Wayfarer's even if his issues are iffy and sound dangerous for the country?

[Shill]

each to their own i say

[Guest neworder]

each to their own i say

Agreed, I'm just a bit shocked thats all lol but then again thats my opinion.Look forward to your Missing Hours review then Agent 47......in about a year lol

[Tony D.]

Agent 47, I'm not telling you give all the episodes high scores....I gave this one a 5 which is failing at 50%. It's very hard to rate these episodes. We had a discussion about this with R-dead as to should we rate an episode as a stand alone, or in relation to other episodes & concluded that it's hard not to be influenced by the other episodes. Final answer....... Rate it however you like!

[agent 47]

Agent 47' date=' I'm not telling you give all the episodes high scores....I gave this one a 5 which is failing at 50%. It's very hard to rate these episodes. We had a discussion about this with R-dead as to should we rate an episode as a stand alone, or in relation to other episodes & concluded that it's hard not to be influenced by the other episodes. Final answer....... Rate it however you like![/quote']Sorry if it sounded like I was scolding you, I decided on 1.5 for the episode, I don't usually compare episodes just take the episode by itself and score it, then compare the score to others and determine what is the best of that season.Oh, by the way, neworder, I looked up Missing Hours and I remember the episode, I don't usually give stuff away about my reviews, while not a good episode, I think it's better than this episode, I liked Chris Rock in that episode, I am not giving you my score yet but I can tell you the score will be higher than this episode, but it's just my opinion.Let's move on, Bushido is being reviewed next week!:D:D

[rodriguezisdead]

Having watched Season 5 before this ep, one of my initial strongest thoughts on this ep was 'Oh my God - Miracle Man! No!'But actually this part seemed better-suited to him I think (doesn't he age in just 3 Seasons though?) - but I think it still would've been better-played by someone a little taller.I had been avoiding watching this ep as a lot of fans had rated it low, but there are a few eps that personally I end up liking more than most, and perhaps this is one of them - against popular opinion I also like Heroes of the Revolution and Hell Hath No Fury for example.The end was a shock to me - in classic MV style the revelation came right at the end - I had been trying to second-guess the ending from the start when Sonny had been suspicious of something else going on whilst Rico seemed to take it on face value, but I didn't see this one coming - perhaps after the disturbing recent case in Austria of Josef Fritzl I should've known better.Anyway, once the revelation did come, it got me reflecting about the ep for some time after the end - I like MV eps that get me thinking - the ep that probably did that to me more than any other was the Savage in S3 - I just came away feeling really sad about this all.I felt sorry for the daughter. What an awful life she must've been forced to live under her father. And it is well-known from similar scenario's in real-life cases that these girls can often suffer from victim's guilt, the guilt of the abused, or similar syndromes. Something I just googled on the subject says "Mistreatment and violence are part of an enduring pattern of maladaptive behavior within the relationship and are sometimes coupled with substance abuse. Abusers are possessive, pathologically jealous, dependent, and, often, narcissistic. Invariably, both the abuser and his victim seek to conceal the abusive episodes and their aftermath from family, friends, neighbors, or colleagues". I bet Papa Legba can shed more light on this - I think he is involved in social work where he possibly comes across people affected by such syndromes?From that point of view I can sympathise with the way they seemed to stretch the girl's periods of silence in the ep or where she seemed to be hiding something or protecting someone. It was a little frustrating for the viewer as it felt a little slow-moving, but once the revelation comes you can sort of forgive it.So once again Sonny's gut feel was right - there was something more at play here, so full marks to him. Loved his looks and lines at the auction - bit about 'divorced and broke' was classic. Both C&T have a lot of cool suits on in this ep actually - I'm getting the feel that S2 has C&T looking their smartest so far in terms of a wardrobe.Also loved 'Slave to Love' - have always liked that track but works really well in this ep - especially once the revelation is made, it adds yet another meaning to it all. There are some tracks with some scenes in MV eps that just fit perfectly and raise the scene to another level as a result - you can get completely emotionally lost in those scenes, just one of the things I love about MV.Once again, if this was Season 3 instead of 2, I bet they would have had the daughter shooting herself rather than her father - a far more desperate ending for Sonny and for us as viewers - at least with the father being shot there is some semblance of justice being achieved - although undeniably the daughter will never escape the years of sexual and psychological abuse or enforced drug abuse.I rate this a 7.5 - rounded down to 7 for the poll as this time although I like the ep, I still think 8 overscores it.