Episode: Season
Two, Episode Six: “Junk Love”
Original airdate:
November 8, 1985
Directed by:
Michael O’Herlihy
Written by: Julia Cameron, best known to creative types as the author of the mega-popular
self-help book, The Artist’s Way.
(Fun fact: Cameron also used to be married to Martin Scorsese.)
Summary:
After Vice conducts a raid on a brothel run by former
smuggler Ivory Jones (jazz great Miles Davis), Crockett becomes personally
invested in the welfare of a self-destructive, drug-addicted prostitute named
Rosella (Ely Pouget), who’s been hiding in the brothel to escape from her
patron/lover, a volatile crime lord named Juan Carlos Silva (Jose Perez). Rosella claims to despise Silva, who routinely
murders anyone who gets too close to her, and yet she seems dependent upon him
in ways Crockett struggles to understand.
With Ivory’s aid, Crockett and Tubbs, posing as their
criminal alter egos Burnett and Cooper, befriend Silva and infiltrate his
organization. Strung out and reckless, Rosella exposes them to Silva. Silva
promptly murders Ivory, but offers to spare Crockett’s life to prove his love
to Rosella. As a further gesture of his love, Silva—who, horrifyingly, is actually
Rosella’s father—hands her his gun and offers her the chance to kill him. No
fool, she takes him up on it.
Iconic Moments:
This is in many ways a tawdry, sordid little episode, what with the brutal and nonconsensual father-daughter incest, but Pouget leaves a visceral, searing impression with her performance as Rosella, who stumbles through her scenes in a self-loathing, drug-addled daze. She’s riveting.
This is in many ways a tawdry, sordid little episode, what with the brutal and nonconsensual father-daughter incest, but Pouget leaves a visceral, searing impression with her performance as Rosella, who stumbles through her scenes in a self-loathing, drug-addled daze. She’s riveting.
Themes:
Crockett’s determination to help Rosella puts him at odds
with Tubbs, who has limited patience with Crockett’s well-established soft spot
for loopy, damaged, dangerous women. It’s a grim pattern: Whenever Crockett pulls
his white-knight act, despite his best intentions, it ends in disaster.
It’s All in the
Details:
Gina and Trudy look pretty outstanding in their
undercover-as-hookers garb:
Gina even accessorizes her outfit with her detective's badge and
wears it casually around Vice HQ, which is a nice touch:
Rosella, too, wears some amazing ensembles. Shiny, shiny!:
Sign of the Times:
On the other hand, this particular outfit, which is sported by one of the prostitutes in Ivory’s brothel, could only exist on aMiami
On the other hand, this particular outfit, which is sported by one of the prostitutes in Ivory’s brothel, could only exist on a
Music Notes:
Both Bryan Ferry’s “Slave To Love” and Robert Plant’s
“Little By Little” are used to good effect, but the true standout track is Wang Chung’s blistering, ironic “True Love”.
Rating:
Three and a half flamingos.
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