Episode #53 "Baby Blues"

[ViceFanMan]

These were pretty much my original thoughts...still go with them:

Good episode...but sad and tragic.  Very realistically done, and I thought most of the acting was awesome--especially by Patrice Martinez! Tommy Koenig also looked like and "made" the perfect sleezy, bad guy (Howard Famiglia) that everyone couldn't wait to be taken down.

The action, especially at the end in the hospital with how Famiglia was taken down, was pretty cool.  I wonder if the little boy, who played Alex/Jose, ever went on to act in anything else? The beginning was also very realistic and I thought Olivia Brown does a superb acting job in just the few scenes, with facial expressions!  She always could cry on cue and/or make very realistic facial expressions at just the right moment. Saundra Santiago also could usually do this, and even though both women were rarely focused on...the few times they were, as well as all the "little" things they did for their characters along the way always made them "shine"!

This is totally off subject...but I also like one scene in this one where it shows both Switek's T-Bird and the Testarossa pulling up together at a bad guys house (where they find him dead in the closet). Weird I know, but I just thought it was a rare scene...as you hardly ever saw Switek's car, let alone along with Crockett's "star" car.  Also, I was surprised Tubbs' Caddy wasn't used in that scene, instead of the T-Bird. Anyway, nothing major or important...just something interesting and even curious to me, as I love cars--so the cars used and shown regularly are things I notice and enjoy seeing.

Overall a very well done episode...and even though it was somewhat "dark" and sad, it did sort of have a good (but somewhat sad) ending. The rich family got to keep the little boy...as the mother saw they really loved and cared for him, and they could provide a life she could not. I like to think that the family would start to allow the mother to be a part of the boy's life as time went on, and as he got older they could explain what happened. "Cheesy" thoughts...but too bad. I'm a sucker for the "Leave It To Beaver" ending.  I originally gave this one a 7...still do. 

[Jack Gretsky]

Absorbing and emotional (to use the Consul's bureaucratic language - "I appreciate how emotional this is for everyone."), this episode also spotlights the teams of Trudy & Gina and Switek & Zito to good effect.  

I'm familiar with Patrice Martinez from the last season of Magnum P.I. and Hallie Foote, as Moira Kaplan, is a distinguished stage actress.  You can call that last scene manipulative, but it breaks me up every time.  

[Eillio Martin Imbasciati]

2 minutes ago, Jack Gretsky said:

Absorbing and emotional (to use the Consul's bureaucratic language - "I appreciate how emotional this is for everyone."), this episode also spotlights the teams of Trudy & Gina and Switek & Zito to good effect.  

I'm familiar with Patrice Martinez from the last season of Magnum P.I. and Hallie Foote, as Moira Kaplan, is a distinguished stage actress.  You can call that last scene manipulative, but it breaks me up every time.  

I like the scene, it really got to me; I respect Maria's personal sacrifice, and in that act alone I feel that she demonstrated the instinct of a mother as well and a stand-up human being.

As manipulation goes, yeah, that's definitely a part of things, but it's the way we go many times I guess (if it isn't done in a cruel way, I can mostly accept it).

[jpaul1]

noticed a bunch of inconsistencies into that episode

first the bus hijack. no way a similar scene would have happened in Colombia. if so you would have had all the campesinos from all the f.. surroundings coming in with machetes to give the hijackers a bad quarter of an hour like we say here. Colombians are proud, they're like us, they wouldn't have allowed such thing to happen. there certainly could have been dark things happening, like very poor moms selling their newborn for cash like in India, or even kids stolen into the street. but not a bus hijacked by day

i find also find improbable the way the attorney plans the killing of the woman in the hospital. in something like 72h he finds a plan of the building vent system, organizes a single women meeting. and finds the location of the room of the target. and to make it complete uses a handgun with no silencer

i don't find realistic neither the way the mom abandons her child. she may be heart broken by the scene of the new parents loving. but i don't think a mother would abandon her child like a toy. it is inspired by Shelomo passage from the Bible, but that doesn't work

still a good point. I love the moment when the Vice squad open the plane, and remain in deep shock when they realize what's going on. whether it is Trudy, or Crockett, it's one of the very rare moments of the series, if not the only one, where we wonder if they're going to be able to absorb the blow

[Merely]

This actor is uncredited for the episode. Does anyone have any idea who he is/was?

TY

[ViceFanMan]

2 hours ago, Merely said:

This actor is uncredited for the episode. Does anyone have any idea who he is/was?

TY

Good question…I can’t find a name, character name, or even any pics online from this episode, concerning him?? 

[Dadrian]

14 hours ago, ViceFanMan said:

Good question…I can’t find a name, character name, or even any pics online from this episode, concerning him?? 

I believe the character name was Hector

@Tom do you have access to any sheets for this episode? Idk if real names are on those. 

Edited December 30, 2023 by Dadrian

[ViceFanMan]

29 minutes ago, Dadrian said:

I believe the character name was Hector

Actually from what I could find an actor named Brian Brucker O’Connor played Hector…an assistant to Famiglia. But, I don’t think he is who we are talking about above.

[jpaul1]

he really has the face of the bad fu..er

[RedDragon86]

On 4/22/2023 at 9:06 AM, jpaul1 said:

noticed a bunch of inconsistencies into that episode

first the bus hijack. no way a similar scene would have happened in Colombia. if so you would have had all the campesinos from all the f.. surroundings coming in with machetes to give the hijackers a bad quarter of an hour like we say here. Colombians are proud, they're like us, they wouldn't have allowed such thing to happen. there certainly could have been dark things happening, like very poor moms selling their newborn for cash like in India, or even kids stolen into the street. but not a bus hijacked by day

i find also find improbable the way the attorney plans the killing of the woman in the hospital. in something like 72h he finds a plan of the building vent system, organizes a single women meeting. and finds the location of the room of the target. and to make it complete uses a handgun with no silencer

i don't find realistic neither the way the mom abandons her child. she may be heart broken by the scene of the new parents loving. but i don't think a mother would abandon her child like a toy. it is inspired by Shelomo passage from the Bible, but that doesn't work

still a good point. I love the moment when the Vice squad open the plane, and remain in deep shock when they realize what's going on. whether it is Trudy, or Crockett, it's one of the very rare moments of the series, if not the only one, where we wonder if they're going to be able to absorb the blow

I don't like it all, come across as some sort of day-time melodrama.

And just because it is a serious subject doesn't mean it is automatically any good.

I will never get over the size of that vent lol. Ridiculous.  

Edited December 31, 2023 by RedDragon86